Kmcalpin

On Jay's advice I contacted Tom Feely about the proposed share sale and he responsed very quickly within a few hours. Tom confirmed that the Society has a 74% share holding and that a share sale of 50,000 shares would reduce that to about 57%, which is still a controlling stake. To be honest though we may not sell anywhere near 50,000 shares. A 75% share holding entitles the holder to force through certain matters irrespective of the views of the minority shareholders (the Romanov situation at Tynecastle). the Society has no intention of increasing its shareholding, as it would be of no benefit and I agree with that. My view is that the sale of say 25,000 shares would allow more ordinary fans to have a stake in the club they love but still allow the Society the retain a safe majority of the shares. Hope that clarifies the situation. Credit due to Tom for providing a quick and helpful response.

Semi finals don'tcome around too often for us. How many concerts at the SECC or Hydro charge £25 or less?

It does indeed Andy. It proved we have come a long way since last season but still have a wee way to go before we can match the likes of Aberdeen consistently. Despite the huge difference in budgets I don't think that Aberdeen are any more talented than we are. Where they still have a slight edge is in terms of solidity and physicality. I think it also proves that you don't have to have megabudgets to recruit well, despite what many posters were saying over the summer. What we still lack, and I'm pretty sure Robbo will address this, is a big battering ram striker or a smaller guy in the Dixie Deans or perhaps Dougie Arnott mould who can successfully compete with the likes of Aberdeen's central defence. Dixie was an amazing header of the ball for his height (5-9) and Dougie would never attempt to beat the likes of McKenna in the air he'd just stand on their toes or kick their ankles.

Agreed. I've questioned them before on occasion. Its unlikely that a manager is going to get them 100% all of the time. We struggled to compete in midfield for much of the game and Aberdeen soon worked out that apart from long high punts up the park if they smothered Cadden we'd have little left in our armoury. Yes, we're all wise in hindsight but the time to bring on Frear was when we were still on level terms and the game was a little more open ie just after half time, perhaps 10 minutes before we did. Those around us did mention bringing on Frear before half time, when it was obvious things weren't working. I'd have brought on Grimshaw for McHugh a god bit earlier as he would have given us fresh legs, aggression and energy just what we needed in a struggling midfield. Fisher for Bowman I wouldn't question as I think Bowman took a knock. What the game did show was that we still don't have a big enough sriker or rather a striker good enough in the air to cope with huge defences. I, and maybe Robo, had hoped that Fisher was going to be that man but that isn't his game despite his height.

I think yesterday proved that we're not quite good enough at home to go out and play our own game and not worry about the opposition. Almost but not quite. A lot will depend on who is fit ie Andy Rose. However I'd like us to start with Elliot Frear in place of Richard Tait to give us more pace and creativity. That would would give Chris Cadden more freedom. I suspect Thistle will prove very tough physical opponents and a midfield scrap is more than likely.

Absolutely. Had the referee red carded him on Thursday this may have defused some animosity today but both refs bottled it big time. He acted like a total idiot today and lost my respect. The amount of off the ball nonsense going on today was appalling and not what fans want to see.

We had trouble winning the ball for a good part of the match. Then when we did, we had no creativity as you say. Lumping high balls to our strikers was never going to work, especially as Cadden was outnumbered and snuffed out.

Hartley by a country mile although Campbell and Dunne also impressed, the latter for his foresight and some vital interventions..

Pretty much the dominant feature of the game. Aberdeen deserved their win, which was earned off the park today. They came to nullify us and proved that they can outmuscle and outfight us, but maybe not outplay us. The team fought well, but just came up against a bigger more physically side, who wanted the win a bit more than we did and took full advantage of a shocking referee, who looked totally out of his depth. I thought that Hartley was once again MOTM; what a signing he's proving to be. The defence was pretty solid although Kipre looked a bit dilatory at times. Our midfield didn't function well at all. McHugh didn't play well and Bigirama found the physical side of the game a bit too tough. Campbell fought well but simply met bigger and heavier opponents. I felt sorry for Cadden as he was smothered for much of the game due to our lack of an alternative outball. Felt sorry too for our strikers who were asked to play the wrong kind of game - long high balls against huge opponents. I think we found it hard physically to replicate Thursday's high work rate and in hindsight more changes were required. Grimshaw should have come in for Rose to give us more fight and aggression. Frear should have replaced Tait to give us another outball, pace and take the heat off Cadden. We made our substituions too late. Robbos a good young manager and he just got it wrong today. The referee was horrific but I can't find it in me to blame him. He looked totally out of depth and simply not ready to cope with this level of game. Thats 100% the fault of the SFA for appointing him. It was always going to be a tough one to referee after Thursday and he was completely the wrong choice. He allowed himself to be bullied and conned throughout. His performance was characterised by complete inconsistency. If May committed one foul he committed 12. The foul, not given, for a defender throwing Moult out of play was nothing short of earthshattering. Ryan Christie might be a good player but he won no fans with his cheating today - really disappointing. However I left Fir Park feeling the most optimistic that I have done after a defeat for years. The team tried as hard as they could and can't be faulted for lack of effort. Had we fielded a different starting 11 then I'm confident we would have picked up a draw at the very worst. Its a long time since we could say that.

Sorry wrong thread.

Why was Tait booked at HT?

Aberdeen will be better prepared this time round and won't make the same mistakes twice. They'll know us better. However Robbo and Keef will know them better too. I would hope and expect us to make one or two maybe unforced changes to keep McInnes on his toes and keep players fresh. Maybe thats hard on player losing out but we have good lads waiting to step in and it keeps things unpredictable. It wouldn't surprise me if one or two of our lads were nursing bumps and bruises ie Rose. It'll take a strong ref to cut out ongoing feuds and niggles and he should so from kick off but in a consistent way.

Welcome HMlarsson and Yorkyred. You're following a great club.

Mr Thomas was an unused sub at Kilmarnock today.

Yes, of course you're right. Thanks Jay for your prompt responses. I would be happy to support the proposal IF the Society's proportion of the share ownership wasn't diminshed much or didn't fall below about two thirds. In general wider share ownership pattern amongst small investors ie ordinary fans is to be welcomed. It gives the ordinary punter a wee stake in the club. I'll contact Tom or Douglas for more information on the current share ownership figures. I know its very unlikely, as we have sensible folk at the helm, but I don't want our fans to go down the same route as our Dundee counterparts. We're too realistic for that!

The share sale is an interesting idea but in my view, members need more information to make an informed decision and a meeting of them should be called to discuss this. The poll, on a complex issue, is also a simple yes/no vote. The deadline of 28 September is also far too close and needs a significant extension. I support in principle the idea of more fans owning shares; I myself have a few. The existing shareholder base is contracting and needs expansion as older ones pass on and those inheriting shares have less and less connection with the club. The price of £10 per unit is consistent with what has happened in recent years and I have no problem with that detail. Now for the ramifications. The club has 2 or 3 classes of share and I assume that its only the ordinary ones, which attract voting rights, that are on sale. Unfortunatley I couldn't lay my hands on the most recent set of accounts but going back 2 or 3 years, there were something like 287,000 issued shares (there are far more unissued shares). Now if we take the Society's intended sale of up to 50,000 shares, that represents about 17.4% of the issued shares. Thats a significant figure, which may of course not be realised. I don't know the Society's current shareholding but would be concerned if it was to be diluted below say 60-70%. I also know there are rights attached to the percentage shareholding which a shareholder has as Hearts fans know well. Above a certain percentage, maybe 70-80%, the owner does not have to release detailed financial account information. Now I'm no company law expert but there are those on here who are, and know far more about these things than I do. Could the club not have sold more unissued shares? I appreciate that that way the proceeds would have gone to the club and not the owners, but whats the difference? That way, the Society would still retain the same number of shares that it has. I had been thinking of gifting my very small shareholding to the Society at some future date, but what would be the point if it simply going to sell them on? In short, I think the poll should be suspended and a meeting of members held to pass on more information to allow them to make informed choices. I hope I'm not being disresepctful to members but I suspect most don't know the details behind this, I certainly don't.

Just what I was about to post. Whilst hard, young Campbell doesn't seem to have a nasty edge to his play.

I think Bert is due a thread of his own. He was an old fashioned gentleman who I had the pleasure of meeting twice. In real life he was a schoolteacher. One of the Ancell babes he was a cultured player, probably a midfielder in today's parlance. RIP Bert.

Well I got my prediction completely wrong happy to say. I thought we'd play well, but like Derek McInnes, understimated our own lads. It was a real team performance, probably the best for a number of years, with no failures. Hartley really impressed me at the back and Campbell ran, chased and harried all night in the engine room. I was sorry his great shot did not go in but it was Aberdeen after all. Up front, Moult and Bowman tormented Abderdeen all night with Louis capping a great night with a smashing goal from a tight angle. I liked Robbo's comment that you have to fight and battle for the ball before you can do anything with it. Maybe Aberdeen were more streetwise but that wasn't enough to see us off. We looked comfortable throughout but if we had a failing it was defending a bit too deep at times but Carson in goal didn't have a huge amount to deal with despite a lot of Aberdeen pressure. We were well organised and looked like a team, maybe even a cup team, with charcater in bucketloads. So credit is due to Robbo and Keef for that. I thought Kevin Clancy had poor game although he didn't make any game changing blunders. He was very inconsistent, and pernickety at times. I had no problem with any of our yellow cards except for Hammy's. However Clancy should have awarded 2 yellow cards for fouls on Moult and surely it it was a straight red for Christie for a nasty assault on Tait borne out of a frustration no doubt. Given the niggles and inconsistent officiating, needle may well spill over into Sunday's clash.

Thanks are due to the volunteers who helped with the bucket collection last. Good to see 2 in the south end of the POD Stand. Well done.

My thoughts exactly.

A great all round team performance with perhaps Campbell, Bowman, Moult front runners and deservedly so. However I'm going to plump for Peter Hartley. He never put a foot wrong against potentially difficult opponents; he marshalled his defence superbly to such an extent that Aberdeen despite their second half pressure never really Carson very much; and he also found time to score. Not a flashy player but a solid reliable sort - just the kind of player we've been lacking for years.

Given the weak refereeing tonight and the numerous niggles that built up over the evening we'll need a strong referee on Sunday. Some chance.......

100% agree. He was my MOTM despite quite some competition.

I agree that we should make as few changes as possible from Saturday's team but would replace Tait with Frear, if fit. Frear would add some much needed pace and take the heat off Cadden. Unless Robbo knows something we don't I'd be tempted to put in Plummer ahead of Hammell. If Hammell doesn't have to rely on his pace what does he have to rely on? He doesn't have pace now; doesn't have height or positional sense; and isn't great defensively. Yes, he can cross a ball but I'd say in years gone by his pace was one of his biggest assets. He does have experience though. We have a reasonable chance tomorrow evening as we now have a decent team with character. However our cup record against Aberdeen is nothing short of abysmal and they will be very streetwise, which we are not. Taking everything into account I'll predict a narrow win for the Dons over 90 minutes. We may have a better chance on Sunday. I really hope though that the fans are patient with the team and don't lose heart if we fail to progress in the League Cup. COYW.