AGPar

He's been publicly humiliated by a senior employee of the football club. A lack of "fire in the belly" to return to that particular environment whilst said individual remains in employment and continues to hold influence is perfectly understandable. A truly poisonous situation.

What I have a problem with is your "he should be coming back here fired up with a point to prove or he can GTF" line. He's more than proving his point, on a consistent basis at the moment, for a team sitting on top of the Championship despite being less well-resourced than their competitors. And I'd be quite happy for him to continue doing so in order to show Holt up for what he really is. Dowds may well return imminently, because ultimately it is not his choice. Let's not pretend he'd come anywhere near us if it was. Or that he should be delighted about it. And it's not incumbent upon him to prove his worth or his commitment or his quality to this club. He's doing that at a far higher level than we're currently at.

I'm sure he'd be absolutely devastated at GTF from the biggest laughing stock in Scottish football, especially since the alternative will be staying at a club challenging for promotion to the Premier League and playing under a manager getting the most out of him. Gutted, so he would be. Heartbroken.

And the prospect of that scenario unfolding is unfortunately greatly diminished by the ongoing presence and influence of an individual who publicly humiliated him by comparing him unfavourably to an utter jobber who has just failed to cut it at Elgin City. On a personal level, and despite our ludicrous forward options, he'd be far better off remaining where he is for the rest of the season

Anton Dowds is currently an integral part of, and in excellent form for, a team sitting top of the Championship and who have a more than reasonable chance of being promoted to the Premier League come the end of the season. Throw in the fact of him being publicly criticised by the individual currently occupying the role of Sporting Director at the club where he is under contract and I'd be beyond astonished if Dowds was anything remotely approaching "itching" to return to a shambles of a football club flailing about in seventh place in League One. And only a complete idiot would blame him for that attitude.

Roughly, and by no means 100% accurate or complete, but something along the lines of: January: McDaid, Krasniqi, loans expired Summer 2022: Dixon, Miller, Hall, Telfer, Keena, Dowds, Ompreon, Ruth (loan expired) Summer 2023: Williamson, Hetherington, Ross, McGuffie, Nesbitt, Morrison, Wilson Summer 2024: McCann, McKay (a contender for one of the biggest mistakes ever made in terms of recruitment) Eight or nine players signed last summer were given contracts of at least two years in length. So whilst shouts of "wholesale clear-out" are perfectly understandable it's just not realistic given the probable cost to get rid of some of this dross whilst they are still under contract. The first port of call in terms of any discussion about recruitment simply has to be the immediate removal of the Sporting Director from his position. He's overseen a rebuild which has left us without a single central defender, central midfielder or forward worthy of the description. Gross incompetence. GTF.

There's isn't a single formation known to man that would suit this current rabble in any way whatsoever. The composition and make of the squad defies belief. As does the individual primarily responsible for it remaining in his job.

It's genuinely, utterly astonishing that chucking a two-year deal at James "Jaime" Wilson may well not have been his worst bit of business in the transfer market last summer.

What an appallingly crass, insensitive statement. Away for a lie-down. Make it a long one.

Oh look, the January transfer window is almost here so let's wheel out the Goodwillie chat for yet another airing. It's not happening. Move on ffs.

I suppose the hope has to be that, with this being the January window, and therefore far less players out of contract, anyone he is proposing at this stage is merely that - a proposal - and that the new management team have the autonomy to chuck them straight in the bin if they are so minded. That was never the case for Sheerin. He was appointed on 28th May and the announcements of Williamson, Hetherington, McKay etc started from pretty much 1st June onwards. A condition for whoever took the job was that they would be working with these 5 or 6 players whom Holt had reached agreement with prior to an appointment being made. Who knows whether more suitable, higher quality candidates may have been dissuaded due to that scenario. Not much more to add on Holt - all been said by others. Initial reaction, which is all you can give at this stage, is that I am pretty pleased with the appointment of both Rennie and Miller and reasonably confident that they will be a significant upgrade on the Sheerin/M&M/McKinnon nightmares of the past three years. So both disappointed and surprised that the spectre of Holt continues to overshadow things and that there does not seem to be much lessening of his involvement on the recruitment side. Surely another transfer window disaster would have to signal the end for him ?

It does. Still find it incredible that, on the back of being murdered 6-0 at Firhill in one of the darkest days in the club's history, they only trained for two days last week - basically the equivalent of a part-time side. Speaks volumes. Can only hope and pray that Martin Rennie and whoever else comes in with him will make massive changes with regard to the unprofessional, holiday-camp, could-not-give-a-single-feck vibe that Diddy Sheerin and his diddy assistant have been fostering for the part six months. They should have been nowhere near Liverpool last night on the back of that shambles yesterday, probably a heavy weekend though so better go easy on them and just have the one training session this week. Joke outfit from top to bottom.

No idea where you are getting this from - certainly not from anyone on here - and couldn't disagree more really. The vast majority of, if not all fans, are well aware of how dire things currently are due to the gross incompetence and mismanagement of so many within the club, some of whom are still hanging around unfortunately. If anyone did still think that this was a quick fix - well, being murdered by QP and swatted aside by Cove Rangers within the space of a week has surely put an end to that. It's clear that one or two inside the club still have their head in the sand, and that the support are far more realistic and understanding about where we are just now. Rennie has a gargantuan task on his hands - we are at such a low ebb, even looking like a team who might be able to win the occasional game against an Airdrie or Montrose would represent a step forward. This characterisation of Falkirk fans as "wildly impatient" or demanding instant success that one or two on here are still pushing at every opportunity - well, I don't recognise it all tbh, not even vaguely. I think it's complete and utter b******s.

I see from Grainger's post-match comments that "we only had 2 days training". I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation as to why, on the back of one of the most embarrassing days in the club's history, a full-time squad trained on only 2 days of the 6 available. I'd love to hear what it is.

I found watching that 90 minutes this afternoon an utterly depressing experience, on every level. Complete - and understandable - apathy amongst the support. A group of players simply going through the motions of fulfilling a fixture before a quick shower and off home. Not a single f**k given. Not a single shred of belief that we were remotely capable of taking anything from a home game against Cove Rangers - just the latest team to turn up at TFS and have the cigars lit well before half-time. To be so far away from even being competitive at this level, never mind looking to win the league and promotion - well, it's just disgraceful really. I'd use the word moribund to describe the whole club, but I'm not sure even that does it justice. Good luck to Martin Rennie, like most, my initial reaction to his appointment is pretty positive, especially when set against the uninspiring alternatives. He's got some job ahead. We are at such a low point that I'd view us even looking like a vaguely competent full-time football team now and again as a big step forward. I trust this new regime is exploring every possible avenue to remove the influence and presence of Gary Holt from this football club at the earliest opportunity. If they want the buy-in of the support, they'll know it needs to be done.

So our response to a six-nil hammering is to bring in Brad McKay, Gary Miller and Sheerin's shite wee mate Dross whilst leaving the likes of Krasniqi and Lemon on the bench. Astonishing. Just get this over with.

What length of contract is Murray on with you guys? I think he has done a decent job at Airdrie, he's well and truly had our number over the past couple of years if that counts for anything, and given some of the other names quoted, I would not be at all against Falkirk at least asking him if he has any interest in it. In fact, of the candidates that could be termed "realistic", I'd have him down as the best option.

Would it? Compared to Falkirk, the definition of success at these clubs is very different sadly. Obviously, promotion is not an option for them. But at Dundee, say, success this season might be just keeping them in the Premier League, given it's their first season up. It's not a pipe dream for a club like that to believe they can look to establish themselves in the top-flight, aim to finish in the top-six, qualify for Europe, win a cup. St Johnstone are the blueprint. We're a hundred million miles away from that at the moment. It's about levels really. Has his reputation fallen from three or four years ago when he had substantial English clubs like Ipswich Town and Sunderland knocking on his door? Undoubtedly yes. Has it fallen to anything close to a level where he'd seriously consider a Scottish League One club for his next job? Absolutely not.

Probably not, but his stock has not fallen nearly low enough for him to even consider the option of moving to a mid-table League One club. If a Dundee or Ross County emptied their manager tomorrow, he would comfortably be in contention for that sort of vacancy. As long as the influence and presence of Gary Holt remains at this club, I'll be keeping expectations with regard to the quality of any new manager - sorry, Head Coach - to an absolute minimum. He represents a massive barrier to us moving forward on the park.

No thanks to Grainger. Guilt by association maybe, but sacking Sheerin and chucking it at his assistant? Not for me. Never liked the concept of a manager being emptied and the No 2 stepping up. Works occasionally - Wright following Lomas at Perth comes to mind - but more often than not is a cheap option which proves to be a disaster. It was blindingly obvious to anyone at Firhill yesterday that there was a complete breakdown between the team and coaching staff. Fresh ideas and outlook are urgently required.

Or we could just appoint an actual football manager, seems to have been enough for numerous other teams to escape this league in recent seasons.

Houston yes. Hartley was a Monday, though if you're looking for an omen, he was launched after complete and utter humiliation at the hands of a team with Queen in their name.

No idea. What I do know, with absolute certainty, is that handing the reins to Gary Holt - again - is one of the few, perhaps only, things that they could do that would make the fans hate the club even more than we already do. It is never going to happen. You clearly have no idea how much of a disaster his appointment has proven to be.

Erm, no. Here's a much better idea. We'll boot him out the door with immediate effect, and your mob can take him, free of charge, to replace Staunch Tommy, who an increasing amount of your fans appear desperate to see the back of. Everyone wins.

If you're expecting anything approaching an inspiring appointment at this time and in the current circumstances, then prepare to be disappointed. We're at the stage where anything - literally anything - has to be an improvement upon what was standing in that away dugout this afternoon, out of his depth, out of ideas, out of time. We're surely looking for someone to come in, get more from the squad than the current - very soon to be former- incumbent and try to salvage something from the rubble of the most disastrous season in decades. You could have dragged a couple of fans from the JL stand at 2.45 this afternoon and I'd have backed them to achieve something better than the humiliation which ensued. It's not going to be a long-term appointment. It's not going to be part of any "plan", "strategy", "model", "route-and-branch review" or any of the other utter bollocks a succession of clowns who have been a destroying our club for years have been spouting. Come in and try to blend us into something approaching a coherent football team. If that's Rice/Kerr or something like that - nah, it's not what I want in an ideal world but it's probably what we are realistically looking at for where we are at the moment. That's how low we have sunk.