Kmcalpin

That defence would cause me concern. Euan Murray is untested and requires a gradual introduction to the team. He would need protection from a strong central midfield - something we're not at all good at. Stuart Carswell, for all his strengths, is never a right back as he proved against Aberdeen. With Ainsworth not being the best defender in the world Partick could rip us to shreds down our right flank, if they have a decent left winger. If Stuart Carswell played there they would focus on that weakness. Probably best to play Stevie Hammell at RB with ZFA filling the left back berth. Faddy & Ainsworth on the wings with Anier and Sutton up front. In addition to the above, we also have 2 or 3 others carrying knocks, so its anyone's guess what team will line up. If they're defenders we're really in trouble. We have a very small squad and this season we have been unlucky with injuries. On the bright side today will possibly give some youngsters the opportunity to at least fill the bench. However they may not be ready for that. Time will tell. Probably McManus has a better than even chance of making it.

The big question for me is who plays at right back. Simon Ramsden seems to be a definite non starter and Fraser Kerr must be in the very doubtful category. Stuart Carswell is not a right back and the only option would appear to be moving Stevie Hammell there with ZFA taking over at left back.

RIP Andy, condolences to his family. He was a gentleman to the last and a friend to the Fife & Tayside Branch who will miss him. A true steelman.

Must admit I've absolutely no time whatsoever for English top flight football. If I can't watch the Well I'd rather watch another senior game, junior game or even amateur match. I can't recall the last time I watched an English Premiership match on the box apart from the odd snippet on the news or whatever. I wouldn't give the EPL a single penny. Its doing great damage to the game world wide. If Scots fans spent more cash on our own clubs, our game would be the stronger for that and clubs could bring in better players.

There's more to it than that of course but yes, that's true and has been for years. A player with an English first or second division side is always worth considerably more than a player of exactly the same calibre with a Scottish Premiership side. Scots Fans' and media's increasing obsession with the English Premiership is causing our game no end of damage.

As far as I'm aware the 11-1 vote was retained for certain issues. Don't forget voting rules are very complex and vary according to the issue. As far as Celtic is concerned its more about the power and control than money although the latter does come into it. However its not a simple as that. Aberdeen, who are one the biggest clubs in this country and won't let the other teams forget it, are another club who were and still are bitterly opposed to any change of the 11-1 rule. I might be wrong but I think there is at least one other club (Hibs?) who are dead set against any repeal of this particular rule. These outfits combined are more than capable of and willing to scupper(ing) or delay(ing) any change to any other rule if they don't get their way on the 11-1 vote.

Alan Martin left us when he was about 18 years of age. He was frustrated that, with his talent, he wasn't being given a chance in the first team. He hawked himself around a bit and eventually signed for Leeds (we did receive a small compensation fee). Didn't cut it there and went out on loan to Barrow. Then lost track of him and he turned up at Ayr. Now turned up at Crewe. A bit like a younger version of Tom Hateley. I always got the impression he was a young lad in a rush with an inflated sense of his own ability.

Mentioned on the radio by none other than by Jim Spence.

Couldn't the youngster's parents or guardians simply cancel any "contract" with his current team and walk away? If they can that's exactly what they should do.

Normal practice would be approach the parents first, and then out of courtesy the coach. This does not say much for A) the enquiring club, which should get a severe reprimand and B) the Coach, who has got his priorities all wrong. This says a lot about the state of UK football.

I'm not overly concerned Iain so long as the club benefits. However, your suggestion above seems sensible.

Very true, we were all given a copy of the rules to scrutinise and no-one raised this issue. We're all culpable. That said I agree with Iain that there is surely a simple legal / administrative fix that could be applied to rectify the situation.

Not many players worth buying at Tynecastle but there will be no fire sale - they only want to scare their fans into buying season tickets.

In John Swinburne's view the top 3 would be Ben Ellis, Archie Shaw and Joe Wark who collectively played for us for about 42 years. Of that trio, Ben Ellis is reckoned to be the best. I wouldn't argue with that.

Cup final crowd was 136,000 with several thousands locked out. I think about 280,000 watched the semis against Hearts alone.

Harkins is a good player on his day and when the going is good. However he's not suited to scrapping when the going gets tough and I wouldn't have thought St Mirren was the right club for him but thats not our problem. Not concerned that he didn't sign for us. Maybe he's guaranteed first team football at Paisley. Dundee United and Kilmarnock will both be paying more than us and money does talk. Keith Lasley was offered a decent contract at Rugby Park a few years ago but Jim Jeffries couldn't guarantee him a first team place and so he came to us. Whether its wisely spent by other clubs is another matter entirely.

Vastly overrated player. Very much in the time honoured mould of Hibs + young lad = fantastic player. He'll go the same way as Jason Gardiner, Billy Findlay, Dan Lennon et al. Hibs, who finished in the bottom 6 have freed him for a reason.

Darren Randolph is probably the best keeper I've seen at Fir Park in over 50 years. However in the English Premiership and Championship he'll be only one of many. There are loads of very good keepers in those divisions some first choice, some second and some third. At Birmingham he's been told not to expect an automatic first team place. Why would top English clubs, many of whom are struggling financially, rush to sign him? Nicky Law? When he signed he told the club he'd stay for 2 years and not a day more. That is the crystal clear understanding when he came. The issue for the club then was do we sign him for 2 years or walk away? The question is was his 2 year stint a success or not?

Agreed, but the thing is that on this board quite a few folk are convinced that if we were resolute enough could force other clubs into paying a higher fee. Quite how we would achieve this has yet to be explained.

Of course Henrik did not speak to Lech Poznan and they did not speak to him whilst he was there....

Thanks again Iain for the good work you do in supporting our club. Its gratifying to see that we put our money where our mouths are. Hopefully we can match or better last year's effort although that'll be a tall order. Count me in.

Peter Leven is a big powerful lad, famed for his dead ball prowess but not his work rate. Talented nonetheless. He was the player at the centre of the infamous Maurice Malpas / Jim Jeffries spat.

Agreed. perhaps this needs to be looked at for members living well outwith Lanarkshire.

Sorry for the confusion...I meant £1.00 IN TOTAL. This kind of sum is not uncommon in business although I don't know the exact legalities of it. As far as the MFC TV is concerned I understood from the outset that free subscription for only for 12 months. If free membership was to continue for 12 months or longer then the annual membership renewal would be more than swallowed up and I can quite understand the club's logic on that.

The only problem is that he's just signed a 2 year contract. He's been asking his players to sign new contracts and expects them to stick to them. Why should he be any different to them? We may be being unfair to him of course. Its quite possible that he doesn't want the job and wishes to honour his contract but rather than text "No" or ring Sheffield United he prefers to tell them in person. Who knows?