Kmcalpin

A great and deserved accolade for the hard work and money our club and staff have invested in our pitch. They've turned it from one of Scotland's worst to one of its best and the improvement is there for all to see. Not surprisingly Accies was rated worst in the top flight and they are replacing theirs this summer, although I'm not sure by what exactly. Quite shocked really at the likes of Hearts and Aberdeen, who despite having far larger budgets than us have much poorer pitches due to lack of investment.

Too early to say either way. Yes, it may just mean that fans are renewing earlier but equally it may signal an increase in sales. Time will tell.

Not surprisingly St Johnstone are also in the hunt for him. Up until now they've always been able to come up with more cash than us so it'll be interesting this time around if they land him.

Ticket sales almost double compared to the same period last year.

Quite honestly there's not much difference for me between Celtic winning the league year on year and Celtic and Rangers/Sevco winning the league year after year. With a few exceptions thats how its always been since I began watching football.

When was the last time we had a realistic chance of winning the title? Maybe in the early mid nineties and even then many of us weren't convinced. Certainly I can't recall any time since I began going to FP that I started out the new season thinking that we'd had a realistic chance of winning the league title (old second/first division titles apart).

I don't know if its a case of UEFA failing to address the gulf as much as actually creating the gulf, in large part.

* Reduction in costs by cutting down on duplication * Reduction in the potential for conflict * Reduction in bureaucracy * Reduction in the number of "blazers" * New organisation and a chance to start afresh (not guaranteed of course)

Cataclysmic change, and thats what we require, must start at the top but recently Ian Maxwell announced that he doesn't see any benefit in the SFA and SPFL merging. That tells me that we'll keep on making the same mistakes for years to come.

I haven't actually set up an account yet as I bought my ticket in person. Does anyone know if you can set up an account without actually using yet? Also could a club/group account be set up?

I had the same problem for a few weeks but it seems to have been rectified the past day or two.

So if the lad goes on to have a successful senior career he'll forever be "former Ranger" Jason Krones.

Journalists probably based figures on our annual accounts which referred to the accounting period which ended about a year ago. A lot has happened financially since then. Slow news day.

I think that Robbo has siad in the past that he likes 4 "senior" strikers and so on that basis and like you, I'm expecting a couple of new signings.

Absolutely. I think with all other Premsiership clubs its age 65. No brainer.

But, he's signed a contract until 2019. It might well be that he leaves this summer but it would have to suit the club as well.

James Scott signs a 12 month deal.

Might be wrong but suspect all the club's resources have been focused on the cup final.

Ok here's my estimate of where we're at. As at the end of May last year we owed Les £1,468,800 and John Boyle £280,400 (source MFC annual accounts). I seem to recall that the Society raised £180,000 last year and perhaps its raised some £70,000 this year so far (guesstimate based on last year). Given Les's double your money offer thats about £250,000 knocked off his total leaving some £1,218,800 outstanding. In total therefore we would owe £1,499,200. Then we've had transfers, which are hard to quantify precisely. Lets say Ben Heneghan £400,000, Louis Moult £450,000 and Marvin Johnson's add on of around £750,000. So thats some £1.6 m but we'll deduct say £100k due to former clubs, leaving £1,500,000. Our 2 creditors take 60% of transfers fees so that comes to some £900,000. In total therefore we must still owe £1,499,200 minus £900,000 leaving some £599,200. If the Society raises another £90,000 this year then thats another equivalent amount off Les's loan leaving just over £500,000 outstanding. So unless the repayments are staged then if we sell one or two players this summer I reckon our debts will be all but cleared.

Does anyone know roughly how much we'll owe Les and John Boyle taking into account this season's estimated income?

Its more than a single performance. In any event its not what you or I think but what the management team thinks. I have my thoughts on that but I'll quote Captain Oats from Pie and Bovril who has a similar view to me but can express it far more eloquently. Hope thats ok Captain. "Reading between the lines of Robinson's "we need more energy, more pace and maybe a little bit more ownership of the game in the middle of the park" statement then it's difficult not to feel that's laid squarely at McHugh's door. We've just signed Rose and Grimshaw for an additional year each, Campbell's signed up to 2021. By process of elimination it seems that if he's talking about improving in the middle of the park then he's looking at McHugh and Bigi's area of midfield. The question for me is whether that means moving contracted players on or not. It seems unlikely we're going be piling more midfielders into the squad without someone moving on. I'm a fan of a lot of what McHugh does in terms of breaking up play, interceptions, winning headers etc but at the same time the number of times he's caught on the ball or gives away possession in the middle of the park is absolutely terrifying. It's the one position we absolutely need to upgrade. Bigi seems to have the composure and technical ability Robinson's after but not the physicality while McHugh has the physicality but not the composure. Either way a player in that position who could dominate and dictate tempo would be huge for us." From his comments Robinson is clearly looking to upgrade central midfield.

I'll be renewing mine. I've never begun any season expecting to win a trophy and this coming season will be no exception. Celtic will almost certainly win a treble treble but that will in no way influence my decision to renew.

We're still well up overall. Don't forget too that Hibs replaced ICT. Over the past 30/40 years or so society has changed in terms of working patterns and media coverage to name but 2 issues. Expectations have also risen with the English Premier League being the unrealistic yardstick for many. Interesting though that many of these games are pretty boring to watch.

Is Davie Turnbull contracted next season?

Not wholly true. Yes he wanted to try something different by taking off a defensive central midfielder but he could have taken off either Campbell or Grimshaw but chose not to. Instead he substituted his captain. That speaks volumes.