vikingTON

The attacking threat could be boosted by actually pairing Brophy with another forward like Gorman - with hopefully at least one and different type of centre forward added to mix things up as well as offering cover. Sand dancing wingers should be binned (becoming a Plan B option if we're losing) and we should double down on our relative strength and options in the middle of the park, once Ballantyne is back to hold the right hand side.

My expectation before the game was a leathering and instead it was a marginally unfortunate, narrow loss. Full credit to the first team squad and management: they asserted a pride not just in terms of effort but also performance levels today. There was plenty to build on today looking towards next week's game, and then after our imposed break. With the Estrella negotiations moving towards a decisive phase, it has been a very encouraging 24 hours for the season. Two particular points of credit IMO: 1) The team actually defended from the front at times with some effective pressing. We picked our opportunities to squeeze Partick (and with Brophy's fitness a constant press was impossible) and when we did press, the midfield three took turns to add pressure without leaving us wide open. We lost that trait under Imrie long before Murray's arrival. If we can restore it, then in the narrow confines of Cappielow we will be well in every game that we play. 2) While we can't rely on them on a weekly basis, the young players showed all the merits of energy, aggression and doing the basics right throughout the game. They weren't fazed by the occasion or the subs by the match situation. The starting XI would clearly benefit from extra quality but having options who can step up is important too. I wouldn't be massively concerned if Black (apparently a midfielder) was brought on for 20 minutes in place of a tiring veteran, put it that way.

No it couldn't.

I'd hope that Estrella's backing could at least solve the obstacle of cashflow. If GMFC are serious about ensuring break even and paying wages in full until June (as they should be), then they need to make provision right now for both delayed payments and the possibility of a significant debt defaulting. That has to limit the operating budget. If Estrella are willing (which they may or may not be) then GMFC could tap into some of that investment right now and possibly have assurances of funds going forward. That would allow the club to commit to a few more additions, while still projecting a break-even position. I agree that it should not mean running an operating loss because ambishun. If our external sponsor then fully meets their commitments, then great - the Estrella investment is freed up for its rightful purpose all along.

The fluffers who leaked information against the club's owners last May and demanded that we hand over control to Dalrada because ambishun should be acknowledging their own folly first - which would have certainly plunged the club into administration within just 14 months.

Gillespie has played there but was terrible, frankly - not his fault, but he has none of the attributes to be defending against skill or pace in wide areas. The reality is that we went into the League Cup games woefully underprepared, and are still heading into the league in the same position, bar a hopeful fix to the GK issue. If we avoid getting leathered tomorrow then it will be a relief. And we then need to have a credible squad by next week's game at Ochilview for everyone at the club's sake.

Hopefully the beaks at SPFL towers don't do anything as severe as strike out our points or goals tallies.

I'd give it 15 minutes.

Not sure that a management team that got hockeyed 4-0 by Stenny and a relegated Ross County alike prior to the current budgetary situation should run with your analogy tbh.

None of the above has got anything to do with MCT. Try looking at the CV-padding clown in the dugout instead.

I'm still waiting for some facts as to how an ownership model that has allowed three different external backers to pursue the purchasing of shares - or alternative backing of GMFC - since 2021 is somehow preventing your mystical white knight from coming forward to save the day. Two of those ventures have been approved by the MCT membership - the other chose not to progress to the most basic step of scrutiny and approval. Your time for obfuscating and 'provoking debate' is up now. None of the above has got anything to do with MCT. Try looking at the CV-padding clown in the dugout instead.

GMFC receives around £100k (if not more) capital investment each and every year, provided by the hard earnings and generosity of its current owners. Its capital investors - quite wrongly - choose to place almost all of this into the hands of jobbers and crap managers. It is currently in advanced talks to secure significant investment from an external party, in exchange for shares and access to support that will (hopefully) improve the club's infrastructure for the long term. Rather than 'investment', what you are in reality calling for here is some magic backer to chuck unlimited money at a first team squad because ambishun. Let's be clear - we're talking £300-500k per year, just to tread water in the second tier. That demented approach was Dalrada's pitch, once they dropped the pretence of offering energy efficiency (where, exactly?) solutions. How's that worked out? You and others focus on a 'way back', but I'll say again - GMFC does not have any divine right to play in the second tier. We could be an extremely well run club under any model of ownership and there would still be an upper ceiling to our actual revenue. And there would still be the usual handful of Walter Mitty outfits chucking stupid money at mercenaries who can supplant us downwards. League status alone cannot be used as a benchmark for success. Joining the latter group of Walter Mitty outfits is not a convincing alternative. We've had one admin already and only through GC's acceptance of failure did we narrowly avoid a richly deserved second one, just 6 (?) years ago. So much for the crocodile tears being shed back then, when some of the same fans - like Dundee and Livingston before them - clamour for a return of blatant financial doping. The mechanism for investors to get involved with GMFC is crystal clear and has brought on board two different outside groups since 2020, with one falling by the wayside when basic transparency was requested. That doesn't look like a closed door setup to me, but perhaps you have some facts rather than conjecture to show otherwise.

And these are the fundamental questions that should be addressed: 1) At what point last season did Dalrada first fail to provide payment by the expected due date? 2) After the above event, did GMFC's board discuss contingency plans in the event of a potential future defaults? If not, why not? 3) If so, when did these discussions take place and what concrete provisions were made? How did these aim to insure the club (as much as possible) against unreliable or defaulting payment going forward? To be clear, I fully support the GMFC board right now, in July 2026, striving its best to achieve a break-even budget and not counting any further chickens. If that means Murray doesn't get his 11th midfielder, tough (though he does need to go, as he is toxic to the sustained support that the club will need this season). But I simply do not buy the narrative that this issue somehow only emerged between the bluster-filled end of season club statement on Unacceptable Performance Levels that Will Not Happen Again at the start of May, and the risible team and showings produced from the middle of July. I think they have sleep walked into this, by shirking the difficult but necessary actions (more staff leaving - hybrid or part time football) to start addressing this back in May and just hoped that things would magically turn out okay. What GMFC is lacking is not external backing but rather any form of competent executive leadership to avoid such drift. That's been the case for years.

I don't because it isn't supported by evidence or reason.

It's more than ironic that you think that nobody capable would possibly wish to replace Saint Ian Murray, yet at the same time peddle for debate the notion that GMFC can be sold off to a 'proper' owner with ambishun, without any hitch whatsoever. There's only one category of opening in Scottish football that demonstrably attracts dozens of expressions of interest, about 20 times each year - and it's the one currently squatted in by a Gus McPherson level time-server.