Kmcalpin

I haven't yet seen the annual accounts but would have expected a profit. Did some of the KVV and Bair money not fall within that year as well as a League Cup semi final? SK pay off?

As our standard of football is the highest its been for decades, its no surprise that our attendances have risen; certainly moreso that I would have expected at the start of the season. Over the past 20/30 years we've had a variety of short term initiatives to boost them, all with very limited temporary success. As many of you would have expected, success on the field and also entertainment value have had a lot to do with the encouraging statistics. Stating the bleeding obvious I hear you say. Many of us felt that a average of about 5,500 - 5,900 was our absolute ceiling. So far this season, our average has been 7,944. That seems to be the highest since 1998-99, when the average was 8,511. Of course there are always annual factors such as top 6 success or number of games against the gruesome twosome that affect the detailed statistics. The bottom line is though, that our average this season is roughly 2,000 more per game than our long term average. Thats quite an achievement. It means a better atmosphere; bigger gate receipts; increased hospitality; increased catering income; higher programme sales; half time draw income; and boosted shop sales. This will be reflected in the balance sheet. All good. Then we have increased wider benefits to our good friends in the likes of the New Century Bar, Steelworks, Upper Crust, Tim Hortons, Dalzell Bowling Club and last but not least the HMRC. Sadly, our one failure was our inability to save Club 100. Although I was never a customer, due to personal circumstances, I know quite a few of you were devastated at its demise. Our challenge now is to maintain this increase in future years irrespective of managerial and other short term changes. We have to retain these new or lapsed fans. This season does show though what can be done, if the product is right. It will give the Well Society a tangible fillip.

Thats my understanding. Presumsbly, Watt was just bring managed last night and is fit.

Great post Joe. What got to me was when he rightly pulled up Rangers players for stealing yards at throw ins. They retreat, as instructed, but then continue to steal yards before the actual throw in. No action taken. At Fadinger's yellow card he is surrounded by 3 Rangers players, including Ratkins, mouthing off at him.

Aye, thats true Grizzly, but he failed to penalise Scott Vernon in the build up and to red card Mark Reynolds. What a day though! More recently he was in charge of the Falkirk game, when Ibrahim Said's wonder goal was chalked off.

You must sit near us in the POD. We had a clear view of the incident and it was a stick on red. However, it was a mistimed tackle with no malicious intent. No complaints about that. What did annoy me though was Raskins getting in Steven MacLean's face after Fadinger had been yellow carded pleading for him to be sent off. His opinion obviously carried great weight. Very poor behaviour which needs called out. Steven Maclean had a very poor game as mentioned by many others. His decision making was riddled with inconsistencies. * His failure to play on when Said was fouled. We assumed, wrongly, that he stopped play to card the Rangers player but no. * Why wasn't Soutar red cardd for cynically bringing down a breaking Just? I'm not one to push conspiracy theories with referees but Steven Maclean really does seem to dislike us for some reason. Agree with your comment about the crowd. Yet again, our figures are substantially different from the BBC's. Aunty says 9,800 whilst MFC says 11,200. I very much doubt if there were about 4,000 empty seats. Great to see increased crowds.

Overall, happy with last night's performance and result especially as we went down to 10 men but never gave up and went at them. I did have a feeling before HT that we'd see a red card but thought that it would be Said. As someone in our group said, Sevco played like a more expensive version of Livingston or Killie i.e. kick everything that moves. Sevco adapted their game to nullify us and it worked to a certain extent as we saw through their effective policing of JT. I thought we played at about 75% of full capacity but lacked that killer punch up front that you need to beat the gruesome twosome. One point of concern was that in the last 3 games we've gifted the opposition an early chance and last night it cost us dearly. We fully deserved our draw and probably even the 3 points but weren't quite good enough to pull a win off. Some excellent and exciting football but with some sloppy edges but JBA knows that. This season will be a vintage season, probably in the Ancell Babes mould i.e. a great footballing team that wins nought. I'm really looking forward to next season though and if we can improve in our weak areas, with or without JBA, then a cup is a real possibility. A good team performance last night but I thought our best players were McGinn, my MOTM, Welsh, O'Donnell and Priestman.

This. He's doing exactly what he was signed to do and its now his second assist despite limited gametime. Not a spectacular striker but one who can cause opposition teams damage in their box. Had Ap Stam or Hendry been brought on instead last night, we'd have lost the game.

Thats a question for a particular minister in the Scottish Government. Political pressure was brought to bear on the SPFL to apply strict liability for pyro abuse but they lack the backbone and political will to tackle sectarianism. Tonight's chanting was medieval and offensive but as usual, the media is complicit in concealing it.

And thats precisely why we won't finish in the top 3 or win the Cup this season.

I've been going to Fir Park for too many years to get my hopes up. As you say, tonight will pretty much tell us where we stand. Without going full MJC, I still think we're a little short, relatively speaking, this season to be considered as serious league or cup contenders. Next season though?

Its been that way for years and years Joe and despite repeated pleas nothing has changed. For many, its bad enough having to leave home habitually 2 hours before a game without taking into account traffic congestion and queues at the ticket office. I honestly don't know if the club has ever tried to resolve this issue.

Absolutely. We're not going to finish in the top 3 and last night's result was a real bonus for us. Happy days. It keeps Hibs 4 points behind us with 2 more games played. That takes a lot of pressure off us tonight and if we can scrape a draw it will be a fantastic Wednesday night for us. A tall order though. You'd imagine that Falkirk will swat aside Dundee and although they'd only be 4 points below us, they'd have played a game more. We can now enjoy tonight's game without worrying too much about the result. Hopefully the pitch and weather will allow us to play entertaining football.

A good move for all parties concerned. Lets hope it works out. I agree Grizzly. We currently have 3 out and out strikers. Of those, 2 are currently injured and the other is still gaining match fitness. Can't think of any young strikers about to break through.

I doubt if they'll win it but they'll certainly be in the mix. A very good cup team. They can grind out wins, turn up on big occasions and have that invaluable quality needed to win cups - good luck.

We've given Nick Daws some brickbats in the past, so its only right that he and his team earn some credit here too. Recruitment successes weren't all down to SK.

Being somewhat cynical, how much does that earn us?

Thats the last JBA said about them.

"Sometime in February".

Who me?

I suspect that Aberdeen will try their damndest to ensure Saturday's game is on after yesterday's unexpected flash flood.

Absolutely. McGhee and McGinn can also play on the right but not on the left. LB is a weak area.

Not a million miles away from my view Joe. In short we have to keep ahead, if only slightly, of our peer clubs. Its not just what we do or don't do, its what they do too. Performance and results wise we've done really well this season, and I didn't expect, at the outset, that to happen this quickly or at all to be frank. However we can't rest on our laurels. We have got a little cash in the war chest and whilst we can't afford to squander that or eat into other budgets, hopefully it'll help to boost summer recruitment.

Overall, I'd say its been a decent to good window; probably rating around an 8 out of 10. It could have been much worse, for example if we'd failed to secure another striker, lost a centre back and lost TJ. It could have been slightly better if we'd signed another LB. To add to the mix we have McGhee and Nicholson back now. I always believe that the time to strengthen is when things are going well and if we want to hold onto 4th or even drop to 5th place then more of the same simply won't do. To clarify, I mean the personnel not the system which will continue to work well. Ostensibly both Aberdeen and Hibs have strengthened and even if only some of their new recruits hit the ground running then they'll threaten us. Fortunately we have a decent cushion over both. We mustn't ignore Falkirk either as they are a credible threat and may have strengthened slightly. If we fall to 6th I'd still be delighted. If we drop to 5th place I'll still be over the moon and if we can hang onto 4th place I'll be ecstatic. Finishing in the top 3 whilst theoretically possible is pretty much beyond us. A Scottish cup run? Not so sure this time round. I really think we can achieve something next season though, with or without JBA.

You were spot on. I tip my baseball cap to you sir.