Kmcalpin

Just about to say the same thing. Police may also have dictated this.

Information given to me by a former Director of the club. We will have been liable for some external policing costs. Apart from policing there would have been stewarding, wages for employees, energy costs etc.

Your figures are probably about right. Say 4,800 fans at an average of £20 a head ...that's £96,000 gross. Normally costs are about 33% of the gross income for game; so that would make them come in at about £32,000. Don't know if VAT is included in costs or not. Certainly the VAT payable on ticket sales is about £19,000 - in other words £4 of every ticket on average is lost in VAT. The club will have made about £60,000 on the night excluding catering/programmes etc.

John Ruddy was languishing in Everton's third or fourth string and his career was going nowhere when we picked him up. Darren Randolph had fallen out with Charlton Athletic when we found him. Decent keepers abound in England's reserve and lower league teams - you just have to have an eye to spot them.

Presumably you are member of the Society and if so you should email it and ask that very question.

A tad harsh I'd say as Twardzik has still to be fully tested. However our recent selection of goalkeepers, since we signed Darren Randolph, has been questionable at best. We haven't been good at bringing young goalies through our ranks for years now.

We requested the first leg of the current tie to be played at home due to Commonwealth Games pressure on accommodation and UEFA accepted that. We may do so again but UEFA would not need to accept that request. I don't know UEFA's position if the Police stepped in and said the first game WOULD not take place at home - presumably they would need to comply.

We have a slightly bigger budget. They have gone for a different type of squad from us. No stars, with the exception of the homegrown May, just hard working, experienced physical, reliable types. A streetwise side. Very few of their lads have come through their own youth ranks. They're not as talented as some of our lads but they don't have our weaknesses.

Seconded. Despite Darren Randolph's stature in the SPL keepers of his calibre are ten a penny in England. We've gone from having one of the best keepers in the SPL to having one of the weakest. Is there no in between?

Not sure about Thomas, at this stage, but I agree with your general point. Playing with one out and out striker was tantamount to shooting ourselves in the foot. Erwin should have started or been brought on at half time. John Sutton cannot play on his own up front - how often do we have to learn that lesson...............

Good post. In defence of Stuart McCall he is trying to source exactly that kind of centre back, for the reasons you mention. Simon Ramsden is not a centre back and admits that himself. Bantam fans are surprised that we're playing him there. Fraser Kerr is a good shout in the short term. A bit raw but he has all the attributes and is the fastest guy at Fir Park bar Ainsworth. I do think next week will be easier.

Probably not. The fact that he couldn't get a game for Dundee does make you think but thats no reason in itself to castigate him. At the moment I'm ambivalent about him, but he's due his chance. Early indications are that, performance wise, he's on a par with Lee Hollis and Gunnar Neilsen, but my view my change as the season starts. Of the three Gunnar Neilsen is potentially reckoned to be the best of the three, but that doesn't always translate into on the field performances.

I know what you're saying but some of our guys are never going to be fast irrespective of how fit they are - Keith Lasley, John Sutton and Iain Vigurs being three examples. You can make a fast player run faster but you can't make a slow player run faster. What did concern me last night was that some players couldn't last 90 minutes - thats a physical fitness issue.

Nothing wrong, nothing at all, with a measured response. During his temporary 5 game spell with us last season some of us never saw him as being a "saviour" as you put it. Yes he did well, but some of us felt he was weak in the air because of his lack of stature (not his fault). Thats been evident this season, so what has changed? He also failed to take charge in a potentially costly defensive mix up. That could have been disastrous for us. I for one am not calling him rubbish or whatever alternative term you choose but he has given cause for concern in my book - no more and no less.

Good post Iain. Loads of teams were playing in full scale friendlies before us. St Patricks Athletic, Brechin City, East Fife were all playing in June, never mind July. Another dozen were playing before 12 July. Last night the team was not physically fit and that showed. How many players had played a couple of full 90 minutes, or even one before last night? Match fitness was always going to be a potential issue and it was just too evident.

Nothing - but he didn't cover himself in glory. Fumbled one cross and got involved in an almighty mix up with 2 defenders when he should have taken charge.

He has been doing this all his career, not just tonight. Its his single biggest weakness and always has been. To be fair tonight though he had little or no protection in front of him and our opponents, like many before them capitalised on it. A poor performance tonight on just too many levels. Team was nowhere near match fit and questions must be asked of our preparation. Disappointed too with the team selection and tactics. John Sutton was left too isolated, as we could have predicted, and turned in a performance reminiscent of his spell under John McGlynn at Tynecastle. A single striker was never going to work. We had a fair bit of pressure but no cutting edge. Our build up was painfully slow and predictable. Very few decent individual performances - Law and McManus excepted. I'm a little puzzled about the criticism of Keith Lasley. Granted he didn't play well but he was no worse than quite a few others. Carswell blew hot and cold but had a better second half than first, when he made quite a few careless errors. Stjarnan look to be about the quality of a team like QoS or Cowdenbeath. We should beat them next week but will have to improve our preparation, team line up, tactics, performance and attitude. A very poor show tonight - taking everything into account probably our worst Euro performance since the home game against Llanelli.

Are we there now?

There will be a very healthy attendance from Fife & Tayside - as of last night there were 17 of us going.

You might be right, time will tell. I'm simply basing my view on Stuart McCall's description of him as "a similar type of player to his brother in that he’s a midfielder who likes to get on the ball and create".

Yes. Last season was cringeworthy. Nothing was made of Russell Anderson's illegal goal at Fir Park but we all know how the BBC fell over themselves on the last day of the season to ask Derek McInnes leading questions - just one example. I have no problem with commercial media outlets taking a biased view as their objective is to make a profit, not report the facts, but you'd expect that the BBC would have higher standards, but it does not. Simple solution is to switch off.

We have absolutely no information on Graham's reason for stepping back and its best not to speculate.

I doubt very much if we had reduced prices to say even £10 and £5 that some folk would have cancelled their holidays to attend. Its a pity though if some fair weather fans base their decision on whether or not to attend on the identity and quality of the opposition. That might be the case with neutrals but I would hope it doesn't apply to our own fans. Would bigger teams such as ND Gorica, Ferencvarosi or Rio Ave attract more of our floating fans? Interesting that St Johnstone are charging £27 and £26 for full price adult tickets in their game.

Josh Law?

You did so in your first post. There are exceptions of course the top end of the English first division is probably better than the bottom end of the SPFL but the reverse is also true. Teams like Wolves are in that league for a reason. On the whole, I still think that the SPFL would stand a fair comparison.