vikingTON

And does what exactly when he's there? Simply getting behind the ball is not an achievement or credible central midfield play on its own, and it is exactly this sort of lowest possible benchmark nonsense surrounding Blues and other obvious haddies that explains why we are a consistently mediocre outfit.

Are those professional footballers suddenly playing without payment out of a sense of charity? There was absolutely no reason to sign two of them to long-term deals this summer, and we're paying the consequences with frustrating results because they ultimately aren't good enough to deliver when it matters.

What about Blues' abysmal display in the second half as well? I just don't get this wagon-circling over a player who is one step away from being sent out to Annan like our other central midfielder who hasn't been doing the job.

Adding to the above, Crawford now playing as our most advanced midfielder and pressing the opposition - which he did well today until we shipped a goal and had to start chasing the game - means that there is now more responsibility on Blues to do both sides of the game in central midfield. His role is absolutely crucial as the link between Gillespie and the back four, to the effective front four we had today. We can no longer carry a central midfielder in that position because they might get 6-8 goals per season running onto a pass from deep. The role needs genuine quality to run the game for us for a change, rather than an earnest but ultimately not good enough player.

The finish could have been better. Kabia should have buried his chance though - there's a difference in difficulty/effort. He also didn't ship what proved to be a decisive goal because of a basic lack of positional awareness, so your assessment of Crawford's performance as being on the same level as Blues today is well off.

Crawford didn't cost a goal by schoolboy defending, nor did he spend the second half hiding and pointing like the world's shitest Derek Young tribute act. Blues was the obvious weak link in the midfield and will now continue to be that until we actually punt him out to a League Two side as well and replace him.

I'd like to raise today's game as Exhibit A, B, C, D and E for why Cameron Blues is nowhere near a 'good Championship central midfielder'. I've seen good Championship central midfielders at Morton - Allan Jenkins for a start - and that, sir, is not in the same postcode. If we're to stop pissing around in 7th-9th then we need to stop this revisionism of utter diddies and ruthlessly punt the likes of Blues, Muirhead and Kabia. Two of the three shouldn't have got a new deal in the summer.

I think it's quite clear that none of our midfielders (with the possible exception of Crawford) could be classed as good Championship players. If they were then we wouldn't have been consistently in and around a relegation scrap. The required quality has not been there to do any better than that.

I'm not convinced that it was entirely Imrie's decision to give Lyon an 18 month deal, just after walking in the door.

Well the onus is now well and truly on Lyon to do so, by tearing up a league he should be too good for. While we don't know if there are any personal issues, based on the park alone he's got nobody else to blame for his career reaching this crossroads. He's had the slightest amount of competition in central midfield I've ever seen at this level, and yet still hasn't made a starting spot his own. Imrie didn't progress in his career as some academy product dauphin figure and I'd expect him to demand results from the players who are sent out to lower levels. If they do then there's no reason why they can't come back into the fold - playing at League Two wasn't an obstacle to Strapp breaking into the team.

I don't see anything unfortunate in not paying real, actual money - just before an economic firestorm - for an Arbroath player who'll be 31 in January. That would be the height of stupidity (post the GC chucking money at Tony Wallace years). Let Dick 'dick' Campbell try and sort out the mess of their FM-esque transfer window.

lol wut They just signed Scott Allan last week to play the exact same position in the team. How is it not ideal? If the rumours are true, then those bumpkins seem to think it's 2004 again and they're playing the Brechin role. I'd call their bluff, openly sound out other options and wait to see whether Dick 'dick' Campbell starts calling us to solve a nasty rupture they've created in their squad. And then slam the phone down on them anyway.

Agreed. It's healthy (and mostly well done so far) to properly scrutinise this announcement to make sure everything seems legit, but I'm reasonably confident that we're actually being allowed to have a nice thing for a change. It's also a tie-up that almost certainly would never have happened under GC's stewardship.

I'm not sure if it's the same company, but it might be an offshoot/branch of this: https://dalrada.com/technologies/ There's also a Dalrada Technology Ltd. on Companies House but it seems to be a dormant company with no serious assets. It could certainly do with clearing up - not because I'm suspicious of the club for doing the deal, but because we don't want to be in the same boat as several clubs and the Lowland League got into with the Walter Mitty character at ePOS. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/hugh-clarke-electric-bill-chippy-27484594

We signed/re-signed Quitongo, Muirhead and Kabia to do at least some of that though. While I think Quitongo is a good fit for what Imrie wants/the likely budget available, we'd have nobody to blame but ourselves if Muirhead is being expected to fire us up the league table in September.

Good luck to him and I'd expect a neat and tidy player, but I'm just not expecting a Gillespie-Blues-Crawford midfield to be a serious game-changer for our chances this season. If this is what we've got then Imrie has his work cut out.

Arbroath have more ST holders than ourselves right now, and also didn't waste their two year deals on allowing dung players to watch Judge Judy during their afternoons instead of having a real job. This full-time fraud setup has to be punted into bin. I can't say I'm convinced that Allan or anyone else would provide Quitongo with enough ammunition though, given how wasteful he and the other forwards are. We need an actually convincing centre forward as well as a creative player, but almost certainly won't get both.

Why shouldn't the majority shareholder have its representatives on the GMFC board: what is the point of having a majority share if there's literally zero representation at the club's executive level? We also aren't exactly stacked with people with the time and expertise to run two completely separate institutions, so this self-denying principle strikes me as foolish at best and disastrous at worst. The amendment to clarify what happens when reps step down from MCT and whether/for how long they can retain a spot on the GMFC board is a much better point that needs clarifying.

If you're well aware of it then why are you asking about 'financial gains' from making cutbacks? Because there will be no such gains - the skyrocketing costs of keeping the lights on will immediately cancel them out at Morton just like 99% of all other businesses right now.

The sponsorship deal falling through was addressed a few weeks ago. I don't find the explanation offered by MCT 100% convincing (what's the club's benchmark for valuing sponsorship and who sets this: we don't have a chief executive FFS), but it's out there to judge for yourself. I think you're absolutely right to be worried but are largely focusing on the wrong, relatively trivial issues. I'd love to see MCT produce a positive, incrementally progressive direction for the club right now, but we need to face the reality of a truly unprecedented shitstorm that is about to rip through Scottish football just like every other business sector. Standing still would be a relative luxury. We are hobbled in our response by not having easy access to cashflow; but on the other hand, we don't have debt to a Walter Mitty owner and the ground appears to be secure - two crucial points in favour of our future prospects IMO. Simply continuing to operate at a moderately competent level is going to be the true measure of success for 30-odd SPFL clubs in the next 12 months: and I wouldn't be at all surprised if several fail and go into administration instead.

Have you been living on a moon of Saturn for the past 6 months? There's not a business in the country that is "freeing up budget" by making cutbacks right now - they're being made to keep their heads just above water. And unless there's either enormous government intervention or an enormous backtrack on the ridiculous energy war that western Europe has foolishly lolloped into, most of the businesses that even achieve severe cost cutting still won't survive the coming winter. At what point will people wake up and realise that the shit hitting the fan every day in the news also applies to GMFC? There is no energy price cap for businesses under the current system.

Signing for the Little People was already announcing that his spell in professional football was at an end.

Why can't the hospitality setup can be reduced in anticipation of lower demand to keep it running? The room and facilities are still going to be there - if there's clearly only going to be 20 folk or so likely to attend in February (if you're lucky) then prepare to cater/staff and then sell only that limited number of spots. I appreciate that short notice shortfalls can't be accounted for but cancelling it on a regular basis would defeat the entire purpose and alienate customers who do try to buy it.

The price cap doesn't apply to business use, where bills are expected to be as much as 5x higher. If Scottish football doesn't seriously adapt to crisis conditions then its operating model will collapse and quite rightly so.