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An utterly appalling afternoon in just about every way. I'm sick of being told how great Alan Power is when he's giving away soft goals like that first one and Brian Graham's at Firhill the other week. Same applies to Broadfoot- we've really got to look at lowering the average age of the squad in the summer- relying on guys who simply don't have any pace has been our Achilles heel all season. The downgrade that Waters is on Strapp has also been stark. He's like a 12 year old playing in an under 18's game. Three touches to control the ball and by that point the best pressing team in the division are all over him like a rash. I'll not even start on French on the other side. Ross's post above says more than any diatribe from me could. Quitongo was good- but we're too far down the road now to be giving him a new contract so he can sit on the treatment table all next season, that ship's sailed. Even the shite nature of our goal summed up how crap an afternoon it was. And last, but most certainly not least- absolutely disgusting to hear some racist fuckwit screaming not once, but twice, when Todorov was announced as man of the match over the tannoy that he was a "fucking refugee". I suppose I'm at fault like everyone else for not challenging him at the time, but having done that all the way back in 2006 when some wanker gave Marvin Andrews some of the same and having my ankles clipped walking out of grounds for a year or two afterwards I vowed I never would again, and don't blame anyone else for not wanting the hassle. But it can't go without comment. Hope the insufferable prick is proud of himself- or more to the point, I hope he's absolutely shiting himself if the club take a look at this forum and investigate. Dickhead.

Tedious dirge, but fair play to Dunning for not being bored into submission.

It's the fixed starting point because it's when Muirhead lost form and the whole discussion is about his contribution from the point he lost his form. Including his unquestionable positive contribution before that date would therefore be irrelevant, because no one is questioning that he was very good earlier in the season. Moving the start date forward would make no sense because it is still when his ongoing spell of poor form started. You know this. I would avoid criticising someone for causing a tedious back and forth through a stubborn refusal to admit they're wrong with the incorrect use of statistics if the various claims I'd made in a thread included: 21 year old Michael Garrity is about to turn 24, a fact you didn't address when your error was pointed out Muirhead never plays on the right when he'd played on the right three days prior to you making that claim, a fact you responded to by moving the goalposts to claim Muirhead only starting on the right once all season is irrelvant, an argument you then dropped and failed to address when the fact of his other starts on the right was pointed out at your request None of the fringe players have shown they can make as many contributions to goals as Muirhead, then when it was demonstrated that one of the fringe players competing for a place had in fact been involved in as many goals since Muirhead's form deteriorated despite less time on the park, you pivoted to: Claiming Muirhead's 10 starts in that time period prior to Friday's game was the same thing as Garrity's 3 starts and 7 sub appearances when Muirhead had more than double the amount of time on the park, and finally now with every actual footballing argument expended you're reduced to semantics about what constitutes recent form. People get things wrong all the time, which certainly includes me being too harsh on Muirhead recently enough. You can quietly accept that you were objectively factually incorrect on any or all of these points and stop digging at any time.

I don't think it’s petty at all. Announcing that we’ll be herded into a cramped section of an old stand which for many will have a restricted view of the Railway End is hardly an incentive to sell as many tickets as possible. Why would folk want to do that instead of stand in relative comfort and mingle with their mates behind the goal? That said though, we can hardly ask Morton to stick up for us, here. They do similar to clubs like Ayr more often than not, making Cappielow a pretty miserable away trip. No wonder the club did fuck all over the Arbroath fiasco at Christmas time, they didn’t have a leg to stand on. It’s about time clubs got together and agreed a strategy on how to make away trips as good an experience as possible across the board, but as discussed in the thread I started in December, the clubs don’t care about away fans, and as such, their own fans suffer when travelling away. Rinse and repeat.

Of course Muirhead has weaknesses in his game, that's why he's with Morton. Just like if Jai had a better end product he'd be playing at a higher level, if Robbie was a bit quicker/sharper he'd be playing at a higher level. There's no way Imrie would let Muirhead go without a fight, and rightly so. He's contributed well since Imrie came to the club and is an important player for us. He's not had the best run of form, but the idea that he's not been important overall this season or that he doesn't work hard is just wrong imo. On players being sensitive to fan criticism, there are guys in the Cowshed who seen to shout at the same players every week. I always remember one particular fan who seemed to hate Michael Tidser with such passion that you'd assume it had to be personal. I tend to think it's the better players annoy some fans because they think they're overrated and they can't stand it (I'm not at all suggesting I'm immune to that one). Chris Millar was another one who, bizarrely, was always heavily criticised by a small number of fans. Players like Muirhead should probably understand that they're actually generally well liked by the support, and they're unlikely to please everyone - and probably not to take it too personally when fans don't rate them.

There was more of this yesterday, and hardly a coincidence that it comes a couple of days after the General Manager admits to having a tense discussion with the security company. No point in smiling, waving folk off and wishing them a happy weekend when she’ll be behaving like a little Hitler next week because it’s ingrained in her and she can’t help herself. Just own your behaviour and get a job that you’re more suited to- i.e. one that doesn’t involve working with the general public. That’s the positives though. The negative was their stupid insistence on giving the visiting Reggiana fans who turned up for the first time in a good while a hard time for putting up a flag that was no more than 2x3ft in size up. Bureaucracy over common sense as usual. You’d think most football clubs would welcome visitors like them with open arms, yet at Cappielow you’ve got guys on radios making a fuss about the most trivial issues when they should in fact be there to make the experience of going to a football match as pleasant as they can for paying customers.

This is how the passage of time works yes, what with February and March being more recent than January.

I understand people's frustration with Muirhead but this statement is utter bollocks. This season (so far) Robbie is our top scorer and he also has provided the most assists, without him we'd already be relegated.

He can’t judge the flight of a ball, shanks crosses out the pitch, gives the ball away when trying to pass it more often than not, and makes a habit of losing his man for crosses (see Airdrie’s 3rd on Saturday). The one thing he is good at is getting back in front of a wide player using his pace if they’re on the counter attack. He’ll pick up a decent wage non-league down in England, but I’d be disappointed if we didn’t look to improve on him for next season. If he was as good as Dundee fans said he was, the injury has clearly done him as a player.

I hope Inverness sink without trace tbh.

I struggle with this argument against Muirhead; it's also the same argument people use to have a pop at Blues. He's scored 16 goals, works hard off the ball and kept us in the hunt when Oakley had his first injury lay off. He's not the quickest in the world and doesn't do the meaningless chasing balls he doesn't need to. And, yet, people want to get rid of him because he had a pop at some bellends who were abusing him from the safety of the cowshed. Where do you think those 16 goals are coming from next season, if we get rid of him?

Good to see Wales getting knocked out. I fucking hate Wales.

Wot?

Can’t say I’m not disappointed with the club’s lack of a response to my complaint about this. I’ve not spoken to my mate since the weekend, but to my knowledge he’s not heard anything from the club beyond his refund, which I assume he received. And given that the complaint came from myself, neither have I since the admin boy, Alistair told me he had passed on my complaint to the General Manager. I don’t think that just giving a refund with no explanation or apology to my pal, or reassurance to me that an investigation is taking place is enough, to be honest. I was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt for not replying immediately because everyone inside the club would have been busy in the lead up to the Hearts game, but hearing nothing two weeks after making a valid complaint, and a week and a half after the big event that consumed their focus is poor.

This pic just turned up on my Facebook page. Not only was Rob Rensenbrink (second from left) a great player for both Anderlecht and the Netherlands, he also had a keen eye for spotting and coaching 37 year old talent from works leagues. What a guy!

He's an attention seeking fanny.

(Photo-Russell Gordon) Greenock Morton FC AGM- 18th April 2024 By Russell Gordon This year’s AGM of Greenock Morton FC took place in the Douglas Rae Lounge at Cappielow Park supported by Dalrada Technology last night, 18th April 2024, held by Directors Graham Barr, Michael Harkins, and Sam Robinson, with Club Secretary Alistair Joyce. There were four apologies from the board, and a further one from the assembled shareholders, but one notable absentee was Chairman John Laird. The meeting started with one point of order, raised by former Director Gordon Ritchie, who voiced his concerns about the legality of the meeting, given that it was being held over ten months since the date of the audited accounts. Graham Barr quipped in retaliation to Mr. Ritchie’s concerns that this was an oversight, putting it down to the lack of legal expertise on the club board since Mr. Ritchie’s recent departure. Mr. Ritchie responded by pointing out that this is the responsibility of the current board of directors, not former ones, and that he wasn’t comfortable with the legality of the meeting. Mr. Barr accepted this wasn’t ideal, but that the meeting would carry on regardless. Graham Barr opened with the Director’s Report, addressing the club’s second surplus in a couple of years, which was owed in no small part to cup draws against Celtic at Celtic Park and Rangers at Ibrox in consecutive seasons, while also thanking Dalrada for their annual six-figure contribution to the club. Graham Barr (Photo- Greenock Telegraph) On the park, it was noted that Morton narrowly missed out on another six-figure sum in prize money, such was the tight finish at the top of the Championship last season, with only a couple of points separating Morton in fifth from second placed Ayr United. It was accepted that the team’s form has fluctuated this season, with a terrific mid-season run sandwiched between two poorer runs at the beginning and end of the campaign- this was put down to the club’s small squad proving problematic for the manager when injuries and individual loss of form hit. On a more positive note, the club have bought a flat in the local area which will be used for players arriving from further afield and will rely on MCT for the preparation of the flat. Talks are ongoing with members of the current squad about contract renewals as the manager prepares for next season. Off the park, the club’s backroom operations were discussed, with Sam Robinson regaling a discussion with Alloa Chairman and SFA President Mike Mulraney, who previously described Morton as the mirror image of his club, in that Morton are a full-time football team with a part-time operation in the background, while The Wasps were a full-time operation supporting a part-time football team. It was revealed on releasing the club’s strategy for the future in February that addressing this is a priority, and that Morton will be focussing on commercial revenue and the launch of the Business Club, with the club having the intention of being open and transparent in how they operate. It was accepted that while there has been great progress in recent years, there is still a long way to go. Moving on, Michael Harkins went into more details on the club’s finances with the Financial Report. For the financial year ended 31st May 2023, the club posted a profit in the region of £70,000, with Morton making around £200,000 from their visit to Celtic Park in January of that year. Income for the year was around £1.5 million, with outgoings of just over £1.4 million. Morton made slightly more from their visit to Ibrox than they did from the Celtic match, and expect to make a profit close to £200,000 in the current financial year, which ends on 31st May 2024. The club have received roughly £750,000 from MCT contributions, and turning over such modest profits under community ownership is a positive compared to annual losses of c. £300,000 under the previous regime. We moved onto one proposed amendment to the Articles of Association- given that MCT had worked closely with Motherwell’s Well Society, and a lot of the wording was copy and pasted from Motherwell’s articles, a reference to “The Well Society” slipped through the net and appeared on Morton’s Articles. The proposal to correct and change this to “Morton Club Together” was passed unanimously. Next on the agenda was the re-election of Graham Barr to the board of directors, which was passed without any contest. There was no further business raised so the meeting was formally closed before a less formal discussion on matters relating to the club. I’ll not name check anyone asking questions as it wouldn’t be right to do so should they not be happy. First up was a question about contract renewals, which was met with a predictable answer that discussions are ongoing with some of the squad, but many are understandably biding their time to see if other offers come along and it would be inappropriate to comment on private negotiations. Another question related to the accounts relating to a period of almost a year ago, which isn’t so relevant to the club’s current position. Michael Harkins answered this by confirming it is a legacy issue with the club’s accountants, and going forward he’s hoping for accounts to be audited in August. Michael Harkins (Photo- Greenock Morton) Regarding the flat the club had purchased, while the imminent arrival of Jordan Davies from Connah’s Quay was alluded to, the question was put about more “exotic” signings, which were brushed off as unlikely but not out of the question. We then moved onto my own favourite subject of stewarding, as I queried the treatment of a friend of mine who supports Dundee United last month by the head steward, and Morton’s approach to the complaint. Happily, with the General Manager in attendance, this was addressed this morning after the meeting. Another shareholder cited his own problems with the head steward, and the treatment of his grandson by her. The GM preferred to concentrate on the stewarding team rather than one individual, perhaps understandably, but with the individual driving the team, it was pointed out that privately looking at her actions could prove a solution to the problems. Reserved seating in the stand was also brought up, and perhaps most alarmingly, problems with disabled provisions for the Hearts cup tie last month, with part of the section required for the away club’s staff. Moving on, the question was raised about the club’s youth academy. With the academy costing in the region of £100,000 a year, a third review in four years is taking place after the SFA deemed it to be one of the poorest in the country. Michael Harkins was adamant that changes will certainly be made on the basis of the findings of the latest review. With Morton’s fortunate cup draws in recent times, it was asked what contingency plans are in place for an early exit from cup competitions that doesn’t involve a trip to one of Glasgow’s big two. Sam Robinson stated that the club budget to be knocked out of the cups at the earliest possible stage and finish eighth in the Championship, and emphasised that this is why Morton are making improving commercial revenue a priority, as well as building MCT membership, and using the value of community ownership to push the Morton brand. He also confirmed a new sleeve sponsor will be announced in the near future. The club’s player of the year event was also brought up, and in particular the pricing. While the board said that sales are going well and they expect the event to sell out, they did say it would be reviewed going forward. I could be wrong, but I took that as an acceptance that they scored a bit of an own goal with their pricing policy and will learn their lesson next year. My next query was on a similar subject to my first, this time about the away fan experience at Cappielow, and more pertinently to Morton fans, how that impacts us on our travels, given that away grounds haven’t been terribly welcoming this season and Morton are regarded in most circles as having the worst facilities in the division. This was put down to cost more than anything, but it was accepted that away fans do get a raw deal. There were no promises for improvements going forward, and the TV studio makes things difficult for TV games, but the availability of the west side of the Cowshed was noted. To wrap things up, there were questions relating to the proposed community hub, and whether the club could seek UEFA funding- an unlikely source in my personal opinion, and about whether the club look at similar sized clubs, especially given Dale Pryde-MacDonald’s links to Ross County. Graham Barr said that the club are now spreading their wings a bit wider, having previously relied on a small pool of sponsors. He also said that the club want to improve their regular crowds rather than depending on positive results bringing out bigger crowds, and are working on that. I’d normally like to finish with a conclusion, but will leave it to the reader to make their own decisions off the back of this account, as I had no real positive or negative feelings on the evening’s discussions. Over to you.

It's the latter. A more active style of supporter as seen at many clubs. Formed the group themselves, painted etc and their own cost (with club permission) and sell merch to raise funds for displays etc. https://cowshed.bigcartel.com/

There are absolutely no small margins to be discussed here. Dundee Utd were streets ahead in every department last night. On top of not actually being good enough, the majority of our players look heavy legged and extremely low on confidence. If we did get the penalty when we were 3-0 there was still no chance of us getting back into the game, let’s be serious here.

Looking forward to seeing that head steward trying to justify her existence for half an hour before kick off tonight by trying to find a swastika on each of these.

Quitongo would be one of the first out the door if it was up to me. He has attributes very few at this level possess, but even when he is fully fit he's woefully inconsistent. Wilson and Oakley both have bad injury records, but the difference with those guys is if they're playing twenty games in a season rather than forty, they're going to give a solid contribution in 90% of those matches. Quitongo doesn't have that. Add in his technical deficiencies, lack of game intelligence and poor decision making in the final third and it's an easy decision for me. He's simply a luxury we can't afford.

There’s a lot I agree with regarding ruthlessness in squad building, but binning Garrity at the end of this season would be madness. He’s a young, low earner on a sharp upward trajectory whose strengths are not replicated anywhere in our squad and will be incredibly difficult to find externally, certainly not without significant cost. He’s already contributing goals and assists at championship level and with Mcgrattan presumably moving aside he should be challenged to move up the pecking order, not out the door.

I think it's worth bearing in mind that Blues and Crawford have both played 43 games this season, Muirhead has played 41. And they've played 90 minutes in most of those matches. With key players out injured or not fully fit (especially Oakley, Wilson, and Strapp) it's not surprising that we haven't seen the best of them recently. I think Blues compliments what other players do really well. During our unbeaten run there was so many times he was exactly where we needed him for a block, pass, run, press, etc. He's not so great at stepping into the type of role Wilson or Power (when match fit) perform. He's also not managed any league goals this season, which is disappointing. Crawford hasn't scored for a long time either, we could do with them chipping in more goals from midfield.

To take just one game - the first competitive game of the season - O'Connor got turned by a routine punt up the park by Ross County in the closing stages to give Simon Murray an easy finish. That cost us that game and has been the story of his season. I'm not calling for him to be released but he simply hasn't progressed into a reliable Championship centre back yet. Like many others on the fringes of our first team, they should be looking to themselves for answers about their game time or lack of it. Imrie's not deliberately picking a shite team to lose games.

As soon as the first goal went it we were never getting anything out of that. We are so bad once we go a goal down and can never recover. Fucking appalling from Power and I thought Mullen should have done better. He sort of palmed it into the tip corner. Broadfoot was the worst player on the park though. Closely followed by the rest of the back 4 and Power. He was bullied all game by Todorov, kept going for balls he had no chance of winning, running out of position like a headless chicken. He's done and infuriating that Imrie can't see that. Waters is honking. French's positional sense is so bad. Another ineffectual performance from Crawford. Time for a spot on the bench now. Quitongo and Garrity to start on Tuesday please. The whole afternoon was just fucking woeful. Even our goal was incredibly shit. They are a decent side with a good press but all three of those goals were avoidable. Too many players not good enough and I'd be going for a big clear out in the summer. Likes of Waters, Broadfoot, French, Blues & Power should all be upgraded. Also a note on that racist arsehole too that Toby mentioned above. Utterly appalling and I'm glad that one guy told him where to go. Hopefully he can be identified and banned from future Morton games. Disgusting.

Good luck to him in retirement. A good man who was given quite a baptism of fire in his first job working for that bastard. And thanks for bringing Harry Curran to Morton.

Read through the thread. The basic premise is that he's lazy and had a pop at the support when he scored. He cupped his ears, it's hardly a hanging offence. I don't think he's lazy. He's just slow and slightly cumbersome and doesn't do the fan pleasing unnecessary runs against lost causes. I watched the Motherwell goals again, one for him and the other coming as a result of him closing down McGinn and winning the ball. More to the point, where do you see the 16 goals coming from? He's 5th top league scorer with 11. He's not a natural no. 9 despite the shirt number.

I suspect most people are well aware of the reason Muirhead doesn’t take part in interviews. Hopefully the poster who mentioned this was speaking from ignorance rather than malice, but it’s reflective of the extra mile people go to criticise him. He’s had spells of great form and poor form this season but his return is outstanding. He’s now on 16 goals this season, the majority of which has been played on the wing, and hit double figures last year as well. I remember that Mezut Ozil regularly posted the highest distance covered in matches for Arsenal, but was criticised for laziness due to his slow and languid style. Muirhead is slow but is definitely not lazy and suffers from the same problem of perception. At Firhill for example, the abuse he got was venomous from some, and if Imrie has used this to motivate him I’m all for it. He also scored a great goal that day. He’s been played at centre forward (not his best position) too often this season due to our lack of resources/poor squad building. A consistent set piece threat in such a tight division is a huge factor and the fact Imrie is such a huge fan of his suggests we’ll do what we can to keep him. He can throw his own faeces into the cowshed while singing the sash for all I care, if he’s delivering 15 goals a season. Those numbers are irreplaceable for us and if does go, many of our fans will be facing up to the reality of what they’ve wished for.

What about the five months before that? If Muirhead hadn't carried us through Oakley's first spell of absence then we'd be 9th right now. That some people have either very short or very selective memories is absolutely legitimate to be called out and I'm sure the delicate flowers in the Cowshed every week can put up with it. We can't have it both ways.

When I saw the replay side-on I thought Ferrie got unlucky with a bounce, but no, he's just a fucking oaf who thinks he's playing volleyball. What a fucking breast. Setup: And the punchline:

Jack Bearne today Gave us that wee extra edge at times, hopefully see him kick on and improve with a run in the team.

The worries from the previous two posts here, totally understandable. So glad they’ve aged badly!

Here's the beer selection from my local liquor store, or 'offy' as I still call it https://www.prikentik.be/bier As well as enjoying Belgian beer, I'm also an avid collector of the gasses. Drinking a beer in the wrong glass is a hanging offence here. Edit to add: The Heverlee glass in the centre was actually purloined from Greenock Cricket Club, the beer is only sold in Scotland and Ireland. It used to be brewed here in Leuven, but I believe it's now brewed under license by Tennants.

Throw in a potential, but unlikely play-off campaign which in the best case scenario could stretch to six games that aren’t on the season ticket and then take into consideration that this is the first summer in a generation that a lot of the support are keeping every penny for a trip to a major tournament and I can see the club forced into a bit of an embarrassing climb-down on this. These things aren’t really my scene now I’m a bit older, and I didn’t attend last year but that event seemed quite popular with a lot of the support- although I seem to recall criticising the price at the time. I saw someone saying the price has doubled this year! If it was a free bar you could maybe understand, but it doesn’t sit easy that a fan-owned club is pricing out the rank-and-file for what should night of mutual appreciation for everyone’s efforts.

I don't have an issue with Imrie calling out McGrattan, because hamstrung as he might be by having the wretched excuse for a footballer that is Tyler French behind him, McGrattan has had chances to step into the starting XI and has played very, very badly. That was probably his last start in a Morton shirt today and if he doesn't get another chance before being released in the summer then tough shit, you had your chance to step up and didn't take it. What I do have an issue with is throwing barely concealed digs at someone like McGrattan when a player who casts himself as a linchpin of the team escapes criticism from Imrie entirely. I'm absolutely not saying it would be appropriate for a manager to start bodying players in public, but he's obviously doing it of his own accord already. If you're going to have a dig at anyone, call out the player who has spent the last two months delivering performances Adam Coakley would have been embarrassed with. Today is genuinely the angriest I've been at a Morton performance in Imrie’s time in charge, and Robbie Muirhead is the reason. Footballers miss penalties, that is entirely reasonable and forgivable, but what's not forgivable was seeing him only then start to try for the first time in 2024. In that 10 minutes after taking the most telegraphed penalty of all time he was absolutely bursting his arse: showing for passes, pressing centre backs, competing for every high ball. Things he has steadfastly refused to lower himself to for the last six weeks, because he thinks he's above it, and it was only today when the dropped points were undeniably his fault that he finally decided it was worth his while to leave first gear and try to make a difference, but it was too little, too late. I'm genuinely fucking aghast at how brazen he's been about it and I can't see how anyone could justify offering him a contract at this point: if this is your approach to Championship football then enjoy your mid-table League Two finish with East Kilbride next season.

A lot of boys probably still over in Amsterdam for the Scotland game, in fairness.

Imrie basically calling out McGrattan in his post match interview, which is poor when Broadfoot, Crawford, French, golden boy Blues and Muirhead were all miles off it.

First team players are regularly involved in those engagement activities though, as a browse through MITC content would demonstrate. Leaving aside the fact that it's not actually a footballer's contractual obligation to grow the fanbase - that's commercial/marketing behind the scenes - the idea that they're not doing their bit is nonsense.

Has the makings of them getting beat after apparently downing tools Inverness are a minging club along with Queens Park it's a shame they can't both go down.

The fact that Boyd was handed a 2 year deal so we could have been stuck with him for another year had he not chucked it easily pushes him into the worst spot.

The young lads deserve a lot of praise for their efforts. You just hope they keep it going and become hooked on the club.

The main issue with the current squad is as soon as one of the starting XI is out of form/injured our fringe players are not doing enough. Garrity, Bearne and McGrattan are all decent on the ball but apart from that look lost in most games especially against better sides like last night. 3 of them have either made a decent impact off the bench or started a game well then died off, then when given another opportunity the following week have failed to take it. I don't think any of them are up to scratch at this level as of yet, or will ever be. I would look to move on all 3 players, or at least get them out to get more 1st team experience at a league 1 team. Blues and Crawford especially have been well off it for a few months now and contributed absolutely nothing. Power is in the same boat over the last few weeks as has Muirhead. The 4 of them are out of form and really need to be taken out the team for the 3 mentioned above, who haven't taken their chance. Id keep all 4 next year and hopefully they get back into form. I don't think we can question muirheads goal return over the course of the season. Gillespie hasn't impressed much all season wether it be starting or a few calamitous performances off the bench and his time is up at the club. I have just about ran out of patience with Quitongo, but willing to give him another 6m deal to prove his fitness and hopefully get back to his best. When on his game there aren't many better wingers in the championship. O'Connor has been a bit unfairly treated this season taken out of the team for Broadfoot who is finished. Him and Baird are still are best CB pairing and id keep the both of them. Watters isn't good enough at this level and I hope we are doing our best to keep Strapp at the club beyond the summer. Would love to keep Oakley but think there will be a few teams chasing his signature. Keep: Mullen, Baird, O'Connor, Strapp, Wilson, Blues, Power, Crawford, Muirhead, Oakley, Quitongo and incoming Jordan Davies. Get rid: MacDonald, French, Watters, Broadfoot, Gillespie, McGrattan, Bearne, Garrity, King

Muirhead started on the right on Tuesday with Garrity on the left. A player who plays on the right is directly relevant to the conversation about Muirhead's place in the team when Muirhead is starting games on the right. You were the one who claimed Muirhead is undroppable regardless of recent form because fringe players aren't doing enough. He is obviously getting a contract offer for his contribution over the season, but since the start of February he has 2 goals in 10 starts. In the same time period Garrity has 3 in 3 starts and 7 sub appearances. It is an indisputable fact then that in the last two months Garrity has contributed more goals than Muirhead, while on not providing a significant number of assists or set-piece threat, he literally assisted a goal from a set-piece on Tuesday; something Muirhead has not done since the Dunfermline game at the start of February. No one is saying Muirhead hasn't had a better season overall or that his current dip of form is going to last forever, but the idea that we have no one to displace him from the team just now while he's struggling is demonstrable nonsense.

I wasn’t too pleased to hear about his response to one fan’s grumbles about Arbroath away in December, but that’s his battle to fight. Doesn’t leave a good impression in my eye though. And after I emailed the club over my mate that supports Dundee United being denied entry a month ago, addressing the mail to him, my pal received a refund, but no explanation or apology for what happened. I’d also have expected some sort of reaction to the “alleged” racism incident at the weekend, which I don’t accept they’re unaware of. He seems big on communication when the positives can be played upon, but I’m not seeing much evidence of solving real concerns. I don’t really care how many e-learning modules office staff are completing when the General Manager doesn’t have the courtesy to reply to a relevant complaint.

A defeat puts us 8th though. We have to stop the rot today.

I always thought Reece Hands should have been a goalkeeper with a name like that!

MITC engage with over 500 kids through their football teams, community sessions and holiday camps. Seems like the club and the community could be missing a trick there.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/mar/19/its-been-unimaginable-san-marinos-20-year-wait-for-win-may-soon-be-over

What I'd further add, regarding the SNP's corrupt implosion, is that this seems to be a well-trodden path for small, homogenous countries with a dominant party. Machiavelli wasn't wrong; corruption is a property of an embedded oligarchy, and to excise it requires a return to first principles. This played out in Ireland, Mexico, all kinds of third world countries like that, and Scotland is no exception to the pattern. But I don't regret my SNP support. It was a necessary condition of ending Labour's own corrupt one-party state regime - and the SNP managed it with an overwhelming mandate, one that defied the proportional representation deliberately put in place to stop it from governing. I'm glad the SNP had its time in the sun and despite this ignominious ending I think they did far more good than harm. What happens next is the greater question and it's one that I won't be paying much attention to answering.

All very fair points, and I do agree with you. I think asking for questions in advance, and leaving a little time for Q&A at the end, is probably the happy medium for events like this.