Kmcalpin

For the year ended May 2022 our total staff costs were 5.2m. Now that includes all staff of course, although the playing side will account for the majority of that. I'm sure I read somewhere that Killie's budget was about the same, as was St Johnstones (their average player salary was below ours but they have traditionallly carried huge squads). Ross County's would likely be above ours as would both Dundee clubs. SK mentioned last year that Dundee "blew us out of the water" when offering a player terms. United would likely have had a player budget about 25-30% above ours. Educated guesswork on my part.

An intriguing set of fixtures. They could make for an interesting last day if St Johnstone need to win to stay up. I'd like to have them earlier. I had expected an A H A H A sequence.

I generally agree with some of what you say, but not over this. However, its wrong to solely blame the SPFL, although they do deserve some criticism. Police Scotland will already have made its feelings known and the Scottish Government (it doesn't matter who is in power) will also be monitoring the situation. Sadly sectarianism is deep rooted in our society to such an extent that it mustn't be discussed in public, let alone addressed. We're still in the dark ages over this. Sectarianism is at the root cause of this.

The team of the mid seventies was the best Well team that I've seen since I was taken to Fir Park as a toddler. It had everything, although it might be frowned upon by some of today's fans. Football was a lot simpler in those days. Limited TV coverage, less exposure of English football and more limited fan expectations.

As expected, Post split fixtures won't be released until after Wednesday as SPFL "want to confirm final pre split top 6 league placings". They think our heads button up the back.

I think we're almost safe but won't take it for granted until we're mathematically home and dry. If, as seems likely, we play Aberdeen, Hibs or Ross County away first, and suffer a loss, which isn't beyond the bounds of possibility, there will be a few squeaky bums on here and elsewhere amongst our support. The sequence of the fixtures will be crucial. We don't want Ross County away as the first fixture. To be fair, none of the other 4 teams will either. Our season isn't quite over yet.

His drop in form might be down, in part, to the formation SK is fielding. Move Vale up beside Bair and slip Spittal in behind them.

Yes, we'll finish above 11th place by a good 2 or 3 points. Pre split points tallies pretty much what I thought they would be. A win against Livingston and a draw against St Johnstone should be enough

I can't see either team wanting him. If he doesn't stay I don't know where he'll end up. Back up somewhere?

Midfield already looks to be a potential problem for next term. Spittal is leaving and Miller might too. Paton is ok but injured. Slattery - injured but who knows. Davor - flatters to deceive and lightweight. Halliday - not fit but not impressed either. Nicholson - who knows. Tierney - not fancied by SK. Maguire - leaving?

Any views on Sam Nicholson? The quiet man of Fir Park it would seem. He'd hardly played any football for a while before joining us and has only played a few minutes here and there since. Fitness is not surprisingly a problem but he's looked fine in flashes. Should he be offered a new deal? Would he be a replacement for Blair Spittal? Didn't quite understand his role yesterday as a wing back when he came on.

I'm normally critical of officials, but yesterday they got it pretty well spot on. Only point of contention might have been the booking of Bushiri. Although close to the incident my view wasn't clear. BBC seemed to think it was debatable. For once, well done to Collum, Ross & Co.

Yes, my mistake. Apologies if I misled anyone.

A very onerous assignment you set yourself. Well done. Theo will certainly be in the mix. Some surprises though. Joel Nouble? Liam Gordon? Stuart Findlay? Tete Yengi? Alex Lacovitti? I suppose we could all nominate a few candidates.

Very much so. I wouldn't have advocated a Charge of the Light Brigade approach, but oh dear we looked very reluctant to commit fully to attack until the very late cavalry charge. We seemed to lack self belief, we we dug deep and showed character to snatch a late levelller through a fantastic Blaney strike. The wind certainly spoiled proceedings but I thought Hibs coped better. That said they were pretty toothless and had to rely on a very soft penalty (apologies BBC) to score. Although the players put in a lacklustre error strewn perfomance, I thought our starting line uop was wrong. Bair was, all too often, left isolated with Vale completely wasted in a wide, deep role. Please, please him alongside Bair in the remaining fixtures. Hibs began to exert prerssure after the break and you could feel we were going to concede. Maybe around the 55 minute mark was the time for change. I'd have hooked an out of form Spittal for Nicholson at that point. I didn't see the point the point in taking off Vale later on and bringing Shaw on. Nicholson for SOD?? Gent was my MOTM and it was a shame that all too often, no-one was there to get on the end of his crosses. Kelly too had a good game. Spittal is not performing at the moment and maybe its time now to bring in Nicholson, depending on what his position is with SK. Davor to me flatters to deceive. A busy player he isn't a great passer of the ball and is a bit lightweight, as we saw today against bigger and more aggressive opponents. Plenty of police activity and blue sirens post match with the odd sight of Police horses going through Brandon Parade. No doubt some after match action. Again apologies to the BBC for spoiling Hibs' day.

As Sportsound kept telling us ad infinitum. Had I not been at the game I wouldn't have known who had spoiled Hibs' chances of top 6 spot. Very inconsiderate of us not allowing them to win.

Given our injuries this season and our horrible winless run I would have settled for 10th spot a few months ago. So for me, its almost job done but not quite yet. Lets take the summer to rebuild for next season. Hopefully SK will find it easier to clear the decks this time round and bring in more of his own choices.

Ross County or Aberdeen away midweek? Will the SPFL wait until after next week's Dundee V Rangers game before releasing fixtures? They won't want one half of the gruesome twosome to win the title at Parkhead (why not)?

Its called democracy.

Ah right. A subject best avoided on here then.

Absolutely. Yes, we'd all like to know about the detail of negotiations, but if the source is a leak that is worrying. Most of us have heard "rumours" but have kept quiet. Leaking to a journalist, albiet a well meaning one; thats something else.

Sorry, whats the Vow got to do, with it? I wouldn't have thought that a romantic film was that contentious (just Wiki'd it). Am I missing something here?

He certainly talks very well.

You plagiarised that from the BBC - right?

Are there roadworks in Motherwell this weekend? If so, what is the best route from the East (M8)?