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How did you guess ... let me have a go back .... Kevin Bridges?

Are you Ed Milliband in disguise 🥸

Ba dum tssssssss

Naw mate, he's at Swansea no.😂

Sounds fantastic. But much like last season, we are programmed to believe we cant have nice shiny things. And even if we do, we dont get to keep them long. Id love this to be the exception.....

I appreciate your reticence and there's a host of horror stories of a chairman's ego making a club homeless and a shiny new stadium hosting zero events and quickly turning into the set from the Last of Us (Darlington, Kassam Oxford). I think we are unique in our league that two teams suck up so much support from the glory hunting/perpetuating the religious bullshit among our population. That also takes competitiveness and money from communities around the country which they go on to complain about. To put it as simply as possible, for every 1,000 seats we make available to the OF multiplied how often we play them at home over two seasons being seven (six guaranteed and one normally post split, plus an odd cup tie) and an average ticket price £24 (£30 minus 20% VAT) over a 20 year mortgage is £1.7m before you factor inflation which would take it closer to £2m. Give the OF an extra 5,000 seats to add to the 4,800 they get already we've realised £10m in revenue. Not only that the stadium would benefit from an uplift in home support due to the novelty factor of it being new. McDiarmid Park makes something like £1.2m from non match day hospitality and function hire. It seems every funeral in Perth goes back there for their sausage rolls and cakes. Even if we realise half of that on top of what we currently pull in, that's massive. Matchday hospitality would go up two or threefold with a modern offering. You mention the office space, covid allowed for a lot more home working and while there's still a need for it, it's not as essential as it was before. However, you then have to make the office space you do have and what if offers unique and a reason to seek it out. Having an incubator space where small startups can feed off each other and cross pollinate seems to me to be something that would give you an edge over an empty box at the foot of Airbles Road. You tap into every resource and grant going, local and national and pan UK. You sell the NLC the residents around FP moaning less, you offer a solution to their concert hall conundrum and you offer an anchor project to stimulate the Ravenscraig site. For me to be truly unique you need to push the boat out yet always have doing it cost effectively at the heart of it. I'd have it only the second covered grass football pitch in the UK (Millenium Stadium), I'd have that pitch removable so the space can be used for all sorts of events. I'd specify agricultural/industrial design and materials but do it in a way that's it's celebrated. I'd make the site one large power generator, ground source bored hot water to solar and have it export energy. Of course each one of the makes the price increase due to their perceived complexity but if done right and properly researched it can be done for much less than some think.

Except I outlined how we can. Granted back of a fag pack maths but it points to how it is achievable in theory and we maintain our income and costs similar to what as they are at present. I posted a link to the 42 page presentation I made on P&B earlier. I don't know if you reviewed it then but here it is: Our Future Home Presentation

I'm entirely largely in agreement with you on our options G & F. My preferred solution is a new stadium and it always has been. Whichever direction we choose, and I hope the directors don't simply kick the can down the road, there are no easy options. If we do move, the significant challenge we face is of course finance, there's no hiding from that. However, we are in a healthy position. Yes there are challenges in dealing with the various agencies involved in the Ravenscraig redevelopment, but I would have thought that given that progress has stalled, the lead body would be keen to help us move there to kickstart development and demonstrate progress. Retailing proposals have largely had their day and are no longer an option there. . There are significant problems if we choose to remain at Fir Park. As G & F rightly points out, the current site is very limited and we'd have to shoehorn in any new POD replacement. I'd assume that the Chapman building would also be demolished to provide more flexibility. The internal space within the current POD is a real constraint. If we wanted to expand and improve facilities such as hospitality suites internally then that would necessitate very creative thinking and design. Expansion of these facilities is essential in my book and I'm not sure how that would be done. Fir Park is a money pit and there will always be ongoing maintenance and development issues. If the POD is rebuilt what then? Will the Hunter Stand then need a new roof or replacement? Substantial amounts of cash will need to be spent on infrastructure every year. Nimbyism? You can be sure local residents would pore over new nut and bolt and parking space and object to every dumper truck movement and every decibel of sound generated by demolition. As G & F suggests maybe Dalziel Park training ground proposals could be halted and subsumed into a new site. Our new Board has conducted transfer negotiations and managerial appointments very professionally and in secrecy which is to be commended but they need to lift their veil of secrecy over issues like this. No, we don't need to know every detail just their general direction of travel. We are a fan owned club after all.

I'm not against a new stadium but to think we'd finance it by naming rights and office space is wide of the mark. Rotherham rent out office space in their new stadium and get £36,000 a year from one large office suite. Out with transfer fees we still run at a small operating loss so saddling ourselves with £500,000 to £1 million a year in additional financing costs is not realistic. If it was we'd have done it by now. Wed need numerous commercial partners to get it off the ground and they aren't easy to come by in the current economic climate.t https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/754397792160593

It wouldnt be every penny we have. If Just goes thru at £5m and Maswanhise similar, we are sitting on nearly £13m. With large a chunk of the Miller money still to be banked (albeit some of it ringfenced for the training facility) this is probably as good a time as any to bite the bullet. Im not saying Im 100% in on a new stadium, but it would be the best way to look to the future. We can stay at Fir Park and build a new POD and that will tide us over for a while. But it limits our options footprint wise and doesnt take into account the need to improve the rest of the stadium at some point in the future. That might be the safer way to proceed, and Im not against it either, but I think we need to think very carefully about this. Its a hugely significant moment in time for the club.

Stunned to learn wilson is only 21 . He’s been around the first team for 4+ years . i can see why previous managers extended his contract but suspect the championship is his level

Would need to see what kind of shape he was in and if his year on loan had improved him any. But I agree that on previous perfomances its probably not gonna happen for him with us.

so you'd put vitually every penny we have as a deposit.

If we put down a £10m deposit we only need to borrow £10m. Sell Maswanhise and we are in the ballpark.

A £20 million pound loan to build a stadium in the UK over 30 years would cost between £1.45 million to £2 million pounds a year to finance., Utter fantasy that we could afford that. Clubs out with Rangers and Celtic would get around £100,000 -£250,000 a year for naming rights.

Also I don't think he would be comfortable playing out from the back, possibly why JBA didn't fancy him much.

On the face if it another good signing. Good youth pedigree, over 60 senior appearances, right age to develop and maximise sell on value. Hopefully he has the ability to back it up. Also in a position we have needed cover for, for some time.

Far too much pessimism on here re this game, we will pump them, a repeat of the last time we played them for me, a comfortable aggregate win.

Apart from the pay a decent deposit and take out a mortgage for the balance scenario, just like everybody else buying property does. Sell the naming rights for the stadium, rent out the facilities for corporate events etc,etc there are lots of ways to finance and raise the cash to service said finance.

Wilson is not up to the standard we need , hes too slow, and his final ball is average at best he struggled for game time on loan last season and i cant see him getting much game time this year as well.

It’s great to see the defence coming together . A keeper and 3 first choice defenders . Well done on that side . Next job midfield

Me and lads discussed before that longelo maybe better further up park so could be a williams-longelo partnership but Wilson did look a lot fitter

Having 2 left backs in the squad might be a new, bold experiment from Alfred. (Of course, Wilson might be second choice, but I suspect he might be out on loan again soon).

Watt was playing for Burton Albion at the same time as Williams. I wonder if he shared some inside info.

Williams is a left-back and looks set to be first choice, given his experience and the fact we paid a fee for him. That suggests either Longelo is on his way out, or he’ll be pushed into a more advanced role on the left.