Fearchar

Jammy, but maybe that's part of the definition of a champion in Scottish football. If Archie really does feel he must play 2 strikers, he'd be as well playing Conrad up alongside Doolan - linking brawn and a commanding aerial presence with guile and positioning. The Craig-Doolan partnership has been tried before, and never succeeded.

I think that part of the idea is to spread a sense of ownership across a wider section of the support, as well as to increase income from them. After all, we've all seen how effectively sugar daddies (whether corporate or personal) have been in ensuring a rational management of finance in football - not to mention the marvels that our captains of industry and their political cheerleaders have, er, wreaked on the economy.

You didn't tell the whole story. Ian Maxwell introduced GH to make the draw, which had a season ticket as one of the prizes, and told everyone that GH was hoping to win it, since it would be his best chance to see some SPL action next season.

It's worth bearing in mind that financial considerations for any player don't merely consist of the pay. The costs of travel (in time and money), the opportunity to play at a higher level (and next season Dundee Utd will be at the same level as us), relationships with coaching staff and players, job security and development opportunities (inside and outside football, as it's a short-term career) all count in a player's decision. Remember Tuffey?

Not at all! That's sickening news.

I've run out of likes, but I agree completely. I'd love to see Erskine and Doolan playing for us at the top level here in Scotland - and beyond. (Interestingly, we owe Ian McCall for signing these two talented players.)

The Jags Trust is also the connection with Supporters Direct Scotland.

What goes around comes around: the Centenary Fund was set up, among other things, to consolidate various means of channeling funds to the club. Now it looks as if new methods are being introduced to reverse that.

This attitude is one that will come back to bite the club on its collective bum: the Jags Trust is a major shareholder, and practically the only one capable of counterbalancing shares that are in the hands of members of the former board. Now, when the going is good and everyone seems to be willing to cooperate, is the time when the current board should be reaching out to the Jags Trust (and fulfilling the commitments made in good faith between it and the old board, which led to the creation of the Centenary Fund). Otherwise, when at some stage things begin to go awry, a recalcitrant major shareholder will be a potential weak spot. There are already links between One Thistle and the Jags Trust, and it would be foolish not to use these. On another, practical point, my trade union has some experience of a "walled garden" approach to web access. It hasn't been a success - and has put off people that already pay for benefits, who then feel they're excluded. It's hard to judge how to balance increasing income against worsening PR.

Penalties may usually be a "lottery", as LambieIsGod has said, but a little bird has informed me that there is a certain goalkeeper playing for a Lanarkshire club that makes a habit of saving them easily; perhaps we could buy him from that impoverished club and keep him on the bench to be substituted whenever we get to penalties. :-D

A warm welcome to any guest wanting to contribute to sensible discussion.

Nonsense! It was obviously deliberate - a masterstroke to devise a 10-man team: it rests more players for the rest of the run-in and we showed on Sunday that we play better with 10 men on the park.

That run of games one after another has had its effect: the players are running on empty. It has been obvious since the visits to Cowdenbeath that Lawless needs a rest, but today O'Donnell and Muirhead showed the same: both were punting aimless balls up the park as if they were the ones playing in the Second Division. The pattern for that was set in the first half, and wasn't changed enough to win the game in the time remaining. Will Muirhead not be due to miss the next game anyway? Elliot can run fast and force defenders into mistakes; he has also developed a good understanding with Doolan. Unfortunately, Doolan failed twice to connect with Elliot's crosses into the goalmouth. Elliot could easily have walked with Muirhead late on. It's fairly obvious that the QoS players were told beforehand to put Erskine out of the game, and the referee bottled showing a card to the perpetrator early in a televised game. As a result, Erskine played the rest of the game with an injured back. Taking Bannigan off was a mistake: he was the only one looking for the ball in the first half.

Actually, it's MnE that produce the football coverage, and BBC ALBA only broadcasts it. (BBC ALBA is a joint venture between the BBC and MG ALBA, which was set up to manage the public funding for Gaelic-language broadcasting.) It does mean that you can record it from Freeview, though. :-)

Razzista!

The part-time supporter (son no. 1) is coming from Goslar in Niedersachsen, Germany. However, two gentlemen were supposed to be coming from Shanghai, which seems a fair distance.

The defence practically picks itself, although I'd like to see McMillan starting against Morton: he looked convincing at centre back in Kirkcaldy. It seems to me that, however keen he is, Lawless is desperately in need of a rest: more than most, he has struggled in the Fife games. A rest would freshen him up for the Morton game, since he's always capable of scoring. Bannigan, too, is being expected to cope with a lot, and if Paton is available again I'd be inclined to leave Bannigan on the bench - as a possible substitute for Sinclair or Paton if/when we need a change. Up front, I'd start with Craig, who led the line very well in the closing stages at Starks Park; Doolan and Elliot could come off the bench if we need more mobility later on.

A battling performance in the end, by which time it looked as if ten-man Thistle were more likely to grab a goal. The referee began by being generous with cards, and made a mess of it as a result. However, the passing among the players was very disjointed, and they were too keen to accept the challenge of head tennis: Welsh and Erskine were notable exceptions, since they tried to kill the ball more often. Sinclair was rather lackadaisical, putting the defence under pressure needlessly. A creditable point under difficult circumstances. My man of the match? The twelfth man, without a doubt: well done, the Jags support.

Today's cloggerfest was dire for the most part, with skilled players getting kicked and pushed frequently, usually without any reaction from the officials. Erskine, in particular, must be black and blue by now, and Doolan was simply pushed to the ground - possibly in the box, although it was hard to make out through the wire mesh.

This.

Let's hope all partied involved can agree on mediation instead of legal proceedings: washing your dirty linen in public is never a good idea.

The club has been good at picking up talent from the juniors, and even from the north of England (Christie Elliott), but there's no reason why lower-league players in neighbouring countries wouldn't add some different qualities to our game. The othe source that is often overlooked is amateur football: large parts of Scotland simply don't have the resources (including transport) to support the professional game. As it happens, many former pros end up involved in amateur football after they retire from the professional game, and they and officials are good sources of information on who the talented footballers are. (I should add that these wouldn't be for dropping straight into an SPL side, but for cultivating the next generation.)

To be continued after a double promotion? This less than improbable availability of two places in the SPL may be caused by the parslmonious state of Hearts' coffers. Then we'd have yet more tones of this delirious romance here to look forward to.

Time was when I was always nervous about corners conceded - but no longer. Bannigan has been sent further out while corners are taken, maybe for the reasons mentioned.

This thread is a disgrace! Surely we can have a normal heated debate without mentioning those two letters (you know the ones I mean - 15th and 6th in the alphabet). It lowers the tone insufferably.