Francesc Fabregas

He'd be a tremendous signing - he's been one of the best midfielders in League 1 in the last two years and now is the right time for him to move into full-time football. Given Falkirk's current situation, he's pretty much everything you're looking for!

Although I was critical of Hurst in my longer post on the previous page, he was only played as a striker sporadically - most of the time was fielded on the right wing with license to come inside. He did strike up a good understanding with McGuigan and set up about four or five goals for him. I'd certainly be keen to keep him for next season but whether or not he wants to play in League 2 is another matter. Duthie can be a good player but my impression of him was someone who's all fur coat and no knickers. Great at running at full-backs, not so great in putting it in for strikers.

Sure enough, that looks like Sean's away going by his Instagram post. Fair play to him for his efforts over the course of the season, especially his goal in the Scottish Cup against Falkirk!

Fair enough. I wouldn't blame him. As Neilly said on the previous page, when you're not even in the matchday squad at the expense of players like Russell Dingwall, you're bound to be fed up.

I'd also be keen to keep Sean Dickson - not many players emerged with much (any) credit from the two play-off games but he did well, despite having been frozen out in recent weeks. Whether or not he'll be offered terms, or even wants to stay, is another matter but he'd be a handy player in League 2.

That was it, I knew there was some kind of mix-up with the Dunlops' contracts. A season in League 1 might have been a step too far for Mick but Ross should have been kept on; it's no surprise to have seen him going on to do well with East Fife. Graeme Smith is a decent goalkeeper, David Marsh and Andy Munro are two good centre-backs and appear to have a decent understanding with one another, and Mark McGuigan has arguably been our best player over the last two years, so there's a good spine to build on there. I'm pleased to read the board have already discussed possible transfer targets but I worry our descent into League 2 might compromise our bargaining power.

Where to start with the 2018/19 season? There are a number of factors that have contributed to our relegation, so now's an apt time to examine them one by one and try to understand how and why we've dropped back into League 2 after just 12 months. When Brown Ferguson's team won promotion to League 1 via the play-offs, there was always an expectation they'd struggle. We had an above-average fourth-tier squad with two exceptional players - Mark McGuigan, who enjoyed the most prolific season of his career, and Harry Paton, a terrific creative midfield on loan from Heart of Midlothian, someone who was starring at a level well below his capabilities - and unless there was major surgery, we were always likely to battle at the bottom of the table. Major surgery did come, but it wasn't in the way we hoped or expected. Let's examine the defence first. We had a good back four in League 2 in Ruaridh Donaldson, Mick and Ross Dunlop, and Ross Meechan, players who would most certainly have performed well for us in this division. Donaldson stayed on (a surprise given how well he'd done the previous year) but the other three all moved on. I can't quite recall what happened with the Dunlops and their contracts but Mick joined Peterhead and Ross signed for East Fife. Meechan, meanwhile, was someone I thought would stay at Ochilview for years but he was offered a tremendous wage to sign for Forfar Athletic, where he's continued to improve and, for my money, has been the best right-back in the division this term. In their place came Morgyn Neill, a solid-but-raw centre-back from Stranraer and Albion Rovers stalwart Alan Reid, who looked slow and unfit over the first half of the season. Perhaps most perplexing of all was the signing of Jesus Garcia Tena from Edinburgh City. We had played Edinburgh five times last year, winning every game, with Tena looking hugely cumbersome and ineffective each time. Why on earth Ferguson brought him to Stenhousemuir, I do not know, but his arrival caused some consternation behind the scenes. As such, our defence looked weaker than last season's and, up until January, had been an enormous concern. With Harry Paton returning to Ross County, we badly lacked creativity in the middle of the park (although he would return to the club on loan for a couple of months). The midfield was stocked with energetic water carriers and honest triers but no-one who could really provide a spark of magic or open up a defence. Up front, other than McGuigan, there was no goal threat. Players like Seb Ross (underwhelming considering his reputation within Aberdeen’s academy), Kevin O’Hara (hard working but very limited, and rarely fielded) and Bobby Vaughan (nowhere near good enough) flitted in and out of the team as the manager tried to find some kind of successful combination. Bomber was sacked at the start of November following a 2-0 home defeat to Stranraer. At that point of the season, we were pretty much where most people expected us to be – sitting in the lower reaches of the table amongst a throng of other mediocre sides and a handful of points from the top four. Quite what the board expected from the team at this point, I don’t know, but Ferguson’s dismissal was perplexing. Would we have been relegated if he had still been in charge? Who knows. There were some frustrations about his management (reductive tactics, poor use of substitutions, assembling an unbalanced squad) but it still didn’t make any sense at the time and it still doesn’t now. Neither did the board’s search for a new manager. When they made a second call looking for applications (the deadline is tomorrow!) it suggested there was no real strategy behind Ferguson’s removal, just change for change’s sake. I suspect the board expected to be flooded with decent candidates but were alarmed when few were forthcoming. Colin McMenamin was awarded the job two-and-a-half weeks and three games later following the sensational 4-2 victory over Falkirk in the Scottish Cup, the season’s unalloyed high point and probably my favourite moment following the Warriors. The fact the job was given to McMenamin – part of Ferguson’s coaching team – gave the impression there were no viable applicants and they had to look within. This is not to denigrate McMenamin, far from it, but the lack of forward thinking was palpable. Other than a 2-1 win over Brechin City in his second game in charge, there was no immediate upturn in form under the new manager and we were suckered to the bottom of the table. It wasn’t until the January transfer window when the arrivals of Andy Munro, David Marsh and Greg Hurst brought about an improvement (and that Munro was awarded our Player of the Season despite featuring in less than half of our league games tells its own story). McMenamin settled on a 3-5-2 system, making the team more difficult to break down. With Conor McBrearty, a converted centre-back, bounding around the middle of the park, there was a lot of energy, albeit one without much quality; it’s perhaps worth pointing out that if the league table began on 26 January, Munro’s first game for the club, we would be in fifth place after 15 matches. Even so, as we improved, so too did Dumbarton (who I never felt were really going to be threatened by relegation, not with Dom Thomas in their team) and Stranraer and we were never able to take advantage whenever they slipped up. For instance, at the end of March, Stranraer lost at Montrose and we beat Dumbarton, creating four points between ourselves at the bottom and the Sons in seventh; the next week, we lost a late equaliser to Raith Rovers while Dumbarton and Stranraer both won. Both teams continued to do well while we faltered and we found ourselves stuck in ninth. For all the improvements, we continued to shoot ourselves in the foot and some of the defending over the latter part of the season has been unreal. We lost a last-minute equaliser at East Fife, despite being the better team throughout, when we failed to deal with a simple corner; Alan Reid played a short backpass to Graeme Smith in a defeat at Montrose; Morgyn Neill sliced a clearance towards his own net, forcing Smith to push the ball straight to Liam Buchanan in the aforementioned 1-1 draw with Raith; Neill again sold the jerseys in the stalemate against East Fife at the end of April with an unsighted backpass that went straight to Aaron Dunsmore; and three of Annan Athletic’s four goals in the play-off semi-finals came from set-pieces. Real head-in-hands stuff, truly. We weren’t much better further forward. McGuigan had a good season with a poor team, scoring 16 times, but our second highest scorer was Alan Cook with three. Hurst provided a bit of spark in attack and linked well with McGuigan but his return of just one goal isn’t good enough. The play-off semi-final defeat to Annan rankles. We were shocking in the first leg, barely landing a glove on them – the biggest game of the season and everything was wrong, from the starting XI to the tactics to the substitutions to the application (that’s not to discredit Annan’s victory, who were far better than us). If there was ever a week to make an unlikely comeback, it was this, but Kyle Bradley’s early goal in the second leg gave us an enormous task to overcome. The effort was there, and there was a flurry to chances either side of David Marsh’s well-taken strike, but it all petered out and Steven Swinglehurst quietly killed off the contest. Being “olé”d by Annan supporters is horrible, believe you me. So there we are. We were disadvantaged at the start of the season by poor recruitment and although we got better in January, it still wasn’t enough. We deserved to be relegated on the back of the last two games alone. Dropping into League 2 is a massive disappointment, more so because Falkirk had inexplicably found themselves in the third tier for the first time in decades and the prospect of playing them four times was absolutely tantalising. We’ll probably never get the chance to do it again – the Bairns should win the league next term, given their relative size and resources, and there’s no guarantee we’ll get promoted, even if Falkirk somehow stay down. What a huge missed opportunity! Perhaps the only positive is we have a decent group of players contracted for next year. McGuigan as mentioned earlier, scored 23 goals last season, while Munro and Marsh are a good defensive partnership for League 2, and Alan Cook, often frustrating, occasionally world class, should do well. I’m unconvinced about the goalkeeper, who has shown in recent weeks a tendency to punch the ball as well as getting involved in petty squabbles with opposition players, while the decision to sign Kieron Gibbons on a two-year contract last summer seems strange in hindsight, given he actually isn’t very good. Nevertheless, it’s a decent base to start from. Thomas Halleran should be given more game time. I expect a number of players to move on. Hurst and, remarkably, Neill are chasing full-time football. I would have liked Hurst to stay on but you have to admire his ambition. Connor Duthie too is looking for a full-time gig – I won’t lose too much sleep over his departure because he always overcomplicated everything and would run himself into cul-de-sacs. Ruaridh Donaldson will apparently leave the club to take up a job in London – a shame, as he’s been a good player over the last two years. The youngsters in on loan will return to their parent clubs while the rest will probably move, players like Reid, Sean Dickson, Ryan Watters and Mark Ferry (although I imagine he’ll be kept around in some capacity). A damn shame all in. It’s the hope that kills you, isn’t it.

It's a neat sweatshirt and one that worked well with the rest of my outfit!

Alan Cook has agreed a new one-year contract with the club. Good news, all in. ANNOUNCE GREG HURST!

To be fair, if we are relegated, I think we'd be in with a decent shout of coming straight back up. We've got a good core signed up for next season and you can't imagine players like Mark McGuigan, Graeme Smith or Andy Munro scrambling about at the bottom of League 2.

Definitely. I always want to see my club playing at the highest level possible; every supporter should be the same. If Stenhousemuir are ever likely to win a title it'll probably be in League 2 but I wouldn't actively want us to be relegated.

I've also heard Thomas Reilly and Dylan Easton are leaving Station Park to join Kelty Hearts. The thought of a footballer as good as Reilly jobbing in the Lowland League is a crime against nature, frankly. I want to see him in the Championship.

I quite like Morgyn Neill too but he's sold the last two goals we conceded at home (against Raith Rovers and East Fife) with catastrophic errors. Just pay greater attention!

Are you out of your head on drugs? Why on earth would you be content with seeing the team relegated? You must always aim to play at the highest level possible. It's imperative we stay in League 1 for next season, absolutely vital. With Falkirk very likely to drop into the division, the prospect of four league games against them next term is brilliant. I'll be gutted if we're relegated.

Well done to big Andy Munro on his Supporters' Player of the Year award. He's only been at the club for three months but he's already made a big impact and I'm pleased he'll be here for next term.

They originated on another forum. I'm not sure from where but I think they were written by "Rofl Lundgren". My own efforts were very poor in comparison with the original and I'm glad they've been purged from Pie and Bovril.

My goals of the season (in no particular order): Conor McBrearty versus Falkirk Conor McBrearty versus Falkirk again Sean Dickson versus Falkirk Mark McGuigan versus Falkirk

I fancy you boys to do the business in the play-offs Clyde are playing very well at the moment and probably have been the best side in League 2 this season. They play good football and there are a few players who could easily make the step up into this division. I know every team will be keen to win promotion/remain in the league but their points deduction probably gives them an extra incentive to make it through the play-offs. If we do make it to the play-off final, I'd much prefer it to be against Edinburgh City.

It'll be Annan Athletic in the play-off semi-final - they're the side finishing the season in fourth place. Providing we finish in ninth, I'd fancy us to get the better of Annan but Clyde are a very handy side and I'm a little wary of them.

Ross Meechan is one of my all-time favourite Stenhousemuir FC players and I wish nothing but the best for him. Back-to-back promotions is nothing less than he deserves.

Forfar Athletic are the best team I've seen this season. Very good all over the park. John Baird and Dale Hilson have real chemistry in attack, Thomas Reilly is so classy on the ball and Dylan Easton can be really exciting. He destroyed Alan Reid yesterday. I fancy you to win promotion - and I hope you manage it!

Thomas Halleran has signed on for next season.

Thank you very much for the comments and feedback about the show over the last few weeks - it's great to read it's struck a chord with supporters and we're delighted with how it's been received so far. We're still learning as we go and trying to make each episode better than the last. Working on the show has been the best fun I've ever had in my life and I'm delighted to have the chance to continue up until the Scottish Cup final. We hope you keep on watching until then!