Buddist Monk

Read my sig, boys, it's done, it's finished, we've won this league!

Nobody seems to have mentioned it, but was there a price quoted anywhere?

Obviously I am a fan of Ross, but I think this is one over egged pudding. Reilly, sure you could have a shout there, although he was only really bad a Dunfermline, for Queens he seemed a decent player. Smith is a bit different, he was rated by quite a few but it never worked for him at Aberdeen. I'm more of the opinion the drop in the level and joining a team that plays to his strengths is the catalyst to his improvement. Ross sounds a good man manager and it seems he is very capable of creating a team bond, so while I'm not challenging your assumption, more wishing to temper it. And a certain Mr Ross? Another one from Falkirk, when he was a player of course. Edit: Forgot to mention Hippolyte. I am not sure to be honest. Decent(ish) talent for this level but to me there is a slight whiff of Harkins, albeit a younger version. Someone who can do the odd bit of brilliance but it's on his terms when he wants to, not necessarily when the team needs it.

Points gaps are odd things, and very subjective. if your team is 11 points adrift at the bottom you wouldn't expect that to be closed, if they are 11 points clear at the top then somehow that's seen as a risky situation that's likely to slip. If it's not your team, and for example if the positions between us and United were switched I'd have called the league in their favour already. As it's my team, for some reason I am considerably more guarded. Are we "over achieving"? No, I don't think we are. If anything it's a multitude of teams underachieving. Falkirk, United, Inverness should at least be on our coat tails.

Does one win from three games count as being bitched? I would suggest not.

Is that because you find Inverdale particularly loathsome? My annoyance is not at the international level, more the domestic, although it's always a joy to have an English football game on STV with English commentators explaining it was only a few years ago the English won the World Cup.

I get why Morton fans are so keen to mention the 4-1 game. It's about the only positive thing that has happened to them or their club in years. We shouldn't be so harsh on them for using the score like some sort of security blanket. In many ways, and purely for the gate receipts, but I'd be happy to see Morton in the top league with us as they push for the playoffs and take out some diddy team like Dundee. The problem is of course, Morton fans would be utterly insufferable if they ever did get there, though, and I'm not sure I can really be bothered with that. Plus why break the 40 year old habit of never getting promotion to the top division.

In England, where the coverage is much better, they still concentrate on the big clubs so the OF dominating the press isn't overly surprising. I don't think I've bought a paper ever to read about football, as I know it's either OF related or bullshit about my team because we are about to play one of the OF. Their pernicious sycophancy is painfully transparent. My personal bugbear is that as being part of the UK we are somehow expected to put up with wall to wall English bullshit, whether it's their football, rugby or cricket. These things have absolutely no relevance to us as we are a separate country yet the BBC and others continue to pander to that English cock.

Really? We were pants early on, especially the pre-season and BF cup, coupled with that hammering by the unwashed. That said, the period also coincided with a win over Falkirk and United.

He has dug himself many a hole previously. I mean it's not that as an ex-manager he wasn't going to be asked about our current success, but surely he'd learn to take it with good grace (or simply sidestep the question) but no... his ego gets in the way and he sounds like man who's just had his cornflakes shat on.

I thought we might make a dent on the eventual winners but even 3 or 4 weeks into the season it certainly didn't look like we would be in this position. I fully understand why people were sceptical, I was too.

No, true, I mean at the time I thought that he was just a bit shit when in fact listening to how he explains it (repeatedly) on Sportsound, or whatever BBC gig he's contractually obliged to state his pish on, it turns out it wasn't his fault at all. In fact it seems that he was the catalyst for Ross' success. An unsung hero that really deserves to be given huge credit for our current form.

I am beginning to wonder if Ross hasn't got the best record of any of our managers. I posted a few pages back the win ratio just now compared to our most "successful" season (67/68) with the current being 70% and the 67/68 season being 75%, but these are only season based statistics. If you were to calculate it over a calendar year (and it's Sunday morning so I can't be fucked doing it now) you might find he is the most successful manager we've ever had. (Maybe).

Here's a fun stat. The season we won the most amount of games was 67/68 - 27 wins from 36, we had a win ratio of 75%. Our current win ratio, 16 wins from 23, is 70%.

Am I the only one who wouldn't want either Stokes or Goncalves? Stokes could start a fight in an empty room, and has more baggage than Glasgow Airport. Goncalves, who I don't think for a minute would drop down a league, was a revelation with us the first time, but I think it's an utter gamble thinking it'll happen again. Ross will know these people far better than I, but from the outside these look like vanity signings that could easily f**k up our run in.

If those comments are directed at my previous reply, then can I add that it's the reason why I could see Hill starting, not that I am advocating he does. McGinn looks like he needs a rest and has done for a few weeks.

The only reason I would start with Hill is because I'd like to give McGinn a rest. The obvious caveats here is that most have no idea whether Hill is any good or not - although presumably Ross has had him watched, so it might be a blank slate to us, but not to him (and Fowler). We could play Flynn wide and a midfield two of Magennis and McShane although I'd be worried we might get bullied with that pairing.

Not sure about you, but I have seen enough insipid performances from Aberdeen to know we could have competed against them yesterday. We never got the chance, through our own profligacy. Over the season, no, but in a one off cup game? They were there for the taking.

To be fair, while the Inverness poster is clearly at it, there is a huge element of truth in there. We, and by that I'm pretty much saying Stellios, absolutely shat the bed. It's a shame but as I mentioned on the cup thread that really that wasn't a zenith for us. While it's true that Aberdeen didn't get out of 2nd gear, it's also true that they didn't need to, however they never beat us, we beat us. So, with that in mind, I can't see how the result will change anything in the league challenge. Other teams may see a weakness, but the truth of the matter is that we are 8 points clear with over half the season played.

Your manager has proven quite conclusively you can take a team that on paper shouldn't compete in the top league, yet they do on the pitch.

"allowed" Anyway, of course we are allowed, I just think, like many, you were overly harsh on McShane. As for further transfer news, Ross was on the radio last night suggesting "nothing was imminent" and even hinted that if no others came in he'd be happy.

Seeing as we are past the half way mark, thought I'd drop this into the thread.. It's a BBC piece from when the Summer transfer window shut. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40606056 To save you the bother, they were predicting... 1) Dundee United 2) Falkirk 3) Dunfermline 4) St Mirren 5) Qos 6) Inverness

With Buchanan gone we have 3 CBs MacKenzie, Davis and Baird - with both MacKenzie and Davis being out for long spells to injury. Eckerlsey is currently injured and Irvine is just back from injury.

So.... signings... Is it certain that Flynn is signing? After all the chat about Hill I would imagine the only reason he wouldn't come is if he wasn't up for it, as both clubs and Ross seem to be. For the rest of the window? A striker and defender, maybe both on loan as they would effectively be cover.

Sounds like it. I'm not arguing about previous predictions, just giving Ross' words verbatim. That said, what a manager says and what a manager ultimately ends up doing are of course two different things.