fergoo

Good luck to JT for the future. An absolute hero as a player for us and will never forget that header in the cup final. Wore the shirt with pride, gave 100% and embraced the club and the town. It's sad that his association with us is at an end but wouldn't surprise me to see him back again in some capacity one day.

Going part-time would be the biggest step back our club could take. It would be the beginning of the end. We'd drop out of the Championship eventually and be stuck in League One with the occasional promotion followed by relegation. I'm not sure we would save that much money. In order to attract quality part-timers, we would need to pay a premium given our location for home games and training twice a week would almost certainly be in the central belt. Being full-time is hard and is costly but is doable on our crowds together with strong performance in terms of sponsorship and commercial activities. Working with players full-time means you get at least five sessions a week (Monday, double Tuesday, Thursday and Friday) which allows plenty of time for fitness work, ball work, shape, set-pieces, analysis. Of course, it's up to the coaching staff to get the best out of the squad.

Naysmith is under huge pressure next Saturday and August will go a long way to deciding whether or not he has a long-term future with us. Our League Cup results have been desperately disappointing. To not beat a part-time Lowland League side and then a new-look part-time League One side at home is simply not good enough. We have two home games we have to win against Brechin City and Dumbarton but I will cut him slack for the away games at Dundee United and Falkirk although there have to be encouraging signs in terms of performance. There's no way I would give him until Christmas. He has until the end of the first quarter to get things sorted.

Long time lurker, first time poster. Can't say I'm overly optimistic about our chances this season. Do not expect us to be challenging for a top-four finish and feel we should be safe enough although can see us getting dragged into the battle to stay up more than I can see us having a crack at promotion. Several reasons for this include quality and quantity of squad and the fact we have a 'meh' manager who wasn't my choice and has a lot of work to do to win people over. To be fair, I was delighted when he signed up Alan Martin. Was best keeper in the Championship for me last season. But he blundered in allowing both Dowie and Higgins to go when either of those would have benefited us in terms of leadership for starters. I'm not sold on the lad Brownlie but hope Fordyce can be an asset if he stays fit. Running a tight squad and keeping injury-prone Tapping is a gamble for which Naysmith will be held responsible if it goes pear-shaped. Feel we're lacking a creative force in central midfield. Stirling and Carmichael could be hit and miss on the wings. We're heavily reliant on Dobbie and need another decent turn out of Lyle I think. I'm not all that fussed about the Betfred Cup but felt this was a group we could get out of. Shame that it probably looks like we won't. All about the league now. Massive first month ahead for Naysmith with the two part-time teams at home. He needs a good start to buy himself some time and breathing space.