Buttocks Brown

Not being in a relegation battle should help the development of some of the younger players. Takes the pressure off and let's them relax and play. Looking at the team yesterday: Erhahon (19), McCarthy, MacPherson, McAllister (all 22). McGrath is 24 but still just 30 games at this level. They should all continue to improve.

High up in Kibble I seem to recall.

20/21: 5-1 at Tannadice and beating both halves of the Old Firm. If it ended tomorrow then this would go down as a season of exceptional results. Perhaps missed it but do we know why Erwin has suddenly disappeared from matchday squads? Also, a bit like Erwin for us, Stevie Mallan has dropped out of Hibs squads. Meanwhile, we've offloaded two central midfielders in Sheron and Foley..... reading too much into that?

Jim said way back at the start of the season that there was a real dearth of left backs even using this expensive software we have that picks out potential signings. Looks like maybe one has been identified now. The only local one I can think of is Waters who is coming to the end of his contract at Killie. Injured for the next few weeks though and seemingly attracting interest from England.

He also started the move for his goal with a clever bit of play in the middle of the park getting the ball into space for Flynn.

Foley did us a great turn last season but not great this season and hasn't kicked a ball since November; on top of that, 35 later this year and into the last few months of his contract.... Jim absolutely right I think to persist with Erhahon and MacPherson instead. They'll blow a bit hot and cold given their age but they're the future of the club. Totally unrelated, but Dennis got a good run tonight and you can see that he is a very tidy footballer. Down the pecking order at the moment but he'll clearly do a job if called upon.

Memories of "IT'S TURNING INTO A ROUT!" Goals 3 and 4 are just sheer joy.

Onto 23 points now after 20 matches. 23 points was Hearts' "final" total last season (30 matches played).

Didn't seem a penalty to me but the lack of protest from the Motherwell players was strange..

Jim Goodwin on BBC radio before the game just there: Patience required with Quaner he says as he's not played any football for awhile. On the appeal, he admitted that there were players in the squad who car-shared but is hoping for a positive outcome. No mention of Obika or Mason.

Maybe interest from England and the club said he could go if they managed to get Brophy in early. Now that the Brophy deal's gone through he's away to sign.... If he was going to Killie I think we'd have heard by now. Covid? Jon has already been infected so another positive test is unlikely. Could be self-isolating though.

Interesting to hear why Obika has disappeared from the squad. Moving on?

This morning's signing was a surprise and made me think that big Jon's time at the club could be coming to an end..... Could be personal reasons? Can't have been easy the past 9 months for some of the guys whose families are in different countries. Obika's a Londoner and it is not a good situation there at the moment. Maybe has a club willing to take him in the south east and would like to be back with his family?

The reaction of the Killie board to Dyer's statement will have been interesting.... If the 2 clubs are negotiating then surely it plays right into St Mirren's hands? If a deal isn't agreed then Killie will be, essentially, a player down for the rest of the season and have bad vibes on the training ground. For us, no great sweat if we don't get him immediately as we already have 3 centre forwards.

Shows that we're in a good place if movement in and out this month is going to be minimal. Better still that, given circumstances, I can't imagine this will be an easy window to operate in. 2 years ago was the mad rescue job to sort out the Stubbs' squad: Muzek, Hladky, Popescu, Lyons etc joining. Doubt many of those signings would have gone through under the cloud of C19. Last year ended up being fraught as well with the defence pretty much needing rebuilt: McLoughlin, McGinn and Broadfoot away with Famewo, McCarthy and Hodson coming straight into the team. Definitely in a superior position, in a lot of ways, this season. A wee leftfield signing in the vein of of Isma, Nazon or Chabbi would be nice though....

Various managers angry at the SFA because their players picked up C19 (or are self-isolating) from U21 duty. Derek McInnes claiming that the SFA didn't follow the same protocols that the clubs have been going through! Would be some brass neck now if us or Killie were punished.

Doyle-Hayes + ££££££ in / Magennis out suddenly looking like very good business. Magennis hasn't kicked a ball for Hibs since going off injured at Hampden on 31/10.

Am recalling Michael Stewart's co-commentary on Scotland v Israel a few weeks ago when he was getting torn into Steve Clarke..... things can change very quickly. Jim and the players deserve a break from the fans. A bundle of them have had Covid: that's stressful and we're assuming it was mild for all of them but who knows? Since then a decent performance against Dundee Utd and dug in to win the League Cup group. Could be worse. A good sign for me was the reaction of the players to the goal yesterday. There's spirit in that dressing room and some decent players. Hopefully the results will come.

Goodwin on 16/10: "We can as a club, and as every club is doing, do the best we can where we train and in the stadium everyone is sticking to the rules. We have protocols in place and as a club we’re very strict on that. But the fact of the matter is we cannot control what happens when the players or staff go home. Their wives, girlfriends, mums and dads are all out there working in normal jobs, in hospitals, offices and we can’t control what happens to them. So, you’re in the lap of the gods every week and that’s the problem we’ve got."

Hard for clubs to control players' actions when they're away from their work. The article seems to suggest though that players and staff were breaching protocols WITHIN the club. If that's the case and Scott, Fitzpatrick, etc weren't aware what was going on at the training ground then Goodwin and his staff could lose their jobs over this.

Maybe I'm naive but, basic stuff like car-sharing..... it's hard to believe that Jim Goodwin (and others), knowing how much is at stake, would turn a blind eye.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8874241/SPFL-set-punish-St-Mirren-Hamilton-clash-postponed-breakdown-coronavirus-protocols.html "The SPFL have now launched their second investigation in a week into the circumstances of the latest postponement. Disciplinary proceedings will follow next week following allegations of serious breaches of social distancing protocols surrounding player car sharing, coach journeys and team meals. Kilmarnock already face the possibility of a points forfeit after the league followed the postponement of their recent game with Motherwell with disciplinary charges. Privately senior figures regard the charges facing St Mirren as more serious."

I'm not saying they haven't...there are central belt teams who haven't had a single case. Yet

Exactly the same situation as Killie were in at the beginning of the month: club pretty much shut for 2 weeks.... I think Killie's flew under the radar a bit because we were going into the international break and attention turned to Scotland. 2 out of the 3 games affected for them were in their league cup group. Ours has happened when everyone's focus is back on the league. Could be clubs falling like dominoes in the next few weeks.

I'm struggling to work out what we could be doing, as a club, which would mean we weren't following the same protocols as others? Any suggestions? Allowing car sharing? Not washing cutlery in the staff canteen? A daily, after training singsong in a hermetically-sealed room? This thing is very infectious and some individuals are, through no fault of their own, good at passing it on. All you need is one guy in the club who is genetically-predisposed to being a super spreader. They pick it up from someone in their household then, asymptomatically, bring it to training. Heavy breathing, even outdoors, after a set of sprints might be enough to infect a few others....