RicoS321

I am not saying that, no. I'd say he's made some pretty fundamental mistakes, with his worst offence being the constant siding with the scum - most specifically not getting a more even split of revenues after the huns went bust. I just don't believe he's been any worse than his counterpart SPL chairman. You seemed to imply something more deliberate, but perhaps I misread. I was just curious as to what benchmark we have for financial fitba management.It's a pretty fucked up sport financially, and can't be easy. I probably am just more willing to accept that he's failed, rather than something more sinister.

You're right, it was SMG that invested, not Milne. It was in preference shares. Canna mine the amount. I'm not sure how Milne not being majority shareholder backs up your argument surrounding his financial mismanagement of the club?

Interesting Rocket. Couple of things though. It appears that pretty much every other experienced businessman in the SPL fucked up their investments over the same time period. Also, why do the Donalds get automatic trust and credit for their investment, but Milne not? Who's to say that in return for their investment, WM Donald gets to become main contractor for the training facility and new stadium? I'm not having a go at the Donalds, I know absolutely nothing about them and would not be shocked to hear their motives are genuine - I believe they are. I'm just intrigued as to why you wouldn't raise the same questions about them, given your clear distrust of Milne? Milne invested his own money, and until recently was pretty much a failure. AAM invested their money, and failed. Tom Farmer at Hibs - failed, Robinson at Hearts - failed, Boyle at Motherwell - failed, Johnston at Killie - failed, Gilmour at St Mirren - failed, numerous at Dundee, shop-owner at the Jute, Murray at der bun, and so on. All "businessmen" who've financially mismanaged their clubs. Maybe fitba isn't as easy as folk think?

Airdrie at home for me

I'm nae going. My wife won't let me.

Rocket, I don't honestly believe it is good enough. And actually, I think May is slightly over-rated too! What I mean is that I think he worked very hard and reached the limits of his game at St Johnstone. I didn't really see the room for improvement in his game that others thought there would be. Although I would welcome the opportunity for us to find out. As Stooge says though, it's not as simple as signing a couple of players. The budget we have is only going to stretch to the best of the rest SPL players and loan players as he mentioned. I'd add that even if we were to stretch to 3 players then there's a high percentage chance that at least one of those will be pish (maybe nae pish, but not good enough, or just not settle). We'd have to be looking at taking in 5-6 players of a good standard - realistically - to challenge Celtic. That said, our squad is good enough to beat every team outside Celtic on the basis of rotating 3 players regularly in my opinion. I don't see it as unreasonable Cammy Smith, Quinn and Goodwillie/Pawlett getting 90 minutes against Partick/Hamilton/ICT/County/Killie/Well and us winning them all. I think our squad players are good enough to beat 50-75% of teams. In terms of challenging Celtic, it's going to be about luck. Luck on the day in terms of our personnel (i.e. having everyone fit), their personnel and refereeing decisions against the best 2-3 teams in the country. I don't think we'll get that luck, but if come January we're still up there then we need to bring another couple of players in to really challenge. That's part of the usefulness of the transfer window I suppose. Although Celtic also get to join in unfortunately.

Aye, I see fit yer saying. I know a few of such types through work. If I'm ever socialising out of work it always amazes me how comfortable they are at asking other people to do things for them. I'm always quite awkward when requesting something non-standard in a restaurant or fitiver, whereas there's just an air of expectation with these people. A bill is always put on expenses, no matter how small, whereas I prefer to just buy a pint for someone out of my ain pooch. Not that they're impolite, or obnoxious necessarily, more expectant, assuming and unapologetic - a lifetime of just getting things I suspect. A more obvious example would be our politicians' expenses. It was like a human right to them, to claim everything. Playing the system by flipping a second home was not consciously malicious, it was just the done thing for most of them. An entitlement. I don't know if it helps to persecute people like that either (not saying you were), maybe just highlight their mistakes and stop f'n voting for them every 5 years.

I agree stooge. I really want to like Goodwillie, I think he is a really talented individual, but he doesn't seem to have a place in an actual football team, which is a tad confusing. He has the passing, touch, vision and skill to be a creative midfielder but not the pace, positional sense nor work ethic. He has the strength and awareness to be a great striker, but again his positional sense, slowness and lack of composure in the box let him down. Which leaves us with a guy that looks fantastic on the ball, but actually does very little for the team. His situation in the first half where he took the ball off the Dundee player and was left one-on-one with the centre half was not dissimilar to Rooney's (where he won the penalty). He just tripped over his own feet. At first I thought he lacked pace to be a goalscorer, but that doesn't affect Rooney. I then thought it was confidence, but he doesn't seem to lack confidence either, it's more an in-built dithering. I thought Parker made some intelligent runs when he came on - certainly didn't hide. However, I would like to have seen him take a touch inside and hit it, rather than slip it to McGinn on the overlap (Shinnie's chance near end of BBC highlights). Someone like Stevie May would have buried that. I don't see us signing another striker, and I don't think Parker will be the answer (certainly wouldn't rule him out either), so I think we just have to hope for a fit Rooney, at least until January.

But then, that's nae any different to a manager at a car sales firm, or even the traditional bank branch manager (not yer classic banker, of the bonus variety). To be honest, it's probably the case in manual labour jobs too. I've seen the occasional apprentice being spoken to like shite because their boss could, and he seemed to enjoy it. So I don't necessarily think that the public-schoolness of those cunts made any difference to their attitude toward their staff, but it probably did shoehorn them into the banking/finance industry. The only difference between banking and other industries is the function of bailout (i.e. the rules of the industry they work in). Socialising the risk of failure promotes a pretty care-free, confident attitude that permeates that industry. If banks were allowed to go bust - as they should be - then these incompetent little fucks would be a lot less confident, and a lot less willing to sit around getting cunted during the day because they fortuitously met their daily gambling targets by 11am.

If Flood isn't 100% fit, then he shouldn't play. His game relies on him being able to tank around the pitch like a nutter. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that he shouldn't play at all at home if everyone else is fit - I think he's more the pressing type of player that if perfect for difficult away fixtures. That said, he had a good game against Killie. I'm thinking Quinn ina 5 wouldn't be a bad idea. He toyed with 3 at the back in europe, and it seemed to work quite well. With 2 fullbacks high up the pitch, it could cause them a few problems. I'd go: ----------------Ward--------------------- -------Taylor / Quinn / Considine-------- Logan------------------------------Hayes ----------Jack-------Shinnie------------- ---McGinn-------Rooney----Goodwillie-- Switching McLean for Goodwillie after he misses his first 3 sitters.

And Quinn in midfield? That seems a touch mental too. He's pretty slow.

Ach, we've been missing a Josh since Magennis left. I just hope he can pish in his own mouth. January 2016 doesn't sound like we're convinced. Maybe Shankland away for a few months in the hope he can turn into a player by January.

Is our captain injured? Or have you just gone crazy?

I'm pretty certain McLean was made captain of St Ming after Goodwin went through a period of attacking opponents and getting suspended. He was certainly captain when we signed him.

Bring him up right, and you'll get a good price for him in a few years time. You need to start maximising the potential of your asset there. Nice haircut, and a second language and he'll make you a whack in the market. I'll give you £5K against him @ 2% just now if you want to buy a car or something.

I like the sound of Parker like. He has the potential to be the next Jeffrey Monakana.

Aye, I agree entirely, I voted for independence for the those exact reasons. I should really have said: "it's a shame the whole UK couldn't get its act in gear". I suppose what I think is that independence is nae eese unless we eventually set an example that the rest of the UK can see as an improvement on their own capitalist whooring.

Really? The answer would be exactly the same. Then we'd never get serious debate on it again. I'd like to think that next time that a party in Scotland (preferably not SNP) would have a credible 30-40 year plan and a series of goals which they're not afraid to discuss - preferably one that includes a different currency so that we're not held back by banks and debt. Although, if I'm honest, I'd rather see the UK as a whole get its act in gear, and perhaps Corbyn might be the beginning of that.

I dinna get this. It's like one of those phrases that has just stuck over the years "shouldn't get beaten at his near post". If he'd had his legs shut then the boy would have belted it in the far corner. They both result in goals, and neither is harder to finish than the other. It was just a good finish, as there wasn't much of a gap to hit.

Aye, but fit aboot Corbyn?

He seems a decent sort. With a bit of conviction. Even a glance at the Guardian shows a huge number of opinion pieces written against him. It's the disturbing tone that they're written in that worries me. It's like they're looking down at him, suggesting he's some sort of naive old man that doesn't understand big boys modrin politics. To be honest, I don't believe that Labour (Corbyn or not) have any relevance as a political party any more. But at least Corbyn stands for something.

He's injured. Won't play against the dons.

Apparently it was his boyhood dream to play alongside Clark Robertson

I've never been a great lover of Flood. I've always thought his positional sense is non-existent and can be detrimental to his fellow midfielders. However, I'd definitely have him in tonight. Exactly the type of game where he can cover a lot of ground and break up the game and make it difficult for them to play. Hopefully the factor 800 sun block winna drip in his eyes.

I always thought McManus would be more complimentary to our style of play, rather than Shankland. He looks a strong player, but I'm not sure where the extra burst of pace is going to come from to set him apart from others. I think he is a long way off our first team if I'm honest.