Kmcalpin

Hopefully we can avoid a fixture pile up before the split.

There will be a one off fee payable to the clubs affected. I'd guesstimate it to be in the range £20K-£30K. There would have to be to compensate for the lower attendance at the game. Fees would be far higher if Sevco and Celtic had their home games televised.

Problem is that our midfield is relatively inexperienced, as St Johnstone demonstrated midweek, and are liable to make the wrong decisions at critical times. As Johnny 71 says it's not a good forecast for tomorrow but still slightly better than last Saturday. Given that forecast I hope, if we win the toss, that we'll opt to face the Knowetop end in the first half.

I'm not suggesting that Watt will be the answer to all our problems and will be the Messiah but where would we be had we not signed him? Some signings succeed some don't but without him we'd have even less attacking options. Mistakes have been made in our recruitment of strikers this season. It will be interesting who actually plays up front tomorrow. A chance for someone to really stake their claim now that Long is out.

I agree about the personnel Jwfc & Mfc and how we're likely to line up on paper but in reality it's more likely to end up 4-4-2 or perhaps even 4-5-1

My mistake, yes he is. Its the cup game in which he can play, if selected. Is Hylton a striker...I've always thought him as an out and out winger?

Watt, McIver, Aarons and Manzinga are our striking options for tomorrow.

Quite a few players out of contract at the end of the season; Ferguson, Gillespie, Tait, Hartley, Maguire, Dunne, Livingstone, Long, Ilic and Manzinga. O'Hara, Ndjoli and Aarons will return on expiry of their loans. For most of them we've heard absolutely nothing. All we know that Long has been offered a new deal and that Gillespie will almost certainly be offski. Quite a few decisions to be taken.

Where did you find this information? No reference to it on the SFA's website.

Time to move on from last night's defeat, and I include myself in that. Lets look ahead to an important game. Time to get back on track again, in the first installment of a double header. Time for a change in formation and perhaps some personnel?

Just watched the highlights and I have to say Gillespie looks culpable, to some degree, at both goals. For the first he put us in immediate trouble with his throw out, as he did several times on Saturday, and he was in no mans land for the second. Maybe time to recall Trevor Carson. Manzinga's second card was deserved but you see that kind of thing week in week out with no action taken.

Worth thinking about but perhaps rest the burnt out Campbell and replace him with Ohara. Maybe worth giving young Cornelius some game time?

At the moment our only glimmer of hope is that Watt impresses and gets a run in the team. Given current form 3rd is not realistic and 4th looking increasingly unlikely. Hopefully we can stagger over the top 6 line. The next few league games against St Mirren and Accies will be anything but easy and we'll do well to pick up a win. The problem is that most other teams strengthened during the January window and we don't appear to have.

The problem is that we can't at the moment. Is this our annual winter meltdown?

Unlikely we were going to stop St Johnstone from scoring but at least we've scored too.

The original owners of the land...Dalziel Former Pupils Trust or something similar. The deal turned out to be less advantageous than originally envisaged.

The Trust got their fingers burnt I think with the Dalziel Park deal so might be wary.

Given our busy schedule I'd expect some rotation. Hopefully our midfield and defence will stand firm tonight. If they can do that we'll take something from the game.

Almost certainly we'll be in the north end of the Main Stand. A weather warning of ice and snow has been issued by the Met Office to those thinking of travelling to Perth tonight.

The script is that a handful of fans gave the club a very short term loan of £80K to pay off all outstanding external debts to Les and John Boyle. The club has now repaid that short term loan in full. A good explanation is given on P & B. The Society will continue to give the club an annual injection of cash with no expectation that these monies will ever be repaid. So I suppose that could be termed "internal" debt. Jim McMahon said years ago that the club would rely on this continuous annual cash injection from the Society.

First and foremost put in place a contingency fund for the inevitable bad spell. Secondly fork out for necessary maintenance to our ageing stadium; then raise the playing budget slightly with a focus on the Academy; and finally other priorities like a new training ground. We have to bear in mind though that its only just over £900k we're talking about just now. Its important though that the Society continues to attract new members and existing members are encouraged to contribute. Maybe some non members will be encouraged to join now that the Society hasn't tanked, as predicted by some, and the income is now going to the club as opposed to messrs Hutchison and Boyle. I do recall some fans saying that they would never contribute a single penny as long as it would go to paying off these debtors.

Well done to the Club's directors and management. Society members are also helping to finance the club through monthly contributions, all of which now remain in the club. Who says fan ownership doesn't work. Debt free......you bet.

Great pricing. Presumably it's not all ticket as announcement isn't clear about that.

We have a trialist playing for the reserves at Dumfries today. Barry Maguire is playing too, so must be fit again.

I'm not sure about that. Dunne is prone to the occasional blunder and his passing isn't exactly top notch but I reckon he's better than Hartley. The latter might have good leadership qualities and be better at attacking set pieces but he's not as good defensively and his passing is suicidial at times. I don't think our defence has been great at all this year despite recording quite a few clean sheets. Undoubtedly Gallagher and Gillespie have been the defensive rocks. Both Hartley and Dunne are out of contract at the end of this year, and as far as I know, neither have been offered new deals so far. Defensively neither Carroll nor Grimshaw/Tait have been great, although that may be down to the way they're instructed to play. Certainly many of our opponents have been pretty toothless so far and fortunately have been unable to convert frequent chances into goals. Although we limited St Mirren to one goal on Saturday they missed a few chances and also hit woodwork.