CallumPar

First half was a non-event. Started the second half well and got a deserved goal with Dom’s brilliant strike. After that, Grant lost us 2 points. Took off our attacking threats, despite only being 1 up and sat ridiculously deep for the rest of the game. As was predictable, Raith equalised - with a very good strike after a good 20 mins of constant pressure and then we just looked lost. Board said 3/4 weeks ago that we had to win games soon. 3 games later, no win. He has to go.

Ball numbers tend to be alphabetical order, rather than ordered by division, so I’m not sure that theory is correct. We were number 19 and Partick were 32. I also think it’s a bit of a myth that we always get other championship teams. 2018-19 and 2019-20 we got League 1 teams (Raith and Stranraer). Last season we got Morton. Just makes it all the more embarrassing that we haven’t even scored a Scottish cup goal since January 2018. Think we can only have had 1 home Scottish cup tie in our last 6 or 7 draws though, which seems very unlucky.

We kept 2 clean sheets in Watson’s last 2 games (the 2 games before we brought in Connolly). Saturday was the first clean sheet we’ve managed with Connolly in the team, so it’s definitely a stretch to attribute those clean sheets/improved defensive solidity to him. We changed to a back 4 and looked more secure defensively before Connolly came in and that’s what made the difference. I honestly haven’t seen us much lately. The last Raith game (Connolly’s debut) was the last game I attended. So I can’t comment on his performances, but given he seems to have been solid enough, I’d also be pleased if we extended his deal. The change in shape may have sorted the defence, but as you mention, it’s nullified our attack. I think an extra man in midfield is required, to ensure we can do more with possession, rather than punts up the park. We have players capable of playing decent football and picking passes, but we don’t have a system that allows them the time/space to do that. Most teams in this league play 3 in midfield and that leaves our 2 totally overrun. Having said all that, I’d still like to see us go with O’Hara and Wighton up top tonight. They caused problems in the second half at Starks.

Yeah, I didn’t really want to consider the possibility of him getting the entire quarter. Our statement said he knew things had to improve quickly. Failure to win at least one game this week and he hasn’t done that. That would be another 4 games he’d been given and he’ll have been given 1/3 of a full season, so can’t have any complaints about being sacked after 0 wins in that time. As you note, the task for the new manager gets harder each passing week. We are a significant portion through the season now and every game does have a significant impact on the size of the challenge that we face for the rest of the season. It concerns me that the board have been so slow to act/too stubborn to acknowledge their error.

Hadn’t done the maths when I sent that. We would need a minimum of 1.8 ppg from this point to get top 4. Fail to win our next 2 games and it very quickly goes up to around 2ppg required, over a 24 game period. Based on that, I have to agree it’s not possible. For survival, we’ll likely need around 40 points. At this stage that will require 1.3ppg. Given we currently average 0.6ppg, that’s going to be unlikely under Grant. Given we haven’t won a game yet, it’s easy to work out that our point average over any run of games will be below 1ppg right now.

100% agree with this. For me, 4th is mid table. Whether you get a playoff spot or not, 4th in a 10 team league isn’t impressive and certainly doesn’t merit a chance at promotion. The manager and chairman clearly stated in pre-season that we were targeting the title. To shift that target to mid-table within the first quarter, without acknowledging that the wrong man was put in charge is just mental. If we sack Grant soon, I think the new manager should be told top 4 this year and challenge for the title next year are the expectations.

Usually plenty space on Halbeath road and/or the streets just off Halbeath Road. Head up Garvock Hill way and you’ll find plenty space to park. Just make sure you don’t block anyone’s drive and you’ll be fine.

Assuming ‘or’ is supposed to read ‘on’

Agree with a lot of what you’re saying. But I’d be surprised if Wilson started - unless we switch to 3 in midfield and actually decide to start using our midfielders when we’re in possession. Otherwise, I’d expect aimless punts up the park that Berra will deal with no bother (like the first half at Starks). Definitely agree you have the better manager and team. Individual quality doesn’t make a great team and we certainly don’t resemble a team at all this season. Meanwhile, McGlynn has assembled a really good team again, where everyone knows their role/responsibility and I’d be surprised if the replacements coming in don’t just slot in fairly easily. Regarding the whole “the Pars will win games” - I’m honestly not convinced. There isn’t enough of a team mentality or any sort of game plan for me to think that could happen. We seem to have settled for trying to draw 0-0 every week, despite the fact that won’t see us stay in the division. We seem to have a plan without the ball, but have no idea what to do when we have the ball in our possession, which is incredibly worrying for any team, never mind a full time team. I have no idea what they work on in training, there’s no sign of any of it on a match day. I can totally understand though, why outsiders would look at our squad and assume that they will win some games, regardless of who is the manager.

All the best to the guy. Cracking wee player, who deserves so much better than what he’s had to deal with over the last few years.

Worrying thing is, I think this is as good as it’ll get under Grant. We seem to have settled for this and Grant/the board obviously think it’s good enough. Grant and the board promised us challenging for the title, playing entertaining football. Instead we’ve got boring 0-0 draws, rooted to the bottom of the table. On their own, our last 2 results would have been ok. In the context of our season so far, it’s just not good enough. I just don’t see any way for us to progress from here. Grant was obviously told to sort out the defence and his solution was to play such a negative and horrific brand of football, playing for 0-0 every week. At no point do they seem to have looked into sorting the attack. You need to score goals if you want to win games. We’ve failed to score in 6 of our 10 league games. We have plenty of players capable of scoring at this level and they have proven that last season. Nobody to blame for the abysmal performances, other than the manager/coaching staff. But the board seem too stubborn to accept this and do what’s best for the club. Instead, we’d rather publish the manager’s stupid excuses that have now gone as crazy as it being too windy and the grass being too long. Could he not at least have saved the wind excuse for Arbroath this weekend? Can’t use the same excuse 2 weeks in a row…

It’s no wonder crowds in Scotland are so poor. How’s anyone supposed to get excited? Minimum of 6 games against Partick Thistle this season. Minimum of 4 games away to Partick Thistle this season. The small leagues (and 4 league games against each other) just make it so boring/hard to get excited about any cup games against a team in the same league. 3 trips to Firhill before the end of November. Boring. Of course, if we were playing well and/or had won yesterday, I’d probably be relatively pleased with this. But I had hopes of us drawing Kelty and Joe Cardle scoring the goal that saw Grant get sacked…

Can’t say I’ve seen anything. I’d be surprised though, unless (as you say) it’s someone like Reece Cole or Leon Jones, who we haven’t played at all. Even then though, why wouldn’t they hang around until January, when they can sign for someone else?

Missed this one. The gym has no access to the stadium. It has its own car park and players would have to walk out onto Halbeath Road to get onto the pitch from there. Maybe you should stop commenting on things/criticising clubs for things you clearly know very little about? One thing that is very clear with our board, is that they will never turn down an opportunity to make more money. Trust me, if there was another option and they could have more away fans, they would do that. There is a lot that they have got wrong, but I genuinely believe that they would not increase costs/reduce revenue unless it is absolutely essential. They would have explored all possible options before deciding to close the East Stand to fans.

I’d forgotten he existed. I’ll assume this is a serious question, since it’s very easy to forget that we actually loaned in a player from QPR. I don’t think he was ever even listed in a match day squad… https://dafc.co.uk/story.php?t=Dylan_Duncan_comes_to_Dunfermline_&ID=11706

In the concourse of the East Stand. Has that not been made clear by now? That’s why the stand is not being used for supporters. Our main stand is not designed for access to the pitch anymore. Hospitality boxes have been put in where the old changing rooms used to access the pitch. We do have the hospitality suite, but you have to walk through corridors past the control room, club shop, boardroom and main reception area to get there. In the other direction (towards away end) you have to walk past the toilets used by fans in the stand, so that wouldn’t be an option. That means it’s not an option. As others have said, if there was another option, I’m sure the club would use that, rather than losing revenue. This clearly isn’t the case.

Yep, there is also some stuff in place at the Civil Service site in Rosyth. It would need work, but there are 3 pitches there already, along with the existing clubhouse type building. I’d imagine this would be able to be fit for purpose quicker - but maybe they’ve looked at the ground and decided that it would cost too much to get it up to the desired standard, I don’t know. As you say, transport links would be much easier for Rosyth as well, due to it being so close to the M90/Queensferry Crossing. That being said, it’s all rumours for now. But I’m not sure I’ll be comfortable if we’re abandoning these plans, to enter into a deal with one of our existing director’s other companies/their land. The club have been planning on building a training ground/academy for over a year now, but we have never had any updates from them regarding this. I was under the impression that the new owners increased their investment/share capital early, because things had progressed on this front. Which is why I expected to hear more a bit more by now. I just want to see some sort of progress/update. The training ground was identified by our new owners as something that was very important in their plans for the club and the setup of an academy. It seems strange that the club have then reported absolutely zero progress on that front, since the initial investment was announced over a year ago. The only thing that seems to have been done is fixing the floodlights, which wasn’t part of the plan and was done out of necessity.

Any truth in the stories about the training ground? Apparently we’ve cut off all ties with Rosyth FC (who had asked the council for £300k as their contribution to it) and have been ignoring their calls/emails for the last 2 months. Seems like they haven’t had anything from the club, but have heard unofficially that we are now going to build our base on a certain director’s land in Lochgelly…

There is nowhere for them to get changed in the north stand. It’s honestly as simple as that. There is no concourse. You just have the walkway behind the seats. The issue with staggering showering, is that if someone in the first group then tests positive, then covid will have been in that area and potentially spread there whilst everyone else showers. I think they were told that showers would have to be thoroughly cleaned in between each person using. I would have thought there should be a way round this, but it certainly doesn’t seem like there is if nobody else in the league has found one either. The only way around this would be paying for regular PCR testing, as the top flight does. But I’m not sure this is feasible for clubs at this level. I don’t actually know if swimmers can use the showers in leisure centres etc. I can’t really comment on what the restrictions are regarding that. I only stated that, despite your crazy theory that showering = getting changed, swimmers are allowed to change out of their swimwear to travel home, in the same way footballers can change out of their kit. I certainly don’t think the current set up is good. It would clearly be much better if both teams could use changing rooms and shower and East End could be opened up fully, to accommodate the away fans and create a better atmosphere. However, clubs have to abide by the restrictions in place. If they are seen to cut corners, resulting in an outbreak, they will likely be fined/have to forfeit matches.

To be fair, the red zone isn’t any issue at East End, due to the area of the main stand that’s used for seating being above dugouts etc. The issue at East End is that the East stand concourse is used for away changing. Letting fans into that stand would mean letting fans into the away changing room, which wouldn’t be allowed regardless of the covid situation/regulations.

Yet, every club does have a bubble, as well as having restrictions in place regarding changing/shower facilities and distancing/mask wearing in the changing rooms/on the bench on a match day. This is probably due to lack of players being fully vaccinated. If there weren’t still restrictions at clubs then every unvaccinated player would have to isolate after any teammate tested positive. The clubs would then be unable to argue that they had taken all reasonable precautions to avoid this and would be forced to forfeit games.

Are you seriously that thick? The away team are using the east stand for changing facilities. That’s why the stand isn’t open for fans to use. They can (and do) change out of their kit for the drive home. Therefore, your ridiculous comparison with swimmers driving home in swim suits is total drivel. The only people suggesting that the players shouldn’t have the facilities to change are those saying that the east stand should be given to the away fans anyway. Not being able to shower is completely different to not being able to change clothes. How can you not understand that? I’d imagine lack of fully vaccinated players is probably one of the main reasons that a lot of restrictions still exist within football clubs. One player catching covid, then showering, could result in 10 players being forced to isolate. It would then be very hard for the club to argue that they had taken all reasonable precautions to avoid that scenario, given the SFA/SPFL would point out that players didn’t shower after games for the last year. Also, swimming isn’t a ‘professional sport’ at all, they’re all amateurs as nobody is employed as a swimmer for any swimming club - even at Olympic level. Elite swimmers are funded by grants/sponsorship deals, not salaries. So that is a terrible comparison to use when talking about ‘other professional sports’. For what it’s worth, I’d much rather Rovers could bring 2000 fans (or however many tickets you could sell). But we have to accept that we are still far from whatever ‘normal’ will look like and clubs have to be taking all necessary steps to follow guidelines and avoid covid outbreaks within the squad.

By the way, we have played 819 minutes of competitive football (not including stoppage time, or the abandoned Raith match) since we were last ahead in a football match. It’s been over 9 games now.

Story seems to be that he’s missed training. Called in to say he had covid (he didn’t), then went on holiday.

Peter Grant in June: “The young boys will get an opportunity because I played seventeen year olds for Alloa. I think it is important, if they are good enough I am not interested in their age.” Peter Grant in October: “I thought the group was maybe too young to make Paul that main core of things but he’s proven he can play in every game he has played in this season.”