lady-isobel-barnett

Beat me to it about image 7. All it needs is a some strands of seaweed and a few rusty cans of super lager and that could easily pass for the beach down at Troon. Great photos, Tommy

I don't believe my eyes deceived me, so I'm fairly certain the ball bobbled badly just before Flannigan shot.

Much as I see it. In my experience only hard hitting promotion videos can backfire as they tend to head OTT. Something soft and sanitized like this is harmless and just could be effective in a small(npi) way. Often the guys that pull the marketing budget strings are London based and want some sort of tangible evidence where their lads are spending the company money. Many moons ago when I was asked for sponsorship or to take up hospitality packages etc my stock answer was "I'll think about it but first send me a brochure". This video is just a modern equivalent of a brochure and thus totally harmless.

I suppose when you get two sides playing 3-5-2 the chances of a stalemate are increased many fold. Factor in a team (Queens) that, for want of a better description, couldn't be arsed trying to win the game and the smart money should've been on a goalless draw. Queens appear to have a squad of players that by and large are just going thru the motions. Witness arguably the best player on the park, Bob Harris, saunter up countless times to take a long throw as if his side were winning by a handful and then wander back to a defensive position and you could see the lack of urgency we were facing today. We possibly deserved to win as we at least looked like a draw would be upsetting us but when our most aggressive non defender is Flannigan then getting three points was always going to be an uphill struggle. When two sides each play three central defenders and neither side either changes formation or at least pushes one centreback forward then a goalless draw is a most likely outcome. McCall is probably being truthful when he says tonight that "we certainly haven't given up" but if he continues playing three centrebacks who rarely cross the half way line in open play then it's hardly any surprise fans will be giving up for the season.

Ae Fond Kris.?

It's probably because he's left sided that he's got offers elsewhere. I don't think you'll find a glut of decent left backs available come summer. Surprised at the Lochhead release. Came across as an old head on young shoulders who I thought could have in time replaced Rowson.

Think Malone is rated more these days as a left sided centreback. Certainly wouldn't be the type of signing that would have folk rushing to renew their season tickets. Honest enough player who could be a decent enough addition to the squad but I doubt he's good enough to play week in week out in our division at left back.

Genealogy is not my strong point but I'm willing to bet that since he's got an Irish grandparent there's a strong likelihood he would indeed have Irish great grandparents.

Could drive holes thru that answer.

I believe it's buttons.

On balance I agree tho' I usually dislike the idea of loan players brought in for the second half of a season. In this case I feel McGowan offers us something different and other players respond well to his style of play. With Hodge and Cairney out I don't think if McGowan stayed he'd necessarily curtail MacBeth & Campbell getting a game. Even if McCall started either or both of our two youngsters, McGowan would be a handy guy to come off the bench. Still if it's not to be it's no great upset. Final league position to me is way secondary to us blooding our youngsters and getting a head start on others by playing as much of next season's squad as possible.

You don't actually believe that? The BBC report kind of lets the cat out of the bag. Hyde's agent approached the Pars. I wonder how an agent goes about negotiating amateur terms?

I too would have been all in favour of signing Weatherson a while back. What I particularly liked was he was also no mug as a defender, which would have been useful as we could have had an extra midfielder or attacker on the bench. That of course would be dependent on Weatherson being able to put in 90 min shifts, something that he's not been doing at Cappielow this season. Signing him now might be too much of a gamble. bit like when we signed Paddy Keough a couple of seasons too late.

There's a wee fella down at Berwick that might be worth a look at. Came off the bench and scored last night

I think we should go lightly on that subject.

It could work. Let fans into Firhill for nothing by all means. Mind you, we'd need to charge them to get out.

That's good to hear. I was wondering how he was doing. Saw him picking up the pre match training markers on Saturday and he didn't look like he was limping or having difficulty moving. Wonder if Colin will go out on loan for a spell next season. I think tho' there's provision to play an over age player in the under 19s.

While keeping an eye on how Bannigan has been doing, I got the impression Tiffoney played a bit further up the park and Lauchlan was their regular right back. Is Tiffoney maybe a wingback?

I'd like to see Paton stay. The defensive side of his game has improved and his stamina is never in question, which makes him a suitable wingback even if he doesn't hit the byeline as much as Boyle. His injury may curtail a re-signing. We've already got one player, Cairney, with worrying fitness and we just don't have the latitude within the budget to gamble on the fitness of two players. Hopefully things will be a bit clearer nearer the end of the season.

Off on a tangent here but hardly worth a thread of its own....... I don't consider the SFL helps itself enough. One of the biggest bugbears this season is the number of midweek winter games due to postponements. I'm not sure of the actual logistics but I'm fairly certain this could be alleviated in a couple of ways. Firstly by freeing up two or three weekends. It's the loss of home weekend league games that threaten season ticket sales and have a major effect on club turnover. So play all the Challenge Cup ties midweek up until the final. If for instance Scotland have a home game on a Saturday play a league match on the Sunday or kick off earlier to avoid clashing with the international. That's usually what happens with Challenge Cup games as it is. Secondly if a Saturday game is postponed don't rearrange the match for midweek in December/January/February. The only reason as I see for these winter midweek games going ahead is cashflow. This is where the SFL and SFA can step in and help. At present if crisis payments are made I believe every club receives the same cash. Instead they should divvy out the cash as loans to the clubs who have had home weekend games postponed. A home crowd will be larger midweek in March and April than in winter so it's self financing in theory at least.

Having seen most games Robertson has had a few more poor games than Archie. Very un-Robbo like but he even went thru a bad spell earlier in the season. Magic wand time but if our finances/player budget suddenly became less severe I'd be happy if both could stay. Add Rowson and a Hardie type player (in style & experience) and we've got the makings of a decent team. Sadly we all know that's highly unlikely and we've just got to hope for added maturity from the likes of Willie K, Cairney and hopefuly Boyle. If Robbo has to leave I'd rather hope McCall announces that soon. In this day and age he's been a loyal player for us (5 seasons?) and he looks like he's got at least one season left at an upper SFL level. That would give him an edge in finding another suitable club. It's also good PR for us. We don't pay well so anything that shows us in a good light employment wise is worthwhile.

From what I hear the wages a lot of our players are on I'm surprised more don't have other jobs to supplement their income. In reality I'm not sure that going part time will achieve much. As it is just now we've youngsters coming thru on an apprentice type wage, guys in their early twenties still to prove themselves, senior players playing for a pittance while they get on the coaching ladder. Buchanan was on a relatively decent wage but he's away and not being replaced at that wage level. That really leaves two or three over thirties that you could call proper full timers. I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of them drops down a wage to replace someone on the coaching ladder. Like uberteeb I see nothing wrong with a hybrid set up. I'm not too sure how exactly traditional part time football would be of any further financial benefit. Also we can hark back to our successful teams of the seventies like when only Alan Hansen & Roughie were full timers but it should be remembered back then there was near full employment. Thus it was in effect easy to find supplementary employment that would dovetail quite easily with a part time football career. Doubt very much that is the case nowadays. In other words I think we're not far off the modern equivalent of calling ourselves part time.

Personally I'd have thought that was a hell of a lot to play for. Fair comment tho' about the crowds for next season but I'm sure even if we were challenging at the top a fair chunk of our support would still find something to complain about to justify them not attending.

It's like national service or jury duty.