Yoss

Yeah, I'm not altogether convinced by him either, but he's better than some would have you believe.

Still not?

I'm sure it was in fun - but many a true word is said in jest, I noticed Baird having a frank exchange of views with both Simmons and McBride during the second half. I don't mind seeing that (within limits).

England played well but I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Clearly Pakistan are capable of playing better as we saw against Aus, but they're a young side being asked to play too many Tests in a short space of time, it's a bit of a nonsense. Anderson bowled beautifully but we already know he can do it on a swinging pitch at Trent Bridge, we're not going to find out until this winter whether he's got any better at bowling with the Kookaburra on flat Aussie wickets. I'm more excited about Steve Finn but trying not to get my hopes up too much. Batting-wise it's particularly good to see Prior getting some runs, but I'm getting concerned about Pietersen - I'm all for sticking with batsmen through fallow periods but it's been a long time now and I'm just beginning to think about dropping him if it doesn't come together soon. Hats off to Murali. Wonderful bowler and by all accounts a great guy. Or at least, by all non-Aussie accounts.

Oh absolutely, we're probably not actually disagreeing much. But there's a tendency among footie fans (self-included) to overreact to both good and bad performances. The debate about what went wrong and what could be done better would be much more helpfully conducted without being surrounded by the usual bunch of miserable gits proclaiming that we're all doomed. Just watched the post-match interviews from yesterday anyway - amused to see Tadé call Baird "a bit of a moaner", particularly as it then transpired that JB was standing just off-camera. Also pleased and interested to note that JB mentioned the security of a two-year contract as being part of the attraction of coming to Raith. Credit once again to the board for that.

You based it on what you saw - in one game. Look through the early part of the thread somewhere and you'll find similar doom and gloom after last year's opening defeat at Stirling. And faith isn't always baseless, I have faith in McGlynn and in most of this squad of players because they've given me enough cause to do so. We'll be fine.

Blimey, there's been some right pish written on the thread while I've been away. Chill out folks, we'll be fine. We've got more goals in us than last season. Forget Kevin Smith, if he's out of our wage bracket then that's the end of it. And Jamie Mole, incidentally, looked very sharp when he came on yesterday.

Interesting comment from McGlynn in this week's press suggesting that Tuesday's game has muddied rather than clarified his idea of what the current first choice tea is. Which was pretty much what I thought myself, the fact that we started so well with Ferry on the left, Williamson on the right and Tadé up front was hugely encouraging, there are quite a few options there. Which we'll need once injuries kick in, but at the moment I don't know what I'd start with. I think I'd leave Ferry in - so probably Tuesday's team but with McGurn in for McNeil, Hill for Wedderburn and Baird for Weir. I'm not sure about central midfield, hard to pick which two of Davo, Simmons and Walker should play except to note that I would only play two of them.

I can't say I was particularly aware of The Charlatans being particularly part of the scene, even, except as hangers on. But then I probably wasn't paying much attention. Roses, Mondays, Carpets and then James were the big four. Those James t-shirts with the name written across front and back were everywhere in Manchester that summer.

Ninety minutes, plus injury time.

I don't speak French, but the executive summary from a man who does says: "He followed his girlfriend to Scotland after failing to get a job in France and told a couple of porkies on his CV, and he now Has Ambition."

Those three girls were all lesbians until Marv turned up.

yeah, Craig McEwan was a year later but you could add in Paul Browne and Kevin Twaddle. We didn't spend anything like the full amount we'd received for Cameron / Crawford / Dair / Sinclair but we did spend a reasonable whack of it. Seems like a different age.

It's pretty harsh to say that Thomson "got rid" of Cameron, of course we'd have loved to have kept him but it was clear that several of those players were moving on to better things. Some of the players he replaced them with weren't up to much, true. Edited to add: I don't think Thomson had much to do with it anyway, I think the chairman was pretty much taking the reigns of transfer policy at the time.

I was a student in Manchester at the time and I can't say I really liked any of them, the whole Madchester thing was pretty irritating. But you've got to say, that first Stone Roses album is a genuine classic. I heard it again for the first time in years a bit back and it still rings out clear as a bell and fresh as a daisy. None of the others have lasted in anything like the same way. (The Charlatans aren't from Manchester, btw. Plus, they only had one good song.)

Never mind Partick, I hope it works out for him down south.

"brilliantly" is stretching a point but I agree Weir played better, at least in patches, than his goal tally. Not much point in speculating as to whether he'd have been kept on or not if he were out of contract, but he played well enough the previous season to deserve another chance I think. He might have a great season, weird things happen that way, who knows how and why Gareth Wardlaw suddenly became a goal machine last season? In fact all the top scorers in the second division in the last few years have come pretty much from nowhere. (Less so in the first, I think, but I wasn't paying so much attention.) Clearly, we wouldn't want to be relying on it though.

We've said the same thing about the size of the squad every summer since McGlynn has been here though. Things will develop over the season. I agree with you all that I would like to add to the squad yet though - having just one more player would significantly increas the number of options in the forward line. Maybe we'll see a bit more of Tam Graham this season.

Don't think anyone should get their hopes up too much about McBride. Might be handy to have some pace to bring off the bench but I don't see him as a starter if we've got anything like a full squad. I'm hoping we get Johnny Russell back.

Not quite sure what the problem was with Gatheussi, he was clearly a good enough player for this level and maybe even higher but he seemed to be not right in the head at times, like in that Airdrie game in which he had to be hooked during the first half.

I'm repeating myself here so I'll shut up after this time - promise. Another striker would be nice, but we've already got one more than we had this time last year, we're certainly not in a position where we need to sign "a striker" just to make us feel better. If the right player is available, fine, if not then loan signings are the better bet. Chill. It's June. On what basis does anyone think Ellis won't last much longer? Played very well last season, might have years in him yet - who knows?

No idea what Marv's fitness is like now. I do know that I'm quite comfortable with Hill / Murray / Ellis at centre-back until Campbell is back. Will be surprised if we sign anyone else but whatever, I defer to McGlynn's judgement as per.

lordy, what's up with you all? It's not even July and you're panicking already? Keep the faith, we'll be absolutely fine if we start the season with what we've got, but as ever there'll be all kinds of developments and loan signings and whatever else to happen over the course of the year anyway. Chill. Have some chocolate mousse.

Time for McGlynn's review of the season again. Part one of six(!): http://www.raithroversfc.com/cgi-bin/features.cgi?id=188

That half answers the question - for which thanks. Even assuming you have the first honest owners in the club's history and "we've been told" means that it's true, does that mean that you haven't run up debt in any form and that someone has indeed gifted the money to cover last season's operating loss?