Kmcalpin

The same view has been rife in the Cooper Club and POD Stand for weeks now. Thats the worrying thing isn't it that many fans agree on our weaknesses (we all know what they are). If many fans are alert to them then you can be sure opposition managers also are and are devising ways to exploit them. Like Jim Gannon's latter days in charge, we are so predictable.

Eh? He's surely made a mistake FC? If so it should be rectified asap.

I'd drop it into the office.

Thanks for clearing matters up Flow.

Give the club a donation - don't pay at the gate.

I'll be using my season ticket but giving the club my gate money as a donation. A word of warning to all ST holders who are going to pay in tomorrow - don't pay at the gate. If you do 20% of your cash will be siphoned off by the Government in the form of VAT. Instead give it to MFC as a donation - that way the club gets all the benefit.

If you have concerns you're quite within your rights to contact Alison Wallace at the club and ask her to confirm whether or not the Chairman is employed by MFC in any capacity or works for it in a voluntary capacity. That should clear matters up. Lines of communication have already been established. For what its worth I too agree that Society Board members should be separate from the club.

Well its your Society and if you're not pleased make your feelings known to the Board. Its a democratic body.

The penalty was given because Craigan was facing his opponent and not the ball.

I wrote this after the St Mirren game back in August. "I'm all for giving youth a chance but Steve Hetherington had a mare really should have been replaced after 30 minutes. For most of the match we were totally exposed down both wings with Nicky Law not really knowing where he was meant to be playing. Jamie Murphy again flattered to deceive and his roving role from a deep position caused our lads more trouble than it caused St Mirren. Keith Lasley is struggling badly just now and may be missing Jennings' presence to protect him. At 32 are his best years behind him?" The midfield (and other areas of the team) has been a problem since the start of the season with players out of position in roles for which they are not suited.

Not at all. I did not say that a decent cup run comes down to luck. Certainly luck is an element, in terms of the draw and perhaps in some individual games but its only a factor, in most cases a minor one. Even if we were to be very fortunate 3 games on the trot in drawing lower league opposition at home there's no guarantee whatsoever that we'd win all 3 games. I'm long enough in the tooth to remember many games in which we played lower league opposition and have been knocked out. Ayr United, Dundee, Clyde, Queen of the South, Queens Park, East Stirling, Stirling Albion, and East Fife have all knocked us out at some point. Then theres been a good number of defeats at home by so called weak SPL sides. I would think it very unlikely that a team could reach the semi finals simply on the basis of good luck. Even if the draw is kind you still have to beat the opposition.

Probably a lot of change in our squad at the end of this season and we're entering a transitional period. However, other SPL clubs are coping well with mass departures and arrivals each season. I can foresee a shift away from longer term contracts to shorter deals as used successfully by Hibs, St Johnstone and Kilmarnock for example. Younger players, if they're good enough, will provide medium term stability.

Yes there is something seriously wrong with our youth set up but the problem is that we're now suffering from mistakes made years ago. Of the above players, Page came from Portsmouth; Hetherington from Rangers, Cummins from Everton and ZFA from Spurs. Very few of our young lads who have left in recent years have gone on to better things. Steven Lawless may be an exception - we'll see. Part of the problem is of course is that if a young lad of say 15/16/17 is showing promise in our ranks larger clubs like Hibs, Celtic and Championship outfits will swoop for them.

A very disheartening outcome last night and highly unsatisfactory. Plenty has already been written about O'Reilly's performance, which had a huge influence on the outcome of the game. 4-0 was not a true reflection and I think 1-0 to Hibs would have been a fairer result. Hopefully we will complain to the authorities about him, but I doubt if it would achieve much. However, his performance and that of his colleagues should not disguise the fact that we played poorly and were the architects of our own downfall. To be accurate though we did play well in spells. On paper the midfield looked lightweight with too many lads being played out of position as has already been said. Despite all our pressure though we only managed 3 efforts on target, one of which should have been a goal. Once again our build up was far too elaborate and pedestrian. Hibs could achieve in 3 passes what we took 33 to do, if at all. In particular the midfield is all wrong with Keith Lasley struggling, not surprisingly. At 32 he is now showing his age without the benefit of Steve Jennings beside him. The defence is a shambles and has been for most of the season. In particular, central defence is anything but steady. Certainly we've had injuries and suspensions and inexperience is a problem. Is it fair to ask Fraser Kerr, at 17 I believe, to do a mans job? Perhaps he has to be selected for a certain amount of game time as part of his deal (not uncommon with loans I believe). Substitutions last night too were baffling, and it was unfortunately predictable that Ojamaa would be hooked. We are suffering from a lack of leadership on the park and its was worrying last night just how easily our heads went down. A large part of the problem is that mistakes were made during the summer in bringing in players. It should have been known months ago how inexperienced our central defence would be and how badly Steve Jennings would be missed. If we finish in the bottom 6 say in 8th place that could cost us £400k or thereabouts in decreased income and deferred SPL payments in February/March. We could have considerably spent less than that in bringing in 2 experienced players.

I'm going by the character and performance of the team so far this season. IF we get a series of easy draws, especially at home, then yes, we might enjoy some success. However at some point its likely we'd meet tough opposition and I think we'd then struggle. Good cup teams need: * a fair measure of skill, which we have; * a solid defence and midfield, which we certainly have not; * a cutting edge, which we certainly have not; * on field leadership, which we lack; and finally * battling qualities which we most certainly haven't.

Where do we go from here? The next 2 or more probably 3 games could well define our league season. No cup run for us I'm afraid.

Agreed. I'm surprised that we are only being to vote for one candidate and not 4 as there are 4 vacancies, irrespective of the voting system. Given that and the fact that most fans will not know many of those standing, I'd guess that in most cases the successful candidates will not receive that many votes, compared to the total votes cast. Still I'm sure that this is something that could be changed in time.

This format isn't unusual in such elections. Most members including myself won't know many of the candidates, and unless they make a verbal address to the meeting on Wednesday then all we have to go on is their written statement. Personally I'd prefer to see what the candidates originally submitted in full rather than doctored and standardised text. I would not be happy if the Society began to edit submissions.

No problem Colin. I'll catch up with you beforehand in any event. As I've said to you, we're all behind you.

Quite a few other clubs offer Cup pre paid top ups - at a cost of course. You might be lucky if your team has 6 home ties or you might lose out if they have none. The fans don't seem to mind though.

There was no weeding out process. Nominations were sought from members and that was it. I would hope however that some basic "weeding out" or more accurately check is carried out to ensure that those elected are "fit and proper" persons. I've been going to Fir Park now for over 50 years and know at most 3 or 4 of the candidates. Other long standing fans I have spoken to know few of the candidates either. In the main I will assess them objectively on the basis of their statements, as will most folk I'd think.

In fairness to Leeann, there was confusion amongst the stewards. On leaving the POD Stand, one steward was handing out vouchers to everyone but one standing a few feet away was not giving them to season ticket holders. There was obviously problems with the security firm and we picked that up on the day. I think the club has made the wrong call here but some folk are overreacting.

If this is the case, and it seems to be, then the ticket office staff will be put under avoidable pressure, when they should be concentrating on other matters. Presumably too tickets will have to be posted out to season ticket holders resulting in unnecessary expense?

This will inconvenience a few of us who travelled through from Fife for the original game. On the way out of the POD Stand, I was specifically told by a steward that ST holders should not take a voucher and so we didn't. Hopefully the club will see sense and reverse this decision.

Don't know about that. In some away grounds you can hardly sit down.