weeyin

Zane has made 55 first team appearances, so someone must think he is good enough to "challenge" for a place there.

Mine arrived yesterday. Some really interesting points made.

His wiki page reads like an episode of Casualty. From heart valve surgery when he was 19 to thirteen months absence due to a cruciate ligament injury.

I'm just glad there was a World Cup to keep people occupied otherwise it would have been twice as bad on here over the summer.

Based on our league position last year they won't, as we are a much better team that St. Mirren. However, neither of these assertions will influence the game on Saturday. The only thing that matters is how we play. And while a few posters are already bemoaning the fact that they have a lack of interest and enthusiasm in the new season kicking off - I can't wait. I'll be delighted if we have to rely on some of our youngsters this season, and looking forward to seeing how they develop. Bring it on.

Unlesswe have adequate replacements for our missing players - then we will win.

other clubs have better punctuation

Are we trialling that striker from Nottingham this weekend?

To be fair, defence has been our weakness the last couple of seasons even with Hutch in the middle. Of course, other factors play in to that, but for some reason we continue to struggle as a unit.

I agree we may have suffered from lack of preparation, but don't think friendlies at Berwick or whatever are the answer. Our propensity to sit back and invite pressure is a long standing flaw that needs to be addressed in a competitive environment rather than a day trip to the coast.

What would you like him to say that we don't actually know already?

I wasn't being pernickety - I was responding to the comments that failing in Europe meant our budget was going to be cut. It hasn't been cut due to our failing in Europe. It was set prior to that. If you want to be pernickety, you can say that the same figure this year isn't worth the same as last year, but that is a different argument. (Oh, and if I was being really pernickety, I'd point out your misspelling of "pernickity")

Guys like Moore, Leitch, Hutchinson, Murphy, ZFA, Murray, Carswell have played in the first team before they were 20 (and Erwin most likely would have had he not been injured). Cadden is also listed in the first team squad this season. It's a tough call though, and I have some sympathy with the management team. On one hand, it's great to bring the youngsters in and blood them. On the other, the old "never change a winning team" mantra hangs over them every week. I would happily sacrifice a league position or two to bring on some of the youngsters - but I'm not sure everyone would. Moreover, from a financial perspective, swapping our last 2 season's league slots for Dundee Utd's would have seen a big dent in our budget. Of course, we might have been able to sell on one or two of the youngsters, but our financial structure is such that we are unlikely to get anything similar in transfer fees - Utd spend money there we could just never afford. Ultimately, as Melvin said earlier, we are a low risk club.

It would for Euro no-hopers like us. However, if you want to make the argument that there is 2 full months, then March - November won't work. Especially if you have a team that's involved in February or December Euro games. ( or if there is a summer break in World Cup or Euro years).

Vigurs, Ainsworth and, when he gets his chance, Thomas. (And I thought the budget was staying the same as last season)

The greater TV exposure (which I'm not convinced about) would be dependent on guys like Doncaster doing his job. I doubt Ireland has had greater TV exposure since they switched to summer.

We have already played 2 games in July, Einstein. So our season is running from July to May. And the only month with no competitive games for us is June. Feel free to point out the errors in that.

When Ireland switched to summer football, the attendances stayed the same. The problem for me is still the number of games. We basically play from July until May. That means June is the only full month with no matches. If you translate into summer football it would mean playing from mid-Feb until December followed by a break in January and then back to pre-season in midwinter. 18 team league, 34 games, winter shut down, keep the same basic season. Sorted.

Hmmm? I said it was my favourite myth (as witnessed by the number of times it is raised in this thread alone). I didn't say who believed it; that's left as an exercise for the interested reader.

Of all the myths surrounding our club, this is one of my favourites. Ojamaa, Higdon, Sutton, Vigurs, Lawson, Reid, Ainsworth, Josh Law, Twardzik, McFadden, Anier, Neilsen (off the top of my head) make this sound ridiculous.

I'd wait for the annual audit of accounts before assuming Utd. have paid off their debts. They have had other supposedly big money transfers in the past that haven't put them any place near that.

If that's what he expects, it's not bollocks - just different from your expectations.

I agree McCall isn't exactly Gannon-esque when it comes to youngsters, but guys like Moore, Carswell and Leitch aren't exactly old timers. And Hutchy was the ripe old age of 23 when he left.

As long as we keep Las away from the penatly box, we'll be in with a shout.

Not that I'm happy with our recent Cup performances, but if big teams in the EPL struggle with squad size and rotation to stay competitive in European, League and 2 Cup competitions, then we really have no chance. We play a style that generally works well over 38 games, but can be exploited in a one-off. Changing style just for Cup games is unlikely to work, so if we are to succeed in that area we might need to change our entire approach (and, I imagine would basically mean being more defensive). That is a high risk strategy given the potential downside of less league wins and still getting papped out the cups. Striking the balance between league and Cups is never going to be easy given our financial constraints, but I'd rather see league success than Cup success in the long term.