Kmcalpin

100% agree. If they still wanted him they'd offer £4 million and a penny. If our asking price is say £4 then tell them not to bother contacting us again unless they can meet that price, or more if another bid comes in.

Sadly, I see no end in sight to this disease. If anything its only gotten worse in recent years. There's no political will to address it.

I don't mind where he goes as long as the price is right and the lad himself is happy with the move. I assume that we will have a figure a mind and if a club meets that then its over to the lad. My only concern is the timing. I'd be tempted to bump up our asking price a wee bit, if the lad agrees, to compensate. IF true, its a good move by Celtic, as they'll view us as being currently managerless and vulnerable, like a crab temporarily without a shell. If the club knows of other interest and expects another better bid then I'd hold off, again only if the lad agrees. Celtic could easily have made a bid some weeks ago.

Well, we fulfilled the fixture, didn't pick up any cards and avoided a bleaching. Thats about it really. I wasn't expecting wholesale change in tactics but the ghost of Stuart Kettlewell haunted Fir Park. Stephen Frail proved that he was part of the old regime. Our line up looked like a 5-2-2-1 to me, with the hard working Ragnar Lothbrok ploughing a lone furrow up front. Our midfield was largely non existent setting up camp about 30 yards from our goal and giving the defence no protection. I'm not usually one to worry about possession stats but 19% really is low. A single shot on target on too. SOD looks lost in central defence and Kaletta didn't impress. Maybe because of injury, he didn't give 100%. Apart from being more talented, which goes without saying, Celtic were harder working and more physical than us. Ragnar impressed up front and I was happy for him to notch his first goal. However he had little service. Of the others Tom Sparrow looked the part in midfield before he was moved back; Dom Thompson looked lively at LWB; and Manwhanise looked lively. Neither of the 2 new lads had much of chance to impress. We move on and the sooner a new broom arrives the better. A pair of fresh eyes is badly needed.

Yes, SOD is never a central defender and Balmer, who was signed on a 2 year deal, must be poor if he can't get a game.

What did he say?

Racism and sectarianism are both alive and thriving both in cyberspace and in the flesh.

Archie Mair loan cut short due to injury. We're looking at Cove's keeper and have made a bid which was rejected. Matty Connelly obviously not fancied ( so why was he re-signed). I'm expecting some moves both in and out tomorrow.

Yes a good interview by Stevie Frail. Its unreasonable to expect huge changes on Sunday but a few tweaks won't go amiss.

Just watched the pre match media video with SOD. In a difficult session he came across very well and down to earth. Fieded some awkward questions well. A small positive this week.

I received a brief update on the recruitment process, by email this morning, from the Society. It doesn't say much but is welcome and attempts to bring the narrative back onto the stright and narrow. I would have thought however that it was more the responsibility of the CEO to have done that.

A very strange address and I just don't know what to make of it. I was expecting some clarification to emphasise that it's only a small number of fans involved and then to move onto progress in filling the vacancy. In other words an attempt to mend bridges, limit damage, and move forward. However that's not what we got. I now have more questions than answers. It's now seems that Stuart Kettlewell's issues may go back for some time and may be about more than just abuse from the stands. It seems odd therefore that Brian Caldwell didn't know about these issues until Monday. In short I don't know what took place but think he may have taken the right decision. I'm not sure either we should have been told some of the details about SK. Should they have remained confidential? In any event I wish him well. Football management is a high pressure occupation. I also found Brian Caldwell's morbid tone confusing. I get the upset this has caused the club and him personally, but thought his comment about agents and job applications a bit bizarre. Like it or not, as CEO, it's his responsibility to take forward the application and selection process. Its not nice, but a fact of life, that as soon as a manager leaves, irrespective of circumstances, there will be floods of applications.

That's my recollection too. I'm sure one of the flags was a league championship flag too. I don't recall which one it was.

I think that's a reasonable skill set on which to base our search. Certainly someone with a reputation for fielding attack minded sides would go a long way to rekindling the support's enthusiasm.

According to the BBC there had been over 100 applications as of an hour ago. No appointment before Sunday, which shouldn't shock anyone.

Its been unusually quiet on the vacancy front. No doubt our search for a new manager has been overshadowed by Stuart Kettlewell's departure story and I get that. However, everyone now needs to move on. I'm surprised however that the club hasn't released a short statement on the filling the vacancy. I know that we've been told that Stephen Frail will take over on a caretaker basis, but the club now needs to regain the narrative and be a bit more proactive.

Celtic's finest singing abusive chants about the Royal Family tonight (whether or not you support the Royal Family is irrelevant). Will that be reported by the Scottish media and several articles written about that?

He was suspended by Hibs in 2019 after an altercation with other employees.

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Yes, a decent shout. Raith tried to land him recently without success.

Just hope Celtic don't lay siege to Balcombe!

My last word on this topic before moving on. He certainly seems to have managed this episode poorly, although we don't know what took place behind closed doors. He's now made a few faux pas including approving the press statement and banning Under 14s from attending games alone. We'll cut him some slack though as he's reasonably new and still settling in.

Not strictly a former player, but Matty Connelly scored an OG tonight.

Whilst there's a lot of sense in what he says, I think it was inadvisable to say this just now. Maybe just adding fuel to the fire. We need to learn lessons and move on now. The club and Society have their work cut out to mend a few bridges. We need a united front.

No problem Gaz. I never thought about varying definitions of abuse but you're right.