Kmcalpin

We've missed a few chances and could be 3 up according to the radio but only taken the one. Pity that Stephen Hughes isn't playing. Keith Lasley adds something defensively but we'll miss Hughes for his attacking play and pace. We're giving Locos too much leeway in midfield for my liking. Perhaps they'll tire themselves out?

My sentiments exactly. Astounded Police are allowing this game to go ahead. Severe weather warning for Grampian in place and Police advise A96 is tricky near Inverurie. Weather dreadful in Fife and Tayside. On that basis 7 of us have decided not to risk it.

About 2" of snow where I live in Fife this morning, with the prospect of more to come. I'm sure the authorities will also take into account road conditions near the ground and spectator safety. Its not just the pitch. Not looking good.

I don't know much about him but from what I've read this morning this seems to be a reasonable view of him. From what I can gather his detractors are mainly basing their opinions on international appearances, which is unrealistic. Whilst it would be nice to bring someone of true international calibre to Fir Park on loan, I'll be more modest in my expectations and settle for someone of a high SPL standard.

Ditto. All we know is the fee has been described as "undisclosed". It could be anywhere between £30k and £380K with strings attached. What does seem reasonably certain is that Derby will pay us a fee.

Two separate issues here Greg. VAT - No, its just that very few fans appreciate that much of the club's transactions are subject to VAT from the tickets we buy to transfer fees and no-one appear to take this into account. From time to time we've seen various calculations on these boards eg "A 5,000 gate @ £15 a time = £75,000, where did all this money go?" Its not appreciated that of that hypothetical total perhaps £11,000 doesn't go the club at all. I think though that possibly the biggest source of misinformation amongst fans is transfer cash. Understandably these deals are cloaked in secrecy but how many times on these boards has someone asked - "Where did Faddy's sell on money go, why wasn't it spent on a new player?" Your second point, I agree with 100%. Our revenue streams are not what they should be. If the club wants to move forward then it needs to boost income. No argument from me there. You only need to look at clubs such as Falkirk, Inverness and Hamilton and the efforts they have made to strengthen this month although in some cases the term "strengthen" is questionable. It annoys me a bit when I hear peolple like Bill Reid or John Hughes spout forth in December saying that there's no cash for new players - aye right. Finally, and straying a bit off track I know, it worries me to read some threads about our new stadium, whenever that might come to fruition. So much effort, imagination and skill is devoted to new stadia designs (nothing wrong in that by itself) but how are we going to pay for it? I'd guess there will be a massive funding deficit between what we receive for Fir Park, a brownfield site, and what we will need to erect a new stadium.

No one can say for sure of course Stall, but remember that the game at Fir Park was cut price. Say 10,500 punters at £11 = £115,000. Off that deduct say £40,000 for expenses and say £18,000 for VAT. The players and management of course would all be paid handsome bonuses. As far as the club shop is concerned, remember that a fair proportion of the income would be due to Provan Sports. Expenses for travelling to France would not be cheap. If we did make a profit on our travels it wouldn't be much.

I don't understand Milo. We've a financial gap to plug this season. I'd guess, as many have said before, that all Faddy's sell on money has gone to creditors. MacDonald's money? Much of that will have gone to the Treasury in VAT and perhaps some to the player himself. MacCormack's compensation of £50k will have been swallowed up in ground improvements no bother. Jim Paterson's cash - a fair chunk of that will have gone on VAT and funding Steve Hammell's transfer. I'd guess we didn't even break even on Europe. Thats the reality of running a provincial SPL club I'm afraid.

Yes for shopping perhaps, unless the games moved to Fir Park which is extremely unlikely.

We'll have to wait and see if any £400,000 deal actually goes through. However assuming any fee was £400,000, and this would probably never be made public, my first question would be not so much how much cash Mark McGhee would get but how much cash MFC would get. Don't forget VAT is payable and the player himself might receive a healthy wad.

Very, very true. If press reports are to be believed, pubs & clubs are going through a hard time just now. The FP club does indeed need to wake up to the inevitable fact that when MFC moves to pastures new, custom on match days and hence income will be decimated. There will be a day of reckoning. The only way ahead for it is to talk to MFC nicely. Burying its head in the Jurassic sands will inevitably lead to extinction.

As some have said the Fir Park Club, or whatever it was called formerly, used to be located in the POD Stand. They used to make a substantial donation to MFC in those days. MFC then built a sports centre/squash club in Edward Street. This venture was indeed a white elephant. The social club and MFC then fell out as I recall and the sports centre was converted and sold to the now Fir Park Club. Since then I've never been too sure what the connection, if indeed there is any at all, is between the Fir Park Club and MFC. What we do know is that the FP club numbers many Well fans in its membership and that it profits greatly from games at Fir Park. In my opinion is this a very strange situation. I know many died in the wool Dossers who won't give MFC a penny in cash (ie drinks or snacks or whatever) and prefer to frequent the FP club. All very strange. Now it seems ludicrous to me as an "outsider" how this situation has been allowed to arise. On one hand the FP Club feeds off MFC but on the other doesn't seem to contribute a penny. Many fans, including myself, have been calling for MFC to increase its income and this seems a lot of cash lost. MFC must lose thousands of pounds a year. I've asked several FP club members why they won't spend their beer money in the Cooper and received a range of odd answers ranging from the quality of the beer (including bottles) to the fact that they resent giving MFC, whom they support, an extra penny. All very odd. Am I missing something here? Can someone explain?

No, not to my knowledge.

It may have been 2 or 3 players for each of the last 3 years Jim. The site has sponsored one player this year, through the sterling efforts of the Brazilian.

Certainly the outlook for Wednesday doesn't look good at all. The pitch has to completely defrost before then, and thats assuming no more sub zero temperatures. If it doesn't, any water will simply lie on top. The way I understand it there is absolutely no pressure being placed on Locos and the game will be played at Harlaw Park when its played and not before. If its after the next round, a week on Saturday, then so be it.

I can see where you're coming from Andy but many travelling fans who are working will want to know asap today. Not everyone can change holiday arrangements at 2/3 hours notice. It may also take time to contact folk. Hope I'm wrong but what I took out of yesterday's announcement was that the pitch wasn't playable yesterday but given good overnight temperatures (which there don't seem to have been) might be playable today. Doesn't look good.

I can't really say I'm surprised. Most of the press reports I've read of the game today are written from a Falkirk perspective. Currently the Bairns seem to have taken over Partick Thistle's mantle (to some extent) as media darlings. John Hughes has definitely taken over John Lambie's position as a real character and the manager that all footie fans love listening to. Whatever else you might say about Falkirk they have always had a very slick media machine

That was my understanding too Joe. That said I would feel a bit guilty about taking sponsorship or some financial support from the Trust if A) I was not a member or B) was not a member and was criticising it in public. You can't have it both ways. Maybe also the name should be changed if its still WellTrust FC. The football team is a great thing but it must decide its position.

Just shows how folk see things differently. I thought he had a good game and made about 2 errors in the whole match (both poor crosses), for which he was loudly and unfairly lambasted by some. His charges up and down our right flank caused Falkirk a lot of trouble. He was still going strong at full time. Says a lot for his fitness levels. It also says something when opposition managers concentrate their fire on our left flank.

Spot on Flow. I also recall the Hearts team of the same era when Alex MacDonald was in charge there too. Totally ruthless football - just do what it takes to secure the 3 points. There were 2 simple rules that were drummed into that Hearts team 1) Just do it - I don't want to know how. 2) Don't get caught One particular game at Fir Park that I recall - Ally Maxwell was defying them in goals when the order went out to crock him and they did just that. Someone - Neil Berry/Gary Mackay? went in with a high & late challenge and almost broke his leg. Still they won the 3 points. Nuff said.

I would not want us to play like Falkirk did yesterday, ever, irrespective of our league position. Now I've always been an advocate of having a physical presence in our side but what we saw yesterday went way beyond that. It amounted to physical violence and a "stop them at all costs" mentality. Vicious tackles, elbows in the face and forearm smashes will never be acceptable to me either on a football pitch or anywhere else ouside of a boxing ring or marshall arts arena. John Hughes had a duty to take action against the culprits but for whatever reason chose not to do so. Perhaps the list of Falkirk's failed red card appeals tells its own story. Players like Morgano Gomis and Russell Latapy are/were very physical and their skill belies a great physical presence. If they hit you, or you hit them, you know all about it - but its fair. I agree with you though on the referee - his complete lack of authority from the point of Kevin McBride's lunge on Stevie Hammell simply encouraged the thugs and louts. That didn't mean to say though that Falkirk were forced to take advantage of that. They could simply have chosen to play fair but hard. My one crumb of comfort was that Patrick Cregg wasn't playing - that would have added injury to insult.

Darren Barr, for one, was very fortunate to remain on the pitch today and not just for poleaxing Stevie Hammell. He also lashed out with his arm at either Marc Fitzpatrick or Keith Lasley (I can't recall which one) in front of the POD Stand. It was certainly far worse than Davie Clarkson's raised arm against Celtic at Parkhead when he was red carded.

I thought Falkirk were shocking today and the referee merely served to encourage them them by failing to clamp down on their nasty tactics. Certainly the dirtiest side I've seen at FP this season. Perhaps John Hughes' pre match comments on officials put the ref under pressure. Once again Falkirk still haven't produced the flowing football the media claims they are capable of. Still overall I'm happy with a point given it was day on which little was ever going to go right. Its the kind of game we've usually lost in the past. The pitch was awful and was cut up badly even before kick off. Once again another manager (even John Hughes) is able to detect a weakness down our left side. We were unlucky though when Stevie Hammell had to retire and that upset the midfield balance. Some reasonable performances but Klimpl and Quinn had decent enough games.

No worse than Keith Lasley or Stephen Hughes I suspect. All 3 are right footed players. Likewise I wouldn't expect Marc Fitzpatrick or Steve Hammell to be accomplished crossers from the right.

I doubt if they'd get free rent Neil and why should they. Normally speaking in such games the "income", including season ticket monies (if applicable), is split 3 ways. A third is deducted for costs, including ground expenses, policing etc and the remainder is then divided in two. If MFC didn't charge ground rent then it would be looking at a substantial financial loss for the game.