ictchris

Therte's a P&J article about it tocay. It would likely be people with an IV postcode and only the North and South stands would be allowed to open.

The stream was so bad that it makes passing judgement a bit difficult but. I thought we looked a bit disjointed, which is to be expected given the circumstances. There were positives to take from the game, we did create some chances and played some alright stuff at points. I thougth Allardice played well in the middle, he seems quite a composed player who can use the ball well and is positionally good in the middle of the pitch, which is important for us. Daniel Mackay was dangerous and seems like he could fit in at this level. Roddy MacGregor wasn't quite as good as he was against Hearts but he is still a positive contributor., Cameron Harper had a decent game I thought, espeically going forward and played some good crosses. I thought Deas and Devine individually played well enough, as did Duffy. Ridgers had some excelelnt saves as well, really good performance from him. What wasn't so good - I thought some of the defensive organisation was poor, we got caught out a few times and looked a bit slapdash. Given the circumstances (long lay off and then injury disruption causing an unfamiliar formation) that probably isn't surprising but it needs to improve. Also, Brad Mckay was very poor for their goal, the Ayr player ran past him, his attempt at a tackle was exceptionally poor. I don't want to be unkind to our players but I just dont' think he has it at this level. I also thought James Keatings contributions were lacking - he had a couple of good shots but in a team like this with so many young players he should be making himself a focal point and he was fairly anonymous. I'm also not sold on Todorov as our main striker, \I know it's unfair given he's scored two goals in two games but I would have Storey and Sutherland ahead of him.

I thought Ridgers, Deas, Allardice, Welsh, McGregor, Sutherland and Storey played well. Daniel MacKay was OK, as noted by RiG he had a tough assignment on the left where Hearts were strongest. Harper had a really tough game against Ginelly, it'll be a learning experience for him and I thought Duffy was OK, considering he's newly signed. Brad Mackay was poor though and Todorov should have hit the target with the chance he had. I thought we looked more threatening when Keatings came on as well.

Stokes must be the least disciplined footballer currently going. Since he left Celtic four years ago he has - Been released early from his contract by Blackburn - Dropped and released by Hibs for breaching team rules. - Released for missing training and going missing by Greek side Appollon Symri. - Was released by Azeri club Tractor FC (really) for having 103 days of unauthorised absence. - Had his contract terminated early by Turkish team Adana Demirspor - Was released by Persepolis (Iranian superleague) for more unauthorised absence. - Left LIvingston because he didn't want to train on astro. During this time he was also convicted of stalking his ex-girlfriend.

Any word on unattached players training with us?

Stokes last played for Hibs over three years ago. Since then he's bounced around the Greek, Turkish and Iranian leagues with several clubs binning him for disciplinary issues.

When are the strips being sent out?

After we on the title in 2003/04 we were initially denied promotion because we didn't have a 10,000 all seater stadium. We proposed to ground share with Aberdeen but this was rejected. However, following that we lobbied within the SPL (as it then was) and managed to persuade the clubs to rethink and we were eventually promoted and the rules on stadiums were relaxed, allowing us to properly redevelop our stadium for the top flight. Between 2002 and 2013 we had four managers leave our club to take over at other larger clubs (|Paterson to Aberdeen, Robbo to Hearts, Brewster to Dundee Utd, Butcher to Hibs). Each deal netted us a six figure sum, we very likely took in more than half a million pounds during that time just from these deals and every time we improved as a team afterwards. If we were in either of those situations again, does anyone think that we'd have the same level of influence or be able to strike deals as positive for the club? No chance. People won't negotiate with us in good faith, why would they? If we don't like their offer we'll just leak the WhatsApp messages. Regarding an inquiry, I think the whole affair has been a shambles and in theory an inquiry would be a good idea but in reality, what's the point? Say the inquiry came back and said that nothing improper was done, would our board, or the Rangers board or the Hearts board accept that? No they won't. If it comes back and says the whole thing was a big stitch up, then what happens then? We kick out the chairman of 30 clubs? The fact is that the accusations from our board and others are wooly and ill defined and any further inquiry would very likely be inconclusive. The whole affair has dragged the name of the club through the mud, allied us with the nutcase fringe of Scottish football and served to reduce our standing and influence. And for what purpose? Absolutely none. A complete failure on all levels by the club.

Every single Championshp club other than us voted against an inquiry. I've got to be honest, I think this whole thing has been really poorly handled by our board. They are completely out of their depth but there's no-one who is going to step in and take over so we are stuck with them. Releasing embarrassing statements and publicising private conversations with other chairman isn't the way to enhance your clubs reputation. When it comes down to it, what has the point of all this been? Why have we pushed so hard on this, when it was obvious early in the whole process that we were very unlikely to come out of this with what we wanted, which was either a season completion or an expanded league? You have to pick your battles in life and we have picked the wrong battle. Who knows what impact this will have on us next season, it's certainly not made our club a more attractive location for other players or managers, which we might need to think about if Robbo is given an opporutnity at a higher level.

The whole "Central Belt media" line is something that's come out of the club a bit in the last few years, it's pathetic.

Why would any other club trust us in any negotiation from this point? Transfers or further league meetings or anything else? This is going to cost us in the long run and a few crowd-pleasing, poorly written, seething statements won't mean anything in a few weeks, let alone in the long term., I'm stunned so many fans seem to be lapping this up.

Ah that's a shame. I was due to go to the game but it got postponed, I remember there being signs on the A9 to tell the travelling fans it was off. My dad worked at teh Courier at the time and I helped him give away the cup pull out on the football special train in the morning of the game.

I thought our statement was a bit of an embarrassment to be honest, poorly written and just a rant.

I see you've put a preview of the Caley Stirling Albion cup tie in 1990, do you have any footage of the game?

Ayr have said they will vote for it. So have Raith Rovers.

The line on reconstruction sounds pretty non-committal and throwaway to me. I doubt anything will be done with regards to that - it also might impact the new TV deal if the league expanded to 14 clubs, it would presumably mess with the split. I'm sure that could be worked out though. Anyone got any idea what our board think of this idea? I'd imagine that getting the prize money for second might placate us, we basically live hand to mouth as a club. I think it'd be a big blow not getting the play off opportunity and also having Hearts come down is a pisser, another club with a massive budget advantage over us (and everyone else in the division).

Absolutely brilliant videos, keep 'em coming. You can even spot me, jumping on the wall to celebrate Brian Thomson's goal against Stenny

I think he went to play in the US after leaving us, maybe with a college team?

Reports are that Chelsea are interested in buying a Scottish club to help them circumvent player loan rules. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8087409/Chelsea-looking-buy-Scottish-club-youth-player-rules.html The story is probably rubbish but it'd be interesting to see what would happen if it did come to pass. Would this be allowed? Would Roman Abramovich pass the fit and proper person test for Scottish football? How would fans react to becoming effectively a 'farm team'? What would happen if the Chelsea team won a trophy? What would people think about us being bought over by a club like Chelsea? It would eliminate the worry about going bust or part-time but at hte same time would take something away from the clubs identity. You'd also expect the parent club to exercise a bit of control over the club, meaning that it wouldn't be about primarily winning games and trophies.

Saw a tweet earlier that we have qualified for 12 Scottish cup quarter finals in the our 26 season’s in the league. A very good haul, thought I’d revisit them. 1995/96 - It was actually an epic cup run that saw us beat Livi in an epic tie (goals were all over Twitter last week), then two away wins over East Fife and Stenhousemuir (both in higher leagues than us) saw us draw Rangers at home. The game was played at Tannadice and the star studded Rangers team beat us pretty easily. It was quite something to see Grassa Bennet and Alan Hercher go up against Laudrup and Gascoigne but we acquited ourselves well in a 3-0 loss. 2001/02 - We smashed Hearts 3-1 at Tynecastle to get a tie with the eventual First Division Champions Partick Thistle. The first game was excellent, really good atmosphere. I remember standing outside Firhill waiting for someone and we had what seemed a huge support. We took the lead twice but were pegged back by Partick hero Scott Paterson, who always looked like he’d rather be playing bass in ocean Colour Scene than playing football. He scored the winner in the replay as well, I think they were the only goals he ever scored. 2002/03 - our first quarter final victory, we beat Celtic 1-0 in a live Sunday night game. This is overall probably the best win over Celtic we’ve had in th cup, this was a team who reached the UEFA Cup final as opposed to the John Barnes shambles a few years before. Henrik Larson also played but was outshone when Dennis Wyness knocked home the only goal and we withstood a battering to hold on. My mate Dave, a sometime poster on this site, ran down and goaded a group of Celtic fans at the end, a fond memory as the rage faced trampy Celtic minks were silenced. 2003/04 - I couldn’t get to this one as my cousin got married. Barry Wilson hit the only goal from approximately 250 yards out though and I had the double whammy of getting a text to let me know we’d won and finding out there was a free bar at the wedding in the space of five minutes. What a day. 2006/07 - We beat Stirling and Dundee Utd on the way to a tie against Celtic and it was one of the most gut wrenching games I’ve ever been at. A superb performance had us a goal up and heading for the semis but Kenny Miller and Steven Pressley scored in the last minute to take it away from us. Graham Baynes performance in this game was one of the best lone frontman showings I’ve seen from anyone, probably his best game for the club. Brutal. 2008/09 - We lost to Falkirk in this game and I genuinely have no memory of it. I think I was there but I can’t remember it. Can’t have happened. A mirage. 2010/11 - The original game was postponed and I remember finding some pub in Edinburgh that was showing the rearranged game. We took the lead through a Rooney penalty but were immediately pegged back and lost in a disappointing but less heartbreaking manner than a few years before, 2013/14 - By some distance the biggest thumping on this list, Dundee Utd absolutely destroyed us 5-0 at home. We also had Tansey and Watkins sent off, I’m sure Watkins just thought f*ck it and halfed someone with 20 minutes to go to get out of it. I couldn’t get out of work so watched it at my desk on a shaky BBC feed. Every time the picture depixelated we had conceded another goal. Interestingly, three of the Utd scorers that day have trained at some level withus - Gavin Gunning, Gary. MacKay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong. Traitors. 2014/15 - considering the emotional wringer that was the semi final and final this years quarter was a walk in the park, a routine 1-0 over Raith with Danny ‘F*cking’ Devine the scoring. 2015/16;- our defence of the trophy ended in the quarters this year when eventual winners and this years opponents Hibs beat us ina replay. Highlight of the first game was a glorious finish from Andréa Mbuyi-Mutombo, who has his shorts pulled down by John Hughes post game, classic banter lads lads lads. Yogi also punched Liam Polworth while celebrating the goal. I think he was trying to tell us something. The replay was a squib as we fell behind early. 2018/19 - Last years game was another I had to miss (word of warning to the youth: don’t get old, get a responsible job or a family) but watched on television delighted as we outplayed United and stole victory with a last minute Doran header. Probably one of our best performance of the season. What are everyone’s favourite quarter final memories?

I doubt we'll sign anyone in the next few days. This is basically it, we can't afford to turn down cash offers for players who are going leave anyway. We'll have to proceed with two of McHattie, McKay and Toshney as our centre backs. Maybe it'll turn out well, maybe it won't. But I think anyone talking about replacing McCart and Donaldson with signings of an equal standard is going to be disappointed.

Thanks for these uploads. 2002/03 is my favourite season as a supporter. The period from the first derby game to when Pele left was the best football I've ever seen us play, you'd turn up every week and know we were probably going to score at least three goals.

Rory McAllister is off to Cove, apparently.

According to this story we have signed Shane Sutherland on a PCA - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/some-elgin-city-players-are-stretched-across-the-aisle-trying-to-catch-sleep-en-route-to-annan-athletic-kwlrxdq20

We tried to sign Shane Sutherland on deadline day in January last year, after we sold George Oakley. However, we didn't get the bid in in time and he'd already signed for Peterhead. He wanted peterhead to cancel his contract so he could play full time but they refused and had half a season there befor emoving back to Elgin on a free in the summer. Jim McInally said that the whole thing unsettled Sutherland and meant this second spell at Peterhead was a write-off.