mfc88

I think it was that the sponsorship deal wasn't in place. Similar to more recently before paycare was secured the strip was available to buy. Side rambling, but I came across a sponsoless home strip for sale on Ebay a while back that I genuinely didn't recognise - it was the 16/17 home strip, which is an absolute belter without the sponsor (motorpoint). Wishing I'd bought it now 😒

All I'd say is if we have the same template of a home strip every year, just with a mildly different trim or sponsor, then i'd certainly end up buying less of them. Anyone know when the away strip is out??

Agree with the first comment. Saying that I like the new strip.... except for the sledgehammer of a sponsor across the front of course. Regarding your second point, personally I like the fact we've mixed it up a bit recently, switching between something traditional and something different every other season... keeps things interesting if nothing else. Looking forward to the away kit. Would love to see claret with amber band. Not done that since early 00s if im not mistaken? 🤔

Not too long ago on youtube I stumbled across a game of us vs killie in the 90s. Didn't watch it all, but pre match they were playing "my hometown" by bruce Springsteen and it took me back! I don't know if it just sticks in my mind due to my young age at the time but I seem to remember it getting played every single home game 😂

After their second goal, robinson acted like a prick turning around to goad the well fans in that area. Not surprised he endured some stick after that. Yes this was olusanya, not long before his second yellow. Second yellow seems soft when you see it in isolation but very lucky to get away with that one which was probably fresh in the refs mind.

Went for koutroumbis - decent showing on his first start and didn't appear to tire like I thought he might given the lack of game time. And is it just me or was the formation more of a 343 as opposed to 352?

Would love that appointment for nostalgic reasons, but don't know much about his credentials tbh. Assistant at man utd for a few years so must have a bit about him. I know I'm the same, have always dreaded relegation but today is the first time I've thought fuck it, playing in the championship can't be any worse than this. Whoever the new manager is needs to be able to give the fans a lift as much as the players.

Game - absolutely woeful. Can't be bothered saying any more. Manager rumours - Michael O'Neill sitting in the stand. But is he not still NI manager? Probably a red herring if so.

Didn't hear it either, but I don't think Tam Cowan touting lennon will have any influence on the boards decision.... or if it does we have much bigger problems 😬 Edit: and by that I don't mean the next manager in charge!!

Yeah for sure... season 18/19 for example, we would have had campbell, turnbull, hastie and cadden all in the starting line up. I'm sure there's other examples of that as well, and I could be missing one or two players in that list. I was just trying to plot out what year they established themselves. Not looked into it any more than above, but as I said it feels like on aveage 1 academy graduate per season establishing themselves as a first teamer, which seems decent IMO.

If you look back over the last 20 years or so, we have probably averaged 1 academy player per season becoming a regular in the first team. Off the top of my head from the last 10 seasons (timings may be slightly off, possibly forgetting one or two also). 24/25 Wilson 23/24 Miller 22/23 Johnson 21/22 Cornelius 20/21 Maguire 19/20 Scott 18/19 Turnbull, Hastie 17/18 Campbell 16/17 Cadden 15/16 Hall I don't know how that compares to other SPL clubs but can't imagine any will be doing much better.

There's also the question of what have the club or WS done/ are doing about it? Other than taking one man's word for it and villainizing the fans, the vast majority who are innocent. He did get a few pelters at FT on sat. I didn't hear anything that I would have described as "personal", but I left pretty sharp. Perhaps it got worse, or perhaps that's enough for him which is fine, it's all subjective. Just feel the club could have been be a bit smarter here, take the sting out of it. We don't have a huge fanbase and pissing off what we have isn't a good idea.

Absolutely spot on. Well put.

Kettlewell was what we needed 2 years ago. He dug us out a hole then, and he can certainly take credit for good things in those 2 years. Unfortunatley, we've never really kicked on from his first half season, and his footballing philosophy for the club is no longer working. Good luck for the future Stuart.

Offended is a strong word, but it did annoy me. I'm assuming it was aimed at the fans... because if it wasn't, surely he would have clarified that? No fan expects SK to take their advice, because that would be mental. But when you have paying customers saying they're not happy about the product, you can't dismiss that. Can you imagine you bought a new iPhone and it was faulty, complained to apple and they replied with "well you've never made a phone before so....". No one would be having it. Something needs addressed and it's his job to figure it out. I hope he does but so far he's not, nor shown any signs at an attempt to. First half yesterday was an improvement from last week (not difficult tbf) but 1 up at half time and we reverted to type. I'm sure I wasn't the only one that saw an equaliser coming.

Na no worries at all mate, no need for apologies 👍

It was just a throwaway statement to end my post tbh. I get your point but football management is a volatile career in the public eye, and going to be open to scrutiny. SK knows that. I don't think it's unreasonable to discuss the team or manager constructively from a fans perspective on here, as long as its in the right manner. I note a few posters mentioning overly aggressive words directed at him on social media - I tend not to pay attention to that, but 100% that is not on. For the record, I don't want to come across as disrespectful towards SK, and I've acknowledged the positives of his reign in previous posts.

Has SK done good things with us? Yes. Is SK going to get us relegated anytime soon? Probably not. Is he the man to take the club forward, next season and beyond? Not for me. Our performance in most away games this season and also (the one that hurts the most) the semi final is basically the blueprint of why not for me. Set up to contain/ not lose and surrendering 65+% possession each game, regardless of opponent. Feels we are simply making up the numbers i.e. doing enough but with very little to shout about. Compare the SF this season to the two SFs and even cup final performances in 17/18 - they are world's apart. I think most would agree on the first 2 points. I'd be interested to hear why he is the man to take the club forward? And what can we achieve with SK in charge? Its all good discussion btw ✌️

That's kind of taken out of context - my point is where are we headed? Well we have just played the team rooted to the bottom of the league in front of a massive away support and didn't lay a glove on them. We have no given right to win yesterday, but that was unacceptable and a repeating theme particularly away from home. It doesn't matter where we are now if we're 11th come may. Can't disagree for the most part. For the record, I'm not saying knee jerk sack. Relegation is an unlikely scenario just now, so it would be prudent to wait before any change when better/ more candidates are available. But questions are rightly being asked of the team and manager right now because of our repeated and currently failing approach to games.

Just as well!!

Regarding the first part, surely it's less "whether", more "how long does he get to show it"? That's 2 years at the helm now and he turned around our fortunes when he came in. Kudos for that - absolutely. When SK came in, he made a big thing about going back to basics, doing the basics right, then adding in layers after. What were the layers and when were they supposedly introduced? For me, we have gone backwards in the last 18 months. I don't buy the "but we're sitting 5th" argument. We will be where we will be at the end of the season, and on recent showing it won't be 5th. It worries me if we are accepting of a good start, then failing to build on it but "its okay because we have enough in the bank". That's not the attitude I want from those running my club. I am completely accepting that we will lose games and go on bad runs, but how we rectify that and improve is what will define us season on season. I'm not seeing anything that suggests a collective or sustainable improvement, or even an attempt at that, over the last 18 months - its been treading water in the league while the product on the park goes to sh1t.

Ah, I had it in my head that it was a year extension for some reason.

The conundrum is that SK will probably see us to safety again this year. Reality is we're probably only 7-10 points away from that. And if things go our way, possibly top 6 spot but I doubt it tbh. He's not getting sacked barring a disaster, but between now and the end of the season the board really need to decide what we are as a football club. Are we a club that is happy trudging by each season, picking up enough points in the league and making up the numbers in the cups? Or do we need to be more than that, giving fans something to get excited about? And yes, you can have both. My worry is we limp by to the end of the season and extend SKs deal. I do appreciate the positive aspects of SKs reign, but I just don't see that we're going anywhere under him now - he steadied a sinking ship and has taken us as far as he can, but now its gone stale and fans are dissipating... fast. We preach about being a community club - so give the community a club they believe in. It's getting harder and harder with each passing week at the moment, especially away from home, it's fucking woeful stuff. This is almost a copy & paste of GAs tenure.

Anyone with insider knowledge know about the lennon miller injury? Official website just states that he's seeing a specialist...

That is insanity. In addition, we continually hear "clear and obvious"... the moment you have to start drawing lines when the two players in question are next to each other, is the moment you can conclude its not "clear and obvious".