steelboy

is anyone else disappointed that the chairman of the well society is someone who has ( and might still be for all i know) been a club employee?

on set pieces. tonight we had one decent target (cummins) one not bad target (higdon) and murphy who has scored a few from set plays losing his marker. the rest of the team are small guys so we are unlikely to get much joy.

united scored a great goal and had forced a few other good saves from randolph. we looked good for the first hour or so then started lumping it. it's not hard to figure out why - humphrey is a passenger who does no work without the ball which means our midfield and fullbacks start tiring before the other team. we should probably have scored a few but it's no suprise we didn't. ojaama isn't ready to play at this level, higdon let another game pass him by (5 in a row) and as mentioned humphrey was so bad he only got by brian mclean at left back once. it all comes back to mccall not replacing jennings in the summer.

i can't believe people are voting for ojaama. he's the new ross forbes or the white shivute. a guy who produces one or two pieces of magic a game but is overall bad for the team.

murphy should be in the team because he scores goals for us. if anyone is dropping out it should be the guy with 6 goals in 138 appearances.

i would have liked an easier draw but i can see the positives of this one. you've got to take what your given in the cups and i'm happy enough with a good day out and a tie that has the makings of a good game with a bit of needle in it.

how many people actually go up to aberdeen? we had about 100 the other month, maybe 200 when daley scored and 100 again when jeffers scored. it'll be good to take a decent crowd up there for a change and it's a proper away day which means the majority of people that go up will get a good booze in them which should make for a cracking atmosphere. it's a hard draw but it's a chance to get a bit of revenge for last season and get one over judas brown. throw in the 91 connection and it could be a legendary day out.

if you can't get up for aberdeen away in the cup then it's time to wrap it. as long as we don't make an early exit it's guaranteed to a be great day

just seen him out doing some shooting practice in the palace grounds. he was striking the ball well until some old granny's dug ran over and nicked his ball

i agree with that. sutton and hartson in particular gave refs the option of either penalising them every time or not all. unsurprisingly scottish refs chose to let them away with it but it was a different story in europe. in 2004 hartson gave away 27 fouls in the six group stage games. it would be interesting to know if this is something mccall works on with him or if they are just happy to continue the way things are.

all the fouls against hibs were fouls though. it's not the ref's fault he's constantly trying to putting his arms over the defender, we would be shouting for free kicks if it was against us. the likes of nish and sutton try to gain an advantage with their arms but at least they have a bit of nous and win some as well. higdon just constantly grabs the defender then looks shocked when the free kick goes against him, at least henrik mixes it up with a few handballs and dives to go with the crazy barges. the reason he never wins any is because he never jumps for the ball. even yesterday he gave a few away. the one in the first half on the edge of their box was comical. last season he ended up missing out on a century of fouls in the spl by two. right now he has given away 34 in the league and won 10, if he continues at this rate for the rest of the season he's looking at giving away 117 and winning 34 according to this he's committed 384 fouls in the spl. you would think after the first couple of hundred he would think about changing his style of play.

good performance. cummins looked solid, lasley was superb with less responsibility to get forward and jamie was superb when he was playing in behind the striker. the early goal took the pressure off and we should have scored a few more.

both of those games were utterly baltic. the st johnstone game must have been about minus 10.

ideally we go for someone with a wide knowledge of players and contacts who will be able to bring in the large amount of new players we will need whilst also dealing with the reduced budget that we are likely to have next season (£300k loss this season unless we sell someone or have a good scottish cup run). i'm sure we wouldn't be short of applicants and the board have done well the last four times they have went looking for a manager. i'm not the only person who thinks mccall isn't cut out for that particular task. we don't owe him anything and the club is walking a tight rope at the moment. the club went into decline with the full butcher-australia carry on and malpas taking the reigns. we can't afford that now, we need to be alert before the rot sets in.

surely there is the same amount of managers available mid season and close season?

i doubt that very much. i think the fact that his club sent him up to us for the full of preseason before we decided to take him on loan that he is on his way out birmingham at the end of his deal. he played because he did ok at tynecastle and cummins had one of the worst games ever in his last outing.

higdon - unfit, immobile and constant fouling. ramsden - not cut out for this level of football. should be shipped back to league 2 asap.

higdon has well and truly reverted to type. he had a good run against lewis toshney, mark mccausland and simon king but against any half decent centrehalf he is hopeless.

for me mccall's time is up. changing manager has worked well for us in the past. we got a boost when mcghee, gannon and brown came in and freshened the place up. we need someone who can overhaul the entire squad and mccall is not the man for the job. he's not even a good judge of players in our own squad, in april page plays at easter road and looks solid, makes two appearances this season and plays well yet he is on loan at accies whilst mccall's two summer signings make a laughing stock of us live on tv. on the playing side i wouldn't be too gutted if hammell and lasley were the only current players still here next season. randolph, hateley, hutchy, law and murphy are all guaranteed to leave for more money elsewhere and higdon, humphrey, daley and ramsden are all imposters and should be hunted.

bad news. good news.

it was a bit concerning to hear derek weir saying that the society will need a much larger cash reserve before the majority shareholding is passed over. the only way that is going to happen is either (i) the fans raising more money (ii) a big transfer fee (iii) the club turning a big profit. none of those things are likely so i don't see how we will have a hugely increased reserve at any point in the near future. maybe it was because tonight was about electing society board members but it didn't seem like electing members to the club board or shares being transferred to the society. those were the two main selling points of the society and it'll be disappointing if turns out they come with strings attached.

randolph hateley hutchy ramsden hammell murphy lasley carswell law mchugh higdon

carswell made more tackles in 45 minutes than a few of rest of them have made all season. i thought he played very well, hopefully we've seen the last of hateley in midfield.

3 wins in 14 games this season, mccall is under pressure imo. starting 4-5-1 today was a joke, who in their team are afraid of? higdon is too lazy and immobile to play as a lone striker and it was clear from the off that webster and zaliukas would have the cigars out. the only positive was carswell coming on in the second half, the midfield three were a shambles in the first half and nicky law in particular needs to take a good look at himself, every time he plays in a 3 in centre mid he disapears. humphrey didn't look as inept as usual today but he got great service and must have been one on one with grainger a dozen times and only created two chances. as long as our main tactic is getting the ball out to him on the right we'll struggle, he's not good enough to be the focal point of our team. 6 goals in 140 odd games from spends the entire game up the park, the sooner he is out of fir park the better. mccall's stock is declining rapidly. he failed miserably in the transfer market this summer, his public relations have been piss poor and his team selections and tactics this season have been terrible. looking at the subs today 1. rather than sub carswell straight on at the injury he ended up finishing the half with ten men with carswell standing waiting to come on 2. ojaama on far too late to make an impact 3. law does nothing in the centre for 85 mins then plays left mid for 3 minutes and almost scores then gets subbed off for the disgrace that is omar daley.

josh watt on loan to airdrie. i've seen him a few times and he looks a good prospect, decent pace and technically good with both feet. i thought he would have pushed on a bit this season but it doesn't seem to have been happening for him. hopefully the loan works out well for him.