BishopBrennan

Can we take a moment to recognise the stellar contribution of the customs officer who sussed JET? Without their work, we'd probably be relegated.

3 minutes in and he has described Dave MacKinnon as 'very competent'.

For those who haven't read the statement in full... Absolutely no accountability taken for their actions, and the 'all cops are bastards' sign off at the bottom too (1312). Unbelievable.

I think there have been plans to build a few things on there, but it's a total marshland. I'm not sure whether it would be fit to build on, otherwise I presume the Prison Service would have furthered their plan to build on it.

I think that side would be effective going forward, I'd be worried about our central midfield without the ball in that shape. Airdrie overran us in midfield for the vast majority of Saturday's match, so giving Stuparevic more defensive duties would be a risk in my mind.

That was a poor performance and result in a fixture we should have taken maximum from.

If the club are going to continue their commitment to the academy then I think this is a step in the right direction.

Murdoch was a great player with us, and he should never have been released by Ray McKinnon, but I can't see him playing full time football again. Him trying to take out Quitongo has really came back to haunt him.

I'd estimate that between facilities - it's also worth noting that Inverclyde Leisure's pitches are some of the most expensive in Scotland - staff wages, transport, equipment and administrative outlays, it costs us around £100k a year to run our academy. I'm open to correction if anyone has actual figures to hand. Given how tight budgets are at the club, at what point do we need to examine the costs and benefits of having an academy? We have a full time Head of Academy overseeing the management of six (?) part time academy squads. Without wanting to discuss someone's professional performance in a public space, I can't see how the club can justify that being a full-time role, especially since the reserve team was (rightly) binned. Given the club's budgets are essentially on a knife edge from year to year, can we continue to plunge money into an academy, that is probably the seventh or eighth preference for Inverclyde based players, in the hopes of unearthing another Lewis Strapp? I reckon that Celtic, Rangers, St Mirren, Queens Park, Kilmarnock, Partick and Aberdeen's satellite academy in Glasgow are all far better options for young players compared to us. The way Project Brave distributes academy funding also essentially means that, without us doubling or even trebling our academy investment, we will never be able to upgrade our status in order to secure more SFA funding. I'd assert that Project Brave made it harder for clubs of our size to have successful academies. For every Lewis Strapp that's graduated into the first team, there's probably been a dozen Andy Murdoch, Jai Quitongo and Michael Tidser types who we've picked up as teenagers following their release from the academies of larger clubs. I think we could develop a thorough scouting network, using both desk based and traditional scouting, and see a far greater return on investment compared to the academy, even if we invested a quarter of what we invest into the academy into a potential scouting network. For all there would be a PR fallout to manage if we did close the academy, is that the only justification for keeping the academy open? Or are we expecting the next Andy Robertson to be based in Inverclyde and turn down all the bigger and better academies within a reasonable commute, in order to stay here and make us a million pounds in transfer fees?

I think the fact he didn't set the heather alight at Clyde would suggest that his development has stalled entirely. While I do think we wouldn't be having this conversation if the financial situation had been different, I can understand why the club chose to move him on. In regards to Garrity, I agree. It is baffling why we'd accept an offer for someone I'd consider to be an important part of our squad. I hope it's not a case of needing to shift players off the books because of a cash-flow problem given the lack in income over the last wee while.

How many of those positions can he play at Championship level? I have absolutely nothing against King, I've spoken to him a few times and he is a decent guy, but his lack of progression in the last 12-18 months is quite apparent. He's still a player who I've only seen influence games in moments rather than having solid 90 minute performances, and given he's been playing senior football for four seasons now, that's not good enough. He had his opportunity to go to Clyde, get first team football under his belt and kick start his development. That didn't happen. I dare say the financial pressures at the club probably influenced the decision to get rid of King, and in different circumstances we wouldn't be having this conversation, but King also has to accept that he hasn't progressed as much as he should have in the last year or so.

That's the only bit of business I'd anticipate. I could maybe see us exploring a development loan from the Old Firm to add some squad depth, but I imagine it would depend on what wage contribution would be expected of us.

Aye, I think we can all agree that the Scottish Cup anniversary kit is the finest piece of clothing in the history of association football, and indeed the world.

I doubt he's still a capable option at Championship level, and I very much doubt we will be adding bodies in this window in any event.

I still think launching two kits in one summer is overkill, especially when a club like us very rarely needs a third kit anyway. Releasing a home kit one summer and an away kit - alongside an updated range of training kit and leisure wear - the next summer is the best way to approach it. We can then focus on launching the retro kits around Christmas time too. Launching one kit every summer, one or two retro kits every Christmas, and updating the training kit and leisure wear once every two years is the correct balance IMO.