weeyin

I haven't heard anyone from the club saying we are ditching Hollis at the end of the season, have you? Oh, and I like I said in the piece you quoted, we have fielded plenty of players over the years we knew were being ditched at the end (or even mid) season. Guys like Page even played in Europe when it was obvious McCall didn't rate him.

Right, because that hasn't happened since.... hmmmm.... let me think.... Randolph last season. Not to mention every other player whose contract has run down to the end of the season, but we have continued to play given that we are paying their wages and expect a return.

Available here: Although we get them sooner in the US, so not sure if it's available in the UK yet.

Randolph only made 16 appearances for Charlton in 6 years (although he made a few more when they loaned him out to the likes of Accrington Stanley and Welling Utd). I thought Dan did a job when he came in, but if we do end up looking for another keeper, I'd be looking elsewhere.

I don't disagree that it needs to be looked at, but to be fair, the defence is where we have been hit hardest by injuries and suspensions during those 7 matches. I don't think our replacements are poor, but playing out of position and a rotation of defenders makes it difficult to get that understanding required to be a tight unit.

Turn up in large numbers, be extra vocal and show them we can beat them without a drum. Beat, geddit? It's funny because you do that to a drum too, see?

Their ground, their idiotic rules, their financial loss I suppose - but crazy to drive fans away on such a pathetic premise. It really wouldn't take a lot for their supporters to make enough noise to compete with the drum, but I suppose getting involved must be too much effort for the delicate wee petals.

Did Hearts not do us in the semi of the Anglo-Scottish one year too and then lose to one of the Bristol teams? Wasn't as much into that as it was a watered down version of the Texaco competition.

Did they not go on and let down the country by losing in the final? Those Texaco Cup games were the berries (well, most of them were).

I think the chances of them being genuine are very slim. The history of documents appearing on the internet is checkered to say the least, and to have any credibility the source needs to be independently verified and they need at least one expert to corroborate their validity. As for the SFA, I have said it before - if the clubs wanted change, they could have it. The fact that no change has been forthcoming shows they are quite content to let things carry on as they are.

Which given the turnover in personnel, reduced budget and mini-injury crisis we have endured is an excellent achievement for me. We could easily have had a mid-table battle on our hands this season, but instead, here we are again well in the mix for a Euro spot. You could argue it is a more impressive achievement than finishing 2nd with the squad we had last season.

I was happy to see a few of the youngsters play on Saturday, whether it was forced or planned. But let's not get too carried away - that was the ideal game to play them in as Hearts are playing a bunch of kids too so the match ups were pretty good. It would have been a different story against teams with more seasoned pros that could have bossed them around a bit more. That doesn't mean I don't want our youngsters in the team - I do. Putting that many in on a regular basis, however, wouldn't work out so well. We need to pick and choose carefully.

Didn't think we had 4 goals in us today, but good to watch and a great way to bounce back after our recent dip in form. Hope Hearts rebuild over the summer and keep Sevco in check next season.

I viewed it almost as soon as it was posted, so something must have screwed up somewhere.

Hammell and Anier confirmed out injured for the game. Ramsden, Lawson, Kerr, Erwin and Moore still out.

I'd bet Erwin is one of the first on McCall's list to sign.

You are right, people are complaining that we are only getting points from the bottom 6 teams. Apparently those points are inferior and will count less when we add them up at the end of the year.

So in summary, some fans are pissed off because, despite reaching one of our highest points totals for this stage of the season, we didn't win those points against the right teams. That's a new level of moaning even by our low standards.

Maybe in some teams - not ours. Just look at the stick guys like Higdon had to take, and he was successful. Imagine what would be dished out to some 18 yr old performing like an inconsistent youngster. Were those guys that just came in or were blooded when Aberdeen were mid-table? (I'm sure Considine and Pawlett at least were playing when Aberdeen were struggling, but I could be wrong).

I really don't know that Ross Stewart is ready to make the step up. It's a whole different ball game for goalies compared to other positions and given how quick our fans turn against their own players, it could do his confidence some damage. It wasn't that a long a number of posters were saying how they didn't care what effect it had on player quality and budgets as long as we upheld sporting integrity and kept Sevco out of the top flight. Honeymoon is over on that one.

Given the success McCall has had by adopting the strategies he's adopted, there is no way he was going to start throwing in youngsters unless his hand was forced. That's just the way it is in the modern game - you aren't going to change a winning team unless you absolutely have to. The irony being that if we were struggling around 6th or 7th every season, there would be more flexibility to experiment with the fringe players. Even in this comparatively unsettled and transitional season we are sitting 3rd in the league and challenging for a Euro spot again. However, we have reached the stage where we are running out of fit bodies to put on the field, and I'd be happy to see 2 or 3 debutantes take a starting position for the next game. Even if they only get an hour - anything we can do to give the injured lads a break will benefit us in the run in. It's unusual these days for someone to come through the ranks of 7 year olds all the way to the first team, so the fact that ZFA, Kerr etc. weren't permanent fixtures doesn't bother me. They got their chance in in our youth set up and were promoted to first team duties. I'm OK with that.

Well last season's team was the culmination of 4 years of building (and with more money to spend). Come the summer I'm sure there will be some more ins and outs to move us forward, but with the best will in the world we weren't going to reach last year's peak in a single season.

The league is about points accumulated over a season. If there is one thing you can say about any team that qualifies for Europe based on league position it's that they deserve it.

We need to freshen up the squad. We don't have anyone to bring in. So bottom line is we just need to grind it out as best we can until we get a few more fit bodies again. Not ideal, but reality sucks some times and now is the part of the season where the team needs as much support as we can give them.

Think he just needs a rest, but a great option to have coming off the bench later in the game when defenders are getting tired.