The African

Would be a shame if it turns out to be true. I would have hoped that an Ainsworth with a year or maybe more left on his contract might attract some interest from down South where they seem to have more money than sense. I know that his leaving will free up his salary, but it would have been nice to copped a few quid as well.

Erwin was scarcely the finished article when he left. A season cooling his heels at Leeds will not have done much for him in that respect. As such, would he be ahead of Skippy or Moult in terms of selection for us? We probably do need to strengthen our striking resources even if McDonald resigns and we do not get a decent offer for Moult, but I am not sure Erwin on loan fits that particular bill. Moore deserves a chance after a successful loan spell, though bench cover and the odd start would seem the likely path for him to show whether he can make the step up. Erwin, for a season, would only get in the way of his possible development.

Adds a bit of spice and gets the season up and running. Hopefully these games will be better than pre season friendliest so that we are ready for real business when the league kicks off. The draw itself gives us a chance to make a bit of cash and progress to the next stage. All good.

I cannot bring myself to "hate" either half of the old firm. Hate is such a strong emotion, and the irony of hating organisations that are based on a mutual hate for each other is not lost on me. I'll stick with "despise".

Indeed, it is the silly season after all. Reckon he will get a League One gig and earn a fair bit more Han the like of ourselves could afford to pay him.

Would we want him back? Reckon the move was worth it for him financially.

Love the Rangers statement. They really are the gift that keeps on giving.

Great name. Is he any good?

If we fail to sign any of the older players, it simply brings forward to now the inevitable moment when we have to find a replacement. At least it will free up their wages in order to do so.

Neil Alexander is an interesting one. He is 38 but that doesn't mean we couldn't get a season or two out of him as goalkeepers are different. He has had a good career and hopefully, for him, made a decent living from it so perhaps his demands in terms of wages may not be beyond the realms of possibility for us. I can only see it as a runner though if Samson decides not to stay.

Pretty sure that experiment was the game against them at Celtic Park them immediately after the seven nil. We had injury problems and I think Andy Harrow may also have played at the back that day. We lost three nil, I think, but didn't take the pumping we were supposed to. To be fair, in the seven nil game, we were guilty of chasing the game in the second half when we were well behind and lost three or four goals to them on the break.

Very decent and generous thing to do.

I think the Scottish Cup game was in 1984 and we managed to keep them down to six. The seven nil at Fir Park was, I think, in 1982. Probably the first time we had played them since coming up after a spell in the old first division.

Leitch is one of those players who, in a better financial climate, you would have liked to see get another year. He has not been lucky with the serious injury and had few real chances since then. The truth is though that we can't keep them all and I wish him well in his future career. Any word on where he might be going?

Disappointing is an understatement. I suppose we can, to an extent, put it down to a number of factors, only some of which will have consequences for next season. The facts that our season was over, we had very little to play for and we caught them on a good day and they are a better side than us, as the league table shows, can be seen as valid and forgotten about. This really wasn't a game we could hope to experiment in and, once again, McGhee has tried to be a little too clever and been found out. I would not be too hard on Luke Watt. A youngster given a chance in a game that passed more experienced players by is always going to look out of his depth. I see that some have questioned his attitude and said that it looked like he wasn't trying, but we have to remember that looks can be deceptive. Hopefully he can come back from this disappointment. Thankfully we did not risk any other young players and their possible development. What I think this does show though, is that the issues that have dogged us over the past two seasons which were not sorted by McCall and Baraclough still remain and need to be addressed. Our key players are all a year older and we have no obvious succession policy for most of them. The work hasn't been done over the past few years so now the job is not only more urgent but also harder as it has to be achieved over a shorter time frame. This is all the more difficult as we are entering a period of tighter budget and necessary financial expediency. I hope McGhee is up for it. This is where a good manager earns his salary. Getting the players fit and organised will get us so far, but to improve, our squad needs more than a freshen up. Good luck Mark.

I wonder where McManus will go to pick up more money than we are offering? England would seem unlikely at his age and I doubt his form over the past couple of years with us would have put him on many team's wish list.

He may reconsider now that Hibs are not coming up this season.

No. He had his chance with us and didn't make it.

Falkirk is obviously a better fit for McHugh than we were. Good luck to the lad. Will be interesting to see how he goes next season if they manage to get by Killie. He had a fair go with us and didn't make the grade, so no regrets. If he improves and has a stellar career, then it is down to him and those around him. Can't say it is likely, based on what I saw of him at Fir Park.

Very good result. Fifth place confirmed which, I think, most of us will be quite happy with.

Samson is an experienced pro so he hold know that nobody is guaranteed a starting place. Throw in a change of management since he signed and he has to accept that he has been behind Ripley this season. He is also not the only player being offered reduced terms, so taking it personally would be a bit daft. With Ripley more than likely not to return he has a chance to stake a claim for the starting position, though I reckon we will look to bring in more cover, unless young Long is considered good enough to make the step up. Samson might be able to secure a gig elsewhere, but it is not likely to carry any more guarantees than he will get at Fir Park or indeed much more cash. McGhee spoke highly of him when he started against Hearts and has offered him a deal. The ball is in his court.

Samson will probably get another start in one of the final two games and a chance to fight it out for the starting jersey with whoever we bring in over the summer. If he thinks he can do better elsewhere then good luck to him.

The difficulty with the "tradition" and "fun filled scamps causing nobody any harm" arguments is, to which clubs should it apply and which clubs should not be allowed to use it as they fall into the "known arse holes" category.

We are serial offenders. We cannot just blame it on a bunch of hypocritical and hypersensitive h**s from last season.

Cannot blame the club for the security increase. They have tried to rely on the common sense of our support in the past and it has not exactly worked out well (no pun intended). It is a sad day when the actions (and no little expense) of the club are dictated by a handful of stupid people who can't or won't take a telling, but it is where we are.