DC'd

" Without wanting to tempt fate, we’ve only lost one competitive match at Fir Park since February and our fans play just as big a part in that as the players do" And like always that one competitive defeat was to Rangers.. If there was ever a time for us to finally break this hoodoo..

Agreed, and it is a shame for Forbes that he will indeed be dropped, but the Las/Jennings partnership is a must. The fact that we reverted to a midfield 3 today, was that McCall's discreet way of confessing that Lasley does the running for two players and his ommission requires an additional body to cover the work he does? But, staying on point - it's a shame that Forbes will be dropped, as he has already put in one performance this season more than Humphrey, which unfortunately due to the squad dynamics and lack of options, means that Humphrey will start next week and Forbes drops out despite a far more impressive performance.

Had massive boots to fill, and he done admirably well. So vote goes to Forbes, as good as anyone else. Law showed flashes, but went missing for a massive chunk of the 2nd half. Forbes was in the thick of everything, tracked and harried very well. Confidence seem to lift very early on with a few nice touches. Humphrey was anonymous - severely lacking in confidence right now, and probably mixed in with not being 100% fit, but for the time being is like playing with 10-men. Unfortunately, no real alternative at the moment to replace him during this spell. Albeit today he never received particularly much ammunition, but of what he did see, was absolutely horrendeous. Good shouts to Tom (great goal), Hutch and Craigan (solid) and Jennings who looked a bit back to his best (hopefully the sub is just precautionary).

Sexy as fuck! Just back from the game - celebrations from the players when that ball hit the net, brilliant to watch. Phenomanal scenes. 1001 away fans - pretty top notch as well. Not much to comment on the game, other than St Midden will finish about 6th with that sort of performance - they are far better than the dross of St J, Dunfermline, Aberdeen etc - and as such 3 points there is brilliant, as many teams will drop points there. Special mention to Forbes, didnt look out of place, filled in for Las brilliantly. My MotM, put himself about very well, not scared to tackle, good effort (and maybe his fitness has improved?). A couple of tired passes in the last 5mins, but that is allowed. Nearly scored a wonder goal as well, that Samson done well to divert. All round good performance. Top of the table - fucking magic!

This is where we may rue losing out to United for Gunning, hindsight is a wonderful thing in life.

Not that it would be my desire to try the following, but a lot of people are simply stating whether it should be Forbes or Hateley for the midfield. The other solution, possibly to fire into the mix would be simply shift Law into the centre, which is apparently his natural position. He has more experience than Carswell, and is a helluva lot more mobile than Forbes. This would then allow Hateley to remain at RB alongside what we'd assume Hutchinson, Craigan and Hammell. Therefore, we'd then have to deal with the LM that would be vacated by Law's move to the centre. Solution? Murphy back to the left where he featured for the majority of last season - and that would then allow McHugh to come in, and despite his below-par performance against Killie - the fact he'd be accompanied by Higdon's presence then he may actually get more joy. And with Law being in the centre, he can cover the ground so quickly and his passing range and creativity will be even more integral coming from the centre. Will be able to provide quick and accurate ammunition to both Murphy and Humphrey, or simply to release McHugh. Means that it's easily tinkerable in the 2nd half if it is failing with McHugh being replaced by Forbes, shifting Murphy back up front and Law back to the left. Gives us plenty of options and keeps our back 4 in place. So, we could look at a team perhaps of: ------------------ Randy ------------------------ Tom ------ Hutch --- Craigan --- Hammell Hump----- Law ---- Jennings --- Murphy ----------- Higdon ---- McHugh ------------- Just another option to throw out there..

Aye, Tom an absolute standout today, distribution was top drawer (from open play, as we have to exclude his corners/set pieces), his tenacity in the tackle - which is sometimes lacking, got stuck in about it - possibly more than any other, and solid performance overall. Hammell also being right up there, not a coincidence that both Driver and Templeton were hooked, neither got ANY joy off either full back today. Hopefully the same tenacity and distribution is there for when he fills in for Las next week.

Arguable, you'd expect someone of Cammy Bell's standard to save McHugh's shot quite routinely. His tip over of Jennings shot in the 2nd half was far more outstanding. Right behind it and was destined for the top corner, absolutely outstanding save. But, we ain't here to discuss the merits of Cammy Bell. FWIW, players need a run of games a la Blackman and Jutkiewicz, therefore McHugh needs more than one start to feel comfortable, gain a full understanding of the play of the team, and general pace/physicality of the SPL - worthy of another start, at least.

Artur Krysiak.

As stated above, its a 3-year deal. However, both clubs were quick to refute the possibility of this deal being connected with the Goodwillie transfer. Apparently, this would have happened regardless and is in no way involved with the other transfer. Just merely coincidental. So, the door would have been open for us to sign Gunning, if he was desired. Edit: As for Semih Aydilek, he was on loan (at the end of McGhee's first season, IIRC) from Birmingham City. Never featured, bar a few fancy flicks and touches in the occasional warm-up and half-time mess-around. Quickly got injured in a bounce/U19 match and was promptly fired back to Brum.

Billy Davies surely has to be odds-on to takeover, once Ally is inevitably let-go or "moved elsewhere" as Rangers tend to put it.

Well Levein was at Rugby Park, and he would have witnessed a fucking absymal performance from Murphy. Just unfortunate that when it really mattered to put a performance in, he was marked and kicked out the game, and had no physical support to assist him up front. Done himself no favours with that performance. Albeit, his previous performances, possibly merited a call-up, but this may well have been Levein's first sighting of him since tail end of last season/Cup Final - again where was was piss-poor.

Any comparison with past transfers is pretty pointless, as all players including Pearson, Clarky, Quinn, Reynolds, McDonald, Porter, Foran - all of them even including McCormack (whom we received a nominal fee/compensation) - the one thing they all had in common was that they had a matter of months left on their respective deals. As such, we were in no position to bargain with any possible suitors. We knew we would be unable to sign the players to longer deals, and subsequently we were left with the options of taking the money or losing them within 6/12 months and receiving nothing. As such, the club rightly took the money for the players. The only comparison that is remotely similar, would be Faddy - that in itself it tarnished with the fact we were in Administration and a bawhair away from being liquidated. As such ANY bid of that value would have to be accepted, and we were in no position to haggle a better price and deal. And in the climate of 2002/2003 we got a good deal for McFadden when you include the sell-on clause that was inserted (albeit we got lucky that Brum/Eck splashed out £5.5m for him). Transfer fee's have escalated through the roof since then, and in today's market £1.5m is probably about £4m. So, in no circumstances did we get a raw deal for McFadden - we got roughly the going rate of the time. If anything the only one that can be compared fully would be we said no to Rangers (albeit there is a lot of doubt as to the way the deal was made up) for Reynolds. We reckoned we could get more money by holding on to him and letting him grow as a player. Unfortunately, it never quite worked out how we thought it would. But, just shows there is scope from the board to reject bids if they indeed believe they can get more by holding on to them. So, there is no reason to criticise the board from past transfers - this is the first potential transfer where they really can make a stance and basically tell them "£2m or fuck off" as he is under a lengthy contract - and I fully believe that no derisory bid will be accepted. Besides, Murphy seems a sensible, level-headed player and don't particularly see him wanting to jump ship any time soon - unless a bid is accepted by Motherwell. Great to see that no agents appear involved in the press, stirring the interest. Seems a really good party behind him as well. Potential to be the biggest transfer ever out of FP anyway, amazing how much he has developed even in the last few months.

1 + 2 - There only ever will be a handful of points to seperate them - so could really go either way. 3 - Hearts - probably have a big enough squad, and despite JJ being a wank, he has the experience and knows how to get results in this league 4 - Motherwell - normally a bit more pessimistic about our chances, but just think due to the lack of quality elsewhere in the league then we will be up there, on the occasions we have our fit first team squad we will beat most teams, we will drop points when we have the occasional injury but still more quality than most.. 5 - United - Think they'll dip - they have arguably a smaller squad (in terms of first team experience) than we do, and that is saying something - with Goodwillie now cup tied, wouldnt be all that surprising to see him stay at United for one more season before his move to Rangers - if so his goals will keep them top 6 6 - St Mirren - Decent signings, Smith is an adequate 'keeper - albeit would have been better keeping Gallacher, Thompson is a great bit of business, personally feel Teale is pish, but should still be capable of providing Thompson with enough ammunition to score a good few goals, improved their squad unlike the others who have gone backwards 7 - Kilmarnock - Loss of key players, but have signed a barrell load of foreigners, that could be brilliant or awful - putting them here as they have a knack of picking up results and always being safe, despite being fucking gash. 8 - Inverness CT - Loss of Rooney's goals could be massive, and they may be lucky to finish this highly, but Butcher will have them motivated, and they'll always be organised and hard to beat, so will pick up enough points 9 - St Johnstone - Not much between them and the Pars, but McInnes experience over McIntyre will be crucial and they'll pick up more points along the way 10 - Dunfermline Athletic - We continually see it with teams promoted from the 1st Division, they are all competitive and don't fall straight back down, as such the fight and desire to stay in the league could be enough to keep them above Hibs/Aberdeen who will have the thoughts of being "too big to go down" 11 - Hibs - Calderwood will probably be gone imminetly, which means any new manager wont have had much time to assemble a squad, nor analyse the current squad - which is frankly gash - O'Connor will still score them goals, and will be enough to keep them above Aberdeen - but I perceive an interesting relegation tussle between two of the "bigger" teams of the SPL. 12 - Aberdeen - No goalscorer, untried 'keeper (who just by the look of him looks a bombscare), a defensive line of Andrew Considine and no creativity in midfield with the departure of Hartley, and they'll sorely miss that wank Maguire - and with little to no funds to really strengthen - they are screwed and we can all hopefully all laugh at Browns departure by Nov/Dec.

Echo the thoughts, Law was tremendous. Great pass for Humphrey for the opening goal. Great link up play with Murphy for his own goal, and a delicate finish as well to round it off. Started to get stuck in a bit more as well. I know its far too early to say, and it'll just merely be because it is pre-season and is not match sharp - but Higdon did stick out like a sore thumb today, struggled against the lower league opposition - and we can't judge him on one performance - but if we did, Casagolda looked a better option. Long way to go and he did technically set up Craigan's goal and indirectly Murphy's opener. Good performance, and other positive was another solid perfomance from Hollis again in goal for the 1st half. A few brilliant stops.

Tuppence worth: Hollis coped well in goal, made a few impressive stops and had absolutely 0% chance for the goal, with completely static defending and a subsequent tidy finish. Saunders and Hutchinson both put a decent shift in and looked comfortable. Hammell and Hateley being the two that looked like they had just came back from their holidays and lack match practice clearly showed with these two. Law had a few nice touches and sprayed a few tidy balls across to Humphrey - clearly likes the ball on the deck which is good to know. Looks fairly nippy - on a couple of occasions did shite out of it (like the Rotherham fans stated prior to his signing) - albeit benefit of the doubt that its only a pre-season match - but signs are there of this. Murphy showed that he was easily the best player on the park, a few incisive runs and a fantastic curled effort for the goal. Strolled through the game. Higdon - hard to tell - 0 service to the big guy (bar the corner of which he was unlucky to hit the post) put himself about, otherwise not much to report about. Of the familiar subs who are likely to feature: Forbes - sprayed the ball about, rarely mis-placed a pass, albeit Morton did give him an entire acre to orchestrate things from the middle of the park. Pollock - looked the best player on the park in the 2nd half, ran at them and caused them problems, nice little dink to set up the winner as well. Impressive showing and hopefully more appearances this season, just not getting carried away after a friendly vs a tiring 1st Division side. Honourable mention to Muir in goal, who made a few decent saves come the 2nd half as well and stood up well. Not the worst friendly I have seen, and good to come out with a win, regardless.

It's a shame Scotland doesn't operate a similar system to Spain - where it is legal and acceptable for one club to pay another clubs players a "bonus" for an "improved performance". i.e. it is acceptable for say Real Madrid to offer a bonus to the players of Osasuna/Mallorca etc in return for taking points off Barcelona. Not overly used, but has been in the past - of which it is quite public information - no discreetness in what is underhand tactics. Shame the rule doesn't exist in Scotland, added to the fact Rangers couldn't afford to offer bonuses to themselves, let alone anyone else. They are simply not allowed to pay someone to lose, but can pay someone to win - very strange system in la Liga. As we could have been going into the last day - where a win/draw against Celtic would net a winfall from Rangers - and a defeat would net a mini-winfall from guaranteeing European football for the following season. Win/Win!

Speroni (Palace), Smithies (Huddersfield), Camp (Forest), Kenny (QPR), Marshall (Cardiff), Lonergan (PNE), De Vries (Swansea), Westwood (Coventry) to name just a few briefly are as consistant if not better, with equally as much potential as Randolph - and all dont feature in the EPL.

Tbf, Walsall are League 1, gie the guy/team some credit..

O'Brien certainly cost money - we attempted to get him for free but typical Celtic held out for a "nominal fee" (that aint a criticism of Celtic - as why shouldn't they look for a fee). Otherwise yeah Hammell cost a bit of cash - although we made profit in the sense we sold Paterson for more than we re-purchased Hammell. Further back Brian McLean cost some cash as well from Rangers.

No Surprises. Same team as against Dundee at Dens bar Forbes in for Fitzy. I'll go for 1-1, with Forbes putting is in front from range. And boy wonder to equalise for United in the 2nd half.

Are you sure? Edit: DC'd left logged in. Its Robyn. Apologies.

As the situation stands, there were 7 games guaranteed to go ahead this weekend. The 6 SPL + The Alba Cup. Of which the Poles were going to officiate 3 of them i.e 3 x 4-person teams = 12 officials. If they have withdrawn and the Portuguese and Israeli's remain in place. Then 4 matches will still go ahead. In order of priority for the SPL/SFA - then the Rangers/Celtic games will be certainties to go ahead, as would ours as they wont want to harm any relationship with Sky/ESPN. And they would throw in the Cup Final as the easy extra game. Surely this would make sense if no alternate cover can be seeked. However, the Polish reason of "they are now required for domestic games" - how the fuck could they not figure that out last night when agreeing to send them over. Ridiculous.

Fourth round draw: Aberdeen v East Fife Dundee United v Ross County Queen of the South v Brechin City or Annan Athletic Montrose v Dunfermline Athletic Greenock Morton v Airdrie United or Beith Falkirk v Partick Thistle Berwick Rangers v Celtic East Stirlingshire v Buckie Thistle Rangers v Kilmarnock Hibernian v Ayr United Stenhousemuir or Threave Rovers v Stranraer Hamilton Academical v Alloa Athletic St Mirren v Peterhead Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Elgin City Dundee v Motherwell Heart of Midlothian v St Johnstone Ties will be played on 8th and 9th January 2011