Kmcalpin

There's a helluva lot of leaking going on; I wonder who is the source(s).

Thats only the latest of quite a few. Without trawling through several years of posts on here I couldn't list them all.

Yes. You'd imagine that Devlin and McKenna will be first choices but Declan is due his chance. Although Allan Campbell is thoroughly deserving of his inclusion in the Under 21 squad I'm concenred about burnout. He's looked jaded after previous internationals.

From what I can gather it simply fell off nothing more, nothing less. No story in it.

Its the latter. The team selection should have told everyone what all they needed to know........damage limitation from the off. No bad injuries or red cards. From the highlights our old failings (midfield sitting too deep and full backs leaving flanks exposed) were once again exploited. Its not a game that'll define our season, so we move on.

Wee Tommy was on about £100k - £120k per annum and that was almost 20 years ago. I don't doubt there's a release clause in his contract but circa £130k compensation seems exceptionally low. I would have expected circa £300K. IF Robbo gets the NI job, and it is an if, then I would hope the club would act quickly to appoint a successor. I would not want him to be allowed to hang around. This is all speculation though.

No evidence to support this but I would reckon he must be on something like £150k per year. I'm sure some previous managers were on over £100k per year.

My view too. Am I certain of that - no. The quoted compensation figure of £125,000 - £135,000 does seem very low considering he's got 2 1/2 years of his contract to run.

I agree with the vast majority of your post with one exception, which I've highlighted. Les Hutchison and Alan Burrows (and indeed Jim McMahon) have said that the fans ie the WS members still need to continue contributing to the club. Yes it should only be but one stream and all other income streams should be maximised but our contributions need to continue. That is essential. The WS needs to build up a healthy fund to cushion us when the bad times return, as they will at some point. So far so good in that our debt has almost been paid off, but monies will be required for other purposes. From now on though the money will be reinvested the club as opposed to former owners. Quite how it should be spent, at a strategic level, should be matter for consultation with the members.

The Local Development Plan zoning is, as you say, for communuity facilities or whatever the current term is, but that is not sacrosanct and can be overruled in certain circumstances. It can also be changed in future iterations. Public opinion, is not the deciding factor in planning; it is the weight of the argument but yes, politics does play a part. That said many locals living near Fir Park might prefer housing to the current football land use. Is Fir Park a bad neighbour development? I'm sure too that NLC would like to reclaim a good proportion of its retail expenditure from its neighbours across the Clyde but as we all know retailing and town centres are undergoing a seismic shift in the light of online competition. I'm sure NLC and the owners of Ravenscraig would love MFC to move there although no doubt the residents would not. The Council would assist MFC in any way it could; I'm confident of that. In short, I don't think planning, at least in principle, would be an obstacle to a move to Ravenscraig.

The Official site reports that Leann Thomas has stepped down as a director. I suppose this was only to be expected following the payment of monies due to her father Les Hutchison.

Well, now that our debts are all but paid off, its time for the club and Society to move forward. Its not job done, as Les and Alan Burrows have pointed out and its only the end of the beginning. Society members still need to contribute financially if they can only now their money will stay in the club and will be spent on players, Academy, facilities, a new stadium, maintenance or whatever. Its encouraging too that all transfer income will stay within the club. I would hope that some doubters will now appreciate that fan ownership and Society have helped our club to survive.

Aberdeen have pushed ahead with securing planning permission and building (?) without having the cash in place to pay for it...just £50m short. I doubt if we would be so bold as to push ahead so quickly until we had the financial wherewithal to actually pay for it.

He is indeed.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear that we had paid off Les Hutchison and John Boyle in full. As of the last set of accounts to May 2018 we owed them a collective total of £994,000. Now since then we sold Cedric to Wigan for £750K (paying off £300,000) and we've since had minor fees for Stuart McKinstry and Reece MacAlear totalling say £300,000 paying £120,000. Even allowing for Les's double your money offer I still thought we'd be owing some £300,000 or thereabouts. Its great though that the monies have been repaid within the agreed 3 year period (where monies came from 40% of transfers fees) without having to agree loan repayment terms. So, we're now debt free apart from £80K to 5 supporters. Sportsound yesterday included some very odd interviews. As I understand it, Alan Burrows said that this was great news and would allow the club to move forward. More still needed to be done as it was only the end of the beginning. So far so good. Richard Gordon then announced that Les would be coming onto the show later with a different, not so rosy, view. As far as I understand that, he said that he had saved us from administration, by some 2 weeks (which most of us knew already) and that fans would still need to contribute financially to keep the financial model viable, which is exactly what Jim McMahon said 2 or 3 years ago. In other words the end of the beginning. So, ignoring Richard Gordon's confused summary, Les and Alan Burrows said pretty much the same thing. A very factual account of Rangers' £11.3 m loss was then given by Jonathan Sutherland but that wasn't deemed to be bad news. The bottom line is that, apart from £80K we are now debt free and that from now on the club retains transfer fees in full.

Not quite sure what you could be implying. I had assumed that Hearts had already made contact with Robinson to sound him out and would approach our club formally if he he indicated he was interested. Is that not how these things are done?

About 5 years ago, a bog standard new stadium would cost around £1,000 per seat. A 12,000 seater venue would then have cost about £12m. It will have gone up a bit since then. Al B makes a very good point on Pie & Bovril and it deserves wider exposure. " The main reason we'd never re-develop Fir Park is that doing anything at all requires the revenue from selling it. It's move or nothing. "

Yesterday it was job done and that was the importnat thing. Two good home wins on the trot against very tough and demanding opponents. After those tests, I'd say we are a good bet for a top six place, with the very important and perhaps uncertain, qualification, that other things remain equal. Livingston played as many of us expected. Well drilled, exceptional work rate, on the ball, but more importantly off the ball. They didn't come to entertain but to gain a point. Thier was a distasteful side to their game as others have pointed out and they worked the referee well. For our part, we played similarly to our performance against Kilmarnock. I suspect that our 3 games in 6 days schedule took its toll as we looked jaded. Our midfield was outbattled when Livingston chose to mix it and we lacked punch and invention. We are a relatively lightweight team just now. The build up was slow and very predictable and we lacked a killer touch in the box. Again our full backs struggled. Thats the negatives. There were plenty of positives though. Our central defensive pairing was rock solid and Gillespie was impressive. We never gave up and played patiently. I thought the subs were reasonable although the introduction of Mugabi signalled our intentions to Livingston. I like Long's movement up front and he took his goal well. Not Allan Campbell's best game but he kept going to score the winner. Luck or no luck he was in the right place at the right time. There's plenty of talent in the side, albeit very raw. We're not third for nothing. As an aside I thought the penalty decision was very soft. Cole made a rash challenge certainly, but I'm not sure there was much contact and Tiffoney went down like a poleaxed bullock and not for the first or even second time.

Absolutely, it does seem strange. Hearts and Hibs are far bigger clubs financially and staying at their current grounds were second best options. Land prices in and around Edinburgh are astronomical. Interestingly on Sportsound yesterday it was announced, without comment (really???) that Aberdeen have progressed their plans to advanced stage but the only outstanding problem is paying for the new stadium - a £50m shortfall. As far as we are concerned, I'm 100% behind a move away from Fir Park providing that a new stadium was developed properly. It would have to be a good stadium that met our needs. I get the sentimentality for Fir Park, I've been going there for over 60 years and its my second home but its had its day. The East Stand and POD Stand are way past their sell by dates and the South Stand is now showing its age. Redevelopment would be an issue. Its all very well harping on about the old lady but a new generation of fans need a safer stadium; they need better access; they need better seating; they need better toilets; they need better catering facilities and the club needs lower maintenace costs. These could not be provided without demolition of and rebuilding Fir Park.

From Alan Burrows' comments and snippets elsewhere it seems that Stephen Robinson has some kind of release clause in his contract and that the club will be an interested bystander in the process, no more. It will be solely up to Robinson whether he speaks to Hearts and if he accepts a job offer if one is forthcoming. Sunday Mail quotes compensation of £120K , which is chickfeed to Hearts. Richard Gordon said on Sportsound yesterday that "Alan Burrows was locked in talks with Stephen Robinson but it wasn't about Hearts".

Definitely Gallagher for me as he strolled it. Gillespie also had a good game.

Yes. Linesman gave it. That was Timoney's 3rd blatant dive in the game.

Bruce appeal dismissed by SFA.

Yes a standard non committal reply which tells us something.

This really is great news and will allow us to develop further as a club. First step will be to salt away some cash reserves for the inevitable bad times in the future. Well done to all concerned not least the contributing members.