Jimbo

Personally I can't quite understand why he's had such few opportunities after such a positive start to the season. The fact that Doolan quotes McBeth may be a big clue? I would also argue he's the most technically gifted player in the squad after Lawless

Imo that a bit harsh on QP. Pretty obvious they're a well coached team & tactically they knew exactly where we were weakest. But boy were we fortunate to leave with a point.

IMO Doolan's most glaring weakness is his inability to react when it's clear the team is struggling. That could involve changing the shape of the team &/or making tactical substitutions. These are not mutually exclusive but his apparent reluctance to make early substitutions (eg half time on Saturday) strongly suggests that recruitment has been average at best.

Sneddon was the least of our problems yesterday (no energy in midfield, next to nothing from our wide players, another anonymous performance from BBG). I've noted the consistent criticism that he is too slow to release the ball. Next game check out the frequency with which players make themselves available. Our collective running off the ball & finding space is really poor, exemplified yesterday by players regularly receiving a pass with 2 or 3 Utd players around them. Result - we turnover the ball & concede goals when the opposition has players of higher ability than the rest of the division.

Hard to impress when you only get 5 mins here & 10 mins there. As for McInroy, yesterday proved he is not a DM.

Click the Scotland Sport link for any Scottish-related action/information

Except there was a report on the BBC Sport website last night.

Last post from me on this. I can understand why some supporters are frustrated given that this development was somewhat of a surprise. But...... There's no evidence that the direction of travel has changed. Different drivers perhaps? We have entrusted TJF board to act on our behalf. It's my view that every action taken over the last 18 months or so has been in the club's & fans' best interests. I see no reason to doubt them now.

Perhaps I missed something but in what way has the strategic direction of the club changed?

Kris struggles to make tactical substitutions when the team is in need of a goal or goals. Today was not the first time we've experienced this. I accept that this can be challenging but it does suggest the balance of the squad isn't quite right. Re other posts critical of Sneddon's slow distribution. From where I was sitting he lacked options. Hello Zander McKenzie & Harry Milne.

Not overly concerned about today's performance but FWIW I found the timing of Doolan's first substitutions odd. We had real momentum at 2-2 & I felt there was no need to change anything at that time. Robinson particularly unfortunate to be hooked. He's an intelligent footballer & we missed his guile

Hear hear. Why this has been resurrected is beyond me. Let it go guys.

Reasonably pleased with this but it's the area of the pitch where we're currently least exposed. Central defence & central midfield worryingly light. Re the latter the Bannigan/Stanway combo simply won't cut it.

May have got carried away. Make that £55k.

A win on Saturday & I think we're guaranteed around £80k even if we lose in round 2. On that basis Doolan's strategy may be risky, but it should allow us to target a higher standard of player.

Around 1/3 is 6 games. IMO that's not unreasonable, but we can agree to disagree as it's all hypothetical. Sadly.

I think our matchday revenue would have increased significantly & reckon around 1/3 of home games in Prem would have been sell-outs. Additionally the feel good factor of promotion would increase season ticket sales which might have helped us improve the playing squad & therefore avoid too many 'doings'

Ruari Paton & Lee Connolly at QOS are both out of contract. If Tiffoney is off (& Turner also likely to leave) we will need to fill the gap between Lawless & Fitzy. I think both these players are capable & could be affordable options.

And had he done so how many posts saying we should be concentrating on the play-offs, not discussing money? Sometimes you just can't win.

Spot on. I was also surprised at the lack of subs given how hot it was yesterday. I'm 100% behind Doolan but imo it's important he reflects on his use of substitutes in the 2 games he lost. On neither occasion did they improve the team's performance. Ironically in his first game he got it right - went to 5 at the back for last 15 minutes or so. Given Simon Murray's introduction effectively gave County 3 central strikers, there's a strong argument he should have done so again. Pragmatism does have its benefits.

Partly agree with this although I thought it was interesting that BBG wasn't quite as demonstrative as usual when he was substituted. Injured or did he know he wasn't at his best? In his defence, despite consistently punting balls to him in the 2nd half, we rarely had any player within 10 yards of him despite the ball rarely going more than 4-5 yards back toward our goal, either of him or Musonda's head. The result being Ayr picked up the second ball as they did most if not all the second half. PS we don't half miss Harry Milne

Don't disagree about Bannigan but it was clear (at least to me) that there was little or no guile to our game which made defending easier for ICT. IMO we only have 2 players who can regularly see/pick a pass to beat a defence - Turner & Lawless - & Stevie had already been subbed.

Really disappointing but important that Doolan learns from tonight. Milne's injury didn't help but against 10 men you make the pitch as wide as possible & we didn't. Thought substituting both Turner & Bannigan was a mistake. Neither Fitzpatrick nor Mullen are midfielders & it smacked of panic

I don't know what the optimal number of 'assistants' should be, although I favour quality over quantity with regards to backroom staff. Darvel appears to favour quantity First Team Manager: Michael Kennedy Assistant Manager: Craig McEwan Blair Munn – Head Coach Scott Duncan – Coach Gerry Hamilton – Coach Stephen Fleming – Coach Zander Cowie – Goalkeeping Coach Jamie McDonald – Fitness Coach John Walker – Team Analyst Andrew O’Donnell – Physio

And how many out of contract players have already received tentative offers from other clubs? I'm sure I read at least a couple have.