Leaderboard

Let's make that 27th anniversary as special as it sounds.

A tough one to call. Given Livingston's great start to the season, and our poor form, you'd expect them to come out on top if only narrowly. However, we need the win and badly, very badly. Injuries will no doubt play a part on who starts but it'll be interesting to see who Robbo drops. Despite our collective need I'd be tempted to rest both Cadden and Campbell or bench them. Gorrin and Turnbull must be hoping for a start. I'd like to see us revert to a 4-4-2 formation, with McHugh returning to the midfield. My greatest fear is that Livi score first, maybe through a blunder, and then sit back safe in the knowledge that we can't breach their defence. Frear to start when the game is more open. I'm not in the least concerned about "hoofball" as long as we win.

Whenever I hear about 'lost the dressing room', team spirit and all that, I always think about a really interesting interview I heard from Steve Parish (Crystal Palace Chairman). The basic point was that he had rarely considered sacking a manager off the back of a poor run of results if he could see that the team was still cohesive and playing for the manager. The tipping point was always when the players stopped playing for him. With that in mind, I'm not sure whether the recent frustrations and arguments on the pitch are a good sign or a bad sign. I'd be more concerned if there was an apathetic response to losing goals, however when I see opposition teams arguing among themselves I always think it's a sign that all isn't well in that squad. I've seen some good performances this season (Rangers / Dundee / first half vs Hearts on Wednesday) where team spirit play it's part and I think Robinson will be given time to try and recapture that. You've also got to consider what sacking a manager at this stage can do to how appealing we might be to potential applicants. Robinson achieved his goals last season - keep us in the league, decent cup run and make a few quid. From the outside that's all that will matter. If he's punted 7 games into the new season we'll soon get a reputation of being a trigger happy club which will naturally reduce the quality of applicant in the future. It's a tough decision, and I get folks concerns (the stat of 35 odd games being banded about isn't good at all); however I don't think we are there yet. I doubt the club are either.

I know it’s on a former manager, but thought I’d do a piece on Mark McGhee’s final month at FP after reading Scott Mullen’s interview with him on the BBC site last week. https://www.mfc1886.com/justice-for-mcghee-the-spectacular-demise-of-a-football-manager/