weeyin

Rik James

I've never been a fan of the split in general, but that last post could do with a few.

In fact, when Dundee Utd and Aberdeen were winning the league it was a 10 team set up. Not sure what that proves either, tbh.

Any win, any way, will be a great result. 1 - 0 will do for me.

Aberdeen will make a late run after they sign Faddy on Wednesday.

Slane was a badly advised wean when he left. If McCall wanted him back I'd be willing to give him a second chance to see if he matured. If he apologised and said he wanted to try again, he might be a better player (and a better person) for it. I was more scunnered with the repeated antics of guys like Paul Quinn who, as captain, should have known better and who didn't learn from his mistakes.

Seriously? A few things off the top of my head Analysing DVD from last game or too to identify good and bad points Working on those points with players one-to-one Working out tactics for next game Planning training drills to address any of the above items Overseeing training drills/bounce games to monitor players' form/injuries Media duties Overseeing U20 team tactics and development Attending U20 games to monitor progress of youngsters and making any adjustments to team to help promotion of players to first team Working with board on budgets, players, contracts Reviewing the hundreds of requests from agents to look at players' DVDs Watching games to identify potential targets to replace players he realistically expects to lose in the summer Involvement in schools/community activities Involvement in supporters events And I'm sure there is plenty more.

We already run on a skeleton staff compared to many clubs. And in the modern game, it's the assistant manager that runs the day to day, taking all the training sessions etc. while the manager deals with the bigger picture.

ICT have beaten us once (out of 9 attempts) at Fir Park since 2007. I wish we weren't that special against the other SPL teams.

100% yes on that one, because where we are in a fortnight isn't a predictor of our final league position.

I wasn't able to attend the Well Society discussions, but my dad was and what he told me was presented is this: a) We have no league sponsor for next year, but a few people (and TV companies) are saying they are only interested if we change things up a bit b) the redistribution of funds is aimed, at least partly, to give more money to the lower league teams c) if passed, the new league structure would be in place for 3 years, after which time it's up for review d) the new proposals will get rid of the 11 - 1 voting requirement which, thanks to a couple of other clubs, is currently preventing any proposal to expand the current league e) the hope of our club is that once the voting system changes and the lower leagues get more money, then in 3 years time there will sufficient momentum to expand the top flight (and better funded lower league clubs to join), and the 11 - 1 won't be required to vote it through In this context I can understand where they are coming from (whether I agree with it or not - I'd near more hard facts to make a decision). My fear is that the game will take a major hit before the 3 years is up, and that the review doesn't take place at that time.

What's he been offered to stay so far? You seem to be in the know.

feeble effort. 1/10

Good that they voted no, but as they are one of the clubs likely to get dragged into the 8 team (zero points) relegation playoff, it might be a self-preservation decision rather than for the good of the game. I might just be getting cynical though.

I don't disbelieve the article, but I have doubts about the figures.Only anecdotal, but my wife received a google+ message asking if she wanted to connect to me - showed my profile, correct details etc. Only problem is that, while I do have a google mail account, I have never joined google+ (and my user settings confirm that) Looks like it has me tagged as a user though. Not that I particularly care who is winning that battle - they are all as obnoxious as each other when it comes to grabbing as much personal data as possible and selling it on.

Did you google that? Might be slightly biased

I completely agree and have never been a supporter of it. I'm open to it if anybody could show me a tangible benefit.

If it brought in extra punters, I'd be all for it. When the results came in after Ireland switched to summer football, however, there was no increase in attendance.

There would be Euro and World Cup finals to compete with on a regular basis plus most of our season would still overlap. The main reason we get screwed by TV companies is because we constantly undersell our game. The teams in the Blue Square Premier probably receive about as much money as we do for a vastly inferior product.

I never said it did. Following a club like ours, who rarely win anything, means that what needs to be on offer is some form of entertainment. The nature of any sport means that can't be guaranteed, but there are some structures that increase that likelihood. I'm still a committed fan, and support the club (and Well Society) financially when I can, but ultimately I'm a customer buying a product - albeit with somewhat unique characteristics. Part of being a fan is the habit of attending games. You don't realise (or, at least I didn't realise) how much habit and ritual play a part until you are in a situation where you can't make a game every week. If I miss the MFC TV broadcast on a Saturday because I have other commitments, I still make an effort to catch the score, but I don't feel the same loss I used to if I missed a game when I was season ticket holder. When you give the fans less reason to attend, it won't be long before even more of them find other ways to entertain themselves.

That's the attitude the clubs rely on in order to do whatever they like.

I said she started it, not that she finished it

Actually, while I don't disagree with a lot of your post, I think the main killers of the original SPL were twofold. a) Playing each other a minimum of 4 times a season led to boredom and familiarity where teams could set up to nullify the opposition b) 20% of the league being relegated led to a lot of fear in many clubs and resulted in 'park the bus' tactics. Between the two, it was the fear that was the ultimate death of it.

Were any details discussed? I haven't heard a single concrete proposal for anything except the ridiculous league structure. And even with that, it's only recently that we have been drip fed the idea that its intention is to allow a larger top division to be created. I'll bet that idea hasn't been fleshed out - sounds more like a sop to the dissenters.

I think you'll find it was your mate Thatcher (who hated sport) that started the selling off of the school's football pitches etc.