Slipmat

100% agree with you here, it's a real indicator of how desperate we are getting, but - and please correct me if I'm wrong - was JT not commercial manager when he took temporary charge after Skelton walked?

By way of comparison here is Alex Ferguson's heat map from the Montrose game. Hopefully Todd is match fit and Ferguson can be "rested" this weekend (not that he needs one).

On the contrary. Recent history suggests that no matter how bad a manager you are you will still be in the job for a minimum of six months longer than you deserve to be. If you are a really bad manager, in the mould of a Bartley or a Johnston, you will likely already be on a 2+ year contract which we can't afford to sever. The one thing you can be assured of is job security.

That's a bit harsh on Stirling.

I think the most laughable line he came out with in the this latest cringefest was, when discussing the players he says "I'm here to protect them". This from a man who has spent, I would estimate, around 90% of his post match interview time throwing players under the bus, pointing out their errors, saying that they don't listen, alleging that they are not behaving like professionals, have a questionable attitude towards fitness... the list goes on.

Never saw the clip, but the set up you describe makes me think he must have been rambling on about professionalism again? Strange that earlier in the season he went on a rant about players sitting down too much, then proceeds to hold training sessions which involve the players doing little else but sit down. Instead of concentrating on their playstations they now have to sit and listen to him instead, by the sounds of it.

If Bartley looks upwards all he will see is his digestive system, his head's so far up his own backside.

Not often that I leave before the final whistle, but today I was away after the second penaly. Absolutely atrocious - again. Even the generosity of the officials was no help to this lot. Must be one of the most blatant penalties/reds I've seen at Palmerston for some time yet they all managed to miss it and Kilsby stayed on. The back three were totally devoid of options to get the ball forward thanks to McKay being totally stationary (other than pointing at nothing in particular) when he should have been offering himself. As a result Cochrane got dragged further and further back to become a second sitting midfielder so with two defenders as wing backs, three centrebacks and two deep midfielders we resorted to long balls and misplaced hit and hopes. Ferguson was a total waste of space when actually took his invisibility cloak off. Why Bartley persisted with him and hooked Connelly, our only midfielder to look busy and try to be creative and probably our MOM, is another howler to add to the catalogue of mystifying decisions he continually makes. Reilly looked isolated at first and seemed to continually get the ball stuck under his feet, and just as I thought Bartley was going to go two up front when Mumbongo came on Reilly was moved back into more of a number 10 role as he persisted with the same formation shambles. At the back, Brydon was good, Ambrose had his usual fair share of brainfarts and McClelland cannot play in a back three for me as he drifts into no man's land and leaves acres of spaces around him too often. No atmosphere in the ground, and it was bloody cold, I'm hungry due to the stupid o'clock kick off time and have now had enough for this season. See you in 2024/25, unless Bartley has been sent packing before then.

If that allows Cochrane to play further up the park that's not necessarily a bad thing.

No, all speculation on my part. Just thinking out loud and probably putting 2 and 2 together to make 5. With Gibson, the BOD appointed him on an interim basis before giving him the job permanently. Yet they gave his successor (who albeit was widely thought of as having potential but no experience in the hotseat) a lengthy contract based on...? Now I'm sure Gibson would have been on peanuts and inexpensive to dismiss, but even taking that into account it seems to me that the BOD had a major rethink of their methods of selecting a manager after a succession of internal promotions, bringing a previously successful manager back (Johnston), or in the case of Naysmith appointing someone who had recently been proven to be successful at East Fife (albeit his star was on the wane by the time he arrived at Palmerston). My way of thinking is, I guess, based on a BOD adopting this radical change in direction after years of going down the supposed safe route, combined with the difficulty they seem to be having in ridding the club of Bartley - assuming (again!) that they want to do so.

Not just the length of contract. I'm starting to think that he either demanded or was offered a ridiculously high salary for a rookie manager at our level. One way or another, I expect that through his gift of the gab he has hoodwinked the board into awarding him a much better contract than they may have initially considered offering the successful candidate, so keen were they to get their man.

Watching the rugby is similar to watching Queens. No forward passes allowed.

I'm hoping he's available to work as a pundit for this match.

The opposite could be said given that the board allowed Bartley to sign Mumbongo and Kilsby. I actually believe that rather than not giving a f**k, they are just f**king clueless.

Hopefully Mr Hewitson remembers his words from December 2022: He is a young manager who deserved the opportunity, but football is a results-based business, and we aren't happy with the season so far and we have to do what we feel is best for the club.

At this rate he's going we'll be so deep into the ground we'll resurface in Australia.

They're ahead again. Could it have something to do with them having had 11 shots on goal?

Out of interest, roughly how many Queens fans are there today?

So, it took until first half stoppage time for us to register a shot on target against a team that have conceded almost twice as many goals as every other club in the league* In six and a half games this calendar year we have scored 3 goals. I can only go by the match stats, but it seems like Bartley has forgotten to include scoring goals in his "game-plan" again. * except Annan.

Botterill, McClelland, Brydon, Kilsby, Logan, Ferguson, Cochrane, Connelly, McKechnie, Doherty, Reilly bench: McKay, McGuffie, Mumbongo, Ambrose, Ross, Gibson, Burns, Walker, Green So Efe makes way for Kilsby and Cochrane is back in place of McKay. Good to see Gibson back and Jay Burns on the bench for the first time. Have we signed Green or will this be the last time he can be named as a trialist?

But despite all of that, deep down the supporters still loved him. Apparently. He makes Hewitson seem like Tony Bloom in comparison.

Didn't he refer to some of the Sunderland supporters as "parasites" and say that northerners had no business acumen? https://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport/football/sunderland-afc/you-wont-be-missed-sunderland-fans-delighted-as-charlie-methven-finally-exits-stadium-of-light-3740639

Aye, that's your boy. I seem to recall he left Sunderland under a bit of a cloud and was as toxic to many Sunderland fans as Hewitson is to some Queens supporters. Early days for him at Charlton, but they are presently languishing in their lowest league position - ever. Our community work is something that we are indeed doing well. You rarely hear news about anything happening on the commercial front though, as someone pointed out on here earlier this week. I'm not suggesting for one moment that anything underhand took place but it strikes me as being a trifle unfortunate that the shirt sponsorship draw has been won by businesses owned by club directors three times in the last 20 years. The shirt draw has served us well in it's time, but maybe actively seeking a shirt sponsor directly rather than asking businesses to participate in an annual lottery in the current economic climate may be a better option?

With us having played at least a game more than every other club in the division and a small gap opening up between the top 5 and the rest, I think it's now essential that we win our next four games if we are to entertain any thoughts of a top 4 finish. With less than two thirds of the league season having been completed by all clubs other than ourselves, that's a shocking state of affairs and for me completely sums up just what a shambles this season has been.

I wonder if consideration should be given to selling the naming rights to Palmerston? It may not be a popular course of action, and we could risk ending up with something as tacky as the Cheaper Direct Insurance Stadium, but at least it would help in dragging us out of a financial hole.