Jump to content

alternative maryhill

03: Full Members
  • Posts

    1,602
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    18

Everything posted by alternative maryhill

  1. Cheers for this, much appreciated. Re the Thistle league wins, I had to stop myself from butting in at that point (I was also at Kingsmills in '87 for the game v Peterhead where the Jaggies clinched their final title), but as SG had said '50 years since Thistle won the Highland League' rather than '50 years since Thistle last one the Highland League', I wasn't sure whether he wasn't aware of the later win, or whether he just meant that 50 years is obviously a significant-sounding anniversary. Thanks for taking the time to give us some questions to ask him.
  2. The Portmann Hotel is a 5 minute walk from the ground, on Portland Road, and isn't asking people to book ahead. Alternatively, you've got The Brass and Granite on Grange St, which is just off Portland Road.
  3. At the risk of being accused of picking on you again, I really think it has to be pointed out that this is an unacceptable comment on several levels. Surprised no-one else has picked up on it.
  4. Really grateful for all the kind comments about the pod here, and glad everyone seems to have enjoyed it. Thank you. I think this is spot on. He mentioned something early on about us having done our research, and he seemed to appreciate that. I think he was determined to give the best interview he possibly could, and either he's got an incredibly good recall of the narrative of his career, or he'd taken the time to do a bit of research and revision of his own. Either way, it says a great deal for him that he was so generous with his time and his memories and, as you say, a really nice guy.
  5. It's the same guy. He moved from Ayr to Dundee at the start of last season. Any time I've seen him, there have been odd flashes of skill that put defenders on the back foot but little end product, and neither Ayr supporters or Dundee supporters are particularly complimentary about him - comments ranging from 'frustrating player' to 'gutless shitebag'. We certainly need a replacement for Kennedy, but we don't need another Billy King, with some skill but no heart. On the other hand, as people have pointed out, we have a habit of getting the best out of players who haven't met their potential elsewhere, and Robbo's record in the transfer market is pretty good, so if he is targeting McDaid, then he presumably sees him as someone who can improve, and who can improve us.
  6. Once upon a time perhaps, but I've got about as much hair as you and Red Card these days.
  7. Seems to be taking us a while to find our feet in games this season - why so many long balls in that wind in the first half? - but a much improved second half performance. Getting the early second half goal was probably crucial, as Arbroath sat in really well in the first half once they had scored, but we used the ball far better after that. Kennedy looks like he'll create a lot for us, Todorov misses chances but gets into the right positions and is starting to put a run together, and Allardice is looking like a great signing already. With so many players still to come back, lots of reasons for optimism, especially if we can start impose ourselves on games a bit earlier.
  8. The camera seemed a bit more consistently focused on the play in the second half, but hopefully the club is still exploring other options; a manned camera and a commentator who knows the team would make a huge difference.
  9. I’ve got no problem at all with you having an opinion, and in fact I broadly agree with your opinion that Brad McKay probably isn’t good enough for any team with hopes of promotion from this league. What I do have a problem with is your repeated name-calling and personal attacks on our manager. What exactly has a man who has achieved successive third and second-place finishes, against better-resourced teams with a reduced budget each season, done to warrant being called a ‘stupid donkey’ by you? Frame your criticisms in a respectful manner and no-one will have a problem with them; continue to hurl insults at people and it renders all your accusations of being bullied and picked on as rank hypocrisy.
  10. It's as you predicted, with the exception of McKay for Devine. Pars Team 1 Owain Fôn Williams 2 Aaron Comrie 3 Josh Edwards 44 PaulWatson 5 Euan Murray (c) 11 Ryan Dow 15 Iain Wilson 8 Kyle Turner 23 Dom Thomas 7 Kevin O’Hara 10 Declan McManus Subs 4 Lewis Martin 14 Lewis McCann 18 Paul Allan 21 Fraser Murray 22 Lewis Mayo 24 Kerr McInroy 20 Cammy Gill (GK)
  11. Just catching up with this now, and a combination of injuries and having managed to watch streams of some of our pre-season and cup games has me rethinking a bit. I'd picked Harper over McHattie because of the way Barry Wilson raved about him in the close season, insisting that he was 'ready' and pretty much acknowledging that Tremarco hadn't been made a new contract offer for that reason. Harper's inexperience was evident against Hearts though (admittedly up against a very good player in Ginnelly), so I wouldn't be averse to McHattie maybe starting the season as first pick, although I'd love to see Harper come through. Given how highly he's regarded (turned down a contract extension at Rangers, iirc) I'd be very surprised in Kennedy wasn't signed to be a starter, and it's really frustrating that he's had to self-isolate and miss our first games. I suspect that Rangers will hope that he hits the ground running with us so that they get an offer for him in January rather than losing him for free in the summer, so they must be expecting him to feature for us, whereas I suspect we'd be delighted to extend the loan if we were given the chance. I don't think there's any chance we'd be in the running to actually sign him.
  12. I think it's very likely that this is what Robbo will go for, unless he prefers McKay and Harper to Devine and McHattie. I'd go for exactly the same back four and midfield two as you; the one change I'd quite like to see (but I don't see any chance of Robbo making it) is Toddy dropping out, Keating playing as our 9 and Vincent coming in, either as the 10 or on the right of the three. I worry that with Todorov starting we'll be too quick to start just trying to hit him with long balls, and nothing really seems to stick to him. Obviously Keatings' tendency to drop deep to try to pick up the ball could be frustrating in such a formation, but he claimed in our podcast interview over the summer that he'd like to play as a 9, so this would be his chance. As I said though, I don't see Robbo starting like that. Beers in the fridge and properly excited about this, even though I see Dunfermline as clear favourites today.
  13. We discussed this on the latest podcast a week past Friday and at the time I went for: Ridgers McKay Devine Deas Harper Welsh Carson Doran MacKay Keatings Sutherland Throwing Sutherland and Dan MacKay in there would obviously be a bit of a gamble, but my thinking was that I really don't want another season of seeing us slinging it up to a big target man from 30 yards in front of the goal line, and that front four would in theory allow for a bit more fluidity and flexibility up front, especially if Sutherland can hold the ball up more effectively than White did last season and bring Keatings into play more. On the basis of pre-season, though, I'm starting to think we maybe should give Storey his chance through the middle. If Toshney is injured again, then the rest more or less picks itself, I think, unless Robbo decides to throw Fyffe in ahead of Brad, which I wouldn't mind seeing, tbh. Welsh is the heart of the team if he stays fit, and although I like Vincent as a player, I think we need Carson's greater aggression and dynamism in there from the start.
  14. Think this one might appeal to the likes of @Govan Jaggie, @Kingsmills and @RednBlackComeback in particular... Seriously though, Charlie talks with so much passion about the club, about Highland football generally, and about how he likes the game to be played, that it's well worth 45 mins of anyone's time.
  15. Brilliant, thanks - I won't be on this episode, but I'll certainly pass it on to the guys who are interviewing SG. Even if they're late, it would be great if these things could still happen.
  16. Out of interest, what were the broken promises you're referring to? The 25th anniversary year certainly seemed underwhelming and as a centrepiece, the ball at the Drummossie was really ill-conceived, but I can't remember what else was promised.
  17. It's really good to hear that - cheers! We did have a discussion about the unusual length once we had finished recording, but hoped that the majority of listeners would be more tolerant of it than they would in other circumstances because of the 'time to kill' factor. The edit is a lot of work for Moff at the best of times. Glad the time stamps were helpful too.
  18. Really appreciate the feedback guys - thanks. Part 2 is a cracker too - Carlo and Greg were brilliant.
  19. One of us made Doran his first choice to be offered a new contract...
  20. I know Simon had a lot of close friends who post on the site. It was a privilege to get to know him through them and to stay in the same house for a few unforgettable days in Bucharest. What brilliant company he was, and what a kind and welcoming guy. Thoughts very much with his family and friends.
  21. Cheers! And thank you for taking the time to offer a few suggestions for future pods. We have been taking turns to do player ratings at each match, so a player of the month is potentially something we could do, as is goal of the month, of course. I think we'd all really like to do more episodes like the Dunfermline game one, so hopefully there will be others - the biggest barrier is the fact that all the recordings then needs to be edited into a coherent episode in a fairly short time-frame. And among ourselves, we have already discussed the possibility of trying to set up interviews with past players, so fingers crossed that could happen too. Thanks again for the kind words. To address the comments about swearing that have come up, obviously we've no desire to offend or alienate any ICT supporters, and I don't think that we set out to swear in any given episode (direct quotation from Paul McGowan in Ep 3 aside), but in a 60-75 show that is pretty much unscripted apart from the intros and links, and in which we are speaking pretty much in the way we might speak to each other in everyday life, it's probably inevitable that the odd swearword will emerge. And there are times when a more restrained, mannered word or phrase just doesn't seem adequate to capture the emotions involved in a particular topic or recollection. For example, when I was discussing John Hughes' quoted predictions for Dani Lopez versus the reality of his contribution, a couple of s-words slipped out; that wasn't pre-planned, but I can't regret it either, because it reflected the way I felt far more accurately than anything else would have done. In any case, there were, I believe, fewer swearwords used in the most recent pod than in the previous one, so maybe we're getting better! And as Caley Stan pointed out above, while the other three of us might be able to rein it in successfully, it would probably be a lost cause trying to persuade RiG to tone down his language, as he's so intractably foul-mouthed.
  22. I missed the first 10 minutes, when it looks like Ayr could have gone two or three ahead, because I was standing queuing at the ticket portakabin with @RiG for quarter of an hour and then we found that they'd closed all the turnstiles and we had to get let in through the main entrance. Struggling a wee bit to see how that's supposed to improve efficiency, tbh. It was a really disciplined, hardworking performance from ICT. It looks like Robertson and Kellacher are more focused on coaching players on their individual roles than either Foran or Hughes were: Doran is tracking back and covering Tremarco far more then he used to, and Storey did the same really well on the opposite flank and provided real strength there, which is obviously necessary for us when Rooney goes off on his peregrinations. I thought Storey would be absolutely useless if not played through the middle, but he did an excellent job yesterday. Vincent worked his socks off in the middle and Trafford did fine when he came on, although it is going to be a big blow for us if Welsh does turn out to be long-term injured again. I thought Ayr played some lovely stuff going forward - some great interplay between Forrest, Kelly and Moffat, and McCowan looked dangerous too - but Donaldson in particular dealt with them really well. And Rooney is just an absolute force of nature at the moment, and looks like he's loving playing for us. He's probably always going to struggle defensively if he's up against a fast, tricky left winger, but those rampages forward have been getting more and more audacious and basically made the difference between the teams yesterday. It's an absolute nap that he's going to get caught out at some point soon, and some team is going to ruin us on a counter-attack down our right, but it's worth it. Biggest cult hero we've had since Tokely. When I first saw the tweet about him getting abuse about his mum's death, my instinct was to not to believe it, simply because why on earth would anyone want to shout that sort of thing at someone else, but if it was his partner who tweeted it then it must be true, as she's not going to say something like that lightly. I'm sure, though, it'll just have been one or two utter morons who don't represent the attitudes of ordinary Ayr supporters in any way, shape or form. It would be nice if it was reported so the club was able to act appropriately.
  23. Only our lovely host went to the Academy. Of the other three of us, two went to Millburn and one to Culloden. And Red Card Riley from Ep 2 went to borstal. Thanks for the kind words, btw.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. : Terms of Use : Guidelines : Privacy Policy