TheVoiceofReason

Ah. Didn't know that.

I guess we'll be waiting for the outcome of the playoffs before we hear much (unless it's only east Fife rejects we're interested in) If annan and forfar stay down and we've got cash to burn then I hope we'd maybe look at enticing Slater or moxon. Mind you forfar and Annan also have a few quid behind them so it would be up to DY to try to persuade players of that calibre to come to Forthbank. Those two with Flanagan and another wide player - I'm not a fan of Moore although he's improved since DY came in and gave him an extended run in the team - and Thomson and Carrick up top might be quite tasty. I really like Chris Johnston at annan too although I suspect he must be a bit inconsistent or he wouldn't still be plying his trade in league 2 I'd be looking at Greg Fleming too - to keep the annan vibe going. Always liked him. Unfortunately I'm not au fait enough with the players in the lower reaches of league 1 - eg Dumbarton or Clyde - to suggest potential recruits from there Will also be hoping DY uses the loan market effectively as he certainly unearthed a diamond in young Hancock.

Maybe the new manager bounce is a thing of the past. Certainly haven't seen any improvement at Stirling, Dundee, St Mirren, Aberdeen... Only exception seems to be Dougie Imrie at Morton.

I'm not expecting us to play like Kelty every week but this thud and blunder stuff sure wears you down. Darren Young clearly doesn't rate any of the players he has inherited and they know that. So every week there's a lot of running about hoofball, bizarre substitutions and incomprehensible tactics. It's all just a mess. No improvement in 20 games or so and nothing obvious to be optimistic about. The expression 'thank god for cowdenbeath' is beginning to wear a bit thin

Well that certainly lived up to its billing as a meaningless game between two dreadful teams at the foot of the bottom tier of Scottish football. Whenever I think I've seen the worst game of all time along comes Stirling Albion to top it yet again. Appalling from the first whistle. Reminiscent of the death throes of TGR or the worst periods of Alex Smith's tenure. Thank god there's only one more week of this absolute dross to suffer

If you mean our team will play like they're in their 70s or dead I might agree with you 9th is not beyond our capabilities believe me.

Hope she's ok. Intimidation is unacceptable at any level

Maybe the trust board had all resigned by that point? It's more difficult to follow than River City

I don't remember getting one vote on this let alone two (or more). Maybe I missed the emails right enough

Carrick has been ok. He's had limited opportunities due to injuries and looks like he needs a half decent striker to play off. He's not had that and has generally been used as a lone striker or wide player. He works hard and I'd like to see what he can do if utilised properly. Kurtis Roberts looked like a world beater early in the season but has been struck with whatever malaise everyone contracted in November. Again he works hard but I think takes on too much in a midfield that has been rank rotten all year. You can generally rely on him to beat three players before losing the ball and then running back to retrieve it. Once he's done that a few times he's knackered and as nobody else in our team follows runners from midfield it generally ends up with the defence making last ditch tackles. Obviously they can't do that for the whole game... It's difficult to judge anyone in this team as they all succumbed to some collective nonsense after the first quarter. Rutkiewicz couldn't put things right - although he walked after a stushie with the self appointed chairman apparently so we'll never know if he could have turned things around - and Darren Young has been equally ineffective in his tenure. Darren Young is not feeling the heat yet as the siloviki in FBT are waving the not his team, he's got experience getting out of this league card but that will change if he can't get off to a decent start next season. Doubters are already doubting and knife sharpeners are just biding their time

Can only assume that the Stirling players were told some weeks ago that their services will not be required next season as we had yet another bizarre line up, questionable tactics and a spineless capitulation against an equally poor Elgin side I'm not sure why we have Dylan Paterson on loan if we're not playing him. He looks quite lively on the few occasions he's on the pitch and I'm pretty sure would have pressurised a tiring and quite immobile Elgin defence. I'm also perplexed by the constant selection of Akeel Francis. I dont like singling out individuals for criticism but in Akeels case I need to make an exception especially as it must surely be inconceivable that he will be here next season. He just looks completely out of his depth even at this lowliest of levels. Surely the manager must see that he's simply not capable of playing at league 2 level. He was hooked at half time and within about 5 minutes mackin - the substitute - did more than Akeel managed in the entire first half. Don't we have someone in the under 20s worthy of a run out in the last few meaningless games of the season? I have major misgivings about Darren Young. I know this is not his team but from what I've seen so far his ability to turn round a poorly performing team is questionable. I really hope I am proved wrong

I don't see this passing game you refer to at all. We play the same way as everyone else in the division except Kelty as far as I can see.

Recruitment is such a lottery at our level especially given our setup ie hire a manager, boot him out after a year, get in a new guy who starts from scratch, repeat Before a ball was kicked last year the general view was that we had a decent team with good players in goal, centre backs, defensive mid, creative mid. We did all raise concerns about striking options. On top of that we had pace and skill out wide with Flannigan, bikey, heaver and - a bit later - scally. We were also bigger and stronger than previous years and a bit more streetwise and we had a good age profile - instead of the previous couple of old guys and tons of kids But it all went wrong for whatever reason - people not getting on, injuries to key players or whatever. I'm ignoring covid because everyone had to cope with that DY couldn't get much improvement out of the team but I would have thought that the likes of leitch, grant, McGregor, Flannigan and McLean (if recovered) would be not a bad starting point for a new side. Maybe dunsmore would be worth a punt as he's started looking a bit better since getting more fit. I like Laird but he's injury prone, young Hancock will go on to better things I expect, difficult to assess young Paterson as he's not had enough game time and I'm not fussed about the rest.

That's certainly what I was led to believe but I may be wrong of course From memory, wasn't the 'investment' something like £600k? And don't the club have something around that figure in the bank now given the rangers money? And while money is obviously important, how you use it is even more so.

The point I was making was that investment is not contingent on the constitution being changed. Enjoy your TV show. Hope it calms you down a bit

I may be wrong but I dont think the problem was the constitution. From what someone told me it was down to the trust being a community benefit society. Individuals are not allowed to take profits out of a CBS - any profit needs to remain within the society or be used to further the society's aims The potential investors at the time wanted a profit sharing thing and that wasn't allowed - constitution or no constitution Presumably that would leave 2 options A - potential investors put money in but take nothing out. That would mean paying for the privilege of running the club B - trust changes into something else like a community interest company. Probably need to roll the club into that arrangement too As I said I may be wrong so feel free to vent if it helps you Neither would require a change to the constitution although option B would presumably need a vote as the trust might need to be wound up?

But of a better showing from Stirling today but hard to judge as Kelty were pretty much in second gear throughout the game. Felt they could have won it if they really needed to/wanted to. I missed the Stirling goal as I was getting a pie - highlight of the day - but was back in time to see barjonas run the length of the field unchallenged (that's our midfield for you) before slipping the ball to Biabi to score. Thought Currie might have saved it as it was a bit of a sclaff. After that it was the usual huffing and puffing from us. Had a few wee half chances but never created anything noteworthy (that's our midfield for you). Was really hoping for Akeel Francis to score a comedy last minute winner but it was not to be. Poor crowd I thought for keltys first home game after winning the league - quoted at 519 which looked overstated to me - but good luck to them in league 1. I've enjoyed the way they play in the games I've seen except for today and i hope we meet up again on league business season after next but I very much doubt it.

We have no creativity and no strikers. Our midfield can't pass the ball five yards and can be guaranteed to give the ball away under no pressure. They don't track runners either. Our defence is like the Alamo most weeks and simply can't hold out for 90 minutes against half decent opposition. So I'm afraid the outlook is bleak from a Stirling perspective. Fully expect Kelty to have a celebratory rout. Football is a funny old game though so I may toddle through on the off chance that we might somehow find the form that disappeared in November *sigh*

That all seems unnecessarily tetchy, my friend I'm merely pointing out that the current board has overseen a sustained period of poor onfield performance, am voicing some disappointment in Darren Young so far (along with my hope that he does better next season) given we have some decent players (cf. Mr Imrie at Morton) and am questioning a policy of short termism evidenced by frequent managerial turnover. I'm not sure what's unreasonable about any of that but each to his own I guess.

I wish it was just one bad season. Most clubs should be reasonably sound financially after covid as the government gave them a one off payment as did James Anderson. On top of that furlough would have picked up the wages. We dont own the ground but have a pay as you play arrangement with active Stirling. We now have the rangers cup money too. We've lived within our means, have no debt (because we can't) and generally have had a pretty decent player budget for league 2. But we've also recruited a series of managers who have failed to get us promotion. Sadly the current board caves into social media pressure so whenever said manager gets a string of bad results he gets the push. So there's no continuity or plan - just an annual surge of new manager confidence, then some disquiet as we lose a few games, then some hysteria when we lose some more. At that point the board will ditch the manager or - if he inexplicably manages to go on a wee run of victories - extend his contract. Which is pretty much delaying the inevitable. We all hope that Darren young will be given a bit more cash and will use it wisely next season. But he's not impressed with his recruitment so far and has been totally unable to get any kind of improvement out of the team he inherited. This does not bode well for his ongoing employment if he hits a rocky patch around October. At least we should have enough money to pay him off.

Guy stopped me in the leisure centre car park just before kickoff. Cowden fan looking for the ground. Had been away for many years, was back home for a wedding and this was his first game for over 30 years. I did try to warn him...

Has Maurice Ross been any good as a manager? I think ex players like him sometimes struggle at this level but I expected a bit more from him tbh. Think he had useful experience at lower level in Norway maybe?

The club board treats the trust board with contempt and acts with zero accountability or transparency Any attempt by the trust board to reintroduce such accountability generates the public histrionics that we have witnessed recently. They really do want to protect their own little fiefdom. There are good people on both boards and I'm sure that they all think they are doing the right thing. But they are not and I hope that this spat will finally see the change that is required. Replacing the current board without changing the working protocols and rules of engagement will make little difference. The new people will, in time, do exactly the same things. I don't think it needs wholesale restructuring

Congratulations to Kelty. Although you spent big and had players way above league 2 level you played some nice football in the games I saw and it looks like you have an excellent manager there too. Good luck in League 1.