Bluegrass Bairn

Fair play CS, that made me laugh...

just to change the subject completely; am starting to wonder whether the coming season will, ironically, be more testing than the last couple, due to the number of teams who will genuinely fancy their chances of winning the league. Looks like no theoretical front runner type this time, but a handful of teams who could very well put a decent run together. Means looking for 3 or 4 other team's results on a Saturday, rather than just one or two. And to state the bleeding obvious, consistency is key. If indeed, " the aim is simple - promotion" as the sales pitch says, then we need some big signings in the next month, and several of them at that.

god help us if we're still hoping Shep will come good. He's no more than a fidget.

so not quite accurate with my supposed ITK, but not far off... Sorry to see Sir Bob leave - gave us some fantastic scenes, esp v Hibs. Would reckon you'll be happy with his effort, attitude and most importantly ratio of goals taken against chances he gets. A natural finisher & good positional sense. And bound to score when returning to TFS. Good luck to him, in all but 4 matches next season.

looks pretty mobile, for your gang.

Doug Henderson currently en route to Ibiza, or maybe Tenerife, to get Jack The Messiah Ross to come back to his home-town team as 'Fergus the Fox' at TFS. In today's Express, so must be true.

Mad, mental stuff, sir! Get out the sun! Predictions this side of the window are wishful thinking at best, other than the sole prediction that Jack Ross will not actually be able to walk on water, contrary to the belief of his many acolytes here on P&B.

John Baird mulling over a move out West... don't shoot the messenger.

yup, a whirlwind day of activity to boost the rush for STs - using our well-established connections, we got a gang of young talent in from England; 2 centre mids from Southampton, a winger from Swansea, RB from Man C and the "new Stokes" from Arsenal. Oh wait....

"the aim is simple - promotion" big talk from the official site, so alright then, it's time for the club to put up, as we've all been saying on here ad nauseam. In line with today's exchanges with BTH & Shadwell, amongst others, can we now expect at least 5, maybe 6 signings from that rallying cry/begging plea that make us all get moist??

You may say the league table doesn't lie, but come on; to say we laboured our way to second place would be a bit of an understatement. Being honest it was more by default. So the table was mis-leading at least. Realistically, had Morton not totally collapsed - 0 wins from last 11; DU 4 wins Jan - May; QoS turning to mush mid-season - we'd have been scraping for 4th/5th. The team wasn't good enough last season. We saw a meagre handful of great team performances as opposed to a depressingly ample pile of utter dross - e.g. 2-4 v RR, 0-2 at Cappielow, or the nadir that was EEP on Boxing Day. Shadwell's point is pretty pertinent - there's a big improvement required on recruitment. And on performances. And flair. And tempo. Etc etc...

Sadly, would evidently satisfy Houston's wish list all too readily. Another lightweight short-arse for our midfield, when we desperately need someone with a bit of drive/presence/pace/height, as has been blindingly obvious since the Rugby Park massacre. Watching our centre mid part like the Red Sea in the second half of the Play Off was just a tad irritating, and all a bit Groundhog Day. Against Willo Flood FFS.

whoooosh!

Sooner the press get him the job at Govan the better - for all the rest of us! Inept waster that he is would be so hilariously bad it'd make for the most fabulous car-crash viewing since, em, McCoist's circus troupe were in town.

Agreed. The tops themselves are smart enough but Peter looks like a ref in all-navy...it's actually a bit dull tbh. Get the shorts changed on both - white with the blue and blue with the red - & they'd be tip-top. Really don't like the mono-colour strips that loads of teams have introduced in recent years. Was it not some gash FIFA ruling, to help casual viewers at the last World Cup, that started this trend?

Would agree re Baird & Shepherd but would like to give O'Hara at least the chance he's not yet had.

this is a guess, but in answer to NBA, did John Clark maybe score 3 direct f/k's in a season for us? I particularly remember him smashing one in against Celtic (when they were ground-sharing at Hampden. Now, fancy them being allowed to do that).

Tough call for me between Sibbald & Grant... Um, Sibbald it is. No, Grant. No, back to Sibbald... etc etc. Canny decide. GOTS = Craigen at Cappielow. A work of art. Wish he'd teach that technique to Mark Kerr, among others.

The Morton clogger trying to rugby tackle Hyppolite in the build up to Craigen's goal is hilarious. Had forgotten about that.

Full length seating, to the depth of the temporary stand we used to have there; hospitality boxes overlooking that; leading back into a decent sized club bar (not the pokey 200-odd capacity mooted for South Stand); then commercial/hotel/leisure/gym space to fill the building section and generate revenue. Make it happen.

Good move by Morton. I remember standing in there in the past - it would be great if other clubs could follow their lead. One of the aspects most mismanaged in our land of shiny/shitty new sterilised stadiums (including ours) - is the loss of the shared terracing...being separated only by a chainlink fence was integral to the day out at Morton, Broomfield, EEP, Love St, etc etc. Would make for a cracking atmosphere if we were to meet up in the play-offs this season.

This pretty much 100% for me. Boxing Day at Fife was a real low, and I honestly thought we were destined to drop down to mid-table based on that mind-numbing, flat, insipid display of utter ordinary-ness. We've totally outplayed two teams in a row at home, one off a decent lengthy run, the other second top, co-inciding with these changes and the addition of a couple of new faces. Three, if including the return of Watson, who's looked confident and assured alongside Peter the Rock. But it is only two games, so we'll soon see whether its just a flash in the pan, or if Houston has finally got the dynamic right and we can now make a decent, consistent run for second place... coyb.

Maybe I'm just being charitable, but maybe he actually meant Lyle Taylor?.... That I could see, maybe; but obv not Taylor Morgan. No sir...

This is a tricky one for me. Agree with your comparison that sometimes McHugh seems to disappear when on from the start, but he's been such a fantastic impact sub I'd like us to keep him and give him the chance to get more consistent...He's mobile, quick thinking and has shown he has a great instinct for being in the right place - with those sorts of attributes that's not someone we should let go IMO!! But it is great to see Baird right back in scoring form again and his confidence is clearly up, so looks like he's re-gained effectiveness to add to his non-stop effort... Maybe the issue is the two of them are too similar physically, for the occasions when we need Plan B or C... When we would need someone different, like Austin - who looked a little nervy I thought, but promising. (And a better prospect than Biabi at this stage). Interesting few weeks ahead, hope we can keep our re-discovered momentum going.

My impression of him (and tbf the entire midfield) is we're way too lightweight. Specifically against QoS & Hibs at TFS, & at Fife on Boxing Day, my feeling is he was simply brushed off the ball whenever there was a physical contest. If he has a head start or a bit of space against his opponent he seemed to do ok, but when marked tight he invariably lost out when the tackle came in. Will pay attention on Saturday, and then either "telt ye" or "fair do's" on Sunday!!! :-)