Sweet Pete

Official club Twitter has just tweeted that it is indeed 3 x 30 minute games. The truth is out there.

No, but then I'm not the one who's clearly raging at the very idea that someone Scottish may not like a Scottish sportsperson for some reason.

Have you tried having a good old cry about it?

Perfect opportunity to test that sarin gas I picked up online.

Ask around and see if one of them is "Jacksgranda".

You seem kind of upset.

Just go out without her, or take her and she can drink water. If you want a beer, have one. If my wife goes through one of her occasional diets it doesn't mean I need to also.

You are told what to eat and drink by your partner, whether you like it or not?

At least we'll get a good rammy out of it, which is what it's all about at the end of the day.

^^^ case in point

I quite like the cynicism of indoctrinating children into something by bribing them with bouncy castles. That's the type of evil thinking that gets you places. Just a short hop from that to "blow up this police station and you'll be rewarded with your hole".

Judging by your recent golf photos, you've already got the perfect outfit...

Jacksgranda will be pleased.

Hhmmm. Leave it with me.

Absolutely. Train away days are my favourite football trips.

Really fancy a drunken train away day this weekend, but I have to work and there's no-one to cover, so barring a miracle it looks like I'll miss it. What train you lot getting in case I can produce a miracle?

My apologies, I didn't realise. Condolences.

Same at my surgery. Inevitably it means that I need to take a day off work any time I want to see a doctor as they open the phone lines at 8.30am but I start work at 8 and the phones will remain engaged until around 9.30, then I'll get through and they'll offer me an appointment for the middle of the afternoon. Pish and totally unhelpful. I didn't go to an appointment recently as something else came up and got a letter a couple of days later reprimanding me and telling me that if I continue to waste appointment allocations then I'll only be allowed "on the day" appointments for the next twelve months, which is a bit of a ridiculous threat since they only offer "on the day" appointments anyway!

In that case I'll be doing my usual; sending Raidernation a PM offering wine and a shoulder to cry on in the hope of a blowie. Angry single mums are pure filth.

Aye I think he'd be an ideal partner for Graham if fit and sharp, but I just can't shake the feeling that he won't fancy playing himself. That 45 minutes he put in for the ressies last season showed a man far from fit and comments he's made along the way give the impression that he can't decide whether he has a future on the park or not. If he's unsure of his own availability to continue then I think we'll still be in the market for a centre back. Murray doesn't strike me as the kind of guy to take a chance and leave himself shorthanded for playing numbers, he comes across as a planner who'd want to cover all the bases.

I've just remebered that Jack Ross and Ian Murray are still registered as players. But I doubt we'll see either in the first team. Ross will probably continue to play with the reserves to help bring the young lads on, but he'll not feature in the first team. Even last season when we had no fit right back, we resorted to playing the young midfielder Adam Ashgar from Motherwell in that role and Ross stayed in the dugout. Whether Murray will see himself in a playing role this season remains to be seen.

I'd rather we were using Scott Smith at left-back to be honest. He was decent enough at centre-half last season when required to play there, but I'd feel more comfortable having a natural central defender partnering Andy Graham and utilising Smith's abilities as a full-back. McNiff and Smith could then act as cover for the first choice centre-halves if necessary during the course of the season. We've got three players who can play left-back (Smith, Linton, McNiff), three who can play right-back (McGinn, Graham, Horne) and three who can play centre-back (Graham, Smith, McNiff), so a natural (right footed preferably as Smith and McNiff are lefties) central defender would complete the defence for me. Phinn's definitely for ability and if he comes through pre-season without anymore injuries then I'd be comfortable with him signing up for the season. In an ideal world I'd be looking at us to add another centre forward as well as another centre back, so hopefully we can get Kevin Smith signed up as well as a defender. We'll almost certainly run with a smallish squad again, so if we got those two plus Phinn signed I'd be happy with that squad going into the new campaign.

Some of those made me quite scared as they reminded me of the pink elephants scene in the movie Dumbo. That's all I've got to add to the conversation.

Nicky Phinn and Kevin Smith are trialists for us. Phinn was with us briefly last season and looked ok in his few short appearances, he's been given the summer to prove his fitness. I loved Clerks, so hopefully we'll sign Smith.

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