Happy Dosser

It served pretty well for about fifty years. The contrast of deep claret and amber with white accentuates these colours, the most beautiful colours in the universe, or multiverse. And black socks with claret turn-overs with amber hoop. And wee claret numbers above the hoop. Bliss, ya bass.

Dundee fans will be nervous because when they got relegated in 2004-5 they slid from seventh at the split to bottom. Big John Sutton will remember. I don't mind either of the Dundee clubs actually but it's dog eat dog now and I would have preferred to have played them last Saturday. I hope Frear and Campbell get on the ball. I predict a dead-cat-splat for the new manager and a nail-biting 4-3 victory (Ojamaa hat-trick, Hateley sent off for scything Frear, Moult scores penalty winner in 94th minute). Lovely cough mixture, this. COYW.

John Reilly's career was cut very short by a bad knee injury, as I recall. I believe he is now Head Teacher at Holy Cross HS in Hamilton, for trivia buffs. Paul Kinnaird was pretty awful. Hard to say who got more abuse from the troops, he or Andy Roddie. *shudders*. O/T: check out the Airdrie V 'Well game on the photo thread if you have any rose-tinted specs. Not much quality on show and little ball retention, imo. Arthur Montford is quite entertaining, though.

God! Thirty years ago now and I can still see the ball come back off his crossbar and one of the Hearts microbes bundle it in. As I recall, McLean was just about to bring on a striker in preparation for extra time and righteous victory. Thought I'd consigned it to oblivion but now it's back. Doesn't affect me, affect me, affect me, affect me.....

Fair point but I feel McGhee had no belief that we could beat The Ugly Sisters, etc. I'm old enough to remember the time both we and the Jambos spent three years in the second tier in the 80s and those seasons were long and painful, and our longest time outwith the top flight since just after WW1. Our manager's job is a tough one, given our deficiencies in defence and midfield, none of which have been addressed for a number of seasons now. I still think we have enough to survive, if a new manager can change the fragile mindset.

Whoever gets the job, I would hope he would ditch the apparent defeatism in our attitude to top six teams. OK, Celtic are out on their own but other teams seem to have more fight and organisation: Accies beat Aberdeen, Ross County beat Hearts and no-one seems to regard Rangers as world-beaters. We seem to have surrendered before we even set foot on the pitch: grrrrrrrr! The one thing Baraclough got right was his tactics in the play-offs. In the short term, a brash, boot-up-the-arse-Yogi Hughes-type ("working-class-club-type-honesty-character") may be what is required. I suspect the club already have identified their man. Whether he wants it is something else, of course.

Agreed, so watch out for plenty of deep-sea diving from Panathonaccies in front of out 18 yard box: Crawford takes great free kicks and will be their main goal threat. I'll be very disappointed not to win this. For all our faults we are considerably better than they are.

I'm old, so even at 2-0, I expected an onslaught we would struggle to contain. I also felt, on hearing the team, that MacMillan (for all his youth) would have combatted Celtic's pace better than Hammell. In rugby, a missed tackle is statistically significant. Lasley, Hammell and Clay (can anyone tell me of a tackle or contribution he made?) ended up on this list and it cost us dear. The first two have the get-out clause of having been great club players. I just feel the future is our younger players. Moult was great today (first goal technically breath-taking), and was gutted at the end.. Young MacLean was fearless: he mugged the whingeing Rogic brilliantly and his cross for the second goal was a beauty. Don't know why he was subbed. Well done, young man. And Cadds was his usual breenging self, and almost made another for The Moultinator. Finally, thanks to The Bois for a great tribute to the dead on the Brazilian plane crash. A great touch not emulated by the "greatest fans in the world". Gladdened the heart of this old dinosaur. Still proud to be a 'Well fan.

Thanks, forgot about that. Could be second by Christmas, then.

A voice of sanity. Brill: if not now, when? Samson is such a flapper he could dance the Charleston. As for McGhee, no wonder he reacts badly on occasion to inane comments from "supporters", and on Friday he was obviously raging about the first goal. In the second half one guy in the POD was screaming at him to "get a sub on" after he'd brought on three. Help ma Boab! Having said that, I'm fed up with his tinkering with formation to nullify opponents instead of playing to our strengths (we have some, e.g. Moult). His comments before the ICT cup tie last year, when we played with one up for most of the game, made them sound like Barcelona: embarrassing. I'm not looking forward to our usual rabbit in the headlights submission at Celtic Park either and a visit to Pittodrie afterwards probably means a difficult October but who knows with a team like The 'Well? 'Twas ever thus.

Imrie always has been and always will be a wee jerk, even when he played for ICT. It's a pity we don't have someone in our team prepared to deal with him quite legally and make him think again. I have a time machine fantasy of him being up against Baldy Shaw in full Hannibal Lecter mode. Imrie's blooter into the East Stand was as bad as Bomber Brown's, and just as petulant. Ironically, I think it was Heneghan's strong tackle in the first half which hit a wee boy in the POD stand. The kid tried bravely not to cry but couldn't quite manage it. It was nothing like the strength of Imrie's clearance. If that had hit an OAP or child it could have done real damage. It's a pity we don't have someone as creative as Ally Crawford in centre midfield and he is a real threat at free kicks. When did we have someone like that in recent years?

Louis Moult finished so well today. Hope he was subbed only to prevent any recurrence of his groin problem. Accies never gave up and wee Crawford was excellent but our midfield disappeared in the second half and the pressure on our defence was nerve-wracking. Midfield lackedany creative spark and I wish McDonald would stop blaming others for his own failings. At one point he was asking McGhee to get Ainsworth telt. Fair enough but just concentrate on your own game, Skippy. You look unfit and your passing is poor. Is it just me or do we look less fit than last year?

A great summary of Joe's skills. I also remember his India rubber legs which managed to steal the ball from his opponent in a tackle from the back. He was a complete gentleman. I'm too young to remember Baldy Shaw but I hear he was a terrifying prospect for any right winger: "hit 'em hard, hit 'em early."

That's spooky. I was going to mention him in the same category but thought no one else would remember him. Anyhow, I'm hoping Belic will be a young talent we can develop and hold on to after January if he is playing well.

You've got a better memory than me 'cos you remembered how he spelt his name. Yes, he was completely unpredictable: the original "Open the gates and let him go" type. As a nine year old I found him quite exciting, though.

Capt. Oats: sorry about the extra "e". weeyin: do you work for the Daily Record? :razz:

Capt Oates, mjw: thanks, guys. Must be my old eyes. All the policemen look so young these days too. Who was the masked stranger, then? I hope Belic can be a hit for us. WH have a good system so I hope he just needs regular games to be an influential player. But then I remember Walter Carlisle....... Age-related reference: probs UBH and other intellectuals would understand.

Blyth's signing is quite strange. Rumour mill is that he can barely score in training and he looks to have the mobility of a traffic cone. He, Kennedy (very thin) and Josh Law (thought he was at Oldham or am I blind?) looked particularly miserable on Saturday. Mind you, so was I. Is it ok to register mild enthusiasm for Bilic? Not bothered about Johnston's departure: too inconsistent and his comments show he was not very respectful to the club. His bull in a china shop runs were OK for lesser teams but crossing and passing very average. Last chance for Ainsworth, though. Least he can shoot.

A frustrating day but when you have too narrow a focus (i.e.only one striker) it's so much easier to defend against us. Unfortunately we continually chose the wrong options (Johnston and Ainsworth in particular) but I thought the defence looked secure, although DFC had little to offer in attack. They look quite feeble without Hemmings and Stewart. We look alarmingly sparse on the bench and Mr McG seems to have little faith in its inhabitants. I pray Moult is fully fit on return. Activity in January would be nice.

Coolhandluc: that cheered me up after a sad 48 hours. Thanks, Kmcalpin for the thread. An old story must always be told.

And I am reliably informed, Sinjy, that the chant at Rugby Park was, "McInally, McInally, Jake, Jake, Jake..." Jackie was an original in anyone's language.

Strangely, I was reminiscing about him with a Killie fan yesterday before I heard the news. First time I saw him (for Killie) was in an Accies V Kilmarnock cup game at old DP. Tommy McLean was playing and looked about 12. Even then Jackie was a fascinating player to watch once he got into his stride: his daddy-long-legs almost bruised his chin as he went on one of his bull-in-a-china-shop-runs. When he came to us and I saw him every week, he became one of my favourites: you always thought he could make something happen. My memories of him always make me smile: a great character who unfortunately lived at a time when Scotland had a plethora of great players in that position. Thanks, Big Jackie, never forgotten.

Not quite sure why we have a broken hoop but it's better than a woosey advert band. Too much amber: white or claret shorts would have been much better, imo. White strip totally anaemic: needs some C&A. Difficult to judge quality but I would probably buy the hoop strip. Reasonably happy and hope we have a team worthy of the jersey.

Sorry, Haggischomper, missed your reply (crossed). Yeah, yeah and thrice yeah. And we won't be in European competitions for long enough anyway. Incidentally, was in communication with the guy who runs Historical Football Kits about a mistake in the Hamilton Accies history section and he thought you could never bet on what Macron might do, if it is Macron again.

Thanks, ubh. I appoint you Supreme Aesthetic Commissar (MFC Division) in my future Scottish Republic. Sorted. Hoping for the hoop, settling for a silly advertising band. 'Twas ever thus.