Spider1975

You know what, it's not the losses.... It's the contempt of a 'stadium' that's been designed to accommodate the elite, rather than the punters It's the lack of rigour in checking the details, whether it's player eligibility or a missing apostrophe on the team name It's the blatant disregard of tradition when the players are trotted out in a kit completely alien to anything that's gone before It's the gaslighting of a DoF, telling the support to trust the process before bunking off when that process starts to unravel It's the cronyism of appointing an inexperienced manager to manage an inexperienced team and the lack of respect to then hang him out to dry when he should never have been put in that position in the first place It's the arrogance of a CEO to do every interview that God sends when it's all going well, only then disappearing without trace when it's not It's the fleecing of £20/ticket, which is then added to by the fleecing inside the ground of barely acceptable and vastly overpriced catering after having been frisked by some moron in a yellow G4S jacket outside, living his nightclub dream but without the common decency to at least mutter anything other than a grunt. It's the lack of imagination or leadership to allow the Women's team to fester at Tinto in order to maintain a pristine surface at Lesser, should big Willie's real passion (Celtic under-whatever) decide they want to play there. And we're trying to grow a support. I don't blame the players, they evidently are as fed up and disenfranchised as the rest of us. At the moment QPFC are getting the reward they deserve. I just feel so sorry for all those that turn up week after week, home and away and suffer this

Well that's really cheered me up. Looks like Lesser on the 7th is the only real chance of seeing a 'home' win on the Southside any time soon.

In order, probably; eh - does that make Airdrie 'old money'?; absolutely; maybe; bit harsh on an entire populous perhaps? But seriously, lay off the Spider's Talk Boys, there's a good lad!

I mean, I was fearful last season that had we been promoted we were likely to be pumped mercilessly each week; I did not expect to have my fears come to fruition in the Championship, but there you go. Is there another team out there with similar, or worse record this season? Re January, the worry is who actually is available and of sufficient quality (and affordability) that would actually want to come to this sh*tstorm at the moment?

Paton has, largely so far this season, been given a bit of a free pass - at least on here, but I'm beginning to get more and more frustrated by him. His body language at times is woeful, head going down or shaking every time the ball doesn't come to him, yet he's painfully slow at times and when it does come to him there has increasingly been zero end product. During the first half there was a breakout on the RHS where Thomas was running down the wing surrounded by three Airdrie players, Paton, pretty much alone in the middle, was jogging forward about 5-10m behind. For all the criticism earlier in the season, Jack Turner is about our only real threat going forward.

Say it quietly but the Women's team finally getting the opportunity to play at Lesser ain't a bad start

Queen's Park; The gift that just keeps on giving! Would be more than happy with Bowyer. Correct me if I'm wrong but last season when it wasn't really working at Dens he made changes to the formation, (something which neither OC nor RV seemed capable of doing), which is the kind of pragmatism we need at the moment. Always came across as a class act.

Fortunately I'm working. Unfortunately I should be back in time to maybe catch the second half on TV. No question what the result will be (away win), only questions are a) how many will Utd win by, and b) whether QP could co-locate the cow's arse and banjo and actually score.

No. Dom Thomas pretty much single-handedly is about our only attacking threat, though I would agree/state that both he and McKinstry yesterday were easy to defend against given the fact they constantly always cut inside, rather than going wide and crossing - again, I'm assuming this is a coaching issue. As for Robson, I lost count of the amount of gut bursting wide runs he made only for Thomas and McKinstry to cut inside instead. He poses a valid attacking threat but we don't use him. I'd also say that some of the balls being fired to him yesterday out wide and his composure in dealing with them needed highlighting. Yes, he's never been the same since L1/last year/Murray leaving, but he's by far not our main issue.

Pains me to say it, but Morton deserved the win. In all honesty I didn't see the red incident as it was obscured by one of the main stand pillars. Don't agree with the 'hatchet men' tag as I thought both teams were guilty of that. I'll leave the suggestion out there that if fan's wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands (delete as appropriate) went down as easily as some of the players out there yesterday, there maybe be a fair few more chilled responses on here. Longridge deserved a yellow, absolutely, and was lucky not to get one....even only for the honking display. It seems as though QP have been coached in the Beuker philosophy that it his highly unlikely, (akin to Hell freezing over) that any goals are scored from crosses into the box, therefore we a) constantly cut inside to two walls of four and b) therefore resolutely decide we're not going to actively defend any crosses and subsequently c) cannot understand it when other teams score from crossed balls. But there you go.

Fair point, in my defence I should have stated 'of the regular starters'; I'm still not sure about Bruce, but have high regard for Bannon and Reid, maybe L1 would benefit them more than the deep end of the Championship at this stage of their careers. Re Thomas, absolutely, couldn't agree more, but it's not as if we haven't got previous when it comes to selling on our best player with inappropriate timing.

For a unit of a bloke he's very easily dispossessed, which is fine I suppose until you realise that there's usually nobody behind him & how he was second to the cross that led to the goal, I'll never know. Loan a good option but I hope we're wearing a mask when we offer him out.

Yup, I think the next few weeks will likely indicate the plan, if there is one. A new manager and squad strengthening in January would be a welcome sign that there's likely some attempt to stay in the league whilst a continuation of the last few months will obviously mean we're heading back to L1 with the full backing of Dumpster and Haughey. If that's the case I can't see Dom Thomas hanging around, especially if we can get some coin for him. Worthwhile holding onto Ferrie, McKenna, Turner, Thomson, Spong and potentially Paton, but the rest I'm guessing we could easily move on.

Unfortunately, I think you might be right.

Oh well, at least now we know it wasn't all on Veldman and we also know that the criminal substitutions weren't just his area of expertise either. League is as good as gone and even if we do seem to clamber off the bottom I wouldn't hold out much hope in a playoff game. The less said about Tizzard today, the better. We have attacking players but none of them seem to recognise Paton, who now seems to be playing as a midfielder most of the time. We can't score and we can't defend simple crosses. At least I'll have an excuse for going to Roo's Leap for dinner in Montrose soon.

As have mentioned previously it'll be interesting to see what QP team turns up today and whether it's different to that we've seen over the past few months.

Player of the month two months running who isn't actually first choice in his position. Says a lot about the current state of affairs.

Good news for you is that you won't have to; just sit back (literally) and watch us play it from side to side until inevitably there's a misplaced pass or someone demonstrates the first touch of a concrete wall, then just grab and go.

Presume we can buy tickets at the ground on the day?, just in case I suffer a lobotomy between now and 2pm tomorrow which renders me mentally unfit and therefore keen and eager to go!

We went to a back 3 v ICT and despite the obvious physicality of Tizzard & Co, they still couldn't cope. I reckon you could move to a back 7 but until such time as they a) learn to stop crosses and b) when they do come in try and get there first prior to the head of the 5'4'' opposition striker, I fear similar results.

Is it not ridiculous that this, if true, comes as little or no surprise? Queen's Park leadership yet again proving a living, breathing example of the Dilbert Principle. Having read previous pages there seems a hint that Veldman, who'd overseen a win rate of 19% since July, (that includes Elgin and Bala) may have left of his own accord rather than being sacked, which if true really would be peak Dempster. The incompetence of the decision making, the ambivalence towards the supporters shown in communications and the arrogance to take them for granted does unfortunately, get you thinking that the 'professional' QP is a sorry shadow of the amateur team that most of us grew up with. Hope I'm wrong, but Nuijten having been first team coach for quite a while now isn't exactly going to be the 'new broom' full of fresh ideas and exceptional motivational ideas to turn this team of players around, unless of course they really had downed tools for Veldman, in which case, hell mend them. The sadistic side of me is keen to take the trip to Greenock tomorrow just to see where the truth actually lies

Agreed. Unfortunately I spend a fair bit of time down south and in doing so have ended up watching a lot of L1 football; the quality ain't great but it's extremely competitive and thus for experienced managers, let alone those just starting their managerial career, it's vicious - case in point, go and have a look at how many managers Charlton have had in the last two and a bit years. Despite this, I'd much prefer, given the predicament we're in, someone with a bit more experience.

Watching his goal (ICT's third) again on the highlights package reminded me of a similarly brilliantly worked goal with a statuesque defence, scored just under a year ago by G Savory vs Hamilton. How time's change!

Easy to say in hindsight but his recent press conferences gave the impression of a man who knew the chop was imminent, (Haughey's car being seen at HQ further evidence that moves were afoot). With his top cover in Beuker departing then I'm assuming the ICT game was make or break. The announcement came very quickly after FT, even more so given how tardy QP decisions and official communications are. It's just a bit of a shame, (so far) that Haughey's week of the long knives hasn't extended to Dempster too - then again Christmas is just round the corner innit? On one hand it would be very surprising given the speed of developments at the w/end that they hadn't already sounded someone out about taking over, but then again it would be very surprising if QP for once, had a strategy in place. The worry is that the easy go to would be someone like Mackay. What's that phrase again, act in haste, repent at leisure?

Nepotism, football and QP? Never!