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Financially we are doing very well, no argument from me on that score. You can also add on a modest 5/6 figure fee for the Ox. We also have the relocation of the stadium / replacement of the POD stand to factor in. However, healthy balance sheets don't increase attendances. On the playing side, I was not surprised that JBA left at the end of the season. Despite his positive words I never thought he'd stay with us very long. I'm sure the directors would also have been well aware of his intention to move months ago. Kyrk Macmillan is doing a good job as far as I can tell, but it was a mistake to tell the fans that everything was ticking over nicely during the search for a new manager when it clearly wasn't. It was also naive of the directors to tell the fans that all our best assets wouldn't be sold at the same time. That raised unrealistic expectations.

Wonder how long it'll be before he washes back up in Glasgow.

I assume you weren't all that fussed if we got into Europe in the first place then? European football is very much an "event" for all concerned. The players certainly want to play in European competition, the fans get the chance to go overseas on a trip, see some sights, enjoy some time away and follow the team, and more importantly, the club benefits financially. Unless I'm mistaken, the club stands to pocket a minimum of 700,000 Euros if we progress past this stage. If we somehow get past this round and the next, we could be looking at over 3 million Euros. Even if we tumble out at this round we'll still walk away with 500,000 Euros. Not bad for a couple of "glorified friendlies", eh?

That was a hangover from the previous season though, not from a standing start, and had been building from about March. He should really have been dealt with as soon season as the previous season had ended rather than prolong the agony. As shite as Ricki Lamie was the worst thing he ever did was score that goal v Livi or Alexander would never have made it to the Sligo game.

I hope he does well but not to sound salty, he’s not exactly set the heather on fire anywhere in his career until last season and clearly JBA got the best out him. We’ve seen it before KVV, Theo Bair….. even Ward, get them for nothing, give them a new lease of life and punt them for a good amount before they start to underperform. i sort of feel the same about JT, I felt the dip in his performance last season was drastic. The only player I see moving and getting better is Just. Just in my view is our real class act.

Yeah, we have, and what happens 6 months or a year down the line doesn't concern us (unless there's a sell on clause, obviously).

Glad it's done and we can move on,to get nearly £2million for a guy that most of us probably said last summer why are we signing him is great business but there's no denying he was brilliant for us and will be missed,having all this money in the bank is all well and good but we really need to see more incomings and good ones at that.

Can't judge a guy after 30 mins. Lets give him proper chance before we decide. I remember telling 6 jokes and folk saying "no way is that guy a comedian"..........hmmm......🤪🤪

Europe should be what we aspire to. It's a massive achievement for us and should be celebrated. Increases clubs and players profiles. I'm buzzing to be in Europe. It is difficult but there's always hope. Can't wait for match Thursday.

Willy Vogt was utter mince last night.

I agree, but that's a different argument. I don't think there are any teams in our division where we need a change kit, and I'm pretty sure we have played all of them at one time with neither side changing. If we are going down the change kit route, however, to avoid a "clash" then sticking with the same major colours in the away shirt seems pointless.

I take your point re the academy players, but we are 5 days away from the Euro qualifiers, and two weeks tomorrow the Premiership campaign starts, so last night should have been about getting our 1st choice 11 up to speed etc but it was a shambles. It was a decent enough performance against a good team but, we were all over the place, 3 goals gifted to Genk by shocking defending, the new signings did not look fit especially Vogts,he looked like a competition winner getting his chance to play with the 1st team. When you add to this the ever expanding injury list and the ongoing uncertainty over players leaving or not we are heading into the season in a pretty unprepared state. I really hope it all comes together this week and we can concentrate on getting past Havnar and into Q3, that will give us the boost we need to get off to a good start in the league, hopefully with the injury list reducing quickly.

We don't always though do we? Aside from Sligo last time and Stjarnan we pretty much always do as well as we should be expected and gone out against the much higher ranked seeded team. Other than those too instances you need to go all the way back to Mypa to fill your misery quota. It's frustrating we've not yet taken that extra step and gone beyond that extra step - Odense was the one that got away there and would have put us into the group phase. I'll have missed some but going out to Nancy, Panathinaikos, Levante, Steuea Bucharest, Odense, Krasnador or the Israeli mob isn't exactly a rid neck. There are some games in there we possibly could have done better in (namely Odense and possibly he Israelis if Gallagher hadn't made a cunt of himself) but it's not an embarrassment by a long stretch. All of these teams had much bigger budgets than us and/or are regulars in European competition.

Agree Ngandu looked like a football player in terms of touch and composure but physique requires a bit of work. At 16 though he could just be in that classic growth phase. My 193cm 19yo went through a fair few tumphy phases. only signed in July - Him and Thompson defence of the future - while the manager still under 40 😆

Has MJC swapped glasses with you? 🤣🤣. Lets give Vogt time and see how he is. Yup young Samuel that came on is a unit. Giving these young lads game time can only benefit them. Judging by injury list and probable sales we are going to need a few of them to be ready

I thought the same: the substitution was right on the 30 minutes mark so I presumed it was planned. What did surprise me was that Thor didn't get on.

Exactly. Optimism, positivity and championing progress will only work for a manager if it is actually backed up by what is happening on the park. Graham Alexander, albeit who was as dull as dishwater, made a habit of coming out after a loss and a dismal performance and trying to tell everyone that we played well and everything was fine, when everyone could see that it was anything but. That really didn’t help his standing with the support by trying to state that black was white.

Worth mentioning going into the new season. Askou avoided going into the relegation zone in game 9 only when we scored an injury time goal against Livingston. The new manager will need time.

Our reversed colour strips are completely pointless as change kit especially when they have large features on the top like the hoop and shoulders. Our away kit should be a different colour. These reversed colour strips have a 'Celtic, we only wear green' type vibe about them.

Alfred seems very upbeat. I can imagine that win, lose or draw, his media interviews are always going to accentuate the positive and focus on the progress we make. That will definitely annoy about 50% of our fans.

Not seen them yet, but that's what happens when you do things on the cheap . Should have got professionals in to design n fit them . Iv still got my old seat in the back garden can I bring it along for the start of the season with a a hammer n screwdriver. Have they put in decent hand dryers in the toilets yet so you dont just dry yer hands on your coat. A tramp wi bronchitis could blow harder than them.

Certainly not the time to be getting worried, as the real business hasn't even started, but comparing where we are today to last season, this time last year we'd signed Fadinger, McGhee, Watt, Sule, Just, Longelo, and Said. I felt like we had done a decent chunk of our business earlier last summer, and it appears to have been the case. We had lost Shane Blaney, Steve Seddon, Dan Casey, Dom Thompson, Davor Zdravkovski, Harry Paton and Moses Ebiye by this point, mind you, while this season we've lost Halliday, Nicholson, Slattery, Liam Gordon, Ward, and Oxborough. So, weighing up the incomings and outgoings against this time last season is interesting. Again, absolutely not a time for losing the plot, but I don't think anyone can deny that we need to start getting some business done. Europe is right around the corner, and that's a big deal.

Agree,seems a really likeable guy and comes across well,rooting for the guy to do well.

Alfred comes across as very enthusiastic and I am really hoping he does well. Tough gig following JBA but we all need to give him time

A couple of chats over the week regarding Welshy. MFC were never in the picture, Aberdeen, Hibs and 1 other were, wanted to escape the west of Scotland gold fish bowl JBA wanted him in France, Toulouse signing policy preventing it.

We've been better since Wilson came on. Coincidence???? probably.

They've already sown the seeds to have B teams in the league. So even if we punted their parent clubs the SFA and SPFL are going to make sure they are still represented.

And last night confirmed it.