CallumPar

That was poor. We have absolutely no depth to our squad. No idea what our tactics were for most of that second half. Clark clearly didn't work as a lone striker. That was clear from the first 10 minutes, but we stuck with it. Thought Splaine looked good, but we had no midfield after he went off. Some good finishes, but Hibs goals split our defence far too easily. Shambolic all round. Dundee United, Falkirk, Morton, St Mirren, Inverness & QotS would beat that team without any problems, if we play like that. We didn't look like a 'team' at all.

Looks like the stripes continue on the back as well [emoji106] fantastic kit.

Meanwhile, other clubs with similar budgets, will be talking to more realistic targets. No?

Best as a holding mid, but has played attacking mid for our u20s. Looked like he had great potential under the McCann/Potter management team, and never got a chance under Allan Johnston. Huge step up for the lad, but there's a player in there somewhere. Given it took El Bakhtaoui a wee while to settle in at that level, I'd be surprised if he was brought in for your first team right away. Probably be loaned out somewhere, at least initially.

Is Paton still at the club? Haven't seen anything announced either way, but I'm sure he was out of contract. Still on our squad list, despite all other players that have left being removed....

Re: McManus... I remember fans of St Mirren and Morton telling us the exact same about McMullan last season. Different players suit different clubs. Football is a strange game. Reilly was great at Queens, but awful for us, at the same level. McMullan was poor in the championship, then came into form with us. McManus was excellent at league 1 level with Morton. He was quick and a good finisher. He had struggled so far at championship level, but is only 22. In prepared to give him a chance. It may not be a signing that gets me excited, but it's a signing that I'm willing to see how it goes. Have never seen Splaine play, so I'm willing to give him a chance as well. Don't understand people writing players off, before even seeing them play for us/in our system.

For tonight's away kit, going by the picture, I think it could be one of these 2...

It won't be. We get a bespoke kit each year, under the contract we have with TTL/Joma.

There's a player in there somewhere, but for some reason, things really didn't work at us. He looked incredibly low on confidence and uninterested when he was with us. A regular run in the team and a couple of goals, and you'll have a totally different player than we did. From what I can gather, he seems to have fallen out of love with the game a bit, and is sick of sitting on the bench. Instead of knuckling down and trying to prove himself at Dunfermline, he sulked, which meant he fell down the pecking order. When we won the new year Derby, he came off the bench late on. At full time, he was our only player, including subs, that didn't come to thank the fans. He just walked down the tunnel, looking miserable. That's when I accepted that he was not going to be any kind of asset for us in the second half of the season. Maybe this move will help him revive his career. Maybe he's had a bit of a reality check. If not, I'm sure he will soon - sounds like Ross doesn't accept poor attitudes from players. He's probably a stronger character than Johnston, when it comes to putting players in their place.

Bit concerned at the number of players we've lost. We started very poorly last year, and I believe that was due to players taking so long to get used to each other. AJ said he didn't want to change too much, then we've lost 9/10 first team players, if you include loan players returning. That's a huge change.

All the best to Geggan at Ayr. Probably the right time for him to move on. Not good enough to play in our midfield, and we'd be better off with a more natural right back. I'm sure he'll do really well for Ayr in League One. Certainly leaves with my best wishes.

3 clean sheets in his last 5 starts. He's a solid CB, and I'd have much rather kept him than signed M'Voto.

Dylan Bikey released by Hearts. A lot of interest in him last summer. Might be worth a look at?

Is that not the rumour, rather than telling us what makes this rumour 'strong'? Or were you actually there when the meeting was taking place?

I've not seen us post anything?

That's genuinely VERY disappointing. M'Voto is a bomb scare.

I'd agree be with us being a terrible example - we're probably an example of what can happen if you don't appoint the right manager. However, Morton bounced straight back, when everyone in league one was spending the money that they got from Rangers being in the league the year before. For me, that's much more impressive than what Livingston have done this year. Remember whoever goes down, has about double the budget of those already in the league, because of the way prize money is distributed. Raith and Ayr will be near the top of the league next season, and it wouldn't surprise me to see one win the league and the other come up through the play-offs.

In an ideal world, I would agree. However, you've got to accept the reality of the situation. We can't just send Reilly back to Hearts. There was no recall agreement in place when the loan was agreed. Also, we cannot afford to have quality replacements/backup for every position. I'm sure every team in this division (perhaps except from Hibs), would be struggling if they lost one or two key players, as Herron and Murdoch are for us. That's the reality of where we are, and it doesn't put us at a disadvantage when compared to our rivals. That's why it's important to have versatile players like Geggan and Martin, who are competent in a few different roles. Spence can only be loaned back to Brechin, as he cannot play for any other club this season. Hopkirk is never fit, so can't see him leaving on loan - unless we pay a substantial percentage of his wages. If possible, we should be trying to loan out Williamson - again, you need interest from other teams for that to happen. AJ sees Martin as a full back. He has looked very good this season and is our first choice RB. Geggan has done well covering there, and Fordyce is also an option there. We also have Spark and Duthie in the u20s as options. I'd be very surprised if we spent money on another RB, and would argue that LB is a bigger concern. With nobody other than Martin (first choice RB ) to cover there. We have no left sided defenders other than Talbot.

Anyone know what the deal is with Lewis Spence? Originally announced that his loan deal would expire late October, but is still playing with Brechin... Wedderburn's red card, and Geggan finding form at RB leaves us short of midfield cover for the next couple of games. Also very short of defensive cover, which is why I assume Geggan will stay in his RB role. I haven't made any U20's games this year, is there anyone in there that's maybe ready for the step up? Even a defender, if we put Geggan back in midfield for a bit.

El Alagui, maybe?

Is Fordyce still club captain? I assumed that he was, but noticed Geggan was wearing the armband yesterday.

In all seriousness, fair play to your board, for doing this. It's important to listen to fans, and it's now up to the fans complaining, to turn up. If they don't, then their complaints will cost the club money. I'd guess that you'll probably determine the price for the second Pars game at Starks, based on how many people are willing to pay £20 this time around (ie. Might be £18 or something, if turnout isn't great)? No point in lowering prices v Dunfermline, Hibs & Dundee Utd to £15, when they'll all bring a good crowd at a higher price. Again though, smart move to say the prices will be announced for those games on a game-by-game basis, to allow prices to change, based on responses to existing £20 tickets.

Let's be realistic here... At best, our lifeline fund is bringing our budget to a competitive level in this division. Looking at prize money from last season, we received around £105k and Ayr £90k. 8th in the championship received just under £170k. Raith in 4th received £274k (so around £170k more than us) and Falkirk £400k (almost 4 times what we got)... And well, there's no question that our budget is a lot lower than Hibs'. Dundee United got around £950k, and will receive parachute payments, so will be well ahead of us also. This means that, budget wise, we are likely to be competing with Raith, Morton, St Mirren (who will be receiving parachute payments) & QotS. It won't be until we consolidate our Championship status, and receive the prize money from that, that will we will gain a financial advantage from the lifeline. I realise that a bigger budget doesn't guarantee success and a smaller budget doesn't guarantee failure. But finances would suggest that anywhere from 4th-8th would be a decent finish. Anything above that, would be great and anything lower than that, would be poor. We have several first team players (Murdoch, Williamson, Ben, Martin, Spence, Hopkirk, McCabe...) who have never played regular football above league one level before - some have arguably never played regular football at league one level. The experience of Fordyce, Talbot, Geggan and Wedderburn in particular might come in handy, as they will know about grinding out results at this level, as well as recovering from poor results/performances. They were involved in teams that battled relegation. Geggan played for us, when we had a bunch of kids struggling to stay up. These guys will be wanting to prove what they can do, at this level. Adapting to playing full time players most weeks, and higher quality of players, whilst dealing with the expectation of fans/coaching staff, will be a real test for these players. We have got quality, and some players who have coped at a higher level. Again, their experience should prove useful and hopefully help out others around them. It should be an interesting season, there will be a few learning curves and poor results, along the way. I just hope that when the going gets tough, the fans stick behind the team.

This is getting a bit embarrassing. Even if Brashy is telling the truth, it sounds like he just can't take a bit of banter or understand sarcasm. It's very common for football fans to feign arrogance about their team, to wind up opposition/rival fans. Quite a few Raith fans seem to be falling for it... Is this where our 'arrogant' reputation comes from? Because some people choose to take everything dead serious, and don't even consider the fact that things are said tongue in cheek? If you're going to keep getting wound up about how 'arrogant' we are, Pars fans will keep winding you up with false over-confidence. For what it's worth, the majority of Pars fans know this will not be an easy season, and know we have no chance of winning the league. However, we know that with our budget, we should be challenging for a play-off spot. Hence, that is the expectation of fans. I also don't think anyone's getting too carried away about the result of a friendly on Saturday. In the same way that nobody panicked when we drew with Alloa. I also don't believe that the League Cup will even give an indication of how the season will go. Until the league campaign starts, there's no telling what might come. It's all about getting off to a good start. Our second and third games will be big tests for us. Up against two teams that made the play-offs last year, away from home.

If that's the case, I don't think yesterday will have done him any favours. Looked just as useless, as when he was part of the Cowdenbeath team we beat 7-1.