Kmcalpin

Not quite convinced of Ian Murray. Looking back at his managerial record, it smacks of being the perpetual bridesmaid. Raith fans were not unduly upset when he was binned. One I spoke to on Monday opined he wasn't bad but not quite good enough. There are weaker potential appointments about i.e. John McGlynn, but nothing about him screams look at me. No obvious out of, or in, work, Scots based candidate.

Just an unsubstantiated hunch. Speculation if you will. Nothing more. He must have had some reason for coming out and saying that. Otherwise why not just keep quiet? There was no pressure on him to say anything. Did something similar over the St Johnstone vacancy when he was given a rise by Ayr.

I can only assume that Broonie has been awarded a pay rise in the past few days.

Good post. Our off the ball work when not in possession is very poor. Frequently our midfield defends only 30 yards in front of our keeper and looks disorganised. One mistake and we're in trouble. Now, I know there are reasons for this, at least in part. Some players like Halliday just don't have the legs or others like Paton are returning from injury. That's maybe a signing issue in itself. However going back to the game on Sunday, I was impressed by Celtic's work rate and organisation, during the short time we were in possession. They closed us down quickly, got in our faces, and looked organised. At one point, Manwhanise was suffocated by 3 defenders near the corner flag. We just don't do that.

I doubt if the bloated squad will cost us that more. Say we're 7 players up on our normal squad. Average pay £1,250 pw for say 5 months. That might cost us an extra £180,000 - £200,000. Not a fortune in the great scheme of things. That's a very rough estimate of course.

I'm surprised that Matty Connelly was given a new 12 month deal last summer,but isn't considered good enough to be our No 2, only 6 months later.

100% agree. If they still wanted him they'd offer £4 million and a penny. If our asking price is say £4 then tell them not to bother contacting us again unless they can meet that price, or more if another bid comes in.

Sadly, I see no end in sight to this disease. If anything its only gotten worse in recent years. There's no political will to address it.

I don't mind where he goes as long as the price is right and the lad himself is happy with the move. I assume that we will have a figure a mind and if a club meets that then its over to the lad. My only concern is the timing. I'd be tempted to bump up our asking price a wee bit, if the lad agrees, to compensate. IF true, its a good move by Celtic, as they'll view us as being currently managerless and vulnerable, like a crab temporarily without a shell. If the club knows of other interest and expects another better bid then I'd hold off, again only if the lad agrees. Celtic could easily have made a bid some weeks ago.

Well, we fulfilled the fixture, didn't pick up any cards and avoided a bleaching. Thats about it really. I wasn't expecting wholesale change in tactics but the ghost of Stuart Kettlewell haunted Fir Park. Stephen Frail proved that he was part of the old regime. Our line up looked like a 5-2-2-1 to me, with the hard working Ragnar Lothbrok ploughing a lone furrow up front. Our midfield was largely non existent setting up camp about 30 yards from our goal and giving the defence no protection. I'm not usually one to worry about possession stats but 19% really is low. A single shot on target on too. SOD looks lost in central defence and Kaletta didn't impress. Maybe because of injury, he didn't give 100%. Apart from being more talented, which goes without saying, Celtic were harder working and more physical than us. Ragnar impressed up front and I was happy for him to notch his first goal. However he had little service. Of the others Tom Sparrow looked the part in midfield before he was moved back; Dom Thompson looked lively at LWB; and Manwhanise looked lively. Neither of the 2 new lads had much of chance to impress. We move on and the sooner a new broom arrives the better. A pair of fresh eyes is badly needed.

Yes, SOD is never a central defender and Balmer, who was signed on a 2 year deal, must be poor if he can't get a game.

What did he say?

Racism and sectarianism are both alive and thriving both in cyberspace and in the flesh.

Archie Mair loan cut short due to injury. We're looking at Cove's keeper and have made a bid which was rejected. Matty Connelly obviously not fancied ( so why was he re-signed). I'm expecting some moves both in and out tomorrow.

Yes a good interview by Stevie Frail. Its unreasonable to expect huge changes on Sunday but a few tweaks won't go amiss.

Just watched the pre match media video with SOD. In a difficult session he came across very well and down to earth. Fieded some awkward questions well. A small positive this week.

I received a brief update on the recruitment process, by email this morning, from the Society. It doesn't say much but is welcome and attempts to bring the narrative back onto the stright and narrow. I would have thought however that it was more the responsibility of the CEO to have done that.

A very strange address and I just don't know what to make of it. I was expecting some clarification to emphasise that it's only a small number of fans involved and then to move onto progress in filling the vacancy. In other words an attempt to mend bridges, limit damage, and move forward. However that's not what we got. I now have more questions than answers. It's now seems that Stuart Kettlewell's issues may go back for some time and may be about more than just abuse from the stands. It seems odd therefore that Brian Caldwell didn't know about these issues until Monday. In short I don't know what took place but think he may have taken the right decision. I'm not sure either we should have been told some of the details about SK. Should they have remained confidential? In any event I wish him well. Football management is a high pressure occupation. I also found Brian Caldwell's morbid tone confusing. I get the upset this has caused the club and him personally, but thought his comment about agents and job applications a bit bizarre. Like it or not, as CEO, it's his responsibility to take forward the application and selection process. Its not nice, but a fact of life, that as soon as a manager leaves, irrespective of circumstances, there will be floods of applications.

That's my recollection too. I'm sure one of the flags was a league championship flag too. I don't recall which one it was.

I think that's a reasonable skill set on which to base our search. Certainly someone with a reputation for fielding attack minded sides would go a long way to rekindling the support's enthusiasm.

According to the BBC there had been over 100 applications as of an hour ago. No appointment before Sunday, which shouldn't shock anyone.

Its been unusually quiet on the vacancy front. No doubt our search for a new manager has been overshadowed by Stuart Kettlewell's departure story and I get that. However, everyone now needs to move on. I'm surprised however that the club hasn't released a short statement on the filling the vacancy. I know that we've been told that Stephen Frail will take over on a caretaker basis, but the club now needs to regain the narrative and be a bit more proactive.

Celtic's finest singing abusive chants about the Royal Family tonight (whether or not you support the Royal Family is irrelevant). Will that be reported by the Scottish media and several articles written about that?

He was suspended by Hibs in 2019 after an altercation with other employees.

.