Radford

Robertson was due to play for our U20s today so managers could get a look at him. Sorry to say but he's absolutely dreadful. When we signed him, I couldn't remember much about him or recall noticing him much for United but assumed because he'd played so many games at Tannadice that he must be ok. Did think it strange we'd managed to sign one of their players, that Houston seemingly wanted to keep, on a pre-contract and the United fans we're exactly sorry to see him go so should have realised then that this wasn't as impressive a deal as it maybe seemed. The first thing you'll notice is his inability to run, not through being lazy but almost literally. He's like a duck waddling, with his little arms just waving about. This is his third season with us (although he hasn't played since November, of 2012) and you'd still be struggling to say what his strong points are. Just before his injury, he scored a couple of right place at the right time goals, so maybe there is so glimmer of hope but in terms of the basic aspects of the game, he's poor all round. What you can expect to hear a lot of though is how he's such a great lad and so popular with the other players. Boring stuff of that nature that makes no difference whatsoever when it comes to 3:00pm of a Saturday.

I see our goalkeeper Zander Clark has just tweeted that he's hoping to get the paperwork tied up tomorrow on a loan deal that would see him move to Palmerston. Teaming up again with Mark Durnan who he played with at Elgin and in the youth sides at Saints. He's a good, imposing goalkeeper but badly lacks the experience he desperately needs I think you could argue. Saints have kept him on for three seasons now as part of the first team squad (in preference to Jonny Tuffey this summer) so clearly see something in him.

Missing your big money signing in that photo...

Ross County can afford to pay Richard Brittain more than Saints, so they might well be in for Rooney IMO.

Why do folk still pay any notice to this @AgentScotland Twitter account? Has he ever got anything right? He certainly hasn't about Saints. Indeed, all he seems to do is link us with ex-Celtic nobodies like Richie Towell.

Hard to say too much about Campbell as he wasn't given much of a chance at us and it was eight years ago he was at the club. He was dropped pretty quickly after a few poor performances but I think he was quite popular at Raith? You look at McCracken's career and it's probably fair to say he's a better player than Campbell though. Never played below SPL level in Scotland was in teams of the year etc... when he was in the lower leagues down south.

David McCracken won't be getting a new contract at Saints. As far as I know, his injury isn't serious (and Saints put him through an operation towards the end of last season) so why he'd choose to highlight that by claiming it was the reason for his deal being withdrawn, I have no idea. More likely is either he couldn't agree (reduced, possibly) terms, he sat on the offer for too long (lack of commitment) or Saints had a change of heart over where the budget could be used. We aren't likely to sign a dedicated centre back to replace him anyway. There are two ways of looking at his time at Saints. He was third choice centre back behind Wright and Anderson but still played 54 games over his two seasons and on the hard facts side of things, Saints had one of the better defences (goals conceded) in the SPL during his time at the club. On the other hand, you look at him as a player and he has weaknesses. He's slow and his timing in the jump and marking at set pieces is poor. Positioning wise he's alright and for a big lump, he's actually not bad with the ball at his feet. By no means a ball playing centre back but the ball won't be lumped out of the park any time it comes near him. If he'd stayed at Saints, I think most fans would have been happy to still have him as cover for Anderson and Wright but equally, I don't think anyone is losing sleep over not having him in the squad. On that basis, you'd think he would do fine in the First Division. Really like the look of the squad Rovers are putting together next season though. Hopefully after his spell at Alloa, you'll see the best of Kevin Moon, who is a player that could still be playing in the SPL I think.

He'd obviously been full-time since he was sixteen up until January, so might expect a big lure of Raith would be getting back full-time if you are running with some FT players next season.

Kevin Moon is a central midfielder who actually made his debut for Saints against Raith in a Challenge Cup tie in 2005. His ability very much works in a cycle, when he's fit, he's good enough to play in the SPL but when he isn't sharp, his performances dip and he can't get to that level. I imagine a regular run at Alloa has been of huge benefit to him and it should be to Rovers if he can also get a good pre-season, something else that has been a problem in the past.

It was journalist Patrick Barclay, rather than anyone to do with Liverpool FC. In fact, I'm sure Barclay made some stupid comments on Twitter about Hillsborough not that long ago and got the usual treatment for it. Actually, having checked, it was Heysel he tweeted about when he let a Liverpool fan wind him up. Asked if he could get any lower than taking Murdoch's cash, he responded by saying he could, for example by being in a crowd that killed 39 people. He deleted it pretty quickly and started apologising but it didn't go down well, as you can imagine!

Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of Forest fans who claim to have been there on the day and peddle the tabloid lies. Despite the Liverpool support being this huge collection of scum, these Forest fans all came to pass by the Leppings Lane end, when they would have entered Sheffield from the other side. Why would you go near the Leppings Lane end if the Liverpool fans were so bad? Yet so many of their accounts involve passing by that end and witnessing thousands of hooligans doing their worst. Why they want to go down this route I'm not sure but suspect it's because of their dislike for the club, the fans and the city. I suppose a lot of the top English sides from the eighties probably do carry a massive amount of resentment for Liverpool after Heysel and the subsquent ban from European competition but not sure that justifies what clearly appears to be lies that they come away with. Even the police stopped pushing some of the stuff that Forest fans still claim they witnessed. Have read an account from a Forest fan who (obviously) had a police mate in the SYP and one of the dead bodies apparently had thirty wallets on it and they needed to contact all the owners to find out who the body was!

It's going to be interesting to see how public perception changes following the report. I obviously hope it does but am far from convinced. Already today I've read someone on another forum (We Are Perth) quoting Bettison yesterday and holding his comments up as their version of the truth. I don't even think this guy had an agenda, he's just been watching Sky Sports, heard a quote from a police officer and automatically believed it, even after all that has happened. Unfortunately I suspect, the country is littered with folk like that, who will still believe both what they hear from those in authority and what they first heard following the disaster. The quote used in the BBC documentary the other night (not sure where it orginates from) was along the lines of a lie goes round the world before the truth has even pulled it's boots on. True as well.

Nope, no doubt the news channels will have it within the next few hours though. Obviously something they feel they have to do but have they not already apologised previously in any case? Doubt it'll make much of a difference to those effected by the disaster and the headlines. Didn't expect MacKenzie to come away with what he did today but again, it's far too late and doubt it will change anyone's opinion of him.

Taken from the Taylor Report... "I have already found that there was not an abnormally large number of fans without tickets on this occasion. I am satisfied that the large concentration at Leppings Lane from 2:30pm to 2:50pm did not arrive as a result of any concerted plan. There were, I accept, small groups without tickets who were willing to exploit any adventitious chance of getting into the ground. They, together with the minority who had drunk too much, certainly aggravated the problem faced by the police. But that main problem was simply one of large numbers packed into the small area outside the turnstiles." "The police witnesses who most impressed me did not consider the number of ticketless fans to be inordinately large. This accords with two other sources of evidence." And from The Hillsborough Football Disaster: Context and Consequences... "Sheffield Wednesday FC’s own admission count system showed the terrace did not exceed its 10,100 capacity (for the Leppings Lane end). As part of their analysis, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) counted the number of [Liverpool] supporters entering the ground, including those through the turnstiles, through Gate C and even those who climbed over the turnstiles. They gave three admission figures based on their analysis. Their first figure was 9,267, their ‘best estimate’ was 9,734, and their third figure was a ‘maximum estimate’ of 10,124. The HSE report stated it was unlikely that the terrace exceeded 10,124 and that total admissions were approximately equal to the designated capacity of 10,100 people. Taylor surmised there was no substance to the allegation that ticketless fans caused the Disaster." So ask the question all you like but the answer is already there if you care enough to look for it.

He's signed for Saints today so is gonna get the chance! It was in my mind he was popular to start with so interesting to hear the thoughts about him losing his way. Appreciate the posts about him, thanks.

What was Paddy Cregg like for Falkirk? Little need to ask St Mirren fans (who are never slow to offer their opinion anyway) or Hibs supporters as I realise he was poor at both clubs but he was at Falkirk for a few seasons and Hughes obviously took him to Hibernian after he left. I know what type of player he is meant to be but really just looking for an indication of whether he might surprise me and do a job in the SPL next season?

Gutted to hear Saints are going into administration. I'm sure Motherwell fans are equally as upset. From an SPL club board member

He'll be down the list and a few weeks ago said he'd not had any offer from the club at that point, although would love to stay. Was more talking about the boys that play every week and who look like they are all about to walk away. With respect to Jamie Adams, that's of far more pressing concern. But would have thought Adams might have, as a result of these departures, fancied his chances of getting a regular game next season (if he could stay fit obviously) but I couldn't guess what Lomas is thinking with regards to him. Maybe he doesn't like strippers or boozing, which would be sure to count against him.

I wouldn't worry yourselves. Lomas can't even convince our exisiting players to stay, let alone a guy who captains his current club and will be playing in the SPL anyway next season.

An interesting twist on this could be the last time a team sacked a manager? For Saints that would be 4 April 2005. Looking at other teams, Cowdenbeath have lost a few managers, rather than sacked them, Brechin too. Did Airdrie sack Sandy Stewart?

Not been surprised by how poor Finnigan has been and would be surprised if he was retained beyond the summer. In a couple of away games, he's done a job as a willing runner up top - we won 2-1 at Tynecastle with him in the side for example - but certainly at home he's not been good enough and hasn't yet managed to score. Was a panic signing of sorts by McInnes because we needed to get a couple of squad players in quickly after freeing all but one senior striker (and he probably would have gone too if he didn't have a two-year contract and hadn't been injured). Wasn't meaning to put that valuation on them, merely used that figure as it was the one that came up initially. Have no idea how good these young players are or how much you could expect to get for them. Also agree with you about this size of clubs thing. It's only really relevant to the six or seven big clubs in the country, who can still attract better players in spite of league placings. For the rest of us it is, as you say, largely down to where you are on the ladder at that moment in time.

When is that ever relevant though? There will be times when St Johnstone are a more attractive proposition and can pay out more money and vice versa and players will always likely choose their destination based on that, rather than who gets a few more fans or have won a Scottish Cup fifty years ago, do you not agree? Teams like Hibs and Aberdeen being a bigger clubs than St Johnstone (and Falkirk for that matter) is relevant because even when Saints or Falkirk are doing better than those clubs in league terms, some players will likely still opt for them over Saints or Falkirk. I would say though, for all Falkirk have a bigger fan base than St Johnstone, you have spent less time in the top league than us in the last fifty years and neither club has won anything of note, although I appreciate Falkirk won the Scottish Cup in the fifties. Being a bigger club hasn't really done you much good, has it?

This all seems to be based on a (modest) cash balance with the bank in a set of accounts several years ago but we've lost nearly £600,000 over the past three seasons, so the notion we could afford to spend £200,000 on one player is deluded I'm afraid. Any Falkirk young player that is worth £200,000 is also, I'd suggest, capable of taking a bigger step up the ladder than a jump to St Johnstone. The guy El Allagui will likely do the same as Sandaza in the summer too and go where he'll make the most money. Safe to say that won't be St Johnstone. I'm sure there are maybe guys at Falkirk that might be within Saints' range but safe to say it won't be the most talented youngsters or a guy who appears too good for the First Division and already has a queue of admirers.

What were all the convictions, if it wasn't justice? People served time in jail for their part in Heysel, so it's quite clear that at least one group, if not accepted, were attributed with blame. What more justice do you want for the people that died? We know what happened at Heysel and the fans have been largely blamed for it, even though there were other factors in play. So what more justice are you seeking for the victims?

I think people often see the word justice and make assumptions about aportioning blame and the like when really, what I suspect the families (the people that matter most in all of this) really want is all their questions answered so they can finally get some closure on this. Questions about why the coroner ruled everyone was dead by 3:15pm when accounts from doctors and other medical staff suggest otherwise. Questions about why CCTV tapes went missing or were wiped and questions about who fed the media information which all but one outlet have now apologised for. That is the sort of truth the families are seeking I suspect, not just about whether is was the police or the fans what done it, as it so often seems to boil down to when it's discussed on here.