lady-isobel-barnett

This news puts a completely different slant on UB40's (I am the) One in Ten.

and maybe then the "J" stands for Judas

Does it really matter when? Surely his employment became untenable the minute he started slaying every tenth player?

You don't need to be a brain scientist to work that out.

I certainly don't believe McNamara & Co should be judged principally on the results of the remaining 4 games & Saturday's draw. Further to that there should be absolutely no situation arising where Cameron is under any pressure to leave. That could arise from either him feeling obliged to follow JMcN & SD out the door or uncertainty of the next manager's plans. The problem of not using results as a yardstick is who is going to judge the current management team and just what qualities will they be looking for. I just pray that when Beattie says he'll be seeking outside help in assessing who gets the manager's job he's asking the right people. I know the pitfalls of selecting a Dynamic Duo Mark II but, because this time round as Vom says we don't have a pot to piss in, it may be more sensible keeping this in house.

Gardyne is rated fairly high and it's surprising he's still at Dingwall. Considering County looked the better team yesterday a quick glance at the league table shows they're far from safe in the division. It wouldn't take anything approaching exceptional results but they could still easily find themselves in Div 2 next season.

Too late in with the post, B J. Evidently Mr McNamara was a bit too static yesterday to ever be a good manager.

There's a couple of sentences in there that you should either have accompanied with an "IMO" or maybe qualified by saying you're a trained psychologist. I've been in McCall's company a few times and never found him egotistical but then again I'm not a trained psychologist. I also heard one of the more down to earth novice managers, Danny Lennon, refer to himself on radio yesterday in the third person. I don't believe in his more triumphant moments I've ever heard McCall do that. I feel we should all maybe take a step back from judging McCall & his departure till at least we can join the dots together.

Not deliberately trying to be confrontational but when do you draw the line and call those 3 fans 3 ex-fans? If I said I'm not returning to Firhill till the Board make an apology to Davie McParland for the way they treated him does that make me after 39 years still a Jags fan or an ex Jags fan? I know if we did better on the field more fans will return. I also know that if we won Div 1 next season, the SPL the following and were playing in the Champions League two years hence there would still be Jags fans declaring their allegiance but still not having paid a penny at the turnstiles. Again with apologies to Lindau and his three fans but outwith the ugly sisters pro rata we must have the greatest non attending support of any Scottish club.

I feel you can broaden that to most clubs in our league. Put another way if you were a neutral and went round Div 1 grounds you're not going to single out Firhill as being any more "a depressing dull place" to visit and watch football than some of the tidier stadia (Forthbank, Grangemouth, East End Pk and the two in waiting Livingston & New Douglas Pk). Even if someplaces make for not a bad day out once in a while imagine having to go to them 20 plus times a season. Doesn't of course make Firhill anything but depressing. Just we're not alone in misery.

Regardless of opinions of McCall's tenure there's an underlying worry about the nature of his departure. If for instance he's left for a clearly better job then all well and good. But if the "professional reasons" turn out to be the Board going back on promises or imposing some additional stricture that would affect his ability to manage then imo that puts an entirely different complexion on his decision to quit. At the moment I'm far from convinced that a difference of opinion isn't just another way of saying that someone other than the manager has been trying to influence matters to do with the playing/management staff. So even if you are pleased McCall is no longer the team manager you might just worry as to the why.

The benefits of 7s are it gets kids involved at primary school level and the game is not totally dominated by the bigger stronger kids. On the other hand youth coaches are in general ambivalent towards 7s as they often inherit youngsters with no will to win ethic and an over genteel attitude to the game.

Given the state of the Firhill pitch, will people please stop using this expression.

Can blame schools/infrastructure all you like for demise of football but there's another group just as guilty, parents. Most use youth football as a baby sitting service and very few are ever available when transport or additional help is required. The worst are the ones that tho' never an assistance turn up regularly to watch Wee Johnny play and act like total imbeciles on the touchline. Just for the record I'm not and never have been a teacher but I fully understand why they wouldn't want to get involved in extra school activities (especially football). Those who do, along with youth coaches and those that run juvenile football clubs, have my sympathy and respect in equal doses.

Right mid is indeed Campbell's optimum position but he can play any attacking midfield role. Don't think he'll be any worse defensively than a lot of decent enough wide midfielders in our league. If we want two banks of four behind the ball we'll probably not play him. If we want wide players primarily for getting to the bye line to stick in crosses we'll play Campbell. If we want a wide player to consistently do both we'll either have to be very lucky or, well, we've no finances for the other option.

Why stop there we could lease the manager's job or put it out to tender. Would outsourcing the manager's job work?

Don't know if anyone else heard the interview with Brannigan yesterday. Our situation appears rosy and full of promise compared to what's going on at Palmerston. Would come as a complete surprise to me if the great & mighty KB wasn't an applicant for our vacancy.

Not trying to be flippant but we were very fortunate Dundee were profligate. Where would we be had we not been able to sell Harkins and to a lesser extent Twaddle? Craigan & Burns wouldn't have left us had Lambie offered them lengthier contracts.

A good year indeed Had no reason to be over-optimistic, But somehow, when you smiled, I could brave bad weather

To tell the truth I'm more worried about being outed before Xmas. Anyway I realise Tom Hughes is just after my bus pass.

Not at all pleased about this but I was cornered when I nipped down for a pie just before half time and I ended up being made Director of Football.

Can't agree there. Apart from giving away that needless foul that they scored from he seemed to have trouble leading the back line. The longer the game went on the deeper we were defending. OK it takes four guys to all push forward but you would expect the senior player and team captain to at least get that right. All about opinions (as always) but it would Be difficult to disagree with Doolan as MotM. Can only tink of Boyle and Fox who also could be reasonably satisfied with their performances. I never thought I'd be saying we missed the grit and determination of Hodge in central midfield but, with Rowson having a shocker and Cairney not at the races, that's not far off the mark. Felt sorry for Campbell being exposed so much defensively but I doubt he was any poorer than Erskine was a few months back. Hope the young lad learned a thing or two today. Hitting the woodwork with his weaker foot was one of the very few memorable moments today. btw Anyone else surprised with Fraser coming on as sub ahead of Stewart?

Trying also not to read too much into this but I find the suddenness of his departure, if it's not for another job, strange. Worth repeating that the ET (online) were not tipped off about his departure. I find that strange given the relationship we have with them. It's all relative I know but they carry 5 or 6 times a week mostly routine pieces but miss out on the first major bit of hard Jags news for ages. They won't even get the chance to do a piece on this till Monday. All this and above suggests the reasons for his leaving could well be more to do with personal stuff.

I thought Gough lived in California? I've heard him on the radio a few times lately and he comes across as a very articulate and intelligent guy. That of course doesn't necessarily make him a good manager.

Seems to be a bit of a mystery . I can understand the temp appointments and Maxie's exclusion, but can't figure out why his situation hasn't been mentioned. The only thing I can imagine for this secrecy is that telling us Maxie's position would reveal more about why McCall left or more accurately about the timing of his departure. Perhaps, given all our injuries, Maxie will be on the bench today.