lady-isobel-barnett

corrected that for you

better at this stage getting rid of the deadwood.

Was thinking that myself but a few years back we'd either have co-opted fans with genuine expertise on, or just as likely be discussing getting some fan(s) with expertise onto, the Jags Trust Board. Getting fans opinions and concerns across thru the only recognised collective available. Undoubtedly the thread would veer off on a tangent when someone posted some diatribe about the Trust. Some would argue it's the only game in town while others would take the expired canard stance while someone else would post something cryptic about a supporters bus and so on. Once the thread was a respectable dozen or so pages long with hardly a fish pun posted we'd be little or no further forward. Maybe we're no worse off with apathy than all that in-fighting? More importantly I wouldn't consider a guy, who denied us what could've been some of the greatest funk/fusion by being too drugged out to collaborate with Miles Davis, hipper than Doris Day.

Iirc Boyd couldn't be guaranteed a starting place as we had Robertson, Archie, Storey and a certain Harkins chappie all playing centreback, or in Storey's case capable of playing there. For a dud Boyd's kinda done alright, even getting to a cup final.

They don't want Clarke so there could be a touch of brinkmanship in his case. Buchanan would settle with us right away but I feel we'd have to send Fraser and/or Burns out on loan. If Liam came on a half season loan he'd be desperate to score at our level. Could benefit all three parties but there's possibly cost & insurance involved that would put us off. Still far from convinced any additional striker will be much good if we continue to provide such few chances but I feel a loan deal with a striker till January would be the way to go. That buys us time and if someone like Fraser did well out on loan over the same period he could fit into the squad place vacated by whoever we got in on loan.

Just noticed THIS. Courier might just be short of news. Are the Pars short of under 21yo strikers by any chance?

In this one instance I think it would be prudent to let the guy make up his own mind on that.

And how would that work at a club our size? If you have everybody on one year deals they're all out of contract at the same time. What we can't pay in wages has got to be compensated by some sort of security. It's up to the manager to make sure he gives extended deals to the right players. There's been some spectacular failures of judgment in that department in recent years but rarely as poor as the situation that let Craigan & Burns walk away for zilch.

Jackie said we're not pursuing our interest in him.

He did say in that interview "with the season starting earlier", which indicates to me that he's still got his sights on the SPL. The fact he's been training with us is interesting but I wouldn't read too much into it. Tam McManus has trained with us in the past as well.

Why? He can't go out on loan and play for the under 19s. I'm assuming that Ian Cameron knows what he's doing and feels the lad will have a better chance to develop playing within his own age group at the moment. That's been a major part of the youth policy up till now. The only real exception being Fraser who we all know has developed physique wise ahead of his age. Ketterer or any other player won't be sent out on loan till they are ready. As for Stevenson, altho' Cameron is not a fan of doing so, he is entitled to play I think one over age player. I wouldn't be surprised, given the severity of his injury if he makes an exception for Colin.

We're always looking for ways to brighten up football. It should be compulsory. Shorter goalies should be provided with stilts.

Still, never a penalty

Maybe the elderly gentleman was a vegan with a grudge . Anyway, judging by Saturday, the old fella used the wrong protocol for away fans. Surely he should have splashed everyone in the vicinity with cola and pelted them with coins?

That was never a penalty

Be careful what you wish. On one front we're not far off those heady days.

Can anyone name an instance over the last 180 minutes where any of the suggested strikers in this thread would have scored where Stewart, Doolan or Grehan missed? It's one thing to say our strikers, or the sum of our strikers, aren't up to it, HJ, Lindau, TL & others have been saying it for weeks. But for anyone to draw that conclusion based on our last two games is daft. Nobody's suggesting we need more midfielders, tho' based on these two games the addition of McCann if only from a coaching point of view could well be beneficial, but we need to get balls into our frontmen. Once that happens and if Doolan, Stewart and others are wasting chance after chance then I'll concede that our strikers are our weak spot.

thanks for these stats, afk . As I read that in the 87 games the opposition has scored first only on 25 occasions (29%) have they failed to take full 3 pts. I've no idea what the league norm would be but it doesn't look too clever from our point of view.

Got to agree. It may well be our strikers aren't good enough but we'll never find out till they get some service. On the basis of our last two games their talent, or lack of, is academic.

I'm not too sure what these stats really tell us tho'. What about the games we've come back to get a draw? It's more the number of times the opposition has scored first and go on to win that would tell us more.

If I was Stewart or Doolan I'd be complaining about the lack of chances. Erkine is probably the only one seriously guilty of wasting chances. Had he squared the ball with pace from the right in the first half against Berwick, see the above with Dundee and not dithered going thru on goal last night Jaggernaut's question (see other thread) might be redundant. Ironically the area we looked strongest on paper with, midfield, is looking like causing the biggest concern. Usually in previous seasons Rowson worked quietly away in the background, breaking up attacks and a quick short pass to another midfielder to push on. This season he's still doing what he does best but now he's also the midfielder most likely to move the ball forward. That shouldn't be and if Rowson gets injured or suspended it'll be like losing two midfielders. I've got tremendous respect for Rowser but even at that I feel we've got a real problem when David's our most creative player.

I did question that after Saturday but to be fair Scott got down for that one last night.

The only positive I can take out of the last two games is on play we don't seem to be far behind two of the fancied teams. Put another way, soft penalties or whatever aside, Hamilton and Dundee can't score against us and we can't score against them. If this is what the season has in store it's gonna be a painful experience but at least not just for us. Any of our players who did well, or at least were largely free of criticism, tonight all got pass marks from a defensive point of view. I can't think of one single player who anyone could say did well going forward.

I'd be extremely upset if PTFC wasted money on Sky TV packages. Most pubs with turnovers at least twenty times that of an establishment only open a handful of times a year can't afford that.

Tis highly probable if you're a regular in the Aitken Suite.