Hopeless Unbeliever

Someone at the club needs to get a copy of that photo blown up and put in the Aitken Suite, brilliant picture.

Yeah I'm getting pretty tyred of it all.

You really had me going there that John Robertson had been snapped up by St Mirren or St Johnstone.

I always thought he was by far the best of the many young talents coming through at Hibs alongside O'Connor, Brown and others. Has never fulfilled his obvious potential but is still arguably the most talented player in the SPL outside the Old Firm (perhaps including them). Problem as others have said has always been his attitude, a move to Houston and away from Glasgow/Edinburgh could re-invigorate him and from my admittedly limited knowledge of the MLS he could be an excellent player over there.

What's the tune for that?

The last time I travelled on the North West bus (ever) was a Tuesday night game at Dingwall in 2007. The movies of choice were Borat (reasonable start), The Queen and The Devil Wears Prada. That night single handedly ruined away game travel forever for me.

Would have been good to see a bit of the applause at the end of the game, good highlights though. All goals taken very well.

Admin by my reckoning (and double checking my paypal history) I made 6 entries, one of which was on behalf of Steven H, so I should have 5 entries. Could you double check this please. I can't make it for the photo on Saturday so will make arrangements on the off chance I win.

Correct. 300 fans per game every game over the season? Absolutely not. Total nonsense, although it's probably preferable to snide digs at people who do anything they can to help out around the club.

Or maybe, just maybe, they think that taking the rugby income, being guaranteed, is a teeny, tiny bit more financially prudent than hoping against hope that a slightly improved pitch will turn average players into good ones and in turn bring back lapsed fans who have only given up because the standard of football just isn't good enough. It's not about what income is more important, of course if we were guaranteed to recoup our money from supporters by dropping the rugby and letting the pitch improve we would, but we're not, and it's utterly ridiculous to suggest that it's more 'important,' I honestly can't fathom what you mean with that nonsense. Other than that, your thoughts have been ably answered by lmj.

Fish puns are shite

Wrong.

Aim for second?

Does it matter? I presume you sign up inidvidually, they choose based on the number of females/youngsters signed up and then it's the luck of the draw. Just a bit of fun and a chance to grace the famous Firhill turf. Sounds like great fun.

Ah the great memories. If only we still had super Stevie Lovell.

As Allan says, the fans have the Trust they deserve. Anyone saying they refuse to do anything until the current incumbents are gone is part of the problem, you need to participate now, contest their positions when the next vote comes around and motivate the silent majority of the Trust membership to vote for you. It shouldn't be that hard to oust them given their popularity.

Ton beating the Pars 1-0.

Is there an Open All Mics on today? Can't find anything.

If McCall plays McNamara in midfield in a 3-5-2 there is no way back.

My team Fox Paton Robertson McNamara Balatoni Boyle Hardie Cairney Flannigan Buchanan Doolan

The thing is 3-5-2 as a formation has its place at this level, Lambie swore by it in the 1st and 2nd. Leaving aside the obvious flaws in comparing today's team with the last Lambie team, I still think 3-5-2 is probably our best option. The major flaw with McCall's 3-5-2 as I see it is the role of McNamara. We can't play a 3-5-2 with McNamara as a holding midfielder. Again looking at Lambie's team (if only for player type comparisons) we typically played with a midfield 3 with Danny Lennon as the deepest lying of the 3, a far far more attack minded player but also one that offered a lot more in terms of movement than McNamara. We got away with this at home to Falkirk because they set up in a similar way, trying to play through the middle of us and we simply clogged the space. Without being at the game against Stirling it seems like they exploited our vulnerability in wide areas, which is one of the main weaknesses of McNamara (and our midfield generally). A 3-5-2 relies on the midfield offering support to the fullbacks when the opposition's fullbacks get forward, something McNamara doesn't do with his limited mobility, Flannigan is terrible at and Cairney isn't doing nearly as well this season (I actually thought he did well against Falkirk but the general consensus is he was terrible at Forthbank). Flannigan merits holding his place despite his drawbacks in this regard since his set-pieces are our one attacking outlet at the moment. We need Rowson back for McNamara. Even though he's had his poorest start to the season in Thistle colours he is still much better at covering the wing backs than McNamara and also more comfortable moving with the ball which is an important part of a 3 man midfield. The other position is up for grabs. McCall knows the progress of the youngsters better than me so if he thinks one of them can come in and do the job then they should be in. There is no reason they shouldn't have the fitness to be able to cover back when needed and they all look like having decent ability on the ball to offer an attacking threat. Otherwise, with the options available at the moment Hardie is the man for the job. He is a far more defensively responsible player than he was when with us before, and offers some muscle that our midfield is lacking (and will compensate, alongside Rowson, to some degree for Flannigan's complete lack thereof). Obviously we'd then miss Hardie upfront but he'd still be an obvious target from set pieces (including goal kicks) and we are (relative to the rest of the squad) relatively well served upfront, even if 3 of the 4 strikers are completely incapable of finding the net (I don't particularly think Hardie is much stronger in this regard, nor his goal threat much weakened from playing in the midfield). The only way 4-4-2 comes into the equation for me is if Erskine forces himself into the team, and even then that inevitably involves Flannigan and Erskine as wide midfielders, which would be a concern. I think Erskine is doomed to be a peripheral player at least this season although perhaps one that is capable of replacing Flannigan if the latter's positive contribution dries up. Basically for those that don't want to read the above essay, my team for Saturday would probably look like this (assuming Archie and Rowson fit): Halliwell (I don't know enough about the alternatives except Hinchy, shudder) Paton Robertson McNamara Archie Boyle Hardie Rowson Flannigan Doolan A.N. Other

That will be immediately after 'Workers work for free' day.

Agreed. There may have been a fair bit of naivety on the part of some Dundee fans, but to be happy they might be going under on the basis of that is pathetic.

To paraphrase a famous Scottish football manager: "Hiya Peter, hiya pal"

What's going on at Hampden this weekend?