BB_Bino

Was thinking the same when I saw the Daily Record report, as “Defensive Midfielder” is definitely what Willie Robertson is.

Mark Stewart leaves the club http://www.stirlingalbionfc.co.uk/2019/02/05/mark-stewart-moves-on/

I really hope the move works out for Greg, he's a cracking big laddy who was held in high regards coming through our youth ranks. Although I never worked with him directly, I watched him a fair amount during his time and there is talent there, which is why St.Johnstone ultimately took him off our hands. He obviously played against us whilst at Berwick on loan, but he just didn't look like the player who was with us. Has the jump from Youth/Development to Senior football been to much for the lad or has it been an element of the "Blair Henderson at Stirling factor" where, whatever the reason, things just don't work out and nobody can quite put their finger on why......who knows. If you can get him playing consistently, then I'm sure you will find a good player. It's probably last chance saloon for him in the Senior League, so I really hope it works out.

Interesting to read in yesterday’s Sun Goals that Peter MacDonald wants to play on for us until the end of next season at least.

Well deserved for Peaso. I said it after the Albion Rovers game, but he is playing his best football under us now, and it’s great to see. Well done [emoji1319]

I know he wasn’t at Cliftonhill for long, but how did Lewis McLear look for you guys? We’ve just announced signing him tonight, must admit, when he was on loan from St.Mirren about 3-4 years ago, he looked a player.

Lewis McLear signs from Albion Rovers, was obviously with us on loan from St.Mirren under Stuart McLaren in League 1. If he can recapture the form he showed when he was on loan, then that’s a really good signing for us. Must admit, he hasn’t stood out when I have seen him play against us for Edinburgh and Albion Rovers, in my opinion, so i’m hoping he’s not lost his way, but he certainly has that creative spark which will help the current midfielders out.

At the time we were voted the best pitch in Scotland by SPFL players, it also showed that the worst 2 or 3 pitches in Scotland were plastic ones. Off the top of my head, I can’t remember who they were but it’s irrelevant. Rock Radio football show invited the Stenny & Alloa Chairman, Iain McMenemy & Mike Mulrenny to come on to talk about then. McMenemy was honest with the figures. Now I’m going by memory here, so these figures aren’t exact, but I’m not a million miles away. However McMenemy said that it cost £800,000 a year to keep Stenny running in it’s current format, from that £800,000 pitch hire was the biggest income and in fact, pitch hire alone “almost covers the cost of running the club”. This was put to Mulrenny the next night and he didn’t go into exact figures, but did say that due to the deal they had with BSC Glasgow and that fact that East Stirlingshire no longer played at Ochilview, he would assume that Alloa would get slightly more income via their pitch than Stenny. If you search enough, you’ll probably find the podcasts if you want to listen mate. Although they are 1 club towns, I do get that, but within a short radius of both clubs, you also have a huge amount of schools and complexes of astros and pods. Hey, again, not saying it will work with Queens and again other than going to Scotland and Stirling games, I don’t know that area of Glasgow, I’m just pointing to the point that it could be a gold mine for you and lead to a brighter future than some of your support may believe.

I totally understand the concerns that many supporters have about turning semi pro, however, personally, I think you should be embracing the change and would say that it’s exciting times for your club. It’s possibly easier for an outsider to say this without truly knowing all the facts, and I’ll accept that, but ultimately, you have a blank canvas, a good amount of cash and a support that’s on average with ourselves. The will be learning to walk before you run, but you MAY find more away fans will come to a revamped Lesser Hampden more than they currently do, because it will be a better experience. I can’t remember the last time I went to Hampden for a club match. A post above mentions that the handouts from the SFA was £300,000, ran right, both Alloa and Stenhousemuir are pulling in more than that with community hire from their plastic pitches (according to various discussions on Rock Sport radio), I’m sure Queens Park could follow a similar model. As for the development side of things, clubs like Stirling, Stenhousemuir & Alloa have really good youth development programmes which has been ran through volunteers (and ultimately 1 employee ourselves, not sure about the other 2) and we continue to see young talent come through and at least be given the chance. There are loads of good examples on how things could end up for Queens, it’s not all doom and gloom but I am sure there will be a lot of hard work on route, but I think the club should embrace the change, as I said at the start of my post, you’ve got a blank canvas to build a new huge chapter for the club.

Craig Beattie was on BBC Sportsound last night. He didn't talk much about his time at Elgin, pretty much joked that the drive up and back was the best thing about his time spent at the club. However he did say that he had spoken to Gavin Price at the end of last year and that price had told him he was looking to reduce the age of the squad and go with younger players, so Beattie was told that he wouldn't play and he didn't think the drive would be worth it "to watch 18 or 19 year olds play". I doubt Elgin fans will care much, as I have said on the last match thread, Beattie is done, but it could be an indication on the direction that the club is trying to go.

From the very very very little I have seen of you over the past couple of seasons, and with what I have seen of a couple of those players at others clubs, I’m in no position to or can’t argue with that mate, however has Price shown enough about him to be trusted with such a rebuild? To me, an outsider looking in, Elgin have really struggled to do much with their squad since Ross Jack left the club.

Delighted about Hughes, he’s become a huge player since KR come in and really looks the part when I’ve seen him play. Another who has turned his season around. The fact that Archie Thomas has played 18 First Team games for Dundee United suggests he’s a good player, so I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do. I’ve given my view on Max Wright above, however now he has joined the club, hopefully he can change my opinion, time will tell but at the moment I’m hoping he’s just a stop gap until the summer.

Stirling Observer reporting that we are interested in signing Max Wright. He’s not a player that’s ever impressed me, whether that was for The Shire, Stranraer, Clyde or Annan, games just seem to pass him by, so i’m surprised that KR is interested. Obviously, if he was to sign for the club then he would get my whole support, but i’m not sure what he would add.

I said it after the 5-2 defeat you had at Forthbank recently, but Beattie is well and truly done, so it's no great surprise. I suspect that will be that for him now, in a playing sense of course, however he seems like a really good big guy who has had stints on Clyde Super Score Board recently and has come across well, and he did a little bit of Coaching during his time at Forthbank and the feedback was that he was an excellent, so he will have options open to him i'm sure, and I wish him well in whatever he chooses to do next.

Callum Ferrie is now staying until the end of the season. Delighted with the news, I like Cammy Binnie and still think that in the long term he will establish himself as number 1, but at the moment Ferrie seems to be the more commanding and reliable of Goalkeepers and I’ve been impressed with him since he came in.

I don't know anything about either player KR has signed but it's pleasing to read the comments above as they are the types of players that we have been lacking for a while now.

I’m not sure a Striker will be priority, unless we can shift someone out. We do seem to be slightly too heavy up that end of the park with 4 or 5 players fighting for a position or 2. Talking of Strikers, if he’s not going to get a sniff off the bench then I’d quite like to see Reg McLaren go out on loan to a Lowland League club to help aid his progression. Like Ross Kavanagh before him, he has scored for fun in Development/Reserve football, but as yet, maybe hasn’t shone in the first team, with his few opportunities. Would be good to get him out and get him set up for a decent crack at being a First Team player next season.

KR on SATV saying that he's looking to sit down with Dundee and Hamilton to talk about Callum Ferrie & Rohan Hughes. I think it would be great to see the loan deals extended for both players if possible. It's maybe a tad harsh on Cammy Binnie, who I like, but both players have really impressed me over the last couple of months.

He’ll be a good signing for you I’m sure, and he can still play at League 2 level imho, so will have no problem with life in the Lowland League. Yeah Kilbyfan, he plays Centre Midfield and is the “breaking up play, tough tackling” type of Midfielder that you want in the centre of the park, and looked to lack when I was at your game a few weeks ago. Good luck to him, he left us due to work commitments (so we were told) so hopefully on that front, for your sake, it’s all sorted again.

Yeah, not sure of that one myself and it was a decision I questioned at the time. I’ve kind of resigned myself to the fact that it was either a big blunder by Dave Mackay and he thought he could of brought in a better player to replace him, but obviously didn’t.......or that is was indeed Black that wanted to be released because he felt he could of gotten a better deal elsewhere or had already lined up a move to Edinburgh having worked with the manager previously. Who knows, but 1 thing is for sure, our loss was your gain, sadly for us.

I’m not an SNP supporter but that’s news to me!

So, over the last few months it has come out that Labour are working with The Tories at council level, working with the DUP at national level whilst supporting Tory cuts elsewhere......that can’t be right surely?? I never left the Labour Party, this is more proof that the party left me!

So......looking at the new Meadowbank Stadium plans, it does look like it’s going to be a wonderful faculty, but as has been mentioned above, it’s pretty evident that it’s not going to be a football facility. The stand is at the running track finishing line for a start and is purpose built with the sport that it is intended for, which is fair enough. I’m guessing Edinburgh City have been aware of this for some time, so what’s the plans for the club? I’m seeing a few similarities with The Shire here, he moved from Firs Park (under different circumstances but still) and a lot of money was invested in really good players at this level and Jim McInally was able to attract guys that would never have played for the club years before, but due to no having a ground, not having an income stream (outwith their support) it was very short lived and we all know where they are now. Are Edinburgh in any danger of this happening if they continue to rent off Spartans? As I’m guessing they make the money from your match days. COULD actually be worrying times just around the corner for you, if the board have no other option but rent from other teams.

Rough count would be between 80 in the stand and about 20 behind the goal?

With our game being called off, I decided to come through and check you out, and weather aside I was really impressed. There were obviously a few players that I knew from their time at SPFL clubs, but I thought when you were on the ball, you played some lovely football and were attractive to watch. I seen you play Cumbernauld Colts a few years ago at Broadwood and you have come on leaps and bounds since then. I have no doubt that you would be a good addition to the League 2 set up and I just hope that, with the way you play, you can slowly add a few numbers onto your gate and make a good go at it, like Edinburgh have done. Well done on your win today, and best of luck for the rest of the season [emoji1319] PS - Just our of interest, what happened to Chris Smith? Looks like he is no longer with you AND what a sad sight to see Chris Humphrey, that guy should be tearing up that league but today, looked a shadow of the player Motherwell and Hibs had.