Buttocks Brown

Luke Kenny made his debut for Cliftonville tonight. Got the last few minutes from the bench having been an unused sub the previous 3 games. Fraser Taylor has started and finished Ballymena's last 7 matches.

Worth keeping an eye on the weather for this one. Storm Agnes in the vicinity around game time.

I wondered if the triple substitution yesterday was pre-planned with Wednesday in mind. Robinson also said post-match that there would be some changes for Hibs. Possible that the team that finished against Hearts will start against Hibs?

Another brilliant day out in Paisley! Injuries and the winter transfer window may well do for us, but we have a real chance of top 4/5. Listened to Robbo on the Open Goal podcast on the way to the game today. Enjoyed the detail like starting training a little later in the morning so that players can take their kids to school. Small things like that make for a happy workplace. Interesting too that when asked about his future it didn't take him long to mention Northern Ireland. Odds on that he'll take over when Michael O'Neil departs again. PS get a new contract in front of Goga pronto.

1. v Kilmarnock (2023) = 7937 2. v Dundee Utd (2019) = 7732 3. v Kilmarnock (2009) = 7542 4. v Hearts (2023) = 7537 5. v Aberdeen (2023) = 7492 6. v Aberdeen (2022) = 7349 7. V Rangers (2019) = 7337 8. v Celtic (2018) = 7288 9. v Hibernian (2023) = 7253 10. v Hearts (2023) = 7249

Struggling to think of the last time we signed a player from the lower leagues in Scotland? Tiffoney, Turner and Deas have all made the step up from the Championship this season but not much to get excited about there. Seems like the financial disparity between the 2 leagues is leading to a widening gap in quality.

Very detailed minutes put out by SMISA this morning. Some of the key points: 3664 season tickets sold at the end of August. SMISA has £324K in the bank and 1221 members. The new scoreboard and LED advertising boards arrived at the club last week. Work on 3 executive rooms in the main stand to start imminently at a cost of £70-80K. Will pay for themselves within 18 months then start making profit. The club's income for June/July was well up on the same period last year. 4 candidates were interviewed for Gordon Scott's position on the board. Preferred candidate to be announced shortly. Alan Wardrop's stadium ban will likely be lifted once he removes his threat of legal action against the club. Club not considering safe standing areas at the moment.

A bit of a puzzler how he'd been playing in Northern Ireland until the age of 28. Viaplay had Iain Dowie in the studio and he said McMenamin was the best player in that league "by a mile".

Most of Conor's caps have been from the bench. After tonight, I think he'll be one of the first names in the starting 11.

He's been outstanding. Giving the Slovenian left back a torrid time.

McMenamin starts for NI in Slovenia. 7th cap

BBC reporting that Hibs will interview 5 candidates. As you say though, Montgomery looks like a shoe-in. Maybe they've just put that out to keep him on his toes.

Looking back through the records, I think that the last time we opened a top league season with 2 wins and 2 draws was 70/71. Didn't lose any of our first 6.... then went on to get relegated!

Robbo's trusty scattergun approach: Mandron = 4 Nahmani = 3 Olusanya = 2 Greive = 2 Kiltie = 1

Hard not to think, when hearing the equaliser, that the romance of football could be in play: in Robinson's last game we score a last minute goal to go top of the league. Fingers crossed it's a quiet international break at SMFC!

Worst possible time to take over at another club just as the transfer window is closing. After he joined us, Robbo was clearly frustrated and angry at having to work with someone else's squad. That's what he'd be walking into at Hibs and he seems to be really enjoying himself just now. On the other hand, from the outside, many will say he's taken us as far as possible. Maybe he's ready for a new challenge. Who knows..... if worst come to the worst, at least we'll be well-compensated.

Well, that would be the dream. As it is though, 5-6000 home fans every game is a good whack in terms of gate receipts over a season. Must be a pretty substantial increase in income compared to pre-covid times.

Not the end result we wanted yesterday but how good is the matchday experience going to see the Saints these days? It's amazing seeing the place so busy and it makes such a difference. I'm beginning to think we are actually seeing a proper, long term shift in attendance figures. The result is that the stadium has really come into its own I think for the first time. It's just the right size and the atmosphere at games is superb. Have said it before, but I think the community work the club is doing has been a masterstroke. People, who didn't bother before, are now getting into the habit of coming to games.

https://twitter.com/m4tt_h/status/1695499976346845251?t=0i1l_bdGmmNzoA6gMB5HuA&s=19

Goalkeepers Urminsky (24), Hemming (23), Kelly (16) Defenders Dunne (30), Fraser (29), R.Taylor (22), Tanser (28), Strain (26), Sutherland (17), Bolton (28), Small (19) Midfielders O'Hara (27), Gogic (29), Flynn (34), Baccus (25), Kiltie (26), Boyd-Munce (23), Gaffney (19) Forwards Ayunga (26), Greive (24), Olusanya (25), Jamieson (21), Nahmani (20), McMenamin (27), Mandron (28)

If all goes well, Ayunga back mid-October. bit.ly/3smgNEq

As much as Kettlewell's former BBC colleagues like blowing smoke up his arse and talking about how wonderful a job he's doing..... If he's left himself with his post-Van Veen forward options as those 2 lads on Saturday + Obika, then he might be back doing "Open All Mics" in the not too distant future.

I see that Dylan Reid has made the step up from Crystal Palace U18s and is now starting games for their U21s. Was the second youngest player in their 11 on Saturday. Looks like he's progressing well.

We'll never see another transfer window like that again. Ferdinand, Hladky, Muzek, Popescu, Dreyer, Nazon to name but a few. I don't know how all those guys from across Europe were identified. Am I right in saying that Gus was involved? Did he do the scouting work before the window opened? Seem to remember Vaclav had basically just been a sub goalie in the Czech league for years and years. Diamond unearthed.