VincentGuerin

Apologies if you feel condescended, but it's a fairly simple point that has been made more than once today. You just seem to be skipping over it. Competitions have different parts. We could choose two points for a win, or seven points for a win, or give double points for away wins, or have penalty shoot outs to settle draws (like the League Cup, is this artificial?). Competitions have different structures and rules. Our top flight has a cut-off at 33 games. Everyone knows that from the start and it is no more artificial or illegitimate than any other part of the competition.

No. That part of the competition has finished. In terms of getting into the top 6 there are 0 points available. Everybody has had 33 games to get there, and if you missed out, tough. I think you're just failing to understand that it's two separate parts of the competition. I'm not sure you're going to get it, but that's what it is. It's not a difficult concept. And it's no more 'artificial' than having a play-off for relegation, or the old away goals rule, or deciding to use goal difference rather than head-to-head or goal average. The whole league is just an imaginary thing that exists in our heads.

I don't really care about the fixture imbalance. Some people get tremendously worked up about it, I don't think it's a big deal. I don't really see your point about stopping a late push for Europe. It doesn't. Every team knows that the cut-off point for being in the top 6 is 33 games. If you're not, then tough shit. 33 games is when you need to make your late push for. Similarly, if you've scrambled into the top 6 after 33 games, you don't need to worry about bombing into the play-off or something. That's your reward and everyone knows 33 games is the point you need to do that. So, I don't really think you've got a point on that one.

And that's why the reconstruction talk is all pointless apart from being a fun way to pass the time. There are so many competing needs and wants that we'll never get meaningful agreement. In reality, what we have at the moment is probably close to as good as we can get it. I don't mean it's great, just that we'll never do much better.

I did say it's slightly unfair. I just don't think it's a big deal. People go on about it as if it's a huge deal. It isn't.

The fixture list is slightly unfair. But I think this angle is over-done. Unfairness is built into football. Some teams miss important players for big games through injury. That's not really fair. Referees make mistakes. That's not fair. You might have to play an easy game against a shite team in weather conditions that are so shite they act as a leveller and cost you points, which isn't really fair. Some teams can go out and sign players for million of pounds while others can't. That's not really fair. The unfairness of the fixture list is pretty trivial.

If we were inventing football today, this is undoubtedly what we'd have.

I don't mean this to come across the way it might appear, but with Hearts sitting comfortably in 3rd place what more can their fans realistically expect? I understand how it looks. But there are different ways to be sitting third. There's not much point in finishing third and then just getting pumped out of Europe early doors. It's meaningless. I don't think many Hearts fans trust Robbie with European games. He's just not very good against anybody half-decent. Then there's the issue of maybe trying to win something. He got very close against a really poor Celtic team, but remember that that his usual big game gameplan almost had us out of that match before we got into it. The team pulled it out the bag, but he got the game wrong. If we're happy to win a good number of games against the sides in the bottom 6 and finish third relatively often, then Neilson is fine. I don't think he's shite. But all football fans like the idea that things might get better and that we might improve a bit. I don't think many Hearts fans believe that'll happen under Neilson. We've got really good recruitment now, and I think most of our success this season has come simply because we've signed good players instead of our normal shite ones. I think a better coach could get more from them.

What about the argument that it gives us more exciting fixtures at the end of the season? Which it does. The split is good. Your argument strikes me as 'My team missed the top 6 last season and I'm still beelin'.

It's a bit more nuanced than that. He's obviously doing a decent job. But I don't think many Hearts fans believe that he can improve the team or our prospects any more than he has done. He's generally good at beating teams we're better than, but sides of a similar level or who are better than us he has real trouble with. He constantly makes the same gameplan mistakes and you'll be hard-pushed to find a Hearts supporter who believes we're likely to win a big game. I think it's a fair position to take to say he's done a good job for us but we probably need someone else to get the best out of our squad. I don't have confidence in him being the best option to handle a European campaign, for example. Thanks for getting us there, cheerio now.

What a complete fucking waste of time

More positive end to the half. More of that, please.

Poor so far. Too passive. Pretty much what I expected. Currently very smug about my decision to not go. Shite.

Amazing decision to give Rangers a free-kick there. Fucking hell.

He was offered a move away from Southampton last month but knocked it back because he'd have been cutting his wage by about 50%. Wanted a pay-off from Southampton to go and they wouldn't do it. Maybe they feel they can get more by getting loan fees for him as well as wage contributions. I don't really understand it all. His parents are actually quite uneasy about it. He's not 20 yet and has had a lot handed to him. His dad said to me recently that he's quite worried about the impact of him becoming so rich at such a young age for having done basically nothing. It's a strange situation. But in a different world he'd have been released a while back and would be at a smaller club earning less and maybe earning them a fee if he moved on later. As it is he'll limp out of Southampton in a year and a half having spent that time with no club particularly interested in his development and with no real career path. It's conceivable he'll be done with football at any meaningful level. But he'll make a fortune, so what do you do?

One of my neighbours' sons is a young player at Southampton. The boy's on nine grand a week and has been told he's got no future in the first team. Two years left on his deal (1.5 now, I suppose), so he'll just be loaned out and sit and watch the cash roll in. There must be loads of kids like that at Premier League clubs who in the past would have been earning a smaller club a transfer fee.

I can sort of see it, in that he's quite a nice tidy player who benefits from games where you can play a bit. But I wouldn't have picked him. I do think he's due a bit more time on the pitch though. Not sure I'd have gone with Boyce either.

Beautiful. I need to show restraint because I'm going out soon. Don't want to get lost in the Hibs.net feast and still be sitting here when I should be in the pub. Schedule clear tomorrow morning, mind you.

Deeply unwise of them, imo.

The likes of Hibs and Aberdeen have raised their game against us all season. I always feel these smaller clubs are cheating their managers when they do that. If they applied themselves equally in all games, then maybe they wouldn't be in the shambles they are. Very sad.

Unclear if we're going to need another point this season. Very funny stuff.

What were the scores today? Oh, is that right?

Especially at a time like this where the pressure is off Hearts. We've got a good lead in third and look almost certainties for Europe given how unlikely anyone (never mind two) from the pack look to put together a run of form to catch us. We could probably have a pretty poor remainder of the season and still make Europe. There's no real problem with losing tomorrow, and I think a lot of our fans would be fine with it if we went and had a go and Neilson showed he understands what we've been getting wrong in these fixtures.

I'm aware that's why it happened. The issue of fixture numbers looms over every reconstruction argument. But it's still quite good. I think it's a big positive that teams battling relegation, challenging for Europe, or trying to win the league have to play the teams around them in the run-in. A relegation battle loses some of its fizz if one team has to play much harder fixtures in the run-in, for example. We could be on for a belter this year. I wouldn't change it.

It's nothing personal from me. But Rugby Park is a soulless, shite place to watch a game. Every one of their promotion rivals is a better option. It's an 'anybody else' from me.