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In response to four points Big Cherly makes above I feel compelled to give my tuppence worth: 1. I agree it's no guarantee of automatic promotion but being full-time absolutely should have a major bearing on where we finish. If it doesn't then it casts a serious question over DF's suitability for the job in hand. Moreover, I believe that we have a squad of players who are capable of delivering better results than we've seen to date. 2. The starting XI since the transfer window closed is consistently made up of reasonably experienced players who've all played at a higher level. We're generally starting with one or no academy players. These core players should, in my opinion, be capable of putting us in a secure enough position to be blooding younger players later in games when the hard work has been done. Unfortunately the tactics employed by DF on Saturday, when we were two up, exposed young players to undue pressure and likely negatively impacted their confidence. Just my opinion but seems to be shared by a number of us who were at the match on Saturday. 3. The very last thing we need is Ferguson let loose AGAIN on the English loan market come January!!! I would have thought that this was blindingly obvious to even the most ardent Ferguson proponents. 4. If we don't go up this season, from what is probably the poorest League 1 in living memory, then we couId feasibly end up stuck in League 1 for years (forever?). Given the composition of the Championship this season there's a fair chance that at least one sizeable club will be relegated which you would imagine would make it much more difficult for us to be promoted in subsequent seasons. I would stress that I do not wish to get into a barney over this apparent difference of opinion. We all crave success after an absolutely horrendous period in the club's history but I fear that persisting with the current management regime seriously reduces the likelihood of a potentially successful outcome this season. One win and four draws in the League to date is simply not good enough from my perspective and nothing I see or hear from Ferguson gives me grounds to believe things will improve with him in the hot seat.

Well, we got there folks. Many thanks for this. We will now sponsor the home top for two players. I will let Keith know to invoice us and get it paid. I will leave the sponsorship opportunity open just in case we do get any stragglers wanting to add more to the campaign, and if we do get any more then this will be used to perhaps sponsor some lesser (cheaper) items from the players who still have slots available. We will use the poll results to decide who if we get to that point.

He mentions terrible pitches every single week. It's tedious and seems to be nothing more than some kind of justification for his failures as a manager. If it's not an excuse he needs to belt up about it because we are in a league full of astro pitches. As @ymip mentions, had he not taken us down then we would have avoided these surfaces that he dislikes so much. Only losing games by 1 goal is hardly some kind of badge of honour. For most of those games we were utterly bang average and posed almost no threat to the other side for the majority of those games. We lost so many games by a single goal precisely because that was all that was needed to beat us. And that was down to Ferguson and his ultra cautious style of football. It seems we are still seeing that this season and it's very much to our detriment.

There is. It's us!

We are one of only two full-time sides in the league and the bulk of our starting XI have plenty of Championship experience. There's no "big-ish" club fallen on hard times in the league and every team I've seen this season has been bang average at best, so yes the league is there for the taking in my opinion. I agree that the astro pitches in this league are appalling but if he hadn't managed to relegate us then we would be playing on grass in the Championship so time to suck it up and get on with it. If he dislikes them so much perhaps he should consider his position. Everyone is entitled to their opinion on Ferguson's tenure and mine is that over the 12 months he's been in charge I've seen absolutely nothing to suggest he's in any way the right man for the job. I don't think I'm alone in reaching this conclusion but I appreciate others may see things differently.

Gardiner now wants one million dollars!

Well done INVTONC for getting this over the line and thanks Scotty for starting it in the first place.

This was the exact same as last season. I’m no fan of Dunc but he’s only ever lost 1 game by more than a goal. Every time I seen them last year I felt the other side was bang average. I’ve never once though we were ‘pumped’ There are very fine margins in these leagues. How many fans expected us to bounce right back this season given our circumstances? Let’s look at Falkirk recently in this division. I think it was around 6 years they were here, absolutely ridiculous to think we should be walking this league.

Yes he mentions the pitch being terrible (which it is) but he certainly doesn’t use it as an excuse. Nothing wrong with stating this, they are getting removed from the top flight and quite right.

7 weeks later and I'm still feeling the same, more so probably. DF and GB are the last remnants of SG's disastrous decisions still impacting us (football tactics wise). Get them gone Mr Savage please!!!

Hi ymip, Like your views. Catch up in Jan 25

I think we all need to just step back a little and let us reach the half way through the season. We can make then, I suggest, a better assessment of whether we are capable of being champs, playoff, mid table or fighting relegation. Let’s take stock of a few things. Being full time is no guarantee for automatic promotion. It provides our F/T players the benefit of applying themselves fully to working on their fitness, skills, teamwork and manager game plan. The part time clubs have operating since there existence in an PT operation and know how to get the best out of there players. Experience counts; (more so over the season). We’re short of that currently with the young-ish team we have. Other teams are I suggest more settled in this area. Whether we like it or not artificial pitches present a challenge when your (our) home pitch surface is grass. Yes we can train in them at the Bught, but it’s still a disadvantage for us. We still have the geographic issue of our division rivals having easier access to player pools. DF may be able to access English loanees in Jan, but we need AS to provide the funds!!!! Lastly, let’s not loose sight we are just attempting to get the club back on its feet after a monumental six months. We’re not out of the woods yet. Finish by saying I want the team to be playing in the championship next year. However I think it may be the season after, but I’m prepared to support them whatever league they play.

Reckon that was Big Dunc’s message to Goodison - look at me I can go 2 up and hang on for the draw…

Billy is currently playing a role that requires a lot of running and that won't be helping him. I think it's huge credit to him that he's out of his natural position and remains so influencial in games for as long as he does. We might still get 90 minutes from him in his more natural position up front. The question is whether he's more valuable to us in that role or his current role.

Taking in the highlights, and admittingly it’s not a proper ‘take’ of the match as a whole, I have to align with the posters that say this was two points dropped. We had more than enough clear cut chances to ‘kill’ the game of before subs or Alloa came back into the game. DF’s changes or game plan may have contributed, but we have to take the chances (some sitters) when they come along. Time catching up on B McKay for me!

checking the score, goals, subs etc, ferguson took off billy on 69 mins which is more or less the time he is taken off most games. He brought on bray who quite a few demand he gets more game time. Alloa get their 2 goals in minutes 70 and 73. Next 2 subs are 82 and 86 so loss of 2 goals/points is not down to them. Billy can't last 90 mins if we want him fit and ready for the next game. I don't know as much about footie tactics as some on here but what is ferguson supposed to do different than he did today. With the starting eleven picking itself every week surely bray is the first option from a very young/ weak bench. Edit...... I was at dingwall today with RC supporting grandkids. Don Cowie who was defending a 2 goal lead all of the second half made 6 substitutions. Tony Docherty who did very well with Dundee last season and has had a decent start this season, made 5 substitutions 2nd half chasing the game. Both worse than ferguson ????

Either someone's come up with a bucket of cash or we're going into administration.

You forgot to mention that big Dunc is *****, and that the tea lady is more tactically aware ... there fixed it for you.

Agreed, but that was with Morrison and Gardener (football people) feeding scraps in the way of funding. Like it or not it’s Kahwana’s show now and he brings a different (none football) experience. After a decade of decline and going only down using the football experience guys, maybe it’s worth giving Kahwana a try! What is there to loose??