Kmcalpin

A pertinent question Denny, which has not been answered. I think it has been raised before on here, and still no answer has been forthcoming. The current Dalziel Trust is currently a friendly and cooperative landlord, but as you rightly point out, we can't always assume that to be the case. It has to put its own interests, and not those of MFC, first. We can only guess that the lease is very long term i.e. something like 99 years but we simply don't know. Also, we have not been told what if any legal safeguards have been built into the agreement. It raises all manner of questions.

Good post David. I'm not sure that a vote would be absolutely necessary; it may be, but at the very least, the members should have been kept informed and we weren't. As has been posted before, the members and indeed the wider fan base, only found out about the Dalziel development completely by accident, after a vigilant fan stumbled across the application on the Council's weekly list. Indeed its highly likely that "non fans" (i.e. local residents), if I may be allowed to use that term, were informed before fans. The Club and Society should have been more open by publicising the proposals in advance. Its a very newsworthy item - why would you not do that?

Lucas Weir goes out on loan to Cowdenbeath. I didn't know his father is David Weir.

The Society, as club owners (or in effect we, the ordinary members/fans) does need to be a bit more transparent especially over the feasibility study. The club has, quite rightly, been very professional and discreet in playing matters such as the appointment of our new manager and players. Our financial position is also healthy in the extreme. So well done to it for that. Quite an achievement all told. Of late, communication from the Society has been much improved through the roadshows for example. An encouraging development. However, this improvement has not extended to governance or major decisions of strategic importance on which the members should be consulted. Transparency has been in short supply. As an example, I checked the Society Board meeting minutes and found that the last ones to be uploaded to the website relate to 15 September 2025, almost a year ago. As a fan based organisation, the Society should be more open. Goggles & Flippers and Joewarkfanclub have both made excellent posts, with which I agree, in the last few days and they reflect my views. We've placed our trust in the Society Board, and through them in the club itself. It shouldn't be too much to ask that they be more transparent with us over major issues like stadium improvement/relocation.

It may help in some cases, but its really tinkering round the edges. For many young lads, a first team salary of say £2k weekly up here would pale into insignificance against a salary of say £5,000 a week at a Wolves or Bournemouth. If the SFA ever impose financial penalties on clubs not giving youngsters game time then the fines should be based on turnover and not be a flat rate.

Good post Denny. The biggest single issue is that of compensation payable by large English clubs. By dangling very attractive salaries to young Scots, they hoover up the best talent. Thats a very hard nut to crack, but the SFA can't ignore that. Most of these youngsters head south and then return home a year or two later. Understandable,but it does stunt their development.

Its a half baked daft idea which will achieve nothing. Larger clubs would simply ignore any requirement and take the relatively modest financial hit.

Can we compete with big English clubs who pay out fortunes to lure young players to their academies? How do we crack that one?

You could well be right Allan but the club should be doing more than just hinting about its preferred option. It should be coming out and telling us.

Lets start with the SFA...

I'm fully with you this Goggles, as I've said before. Now we could discuss ad infinitum on this thread about the actual size of a proposed new stadium ranging anywhere from 10K to 18K and all stops in between, but thats for another day. Yes, a new stadium would be very expensive but so would staying at Fir Park as you show here. Costs apart, Fir Park is now no longer fit for purpose in 2026. As you rightly say our stadium is hemmed in by a 20th century land use legacy. The footprint is very tight and limits what can be done. Specific points: * The POD is on life support and needs demolished and replaced urgently. Space for development is severely restricted by the housing near Mrs Baillies. That will never change. * The Hunter Stand at minimum needs a new roof. Its the wrong shape, with access limited to one end and as we've seen recently long queues building up on busy match days. There is no room whatsoever to expand to the east. Catering and toilet facilities are poor and always will be. The views are also poor due to the low inclination of the seating and steel supports, which result in impaired access for some. * The McLean Stand is ageing and replacement of seating is already an issue. * The Cooper Stand is probably in the best health, but the hospitality facilities are sub standard and access for disabled fans is problematic, if not impossible. * At some stage, the floodlights will need replacement but I've no idea of the cost of that. No doubt there other maintenance issues about which we are unaware. Safety standards are ever evolving and each year more work needs to be done, at considerable cost, just to maintain the status quo. The world has changed but Fir Park hasn't kept pace and never will be able to. Fans in 2026 will simply not tolerate the same standard of facilities our predecessors did 60 or 70 years ago.

Not the best of pass backs but I'm with you on this one Great Balls. Paulsen had the time to avoid this error. 100% at fault.

Thats correct. The OF were prime movers in getting that arrangement binned.

I agree that the Society doesn't run the club, but it does own the club on behalf of the members i.e. the fans. I don't think folk on here, including myself, want it to get involved with mundane issues like the cost of a bovril or the plumbing in the POD. However, I'd say that a study into the pros and cons of replacing the POD versus moving to a new stadium is of great interest and a summary of the findings should be made public. Now, we don't need to know detailed costings or a line by line account. All we need to know is the conclusions with some basic reasoning behind it. The report was received back in February, about 7 months ago. Surely the Club Board and the Society have got a good grasp of what its recommending and why? If that isn't a major strategic issue then I don't know what is. Finally, the POD seating. There is widespread concern amongst inhabitants of the stand about the seating and Brian Caldwell, under pressure directly from fans, was forced to issue a statement. That was helpful up to a point. However, the Society, as representative of the fans, has, ostensibly, taken no part in the issue apart from passively passing on complaints. We have no idea, despite asking, if the Society has even discussed member concerns, let alone expressed them to Brian. The Society has been great for the club and lets not forget it has saved it and I'm a firm supporter, but it isn't above criticism.

Overall, we are doing not too badly in the league despite our hectic early season schedule. We didn't win all 5 games so far, so there is scope for limited and positive criticism. There's nothing wrong in airing concerns, so long as its kept within reason. Falkirk also carved us open a few times and I'm sure AJ will be examining this, along with other deficiencies. Yes, some players did look like they were rabbits caught in the headlights yesterday and AJ will likely know why. Maybe they were overly nervous playing in front of a huge crowd in a strange new stadium; maybe they were mentally exhausted from our Euro campaign; maybe they were carrying injuries. For whatever reason, their mentality was in doubt. The next 10 days will allow them to recover and for AJ to get them on the training ground. Robsterwood commented on 3 players, with some justification. I think RCC is talented but perhaps his time at Dingwall was an outlier. I was pleased when we signed him but he's been an exaggerated version of Stuart Elliot, and just hasn't shown enough. Tom Sparrow, I feel sorry for. He's helped out at RB, a position he's not suited to, in an emergency and probably carrying an injury. He's an out and out midfielder end of. So we can't really judge him so far. Thor? Suffered from an injury and he hasn't been given a straight run of games. I'd like to see him get more gametime before we judge him.

Always disappointing to lose a game, but we need to be realistic here. It was always going to be a huge ask to take anything from a team who will finish second in the league, in their own back yard. We've had a hectic and punishing early season schedule and that clearly took its toll today. Now the players can look forward to a 10 day rest and AJ will have some time on the training ground to get across more of his ideas. If you'd said to me a few weeks ago that we'd draw with Falkirk, beat Dundee United and lose narrowly to Sevco I'd have bitten your hand off for it. As for the minutae of the game, hopefully AJ has learnt some valuable lessons too. I would hope that he now realises that TJ is no main striker for example. No one individual to blame today, but I agree with Grizzly over Cookie and I half expected him to go out on loan to a Championship club. That may still happen. I'm not convinced that RB is a settled position. Right now, I'd say that Johnny Koutroumbis, although injury prone, is clearly No 1. SOD's days there may well be numbered, if not over, and Tom Sparrow has done a passable job as an emergency stand in, but thats all he is. A wee bit concerned to hear that some players were a little awe struck at Ibrox. Manny Longelo again appeared to be left isolated on the left as we concentrated our efforts on the right. These are all detailed issues, hopefully, that AJ can sort out in the coming days.

Basically playing with 2 wingers up front.

Plenty of possession but toothless up front.

He's a decent player with a good engine, but he's no right back.

A well thought out and balanced post Denny and I agree with it in full. From Brian's message, it appears there are ongoing maintenance problems with the McLean Stand also. What the club has done has been to put in place a short term solution, if it can be called that, for the POD. I understand the need for that, although I'm not impressed with the actual solution that was implemented. What is now badly lacking is an indication of the club's preferred solution for the way ahead i.e. replace the POD or move to a new stadium. I read on P & B earlier today that the Club Directors received the Feasibility Study back in February. Now its understandable that they would want to consider the findings and conclusions carefully and not to rush into making any rash decision. However, we are now 7 months further on and we haven't heard anything; not a single thing. Thats not consistent with us being a fan owned club. I agree with your comment on the Society and its passive role as a gatekeeper over the POD seating issue. Like you, I assume that it does not wish to get involved in the seating issue. Thats strange, given all the other consultations that it has launched. I still don't know if the Society Board has even discussed the issue, despite asking. As you say, we shouldn't be having this discussion. But we are where we are. On the field of play, we have made great progress as a club and the Board and management deserve great credit for that, especially in light of the upheavals over the summer. It was right of Brian to call out Celtic and their hordes and that needs addressed. A pity therefore that the club and Society has let the fans down in one specific area.

As an aside, Emmanuel Agyei's red card was upheld today at an appeal. What a surprise!

Indirectly related to last night's game. I was driving up to Flemington behind a small hatchback with the registration WEIIFAN Thats class.

I know I'm late to the party, but I'll try to offer some different comments on last night's win. I agree with many comments that we were a great watch, and notched up a fine win, so won't repeat them. Its great to see so many of the new lads score their first goals for the club. That will help them settle. For me, Hodge and especially Lowrie were the pick of the bunch. We're also scoring some really nice goals. Compared to Jensball, I think AJ is encouraging the players to shoot more and its exciting to see the ball hit the net with these efforts. It was a forgone conclusion that United would appeal the Agyei red card. However, Lee Sharp's comment post match were revealing - basically he never saw it (despite sitting/standing only a few metres away). Usually in these circumstances, a manager says something like "The lads said it wasn't a bad tackle" or words to that effect. To compound matters, Agyei then booted the ball at the POD in anger. No doubt he'll be hauled over the coals for that - remember Terry Butcher being sanctioned for kicking a water bottle at Livingston? As for us another clean sheet! However I was a bit concerned again at another team, United this time, exposing us down the wings. Fortunately, they weren't capable of causing any damage. Better teams might. I don't know whether this is down to individual's positioning or AJ's instructions. Also we seem to be concentrating our efforts on playing down the right. All too often Manny Longelo was all on his own on the left, but being ignored. It was clearly frustrating him. Presumably that's down to instructions - I hope its not the Darren Jackson syndrome. Anyway in the great scheme of things not huge issues. Anyway, a thoroughly enjoyable night in front of another healthy crowd. We really do seem to have built a deep and quality squad now.

I assume then, that we'll continue to pay his wages until his contract expires, unless he finds another club in Oz. Only difference now is that he'll be in Australia and not available for selection?

Absolutely. Early days of course, but this is defintely Alfred Johansson's team. Not JBA's. He's had a baptism of fire, with departures of top players; signing a squad of new ones; a long injury list; and a demanding Conference League schedule. Many fans, especially younger ones, felt that JBA was irreplaceable. He isn't, no-one is.