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AGM time again. As ever lots of good discussion and info gleaned. Quite a long one this year as things got quite detailed on one or two points. Jim McMahon spoke of as positive a situation in a while. A "normal" situation. At worst case the club are in a position to finish tenth, have no player sales, have no cup runs and be able to knock back bids and still be able to cope with a loss for a year or so. Happily things are much more rosy than that the worst case next year will be a cash neutral position. The importance of staying up is the key risk going forward. Dundee Utd and their lost millions were cited but later Alan Burrows spoke of the potential to come in the form of increased TV revenue and the fall out from the new UEFA competition and through solidarity payments. The phrase transformational was used. There may also be consequences to domestic football to accommodate the changing shape of European football with potentially less domestic top flight league fans and no cup replays some possible outcomes. Looking ahead the club are keen to do something to improve training facilities with Stephen Robinson mentioning plans and ideas that had been considered. The club still want to get to a safe point where they have two "bad seasons" worth of finance to cover them for eventualities although they acknowledge the stadium still remains something that could unexpectedly eat into finances. Well Society input amounts to around £180k a year currently. On David Turnbull the club turned numerous bids until the point was reached where they felt it irresponsible not to accept the offer from Celtic knowing how much that could set the club up. They believe it was right to accept and they got the best deal. No timescales for his return but seeing a specialist to step things up further and he will go to Tenerife on the break. Positive talks about extending his contract between player, agent and club. Hopefully good news soon. No reason why he can't return to previous levels. Robinson quipped he was never fast to begin with so even if he does lose pace... Budget was increased after review over last year but still srcond/third lowest in league. Robinson knows the parameters and what the club is about. Gallagher, Seedorf and Polworth all knocked back better terms to come. Club have gained a rep for providing a platform to improve and develop players for next career move. Potential for one outgoing and one or two arrivals at the break. Investment made in staff too. Conscious that vultures swooping on staff as well as players. Hastie situation resolved amicably with a sell on included. Cadden not so. Anticipated to run for some time yet. An example given of Kidderminster who believed they were entitled to a portion of Marvin Johnson's sell on from Oxford two years ago. Dundee likely to £15/£10/£5 not confirmed but they seem to have talked around Dundee who wanted to charge more. Sloth was raised. Answer simply that not doing enough to get ahead of others to get in the team. Surprised at Manzinga progress not anticipated to be making in roads as early. Some youngsters nearly ready for inclusion but stressed players are ready at different stages. Some will be in and out at different stages. Banner incidents at both Hearts and Rangers games discussed. Games may be played during Qatar World Cup after Group stages concluded. Winter break likely to be brought forward to coincide with groups. One or two bits more to follow in due course...

Thanks Andy A good overview and grateful for it. Particularly comments around Turnbull signing contract. Not saying he will but it had gone a little quite on this and if he does it will ensure we can be patient for his anticipated return to form. Also saw elsewhere the fact we got £300k for Hastie + sell on. Probably as much as we could have hoped for. Still find it hard to believe we have 2nd or 3rd lowest budget in the league. Which means that one of St Mirren, Hamilton, Livingston, Ross County (most probably) have a bigger budget. It really ought to be recognised the fact we are 4th top on such a budget.

Thanks, I’ll make sure that I never speculate on a online forum ever again. I would do a search, however, I’m sure you have always practiced what you preach and have never ever commented on a story before the full facts were available. I think the thread should have been closed to comments after the first post was made as we can’t have people speculating, can we?

I seem to remember we had to significantly increase our coaching staff numbers to qualify for Project Brave.

The Society need to do more on this front. With inflation that 180k is worth less each year and I assume most folk who contribute are on fixed amounts with no annual uplift.

That hardly means it’s a lie to state we are second or third lowest.

He's only recently started back running on the treadmill after a long term injury. Robinson said the reason we signed Mugabi was that due to long-term injuries to Dunne and Devine we lacked cover to see us through to Christmas at centre-back. He's obviously impressed enough since then to get his deal extended.

Certainly doesn’t tell the full story... I’d question releasing the erm, article 5 minutes prior to the AGM - information has been available for weeks.

I have always taken the view that if you are not fit to play a full 90 mins you should not be listed a a substitute.

There are always one or two things that are mentioned on the night that I'm a bit hesitant at putting out and I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to mention the Hastie fee but since it's out there already it was quite interesting to hear how they came to that figure to avoid a tribunal. Effectively Rangers took the position of a "cross border club" and the sum was reached as if we were dealing with "Carlisle" as was used as the example . I thought it interesting that despite widespread belief that they were playing hardball the deal was concluded early enough that the fee went in the accounts for this year that were concluded on 31st May. Definitely Ross County have a higher budget. Robinson referenced that in discussing the Cup game last season where he said they were a top flight club in all but name. He went on to say that a friendly due before the Cup game fell through which he believed had a big impact on our display in that game. They will ensure they have something in place ahead of Dundee. He insisted though the trip away was incredibly beneficial and quoted stats about how well we have done after these breaks. Robinson also mentioned the use of contacts within the squad to take advantage of facilities at very favourable terms in both Tenerife and Northern Ireland. I'll carry on from here about the other couple of bits of interest... On the Bois Hearts banner thing the club acknowledge it could have been handled better and didn't appreciate the size of the banner and that this should have been checked out prior to immediately before the game. Alan Burrows mentioned a meeting on the Sunday with the inference about mending fences. On Rangers, as has been suggested by another poster on the game thread, the authorities noting the position of the offending banners over the scoreboard and the potential for something to get out of hand stood back. They will review options for their next visit. On the missiles incident Alan Burrows gave an excellent response in comparison to a question about considering shutting the Bois sections (even temporarily) where he explained a preference that if an individual is out of line, it will be the individual who is punished and not the whole section 99.9% of whom may well have behaved perfectly well. Robinson also added that the support from the Bois area is valued and far from shutting the section he wants more people there as he knows how much the players get from that backing. The club however are fully aware they need to handle the missile incident appropriately and also be very clearly seen to be handling it appropriately.