the_bully_wee

Monday being dropped while Jones and Page start is a bit of a farce; he was anonymous last week, but being shunted out wide of a gang is always going to go that way. Splaine will be a big miss.

Don't want to burn too many calories appraising those wasters, but that was one of the worst Clyde performances I've ever endured. Huge credit to Aaron Splaine who had a pretty poor game but didn't utterly chuck it like many around him. That Dumbarton result is absolutely horrific news for us and I must admit, I've gone from thinking we would coast to safety at kick-off to now thinking it'll come down to a last-day shootout for 8th.

This is unspeakably bad. It really is remarkable that we're all but safe. It's bad enough up in the stand but Jamieson must be the most fed up person in the stadium - our chances of seeing him again are slim to none.

Announce a five-year deal for Monday Samuel now.

Even one point between now and the end of the season will likely be more than enough to keep us safe; as it is, Dumbarton need at least three wins from five to overhaul our advantage, and they've won only two of their last sixteen. Would still be nice to finish as high up as we can and in decent form going into the summer of course, but I don't think we should be worrying at all.

Parry, Kennedy and McGrath(!) are all on two-year deals, so they'll either be here or amicably departed next season. The big question when it comes to player retentions and releases is a budgetary one; would I have the likes of Love, Rumsby, Docherty, Elsdon, Page at the club on terms around our mean wage? No. Would I take them on terms which were commensurate with a status of rotational/back-up player? Most likely. There are only a few of our players I'd say it's essential that we try to retain for next season and they're Cuddihy, Splaine and Cunningham. You could make an argument for Gomis but time is ticking on for him and he'll be earning quite handsomely; we can probably do better with such a wage. Livingstone has some good games but he's a bit of an in-between player who's not really good enough defensively for a back four and also might struggle as a winger if we were to start playing football again next season. It's shocking that we're looking likely to enter a fourth season in League One and have only half a dozen players, tops, who are average or better players at this level. Hopefully we can do something to get McAllister and Jamieson back, but you'd imagine they'll both have plenty of admirers among part-time clubs. I can't say I'm looking forward to the summer recruitment commencing whatsoever.

A rather significant tangent here, but have you boys stuck with "Don't Stop the Party" as your goal music this season?

Bit of a riddy being about 500 years old and not knowing the offside rule imo

Free hit for us today, as most games from here can afford to be. Disappointing to turn in such a guff performance (once again), right enough. Cabbage patch or not, we really shouldn't be starting Nicoll under any circumstances these days. That's been the case for about three years, mind. Hopefully we see a pen emoji a few times this week for some of the handful of players worth trying to build on top of for next year. If Lennon can achieve that then I'd hand him a new deal too.

Big win for the plucky amateurs today, fair play!

You mean you left before extra time and pens?!

I don't care if Tuesday's blue, Wednesday's grey and Thursday too, Friday, I don't care 'bout you, It's Monday, I'm in love.

How come we can make outrageously exciting signings at the end of March when the season's basically done and dusted, yet see fit to sign the likes of Billy Mortimer in the summer? What a club.

Kevin Nicoll extension

I fondly remember playing fives with Joe Jordan back in the late sixties. Of course, in those days there was none of your AstroTurf nonsense, we all played on concrete or red ash and it was a true man's game. I spent a few days out cold in the hospital after JJ powered a shot off my puss - great times. The game died alongside leather balls, I tell you!

If they'd any sense they'd launch him post-haste and give the gig to one of the senior players until the end of the season, if nobody else fancied it. Relegation is by no means a foregone conclusion with East Fife (on today's evidence) also a gang and a pretty average cluster of L2 clubs vying for the play-offs (albeit Annan are hitting form at the right time). The prospect of any kind of an uptick in morale and the adoption of an approach which doesn't involve shoehorning as many centre-backs into the starting XI as possible is surely worth rolling the dice at this stage. Obviously you guys will know better than I, but from the outside looking in I think a lot were (justifiably) won over by his previous connection with the club, the manner in which he spoke and carried himself and also the speed with which he assembled a squad, all of which are a recipe for optimism. It's incredible how far south things have gone after a frighteningly good first quarter, one which had me pre-heating the oven to gas mark egg-on-my-face after asserting that Dumbarton would be juking it out near the bottom despite absolutely demolishing us on the opening day.

Bit weird that Farrell's not been given the bullet yet, particularly due to the desperate rhetoric he's been dealing in for about a month now. If your team is making so many errors leading to goals, then the last thing you should be doing is publicly bodying them, risking complete disillusion and putting the fear of god in them when it comes to making further blunders. It did come across as a bit of a strange hire last summer given his average-at-best spell with Stranraer, so I can't say I'm too surprised it's wound up like this. For all Peterhead's struggles, they seem to pull the odd result out the bag. On the other hand, it's hard to see where Dumbarton's next points are coming from, especially when a pretty rancid East Fife kept them at arm's length last week.

Shame on you, Stenhousemuir FC!

Wouldn't exactly say we're playing particularly well, but Clyde are definitely the team more in control of the game and richly deserved a goal from that wee five minute spell they had. It looked from the stream as though McAllister's effort was some way over the line, based on its trajectory off the bar, so I'd be keen to see that one again. Splaine's been the best player on the park and, if we were the sort of club which showed any foresight, we'd already be doing our utmost to tie him down for next season and beyond.

That was surely at least a foot over the line.

Before the recent upturn in form, the Queenies faithful turned into a baying mob at prior portrayals of their playing squad as human beings. Brave of their social media team to keep at it!

As pathetic as it is predictable, unfortunately. We should pick up enough points from here to stay clear of danger but this has been a woeful season on the whole.

... but apart from that, Dumbarton are in good shape!

Went 20-0 in champs this weekend and am resultantly now considering complete retirement from all future FIFA activities. Having TOTY Dias and Flashback Varane at CB is borderline cheating, regardless of how average most of the others surrounding them are.

Couldn't agree any more with the above. As the club's foremost (and really only) supporter's organisation, the Glasgow Branch should be looking to be as inclusive and welcoming as possible, with a stated aim of uniting and galvanising rather than perpetuating division in what is a declining and ageing fanbase. Taking accusations of rape apologism and the rest out of the debate, they've obviously misread the room with the Goodwillie situation in terms of how it would affect the club. That, of course, doesn't completely wipe out the good that is done by them, but the response of many individuals involved in the past few days has flown in the face of what the Glasgow Branch should be. If its aim is to carry on as a closed circle of self-preservation which questions the credentials of every non-member as a "true Clyde fan", then it's never going to achieve everything it could and its membership will remain exactly as it is. The only way to become united as a fanbase is to accept that there will be disagreements on some issues, mistakes and misjudgements also, without seeking to bully or intimidate fellow fans into suppressing conflicting views. The whole "X person isn't a real Clyde fan" or "I'm a better Clyde fan than you" schtick is proper playground stuff and it's not going to exactly make the club an attractive prospect to new or casual supporters, both of whom we need quite desperately if we are to maintain or grow our overall support in the years and decades to come.