Yoss

So if you wanted a larger squad but it's not about spending more money then what are you saying? You wanted them to sign more players but cheaper ones?

So what form should this ambition take if it doesn't mean spending more money?

Thanks to the "ambition" of previous boards we're lucky still to be in business and will have more years yet of belt-tightening before we've paid off the ground debt and recovered from those days. You can shove your ambition up your arse.

Jon Stewart?

A pars fan was telling me yesterday that there's talk of Geggan going to Rangers.

I'm starting to get a mite narked at the lack of decent away friendlies. Ever since the Southport / Chester debacle a few years back - which was just down to freak weather - we've played nearly everything at home. Give us a decent away game sometime please, guys. We can't rely on being drawn away at Wick in the cup every year.

At the time he quoted the two year deal as being part of the reason he signed. Although one year into it when he'd done quite well he was wishing he'd only signed for a year, sure. I agree it's a pity we aren't doing two year deals these days, in McGlynn's time that gave us some stability as well as helping us to sign players. Anyway, more disappointed to lose Baird than Cardle, but hey-ho.

Edit: beaten to it.

I don't think you'd need to accuse someone of being "money-driven" to think they might want to move up a division.

All the best to him.

Not fussed either way on Cardle. If he signs, fine - but I'd sooner keep Anderson, if it were to be a choice. Be great if we could keep Booth, but I'm assuming that won't happen.

Well I'm going to the game, and I'll be in the Cowdenbeath end. I can't promise to do much roaring.

Fair play to them, I thought they might introduce a category A type thing for the bigger games. Discount-price season tickets have gone up from £200 to £230, but I don't begrudge them that.

No way is Callachan as good as Davo. Not by a distance.

Okay, I was swithering but you've convinced me - Cowdenbeath ftw. I'd have Davo back but I don't think it'll happen.

Agreed. It's quite hard to work out what the problem has been these last few months.

I suppose it may be that, if the idea is to have a bigger squad, we'll be retaining the bulk of what we have but a couple of them will be dropping down the pecking order in favour of new signings. At any rate I hope there's going to be another midfielder to come in.

Delighted with Barr, and Moon. Happy enough with Elliot and Thomson, though I wish Elliot would at least make some effort at sorting his discipline. Not so much unhappy with Fox as a bit surprised. He's not as bad as some would make out, and I always quite liked him in his Livi days - the sort of water-carrier who would never get as much credit as they're due - but he's one of those who's looked pretty poor for me in our recent run and I thought he'd be let go. I'd be interested to know how he's rated and appreciated within the dressing room.

Well I certainly am. Happy Christmas.

Yes. Not just generalisms but acknowledgement of specific failings and what they plan to do to address it, good stuff. Me too, there's nothing like close season sunny optimism is there? As for the Hibs, that discussion of the Dundee United games the other day was making me wistful for those innocent days when singing "Bring on the Hearts, the Hibs, the Rangers" used to mean you were in the Premier League.

As I understand it the players will still have a registration with one of the four clubs, they'll just be playing for the Fife Academy. There's a similar system being run already in Forth Valley. There's some interesting discussion of it on the Pars forum, if you can bring yourself to look at it: http://dafc.info/forum/read.php?f=1&i=1377549&t=1377549

He had, yeah. Brief report here - http://www.thefreelibrary.com/TOMMY+LOSES+THE+BIG+RAITH.-a061164304 . As you say,Twaddle scored the winner. Apparently Alex Taylor scored the other two, which I couldn't have told you. We won 2-1 at Tannadice later in the same season. Stevie Kirk did indeed score - before being sent off - but I wasn't at the game so don't know if it was a free-kick. (I'm just going by soccerbase on this one.) We did win 3-2 at Tannadice on the last day of the 93-94 season though, two goals from Jason Dair and a screamer from Sinclair. Brian Potter made the first of his two Raith appearances that day, I think Duncan Shearer had broken Thomson's cheekbone in the previous game.

You might be right, but like SB I was in the Railway Stand anyway.

My memory is that it was his first game, or at a pinch maybe second, managing United right after leaving us. Made it a right old grudge match.