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Positives - Calder looked decent. Very attacking from full back and showed a lot of drive when dribbling with the ball. Seedorf seems to have something about him. Elsdon looked very commanding at the back before he was hooked at half time. Strong in the tackle too. Negatives - The trialist Daryl Duffy was absolutely useless. Vigurs and Polworth were poor. Our shape was all over the place. Our midfield was non-existent. Elgin passed through us like there was no-one there. In these friendlies, performance is really more important than the result and ours was absolutely terrible. Elgin could and probably should have won by more. Had they won 4-0 it wouldn't have been undeserved and this is an Elgin side missing their main goalscorer.

I don't wish to go over old ground yet again, but I wish people would remember what happened after Munro went. Our defence was a shambles the following season and we were bad enough to be relegated - only saved by a bankrupt Dunfermline and a dire Hibs side.

Duffy might have been an option 4 of 5 years ago when he was banging them in at Cheltenham but he can't seriously be seen as a viable option now. Surely there's better choices out there. Vigurs and Polworth cannot play as 2 central mids together. They just don't have the game for it.

I believe his deal runs until January. Odd one. I believe it came about last summer when he signed a 1 year deal with optional year extension. Due to injuries etc he wasn't going to automatically trigger the extra year but in December Foran decided to offer a separate 6 Months until Jan 2018 that wasn't tied to the original deal. Currently he's probably able to talk to clubs about a pre contract. It's one I'm undecided on. He's a favourite and part of many great memories. The goal v celtic and singing on stage with the guitar at the cup parade being right up there. Hes a wealth of experience as well. However if he's no longer able to truly offer to the first team it might be better, for both parties, to severe ties. We'd have a substantial earner off the books, and able to use it towards new recruits and Dave the Rave would be free to continue his career elsewhere. That's not to say I'd not be happy for him to stay, but, he has to be able to offer an input to the first team on the pitch. We don't have enough room in our budget for sentiment really. As cold as that sounds. This is why the likes of Tokely, Russell and Munro were eventually released. Because Butcher felt their best was behind them and he could get better people in to do the job on the money. You could say he was justified with the signings of Warren and Meekings.

I think the club is in a much more secure position than you imply. There is little chance of the club struggling to exist with the careful work robbo is doing. It will be interesting to compare last years wage bill to this years at the end of the season and compare the quality of the players we had for the money. A lot of the players we had in were on very inflated wages. We paid for mercenaries because we couldnt charm them to come. That us what robbo is doing now. Not withstanding elgin result there is an incredibly positive and enthusastic feel to robbo, the players and the media presence. If you have not seen them look for the exchanges between meekings , brad and mcnaughton to name a few on twitter. 'Great to be around such positive people' Maybe there was only one bad apple....

Maybe they're just using up old stock.

I just received EGM notification and see that the crest on our official stationery has that "Pride of the Highlands" crap on the crest. What a bludy nonsense.

This evening, (7 July), Adam Evans scored one of Shelbourne's goals in a 3-1 win at Athlone, in the Irish League, Div 1

Looks like a mixture of school kids and clach players, no wonder many stay away from preseason games... Planning Elgin tomorrow... Hoping for better than that

Whether Drapers stays or not, this is the most radical overhaul of the squad we have undertaken in our history in a single close season. Very different from the last time we were relegated and retained our management and very nearly the entire first team squad including the prolific Adam Rooney. I hope that fans will bear that in mind and be patient without getting on the players backs early in the season if we do not get off to the best of starts. I would anticipate that it could take six to eight weeks at least for this new team with a new manager and a different style of play to gel and find their collective feet. We need to give this team at least until October before even beginning to pass judgement.

It's very early days but some promising signs in the the two friendlies I've been to . Looking forward to game at Elgin today .Robbo is a breath of fresh air I have every faith in him .