Goggles & Flippers

But we should all be under no illusion, if the new owner digs deep to fund any of these, it's added immediately to the growing total we (the club and WS) have to pay him back in 4.5 years time. He does seem to be a bit of a hybrid between the Ann Budge and Fergus McCann models of rebuilding a club with a decent foundation. To be honest though, that is fair enough. The only fear for me is that money could be spent that means that we could never dig ourselves out of the hole, but at present nothing I've seen suggests that is a possibility .... so far. The club should be following a business model to maximise its assets going forward. We can't reply on a rich benefactor safety net in perpetuity. I'm encouraged by what Flow said about Ainsworth the Clyde interview, even more surprised to hear he listened to the phone-in regularly with all the OF eejits taking up 99% of the airtime. I have a hope and a feeling that our players may start next season as fit as they did when McGhee had them. A player like Ainsworth who, let's be honest, has a questionable worth ethic at times, could be a star in this league if he buckles down and improves his stamina and attitude, his footballing skill and ability is unquestionable.

Isn't that the case for all managers? His signings in January were somewhat imposed on him. They had to come into to a malaise filled dressing room and hit the ground running. Always tougher for the defenders to accomplish. I suspect Flow was the driving force behind Pearson and McDonald. Marvin was an undoubted success as his fitness improved. Laing came onto a game as understanding with McManus increased over time and Connor Grant certainly has something about him. As for the keeper, rollercoaster showed he was a bit of a confidence player, a few errors results in him being a 50-50. Straker and Thomas who I suspect were very much on the radar of Baraclough and/or the new head of scouting were failures, but to be fair one was always going back to his club and the other we took a cheap punt on and it didn't work out. This summer will be interesting and I'm very optimistic to see what he can do with his players playing his system, which if any of you recall was a high pressing game that relied on high levels of fitness.

Multi-coloured keeper top ...... thoughts? Guessing it reminded him a particularly heavy night in some of Amsterdam's cafe's Swinging on the bar, did he get much grief?

Because he builds up a 7 year dossier of every player to whip out in his "told you so" rants. But revenue from his move to fund new players would be something you do care about surely?

Well with the context of Goodwillie, GMS and Stuart Armstrong as datums and how much they went for, how much would you have Erwin valued at? Is £500k that different from what he's worth? 21, half a dozen goals, half a season of starts?

I'd love to know what the club could have done to avoid this. McCall decided not to extend his contract last summer, that would have been the opportune moment and with hindsight he would have probably went for it. He then features in a couple of games until Baraclough comes in and uses him a lot more which raised his profile and probably brought him onto the radar of a few big clubs. He was offered a deal (no doubt around the time of Dom Thomas and Watt) and declined it, no doubt because he was aware there was significant interest. Why re-sign for us when any potential purchaser would then have to use some of what he'd get in salary and have to use that towards a transfer fee. To listen to many on here we would have had Lawless, Forbes, Carswell, etc. signed up on 7 year deals, where would we be now if that was the case? Difference is this is the first summer in a long time we've had an engaged owner which an eye on the long term picture. I suspect that this will be the last we read of for a while on here. Marvin Johnson's option needs taken up immediately, ideally extended.

I find myself rolling my eyes yet again at the comments of many on here when a player moves on. Seen it with Nicky Law, Mark Reynolds, Jamie Murphy etc. Yes it would have been good to keep him, yes his development could have continued here, but nothing I've seen so far to suggest that won't continue to happen in Yorkshire. He's been approached by a club who despite being out the top league for +10 years now, still command crowds of over 30,000. His salary will no doubt go up and undoubtedly going to play and train at a higher level. All footballers aspire to play on a higher stage for more financial reward, fans need to get over thinking that they'd stay somewhere for an easy life or any sort of loyalty as they may do themselves. Some on here would have him stay here, merit to that of course but with every possibility he could get injured on a wet Tuesday night in Dingwall and have the career plateau and any future moves fall through. I for one have no issue with him taking an opportunity with offered at present and going for it, better the guarantee just now than the hope in a few years time. The best deal we could have ever hoped for was him being loaned back to us, but I certainly feel he has the tools and physicality to compete down there from the start.

Looks like a Spanish watermelon seller packed in the day job to fluff radioactive elephants.

Let's never mention S%$@*!n again, I get a nervous twitch whenever I think about it.

It's silly season mate, par for the course

Don't like the sash and never will unless it's an away top. I'd like to see black socks and not have to wait 16 years to see them. If any of you recall the Leeds Utd game and how good and how much impact that relatively simple strip had, it's the way forward.

Take it you were in a coma in October then?

I know puma used them to make the strips, I would be surprised if Macron weren't instructed to do the same. Sometimes the material and sheen may make things look different but at their core they are the same.

Claret - Pantone 229C Amber - Pantone 1235C Or at least they were

The club standarised both claret and amber to pantone references to ensure uniformity going forward. Can't remember what they are exactly but I could dig it out if anyone wants them.

Nice and simple away strip

I'd like to think if we're hypothetically targeting Premiership players we could aim a bit better and higher than Vukic with our fictitious monopoly money. I look forward to a few months of randoms being plucked from thin air and shortly arriving at FP on the back of a unicorn.

WIth respect to the players on our books released, no great surprises there, quite a few McCall favourites (Ramsden/Carswell) and fringe players from as far back as Gannon and Jack & Victor. Just goes to show how much we as a club have held out and hoped too many of them would deliver, much to the detriment of the wage budget. But footballers are a high risk investment. As for the loanees released, there's been a lot of talk of Laing. While I think it's almost impossible to pair up two centre halves and have an immediate rapport, I do think that as time has gone on he has improved and built up a degree of understanding with McManus. However I am hopeful that with countless players being released over the next few weeks, our improved scouting structure and contacts, the feeling from within FP at present is that while players like Laing are OK, Baraclough can source much better now urgency and limited options aren't the factors they were in January. Would I give Laing a gig? If I was sure there was nobody else out there better that I could attract and afford then sure and the length of contract allows potential for punting him for a return. You want one year deal Louis? ..... thanks but no thanks. I think the owner understands that loanees offered a solution when the squad was in the doldrums, but they don't answer or will feature in the long term plans. Certainly a couple from highly rated clubs (our links to Everton in the past have served us well), but from mid table Championship down, don't add anything except in emergencies if we are changing our business model. A mediocre loanee only removes a starting place from a home grown player and only one of those options has the potential to make us money. We should only take them if they have the ability to be a cut above what we can attract from the open market. The trade off is the parent club gets their starlet blooded and given competitive game time. I sincerely hope and expect that this thread will be red hot this summer with some canny bits of business and signings that encourage. All this talk of an impressive software system and scouting networks has to return something. I think it's about time to see us pick up a prospect(s) from the lower leagues in Scotland. I also expect that from a mental point of view, pre-season will be punishing as Baraclough will look to instill a mental edge among the squad that no other will be fitter. It seems to be a core idea intrinsic to his ethos. If anyone can recall he suggested that his favoured style of play was to press the opposition when they were on the ball and play high up the park. Something that requires a high level of fitness to maintain for 90 minutes.

Good point well made. Your signature should read SPFL Play Off Final ..... touche

All Rangers did was stoke the fire and offer a deflection tactic away from their woeful on field performance, Muy Thai centre half and elements of their own fans who are far from impeccable. If you look at any Rangers boards, all their fans are talking about how much they hate us and security and very little on the actual stuff to do with the white round thing, which to be fair is mirrored on here. About 95% of the posts in the past 2 days have been expressing relief, gloating, poking fun at, questioning stuff going on in the stands and what happened after the final whistle, 5% has been a critique of the players and the game, that despite us hosing them 3-0. Lawwell is the master of it, usually around the time of an AGM with poor results.

I evidently have too much time on my hands: Not precious about any of the lyrics, so feel free to change anything, just need the Bois to adopt it. And my place in Motherwell fokelore is confirmed I thank you ..... next we have the jugglers

Some of the Buddies fans think it's actually Accies he's heading to. Just 4 miles out. Most seem pretty upset he's off, he must be a Robbie Savage type figure. As for Josh Law, he deserves a contract for being the only one with any fight in him in deep winter when too many others had tapped out. Never outstanding but safe and for that reason he deserves to be retained.

St. Mirren forum reporting Jim Goodwin signing on Thursday, apparently Bara played with him during his career. Don't know what to make of playing half the season with 10 men.

In terms of our recent transfer dealings of our decent assets (Jamie Murphy/Darren Randolph/Mark Reynolds), £500k is decent. However when looking at the likes of the much envied Dundee Utd and Accies, another 6 months on, Lee Erwin could be easily attract £1m if he keeps on the same trajectory. Club muted a few months back they were trying hard to get him signed up on a deal but it looks like he was tapped up before and held out, no doubt realising a better weekly salary as they've saved on any fee's. Don't think offering increased terms last summer would have been an issue, I think he would have bitten McCall's hand off. Just another example of oversight.

Milo, was there anyone in Lanarkshire with a more rampant hardon at 4:45 yesterday than you? Just wondering with your talk of imminent demise, crushing play-off losses and cheeky bastards at the club charging us the same again to go to Dumbarton and Cappilow.