Kmcalpin

Not as far as I know, although he has an active interest in MFC. Has a job outside football.

Liam Gordon is now available again after illness.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

I met Stevie Kirk at our local coup this afternoon. Looking well and very pleased with our current form.

For security reasons apparently after the last Celtic fiasco.

Kofi Balmer interesting Derry City after Ross County deal went cold.

Thats a fair summary. The game turned out pretty much how I expected. Had it finished 0-0, it wouldn't have surprised me. Dundee learnt a lot from Falkirk and Dundee United and were prepared to change their normal game to nullify us. In the process they sterilised themselves. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for us, they had no control over the ballboys or groundsmen. We were always going to struggle against a team sitting in and without TJ's spark it was no surprise that we were toothless. Good leading up play but final passes going astray and a defence benefitting from good luck - far from a perfect combination. The story of our season so far. That said, we did win and deservedly so. It could easily have been 3 or 4 zero. Patience won the day though and Slatts notched the vital winner. Individually, I thought that McGinn, Welsh Fadinger and Just caught the eye. RCC just didn't cut it and perhaps Said could have been introduced earlier. A bit concerning that Gordon was nowhere to be seen - hopfully just rotation. No Balmer either. What does impress me about JBA's reign is his ability to rotate the squad wthout disrupting our gameplan. Thats quite something. We desperately need a more lethal finisher and I'm sure that'll be in JBA's shopping list in the January sales. A final word on yesterday's referee. Not a dirty game. No major errors or VAR interventions fortunately but a string of overly fussy decisions and a bit easily conned by the likes of Yogane. He didn't like his linesmen telling him what to do either - a shame really because on 3 occasions they were right and he was wrong.

Not really a former player, but Olly Whyte scored the winner for Stenhousemuir today.

Today will be a tough game, as I suspect Dundee will sit in and make life difficult for us. Still, if we play to form we should be good enough to earn a win. On this occasion we can control the ballboys and pitch watering.

Yes, we don't want to turn Fir Park into another version of Parkhead or Ibrox. Keep politics well out of Fir Park.

Pretty much agree with that Grizzly. Its not an issue for me personally as I drive to and from games. I suspect there's more like me. The issue boils down to extra income for the club. If I didn't drive, it wouldn't cause me any great hardship to go without alcohol for 90 minutes. For some though, its a bit like voting and the suffragettes. Its not about having a drink during games its about the right to have a drink during games if they want to do so. Freedom of choice if you want. All that said, I have no problem if folk drink during games as long as those who can't handle alcohol desist.

🤣 I was sitting at the back of the stand chatting to our group before kick off, when a steward approached and eyeballed me. In an aggressive fashion he said standing was not permitted at games. I replied that I knew and that was why I wasn't standing. I also pointed out politely that 80% of the crowd was standing and he should address that. He then kicked off and threatened to have me ejected for disruptive behaviour. A totally manuactured problem. Over the years the stewards at Tannadice and Dens have earned a reputation for being unjustifiably troublesome. Given that and my experience I'm always sceptical of accepting accounts at face value. Yes the behaviour of some in Block E can be OTT at times, but in my admittedly limited dealings with them they've always been perfectly fine.

Hopefully, Stephen Welsh will be passed fit for Saturday. Concussion rules seem to be: 1) a graduated return to play protocol means that the player involved can't return to full training or match action for 7 days. 2) A more severe concussion would see a player ruled out for longer Source: Dundee Courier.

Having being victimised by security at Tannadice myself before, I'd like to to hear the Block E lads' version of events before arriving at any conclusion.

Its been like that for days with no correction. Typical BBC. Maybe its time someone sued them...oh wait.

The fact that he landed the Kilmarnock gig, probably meant that any compensation we agreed to fork out came to an end. Killie's parting cash is none of our concern.

Dundee likely to be without Ryan Astley, adding to their defensive woes.

A friend texted me with an account of the Ball Boys incident. They were placing balls near the corner flags to stop us taking quick bykicks. JBA sent Tom Sparrow to move them in line with the 6 yard box. The Ball Boys then kept moving them back. Pathetic gamesmanship from Jim Goodwin. Thanks Ian. Although I wasn't at the game nor at Falkirk, the referees should have stepped in and nipped this practice in the bud. Its downright cheating. This and "selective" watering of plastic pitches should be subject to a code of conduct issued by the authorities to stamp this kind of thing out. Its bringing the game into disrepute.

Not a crunch game in the true sense, but an important one nonetheless if we're serious about a top 6 challenge. Dundee hasn't got the best defensive record in the league; in fact its joint worst with Livingston. However thats only a factor if we can pressurise them and get the ball into their box. JT will be absent as might Stephen Welsh. Two potentially big losses. Hopefully, JBA will pick a more adventurous defence.

This is where JBA earns his corn, like every other manager. John McGlynn and Jim Goodwin changed their game to negate us but in doing so sacrificed their own game, although the media won't say that. Its now up to JBA to tweak our own approach to counteract that. And, so it goes on... Yes, it was a more cautious team selection and presumably JBA got it very slightly wrong.

What exactly happened at these games?

Yes, I think we will make it, but I've watched the Well for too many years now to take anything for granted. We can't afford to rest on our laurels. Today proved that we are still blunt up top even though we are one of the league's top galscorers. We've drawn quite a few games in which we dominated possession buit couldn't put the ball in the net.

Not a great result but not a bad one. It still keeps us in the hunt for a top 6 place. If we want to achieve that though we need to convert draws into wins and source a striker next month. Draws on the road are fine as long as you win the home games.

As a generalisation, typical of United fans.

Yes, a lot of our defensive success can be attributed to denying the opposition possession near our box. Ward is a good fit for our system. Like Grizzly though, I'm not 100% convinced of his reliability at cross balls. As Big Mal once said "The greatest crime in football is to make your goalkeeper do any work at all".