Kmcalpin

Thats not good. It could mean that we have to play the next few games with one recognised striker in Bowman and he's not an out and out goalscorer.

Was it a case that our strikers just didn't use the ammunition they were given or was it the case that our midfield just didn't compete and had no creativity?

Lets get the facts first before drawing conclusions and agree also to disagree civilly.

Disappointing but not surprising result. I'll be interested to find out from those who went how we played. The possession stats, courtesy of the BBC, suggest that we lost the midfield battle. Thats a cause for concern as Hearts don't have the best midfield in the world. Did our strikers receive much in the way of service? I'm also interestd to learn why Fisher was taken off - was he injured or was it tactical to replace a striker with a midfielder. I'd rather we'd won of course but taking the positive from the game it'll help Robbo fine tune any plans he might have for personnel changes next month.

So, you're saying that the club's statement citing an administrative error is not true and it wasn't the case that the club didn't pay the legal rate ie through a mistake but that it deliberately chose not to? Do you know this for certain?

How do you know the club isn't already doing that?

Interesting comment. Too many folk have been quick to condemn the club without knowing the facts. I'm not saying the club is blameless but lets have the full facts first. It may well be that employee X made a cock up no more no less then again it may not. It happens and I've done it as have millions of others. I suspect that HMRC only check a sample of employers annually and we were one of the few caught out.

If pushed into a yes or no answer would you say that the club has told the truth or not? For my part I'm prepared to believe the club in the absence of any evidence to the contrary.

They shouldn't but they do. That said, how many organisations have never made a single pay related administrative error? As its a central government department in HMRC, that released the information I'll use a central goverment example to underpin my point. My first permanent job was with the Civil Service. Due to an administrative error, they missed my first pay and I had to wait for 9 weeks for it. Ironically my last pay was with local government and I had to wait some 6 months for them to rectify an administrative error which cost me quite a bit of cash. Administrative mistakes will always happen.

So Fisher steps in unless we go for one striker. Who is our back up striker if Newell isn't fit? Not Tanner surely? A decent player but not a striker. Presumably McHugh steps back into defence?

It doesn't sound good and it isn't but I'd like to hear the club's explanation first. Do you know for a fact that it wasn't an administrative error? Most though not all companies know minimum wage legislation but do all their employees? There is something wrong with the regulatory process operated by HMRC (probably due to under resourcing) if employers are allowed to underpay employees for a full year before being taken up for it. A bit like the Police saying we can't stop someone in the act of committing a crime we have to wait until they have finished doing it. As far as the club is concerned it can now afford to pay its lowest paid employees a little more and it should. It should also release a statement to explain what has happened.

Oh yes, its just that they're not operational yet and the wintry weather is delaying remedial work.

Just like the Queensferry Crossing!

It depends on how the comment was expressed. Oathing and swearing isn't on. A rebuke along the lines of "Come on hurry up son" would be perfectly acceptable but I suspect somehow we're not talking about that.

Players who are out of contract next summer are: Griffiths, Hammell, Plummer, Dunne (1 year option), Watt, Hartley, Grimshaw, Rose, Moult, Bowman, Petravicius and Newell. Quite a few there. That said I doubt if Griffiths, Hammell, Plummer and Watt will be offered new deals. Moult will be offski. Of those I'd want to retain the services of Hartley, Grimshaw, Rose, and Bowman. Not sure about Dunne's position. Jury is out on Newell and Petravicius.

No, he isn't. He's taken Scotland's 2nd/3rd largest team to 2nd/3rd place.

I hope not. Given the alleged interest of English clubs, I think he'll end up down there. If Aberdeen show the slightest interest I'll need to stop listening to BBC Aberdeen, sorry Sportsound.

I'm not wholly convinced of Fisher. Newell is a young lad who has had injury problems. If Moult leaves next month we're going to have to bring in another striker either as a first pick or as back up. We're going to need somebody who hits the ground running. True, he's not had a run of games to prove himself but hasn't shown much when he has appeared. Robbo has a decent track record of bringing in new signings but even the best like wee Tommy signed a more few duds. We don't want to be in a position next month where our main goalscorer, Moult, leaves and we promote someone to find out if he's any good or not, especially at the last minute. Fisher might yet come good but he didn't do much at Inverness and hasn't made much of an impact with us yet.

Ian "Laptop" Cathro made some very poor signings whilst at Tynecastle and Hearts are now finding that out. They're there for the taking if we play to form.

Good on you. What was the reaction of the police officers?

Rodgers has previous with us of course. Not that long ago, he and his assistant Chris Davies became embroiled in a bitter spat with our groundsman over training etiquette. Davies and Rodgers denied everything not surprisingly.

Just watched the highlights from yesterday and I'm in no doubt we ran out of gas in the latter stages of the game. Not surprising really given the run of 3 games in less than a week. Overall, I'd say we've done well in the past week. I've no doubt Robbo ans Las will be scrutinising our performances to identify where we can improve, which players are not up to scratch and so on. Celtic are a very good team, so credit where its due, but so they should be on their budget. In each of the games we were thoroughly tested. So, where were our key weaknesses? I think we've been found wanting defensively at wing back/full back. Tait for all his endeavour and attacking ability has been found wanting a bit. Charles Dunne has added much needed pace and height but hasn't been the most reliable. However I think its our midfield thats been under most pressure. Yesterday particularly and to a lesser extent in the previous 2 games we've defended very deeply and narrowly which immediately put our defenders under more pressure. As Captain Oats observed in a different forum James Forrest seems to have been a thorn in our flesh over the past week. He scored again yesterday. Our new found physicality has been much publicised and thats true to an extent, but Celtic more than matched us in that respect. I'm just glad to get the past week out of the way and now we can move on. One positive is that our squad had been thoroughly tested and that will surely shape Robbo's future personnel plans.

Its not, but its no less important either. I would not have them in the POD Stand at all.

Yes but we would have to sit, sorry, stand next to them, for 90+ minutes and share toilets with them. Not pleasant I can assure you.I would not have them in the POD Stand end of. Not fair on our fans.

Apologies. I thought you were suggesting that Celtic fans were allocated the south end of the POD Stand instead of the north end.