Shadwell Dog

Kilmarnock unlike Livie and Dundee have never gone bust owing millions. They spend money then they pay it back. Their no different from us over the past 20 odd years it's just their far better at it than we've been. Surely it's not being unrealistic to think we should be a top flight side like Hamilton or st Johnstone.

Yeah I wouldve hated to have been in the top flight for 20 odd years won two national trophies and qualified for Europe on a number of occasions. Must be absolutely hellish being a killie fan.

Bowman and Barclay were kids we brought through the system. We still have kids we can use as a backup exactly the same way we did then. We're not talking about only having one keeper on the books in total we're talking about having the youth teams keeper like we did back then. We managed fine with it when money was even tighter.

Good so promotion by a good few points this season .

I'm sure that under Pressley we only employed one senior goalie and it never caused us any major issues. If the budget is as tight as Houston suggests then we may well have been better off using that money elsewhere. Sometimes if things are tight you've got to take a gamble and hope it comes off. There's always the option of an emergency loan if it was a serious injury.

Questions would surely have to be asked about Harris being signed and the decisions to sign up both Kerr and Taiwo plus Watson if he's now only being allowed to bring in one more player . Only we would cut our budget for the one season we have a real chance of winning the league after two seasons when we've been up against it.

And then who plays on the left? No Sibbald at the moment either.

Obviously and it obviously wasn't in his mind during his stupid swipe at the fans in the herald .

Would he not be better stating these issues after the early bird period for season tickets is finished though? Its surely counter productive being so negative when your at a stage where a lot of fans could still be swithering over whether or not to buy one this season.

I think there was a hint of desperation with those mind you.

I'dve thought that every single one of us should be looking at us trying to win the league this season . We've had two second place finishes and now there are no teams in the league with massive budget advantages. The Its Our Time advertising pish suggests that too . Whatever happens there will be more pressure on the team to perform this season than any other and quite rightly so . The fans have been doing their bit for the past 7 years and surely its not too much to ask for a bit of positivity from the club and bod in words and actions. Surely the increase in season ticket prices and entry money should reduce any loss from not having Hibs in the league anyway. We should be looking to sell more season tickets this season than the last two. Not slightly less, not the same but more but we've done absolutely nothing to entice people who haven't bought before to buy one this season. Prices are up, signings have been few and uninspiring and the message from the manager is that it'll be great if we make the playoffs again this season.

People wonder why fans like me are negative and then you read that though mate. How do you expect to sell season tickets when you open the paper and read that from the manager. This was supposed to be the season when we had a real chance to go for the title and now its well it would be a bonus if we make the playoffs. I just hope someone has removed Houstons shoelaces.

See you Jimmy.Yes they were a better side in the second half of the season. I was replying to a previous post who was asking me why I thought St Mirren would be any better this season and why they were being so positive after just missing out on relegation last season. There's is no negativity from their management team . Their aiming to win the league not scrape into the playoffs , not midtable safety no their aiming to win the league. We should be the same and our management and bod should be putting out the same positive vibes and not simply suggesting making the playoffs is our aim. Of course it would also help if we started showing some positive intent in the way of some decent signings too but perhaps thats stretching things a bit too far..

I'm more talking about the air of positivity about their club which has resulted in increased season ticket sales and fans actually looking forward to the season ahead. They struggled to stay up last season but you don't hear Ross saying yeah we'll be happy if we avoid relegation again this season. Meanwhile we should be favourites for the league this season but our manager thinks it will be a major achievement if we reach the playoffs . Theirs no comments from them moaning about budget cuts etc. The fact that they have the likes of McGinn playing for them now will mean they will undoubtedly be a better side than they were in the first half of last season when they were utter dross. We ended up 21 points ahead of them last season I'll be very surprised if we're anywhere near that far ahead this season

Christ I wouldn't slag Baird off too much at the moment the way things are going we may be wishing he was still here in a few months time. If Jack Ross' s positivty manages to get a few hundred season tickets sold compared to Houstons we'll be struggling to make the playoffs pish then I know what I'd rather my manager was saying. How did previous managers manage to get the likes of Taylor etc on trial? We couldnt have been paying him much more than we're paying anyone now surely in fact was our budget not even less back then?

We're just matching the negativity emanating from the club at the moment. We've lost 7 players from last season and signed 2. We're 5 players down including Leahy, Baird and Sibbald at the moment. There's going to be a hell of a lot of pressure on Gallacher to perform at left back and no backup if he struggles or gets injured. Up front although bairds form was patchy to say the least again the pressure is currently on Austin to stay fit and in form with only Miller, O'Hara and Shepherd as options with one of them also having to start at the moment. If you look at the side currently can anyone say we look better than we did last season? We need to keep improving because everyone else will and at the moment we're going backwards every season. Compare Jack Ross's recent comments to Houstons doom and gloom: “Speaking to people in Paisley they feel there is a sense of optimism that’s not been there for a long time. “We as a club have a duty to try to buy into that, foster it and grow it again and ultimately what I can help produce on the pitch will determine whether that keeps moving forward". I notice the likes of ICT are trying to sign a striker from AFC Wimbledon and have a player from Coventry on trial. At least their casting their net wide for new players compared to our central belt mentality.

I certainly am not Olaf . By all means disagree with me and point out some major positives we can take from that article as I certainly cant find any. Over to you.

Honestly and people wonder why some of us have been negative regarding our close season activity so far this season. Teams like St Mirren who struggled to avoid going down last season are spouting nothing but positivity from their club and management and yet a team that came second two years on the trot will be lucky to make the playoffs this year according to the manager. If you read that and hadn't bought a season ticket your money wouldn't be leaving your wallet. What do we budget for in prize money for starters? Surely coming second twice and getting 400k plus should be a bonus to begin with. Houston's statements are just like his football, turgid and depressing.

Doesn't say much about your squad .

You'd think he'd want to have the majority of new players signed up before Budapest but we're still what 5 players down on last season

Notice Houston taking a swipe at the fans who've spent their hard earned cash on the Budapest trip and are quite rightly a bit peeved that a two game trip is in reality no such thing. Meanwhile we're still pandering to sibbald as he desperately tries to find a better offer. Will be interesting to see if he gets a free trip to Budapest along with the players who actually want to play for falkirk. Should be sign the contract on offer or find your own training facilities and holiday.

You can send him back then .

Unfortunately we'd be well down the pecking order for him I reckon even if we had the ambition to go for him in the first place.

Yeah maybe 40 miles was doing him an injustice.

Don't worry you'll be able to pick up Sibbald from us for hee haw this time next season.