Robert

Anything’s possible!

Aaron Doran’s goal has been voted the best goal in the fifth round of the cup.

If that happens, it may well reduce the sum the club receives. The Chairman said that the figure had reduced because the planning application was not approved on the original date, causing a deadline in the deal to be missed, and the market for Battery Parks is seemingly not as strong as it was when the deal was struck. D-day is hopefully three weeks today.

74 from a Google search. Given that only 5 out of 15 members of the Planning Committee could vote, primarily as the other 10 had not been at the Committee meeting that deferred the decision or had not been at the site visit, how are other Councillors now qualified to determine the case when they’ve had no involvement in the discussions and not visited the site? Presumably that increases the chances of an appeal being successful if one is needed.

The next meeting of the full Council is on 14 March so that is the earliest it can be considered.

I understand it is a planning condition for Red John that there is no parking at the site to minimise traffic on the road to the scheme, so construction workers get bussed in, and it’s been agreed with the club that the car park can be used, presumably (my assumption) on condition that the surface is improved. This then gives the club an income stream. The intention is that there will be more fans’ meetings arranged by the Supporters Trust so anyone with questions will be welcome to come along and put them direct to representatives of the club.

Alex Cooper for Brora tonight.

Again, all I can do is to refer to what the Chairman said at the Fans’ Meeting. He said the funding would allow investment in facilities at the ground which would secure future income streams. One is the Home Car Park, allowing it to be used as a car park for staff involved in the Red John construction project. I think he also mentioned the Sports Bar, but I can’t be certain on that. He also made it clear that, without this sum (and we don’t know how much the “seven figure sum” is) the club will be unable to continue with all its current activities, indicating that it would affect the Trust, Academy, Women’s Team etc. That’s my recollection of what he said, but others in attendance may be able to add more detail or things I have missed.

Sam Pearson for Yeovil tonight, whilst Montrose’s Matheus Machado also scored……..but an own goal for Falkirk.

I’m not going to manage to clarify all of that, but I think (and apologies if I have got this wrong) the club owns (or will if the scheme is given the go ahead) the land that the development is on. If it is approved, the club then sells the land for the seven figure windfall and has no further role. Effectively Messrs Cameron and Sutherland have gifted ground to the club (or it’s subsidiary) to make this possible.

That’s not what the Chairman said at the Fans’ Meeting. He said we get a one off seven figure sum but no ongoing revenue stream.

Carragher was played in the centre of the back three and was definitely the one organising things. He moved to the right when Devine came on with Chilokoa-Mullen the one replaced. Before the game, Ferguson said neither Devine nor Ujdur had been training fully so both are carrying knocks. It will be interesting to see who we start with once they are fully fit. For me, the mistake was taking McAllister off as his pace was troubling Partick and he was a good foil for Mckay. Maybe he had picked up a knock. If we don’t have Anderson on Saturday I’d like to see MacGregor get a start.

There’s been a similar challenge in the Sheffield United v Brighton game just now. A bit high, no malice and no force, and a yellow given with the commentators saying it was the right decision. As you say, we gave the ref a decision to make and a red was the outcome.

Seeing the goals we conceded, all were stoppable which adds to the frustration at not winning. We failed to clear our lines twice and got caught out by a quick free kick and conceded the penalty. However, looking at the goals we scored, Partick will be feeling the exact same. Mckay played a blinder at Savage’s goal by ensuring the goalie could not get near it. For those criticising Ridgers in the thread, I don’t see how he could be blamed for any of the goals and he’d a couple of good saves which he should get credit for. On the red card, in real time I thought it was very harsh as did those around me. With the benefit of seeing it again, I agree with both STFU and tm4tj. An appeal may not be successful but there was no malice and many refs would have let it go or just given a yellow.

Only ones noted this weekend were Nat Wedderburn for Stenhousemuir, Rory McAllister for Peterhead and Harry Hennem for Nairn.

He did well today. Rather than turning back and playing a backward pass, he wanted to take his man on and had the beating of him. It was good to see. He also was in a brilliant position to make it 4-2 but Pepple didn’t spot him and the chance was gone. Kerr on the other flank also had a good game, whilst Shaw was playing wide today and had a few decent runs and crosses. We should have won, we didn’t, but I came away heartened by what I saw. I hope we appeal Anderson’s red card but if we don’t have him next week, MacGregor should get a start.

I’m very disappointed with the result, particularly after leading 2-0 and 3-2 but what an enjoyable game that was. We started on the front foot, with none of the back and fro passing that’s dominated our recent performances. Kerr’s goal was a cracker, calmly taken after a great pass by McAllister, and we deservedly led at the break although we had some nervous moments. Partick came out flying in the second half and our second was against the run of play, and we were then let down by poor defending for their first and getting caught napping at a free kick and conceding the penalty. I thought we were done for then, but credit to the players for lifting themselves and taking the lead again, and we should have gone 4-2 up but Pepple went alone when he should have played Harper in. We then conceded, meaning its twelve points we’ve lost late in games. It was the best I’ve seen from Harper and Shaw for some time, whilst Kerr had a good game, but the pick for me was McAllister. I’ve no idea why we took him off so early in the second half. Anderson should not have been sent off. Maybe a booking would have been deserved but many refs would not have produced a card. Overall, much better, encouraging signs, but we need to cut out silly errors. Two massive games ahead now.

With Devine, Boyes and Ujdur all out or struggling, it’s a good job we brought defenders in! I hope they can handle Graham. If they can, I actually fancy us to get something from this.

Dumbarton @ 1.90 please.

HT 1-0 FT 2-1 ICT Billy Mckay Partick Graham Crowd 2150

I’m no expert in this, but does our club licensing not also have SFA requirements to meet about the timely filing of financial statements, and that they show the club to be a going concern? Last year’s accounts were only approved by the Auditors due to the potential revenue from the Battery Park. That is now at risk and the Auditors may not feel able to provide the necessary sign off to the accounts: that was my concern when I highlighted the risk of administration or something worse. The Chairman made it clear at the Fans’ Meeting that the Board members were not going to continue to plough money in and, indeed, the two recent payments made to the club, including one from the Chairman, came with protection to the lenders. Events over the next few weeks will determine if we have a future, and how positive any future can look. Getting back to on pitch maters, to make matters worse, with Dunfermline hosting Arbroath tomorrow, there is every chance that we will find ourselves second bottom after tomorrow’s game.

One thing to note, regardless of anyones view of the Battery Park or the Board / CEO, is that the club is required to submit its accounts by the end of February. With the planning decision now delayed until March, the club may not get the necessary sign offs from their Auditors given the Battery Park is by no means certain. That threatens the very future of the club, as administration (or worse) become real possibilities.

Youngster Calum MacLeod has joined Clach on loan.

Should we change the thread heading to “Abandon Hope”?

Another for Ethan Cairns for Banks O’Dee tonight.