lady-isobel-barnett

Thoroughly deserved a draw tonight. In fact if the ball had run kinder we could have scraped a win. Bit of dig about the team these days. Thought Liam when he came on looked sharp.

There was a fair amount of criticism about the Club stalling over the signing of Halliwell. At the time I thought it might not be all down to cash flow or some other financial reason. I just don't think that he was on that list of goalies that Hinchy had evidently identified as possible signing targets.

Think we'll revert to 3-5-2 but Erskine will keep his place. I'd go something along these lines..... ....................Bonington ..........Hillary...Rhona Martin...Mallory Torvill........................................Dean .....................Amundsen .........Scott(Capt)..........Erkine ............Shackleton.... Tenzing-Norgay Subs:- Sonja Henie Tonya Harding Nancy Kerrigan John Curry Robin Cousins

I really don't think so. Those two names would surely ring a bell when the most famous Jag of that era was called McParland.

In my naivety I would assume we'd get 100% of our cut. Its wouldn't be Dundee's money in the first place. The buying club should be sending a cheque, cash iou to Dundee for 75% of the arranged fee and 25% straight to us. Of course I'm maybe being naive but the Harkins money due us would be a football debt and Dundee couldn't sell or buy while that debt remained. Citing the Livi embargo re O'Hooligan or whatever he was called.

Do you know something about the current employment situation that I don't, uber?

The Kids for Free might be a financial plus. A parent bringing a couple of kids to a game might think twice about forking out more. You just need to get a handful of parents thinking that way and we're £17 down at the gate each time.

The SFL wallah (Longmuir) has come out against the regionalisation of the lower leagues. Presumably he thinks it's fun to send Clyde up to Elgin on Boxing Day and Stranraer to Elgin in mid January.

Where have you gone, Ernie Walker A nation turns it's lonely eyes to you

I wonder what financial benefit part time football would bring? We're not exactly paying big bucks at the moment. If for instance we became big fish in a small pond (a regular top team in the the third tier of Scottish football) our crowds may not be too bad. The other side of the coin would be when we get promoted to the second tier and our play and expectations are on par with this year's underachieving performances. I can't really see decent income at the gates. So could it not be a case of shedding £x in the wage bill but losing circa £x at the gate? A back of a fag packet calculation works out at about £80K* off annual turnover for every 300 lost paying fans. *net of VAT and allowing for about 20 home games and concessions)

I don't understand the 25 pt deduction in the first place so I can't really answer the original question. The 25 pts as far as I'm aware isn't quantifiable just arbitrary SFL nonsense. The SFL have both no fixed penalty for a club entering administration and also no further punishment re either the length of time that club is in administration or the level of ensuing CVA and so imo are incompetent. I detest Dundee FC but at that I feel even they should have the right to be tried by non imbeciles.

More or less what I was going to post. I don't believe that we'll see a return to say the seventies model when for a spell a relatively successful Jags side only had two full time players (Alan Hansen & Roughie). Back then there was more or less full employment but nowadays someone in a full time job is not likely to risk that playing football. Today I'd imagine the equivalent of the part time days of old would be a squad made up of youngsters, a handful of journeyman full timers on a low salary and genuine part timers (probably ex full timers getting on a bit). I keep making the same point that if we played in a larger league the drop to part time football (or a modern day hybrid version) wouldn't be so drastic a move. If those 2x10 team SPL leagues were to materialise it would be very alarming if we were opting for part time football at the same time. So I feel a move to part time football so much depends on what's happening externally with regards to league reconstruction.

Think we'll be in the main stand but I doubt whether it matters if the opposite stand is accessible or not. If the Pars want the game to be played I'd be very surprised if this game is off

The real danger for clubs like us would be dropping out of SPL2. Both the top leagues would be geared for full time football the next tier down geared for part time football. Clubs promoted to SPL2 would bankrupt themselves if they wished to compete. Similarly a full time club demoted from SPL2 would likely face great financial hardship if it kept its full time status even for one season.

My thinking was that Doolan's pace could have caused them more trouble late in the game than Grehan holding the ball up but it was imo a marginal choice. Donnelly did well but it must be frustrating when players coming up in support stray offside so often.

I wouldn't go as far as to describe yesterday as a likely turning point in the season but at least there's vast improvement on the previous game at Firhill (Morton 0-0). OK, we still don't look like we can score and there's still too many basic mistakes being made but at least there's a bit more dig about the side. Some of the more delicate players appear to have toughened up and our reliance on the more senior players is not so pronounced. Hey we even got a goal from a quickly taken free kick yesterday!

Lot there to agree with (tho' I'm far from convinced about summer football and complete winter shutdowns). I've long believed that the SFL is run incompetently. Their biggest crime being the repetitive nature of the leagues. We can draw up list after list re suggestions about ways we can improve PTFC/Firhill but we don't seem to be able to influence change to the structure of the game. Put another way even if we could make Firhill look more like a football stadium, have a vibrant supporters association and even a team playing entertaining football, we'd still be playing the likes of Falkirk six times, Stirling and Ross Co five times and so on. So I can fully understand folk staying away or cherrypicking games. What I dislike and can't be bothered with are the fans that come on here and make it seem like not attending is some kind of virtue. Where are all those who weren't coming be back till we sacked Dick Campbell? How about those who stayed away while Mssrs Cowan, Hughes & Prentice were on the board making a reappearance? On some new crusade that makes turning up at Firhill unprincipled perhaps?

That's not the point R & Y is making.

Forgotten about that. Maybe only for Cup games?

I guess one of the main positives today was we didn't fold when we went down 0-1. Regardless of whether it was a penalty or not we were on the back foot for the first quarter of an hour or so and the team most likely to score was unarguably County. I thought thereafter the whole team dug in, played both well and sensibly. McCall for once got the substitutions spot on, Donnelly held the ball up well and Doolan was the right guy to bring on when Sid tired. Today was primarily a team effort, no single player outstanding but all contributing considerably. Just a word tho' about Hodge. That's two games on the trot when he's got stuck in while ditching the wild mistimed tackles. He's still got a good bit of work to do on his decision making but I'm much more confident about him these days.

Maybe not, Tommy, but your thread title might just create a bit of interest.

Sorry, Adam, much as I detest Dundee FC, how they got into their latest mess and their sanctimonious attitude towards other clubs, there's probably little to be gained in copying their initiatives. As far as I can see our support is largely made up of either those with their heads firmly stuck in the sand or those who used to go to Firhill and now can't be arsed*. *of course by saying that I'm in no way decrying those that won't go because it costs too much, Firhill lacks atmosphere, won't be back till Cowan, Hughes and Prentice resign or we sack some manager or other.

I thought it was against your rules of conduct for you rugger chappies to go and slate a ref. Do you not have to retreat ten paces from your keyboard or something?

Not sure if this in any way is connected but I notice John Boyle is starting to look like Frankie Howard.

Can he ski?