El Grew

Some typically sensationalist tripe from a sensationalist tripe comic book. Its common knowledge that Smith is more than likely to want to move at the end of the season. Have we not signed the ICT keeper on a pre-contract deal? This would appear to suggest that MM has already prepared for Smith exiting at the end of the season and destroys their theory that Smith going to Hibs stunning MM and our showing interest in Howard from St Mirren. A non-story if ever there was one. Yawn!!!!!!!!!

Aye well in that case the Duchess Park, Strathclyde Park and my back garden (in particular order) grass are in better nick that FP!!!

Much has been said about the state of the pitch and there have been numerous reasons suggested for it by everyone and their grannie including Pat Nevin. Its clear that the major problem area is from about 20 yards from the halfway line to the goal line at the South Stand end. Personally, I think it began with the installation of USH and was compounded by the building of the South Stand which has undoubtedly caused drainage problems at that end with the obstruction of daylight also being a contributory factor. Like many I've attended FP for yonks, in fact going way back to the middle 1960s but I can honestly say that the pitch was never even close to being in the condition it is now. The only part of the pitch which ever held water, and only if there was torrential rain, was a small area near the corner flag between the South Stand and the POD Stand, but it never caused postponement of games. When games were postponed it was for frozen pitches - but then nobody had USH. As for having to go down 40 feet to resolve the problems, this is quite simply ridiculous and anyone suggesting this kind of thing should start taking water with it. FFS when golf clubs have to lift and replace greens they dont need to go these extremes. St Andrew's is open 365 days/year and has thousands of rounds of golf played, tramped on by thousands of visitors, suffers wind, rain and frost and yet still manages to be kept playable. Having said all of this, I do think we should relocate to a new ground but where and using what for money? Due to the state of the economy FP is perhaps not worth very much. Having said that, it is prime residential land and could be highly desirable to the right people even if they now were to pay much more than its present market value, for future development.

Like everyone else I'm delighted to get a point and keep our unbeaten league run going. Strachan was talking wind and piss when he said if Celtic had taken half their chances they'd have won 5-0. Celtic only had two real clear cut openings - McDonald's shot and Hesselink's header in the first half - admittedly both should have scored. I certainly felt we matched Celtic for effort and commitment for the entire game and for this alone I thought we merited a draw. However, there is no hiding from the fact that we are well short in the midfield area. Not for the first time recently, our midfielders failed to get beyond our strikers and although we drew, for us as being the home side and not to force the away keeper to make a single save is very worrying and unacceptable.

Whilst I appreciate the sentiments behind your suggestions Kmcalpin I really think that to ask supporters to put their hands in their pockets again given the current climate, tcket pricing fiasco and bearing in mind how the chairman has treated them in the past, is simply not on. Anyway I'm not persuaded that the pitch problems are all USH related. I think the standard of groundskeeping leaves a lot to be desired. Witness the different colours of sand used on the pitch - it looks as though they used anything they had lying around. Like thousands of others, I paid for my season ticket in advance and by taking our money and that of everyone who pays at the gate, they enter into a binding contract with us to put on football matches in the SPL and to ensure that in doing so they comply with the rules of the SPL and ant other legislation that is applicable. That contract has been broken. Who says so? The SPL! Hence the suspended fine in relation to the state of the pitch. Its all to do with the club being run by a chairman who is so potless that the club can't even manage to have pitch fit for purpose. I really fear for the club if we don't get a move away from FP because between the pitch and the work required to the Phil O'Donnell Stand its fast becoming a millstone round the club's neck.

Honestly no better or worse than any other Scottish referee in charge of the OF. They allow themselves to be intimidated and conned far too easily. But then they are like electricity - they always take the course of least resistance. Incidentally, it wasn't Strachan that got Klimpl booked for the challenge on Naylor - it was his Mr Angry sidekick Gary Pendrey who spent the entire game behaving like a cross between The Tasmanian Devil and a Werewolf. Quite what the 4th official is there for is beyond me.

Did you really knock back Hearts to stay with this lot?

Nah!! He's waiting on big Putalineon getting the heave at Hibs.

We were rank rotten in the first half and Hamilton were unlucky to go in a goal down at half-time. I think the main reason for our poor first half was the formation. MM went 4-4-2 playing Smith wide right and O'Brien wide left (out of position having had about 6 great games on the right). With Klimpl playing in front of our back four this left only Hughes in the midfield and he was simply our numbered. Billy Reid had also done his homework and Hammell who is normally our main attacking threat on the left was never really a forward threat in the first half as he was man marked by Mensing. MM changed the tactics second half and asked the players to get the ball forward much quicker by missing out midfield and play on the second phase ball and this certainly worked very well and gave us more attacking threat. It allowed Hughes to push much further up the park to support Sheridan and Clarkson who ran the Hamitlon defence ragged. As a result I thought we dominated for much of the second half and were unlucky on a few occasions not to get a second goal including what seemed a legitimate penalty. Hamilton played a lot of good football but really lack goal scoring threat. They remind me very much of ICT when they came into the SPL in the way that they have four really big bruising defenders. McCarthy and McArthur are both very good players but once they lose them I think they will be a very ordinary side.

Methinks this is merely a temporary stay of execution.

Keith MacRae Luc Nijholt Brian Martin Graham Forbes Joe Wark Peter Millar Vic Davidson Bobby Russell Willie Pettigrew Bobby Graham Davie Cooper

Top man The 'Grew. Best and most natural goal scorer I've ever seen at FP. Knew where the goal was by pure instinct and always believed shooting on sight before 'keepers could set themselves. His partnership with Bobby Graham was fantastic and if they were having their careers over again, we probably wouldn't be able to hold them. I remember seeing his first game at FP when he came on as a second half sub. Caught offside so many times the fans demanded he be taken back off again!!! He was so green and playing on the shoulder of the last defender is never easy but you could see that when he worked that out he was going to be very good. I'll never forget his winner against Cup holders Celtic in first round at FP in 1976 after we had been 0-2 down at halftime. BBC Commentator Alastair Alexander - "Pettigrew! Pettigrew! Oh a sensational goal!" Pure magic.

Agh....... Trust me mate I've been going to FP for yonks and its never been in the state its in now - and that's with some of the worst winters we ever had. I'll certainly compliment them if, and its a big if, if they get the pitch sorted out once and for all next season.

A lot of fairy stories - the originator's name should be Grimm. We had one of the most skilful teams in the SPL at that time and had been in the semi-final of the cup for the previous two seasons: Rennie Willie Watson Gregor Stevens Willie McVie Joe Wark Vic Davidson Peter Millar Stuart MacLaren Peter Marinello Bobby Graham Willie Pettigrew At that time St Mirren had been farting around the First Division for a long time and I for one always regarded them as a lower league team and still do. They have spent as much time in the lower leagues as they did in the top league. Yes they had a good young team that day but a very naive one. We played them off the park with Marinello, Davidson, Graham and Pettigrew running them ragged. It finished 2-1 but it could have been 4 or 5. Peter Millar and Stuart MacLaren did what all good ball winning midfield players do. They went in hard but fair, won the ball and gave it to the aforementioned guys to strut there stuff. St Mirren couldn't get the ball in the midfield and so couldn't really play and it was this that got up Fergie's beak. He had to find some excuse for his team getting beat - and still does. So he perpetuated one of the greatest lies ever that Motherwell kicked his St Mirren off the park that day. I'm old enough to have seen him play and he was no shrinking violet and made up for his lack of skill and pace by kicking his opponents.

Teams going into the draw on Monday: - Aberdeen or East Fife Airdrie or Dunfermline Celtic Falkirk Forfar or Rangers Hamilton Inverness Motherwell or St Mirren How about this: Celtic V Rangers Falkirk V Aberdeen Hamilton V Inverness Motherwell V Dunfermline If we can only get the bigot brothers drawn against each other then it could be a interesting Cup this season. Knowing Motherwell of old however, even if we do get past St Mirren we'll find a way to f*ck things up.

Aye but what kind of work? JCB racing? Its still a disgrace. Three of the most northerly pitches in the SPL are in the coldest and arguably wettest part of the country yet they are not in the state our pitch is in. When Stephen Hughes says there are better amateur pitches than ours, he's not wrong - I've seen some of them. We are already awaiting to see what the size of the fine will be for the postponement of the Hearts match. The pitch has cost us money and may well do so again. Its also beginning to cost us valuable points in the SPL, which ultimately will mean costing us more money. Jeez it was obvious in pre-season friendlies the pitch was crap - it looked as though there had been an oil slick in the penalty box at the South Stand end and there were bare patches all over the place. I commented on here about it at the time. There are no excuses for the current condition of the Fir Park pitch so don't come on here pleading for patience. Its high time senior management at the club got this sorted out once and for all.

Excellent post Kmc. Hits the nail right on the head. We could've been out of the cup yesterday as a result of his needless interference. Did he not do the same for the game at home to Nancy? Personally, I think apart from their goal after 12 minutes, we ran the game, We had the majority of possession, played all the football but found it impossible to succeed on a surface "presented" more for motocross than a first class football match. On a better pitch we'd have won the game easily. On a newly laid pitch at St Mirren I'm confident we can beat them playing our natural passing game in a 4-4-2 formation.

The pitch is a bloody disgrace. I would venture the following points: 1. Every pitch in the country is not 'in a state' at this time of year - ICT, Kilmarnock and Dundee Utd pitches are in really good nick just now. 2. The deterioration in the FP pitch did not happen overnight as the pitch and its maintenance (or lack of it) have been awful for a number of years now. 3. Moving is not the only solution to having a good pitch - get it dug up, sort out all the drainage problems, fix the undersoil heating, relay a quality surface. The get decent groundstaff in to maintain the bloody thing. Yes it will cost money to remedy it but so what because it needs to be sorted. Our manager and team strengths are in playing a passing game and with a pitch like this its costing us dear as it takes the skill factor out of the game and teams we would normally pass off the park are able to come and get results they hardly deserve.

I thought we'd have got around 8,000 yesterday but....... I reckon there was about 6,000 at the game. Its certainly changed days since the time in 1978 when St Mirren were at FP on Scottish Cup business when around 27,000 watched it. Ah those were the days. Remembering and reminiscing.

Not a day to be passing judjement on player who had to play on that excuse for a football pitch. Young Marc was no worse than anyone else in C&A yesterday and I like others who have posted didn't here any jeers or boos when he was subbed. Fans need to get real. The young guy is out there doing his level best for his team and on a surface that would have made even Pele or Maradonna look shoddy. I hope he doesn't let it get to him because he is a good player and maybe just lacks confidence in himself. He has stamina to burn and always makes unselfish willing runs to into great positions in the opposition box which mostly go unnoticed and even when he doesn't receive a pass he still keeps making the runs. Keep it up young Marc and ignore the morons.

No doubt about it our Leader made a right bollocks of his tactics for yesterday's game. He termed it a 4-3-3 but IMO with 4 midfield players on from the start it was really 4-5-1. When you add that the only player starting with any sort of a regular goalscoring history (Clarkson) was being used as a target man then it was a recipe for trouble. It shouldn't have taken until half-time to sort it either. St Mirren are nothing special with only 19 goals scored in 24 league games but they are defensively solid with the 4th best defensive record in the league. Their tactics were simple but on a shocker of a pitch they were very effective. Long ball up to two big strikers who knocked it down for midfield runners. No messing about playing their way up the park for them as they determined to start playing their football about 20 yards from our goal. The Leader needs to stop mucking about and play his strongest side in its strongest formation from the beginning in every game.

Would have taken a point before game so quite happy. We are now 6 games unbeaten since the New Year, which is pretty good going. Only disappointment was not beating Falkirk last week. No danger of the dreaded R word so maybe the guys can settle down, relax, play some football and maybe get a wee cup run and sneak up the league. Not impossible to get 3rd or 4th place both of which qualify for the UEFA Cup.

I think in relation ot Billy Reid and John Hughes, because of the precarious situations their respective clubs are/were in, gambles were being taken on the bringing in of new players. They have to weigh-up the cost of this against the cost of dropping out of the SPL so maybe feel it is worth it. Given their respective results today, it may be paying off for them. As for our own situation in terms of finance, I think that fans maybe expect too much. Where is extra income to come from? In the current financial climate and perhaps for a long time to come, it will be increasingly harder for us to run with an overdraft at the bank, attract sponsorship and attract corporate sponsorship. We seem only to be able attract around 4,500 to home games at FP and really unless this were to increase its impossible to see where we could 'generate extra income' from. Next season may be worse, as fans, due to their own personal circumstances, might not be able to afford a season ticket or to attend all games. This will only worsen matters. Personally, I think managers will need to able to do what their predecessors used to do - trawl around the lower leagues and try to unearth players that maybe capable of making the step up. Low risk strategy with possibility of high rewards.

Latest news on Derby County website - Nigel Clough revealed that the club has made a bid to sign a new striker on a permanent deal, but didn't want to name the player until the signing is concluded one way or another. "We are looking to add to the squad at the moment and we are hoping to get a striker in. The chairman is dealing with it but we hope it will be a very good piece of business if we can get it concluded." Porter anyone?