Rjc-1988

Agree. I am sure James Fowler will have his own short list and he will known for some time that Messrs Reilly, Holt,McShane,Durnan etc will not be with us next year. That said it would be fantastic if we can keep Durnan - for me he is the second best prospect behind Holty. I cant believe that he will be short of offers. On the target front I like Agnew of dumbarton, the Jacobs brothers at Livvy, Pitman of Livvy, McCord is a decent shout and Brittain of County could be an option. I would aso have liked Gallagher but things dont look good for him after being found guilty of a bad assault. If Danny goes we will need a dribbler to balance the squad but hopefully Danny stays. I am sure we can get good quality in

Cant understand the negativity surrounding Ian McShane. Last season was one of the best in the Club's history (certainly recent history). The central midfield area is vitally important and Ian McShane must have played in 95% + of all games. We simply couldnt have achieved such a lofty position if this key area had been sub standard. McShane is a very talented player with a great engine and a great atititude. His biggest weakness is similar to Danny Carmichael - he doesnt score enough goals and his final ball could be better but he is one of he main reasons thatwe were able to control the midfield in so many games. Disappointed to see him go anywhere but losing him to Ross County is a blow .................. would have much preferred to see him go to England or one of Scotland's top sides. Unlike Hamilton and Livvy we seem to lose our progressive players to clubs that are marginally stronger than ourselves.

Make a massive difference if we can keep Durnan,Reilly and Danny or even 1/3.

Have to say that I find it surprising that McShane sees Ross County as a good directional move at this point in his career. He will earn more money but when you presumably factor in accommodation costs and the geographical challenges it cannot be a financial money spinner. Bad choice IMHO but he seems to be intent on going there. From our point of view - it is rare to get a transfer fee these days so so long as we screw as much out of Ross County as possible then not much that can be done. As others have said a considerable rebuilding job required if we lose McShane, McKenna, Durnan, Reilly, Danny in addition to Holty. Feel as though we should be signing more key payers on two year deals but these may well have been offered and refused. A busy summer ahead for James Fowler and it would be sensible to appoint Assistant with good contacts to lighten the recruitment burden.

On the McKenna thread it wouldnt suprise me if McKenna went to Dunfermline with Alan Johnston. Hope not because although McKenna has had a horrendous time with injuries he has played really well in the run in and can do a job for us. On the goalkeeper front is Annan's Mitchell not the reserve keeper ............. Cant see us being interested in signing a No 2 - we already have a very able deputy in Jim Atkinson.

I think Stranraer keeper Mitchell is a possible target . Would be disappointed to see McKenna move on. Not sure what is prompting this. After all he was out injured for a very long time and it took him a long time to get up to match fitness . When he did he started to play really well and is an excellent guy to have around. Not the type we should be losing. I am not sure that Millar is a player that you can fully rely on so we will need players like McKenna to "hold the fort". Saw him giving what looked like a farewell wave at Ibrox so could be true .............hope not!!!!!

You must be kidding we cant even get 2500 at a home game

I can think of many Cup Finals which have singularly failed to attract a crowd anywhere near the 50k figure. Times have certainly changed - it wasnt that long ago that we took around 2500 fans to Fir Park for a cup tie against Moherwell on a horrible cold day with snow nearly causing an abandonment. Yes we are one goal down and normally trying to reverse a deficit against Rangers at Ibrox would be mission impossible but this is a Rangers team that is little better than we are. Hopefully the team aren't as defeatist as some of the supporters.

Agree with this comment - cant believe that after so many modest years and run of the mill fixtures we get a match that is almost of a similar stature to a Cup Final and we struggle to sell our allocation of 950. Must admit thought that there would be a scramble for a coveted place but obviously not. For us to play in front of c.50k is some occasion but not everybody sees it that way. Strange but true!!!!

If true not a great move for Holty. Surprised that an England League 1 club has not come in for him. Will get more money at Dundee but not a life changer in terms of income whereas a move to a progressive English club would open up more avenues. Hamilton and Livvy are the only clubs at our level who seem to benefit regularly from the English market - disappointing but I wish the player every success as he is a cracking player with a great attitude.

As you say above there will be plenty who will use it as an excuse to criticise the club instead of acknowledging what a tremendous season the club have had. Board statement spot on.

Surely the clubs who qualify or the play offs are entitled to make a decent return from the associated additional revenue. After all we are attempting to provide full time football on average home crowds of 2500 and that average is heavily inflated by the big 3. If this had been a typical Championship league i shudder to think what our average would be ..........c1800 at best. You bet we need the money if we are to continue to progress as we all hope.

Can anybody confirm what level of income Queens can expect to earn fom play offs. I appreciate that it is dependent on how far they progress but if we take the worst case scenario and they get knocked out in first double header :- - do we keep 50% of home gate and get nothing from away match - do we get any share of BT Sport tv money

Looking at Rovers from the outside I feel as though Fox's sending off was a turning point in the Falkirk game. It is amazing how after going on a great run to challenge for a play off place they have folded like a cheap suit. There is nothing worse for the fans - expectations raised and then dashed immediately.With the run of fixtures Raith had a decent outside chance of getting there. To lose the Falkirk game and then cave in is a horrible way to finish. The Livvy home defeat was the final straw although to be fair having seen Livvy a few times recently I rate them much higher than Cowden, Alloa and Dumbarton. I think Raith have a decent squad and were realistically competing in that middle league of 4 against ourselves, Falkirk, and Livvy. Livvy have had a dire season but overall Raith have been solid if uninspiring. From Murrays own point of view i think he may have held on to his job if he had avoided the tail end capitulation and finished the season in reasonable style. John Potter's name doesnt appear to have figured on the short list.............................only joking!!!!!!!!

Agree that was an absolutely outstanding season that the team, management and directors have delivered. Only Hearts took more points off us in the 4 game individual head to heads. That is a truly fantastic statistic in the toughest ever Championship league. Players have been superb from start to finish.

Hope Meggatt's signing means that KevinHolt will not be heading to Dundee. Thought Danny roasted Meggatt yesterday - I was sure I saw him paying at the gate to get back in!!!!

Allocation of 700 - will sell out I would imagine - a decent result tonight would help!

Skyline is right - we need Rangers and Hibs to be fighting for second place right up to the last day so that Falkirk's last few games are really tough. If matters are settled Hibs and Rangers will rest players in readiness for play off battles that lie ahead. Personally I feel that the fixture schedule in the final quarter favours Falkirk - alhough we naturally have the same teams to play the combination of when the fixtures fall looks better for our rivals. Loy is a massive miss for Falkirk - not sure how long he is out for. I have Queens as slight favourites to prevail as a 4 point lead and a superior goal diff needs Falkirk to have an outstanding final quarter.

Interesting news about the training situation. I have to say that i would be very surprised if Queens return to a Dumfries based training regime for the first team squad. That said I have every sympathy for Dumfries based QOS players having to travel to Cumbernauld for training but the reality is that the vast majority of the first pick players are based in central belt and if you want a mass exodus of key players in close season then an introduction of local training would most likely be the catalyst for such action. The only way that this would ever work given the extreme geography is for Queens to be a team/squad of local players. The reality is that we will always rely on the central belt for the nucleus of our squad and if we limit ourselves to local talent (and there is some great local talent) we will never be able to compete at the levels currently being enjoyed. It is great that the club is being proactive as regards facilities but I cant see local training for first team being a realistic option.

Agreed - Danny 1 goal in two seasons and Paton not many more preferred to Russell who is a consistent goal scorer even fom a wide position. You always have to ask yourself in any team line up - do we have goals in the team? That formation gives you plenty of possession which is great but with one up nobody running in behind the opposition and easy to defend against.

We dodged a bullet last night - Falkirk by far the better team and should have had the 3 points. Rangers were terrible all over th pitch and virtually created nothing. Sincerely hope that when we play them at Ibrox we do not go there with some defensive masterplan to try and contain them - we have to go into the final phase of the season with confidence and attack teams................starting today.

Remembering our decent team in the mid 70 s we operated a player pool of about 16 recognised first teamers and the selection barely changed from week to week. Injuries were extremely rare and it almost had to be a broken bone for a player to miss out. Alan Ball actually played on in the famous away cup match at Ayr with a broken leg!!!! Clearly changed days - footballers now much fitter but hardly a week goes by without 1/2 players seeming to miss out. This has been a horrendous season so far as injuries are concerned and our problems seem to be continuing. Sincerely hope that silly suspensions do not start to bite us just as we approach the crucial period. Although we have a decent sized squad there are some key players that we desperately need if we are to compete in the big games that are coming up.

Waldorf makes some good points. Agree that Millar looks an excellent capture and his comments about the others are spot on. Paton is a player that I have always rated and still do but he absolutely has to contribute a lot more. He is playing inthe hardest role in football - "no 10 role" - you very often have to take the ballwith back to goal and in confined spaces. To be successful there you have to have a great first touch and be able to "see things early". I am not sure that this is bestposition and he might be better off playing wide in a more conventional role. Cert With Hearts next up I would be tempted to dispense with this luxury role and play 3 central midfielders to give us more possession in this crucial area. A good striker would be a welcome addition.

I actually think this is an important issue - clearly supporters who frequent the Rosefield Stand like to have the flexibility of moving to the Portland Street and vice versa. The overwhelming reality is that the risk in allowing this to happen in 80% of our games is as close to RISK FREE as you can get. It seems to me that there is absolutely no sense in creating mindless health and safety precautions that are simply not necessary. By all means if it is a category A game tighten things up but announce that in advance so that fans can decide where they want to position themselves. Let's not kid ourselves football is an expensive day out for a family and clubs have to do everything possible to make the experience as enjoyable as possible. This is not a difficult fix and personally i hate the mindless jobsworth mentality that pervades football under that meaningless heading of Health and Safety.