Kmcalpin

A point for some to ponder over. The cost of rectifying our pitch problems and stand maintenance this coming close season will amount to at least £300k, if not a lot more. This money would be far better put towards a new stadium IMHO. FP is a real money pit.

I too think that Jay's line up looks likely. Going through some of the team selections though I'm a wee bit baffled by some selections. Not getting at anyone BTW. Jim O'Brien is not and never will be left sided so why pick him there? Keith Lasley and Maros Klimpl do not play well together as they've already proved. They're both defensive in character. Why play Keith Lasley wide left? He is defintely not a wide player and not left sided. If we go 4-4-2 then the only midfield player who fits the left side bill is Fitzy unless we draft in the untried new lad. Assuming both players make it then, the Maros Klimpl V Alec Neill battle should be something for us to savour.

Exactly. A point ignored by the press and somewhat surprisingly by our own fans. Given that we slashed prices for Celtic fans did they slash prices for us as a gesture of goodwill. Come on now I can't hear you! Charge them £26 I say.

As I see it the team that started was neither equipped to play open football (albeit that would be nigh near impossible on a shocking surface) or equipped to play the long ball. Thats what puzzled me most. I assumed and still do that it was picked with the intention of bottling up midfield. By bringing Keith Lasley in alongside Maros Klimpl that upset the midfield balance. Both are defensive central midfielders and do not play well together. Its not rocket science.

Much appreciated Fraz. Residents were also caught up in the congestion. We've paid for our parking tickets and so intend to use them. If folk like us are put off parking in the club's car parks then the club stands to lose several thousands of pounds annually. A loss it can't afford. An officer on duty for an extra 10/15 minutes is all it would take.

I've emailed the Trust about the post Match traffic arrangements and asked them to take up the issue with the Police. We all know about the car ban in the surrounding streets for 15 minutes after games and like it or lump it thats the way its going to be (I happen to lump it). However, what is happening is that the car parks are emptying later on to Knowetop Avenue. You might reasonably think given the above that the Police would keep an officer on points duty at the its junction with Windmillhill Street until after the traffic has cleared - but NO. Last night, yet again, there was a long line of traffic stretching along down Dalzell Drive, Knowetop Avenue and issuing from the car parks held up at Taggarts garage. Given the volume of traffic in both directions on Windmillhill Street cars simply couldn't get out. Moral of the story...if you must tinker with something make sure you get it right and don't make things worse.

Apart from problems with undersoil heating I'm sure there are still drainage problems. The wing in front of the POD Stand was absolutely sodden. Not conducive to Jim O'Brien's wing play or Coach's runs.

Good post Welldaft. Given Mark McGhee's pre match comment "But we’re not concentrating too much on their (St Mirren's) strengths", I was totally dumfounded by both his tactics and line up. They were more suited to taking on Barcelona at the Nou Camp rather than St Mirren at Fir Park. As soon as I heard the line at 2.20 I feared for the worst. 12 minutes into the game it became obvious to many that our game plan wasn't working and wasn't going to work. Changes should have been made then. We tried to match St Mirren on a very bumpy and sodden surface. The problem is that they put out a team designed to play in such conditions whereas we don't have the players. They've taken 2-3 years to perfect this style of play whereas we had maybe 3 days. The midfield was a shambles with too many not knowing what they were meant to be doing. Despite having 5 in the midfield we still got caught out wide on a number of occasions. Also, the choice of Davie Clarkson as a lone target man??? Keith Lasley and Maros Klimpl, although different are both central defensive players and their styles overlap to some extent. To start with both gives the midfield a defensive look. Stephen Hughes on the left? It was unreal in the first 45 watching us trying to equalise with one lone striker unsuited to the task he was given. The conditions and opposition called for the long ball and both Sheridan and Sutton should have played at least for most of the game. A packed well organised defence calls for an aerial bombardment if you have the players as we do. All too often we tried to walk our way way through the Saints defence with the inevitable result. It took us until the 53rd minute to muster 2 shots on goal. Despite much 2nd half pressure we rarely looked like scoring. A blown opportunity because of off-the-field errors - time will tell. Mark McGhee is a good manager but he got it badly wrong yesterday.

There's absolutely no point in speculating about our finances, as most folk on these Boards have little or no idea what our income is & how it is comprised; and what our expenditure is let alone how that is comprised. Much of that will only become known when the accounts are published prior to the AGM. I'd add that most folk haven't a clue about the costs a football club incurs.

He did indeed and that was before the game. Even in those days he pressurised referees and indulged in all sorts of cons and tricks. St Mirren were well able to look after themselves - they could dish it out but couldn't take it. Typical Fergie approach.

Not sure about that, Super. I could quote you many examples where an organisation has not stood by what one of its employees said to a customer in error. Shops, insurers, banks, local authorities, pubs, clubs, bookies, the Government. I could go on and on. For example earlier this evening the customers in front of me in a superstore queue argued the toss with the checkout operator over a wrongly priced item but in the end they had to shell out full price with no apology given.

Exactly. Time after time our group made new arrangements to travel including re-arranging leave and finshing early over the past week or two. We were all prepared to travel yesterday. However the weather in Fife and Tayside was awful with whiteouts and blizzards. The BBC and Traffic Scotland websites carried severe weather warnings (for the entire east coast including Grampian) and Police requests not to travel unless absolutely necessary. On that basis we took a collective decision not to travel. A football match, however important, is not worth risking life and limb. We were astonished to learn the game was going ahead. Given the level of Police control, some would say interference, over football in Lanarkshire, I was quite convinced that their Grampian counterparts would have ordered Locos to call the game off. Not so. What is clear to me is that the safety and welfare of our fans was a secondary consideration. Just for the record, this was nothing to do with MFC.

Our group of 7 has taken a hit for £105 and none of us made the game. We'll live with it, not ideal, but we'll live with it. Now there may be communication issues here, I can't comment. What is clear to me is that MFC may have tried to do our fans a favour here without the co-operation of either the SFA or Locos. It backfired obviously. I've found myself in this situation before from the other side and learnt to my cost that when a favour goes wrong you get no thanks. Moral of the story - do no-one any favours and give them the minimum standard of service that you can guarantee. Have I learnt this lesson - no. I still try to do my best over and above what is required. What would you rather have A) The club trying its best and making a mistake or B) Simply saying to the customer/fan No No No. Certainly with the latter favours don't go wrong. The old adage comes to mind - "If you don't want to make a mistake then don't do anything, just do nothing".

Not just yet, but I never expected this game to be easy despite predictions of such from some posters. The time to crow about a rout is after the final whistle. We are in control but really need to convert our chances.

Absolutely stupid and avoidable. No need to pick up such silly cards in this game. Cards can be costly if we reach more advanced stages.

We've missed a few chances and could be 3 up according to the radio but only taken the one. Pity that Stephen Hughes isn't playing. Keith Lasley adds something defensively but we'll miss Hughes for his attacking play and pace. We're giving Locos too much leeway in midfield for my liking. Perhaps they'll tire themselves out?

My sentiments exactly. Astounded Police are allowing this game to go ahead. Severe weather warning for Grampian in place and Police advise A96 is tricky near Inverurie. Weather dreadful in Fife and Tayside. On that basis 7 of us have decided not to risk it.

About 2" of snow where I live in Fife this morning, with the prospect of more to come. I'm sure the authorities will also take into account road conditions near the ground and spectator safety. Its not just the pitch. Not looking good.

I don't know much about him but from what I've read this morning this seems to be a reasonable view of him. From what I can gather his detractors are mainly basing their opinions on international appearances, which is unrealistic. Whilst it would be nice to bring someone of true international calibre to Fir Park on loan, I'll be more modest in my expectations and settle for someone of a high SPL standard.

Ditto. All we know is the fee has been described as "undisclosed". It could be anywhere between £30k and £380K with strings attached. What does seem reasonably certain is that Derby will pay us a fee.

Two separate issues here Greg. VAT - No, its just that very few fans appreciate that much of the club's transactions are subject to VAT from the tickets we buy to transfer fees and no-one appear to take this into account. From time to time we've seen various calculations on these boards eg "A 5,000 gate @ £15 a time = £75,000, where did all this money go?" Its not appreciated that of that hypothetical total perhaps £11,000 doesn't go the club at all. I think though that possibly the biggest source of misinformation amongst fans is transfer cash. Understandably these deals are cloaked in secrecy but how many times on these boards has someone asked - "Where did Faddy's sell on money go, why wasn't it spent on a new player?" Your second point, I agree with 100%. Our revenue streams are not what they should be. If the club wants to move forward then it needs to boost income. No argument from me there. You only need to look at clubs such as Falkirk, Inverness and Hamilton and the efforts they have made to strengthen this month although in some cases the term "strengthen" is questionable. It annoys me a bit when I hear peolple like Bill Reid or John Hughes spout forth in December saying that there's no cash for new players - aye right. Finally, and straying a bit off track I know, it worries me to read some threads about our new stadium, whenever that might come to fruition. So much effort, imagination and skill is devoted to new stadia designs (nothing wrong in that by itself) but how are we going to pay for it? I'd guess there will be a massive funding deficit between what we receive for Fir Park, a brownfield site, and what we will need to erect a new stadium.

No one can say for sure of course Stall, but remember that the game at Fir Park was cut price. Say 10,500 punters at £11 = £115,000. Off that deduct say £40,000 for expenses and say £18,000 for VAT. The players and management of course would all be paid handsome bonuses. As far as the club shop is concerned, remember that a fair proportion of the income would be due to Provan Sports. Expenses for travelling to France would not be cheap. If we did make a profit on our travels it wouldn't be much.

I don't understand Milo. We've a financial gap to plug this season. I'd guess, as many have said before, that all Faddy's sell on money has gone to creditors. MacDonald's money? Much of that will have gone to the Treasury in VAT and perhaps some to the player himself. MacCormack's compensation of £50k will have been swallowed up in ground improvements no bother. Jim Paterson's cash - a fair chunk of that will have gone on VAT and funding Steve Hammell's transfer. I'd guess we didn't even break even on Europe. Thats the reality of running a provincial SPL club I'm afraid.

Yes for shopping perhaps, unless the games moved to Fir Park which is extremely unlikely.

We'll have to wait and see if any £400,000 deal actually goes through. However assuming any fee was £400,000, and this would probably never be made public, my first question would be not so much how much cash Mark McGhee would get but how much cash MFC would get. Don't forget VAT is payable and the player himself might receive a healthy wad.