VincentGuerin

100% I've been to Wembley a few times over the years for lower league play-offs etc. It's a great day out and the fans are always absolutely buzzing to be there. Pre-match is always, always, always ruined by the PA playing shite music so loud you can't even hear your mate next to you shouting at you, never mind let the fans start a song. It really takes away from the atmosphere and every time I'm there I get the urge to sit down with the PA person and ask why they have chosen to spoil the occasion. Maddening.

I actually agree with this in general. People are far too quick to call for a sacking usually, and most football clubs are so badly run and lacking in clear vision that sacking the coach often makes no difference anyway. I think it's different with Robbie. We've got a huge body of evidence now over two spells as coach that he has clear failings and that he fails to learn from them. I actually find it baffling how poor he is at learning from mistakes. He doesn't seem like a stupid guy, yet he has these blindspots where he walks into the same problems repeatedly. He makes poor choices in terms of how to use the squad, and I think at this point he's on the verge of turning some good signings into mediocre or poor ones. I just think we've seen enough and we know that it doesn't get better from here.

Fucking hell, the mind boggles with some people. Fucking dicks. Hope your daughter enjoyed her day.

We're where we are in huge part because Hibs and Aberdeen are both completely shite. Anyone with eyes could see that after 5-6 games. Both sides were poor but just about papering over the cracks, and it came as little surprise that neither of their coaches lasted the season. Robbie has benefited hugely from their failings, but he's not making the most of the squad we've got, and with the recent fixtures we should have sailed over the hill and had third tied up by now. It's a huge under-performance to have failed to do so given the context of the bin fire that is this season's league. We're still a work in progress, clearly, but he gets less out of our players than the sum of their parts, and he doesn't seem able to re-think his approach now that we're in a rut. Add that to the historical record of big-game under performance and tactical lack of ambition, and it's a thanks but bye from me.

That's enough Robbie for me, to be honest. Thanks, but cheerio. He's got us in a good position and we can hopefully move forward from the summer, but let's not give him the chance to f**k it up.

I'm not really in favour of a bigger league, I don't see how Rangers and Celtic having an extra 8 games a season against sides worse than those they currently play makes it more likely that they won't win every week. My team, Hearts, might win more games if we removed two games against Aberdeen and replaced them with two games against Arbroath, but we'd still drop points to the new sides from time to time while the Old Firm would batter them pretty much all the time. I don't see it helping. However, I don't agree that crowds would suffer from us having a bigger league. Scottish football attendances have held up impressively well for three decades despite supporters of every club but two knowing their side can't win and will usually have nothing to play for. Making the league 16 or 18 isn't going to suddenly make loads of people chuck it. If we've put up with this shite for so long, we'll put up with fucking anything.

Good for you, son. For what it's worth, I sit up the back of section N, just next to the away fans. I heard f**k all from the pair of you.

Crowd was 12,000 and something. Not a lot of enthusiasm around Hearts just now, and a home cup tie with Livi doesn't spark the fire. And Livi brought less than one full upper section of fans.

Wasn't really bothered at the time, but that's two decent penalty shouts for Hearts. Nick Walsh constantly gave pish decisions in favour of defenders for the whole game. A really poor ref. Proper bottle merchant.

It was patently obvious from about ten minutes in that Livi had come for penalties. A baffling approach devoid of any ambition and deservedly emptied oot the cup.

That's me telt! Haha! Sleep it off, pal.

Don't really see why not. They have an actual investment in the result that we don't have. Hearts fans do the same. I suppose all supports do. And it's not just money. Losing a cup tie like that is a sore one just in a competitive sense for them. They've worked their arse off to get to that point. Fans get very precious about this stuff, and the idea players should just take abuse from some dafty with a pie and an opinion is stupid. I'm all for them giving a bit back.

That's not true though. If nobody went to Fir Park today, all the players still get paid. Fans get really precious about it. But the big losers today are the players. They wanted a win bonus, and the Aberdeen players will have a financial incentive to get to cup semis, finals etc. Pretending the fans are the big losers is childish pish imo.

Ultimately, nobody forces you to buy a ticket. Your team, my team, whatever, they're out there doing their best. I fully understand why a professional footballer who's been out there running his arse off would object to getting abuse about losing (and missing out on bonuses etc) from a bunch of lads out for a day on the bevvy/ching with their mates. Especially in the immediate aftermath of a disappointing defeat. Fans can still enjoy a day out. For the players, that's a disaster. I understand them giving a bit back. It's fair enough. Everyone's upset.

That was fucking magic today, wasn't it?

Not for me. Fans of all clubs over-estimate their right to be annoyed about this kind of thing. For the players this game has been their whole week. They've been working towards it all week and they are playing for actual money. Whatever caused them to perform poorly, they'll be fucking sick about it. And having some bunch of pished up p***ks shouting at them in the heat of the moment is bound to get a reaction. Not having a go at Aberdeen fans here. It's all fans. This idea that players should just take it is daft. They'll be spewing to have got beat, and it's much more personal for them.

Boring as f**k. If I was a Livi fan, I'd be asking why they never showed any ambition at any point during the 120 minutes. Hearts were fucking piss poor and there was no reason why Livi couldn't have won the game. They treated us like Real Madrid. Hearts were shite today, but Livi got what they deserved for their approach. Really poor and deservedly oot the cup.

I don't dispute that at all. But Hearts, Aberdeen, and Hibs would probably really like to shove them around. Not saying it's right, but we've basically got all the non-OF clubs essentially just fighting for themselves. It's stupid.

I've got to be honest. I find your responses quite confusing. Good luck with the cat.

I'd imagine Hearts, Hibs, and Aberdeen would all like greater financial parity with the Old Firm and a more competitive league. Do you disagree with that?

Needlessly silly, imo. The point is quite obvious. I suppose we could frame it the opposite way. Do you think Hearts, Hibs, and Aberdeen are likely to succeed in getting change by avoiding cooperating and collaborating?

I think that's a misunderstanding of what was said. The issue it that we're more likely to get a system that is to our liking if the clubs work together. Some people won't like that. Superfan points for you.

Daft thing to say, but also a daft thing to be even remotely bothered by. Who cares?

I agree. I know that Budge and Dempster had a good relationship when LD was at Hibs, but I'd like to see those clubs trying to be a bit more of a block. The three clubs are pretty similar and have more or less the same interests, although obviously in competition.

Football isn't fair. I think we'd get used to it. A former Bayern technical director has suggested using the play-offs every season year. Basically the years where there's no summer tournament. That seems a reasonable compromise to me. Even year numbers are a straight league as normal, odd years use the play-offs.