bobbybingo

So this failed plan isn't Plan A. That would have been the plan he employed pretty successfully in the first few games before injuries forced a change. A return to that wouldn't suit you if you want Bair dropped. Kettlewell's obviously not trying to lose games and bring pressure on himself. He can see the problem, same as everyone else, so you'd think he'd give Wilkinson and/or Shaw a go from the start. I'd be slightly concerned about why he hasn't done this.

Are you saying he's only had one plan all season?

The Happy Crappers.

Yeah, "If" is a big word. And you're basing your belief that we are in relegation trouble on a huge "If....", because right now, we're not.

He's doing well in the Championship.

Would a fixation on our results against them not play a part in that? I couldn't give a toss what they think of us. I'm sure both sets of fans are amused by our pathetic inabilty to beat their teams but unlike you, I'm also sure we will win again, and probably when it least suits them. If we want to talk about the minnows' shit records against bigger fish, how about Celtic's no Champions League home win for 10 years. Far worse than our Old Firm record, obviously, since they're convinced they are one of the sharks.

Yeah, it's crap. But our league record over that period is better than the 2 teams you mentioned, so you might question what good their wins have really done them. In the whole Hearts discussion a week or two back, did you not say something about us having a fixation on competing with the Old Firm?

Fair enough. I thought you were talking about "when it mattered". And no, the fact we beat Rangers twice 8 years ago doesn't console me when we lose to them in the league. But since we've generally finished higher than most of the teams who've occasionally beat them, I'm no raging about it either.

I was referring to the 2 play-off wins against Rangers. I think those results were about as big as they come. While we were celebrating those, St Mirren were preparing for 3 seasons in the Championship. Kilmarnock have also been relegated in the intervening years. As much as I'd love us to stick it to the ugly sisters, those games generally don't define how successful your season is, unless it involves winning a cup.

8 years ago recent enough for you?

I think the play-off games and League Cup semi mattered.

I'd put myself in the realistic camp. We need to start scoring, so Shaw will have to be given a decent opportunity, but I don't see what he's done in recent years that would suggest he's gonnae produce many goals either. Out of our available options Wilkinson would be the likely candidate for that, statistically speaking, which just highlights our problem.

We've done well with goalkeepers and defenders on loan deals, but which club is going to send us a proven goalscorer? It's gonnae be unproven youngsters like Biereth or older guys who haven't been scoring. Either that, or we pay for someone in form, but we'd need to look so far down the leagues for someone it would be highly likely we were beyond their level.

The only difference is that nobody got a chance to boo Hastie when he played for Rangers against us. Or anyone.

Kettlewell's deliberately setting the team up to lose? Ok.

Yeah, it's his job to pick the team and he is currently going with Bair because he fits his system. If you don't want to offer an opinion on what a better option would be right now because you know we don't have better options right now, you might as well pick a cloud to shout at.

Give it another 6 months and he'll be representing Cambusnethan Miners Club.

Your forward line-up would be?

In the long run, zero points is zero points and that can't go on. But I think most people can accept there is, in general, a difference between performances and results. If anyone's pleased about us losing, it's not the happy clappers.

We lost, that's a fact. You don't think the performances were good?

I'm more optimistic going into the Livingston game on the back of those 3 defeats than I would've been on the back of 3 defeats under Hammell. I think we're all aware what the problem is going to be in the upcoming games, but the team's playing well enough otherwise to warrant optimism. I don't know what element of the support on here you think get a hard on when losing gallantly to those two, but it's certainly not anyone old enough to remember beating them at least once every season, no matter how shit we were. Having said that, the gap has become a gulf over the last few decades - doesn't mean we can't win these games, but it's obviously made it far less likely. At least we've actually had a go this week.

Who said they were pleased to lose?

If, as looks like will be the case, we're still in the top 6 after facing those two in back to back matches, we're doing ok.

We equalised after they were subbed. What did they have to do with the goal we lost after that?

Marc Fitzpatrick quit as Airdrie's assistant manager in 2019. Looks like he'd retired from playing prior to that, due to injury.