exiledjag

There are so many myths about pitches which have poor drainage that if they persist become fact. As a youngster I recall watching us play a summer cup match at Cappilow where the ball brought up a spray of water everytime it was kicked/passed. This happened in the middle of a long dry spell! Asking why there was so much water I was told the pitch is always like that because it lies below the level of the River Clyde. Years later I heard this was rubbish and that upon inspection it was found that nearly every drain under the pitch had, over the years , become blocked or broken. All the drains were renewed, problem solved! Similarly at Firhill I watched ground staff, players from both sides and volunteers sweep water off the pitch to get a game played. It had been raining heavily all morning but cleared to become a lovely sunny afternoon. I was looking forward to watching my heroes, under a clear blue sky, trounce the opposition. The referee inspected the surface and it was game on. The setting perfect a warm sunny day with a verdant surface. 30 minutes into the match the referee decided to abandoned the game due to flooding. Apparently it was subsequently discovered that roughly a metre under the surface there was a rock hard layer of clay. Water drained down, hit the clay and came back up!! I thought the clay was removed when we installed the undersold heating but perhaps its still there. If so then no wonder games are postponed as this would in addition to overuse certainly contribute to the pitch becoming easily waterlogged.

Interesting. You could see and feel this sense of team spirit and togetherness in the second half of last season when we faced that punishing run in. I think it was very noticeable during the demolition of Montrose and Falkirk, in the general celebration of goals which involved all the players and the connection between players and fans.. This team spirit etc has clearly continued into this season and its good that new players like Crawford feel they are welcomed into the dressing room. Hopefully this team spirit and togetherness will see us through a similar second half of season this year. I suspect the need to protect team spirit and togetherness might have contributed to IMC's recommendation to the Board to let Rudden go.

Interesting. You could see and feel this sense of team spirit and togetherness in the second half of last season when we faced that punishing run in. I think it was very noticeable during the demolition of Montrose and Falkirk, in the general celebration of goals which involved all the players and the connection between players and fans.. This team spirit etc has clearly continued into this season and its good that new players like Crawford feel they are welcomed into the dressing room. Hopefully this team spirit and togetherness will see us through a similar second half of season this year. I suspect the need to protect team spirit and togetherness might have contributed to IMC's recommendation to the Board to let Rudden go.

Sorry but this is not accurate. When Clyde signed Goodwillie there was a similar public outcry and expressions of disgust even by some Clyde fans. The public reaction and disapproval was such that the Clyde Board issued a pathetic statement about giving this young man a second chance and thereby immediately attempted to claim the high moral ground. The controversy rumbled on for weeks. The difference between the two clubs was that Clyde were already at an all time low so there wasn't the same internal rebellion from fans, sponsors or other stakeholders that we have seen at RRs. I recall a few Clyde fans throwing in the towel but as the Club was well on its way to oblivion I think the majority of fans were prepared to tolerate the signing in the hope the player could help arrest the decline. RRs on the other hand are on the up, albeit stuttering a little bit at the moment. Both clubs though have something in common in that they have sacrificed their values, principles and reputations to sign a player who in normal circumstances wouldn't even look at them. As Clyde are now a mid table League One Club it could be argued that signing Goodwillie was a success. Another common factor is that neither Club gave a thought to the impact of their actions on the young woman involved - the victim of the rape. When Goodwillie,s record is taken into account, convictions for violent assualt in 2008, 2009 and 2012 (the latter for an incident which took place in 2010), then the rape incident in 2011 I fail to see how this individual deserves any sympathy.

I think Falkirk are a an honest Club. They apparently discussed signing Goodwillie but quickly pulled back because of the possible impact signing him would have on their standing as a community based club. Your right about Dunee being an option. I have no time for this bunch of back stabbers and one look at the SPL table shows exactly why they would consider such a signing. Hopefully they will have learned from the Storm Goodwillie that hit Raith Rovers in the past 48 hours.

I think someone on Pie and Bovril said Goodwillie declared himself bankrupt. I don't recall him doing this at the time. I do recall though an article suggesting that most of the award (£100000) would be eaten up by legal fees. This surprised me at the time as I understood the losing parties (Goodwillie & Robertson) would have had the cost of fees awarded against them as well as compensation to the victim. I think Clyde would take him back in the blink of an eye! The shitfest they would face will be an external one. What moved Raith Rovers was the flak from people connected to the club. Agreed - they failed to act in the best interests of the club.

Second this! Midfield 5: McAllister/Docherty/Turner/Bannigan/ Tiffoney Or McAllister/Bannigan/Turner/Docherty/ Tiffoney

A must win game for us Saturday. With the exception of Arbroath v Killie (Friday night) the fixtures on Saturday have a top half verses the bottom half of the league look. If Arbroath v Killie is a draw and ICT, Raith and the Jags win the table will look like: Arbroath 42 pts (23 games) Killie 41 pts (23 games) ICT 41pts (24 games) Raith 40pts (25 games) Jags 39 pts (22 games) Our catch up games are Morton (H) and ICT and Arbroath (both A); so perhaps not as good as the above looks. However our record at ICT isn't too bad and surely we are overdue a result against Arbroath! Given Queens result v Raith I think we are looking at a very hard game on Saturday. If the team with a good attitude turns up then I would hope that would be good enough to give us a win.

Uou said it!

I agree with all of the statements on this thread about Rudden. We could, perhaps should, have told Dundee that if they are not prepared to meet our valuation then we will keep Rudden until his contract expires in June. Rudden wouldn't have liked that but that's just tough. If subsequently he didn't show the level of commitment expected and which he has shown in the past, then I would have him nowhere near the first team squad, However, and there is slways an however, I have been really impressed by the team spirit IMC has created at Firhill. It's obvious when we score a goal that the team congratulates everybody involved not just the player who provided the assist. This team spirit will see us through, and has seen us through, difficult moments on the field. IMC has to take this into account in deciding whether or not to keep Rudden. A disgruntled employee can cause a lot of problems and be divisive. Perhaps to the point of eroding our team spirit! Probably better to let him go. My last however! Should Dundee be relegated and the Jags promoted I hope there is no road back to Firhill for Rudden. He has made his bed so now he lies in it!

I loved higgy. He brought an excitement to Firhill that has been missing for a long time. I was going to give examples of exciting players but most on this thread would recognise the names but not have seen them play. His ability to cross a ball with the outside of his right foot was sublime. I think his weakness was in often not releasing the ball quickly enough (Lyle Taylor's offside goal in the 4-2 win at Tynecastle) and a tendency to opt for the complicated pass or move over the obvious or straight forward option. I would describe him as mercurial but loved watching him because generally he made things happen.

Does Jakubiak kook heavy(ish) in the Jags top or is he just muscular. The guy who dislocated Jakubiak's shoulder in that nightclub altercation must have been really fit! Goalkeeper and another striker and that's us - champions!

Agree.

McAllister until end of season - looks a good signing. My worry though is that our midfield options are starting to look very congested as per the Caldwell era Turner, Bannigan, Docherty, Tiffoney, Smith and this month Crawford and Mc Allister. Quality of player though is much better. Strikers Graham and McIver, assuming Rudden leaves and rumours are correct Jakubiak

Jukubiak's shoulder injury was due to him bring involved in an altercation in a nightclub! As a sportsman and athlete that's not good to have on your CV whether or not he was an innocent party in whatever fracas took place. It would be interesting to know if Dundee initiated this move or we did. If the former we could politely reject the player and hold out for a cash deal. I had a quick look at his goal scoring record and it's domething like a goal every 6 games. Hardly prolific. I wouldn't mind the 2 St Mirren players. There was a time when Erwin did score goals and perhaps we could help him find that form again. We will see what happens.

Still not into the habit of checking for the prescriptive text with this phone! Becoming embarrassing! Should have read 'rounded-up that's 7 points!

For touched up that's 7 points!

But the other 12.7% are extremely interesting. Hope you are back to good health and on the bench soon.

With the postponement of yesterdays Arbroath game we have now lost 4 games,: Ayr (h), Morton(h), Inverness(a) & of course Arbroath(a). Have I missed any other cancellations? I think the first 3 fixtures are all winnable. Inverness seem to be a bit up and down at the moment and generally we have a reasonable record there. To balance this Morton seem to be in the middle of the new manager bounce phenomenon so could prove to be a more difficult fixture than if played on the original date. Arbroath is the fixture I think we are least likely to win given our recent poor record against them and the fact they are still picking up points. Looking at the current table if we can play our scheduled games and stay around 5th and in touch with the top 4 then 7 points will from thes 4 games could see us move up to 3rd while 9 points should bring second within range. However, (dare I dream) 12 points and the sky's the limit!

I think there are different scenarios in play here. If my memory serves me correctly St Mirren made an out of the blue bid for Somner and we accepted it. Somner hadn't asked for a transfer. Higgy was different. He was at the end of his contract and had offers from us, Killie and I think 1/2 other . He chose to go to Killie@

On conclusion that could be reached. Well done Arbroath and the Jags.

Agree and if the SPFL don't have a duty of care for fans then they should. But of course the DPFL attitude will be - its only PTFC fans whose club took them to court - so he'll mend them! As I speak wind getting stronger! Should be game off!

I live just over on the coast about 80 miles north of arbroath. The wind here is already bringing down trees and generally causing havoc and its only 53mph! Unless the wind abates there is no way this game should be played today.

Provided our keeper can keep his kick in play!

I was at that game and we were awful. It did confirm one thing for me about Fox - he doesn't play golf! As a keeper he wasn't very good in his second stint with us. Anyway where is Fox now? Good result for us tonight - Raith drop 2 points and we have played 3 games less than them.