Handsome_Devil

I'd assume they're injured...but if not, it's possible he looked at a good performance v county followed by shite in Morton and decided a couple of fresh legs needed this time. Tbh as grim a watch as it's been, we've not been massively worse than them. But when you combine for two hideous errors to gift the lead as we did, being only on par for the rest of an attritional half doesn't really cut it.

Kelly is well behind Casey and miller in the blame game there. It sums up our season, a nothing game where we utterly shoot ourselves in the foot. We weren't even under pressure there.

Sure but there's a world of difference between not being self-sustaining with a benefactor or an investor looking for a return. You could probably knock this into a nice flow chart somehow but obviously this means taking money out the club on a regular basis or the overall value of the club rising so they can sell at a profit (to someone who thinks it'll make them money from the square one options above). If they're aiming for dividends, it's wildly optimistic to think anyone will transform the model we already have selling folk beyond it's current cyclical nature and total fantasy to think they'll establish us at a 'higher level' because the prize money in no way matches the cash needed. Alternatively they increase revenues off the pitch. This is possible but do we seriously think an outsider will be able to do so that much better than us, ie to take out hundreds of thousands on top of the hundreds of thousands needed to bridge the funding gap? I don't. If they're aiming for growth, they need to hope/ensure we're one of all the boats lifted by a rising tide - a change in Scotland's football structure, television/media rights, expanded Euro competitions etc. But this has little to do with them really... should this happen, would we be happy to be in this situation again with limited control over the next owner in exchange for a few hundred grand a year to bridge a gap we have so far done ourselves despite the Society phoning it in? Nah. I appreciate everyone loves to dream about riches but as soon as you start asking not what we get and they're willing to pay but what they get and we're willing to pay, it suddenly becomes very unappealing (at least for me!). And that's before we consider the risks of what happens if it all goes wrong. So sure, if we find someone with more money than sense who wants to buy our US media rights or someone who'll take a slice of the transfer profits in exchange for being able to invest in slightly better gambles then great, go for it. But the more I think about it, the more ridiculous I find the whole idea and conclude we're much better upping the game in the Society and taking some calculated investment risks of our own.

Just guessing but I suspect that's less a problem than a feature. You can't have a concrete yes/no on anything without knowing the details and you're not going to know the details until the very end. Even while the no to giving up control had stronger wording, there'll be people in that group who will have exceptions - ceding control to a proven benevolent dictator like Hutchinson or Boyle (for example - they're clearly not interested), or another local boy made good may see some red lines turn pink in comparison to giving ownership to a random from the other side of the world. And tbh any potential who walks because they see a robust, organised and bolshy fan group as a concern rather than an asset... cheerio.

No idea, it was suggested by Livi guys on deadline day he'd signed for us.

Isn't Obileye the guy supposedly on a PCA with us? Will he definitely play?

I think it'll be close...the wording of the question basically said we know you think that but go on, just have a wee peak at what's in box B and you can always change your mind later...

When did we last score from a corner? I mean proper cross, header, goal or a scramble straight in type, not second phase nonsense.

I had the same bemused reaction and for the life of me couldn't tell you if there's a difference between them? And surely the next generation of youths just become the Bois, you're not telling me folk in their 30s are hanging out there? Not to say there's anything wrong with being a 35-year-old ultra per se, but if everyone else in your group is at least 20 years younger eyebrows will be raised!

As depressing as that is, there is logic to it. Most goals in our league, outwith the OF at least, have a fair whack of incompetence about them. Last night's game would get football stopped yet both managers could say 'if we hadn't made a stupid mistake we'd have won'. Especially when the margins between making Europe through fifth and fighting off the play-off spot are bawhair thin, eliminating your own mistakes and waiting for the opposition to hand you the points is both the quickest and safest route to success.

I think that's fine in theory but when you hit the skids as we have on set pieces I suspect the manager ends up overthinking it..take a man, leave Mugabi free to attack it and keep it simple. Instinctively I prefer leaving someone up but even clubs at our level have guys poring over stats and if that's the way to go then fine. What I would say in contrast to the the hope of a break, no matter how appealing it is, the number of times Motherwell or Livingston will be able to move the ball 90 yards on a counterattack and score from being under defensive pressure must be absolutely tiny...there's a reason Humphrey at Tannadice, Spencer at St Johnstone etc get remembered for us for years, it's incredibly rare. When you think about it like that, just getting another body in the box, lumping it to f**k and dealing with what comes next is almost certainly the percentage play.

Various Motherwell managers have said the same... I don't know quite what stats they're quoting but so many of them do it I'm sure it's true. Anyway, I'm currently enjoying that blissful period where everything might look semi-solid this evening with a win...but there's no chance of that, this team just not have the character to go away and win tricky games. A point isn't a disaster but as I mentioned earlier, lose and we have a miserable time coming up.

Until they absolutely gifted one back. Scott should have won it straight after but produced a horrific attempt.

County have looked solid but hard to tell when St Mirren gifted them a goal and been generally miserable. Either way it takes up the pressure on tomorrow.

You would also assume our wage bill will be substantially lower and free from compensation payments (for now!). And while the cups were disappointing, we did progress beyond the first round exits we supposedly budget for. So aye, while too early to count chickens by any means, a modest operating profit would certainly seem possible.

You may well think that, I couldn't possibly comment.

Plenty of folk won't have adjusted their direct debits since starting X years ago...combine that with revamped Society and awareness of the situation and a few hundred k a year isn't impossible. You then relying us doing what we've always done but with a bit less margin for error. You're right that what comes next is the key question...and even allowing for people not knowing the details of business plans, I don't think I've seen one back of an envelope wild guess of how our situation will be better if we're also paying an investor X hundred k a year. And if any investor instead isn't interested in cash but a capital gain, I would argue that will mainly come from circumstances outwith our control...which again makes me ask why it's worth selling in the first place. By all means advertise for investment, we may well win the lottery in that regard and find someone who'd take a minority but apart from that and galvanising the Society, it does not seem a viable option at all.

Plenty of folk won't have adjusted their direct debits since starting X years ago...combine that with revamped Society and awareness of the situation and a few hundred k a year isn't impossible. You then relying us doing what we've always done but with a bit less margin for error. You're right that what comes next is the key question...and even allowing for people not knowing the details of business plans, I don't think I've seen one back of an envelope wild guess of how our situation will be better if we're also paying an investor X hundred k a year. And if any investor instead isn't interested in cash but a capital gain, I would argue that will mainly come from circumstances outwith our control...which again makes me ask why it's worth selling in the first place. By all means advertise for investment, we may well win the lottery in that regard and find someone who'd take a minority but apart from that and galvanising the Society, it does not seem a viable option at all.

Perhaps I overdid it but whispers suggested both parties had the feeling it was time for change... maybe false rumours ofc.

Aye, I absolutely hate it, it's yet another largely pointless change which just makes it even harder for the haves to lose to the have nots. Virtually every notable change made in football since the pass back rule (which was spot on tbf) has made things worse rather than better and they're now tying themselves in knots with things like sin bins because we're in a situation where Palma giving a message to his mate gets the same yellow card as Butcher for cynically stopping a decent chance on the edge of the box. It should be a relatively simple game, even with modern speed, attitudes, whatever, how the authorities continue to make this look so frigging hard is beyond me.

Tangential to us, Hibs fans (some of them at least) are voting against the £6m investment from the Bournemouth guy: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/68406904

Yes but there's very few teams of our level who will be capable of pressing Celtic in the last 10 minutes when defending something. I even think you're being pretty generous with 40 yards... Half the team are shattered, half the team (as per the five subs discussion) is shite. The thing about pressing is it has to work or you're in deep trouble with men taken out the game - it's why teams press like crazy in some moments but the second the opposition get set, fall back. That's just chasing the ball and inviting them to wander past you. If you ignore the defensive mistakes at the end, for me the more realistic thing that killed the balance of play was not having any type of attacking outlet on the break...even replacing the attacking Bair with the Chris Humphrey of strikers would have stretched the game and kept them honest.

Massive game for us if not quite on the do-or-die scale as Livingston. Most would have said one point out the last three with some encouraging performances was fine but, given we'll lose at Ibrox, that was conditional on winning this. Do so and we're edging towards safety, don't and there will be moaning to mid-March at best - especially if County beat St Mirren. It's hard to predict the line up when you don't know our injury situation and you wonder if, after making so few changes for the Morton debacle, we want to freshen it up a bit more.

I've seen Motherwell everywhere of those in the current top two leagues with the exception of County. I've seen a friendly though not competitive win on the books in Arbroath. Attendance below that was obviously much patchier due to the need for cup draws but the only one I've been to and not seen a win is Qots, unless you count the bonus point shout-out.

That's mostly what I'd have done though I don't think throwing Elliott on for his debut would have been without risk, even for five minutes....and I can see the logic of having Nicholson's fresher legs deeper while leaving in-form Spittal higher on the hope there's a half chance from 25 yards. But in general the point about tiredness v disorganisation is very valid. I said to someone the other day that for financial reasons next season we should forget using 16 players from a match day 20 but aim for 14 from 18 (with kids there for emergencies). I'm not convinced it'll hurt us that much.