The Toun Clock

My wife was holding the clip board and threw one of the dogs balls up to see if it bounced. Some sort of weird role play

Aye I think it wouldn’t have looked too bad if I wasn’t wearing full kit, boots and shinnies!

Just had a march around my back garden, not much sunlight all day and the ground was certainly softening and a bit squishy in some areas. Wee bit rain would do great now, was spitting there.

As it stands do we just have the Airdrie game to be rearranged? I looked on the website today but the game postponed from December was removed. I know it’s rescheduled for tomorrow but I actually forgot how many call offs we’ve had. If it’s just two home games that won’t be too bad. I want tomorrow to go ahead but won’t be fuming if it doesn’t, quite enjoy a midweek game. With regards to injuries, the boys have had a fortnight off now to recover and Otoo, McCann and Fisher should all be available according to Dave McKay, plus the inclusion of Fagan-Walcott. In that sense I think we’ll fair better against the eight legged mob than we did a fortnight ago.

I would guess that it's probably thawing along nicely and will continue to do so, we bit of rain will help. However, as it stands still unplayable so they've put in the inspection, not too early that we'll still get some thawing time in daylight but not too late that it's overly disruptive.

Just seen that! Decent ambition by the club, never know as the month goes on Ross Co might change their mind. Good to read he's still after a defender and striker in this window.

Why switch it on when the weather forecast is predicting it won't be required? We can put the USH on in advance of cold weather to prevent it freezing but when the pitch is frozen I don't think it has the same effect. Also, going by what the club said, it looks like it was switched on last week but the pipe burst which caused the USH to break, and when the pipe burst the water gathered on the pitch creating the water log. You'll get your chance to lose another game against Dunfermline, don't worry.

Someone in my group chat has taken a couple of photos through the gap where the East Stand meets the North Stand. Can only see snippets of the pitch but it doesn't look too bad at all. Not white at all, including in front of the South Stand that normally has the issues due to it getting little sun. Going to stick my neck on the line, get the IKEA shopping list binned, you'll be at the football tomorrow folks! Steak Bridies over meatballs any day...

Aye but even still, it's not to be below 2 degrees between now and tomorrow morning, should be plenty thawing time. Above freezing temperature, wee touch of rain due in the afternoon will soften the ground. I think i'll be okay. Given that we've now had two games called off in the last six weeks, and that last weeks seemed a bit of a shambles to the outside world who basically just thought we were at it, I think the club will be monitoring this very closely and keep the fans updated. Forget the injuries, we'll be in a better position than we would have been last week, the club will want the Saturday gate with hospitality being used as opposed to a Tuesday in February.

Certainly a lot milder in Dunfermline today. On first view everything was still white with ice as it has been the past couple of days, but I turned the car on and it was defrosted very quickly, ground was also softening a wee bit. If we're just needing the pitch to defrost then I think it'll be okay for tomorrow afternoon. Wee touch of rain then temperatures consistently rising to 7 degrees until kick off. Fingers crossed we'll be good to go!

I don't think Summers is an option permanently, but no reason why Celtic might not loan him back to us if he has a good second half to the season. I think he has the potential to play for Celtic and I think they think that as well. I watched Blackpool Vs Nottingham Forest last night. I like Moffat but there seemed to be a lot of similar players to him, like the boy Dembele that was at Celtic. He came off the bench and looked lively. I don't know if he'd play at Blackpool and McPake wanted him last season so every chance. Too early to say for Fagan-Walcott, however this was one eyed for the coming summer, so every chance if he's out of contract with Cardiff and he enjoys it here then it could work.

I agree, however the problem is most of them are under contract. I have a soft spot for any of our team from last season, it wasn't always pretty but I thoroughly enjoyed the team spirit etc. However, we need to be real and realise some aren't good enough. Mehmet - I feel for him because he was so stable when he had a solid, regular defence in front of him and someone like Bene leading but he's been poor this season. Still another two years! Allan - Just not good enough. Decent enough player but doesn't have any attributes that really make him stand out. I know someone had to do the dirty work but I can't say he does that greatly either. Not sure on his contract info but I don't think he's warranted a new one. I personally think he's only seeing this much game time due to injuries. Chalmers - he doesn't shy away from the ball, takes it and can be brave but he can also be wasteful, he doesn't score, assists have dried up and players go past him like a hot knife through butter. I don't think he's good enough for where we want to go but he's under contract. MOH - I think he tries and is being played out of position, but is he what we need? Still not sure. Again, he'll be here next season unless someone came in for him. Wighton - I really like him, good link up play but centre forward isn't a strong position for him, not at this level anyway. I wouldn't necessarily say he's one I want to leave, but I don't think he should be the lead of our attack and not sure he's wanting to play wider etc. One that might surprise people, but Rhys Breen - injury after injury after injury, was similar last season. There comes a point where that isn't ideal. Again, I think he's under contract until the end of next season. A fit Breeny can be really handy but how often do we have a fit Breeny?

Just re-read this, was typing on my phone in a rush last night. Just the word season 8 times... SEASON

Agree. I’m now well over the fact that we’re not good enough to compete in the playoffs this season, as we suspected. All about staying in the division this season. A lot of our big players won’t be fit until near the end of the season, so hopefully they get a couple of appearances here and there before the end of the season and are raring to go in pre-season. I keep hearing Rovers fans say about the similarities between us this season and them last season. Last season they had bad injuries, similar to us and rarely had more than four on the bench. I think they finished 7th and by the sounds of it were a pretty tough watch. Completely different animal this season with some great signings and all players back fit.

At least we can open as an ice rink this weekend.

Don’t even get your hopes up, no chance this’ll be on. It’s to be wet, it’s to be well below freezing and as we know we now have an issue with the under soil heating. Enjoy going round Ikea or something!

I don't really mean at the usual reaction bits, like HT/FT, I think those are quite normal and I'm sure give the players a kick up the arse if they need it. By time they get to the tunnel it's usually changed from boos to gearing up for the second half. But I've seen a few heads gone moments at just random times this season, conceding etc. BTW, not pointing any fingers, I nearly exploded with anger a few times in that Rovers 0-3 cup game.

I know it'll be hard for some to do, but we all need to really be singing from the same hymn sheet in the next few weeks. Winnable home games, but still going to be hit hard with injuries until the tail end of the winter at least. If we go a goal down, the fans need to back the team. I think the interviews with the manager yesterday were good, he talked about positive discussions on recruitment with the owners and that help is needed and they know. I hope that relaxes the players a little. They want to win every game that they can, but we're going through a bad injury spell and they might all be running on fumes. If we all pull the same way it'll be more beneficial than us going a goal down and then people shouting about lack of signings.

A new defender, McCann and Otoo back for tomorrow, suddenly the world is a lot brighter... Not sure I could cope if we managed another today.

Thought that as well. Quick look at his Instagram and he wore 46 for Spurs, so must be something about those numbers.

Really liked big Todorov and wanted to keep him. Got chatting to him a wee bit as our kids went to the same toddlers football class on Saturday morning at Carneige so I'd usually get a wee blether with him before the game. The day we beat Falkirk at TFS in November, I asked him if he was ready and he replied in the most bond villain type voice "Always ready" . I'd say zero change he gets a bad reception, in fact he will probably get a good reception, I think most were quite fond of him. However, over the years we've always had ex players coming back now playing for the opposition, and even if they left on good terms, there's always some idiot that boos. Especially if we're a goal down or something, some people's brains go to mush. Big man will score tomorrow.

I know what you're saying, maybe I was too harsh with meh. But after the KRH signing, my juices did not flow once. I expected the Fisher signing and was happy we did. I was surprised at the Otoo signing, didn't think we'd go back in for him or get him but still we'd seen him last season, wasn't overly exciting. Summers was an interesting one, the Open Goal boys had spoke about him before when watching a B team game so I thought he must be good, but he's still a kid. Then we waited a while and got Moffat who is a good player, but still a young kid, followed by Jakubiak. Now I'd seen the Jak play, but by time we got him the season had started and it felt like we'd just went out and signed for the sake of it, also we were still hoping for a striker and all of a sudden we'd got this guy who Dundee fans were telling us wasn't an out out striker but a good wide forward type. I expected we'd maybe add one or two with that experience as opposed to kids who will have sell on value, and even still, Moffat and Summers aren't ours to sell on one day. If we'd signed Wotherspoon then I would have been satisfied, that would have been a real coup. We don't, he does well at Inverness and now is about to sing a dean with Dundee Utd. What could have been...

Weird one, before Ashcroft left I couldn't have cared less. Was glad to see the back of him and that kinda era of player at the club. He went to Dundee and really kicked on but has now found himself out of things again. Now, I'm seeing him and some sort of Messiah! For me, I want a Bene type. If he's going to be out until March then I want someone experienced in the defence. If we can't get Ashcroft then that's okay, but I'd rather him than an untested player at the moment. Still, anyone would be good about now.

I think he'll be a RRFC player at some point in the window. No brainer for Ashcroft, team at the top of the league, going well on and off the park and guaranteed game time, or a team he was at before Dundee, where he wasn't always a fans favourite and are mid table, with an injury list as long as the Thames. No idea. The Courier had said five clubs had tabled a contract for him. I think it would have been Rovers, Thistle, Pars, potentially Dundee Utd. Not sure who else. All just guessing but I'd say we definitely made an offer. Thing is, we might have only wanted to offer short term the same as Rovers. We might have offered less coin, he also mightn't have wanted to come to us since he's going from the Rovers and he can see how crap we've been lately.

Thing is, we all thought as soon as the window opened that Ashcroft would be going on loan to someone. Then yesterday, 10 days into the window Tony Doc says he'll only let him go if he gets cover. That completely scuppers that until Dundee bring in a defender, could be today, could be the last day of the window. I'm frustrated with how we've been doing in the last couple of windows but I don't deny the club are trying. If you look at McPake's early days at the club, first two signings were Bene and Chris Hamilton, I thought here we go, someone who knows what he's doing. But since then it's all been a bit meh. When we signed KRH I didn't think he would do as well as he did, and subsequently become one of our players permanently, so fair play for that one. But in large, the signings haven't been amazing. I'm thankful of all last years loans that we managed to get permanently like Fisher, Otoo and KRH, but I hoped for some more quality and experience to go with it. I don't think it's purely down to McPake, I think the board have to take some flak too. He gets stick for being a jobs for the boys type guy but realistically if you've worked with someone who's played in that division before and done well and they're available then why not. I watched Jakubiak for Dundee last season was impressed, but they had more quality in the final third than we do at the moment. I was quite happy when he signed but people thing he just signed him because he had played for Dundee. Even the McGowan signing last season in January. He's a pal of McPake's but it made sense, experienced pro, has his problems but also a winner, comes in to just help is over the line. He did say he'd tried to sign the likes of Moffatt and Summers last season but couldn't get it done, so there is some scouting going on I think, or is it just that he'd good pals with Darren O'Dea who's the Celtic B manager. Who knows! If we could get Otoo & McCann back for Saturday that would be a good start. Hopefully a signing or two. 4/5 of the next games at home, and if I'm being honest I don't see why we couldn't win them all. Airdrie, Queens Park, Morton and Arbroath will all think they can come and win but in reality, all have came to East End and lost this season with the exception of Queens Park who haven't yet played us at East End yet. The away game at Tannadice will be tough, if we take anything it's a bonus, but if we can get a good number of points from the four home games then i'll make a big difference in the table and keep us away from the bottom.