Cet Homme Charmant

In fact, I'd give him a final written warning now to pave the way

There is absolutely no possibility of us forfeiting matches. It's pretty clear now he's deliberately trying to force the club into sacking him, as this behaviour is now way beyond unprofessional. It's getting to the point where sacking him for gross misconduct without compensation may become a realistic option, as this conduct is totally unacceptable.

It's also worth mentioning that one of these league cup victories was a perfunctory 3-0 pumping of the mighty Stenny, who since then have scored 5 against us in two games without reply under Murray

I don't think anyone is claiming that Murray is solely responsible for our current plight, but he must surely accept a substantial amount of it. Lack of budget can't be used as an excuse for not getting the basics right.

The preference between sacking him or putting him on gardening leave would I assume all depend on the percentage of his remaining contract he'd be willing to settle for. If he was to accept a reasonable severance deal, it would of course result in an up-front cost, but would save us money in the long run. But if he holds out for the full remainder of his contracted salary, or anywhere close to it, then yeah, gardening leave is the least bad of two shite options.

Yeah we could, but then we would be lumbered with two full manager salaries. Better option would be to cut a deal whereby he would get a percentage of the remainder of his contracted salary, but would be free to find another job immediately.

Couldn't agree more. But I can't see him doing it voluntarily. He'll have to be sacked, and that will come at a cost, but it's one we must surely now bear

As I mentioned above, unless he has something else lined up, which in the current circumstances is pretty unlikely, he'll not just walk away from a regular income to the dole without some sort of financial incentive. We'll almost certainly not get rid of him scot free, but there must come a point where the board will have to accept this, take the hit, and come to a deal. I think it's clear to all we're now beyond that point.

Yeah, given this is his livelihood, that's not very likely. I fear the best we can hope for is a severance agreement.

Given the season so far, I'm calling holding the mighty Stenny to 2-0 at their midden a moral victory

7th if you include the Stranraer friendly But it's not over yet.... BELIEVE!

Still holding them 0-0 after 8 minutes. BELIEVE!

If he got asked back for trials and impressed enough to get a contract, you have to assume Murray saw enough to think he has some decent potential. Don't imaging he'll make a major dent in the budget, so loaning him out till January and seeing how he develops is probably worth a punt. Welcome to Morton Joey!

Lahmadi was an unused substitute for Toulouse in the 2023 Trophée des Champions (French Super Cup) against PSG (which was actually held in January 2024, just 2 days before his 19th birthday), so they obviously saw him as a real future prospect. Looks like he was released by Toulouse just this year, so for whatever reason he never kicked on. Nevertheless, it's a huge step down from a fringe League 1 player to the Championship, so you have to wonder why he's fallen so far.

It's magnificent, I'd have signed him on that alone. If he's a decent striker as well, that's a bonus.