vikingTON

Ross County 3-1 down now. I can't even remotely see them making a net 5 points more than us anyway (they could beat us up there, but we will get plenty of points elsewhere and they will not), but a win tomorrow would stick a fork in them and Airdrie as well. We should be targeting 5th given the utter dogshit above us too.

None of the wide players should be at the club next season. This flattering to deceive, 'best spell at the club' level was on show 12 months ago, and we have been held back ever since by sticking with those options. If your career stats have a meagre handful of goals and a handful of assists at this level year on year, then you are at best a sub/cover option and I don't think our current wide players would tolerate that status.

The point I would definitely agree with is that if the Estrella proposal goes through, then their view on a general manager/CEO position should be taken seriously. Not just blindly accepted, but one of the key benefits of having a partnership to run the club should be to gain access to more capable staff (either players or backroom) that couldn't be recruited by the usual Scottish fitba contact book.

A rational judgment of performances rather than reacting to the scoreboard (4 straight losses!1!!1!) proving a better prediction of future results. And the level of difficulty steadily decreases for us all the way until playing relegated dross like 'Airdrie' at home at the finish. We will get 43 points as a minimum from here, and can give Murray a fresh start to build his own team with in all likelihood outside support too.

Gillespie has been a highly commendable, professional servant to the club. But we risk creating a Neil McFarlane level blunder by refusing to recognise the reality of decline towards the end of any career. The direct comparison that should be made here is with Ali Crawford, who was in a similar position of sinner to saint 12 months ago - but the extra 12 months simply haven't worked out for anyone involved. If we have Estrella group support next season then we also need to consider the opportunity cost of renewing players who are not in that wheelhouse of expected added value too. If we retain the likes of Wilson and Blues for example, then I think that we would significantly benefit from recruiting the *best* central midfielder available to us within our knowledge and budget - rather than sticking with one who is experienced in lower league Scottish football. The other players in the midfield should be contributing that experience year on year by now. If there's an upgrade available then we need to be ruthless in doing so - that's how a football club actually moves forward instead of finishing 7th in the second tier for 17 out of 20 seasons.

Is it more of a gamble to promote from in house - within what is, I agree, a pretty average setup from an outsider only perspective? Or is it more of a gamble to pick some random GM off of a CV/interview, who is interested in a position with a lot of responsibility and - at least before this summer - an unreasonable level of pay to compensate? Leaving aside his own capability - was running Brora Rangers suitable experience for Dale to handle the rough and tumble of an actual football club, for example? If we want to appoint a very probable success in the role then GMFC needs to prioritise it in terms of pay and/or working conditions. As it is, I can see both sides of the argument with this appointment.

A draw is worthless for those media darlings anyway - it's done.

No guarantee that'll he'll be still in the dugout for said final, after Raith slid to a heavy defeat today. Away fans fighting among themselves; Imrie apparently throwing the players under the bus post match. Meanwhile the money men have left the building and - surprise! - they're actually running up unsustainable losses rather than breaking even off the back of a pie stall. I didn't begrudge Imrie for leaving, but to leave for that was a curious judgment call. After trying to get the Inverness and Hamilton jobs just before their blatantly obvious financial implosions, he must be the most badly advised person in the game.

Ehhh in a game where we don't get reduced to ten men for 50 minutes at a go, and aren't playing the title challengers? So that would be pretty much all of the remaining games, with descending order of difficulty.

The push on Delaney that was - surprise! - passed over for a Partick throw in immediately before the winning goal was about 10x more force and impact than the 'push' for which a penalty and red card was awarded in the first half. Partick committed 13 fouls to 11 by Morton in the game. Ross Hardie awarded precisely zero cards whatsoever in response to the infringements that he actually awarded against Partick. As opposed to 4 bookings, a red card and a penalty for opponents of the media darling club.

Wilson was in midfield last week too. Can't believe eve Michael Stewart is trying to describe 'undeniable quality' though, in a front 3 that doesn't offer 20 goals and assists between them on a yearly basis.

For Taylor and/or Crawford not to come on after the first goal today was very disappointing. If there's some inherent issue why they aren't playing then it should be communicated, but asking a tired Moffat to play up front with Garrity still somehow playing out wide made the outcome a foregone conclusion. We had relatively few resources available today but decisions in the final 15 minutes made it worse.

The keeper leaves a yard too many to his left for the first goal. From the Sinclair Street end, it was almost goading McAlear into trying a shot. The keeper wasn't up to the challenge set. Other than that he had a good game, and given the circumstances of finding another player we've done well. The league position will look worse before it gets better, but that's purely a function of our ludicrously distorted fixture list. March (final quarter) has us playing the top two at home then Ayr/Arbroath, as the teams beneath us will inevitably have more winnable matches. Queen's Park capitalising on their Airdrie at home chance today is a case in point, but they don't get that fixture back in April when needed.

The absolute double standards on display here in assessing Shaw and Garrity's performances is risible. Half the crosses from Garrity were shanked out of play FFS, yet for some curious reason the latest dauphin of GMFC's internal talent factory earns a free pass. Both were equally piss poor today.

Best team we could field given the absences, assuming the shape is logical as opposed to a back 5 or something.