lady-isobel-barnett

Given the travel involved for County I'm assuming that the game is going ahead. I think there'd be more cautious wording on the official site if there were doubts. One thing that just could be problematic is the state of the pitch after tonight. Btw does the ref, Steve Conroy, live locally?

Never ceases to amaze me, the whole football manager thingy. Brown couldn't buy a manager's job for seasons now he's been headhunted at the age of 70! Motherwell FC must have a miserable working environment as no manager ever hangs around there too long.

ditto. Someone can come on with a better fan than you post if they wish to but I couldn't see me remaining a season ticket holder. Saying that if we had to move there for a season while a new stadium in NW Glasgow was getting built I would be supportive. Not that I want to see us leave Firhill.

Likewise but young Ryan is still a good few weeks (optimistic) away from fitness. I would expect McCall to limit the number of the old brigade fielded. Can't imagine they'll have trained successfully over the last couple of weeks. If Hodge continues to get tore in the way he did at Stirling I see no reason to drop him. If he's back to his submissive ways then the more effective, tho' just as lightweight, Flannigan would be better.

I was think Broadwood could be shipped to Qatar. It most certainly leads the way in air conditioned stadia

I'm surprised that some folk are surprised that Prentice is still involved (running) the CF. I thought that was common knowledge. stolenscone posts re Cowan "that many of his press statements and public dealings were cringeworthy". I don't argue with that but over the years I thought the contradictory public utterances of Tom Hughes just as cringeworthy. It's not unusual, perhaps the norm in business, for a chairman to be upbeat and the financial director to advise caution and paint a cloudy sky over the landscape. It is unusual and normally harmful to send out conflicting messages from the boardroom. That happened too often and I really thought and hoped we wouldn't be hearing or reading either about Allan Cowan's or Tom Hughes's views in public.

.... tho' the Herald's headline of "Gypos set to up sticks and f**k off out of Cumbernauld" is perhaps rather uncharitable. Don't know which way they're heading but make sure the groundsman keeps our midden well locked up at night.

Pardew has been handed a five and a half year contract. I'm told in the past five and a half years they've gone thru seven managers.

I was hoping he'd get a run out against Hibs before returning. Know what you mean re ground conditions at Somerset Pk if last season is anything to by. Still it's more the norm that the Ayrshire coast escapes the worst of the winter elements. Really like to see Stuart get a few more game with Ayr.

Yeh, pitch still snowbound and definite decision re Warriors game tomorrow. Could be like a re-enactment of Passchendaele on Saturday

I seem to remember the Marr brothers writing off about £5-7m of their own money last time round. Pair of clowns who don't seem to care about bringing small businesses to their knees .

I don't quite understand your reasoning. At time of this post 13 folk (myself included) have "voted" we're not interested as we're season ticket holders. Divide that 13 into how many season ticket holders we actually have and that should give you a fair indication on the response to the poll in general. To suggest that those who have previously run the Club are somehow vindicated for never having offered different ticketing packages is just plain daft. But knowing you from previous posts I believe you're just trying to stir up a bit of a reaction and engender some enthusiasm to a venture most of us will agree is of merit. On this subject though, if the only promotion for these packages is done through the official website, I wonder how many pay at the gates fans will have parted with their £17 on Saturday (or whenever the next home game is played) in ignorance of these multi game offers.

A wild stab at a guess here but perhaps Mr Lindsay's subby (if indeed the ET still feel they require such a breed) was stuck on the M876 or A80 overnight. Otherwise, what a strange headline.

A quick check of forecasts up till Friday is a good bit more encouraging. Looks likely to be a significant thaw from Thursday. That also goes for Inverness and down the A9, so County should have no real travel problems.

but do you think the Poetry Corner should be outsourced or remain in-house? A pie, a pint & a poem might just be a winner.

Above is largely unarguable but the saving grace is we're not alone. Every club in the division is facing the same problem. As way of an example I don't believe a team of similar quality to the current Raith Rovers side would have been sitting on top of the league at this time in past seasons. In my mind they're punching against their weight a bit similar to us a couple of seasons back. This is a kinda long way of saying I sense that a sizeable proportion of our missing fans (needed to stop this vicious circle as described above) are lost to football in general. Had we been playing with better quality, say enough for three extra wins that would put us in third position and in contention, I doubt that attendances at Firhill would've increased by anything more than a marginal increase. One of many reasons I'm attracted to a larger league would be clubs like ourselves would have the option of going part time (or more likely semi part time) without the spectre of almost certain relegation hanging over us. That may sound too negative for some but I rather like the idea of having a team to watch for years to come.

My concern with that would be about line of vision. I feel, especially behind a goal, we really need more elevation. In a similar vein I don't think there's much mileage in standing areas say similar to Forthbank. That might be fine for the occasional visit but I'm far from convinced fans would want that every week.

Iirc the draw for the Centenary Fund that month was well over a week late. No apologies or excuses were ever given. Perhaps we were supposed to give a bit of leeway as this draw was the first since Eddie Prentice had stepped down from the Board. Even so I feel that a Club claiming poverty should get the basics right. To hear that a winner has not been contacted after all this time only emphasises what appears to be an amateurish attitude towards the CF. In fairness I'm praising the new boardroom regime but this is a basic area that requires immediate attention. Hypothetically and in contrast had an 1876 Club draw been made so late and a winner not contacted I feel there would be major embarrassment and immediate correction would've been made to ensure it didn't happen again. Somehow I don't sense those running the Centenary Fund will feel that embarrassed or be that minded to ensure those errors don't recur. I'd like to be proved wrong. Definite room for improvement methinks.

Hadn't thought about that. Very valid.

I feel that Davie McP has to be given a bit more latitude as he played so many younger players. Bertie A definitely benefited from McParland from that either from those youngsters themselves maturing into steady players or indirectly from the proceeds of their sale. Something tho' that's just occurred to me (or certainly long forgotten) has to do with league reconstruction back in the seventies. I wonder if Davie McParland would have been, for want of a more appropriate word, as cavalier in his management style had the top league been only 10 teams. More realistically had Bertie managed us in a top league of 18 teams would he have had us playing a bit more gung ho? Genuinely like to know the consensus of opinion re that.

It may well be but even if you look at it glass half empty at least we can now see the Board react with a good bit more immediacy. That in itself is a definite positive.

Disagree. We don't want to break up a winning team. Anyway as long as it's not that jumped up tart Katie Boyle. Toss up between her and Barbara bloody Kelly as to who I despise the most

My long held view was similar. I felt we were relatively successful in spite ofBertie or put another way I thought with the players we had we would have been relatively successful regardless of the manager. I admired Auld for his signings and his man management but less for his tactics. I know I was far from alone with those views. Over the years and in hindsight I've had to re-evaluate my opinion about Bertie. Just about any lower/mid placed SPL side for years now has played to tactics no more positive than Auld's. I wouldn't go so far to say Bertie was a tactical genius but I would say he was ahead of his time and a realist. Undoubtedly an excellent manager.

The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land...

Methinks if the game doesn't go ahead on Tuesday night there'll still be freezin' of the arse whenever the game gets played. If it's not the icy conditions that cause it to get called off it'll be flooding.