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White don't move quick enough to steal my bird pal besides he can have her! Na just think he's proper lazy can't jump slow don't hold the ball up tho if he bangs in a few he could still end up on the back of my top lol

Scotty has major surgery tomorrow. Please join me in wishing him all the very best - may his consultant/surgeon be totally successful and Scotty have a good outcome and thus enjoy a Happy Christmas followed by a healthy peaceful relaxing 2019. My love to you Scotty and to your nearest and dearest too. Liz S x

I'll come back to the stats later. Excellent post though. Austin playing off a big man like White or Oakley has never really been tried. I fear that Robbo knows what most of us have worked out - Polworth is our best CM by a distance, but Polworth plus A.N. Other in CM ( e.g. Trafford or Chalmers) will get overrun. So he uses 3, which means we can often dominate the possession, but do sod all with it. Maybe if we got somebody like Draper on loan we could get away with it. Now, back to the stats. You're trying too hard in repeatedly saying that the strikers are "decent". They're not, not at the level we aspire to be anyway. Bizarrely you've quoted starts/goals rather than the other way around. You're implying that our 3 are somehow just behind Shankland etc. The fact is there is a huge gap between the best strikers and the rest. If you take White as 8/13 = 0.62, then Shankland is 18/16 = 1.13 (league only). That's double the strike rate. If you include Cup games it's 1.26. White is 26 and has had 10 clubs. His most significant spell by far was 2 years at Livi where he scored 21 in 69. At 3 of his other clubs he scored no goals at all. For a big man he can't jump, and his second touch is a tackle. Oakley and Austin have similar histories. George had 3 years at AFC Wimbledon where he failed to score at all. OK, only 9 appearances, but he's been loaned out to lesser clubs and failed to impress. Somebody recently, an AFCW fan, said he was surprised George had ended up at us, as he thought he wouldn't make it at English League 2 level. I don't know if you're old enough to remember Wyness, Ritchie, Wilson, Bingham, Hislop, Xausa, Christie. All players challenging at the top of the second tier and coveted by rival clubs. And later on, Hayes, Foran, Rooney. If any of the current 3 are transferred/loaned in the window it will be to Lg 1 clubs. I realise we are where we are though.

Good post Gregor although I am not always convinced about stats we do need to tweak things as the current way we are playing is not working.

Although I don't know you Scotty I do appreciate the work you do on CTO, all the best for tomorrow and I wish you a speedy recovery.

An excellent and well thought out OP. I think that football is made overcomplicated these days and that a simple old fashioned 4-4-2 would suit our personnel quite well.

Why does religion always have to spoil things?

Ok, I am closing this topic. I have scanned it but have not read it all, and am not going to. I have had a few personal emails about it and really dont have time for all this right now. My cancer surgery is tomorrow and I do not have time to deal with this additional stress. As the group of adults on this site no longer appear to be able to conduct civil discussion on any bloody thread whatsoever without reducing it to personal backbiting and pissing contests I am seriously considering winding up the entire site in January. I am going to be recuperating for several months and do not have the time or inclination to babysit people. There is little to no enjoyment in this site any more. It used to be a place where a bunch of sensible folks could talk about ICT and our connection back to the club or to the area. Now it is not and is seems to have become a place where keyboard warriors want to flex their cyber muscle and try to score points off each other. Thats not what I spent time and money creating 25 years ago and its not what I am willing to keep putting money into.

While I agree wholeheartedly with the rest of your post, I don’t agree with this part. The thread contains a number of ‘man in the street ‘ type responses which you are right to challenge. You may meet similar views in a pub but I would like to think you would challenge such views rather than leave your pint half finished and walk out. The gadgie post was rightly removed before anybody could react to it. Some will greet your words with ‘snowflake’ etc but as in so many aspects of life, the key to dealing with prejudice is always the same - education.

The article you speak of is here: https://nareystoepoker.blogspot.com/2018/12/in-defence-of-liam-polworth.html And you appear to have done your best to misrepresent it. Anyone reading this can tell that the link to Iniesta is quite obviously tongue-in-cheek. I was comparing how elsewhere skilful players are lauded for what they do, whereas in Polworth's case his good bits (his assist for Walsh's goal, his incredible assists record last season, even that nutmeg of Billy King by his own corner flag) rarely get any praise whereas every mistake he makes comes under the spotlight. And the 'neanderthal' description was not used as a reference to the MOTM award (though the people sitting around me were not booing the award because it was 'bizarre', because they were making abusive comments about Polworth at the time too). It was a reference at the end of the article to those who abused his family earlier in the year, who slag him off every week regardless of what he does, who are making him a scapegoat for the team's - and the club's - ongoing struggles. And there are too many of them at home games. Frankly, anyone who thinks that booing their own player will actually improve his performance is not very bright. As for 'just desserts', I'm not sure what that even means? Put Polworth in a team with a centre-forward who shows any intelligence whatsoever in his off-the-ball movement (we certainly don't have one in our squad currently) and watch him fly. I'm fed up of seeing him driving into the final third with the ball and looking for a killer pass to play, only for his teammates to be tightly marked and either making the same runs they have done all game or just not running at all. And when he is either tackled or tries to force a pass that isn't on it's him who gets the blame every time instead of his attackers.

It’s usually away car park that’s used for fans travelling on bus to away games but have asked for clarification. Also asked re Sports Bar.

Butcher managed fine with squads of same or similar sizes even in one season where we seemed to have a different defender out injured every week. I don't remember him constantly complaining about it and just changed the formation and tactics to suit the players available. We don't seem willing or able to do that and just serve up the same plan and same excuses every game.