Dink

We've (Alloa) taken your youngster Tyrece McDonnell on loan. Any good? Is he going to be carving a swathe through unsuspecting League One defences?

In the first 20 minutes or so I thought that we were going to be in for a really difficult match, as we struggled to get any sort of foothold in the game. As the first half progressed, however, we started to make our passes, the defence got better at dealing with Graham, and we began to work our way into the game. Second half we improved again and we were beginning to work the ball into dangerous areas. Two brilliant finishes from Kev Cawley gave us the lead. Kev doesn't have the pace you might want for playing the wide left role but he more than makes up for it with his quality on the ball. Once we took the lead there was a lot more space behind the Thistle backline, and Buchanan really took advantage of it, eventually winning the penalty which Taggart dispatched with his usual aplomb. If I'm being really picky the one downside was with Conor Sammon who had one of those games where nothing came off for him. He struggled to hold the ball up or make a pass. Although these sorts of games are often where he pops up with a goal out of nowhere. Overall a really good performance and result.

Playing our 4-2-3-1 Irvine would be custom made for the role in the centre of the three and peak Cameron would be a beast as a lone striker. Valentine doesn't fit into the team quite so well, as he always played his best stuff as a sweeper in a back 3, but we could move Taggart in one and play Vally at full back. Then we could bring Davie Beaton on to take free kicks. And there's a whole load of other class players in that team that I haven't mentioned.

This season will see the 25th anniversary of our Challenge Cup win. It was a fantastic achievement for the club, and a classic game in the final. It was also one of the all time great Alloa teams - Martin Cameron, Craig Valentine, Willie Irvine are some of the best players that I've ever seen at the Recs. Will the club be doing anything to mark the occasion - inviting some of the former players along to a game in November?

At the end of Brian Rice's first season I thought that Coulson had really come on to a game - in the first leg of the play-off against Hamilton he absolutely tormented their full-back. Unfortunately he never kicked on last year, albeit he wasn't helped by Rice shunting him around a bit at the start of the season, and despite plenty of opportunities he never recaptured his previous form. I'd have been happy enough if we'd kept him but I'm not too bothered that he left and I reckon that we should be able to get better quality in the loan market - he never reached the heights of Taylor Steven or Ethan Sutherland - or by Kevin Cawley as the wide forward on the left. It's a signing that could go either way for Arbroath, he could kick on and add an end product to his game but he could just as easily turn out to be really frustrating and spend the season running down blind alleys. It will be interesting to see how he develops.

The only thing I spotted was that the Cumbernauld game seemed to kick off quite early. Bugger, just beaten to it.

I think that the Advertiser story said that it was open from 11.

I really like Luke Donnelly but he's a player that struggles to fit into our system. When he's playing as the most advanced of our midfielders I think that it takes a bit away from the midfield as a whole. I wonder if his best position for us would be as the main striker (not that he's displacing Bobby Wales). It would be a bit unconventional as he likes to drop deep and he isn't an out and out goalscorer, but if you were to pair him with two wide players who would support him and a number 10 who was able to run beyond it might work. Mind you I'm pretty sure that he played wide right when he came on loan to us from Celtic.

The defence has been really struggling since the Montrose game, and it was inevitable that we'd end up with a run of games where where our goalscoring isn't able to bail us out. Hopefully we should improve once Taylor Steven and Bobby Wales both return and the increased threat should lift the whole team. I don't think that we could argue that QoS didn't deserve that, we had a good opening first 5 minutes where we should have scored, and the first 30 minutes of the second half when we were on top but never really looked like scoring. On the other hand QoS were causing our defence problems every time they went forward.

Well deserved for both. The Tell Him He's Pele interview with Andy Graham was an excellent listen. Unfortunately I think that @Francesc Fabregassaid in a recent Terrace podcast that they're no longer available. Perhaps Craig Fowler could be convinced to add them to the Terrace Podcast back catalogue.

I clipped it from the IFAB site under definitions of handball and then a section called 'what happens if'. The only reference to scoring a goal is in the screenshot I posted.

Yeah, as you say the big thing is that there is still a commitment to support the club from the Mulraney Group. I was just a little surprised at the change in net assets/liabilities when in previous accounts the closing position tends to be reasonably similar to the opening one. As Father Barry suggests it could be a result of the new chairman coming on board and some of the relationships between the club and the holding company changing as a result.

I've just had a look at our most recent filings at Companies House, covering the 2022-23 season. £240,000 of debt to the Mulraney Group was converted to shares and a further £160,000 was raised through a share issue, and it looks like that was needed just to keep the club's financial position on an even keel. The way that we set out our accounts means that details are hard to come by, and my understanding of accounts is sketchy to say the least, but on face value it doesn't make for great reading.

It definitely got his arm, but from the angle I was looking from I'm pretty certain it came off his chest first.

I thought that one clearly got Neill on the chest before hitting his arm, so isn't a handball.

I always find people's reference to minutes as though they are a verbatim record of everything that has been said in a meeting to be a bit naive. I'm sure that most people will have been in meetings where people have said things that aren't for minuting, or have portions of the meeting under "Chatham House rules", or have subsequently asked for the minutes to be amended. Yes, SG should have done better with their management of WhatsApp etc. but to suggest that minuted meeting are a complete record of the thinking behind decisions is fanciful at best. The COVID inquiry probably has better access to the thinking behind decisions taken than any before.

They generally fill the the funded places, but they don't recruit up to their consolidation number. I did say that potential students may not get into the university of their choice as they will make their own decisions on how many students to recruit. Universities in England will be making similar decisions based on the amount of high cost subject, and access funding etc. that they receive from OfS. Students (with the required grades) who don't get into Edinburgh, however, will have the option of going to another university in Scotland if they've applied to them as well. It's only partially true that universities get more funding for an rUK student than from a funded place, price groups 1 and 2 are both higher than the £9,250 fee

It really isn't. Funded places were reduced by around 1,000 in AY 2023-24 because several universities couldn't fill their places. Edinburgh University, as an example who didn't have their places reduced, could recruit additional students eligible for funding without exceeding their consolidation number. It's their operational decision that they don't. Since Brexit EU entrants have been (largely) ineligible to take a funded place so there's actually been an expansion in places available for Scottish domiciled students.

If you're a Scottish kid in 5th or 6th year and want to go to uni in Scotland then you'll be able to get a place at a Scottish university (depending on grades etc. obviously). You may not get to go to the university or the course that you want but that's no different from an English kid going to St Andrews or Edinburgh after they don't get into Oxford or Cambridge.

The SAAS definition of family member, which seems very reasonable too me. A family member means, to any person: their husband, wife or civil partner (not partner) their direct descendant or those of their husband, wife or civil partner who are; under the age of 21 their dependants* or those of their husband, wife or civil partner. *(if you are 21 or over, you may qualify as a dependant, if you can prove you are financially dependent on your family member. This means you have no money from work or benefits and are not eligible to apply for living-costs support for a full-time course of further or higher education) their dependent direct relatives in the ascending line (the migrant worker’s parent or grandparent) or those of their husband, wife or civil partner If you are applying for funding through a family member, your family relationship must have been formed by 31 December 2020. However, children born or adopted after this date can be assessed as a family members.

I think that what I posted inferred that students who commenced prior to AY2021-22 would be funded. If someone starts a course with an expectation of getting their fees paid then you can't reasonably change that part way through. Students with settled status are a different category than those coming from EU countries.

It is possible for EU students who commenced their studies prior to AY 2021-22 to get their fees paid, and be returned as eligible for funding to SFC. There may be a very small number of EU students who commenced a course prior to AY 2021-22 and then took time out before returning to their studies who will still be considered eligible for fee support but they are very much the exception to the rule that EU students should now be treated as International (apart from students from RoI).

Away to Motherwell. Is this the first time we've played them since we knocked them out of the league cup under Tom Hendrie?

I think that Andy was most fans' first choice and I'm very happy with the appointment. He knows the club inside out, knows the players, and seems to be very well respected across the lower leagues. There are obviously no guarantees and we have little idea of Andy's thoughts on style of play or the tactical side of the game but he's got a very good foundation to build on.