vikingTON

We do not have a smaller first team squad than Airdrie. You are just wrongly placing any and all irrelevant regens in that category, when similar regens at Morton are consigned to 'apprenticeship' roles and so magically don't count. The stark difference in age and experience between the paper 'squads' you are referring to gives lie to any serious claim that our squad depth was weaker at any point this season. Your immediate, humiliating climbdown from claiming Hamilton, Dunfermline etc. as examples of waif-like first teams is noted.

Hopefully that's the case. Meanwhile, in statto land, a simple home win over the least deserving 'survival job' of all time, managed by Popcorn Teeth, would have us achieve the ultimate midtable, 12W, 12D, 12L, 48 pts record. Shame the goal difference is not going to make zero too. The level of achievement already confirmed given the monumental nick we were in until JET got arrested shouldn't be underestimated. If we have a *relatively* drama-free close season then we could kick on from this, but the reality of our budget means that at least some key players will get poached to elsewhere.

Who and where exactly were Hamilton, Queens Park and Dunfermline ever cited as examples of clubs operating with small squads this season? A: They weren't - you just created a ludicrous straw man to attack, in order to deflect from your original claim. Airdrie's average squad age is around 4 full years younger than Morton’s, and no, that isn't explained away by your fixation with McGinn (previously Broadfoot) alone. Imrie and the club assembled a perfectly suitable size of squad this season, with relative experience and depth that helps explain why we're comfortably midtable, while Airdrie stunk the place out for half a season. The reality's however is that there is nothing more to be gained from pursuing yet more 'depth'. You will never have all key players fit and not suspended all season long regardless - it is the lack of more widespread quality throughout the team that explains the ceiling that we have hit.

It is simply not true that we ran with a smaller squad of actual, legitimate Championship players this season than Airdrie did for example. Counting some ringers for another team but not for us (because Imrie never plays them) is not a credible measurement of squad depth. Let us try again. How exactly would having better depth achieve more than the 48-ish point, obvious ceiling that we hit time and time again? Where would the money come from to afford genuinely effective cover options at this level - given that every other club would want such obvious dreamboat, versatile figures too? The reality is entirely opposite to what you claim. If we want to genuinely push beyond our solid points total for a promotion play off, then we should reduce squad depth and gamble more on the fitness of key players (like Wilson) who are available for us precisely because of such reasons. The risk from that small squad, high quality and high injury risk approach is obvious - but it is the only serious strategy to have us punch well above our weight in any single season. 'Adding squad depth' with the 9th biggest budget in the division can only guarantee midtable solidity at best. Which is not to be automatically rejected IMO, but we need to be crystal clear about the limitations we are embedding in such an approach.

We really didn't have the smallest squad in the division this season, it was just loaded to the gills with sand dancers. Imrie was quite clear in pursuing greater depth compared to a starting 11 (or 14) after last season; we have ended up in essentially the same place for different reasons.

Just stick another youth keeper on the bench.

If there's doubt over us with our zero serious goal threats offering a new deal, then what other clubs would be battering the door down to sign him? He's certainly going higher up the pyramid and with QP/Hamilton's troubles, the number of 'ambishun' fuelled, joke entities beneath us is diminishing too. It doesn't strike me as a player who has a lot of options.

Oisin McEntee attempts a Hand of God in the 101st minute to give 'Walsall' a crucial victory towards promotion. Linesman spots it only after the scenes and 'Walsall' are forced to slither home with a 0-0 draw. Having been about 20 points clear in automatic promotion spots, they're now dropping into the play-offs at best.

I'd agree with this. Boyes also has the advantages of being: • left footed, • more willing and able to play the ball out (both points that ideally complement Baird) • able to cover left back at a push too. You're simply not going to get a totally commanding and consistent centre back with the above traits too playing in the entire division, never mind at our budget level. I'm more sceptical of Corr but there's no issue in allowing another season to see if he can stay fit and kick on. The biggest question mark for me is Adeloye. I haven't been at the past few games, but the manic-depressive swing in the fanbase from enthusiasm to contempt since he signed rather overlooks the difficulty we have finding a genuine centre forward with an eye for goal. He may not be fit now but would that be different with a full pre-season rather than rocking up after 12 months off? It would certainly be a gamble to offer a new deal (a year would have to be the maximum on the table IMO), but the potential upside is significantly higher than any of our other forward options.

They have Partick next week - the Iran-Iraq war of the Championship - but unfortunately Hamilton at home on the final day. If we hadn't folded in such an abject manner across the four games, it would still be a live title race. A good result from the team that played today but pretty inconsequential in the league context. At least the downed tools suspicion has been stopped and we can aim to get at least one result to finish the campaign on a high. I expect we'll be seeing Airdrie again next season assuming Hamilton's suspension holds.

We can't compel clubs to play our loaned out players though. If O'Boy is anywhere near as ready in terms of talent and attitude as some hoped, he should be forcing regular game time at 5th tier level. It can take more than one loan move to work out, but it's not a great starting point.

I'm not sure where you're getting the half million extra cash - at the very least - that would make a "serious promotion push" in any way a realistic benchmark. The reason why we have too many 'projects' is because our budget is simply not high enough to both keep hold of and sign proven performers at the same time. We can reduce the squad by a few next season but it stull won't deliver guaranteed quality signings and will leave us exposed to the same issues we faced last season with players missing. This season's policy has not been too convincing in my view - though it has at least got the job done after a woeful start - but there's no clearly better alternative being overlooked.

If by recently you mean 'since he signed for the club' then I agree. I've said before that I think Imrie views Shaw as a replacement for Muirhead (very similar role in the team; similar relative technical skill too). The question is how much game time we should invest in trying to turn this into an effective option, because the negatives right now are just as apparent as all of the previous Robbie Muirhead seasons put together. No coaching team can turn around the career of 100% of their signings; my view is that the special protection should have been ditched long ago. Certainly after last week's result for everyone involved.

Shaw has been gubbins and stayed on the pitch regardless just about every week.

Can't agree that we have a good set of attacking options. We have some and different options aye - so progress on the start of the season- but no opposition manager is losing sleep about facing our swashbuckling forward play. We need to refocus on defending from the front properly and not defending the penalty box like clowns (last week, specifically) to pick up league points.

Making unfounded accusations and/or speculation (claiming to know) about the ethnicity of those accused is unhinged. Accusations (again, claimed knowledge) of police and/or political complicity are equally unhinged. Brass Eye was supposed to be satire when aired 30 years ago - now it would be viewed as a documentary.

On reflection it's probably better in the grand scheme of things for denizens of Greenock to be peddling relatively harmless pish like this; as opposed to the absolutely unhinged, xenophobic/ peado conspiracies that are currently flooding social media - see any Greenock Telegraph story with comments turned on. I'd give us a 50-50 chance of seeing serious violent unrest (like last summer in England) in the near future, sparked by this worryingly large subsection of the local population. 'Is toon's getting wurse etc.

If it comes from your definitely legit 'within the family' then why did you state that it was a rumour in the first place?

I didn't attend the game so am commenting purely on the result. To lose one game in such a manner could be written off as an aberration - to do so twice in the exact same circumstances is unacceptable. How would this team have coped with any significant cup tie this season, at Pittodrie, Tynecastle or indeed against the Spoon Burners? A: They'd have diagraced the club in its 150th anniversary year just as badly as they've done it against Grangemouth across the board this season. By our own CEO's metrics, clearly they do not have the 'minerals' for the task. So the usual bullshit Tele cycle of mawkish apology (Mon/Tue), resolution to do better (Wed/Thu) and confident declarations (Fri/Sat) simply won't cut it. There should be direct and immediate consequences. 1) Anyone involved in yesterday's game who is out of contract at the end of the season should have any existing offer taken off the table, and be told that they can expect to leave. They should be given the last 4 games to make a case to stay, if they are fortunate enough to get any further involvement at all. Otherwise, clear the fucking decks. 2) At least one player under contract should also be told to either find a new club in the summer or be prepared to guard the corner flag for the entirety of next season.

FTFY Can't say I have a shred of sympathy for anyone caught up in this tale. Terrible, wee-est of shames all round.

How many bench appearances were necessary for Keay first, in order to be capable of just bodying some Hamilton jobber on the park anyway? The management team have responded directly to this claim in the past and clearly see little merit in this 'experience of match days' argument. It's hardly spending a month sequestered at an international tournament camp.

The same place(s) where all our other rumours come from - the febrile imaginations of the resident sweetie wives/'in the know' merchants even loosely affiliated to the club. I'm sure that the 'club doesn't actually want promotion because they can't afford it' classic was being brought out in the aftermath of Saturday's result too.

It happened, and it was utter shite for weeks on end. Was this part of the plan? So if we're having an inquest as to why we won't finish in the top 4, that decision is a major part of the answer. Signing a contract in the summer does not give you a divine right to start from the beginning of a season. If you need to adjust because of player departures further forward in the team, then you need the spine of the team to do the basics right. Imrie tried to enact too much change at once - he's a young manager, it happens. That he learned and avoided just stubbornly insisting on the same failing setup explains why we ended up doing fine.

Whereas playing 4-1-4-1 with Wilson tasked with covering the entire defensive midfield area by himself - and magically staying fit - was a realistic approach? It was only after reverting to a more back to basics approach - in the manager's own description - after the Falkirk debacle that the issues were solved. We have developed our playing style to some degree this season - Boyes in particular offers a more effective way of moving the ball forward - but the decision to embark on wholesale change at the beginning was not just imposed by squad departures.

1) We chose however to replace them with a string of 'skill players' (doubtful), despite already knowing from January the similar profiles of Davies and Reynolds who were arriving. We also chose to integrate Lyall immediately rather than having a more 'pragmatic' midfield combination (e.g. Gillespie, Wilson and Blues) to balance any problems in the attacking area. As the last couple of months have shown, we don't need a target man to be effective - we do however need pressing from the front which was missing and/or ineffective for too long in the campaign. 2) And let's not forget that the total waste of space pre-season - in our supposed 150th anniversary year - was touted as a 'minerals' based strategy to ensure that the new squad would be up to the task. Instead we got bodied by a League Two team straight away and were out of one cup before the Glasgow Fair was over - limiting our financial scope to strengthen the team. It has been a transition season for sure and we got there with a surprising degree of comfort due to the inherent strengths of our coaching. But the first team and club level management made their own errors of judgment that explain why a play-off run was never seriously in the cards.