fizoxy

I picked Foley for the goal he absolutely meant to score, that I missed because I slept in.

Yay, the season is over! The problem with this being such a forgettable one is that I'll forget it and end up all optimistic about next season in a couple of days. However, we will always have the memories of Chapman and pre steroids Lamie.

I don't know what math I was using. I can only think I didn't add a point to our total in the event of us drawing :-)

7th is in our own hands, but we can only get it with a win, which I think we'll get.

Accies will stay up, we've seen this all before. I think killie are in serious trouble though. County and Accies are that bit more scrappy and desperate. The possibility of finishing 7th with largely the same squad that had us in serious relegation trouble, over a team that the media has raved about for some reason, is crazy. Who knows whether Robinson could have got us out of that mess, but fair play to Alexander, Kelly, and Tommy f'n Wright.

Not surprised we're at least trying to secure Cole. Seems like it would be a good move for both parties, but we know more money is available elsewhere. I don't know what Foley's injury history is, but his age isn't an issue for me, 34 isn't old if you take care of yourself. If he plays like yesterday, and trains like Alexander mentioned, I doubt he'd be a backup player, but as said above, if he's not up to playing a full season we'll have too many bit part midfielders on our books if we retain him. I like him, but I also really liked Davide Ferrere after his debut, so I'll give this one a few more games.

Accies are totally staying up. It was good to see us play with a bit more confidence, with some really good play in the first half especially that made us way more watchable than our last few games. Foley had an excellent game, and I can see why he was so highly regarded by St Mirren fans. Lawless also looked better when he was on. Killie had a spell when Burke came on where it looked like the equalizer was inevitable, but our changes cancelled that out, and the second goal killed them. We looked good at the back, and Lamie handled lafferty well, but had his usual couple of mental lapses that could have cost us. Kelly only had to make 2 saves all game though. I really like McGinley, he's a sneaky cynical bastard, and has been solid since getting back in. I thought Hastie looked dangerous but is seriously lacking in confidence. If someone can help him get that back he may find his way again, but I cant imagine it will be with us. Cole is playing his way out of us having any chance of keeping him, which is a shame.

The additional money for finishing higher in the league may go some way towards replacing him, so I'd rather we played our best team for the last few games, and he's part of that. We're also still paying him. The bosman rule has been around long enough that we should be able to handle players looking to secure their next job without taking it personally

Out of that list, Grimshaw and Mcginley are contracted. I have to assume Mcginley is in the plans for next year given the playing time he's had recently, but I worry for Grimshaw, who seems to have had a nasty illness. Of the ones not in bold, i could possibly see an argument for Long, but since he wouldn't have played had Roberts and Watt been fit, I'd assume he's not in the plans either. Had Robinson still been manager I wouldn't have been surprised to see us keep dunne, who I like, but surely GA will be looking to bring in his own man there. It's going to be an interesting summer.

Looking forward to doing g the same with this current squad in 30 years time. Should be some banter, and maybe as a wee "this is your life" style surprise they can all meet Eddie Nolan for the first time.

We're 9 points above killie. Therefore Nolan was the better signing.

Weird, hes a right back.

I want killie and county to win, all about 7th now.

Entertainment goes out the window when you need points to avoid relegation. We beat a team that's hammered us three times already, and on a shite park, and we've all but relegated them. I'll take it.

Allan Campbell is fit for tomorrow, Roberts faces a fitness test, and Watt is out for another week.

Sand in his vagina.

That's how I took it, as well as Polworth editing his own hype videos and ranting to his wife about through balls.

We're going to hammer them. Crawford will score his only motherwell goal.

I can see why Alexander keeps talking about mentality, as they just strolled about for the majority of that game like it was an inter squad match. I wonder if the lack of fans has caused some this drop off, but the lack of any urgency was frustrating. Even Longy was pissed off and he's Mr Motivator. Kelly saved us again, he must be our only realistic shout for player of the season. The only player to have made a bigger impact has been Chapman. I thought Lamie and McGinley were fine at the back, and Wishaws own gets pass marks for the goal. Gallaghers punts were something else. I cant believe we brought on a defender to shore things up then immediately conceded a corner. That was piss poor game management, which has been a fixture of our season. We are too good at penalties, it worries me. But we're through and that really is all that matters. On to the next.

From the current squad, we stand to lose: Kelly, Chapman, Gallagher, Magloire, Nolan, Dunne, Campbell, Foley, Polworth, Hastie, Long, Cole, Seedorf, Roberts, robinson, Smith That would be a loss of 16, 9 of whom have done next to nothing this season. Unless someone under contract leaves, we are left with: 2 keepers - Carson, Morrison 2 left backs - Mcginley, Carroll 2 right backs - O'donnell, Grimshaw 2 centre backs - Lamie, Mugabi 5 midfielders - O'Hara, Donnelly, Crawford, Lawless, Maguire 1 forward - Watt Unless I've missed anyone, that's 14. We probably need at least another keeper (hopefully Kelly), and a Striker (hopefully Cole), a backup striker/ a winger or two, a centre back, and even though we have the numbers in there, we really need something better in midfield, especially with Campbell going. So a minimum of 6. So a squad of 20ish seems possible. I'm ot sure of the status of the younger ones, i.e. Devine, Hussain, Mciver, Cornelius and Semple however.

Maybe time to try a new head of recruitment? I'd love to keep Cole, but he's got a brand to keep up and I'm not sure we fit in with that. However, He really could raise his stock by showing some consistency at one club for a bit. I also don't see us signing 8-10 players. Maybe 4 or 5.

Funny thing is if we signed any of those St. J players a lot of well fans would be furious :-) The point stands though, for our model to work, we still need a core of players that are going to form the core of the 1st team that are solid premier league players and nothing else, and it would be ideal if one of those players was the captain, to ensure some kind of consistency while we rebuild the other half of the squad each year. I'm surprised that Alexander was so quick to tie up Crawford and mugabi, Maybe with our player budget being so high this year we're taking the approach of sticking with some known quantities that are probably cheaper and supplementing with 2 or 3 (hopefully) higher caliber players. Time will tell. Overall he's done a good job as far as results go. It will be interesting to see if we stick with the 4-3-3 once he shapes his own squad.

Thought mcginley was solid, so gave it to him. Kelly probably deserves it though.

Needed 3 points, and got 3 points, job done. Thought mcginley had a good game, while SOD had a shocker. The change at half time did improve us. We were really poor in possession, and I thought we'd screwed it with that ball out wide to long, so fair play to him for retrieving it and putting in a good cross for cole. It would be nice if we could go on to finish above St. Mirren. Unfortunately we can't relegate accies in the next game, but maybe we can get the ball rolling.

That's embarrassing. Why would anyone think that's a worthwhile thing to do? Describing still having a job, with decent pay compared most, as hell because he doesn't get to play in a game is something else. I can imagine being shite all season is everyone else's fault too.