David

I'd take that for sure. A point from Celtic away is a good result.

We're fourth because we've beaten teams like Hearts, St Mirren, St Johnstone, and Dundee United at home, while picking up points away against County, St Johnstone, Hibs, Dundee United, St Mirren, and Kilmarnock. Any team putting together that kind of record over the first 18 games of the season is bound to be closer to the top of the table than the bottom. As for the overall quality of the league, that's a separate debate. Scottish football is what it is. We're a smaller nation, comparable in size to Slovakia, Finland, Norway, or Ireland. How strong are the domestic leagues in those countries? Are they known for their quality? Within the context of Scottish football, we're sitting fourth—behind the two biggest clubs in the country and a big city club, and ahead of at least three sides that, given their resources, ought to be doing better than us. It’s easy to look at our relative success and dismiss it with, "Well, the league isn’t any good anyway." If that’s your view, fair enough.

Maybe it would have been best to go a step further and not even mention it? Unless it was just an excuse to let "the nobodies" know their place.

If it were the club who was revealing the name then sure. But on a fan forum? It's basically just speculation, no matter what anyone claims about being "in the know".

How so? You think posting the guys name on a fans forum could put the deal in jeopardy?

A new manager always gets a bit of grace. How long has Simo been there now? A couple of months? At the moment he's lost twice as many games as he's won, and his team sit in 11th. I certainly wouldn't be trading places with them. Are we really reverting to the tired old "we're fourth, so every other team must be rubbish" narrative? It seems some people roll that out every time we break into the top six. The fact is, we’re exactly where we’ve earned the right to be. Right now, we’re the fourth-best team in the league, and whether other sides are brilliant, dreadful, or somewhere in between is irrelevant. Heading into Christmas sitting fourth in the table, with a cup semi-final secured, is a brilliant position to be in. This is such an important point. A lot of our supporters focus solely on what we’re doing, assuming that if the manager selects the “right” team and employs the “right” tactics, everything will fall into place. But football doesn’t work like that—our opponents play a massive role too. Many of the common criticisms and complaints could probably be addressed and explained by the manager, highlighting factors most of us wouldn’t even consider. For example, when we argue that TJ should start ahead of Watt, are we factoring in how McInnes might set his team up to counter that? Or how that decision could create vulnerabilities elsewhere for Kilmarnock to exploit? No, we see TJ come on for the last 15 minutes, play well, and think, “Well, he should’ve started—surely he’d have delivered that same performance over the entire game. Poor choice by the manager.” It’s rarely that simple.

That's true 😂

I could be mistaken, but I’d attribute it more to his youth. With youth comes inconsistency—it’s inevitable. As for quality and entertainment, no matter what fans might think, those will always take a back seat to results. I’ve yet to see a club at the foot of the table with fans delighted simply because they’re playing entertaining football. People’s livelihoods are at stake—managers, players, and even backroom staff. Relegation can mean the difference between someone keeping their job in the office or getting their P45. Last time I checked, you can’t pay your rent with entertainment tokens in place of wages. I don’t for a moment believe any club in Scotland deliberately sets out to play poorly, but they’ll do whatever is necessary to get results. Sometimes that means an exciting 4-3 like we saw against United, and other times it’s the grind of a 1-1 like last night. I’ve also long supported the idea of summer football. I realise most people aren’t in favour, which is fair enough, but when matches are played in dreadful conditions—rain lashing down, wind howling, fans freezing and soaked—it’s bound to affect the quality on the pitch. Countries like Sweden, Norway, Finland, Latvia, and Lithuania all run their seasons from March to November, and there’s good reason for it. We’ve chosen not to, so we have to accept that on a cold, wet, and windy December night, the football will often reflect the weather.

All this talk of who should and shouldn't be playing. Maybe time to dust off the ol' tombola.

I'm a happy clapper, mind? My hands are rid raw.

Ah well, always next time, eh?

He's the guy who pays the actual bills to keep the place running so, I guess that might qualify? Who knows? Anyway, back on topic. It's been made clear that those on moderation (not banned) can easily post about the football whenever they like. Those posts will be readily approved by the mods and we can all enjoy discussing the fitba.

This is something that I can't understand. Has he been mentioned as being injured or unavailable?

I didn't see his post as him "boasting" about it. That would be a rather peculiar thing to boast about. It's simply adding context to the reasoning behind the offence taken, and it's a valid point. The truth is, if anyone believes they should be able to post antagonistic nonsense on a football forum, they run the chance of being put on moderation. It's as simple as that. The main point is, no one has been placed on moderation for their views on the team, their opinions of Kettlewell, or anything as run of the mill as that. Those on moderation know exactly why they've been placed there.

For those curious, this is precisely the sort of post moderation is designed to address. On this occasion, I’ve let it remain visible so everyone can see it for themselves. It serves no purpose whatsoever, other than to provoke someone unnecessarily. This highlights why moderation is necessary in some cases.