Slipmat

Seven hours on, and the "technical" issue preventing the post-match interview being made available rumbles on. I never realised that it was so hard to get technical support, even on a Sunday, in this day and age. Anyone else get the feeling we're never going to hear what Mr B had to say about yesterday's performance and who he's shifting blame onto this time?

Over to you, Greenacres...

So we've now lost 9 of our last 12 games under Bartley. Which makes me wonder, if in Hewitson's line of business, he employs a site manager who is tasked with supervising the construction of 12 houses and 9 of them were found to be structurally defective and unsaleable, would he be happy to continue to employ that manager to oversee further projects?

Looking at the list of managers who have been appointed or given temporary charge of the team since Hewitson became chairman, the majority of years which have seen us in decline, a pattern suddenly emerges when it comes to the "previous managerial experience" section of their CV's: Allan Johnston - none Jim McIntyre - Dunfermline James Fowler - none Gavin Skelton - none Jim Thomson - none Gary Naysmith - East Fife Allan Johnston - QOS, Kilmarnock, Dunfermline Wullie Gibson - none Grant Murray - Raith Marvin Bartley - none Maybe time to ditch the untried approach? And if we go down the tried and tested route just make sure it's not AJ again.

Don't worry, we're ready for 'em!

Aye, because let's not forget that, according to our supreme leader, "football is a results-based business". Isn't that right Billy?

I really hope that those who run the QOS twitter account have a "Tick-tock it's sacking o'clock" graphic prepared and ready to post. Hopefully they have, and we get to see it tonight.

By the way, well done to all at Accies who worked hard to make sure today's game went ahead. Much better to get it played while we have a totally hopeless dud at the helm to guarantee you three points and a goal difference boost than risk having it played at a later date when we might have someone with a even a smidgeon of competence in the dug-out. You were well rewarded for your efforts.

The strategy of bringing on 3 extra scapegoats to shoulder the blame. Much better to throw 16 players under the bus than 13 as you desperately flail about trying to deflect responsibility from yourself.

Bartley throws three subs on in the 91st minute. Game on!

Let's hope Christmas comes early for Bartley and he opens his present this evening: Merry Christmas Mr Bartley!

So who or what is Bartley going to pin the blame for this weekend's clusterf*ck on? Injuries (despite having a much stronger bench than last week)? Ice-bath avoidance? EA Sports? Bad dining table etiquette? The weather? Or himself? Strike the latter - nothing is ever his fault, don't you know?

That corner we're supposed to have turned? Looks like we've reversed back round it to square one.

Agree with most of this. Spartans v Hearts is the only tie that caught my eye. Ten out of the twelve Premiership teams managed to draw lower division opposition? They must have kept the relevant balls in the fridge for the required amount of time this time. I very rarely go to away games so won't be heading up to Paisley for our game, but in a way I'm happy that we're not at home as our recent record at Palmerston suggests that we have more of a chance if we're not playing in Dumfries.

Not sure if either would have been on the pitch had it not been for injuries to McKay and Logan. As penalties grew more likely I definitely thought McKay would be taking one. A brave decision from Marvin to put them in the five takers though, and credit to both Johnstone and Irving for not shirking the challenge.

MacIntyre had one of his best games so far it has to be said. It was also great seeing Connelly looking a lot more like his old self - amazing what a run of starts can do confidence-wise for a player like him. As for MOTM though it has to be Stone who made 1 or 10 crucial saves.

A couple of other results for you from that season: 12 April - Partick Ramblers Reserves 2 Thistle Reserves 0 at Overnewton 12 May - Thistle 5 Smithfield 0 at Sandyford Park

Logan, McKay & Walker in for us. Houston & McKechnie drop to the bench from last week's starting XI. Ferguson not listed at all - is that due to the terms of his loan? Ambrose, McGuffie & McClelland keep their places despite Marvin's post match ranting about them last week.

That could explain why he has a soft spot for Morton. He had a 10 or so year managerial apprenticeship in non-league football before managing at Football League level. The way we are going, that experience in the non-league game could make him the ideal candidate for a future role as QoS manager.

Sorry, should have said "cancel by mutual consent" (ie pay them off).

Well, if Bartley was to be gone this week I'm sure it would have been announced by now. It's a big risk giving him until the end of the year to turn things around. Ideally if a new manager was to be appointed it would be preferable to allow him a few weeks to assess the squad before the January transfer window opens. If the board aren't going to relieve Bartley of his duties before January, I wonder if they would allow him to cancel the contracts and rid himself of any players he feels have been letting him down, especially if, as he says, it is a small minority? That said, it would mean putting trust in him to find better replacements despite his botched summer recruitment record, and something which is notoriously difficult to do in a January window. Another big risk. Speaking of the board, whatever happened to the boardroom updates that Mark Blount would occasionally write for the club website? I can't be bothered trawling through the news archive on there, but it seems like an eternity since there was any direct communication from the board to the fans. Yes, the updates were often filled with backslapping nonsense about community work and ignored the big issues, but at least it created an impression of openness and transparency which is sadly missing these days. The ongoing silence about last weekends antics despite national media coverage and extensive speculation about Bartley's position gives me the impression that the board are only interested in how much it may cost to pay Bartley off, not the present and future status of the club. They could fix that in a couple of sentences.

Bartman vs Suicide Squad?

Had I been typing this this time last week I would have said that the board, who have been incredibly lenient with our last few managers despite a relentless stream of poor results, may have been looking at sticking with Bartley until after the Stirling game which closes the second round of fixtures. We just have to remember how long Johnston stank the place out and clung on to his job - he should probably have been sent packing 4 or 5 months before they finally acted. Bartley's catastrophic interview on Saturday night has surely hastened his departure though. There's no coming back from that as far as I can see. I can only assume that board are currently putting feelers out regarding potential replacements and hoping that a deal can be done behind the scenes (and Bartley's back) in a similar fashion to when they dismissed Naysmith on the Saturday night and rather suspiciously announced Johnston's appointment on the Monday morning. If this isn't the case, then they need to give Bartley the dreaded vote of confidence, if only to give everyone - players, staff and most importantly supporters - some idea of their thinking. The silence from the boardroom isn't doing anyone any favours.

Of course it could be that Hewitson is in the outback awaiting his unveiling as a late arrival on "I'm A Celebrity (In My Own Mind)" in which case we may have to wait on him being evicted before he's given access to technology. If he is, even Farage could emerge from the Jungle with some credibility.

Did he not sack Naysmith by text even though they were at the same function? Maybe he hasn't even bothered checking how Queens got on yesterday yet.