David

For us to relegated outright Dundee United would need to improve beyond belief, which doesn't look like happening. We're engaged in a battle for that dreaded play-off position, again.

Probably the punters behind the dugout in the Main stand. They were shouting for Moult, and they got him, which undoubtedly resulted in us losing those goals.

A Hearts-supporting mate of mines says the same thing. He claims that Gomis was superb last season, but can't seem to break through into the team this season. Also describes him as hard working and someone who "keeps it simple".

I'll believe it when I see it, but if it were to happen it would be a fantastic piece of business.

Aye, that's true, but we have seen English sides pay over the odds for Scottish-based talent as well. It seems to come down to the negotiating skills involved, which is why it seems to be the same few teams who get decent money for their players. Let's hope that whenever a bigger side comes calling for one of our contracted players, be it Marvin or someone else, that Les lives up to his talk.

£700,000 is a fair bit more than the £400,000 figure that's been mentioned though, isn't it? I understand that many don't think he's worth more than £400,000, but how many of the players those teams down south are signing are actually worth the amounts paid? Very few. It's all subjective, and if he's good enough to draw attention from a club in that position, then he's worth a fair bit more than £400,000.

I'd probably have been more alarmed had we got wiped out whilst at full strength with everyone playing where they usually do. McGhee fucked up a bit by the looks of it, either by choice or by circumstance, but hopefully we'll get back on track moving forward.

I only mentioned Coca Cola because they'd been mentioned already. My point is that whichever company wanted to sponsor us wouldn't have to throw "large sums of cash" at us. The money being paid to us wouldn't necessarily increase just because the sponsor is more high profile.

A large, multi-national company like Coca Cola wouldn't necessarily have to throw "large sums of cash" at us though, would they? They'd just have to offer something in the same ballpark as Cash Converters did, which probably wasn't all that much.

So, what's the chances that this snow ends up causing a cancellation tomorrow?

Any word on tickets sold yet? They've been on sale for a weeks now, aye?

Despite any personal issues I always felt that Craig Reid was a decent enough backup player. Anyone think there's a future at Fir Park for him under McGhee?

That's a pretty cool photo, that.

I'd assumed so, but if I'm being honest I've not really been convinced thus far. Our signing policy certainly hasn't looked like that of a club looking to downsize.

We really need to tighten up on what we're spending. I assumed that Les coming in would have been the perfect time for the club to get its affairs in order and ensure that when he leaves we're not up shit creek without a paddle. The first warning sign for me was when we heard chat about bringing through our own youth, and then proceeded to go ahead and sign a load of new players both to permanent deals and on loan, pushing some of the more promising youth players to the back of the line. Again. I was hit with chat that the young players obviously aren't good enough otherwise they'd be in the team in the first place. The point is that obviously they're not going to be better than Manchester United and Middlesborough youth players! But we can't afford players of that level! We should have cut away the big earners & the dead wood, and brought through some of the lads who've done well in the youth team, coupled with a few outside signings. Will that philosophy see us challenging for top 6? Possibly not, and it may even see us continue to flirt with relegation, but at the end of the day we simply should not be spending more than we bring in. I hate to say it, but Accies have shown the way ahead for clubs of our size when it comes to youth and how to approach that side of things.

Unfortunately, when you don't have a wealthy owner who can cover any costs that arise you can't really afford to take many chances as you don't have that safety net of someone who can fund the shortfall. If & when we're under Society control the money raised and banked is all we have, isn't it? We need to cut our cloth according to what we bring in, and we simply should not be spending more on a yearly basis than that amount.

Not necessarily. That's the point where our scouts and manager earn their money by spotting and recruiting talent that we can pick up relatively inexpensively, can do a job for us over a few years, and who can be sold at a profit. It's a snowball effect, where we budget for bottom six but if we perform beyond that in the league and/or cup we can use that extra money outwith the budget the following season. A club of our size can't afford to shoot for the stars and fail, especially if we're relying on the fans money to pick us up afterwards.

Tell John Boyle that. He was trying to punt the club for years.

The real question is, what's the alternative?

It'll help our position in the league without doubt, but I fear that such a run of results will only paper over the cracks in my opinion, deflecting from the larger issues.

Nah, I'm not really. I'd say more pissed off than anything else. The day something football-related actually causes me to break into a rage is the day I stop following the game for good.

I'm only going on my own opinion from what I've seen on the park. As I said, I've seen Motherwell sides in the past who were simply poor, but certain players in the current squad appeared to me as though they weren't putting in the effort.

It wasn't easy, I'll give you that.

See, I don't think we did get lucky. There's a whole lot about this set-up that doesn't add up to me.