ALSY

He's just digging his own grave deeper with statements like this: "We tried to go defensive with a back five because we've been letting goals in and thought we could get a lift the longer it went without Motherwell scoring. But when crosses come into the box we need to be stronger and tougher to deal with them because it's killing us." This makes it sound like we were simply beaten for strength on each occasion, but the first goal was nothing to do with a lack of strength: Porter was left on his own at the back post in yards of space. That suggests a lack of organisation and surely shows Brewster that 3 central defenders are no more likely to prevent goals than 2 central defenders unless they are well-drilled in how to play together and able to help each other out on the pitch.

That might be part of his thinking, yet he's stuck by Gary Wood when you could argue that Barrowman and Rooney had, before this season, slightly more experience at higher levels (Rooney at Eng Championship, Barrowman in Scots Divs 1&2). I think Wood has done quite well, all things considered - in the last three weeks he's been among our better players - but I also think Vigurs and Duff have done well at times too. Not recalling Vigurs today was inexcusable: as someone who can put his foot on the ball and find a pass, he's easily the closest thing we have to a replacement for Blackie. Yet again, it's difficult to identify a clear line of thought in Brewster's choice of player.

don't change tactics and lose...Brew gets pelters change tactics and lose...Brew gets pelters He can't win can he? Quite literally.... there has to come a point where he has had enough of it I know what you're saying, but today he had players in positions and combinations they have hardly any experience of. McBain as the main creative force and pass-maker in central midfield? Why not Vigurs, who has had several very good away games in a similar position this season? McGuire, Proctor and Munro in a three at the back? Given that none of them have really gelled playing together in a two, is it any wonder that they didn't seem to know how to play together as a three? I don't remember that much criticism of the 4-5-1 formation in away games this season - most of the criticism has come when he's played that at home, or switched to 4-4-2 for away games. As Caley Stan suggests, the fact that he has changed the formation so often even after relatively good performances implies he really doesn't have a clear vision of what he wants the team to be doing. TBH, I think it's gone beyond formation problems now - confidence, motivation and, more than likely after January, lack of quality players are all likely to see us relegated.

Just going to cut and post the rant I posted on P&B rather than try to write it all again: Just back. Anyone who witnessed that and still thinks ICT are still just "going through a sticky patch" needs sectioned. Another week, another new formation. This time something approximating a 5-4-1 with Tokely and Hastings (cough) "pushing on", Wood alone up front and Roy McBain playing Ian Black's role as the ball-holding, pass-making central midfielder . I assume Black was injured: surely even Brewster wouldn't be stupid enough to drop our best player from the squad for a must-win game, even if he is going to Hearts... Anyway, the predictable happened: the 5 defenders couldn't defend, McBain couldn't hold or pass, Wood ran around with great enthusiasm to absolutely no effect, Cowie, the putative saviour of Rangers, strolled around the place like the Duke of Edinburgh visiting a sewage works, the punts were many, long and aimless, and Motherwell murdered us. The scoreline is probably the worst possible for us. If it had been 4 - or 5-1, as it should have been, then probably our board couldn't put off sacking Brewster any longer. However, as they seem to get all their information about the games by watching Jeff Stelling or reading Ceefax, they'll probably just have looked at the scoreline and thought, as my wife said when I got home, "sounded like a close game". Bullshit. Motherwell tried to play football throughout, and although they looked quite fragile and probably gave the ball away to us needlessly more than any team I've seen this season, they were still miles better. If we carry on like this, we won't win another game this season. Most of the players tried hard today, but confidence is shot, they're being asked to play in formations and positions that are unfamiliar to them, and they're seeing our most talented players slipping away one by one. Once again: Brewster must go.

Christ, that doesn't say much for Rangers' knowledge of their opponents' players - hasn't Thompson been a deep, ball-winning midfielder for almost the whole time he's been there? Cowie almost never plays that role for us. I suppose he might get Mendes's place for League Cup games if he moves. Is sounding more and more likely we're going to lose the heart of our midfield though I really hope some of this promised money is going to be directed at making Black a substantially higher offer than the one on the table - although as Alex pointed out, Brewster's probably trying to get rid of dissenters.

[ That worries me as much as anything, so a win at Motherwell and all is rosy. He should have gone a long time ago and even outwith that he should have definetly gone today. Take away they are been vague or clumsy the fact of the matter is Brew is still manager and that is just wrong I agree absolutely, Steve - the board have been very weak and still seem to be stalling. But I do think they must now be seriously contemplating the reality of getting rid, when they were talking about a contract extension a month ago. FWIW, I fully expect us to lose against Motherwell. The performances against St Mirren and Aberdeen were truly abject - looked like a team that no longer believes it can win. Motherwell probably have a better squad player for player and they were pretty unlucky not to get anything against Kilmarnock last week, although I haven't watched the Hamilton highlights yet.

I think there is a good chance that it is deliberately vague. If we lose at Motherwell the board must look again at the Brewster situation, and they must already know that.

Looks good to me, except that I would keep Duncan in the team and use Sutherland as a sub. A game like this probably isn't the place to throw in a player with as little experience as Sutherland and expect him to make a difference. Vigurs should play wide left and Imrie wide right. Proctor and Hastings don't deserve to be anywhere near the team after Saturday's performance and if Cowie's determined to go and determined to play at 50% till then, he sould be dropped too.

I sincerely hope "invest" means increase the amount of money being offered to Ian Black and, I suppose, Don Cowie, although he hasn't earned it this season. I don't know how these players are who would a) make a difference to the club and be willing to come to the club. My hopes were raised when I saw this thread title, but I guess Brewster gets at least one more week. If we lose at Motherwell, however, I think that might be that - the Rangers game is not one we would expect to take anything out of and appointing a new manager after the motherwell game would still give him more than a fortnight to prepare for the Hamilton game.

This is the problem the board face - where are the obvious replacements? It's clear Brewster has to go and that he's lost the dressing room, but I'm not at all optimistic about us geting a good replacement. Gordon Chisolm didn't do well at Dundee Utd and I doubt he'd be keen on coming north anyway - he's effectively relocated QoS to Glasgow apart from match-days. Stevie Frail did OK at Hearts in difficult circumstances but he also knew the club inside out, was devoted to it and had the trust of the players. Ian McCall I actually think is a good manager at First Division level, but he doesn't have the self-discipline to do it in SPL, IMHO: on the Monday after the first day of the season, I passed him having a fag outside the Elephant and Bugle - possibly the least salubrious pub on Maryhill Road - at 1 pm. I'd expect our manager to still have the players in training at that time. Despite scorning the idea at first, I've been persuaded by talking to a couple of others that Craig Brown could do a decent job, at least in the short term. He's the sort of manager who would put an arm around the players and boost their confidence but also command respect; he should be able to improve the defence, based on his past record; his name and reputation might attract players to the club; and he would be a good mentor for a potential longer-term candidate such as Barry Wilson or Charlie Christie, were either asked to work alongside him. I don't think the football we would play under him would be the most exciting, and I don't necessarily think he's the man who could take us to the next level, but at the moment we are in crisis and the priority is staying at this level. I expect this suggestion to get shot down in flames, but I'm standing by it. If Robbo were to get the job, he would have my absolute support, and I know how much he cares about the club, but I can't help thinking, as I said when Brewster came back, that managers returning to former clubs almost never works out.

Will be there. Travelling up straight from Christmas at the mother-in-law's so will probably be in the mood for a couple of scoops in Jack Daniels' (or is is Johnnie Walker's?) or the Social Club. It can't be worse than the second half on Saturday surely - or if it is, we will certainly witnessing the last act in the Brewster farce.

Seeing the news brought this passage to mind: "After lunch, the BigMan was in good form as we played pool against John Macdonald from Inverness, who was one of Jock's closest friends and allies at the SFA... MacDonald was badgered mercilessly by the Big Man. His whole repetoire of gamesmanship was on show: shakes of the head, tut-tutting over MacDonald's choice of shot just as he was about to play were all part of the kidology and it paid off, as we collected the money..." This is from Alex Ferguson's autobiography and describes the afternoon of Jock Stein's death in Cardiff. I remember reading this and being surprised and somehow touched that the man I'd seen countless times around Kingsmills when I was growing up next to the ground was obviously well respected and influential beyond the Highland League. RIP.

No idea at all, so I didn't vote. I don't think John Collins would be the right choice just now, though - although he has very clear ideas about tactics, nutrition and training, he's also apparently very aloof from the players and a real disciplinarian. Given the lack of team spirit and morale about the place already, I think that approach would make matters worse, unless he had a significant budget to bring in his own players. We need someone who can encourage the players we have now and give them a bit of confidence back. Experience and a name that might attract players would also be preferable at the moment - I don't we want to throw in another rookie manager half way through the season when we're almost bottom, even if it has worked before. Hate to admit it, but after resisting the idea strongly when it's been suggested before, I'm starting to think that Craig Brown might not be such a bad idea. I worry, though, that he hasn't managed at this level in Scotland for a long time. If it comes to it, I wonder if Charlie could be persuaded to take the job on in a caretaker role until the end of the season, and see what happens after that? The players know him and we played some nice football under him - but probably it's the wrong time for him to come back just now, if he found the pressure difficult to cope with last time.

The booing during the substitutions yesterday was actually aimed at Brewster for taking Black off. Rory coming on was greeted with shrugs all round from what I could see - it couldn't get any worse anyway. I'm not going to moan too much about the line-up. He tried to change it after last week and the defence was lined up more sensibly. Barrowman's been bitching and moaning about not getting a start - now he's had two in a row and has just proved what most had suspected, that he can't cut it at SPL level. That said, while I understand why Brewster tried to change it, I would rather have seen Vigurs keep his place and one up and I would rather have seen us try to play the ball retention and slow build-up stuff we did against Celtic, only with a little more directness when we were around the 18-yard box. Yesterday was less organised, more rushed, more casual - it was as if we felt St Mirren didn't deserve the same respect as Celtic. The most depressing thing about yesterday, though, was the apparent lack of fight among some of the players. I'm thinking mostly of Cowie here - there was just no drive about his game. Last season with us 2-0 down at Love St, he sprinted into the box to get on the end of a Niculae cross to make it 2-1. That just wasn't going to happen yesterday. The other midfielders floated in and out of the game as well - no-one seemed to want to take on the responsibility of trying to push us forward. Duncan was probably the pick but also, of course, the deepest-lying. Haven't seen the goals again yet but otherwise the defence looked OK to me. As for the attackers, in the first half Rooney seemed to be playing furthest forward with Barrowman actually dropping back to look for the ball more. Again, this was a change that was probably worth trying, but it didn't look like there was any understanding between them and Rooney saw very little of the ball until he started dropping back more himself in the second half. The St Mirren defence was solid, but the game was really lost in midfield. Going up to TCS for the first time in donkeys' next week - can't say I'm looking forward to the game much, but the response to Brewster from a bigger crowd will be interesting if we lose again. After yesterday, I can't see any other result.

According to Sky Sports News, McGuire is travelling. With Tokely still suspended, will be interesting to see what Brewster will do: throw McGuire back in at centre half although he may not be match fit and move Proctor to RB? Stick with Duff at RB and Proctor at CH? The one thing I can't see him doing is switching Duff and Proctor from last week's formation as that would be admitting an error, but maybe I'll be proved wrong. I hope to God he starts Rooney up front at least. Looking forward to this, for some reason - maybe it's the propsect of a few pints at lunchtime more than the football...

Almost afraid to ask, but amid all the negativity, who's actually making the trip tomorrow? I'll be there with Caley Stan and one other - are we going to see a few more ICT supporters for our last ever game at Love St than we had at Rugby Park or Celtic Park? Or is the lure of Christmas shopping too strong?

**** me. Sure I was at that game, but when you look at it again, it's a pretty impressive squad. Think that team could have done OK in the SPL, especially given how good Wyness, Hart and Mann were at that stage.

Esson Proctor Munro Duff Hastings Cowie Black Duncan Vigurs Imrie Rooney

With good reason - think that last game between the teams is one of the most depressing performances I've ever seen by us. It was colder than a witch's teat and we barely created a chance all night. Given that Partick were a division lower than they are now and we were probably better then than we are now, it doesn't look too promising. For selfish reasons, of course, I wouldn't have minded this tie so much if it had been away...

That's exactly how it looked to me too, Alex. It felt like we got to the edge of the box then attempted another pass instead of shooting countless times, although I'm sure it wasn't as often as it seemed. Definitely a lack of confidence in the final quarter. Brewster deserves credit for his tactics, though - I've never seen us play a patient passing game that well before and it seemed to frustrate Celtic. Duncan was absolutely superb, deserved MOTM, Black was also excellent and Imrie started very well but was less effective as the game went on. Terrible crowd - officially it was 55,000, but there were at least 10,000 less than that and all as silent as the grave...

No place for Blackie, Alex? Been thinking about this, and though I prefer Rooney as a player, I think Brewster should keep faith with the Killie line-up. We've been talking about not having a settled line-up and not having experienced strikers: why not give Wood another start and see whether being first choice brings the best out of him? He's a nuisance to defenders and has already scored against Celtic this season. If isn't working, though, then Brewster should make the change early and bring on Rooney - NOT Barrowman.

"cool"?

I would have agreed with that before today, but as Mantis has already pointed out, today we dominated Kilmarnock and played most of the first half in their area. I really feel the SPL is full of teams that aren't very far apart in terms of quality and that some sides just thrive or struggle according to whom they are playing. We have beaten Kilmarnock reasonably convincingly twice now; at the same time, we have lost twice 1-0 against Hearts and never looked like scoring. I wouldn't be surprised if we beat Aberdeen for the second time in a row in December then go away to Hamilton in January and lose again. It's going to be another long season, but I saw enough today to suggest we can stay up.

And the results from the Maryhill jury... Great game of football for the neutral - it's been a while since I spent the last 10 mins doing the "can we hang on?" jack-in-the-box routine. But over the piece we deserved it, although if Killie had scored the penalty there would have been harsh questions asked about our players farting about and being far too casual when they had several chances to nail Killie on the break in the second half. The midfield was excellent and this was where the game was won. Imrie was up for it from the start, beat a lot of players and got the ball into numerous dangerous positions; Vigurs again showed composure and the ability to see passes and also made a few decent runs; Duncan closed down well and didn't give it away too often; Blackie had a quieter game than usual but didn't get drawn into situations where he was likely to get sent off after being booked in the first minute; Cowie worked hard and was one of our most dangerous players in the second half, although I think his natural strengths are beng sacrificed by Brewster to allow Imrie to play wide right. The defence also played well, although Tokely struggled badly against Taouil until he was moved up front. Proctor was better in the air than I remember him being and Granty avoided too many long balls. Esson was excellent - it's been a good move to get him in. The forward line, on the other hand, is definitely still an issue. Wood worked really hard and held the ball up well, but never really got into any threatening positions: his goal, from where I was sitting, was a bit of a freak and more down to the the keeper than good finishing. On the other hand, Barrowman, when he came on, did nothing except get caught offside. For a player whose only strength seems to be hanging around and playing the last man, that is unforgiveable. I have no idea why Rooney wasn't given his chance. Choice of striker aside, I can't criticise Brew for his team selection today, nor can I criticise the players for their effort, apart from a too-casual approach in the last fifteen minutes. At the same time, today suggests that the SPL is simply full of mediocre teams and that some teams' approaches just play into the hands of other teams. Whatever they were trying to do may work against other sides, but today Killie just allowed players like Imrie and Vigurs space to create and they were punished for it. If they had been more aggressive and closed down earlier, both these players might have got frustrated and we might have been on the end of another defeat. As for the rest of the season... my asscrack is good n' splintered from sitting on the fence over Brewster's fitness to manage the team, and after today? ...I'm still perched on the fence, still picking out pine.

F**k sake. Think I'm going to go back to bed.