Slipmat

He was subbed off in four games in his first spell, and last night was the sole occasion during his second. I'd like to think that starting him in every game he was available for could only have been due to the conditions of his loan deal, but that doesn't explain why we persisted all season with the tactic of making him the target recipient of nearly every throw in when at best all he managed to do was nod the ball into mid air on a vertical trajectory, but more often to a waiting nearby opponent. I would think that tactic turned over possession to the opposition virtually every time it was used, ie had the relative success rate of a Rhys McCabe long throw. The management teams may have been forced to select him but also seemed to be oblivious to his failings or saw a completely different player to the supporters.

Must have been using the same phoneline as the BBC reporter who namechecked Ebbie Malone on a weekly basis. Either that or they thought his full name was Ebeneezer Malone.

McQuilter and Mole are two names which have cropped up more than once already who could easily push for a place in a Queens 22. I also just remembered we had Andy Barrowman. Still sticking with my original 22... for now... ETA - Craig Reid was decent for us too. Couldn't pass the ball, but good in the tackle and versatile across the whole back line.

As the season draws to a close I would like to congratulate Niyah Joseph, Innes Cameron and Ben Liddle on their inclusion in my own personal "Worst Players I've Ever Seen In A QOS Shirt" squad. They've beaten off a lot of tough competition, but I think they deserve their places on merit. The squad currently consists of: GKs - Derrick Hoy, Rikki Fergusson, Archie McLean DFs - John Gamble, Mark Campbell, Alan Gillespie, Chris Carr, Tom McDonald, David Smyth, Stuart Hill Mids - Tony Nelson, John Pelosi, Jake Pickard, Tom Parratt, Niyah Joseph, Stephen Simmons, Ben Liddle Fwds - Emilio Jaconelli, Chris "even worse than Tam Brighton" Armstrong, John Dickson, Paul Heffernan, Innes Cameron As a disclaimer I realise that there are a vast number of players that I've probably forgotten about or was never unlucky enough to witness in action for Queens who could probably displace some of the above, and as a point of reference my first match was in 1979 and I didn't attend many games in the 1990s, but I'm welcome to suggestions from Queens fans of other fuds you think should be included. So people, who would make your own gash 22 at your club?

I think I am right in saying that AJ was still registered as a player with us when he managed us to promotion but he barely set foot on the field over the course of the season. I would have no qualms if Gibson was appointed manager, retained as a player but took a similar step back from playing every minute of every game. For me it's too much to ask to monitor how every member of the team is performing and concentrating fully on your own performance while you are on the pitch. This may be why his own form has dipped slightly over recent weeks and mistakes have crept in to his own game. I'm guessing that Gibson being Gibson he would want to play every game though. Off the top of my head the only player-managers I can recall as being successful in the role were Dalglish, Souness & Aldridge (when at Tranmere), but so much time has passed since they played I can't recall how much on-field involvement they had before retiring from the playing side of the game.

Area Controller???

The only out of contract players I hope we keep are East, McGrory and Rae, in that order. Despite our horrific goals against record Rae has been pretty solid and couldn't have done much better due to the dross he's been playing behind. McGrory and Cochrane looks to be a decent central midfield pairing, it's a pity they haven't had many chances to play together. East has had to learn on the job in the centre back role but has adapted well, and he could still do a job at left back or up front if necessary. In fact despite playing the whole season in the back line he's scored as many goals as yesterday's front two, Ruben and Cameron, have contributed between them. I'd also take Gibson as a player, but not if he's manager.

The worry is he'll rock up on loan at us next season again as we'll be playing at his level. Surely we're not being demoted to the Lowland League?

Innes Cameron managed to stop or interfere with most of our promising attacks in the games he played in. We didn't have to rely on opposing players doing something stupid like deliberately handling the ball.

I'm not having this budget being the problem talk. You just have to look down south at clubs like Brentford, Burnley or Accrington, or as has been said Arbroath in Scotland to see what can be done on relative shoestring budgets. The board said they would back AJ with funds in January to add to an already large squad, he said he wanted to bring in 4-5 players and all he managed to get was 1 regular starter who blows hot and cold, 2 bit part players, and the return of Innes Carthorse who's goalscoring record to January was poor to say the least. AJ would have been aware that 2 of the 4 would be unavailable against their parent clubs. The board made a huge blunder in giving AJ a new contract last summer, and a 2 year one at that. AJ was already at the club and knew what the budget would be, he could have turned down the contract offer and walked away if he wasn't satisfied with the board's spending plans. So for me the story of the season has, to go all mathematical on you, been "BOD + AJ = clusterfuck".

GET IN!!!!!

Aye... that's us down to 10 men.

You can see why both sides are where they are but at least they are both going for it. Ayr no.10 causing us problems. Cameron is a total haddy. I think he's managed to complete 2 passes all game. Todd and Cochrane are pretty much running the show in midfield. I just wish we had a competent striker.

Over a thousand surely. We wont fill our end, that's for sure. I seem to recall that in the last "must win" game of this magnitude - y'know, that final day of the season disaster against Partick in 2019 when we made a total c**t of it and played possibly the worst football I've ever seen at Palmy, so bad that Naysmith got sacked during the end-of-season shindig that night - there were about 2500 Queens fans present. That makes me think that given what's at stake, last night's re-ignition of the flicker of hope, and the U18s in for free offer we might get somewhere around 1500 home fans on Saturday.

Bizarre to think that the whole season now may depend on Ian McCall choosing which one out of three of his former clubs he'd like to shaft the most.

Tuesday night and the gates are low

Did anyone* manage to see that goal? ETA * anyone who's trying to watch the official stream that is.

It's kind of what to expect from QOS these days. We're a bit shit at everything.

It really amazes me that no matter how badly we play Cameron starts every game he's eligible for and yet Nditi and Folarin never get a sniff of a place in the team.

I fully expect Gibson to get the job too. He's cheap and he's at the club already - two factors which the board traditionally place great emphasis on. Should it be an experienced manager, I'd expect they would want to bring in their own choice as assistant rather than have Gibson foisted upon them. The latter immediately gives the impression that the new man is only keeping the seat warm until Gibson is deemed ready to step up.

Maybe because Todd was indeed out injured?

And if Ayr go down and Annan come up we have the mouthwatering prospect of 8 derby games in one season.

Maybe it's just because the current squad became familiar with WG as a teammate before he was put in interim charge that it happened, but it was disappointing to see Josh Rae very obviously ignoring instructions yesterday. I'm meaning the incident where Rae, with the ball in his hands, was told by Wullie to play it short and he seemed to shout something back, give a dismissive hand gesture and punt the ball long up the park. It makes me wonder to what extent the players are playing for the manager and if they are giving him enough respect. Not a good sign if Wullie does get the job permanently and retains players who don't buy into what he wants them to do.

After today's shitshow I just hope we can appoint a motivator. I'm not sure that Gibson can do that on the pitch (if at all) and as I mentioned on the match thread our players' heads went down and it was as though they threw in the towel the minute Arbroath equalised. Bear in mind that wasn't when Arbroath took the lead, it was when it was level pegging. It's a cliche but confidence plays a big part in football and we need someone who can get the players into a mindset that every game is winnable. For too long we have seen managers obsessing more over holding onto a one goal lead or not getting beaten. And could we please have a manager who signs a player to play in a single position and not because they can possibly cover four other positions which just leads to tinkering with formations and personnel? Gibson is just as guilty as AJ in respect of moving guys from wing to wing*, or wing to central midfield, or striker to midfield. A consistent approach to selection would help matters. *as seen today when Folarin came on, burnt the Arbroath left back for pace and sent in a decent cross, and then was immediately switched from right to left wing so that Connelly could move from the left into a number 10 role.

My bad - I had mistakenly included a 2-0 win over Stranraer and a draw with Morton which were friendlies. So if we include the cup loss to Hearts we actually lost 13 in a row that season, our last in the top flight.