Handsome_Devil

I know it's not an exact science and SOD has played more games but I'd have given long odds on him having the same assists as Gent. Would like to see Spittal get another goal to get his league double double...four assists for Bair surely too much to ask.

I don't think anyone will love the thought of Obileye. However... For the sake of argument, say we re-sign McGinn and SOD to play anywhere across the back three/five, but free Butcher and sign a first pick for the middle. You would probably want a sixth potential CB to cover form, injury, suspensions, SOD being emergency wing back etc but how good does that guy have to be? He's basically there for last 10 minute hold outs and would only start in a crisis. So if Obileye is 10-15% worse than Mugabi but 25-30% cheaper, for his (hopeful) role I'd say it's in the risk worth taking category. Ofc if Obileye is the new first choice for the centre, we riot.

Not a Hibs fan but as an outsider it's hard to suspect there's not a bit of truth in it. If they're sensible they would go for Robinson but I imagine they'll turn their nose up, bring in a totally random outsider and then wonder what went wrong when they sack him in March.

Fuchs was great at United and I'd have been thrilled to sign him last January - but he's had bad injuries and we already have Davor and Halliday signed up to shitfest in that position next season, so I wouldn't be rushing a repeat attempt.

I see we're up against David Gray, the lost experienced caretaker manager in Scotland, tomorrow. Our board will no doubt be messaging each other with some smug satisfaction this morning...

Just sticking my head in here to commiserate with the nerves of the next days, we've all been there before and will not doubt be back soon enough. Stick on draw btw.

I've not seen the Hibs highlights from yesterday but 0-4 has strong 'team has chucked it' vibes. You'd expect a bit of a reaction from that - especially if Montgomery goes, which rightly or wrongly now looks inevitable? - but hopefully we'll have enough to share the spoils anyway in a 2-2 draw.

Can't speak for everyone obviously but I - and quite a few others from memory - basically said so last summer, yes. A little frustration creeps in when two of the middle three are shite which opens the door to Europe and we weren't there to challenge but personally I consider that the price for a three-manager season and January supermarket sweep. We were happy to sign the bill for 2023 survival knowing the likely knock-on effect for 2024, it's off to complain now. If last July you'd offered me comfortably safe (whether seventh or tenth) and a balanced budget to start 24/25 I'd have been entirely happy.

I'd also be surprised if Killie aren't higher than us this season. But it's worth remembering a fair whack of what will appear on the wage bill this season is paying off previous errors - unless by some miracle we got all those loan guys etc off the books in full. To which other clubs will rightly shrug 'whose fault is that then?' but SK will certainly not count in assessing 'his' budget and performance in comparison to others. Motherwell and St Johnstone might have the same wage bill as St Mirren this season (illustration purposes only, I've not looked :-)) but if they get nearly 100% of that contributing because they were solid last season while the other pair are at 80% because they had to write off last season's rubbish, it's a fair difference in practical terms regardless of what appears in the accounts. It's why us muddling through with SK this season (even if it had been bawhair tight in the end) was much preferable to two more sets of compensation and a January trolley dash to secure safety by a margin... It can quite easily turn out to be a false economy and escaping the consequences of a rescue mission can take an extra year or two. And it's why I'm cautiously hopeful we're due an upturn in the cycle...if we spend the 'extra' money wisely ofc!

I think one of those things is highly likely!

Ifs and maybes but I think Robinson would have stabilised things had 2020 continued, much like he did this year. I think Aberdeen would have pipped us for third but we'd hardly have complained with fourth and probably Europe. But the lack of consistency is indeed remarkable. I guess we did manage consistency in 2017/18 on paper but that had a post LC collapse and major rebuild in January without Moult. 16/17 was consistently shite, I guess, but Robinson saved us, as McGhee did in 15/16. Even 14/15, we were very solid from January under Baraclough compared to the farce before. Obviously you're then back to McCall, where there was true positive consistency, but since then it's one (being shite) in over a decade really.

If we'd sacked Kettlewell on the bus back from Dingwall in December and replaced him the next morning, if that new guy had his SK's record from St Mirren away, we'd be absolutely delighted and felt more than vindicated in changing. The reverse also applies - we can feel very vindicated in keeping the faith when most of the support (me included) would have binned him. Obviously you can say SK put us there so it's fair he doesn't get full credit but that record would be: Five losses in about 20 games, to the top three and Aberdeen (and three of them were marginal). Safety guaranteed with three games to go but in practice from early March. An 'I was there' landmark win at Ibrox. The transformation of Bair into a sellable asset. The added bonus of a club (ok Spittal) goal of the season competition. So for me he's more than atoned and earned his shot at next season. However, while there's enough evidence he's a decent coach, his future depends entirely on having learned from his mistakes and having a better summer.

Nope.

Didn't see it but hard to argue with 5-1 - basically Laidlaw threw us the initiative, if not the games, but we were there to take it and saw it out. Thrilled Davor and McGinn got their goals, Bair boosted his stats and Spittal is ending on a high. Fingers crossed we continue our form on Wednesday and County don't win in Perth. The board must be feeling exceptionally vindicated on SK btw...but a bad summer and pressure will be on again. Football, eh.

They'll be on the phone to us the minute they sober up imo, which tbf is worth f**k all given my take on this in January I suspect he's missed his window to be appealing for the bigger fish on Scotland but you never know. he'll be 33 at the start of next season and has just had a year where he was not only utterly miserable but deemed unprofessional by his parent club (and given the size of him when he appeared at FP, the court finds in favour of the prosecution here) and barely kicked a ball for Killie. Clearly someone in Saudi Arabia or somewhere may still be willing to throw silly money at him but assuming he wants to be vaguely northern Europe based for family reasons, he is in no real position to be picky. I think Groningen's logical step is to consider if he's a vaguely workable option for their squad but if they - or quite possibly he - decides against, they're in the same dilemma I erroneously thought they had in January, a 10k a week (reportedly) liability and no one interested in coming close. KVV can demand no more than 10k a week for the next two years and there's surely no way Hibs or Hearts etc are going to repeat Killie's mistake, he's just not worth that now. Groningen have the classic bad investment situation where it might hurt psychologically to cement your loss but ultimately salvaging X% is better than losing 100%. And with us they have extra room to negotiate over any money left owed. So all things considered, I think there's a very real chance he'll end up back at FP next season... not as high as 50% perhaps but substantial nonetheless. Whether that's a good move for us I'm much less convinced, though I think Kettlewell would go for it.