Leaderboard

Not everyone matures at the same rate. Part of the trouble with bringing players through these days is that if they don't break through before they're 18 or 19 then they're thrown on the scrap heap. For every Philip Roberts, there's a Draper or a Warren who don't develop and realise potential until they're a few years older.

Macho! Dreadful sexist remark Should guarantee some clean sheets though!

As for Tade, St J have been grumbling that he had verbally agreed to stay for another year and was supposed to come in last week to sign. Come off it Saints, look at his history and you'll see that his only loyalty is to his bank account. He made his way through 6 Scottish clubs in 6 years. With ICT he was popular and succesful player in whom the manager showed a huge amount of faith, to firstly give him a crack at SPL football, and then sticking by him during some awful spells of form. He then buggered off at the first opportunity, to a rival team no bigger than us, after saying he wanted to return to France. The lure of 90 minutes against a foreign team was the next convenient excuse for taking the extra couple of hundred quid a week, and now he's done a U-turn there to be closer to his family, to be in the Europa League qualifiers, for a new challenge. The challenge of how to spend the extra cash, presumably. Not that I'm really blaming him for maximising his earnings, I'm just pointing out to St J that if you manage to seduce the local whore then you shouldn't be surprised to find your bed empty when you wake up.

Top 6 and a Cup run would be fine. But more importantly our TogetherNess must should be carried on, and those people who went OTB for the novelty factor last season should be brought back to TCS. Let's aim for a 4800+ average crowd!

Top six and above County will do me just fine. A cup win would be just lovely too ;)

Pepper has yet to establish himself in our team at SPL level and Meekings/Golobart were both physically a lot stronger which is one of the key attributes for SPL success. While I agree with many comments the main issue with PR was his attitude in games, he never looked to motivated or interested, I think he has the ability but the pace of the Scottish game and where physicality is a more sought after attribute than skill and technique means its always going to be hard for that type of player - look at GMS or Ryan Jack they get kicked for 90 mins a game, although perhaps they are mentally stronger and can deal with that or used to it through the Scottish youth system. Roberts may yet make it to a high level, look at the likes of Pennant (ignore his off-field issues and attitude problems) he was released by Arsenal yet has still played at a high level in England & Europe.

I think "wimp" is maybe a bit harsh. As I've said before, I think he was just lacking a little bit of that arrogance/self belief that's needed in a player when they are on the park. Also, let's not forget that he is still a young lad, having only just turned 19 in April, and had no "first team" football prior to coming on loan to us.

Introduction to the Families of Sneck: THE "MERKINCHERS" had ruled the Ferry and Carse areas for many years and were a rather insular clique. Their realm comprised mainly of council slums houses, inhabited by tribes of Dyces, Stewarts, Burnsides, Corbetts and Rodgers They rarely strayed from the homely atmosphere of establishments such as the Thornbush, the Locheil or the Albion (famed for having Pomagne, Scotsmac and Four Crown on the optics) or their dilapidated meeting place in Grant Street. They rarely fraternised with the Jeggies but were known to join the Howden Enders on forays into Ross-Shire and Morayshire plus "socialising" at the likes of the Strath, the Keppoch, the Ballerina and the Red Shoes, kitted out in the latest fashions sold in the Nicols Emporium in Grant Street They shunned the concept of family Unity and they had already ploughed significant amounts of stolen borrowed well earned spondoolachs in to the survival of their race and keenly wished to maintain their name, history and heritage. Their general presentation anyway was not viewed as the proper advertisement for Family Unity in Sneck by the Sneck Council, the INE and its known associates. THE JEGGIES were mainly a middle class collection populating the more distinguished properties in the Crown, Lochardil and Culduthel. Their family presentation was far more what the Sneck Council, the INE and their known associates were looking for. They tended to congregate mainly in the Lounge Bars of the Heathmount, Craigmonie and Corriegarth whilst their main meeting place was peculiarly a dilapidated, falling down area of grass and mud called Kingsmills Park. They did also have a quaint little studio apartment in Baron Taylors Street. They were a very polite and politically correct bunch and preferred to rustle sweeting papers, doff their caps or engage in polite clapping and applause than to sing and tended to prefer picnics, garden parties, watching cricket in Fraser Park or a game of gowf at Culcabock. They were never many in numbers and it was often said that the only time a merry throng was seen in their area was when the Howden Enders stormed loudly up Stephens Brae or the Raining Stairs for family competitions. However the family had some very influential members of the Sneck Community with a load of spondoolachs hidden away for a rainy day. In truth they were "perfect" in the eyes of the Sneck Council, the INE and its known associates and it was decreed at an early juncture that they had to be included in the Family Unit application, by any means, fair or foul. THE HOWDEN ENDERS were the vibrant, colourful, gregarious, extroverted, arrogant and oft controversial faction of Sneck. They were simply regarded as the top dogs, "The Rangers of the North". They had considerably more numbers to call on, more financially solid and owned a palatial, historical and revered Meeting Place on Telford Street. They would mass in groups throughout the Kingdom of Sneck, from the Jolly Drover to the Muirtown, from the Fluke to the Crit and the Gellions to the Royal Ordnance. They simply loved life to the full. Their name and reputation was known far and wide. They did not have the family presentation pull that was being sought by the Sneck Council, the INE and its known associates but they did have the numbers, the pulling power, the structure, the history and the finances. They also had the added bonus of a temple of worship on Greig Street (not Diggers but across the road). The Howden Enders had attempted to gain entry to the Scottish Premier League of Family Unit by themselves.They had been willing to sell off their Meeting Place to El Fahid and the Harrods Group and had approached the Sneck Council for a lease and/or financial support. The plan was to build a better Meeting place in the aptly named Northern Meeting Park. But little were they aware at the time that the Sneck Council, the INE and its known associates had already been plotting their visions and the Council voting processes around that application were the start of voting scenarios thereafter. Lets just say "Frigging in the Rigging" . Unfortunately several of the elders of the Howden Ender clan had already been singled out for special attention by the powers to be, known to those in the know as "The Longshanks Project. TO BE CONTINUED