David

Seriously, the whole thing seems to be a bit of a joke from what I've seen. They rarely respond to emails, and for them to be coming away with this "internet connection not being strong enough" stuff in 2015 is absolutely ridiculous. If the WIFI connection isn't up to scratch get on the horn to whichever company provides the club with broadband and get another connection installed! I have no idea what the admin guy has to "look into" when it comes to PayPal either. It's all pretty straight forward really, you just create an account and add a link to the site to your website page. It takes literally 15 minutes. Something like this would do the job - http://www.foundationofhearts.org/paypal-payment-option/ Honestly, all they have to do is check out the way Hearts are going about things and copy what they're doing - http://www.foundationofhearts.org/

You can't honestly predict that with any real sense of certainty though. We've been a top flight club for thirty years, so it's really not easy to predict how we'd do crowd-wise if we dropped down, is it? I mean, if we're up at the top of the table competing for the title you have to believe that we'd see some level of interest from our fans. Certainly as much interest as we have when we've found ourselves playing out the season in mid-table nothingness.

Of course no one is guaranteed, but I think he will score plenty at that level, given the chance. Don't get me wrong, if we sign someone in the summer who can replicate the kind of numbers Sutton has produced for less money or whatever then fair enough.

You're right enough, not sure why I added an extra season there. But yeah, anyone who wants rid of a striker like Sutton if we get relegated is mental. He'll score plenty of goals in the Championship.

If it were a choice between Hibs and Rangers I'd rather play Rangers.

He's scored 11 goals for us these past two seasons, is that right? A bit of a drop from the 20 odd he got the season before, but is he really someone we want to discard? Will we get those goals from elsewhere?

Having listened to the interview with Les Hutchinson on the podcast a few weeks back I'd say Baraclough will be going nowhere unless he walks. It sounded to me like the club have bought into his ideas for the long haul.

With the season drawing to a close shortly I figured a new thread discussing the comings & goings this summer would be worth starting. I'll shift the last few posts from the current thread over as they're relevant to next seasons discussions.

That's what I was thinking as well. It's amazing what a player returning from injury and a new signing can do for us. Hopefully we kick on and don't suffer any more injuries or suspensions to important players. When Pearson got carded relatively early on Saturday I was shitting myself that he'd get a red, especially with the way that referee was going about his business. We don't need to be losing players like him.

It doesn't really help make us look like an attractive proposition for any new managerial candidates either, does it?

He hasn't shown much, but if we're not going to give him a chance then what's the point? He was given the backing to bring in a fair number of players, wasn't he? Doing that to only get shot of him a game or two later would be fucking mental, which is why I think he really has to be given until the Kilmarnock game. If things aren't working at that point then the situation needs addressed. When McCall left I was of the opinion that we should bring in someone like Tommy McLean to see us to the end of the season then look to push on from there. A lot of the current squad are out of contract, so any new manager would have had as close to a clean slate to work with as possible. We didn't do that though, we appointed Baraclough, and sure, I would have rather we appointed Van Der Gaag as well, but the fact is Baraclough is here, and it's only right that he's given a chance. There are also other factors to consider as well, with the main one being who we could realistically replace him with in a hurry? Is there anyone available that would actually want the job? The situation isn't good, at all, but it requires more than just handing the manager his jotters and working it out from there.

So when would you have gotten rid then? Before the January window closed? Now?

Well, I wanted to give him more time for the reasons I mentioned. As a new manager he should be allowed to at least bring in a few of his own players and actually be given some games to play them in. I honestly believe that this is the least a new man in the position should be given. McCall couldn't get anything from the squad pre-January, so it shouldn't really surprise anyone that Baraclough couldn't either. Being given a fair amount of backing and a load of new players in January makes Baraclough more accountable at this point though, as he's now been given his own players and come the Kilmarnock game he'll have also been given time to play them. If things haven't changed by then questions have to be asked.

There'd probably be a few who'd be happy to do it for nothing in order to get the experience on their CV's.

I agree, the players are certainly at the heart of the problem. Both McCall and now Baraclough are finding it increasingly difficult to get anything from them. Unfortunately, when this kind of thing happens football clubs don't sack the players, they sack the manager, and if things haven't changed by the end of the Killie game I fear we'll be without a manager. Again.

I was one of the people who were pretty vocal about him being given the opportunity to bring in some of his own players before we judged him, saying just that after the loss to Aberdeen. I didn't think he'd get the chance to make any real changes until the summer though, so I always believed he should be given until then to make his mark before we judged him. With the signings in january though he's been given an earlier chance to stamp his own identity on the side, and thus far it's not looking great. Six games on from that assessment, and we've nicked one point from a possible eighteen or something, which is terrible. I also believe the Kilmarnock game will be the decider. I don't see us getting much from Inverness, but no points from the next two will likely result in something being done, which is unfortunate, as it means going back to the drawing board. Who would have thought we'd be in this position after the guys we brought in during January? A 'keeper who's played at England youth level, an Everton midfield prospect and a number of other guys who looked to be good enough to at least play a part in securing us 10th in the table? Fucking hell. I know I wasn't the only one who was optimistic the morning after the transfer deadline had passed. I have no doubt that by suggesting we gave the manager time to at least bring in his own players and put them on the park I'll get the "I told you so" treatment from certain forum members, and I guess that's deserved. If and when we appoint another manager I'll be doing the exact same again, so feel free to batter in.

anyone know if there's a direct link to commentary for this game today?

Anyone hear the guys on BBC radio Scotland shitting all over Baraclough? Chic young and his fake St Mirren fan nonsense.

The fact that the above entry is labelled "Blog number 1" means there'll be more of them, hopefully pretty regularly.

A fair amount of info.

If we get relegated we'll see a load of our top earners leave, that's for sure. The guys who are happy to see out their contracts whilst not offering much return this season would more than likely be suddenly looking for a move if staying meant playing a division down. On top of that we have a whole host of players who are out of contract this summer. Basically, we'd be starting from scratch playing wise I reckon. We'd retain a few old heads, but it would be mainly a new side we'd field on day one next season I think. Sure, attendances would drop a bit, but we'd simply have to cut our cloth accordingly.

Yeah, but the truth is there are clubs in that division who are similar in size to us and they do survive. All I'm saying is that I don't think we'd be going to the wall if we did get relegated. If the new ownership believes in the idea of bringing players through the ranks, not over-paying for talent and cutting our cloth to suit our income then I'm certain we'd be just fine (and by just fine I mean survive). I have a feeling we're going to see some major changes this summer anyways with so many players out of contract. Again, is it ideal? Not at all, but it won't be the end of the world.

Aye, but how many of them went bust because they got relegated? Most clubs of our size are operating close to the breadline the majority of the time anyway, aren't they? If we went down we'd simply have to cut our cloth accordingly, like most other clubs do. Relegation is a real threat though, I agree there. The past few years have been an anomaly of sorts though, haven't they? We're realistically a top six club at best.

Nice one.

The same that happens with other teams like us who've been relegated, we'd cut our cloth accordingly and try to win enough games to see us come back up. It would be very far from ideal, but it would hardly be armageddon. Clubs like Hamilton, Dundee, Dunfermline and so on have bounced between the divisions over the past ten years or so without going out of business. I imagine we'd do the same.