lightwelter

Attendences dropping below 3,000 is a real shame and hopefully they'll pick up. It certainly won't be helping the financial side of things. I was procrastinating the other day and read a report from a game in 2007 were we beat Dunfermline at home to confirm their relegation (interestingly that De Vries lad who plays for Celtic was in goals and had a shocker... I digress). The attendance for the game was between 6-7,000. I'm not sure if that's a one off but how can our attendences have dropped so much from then until now, especially seeing as we're a far better side than we were. My guess is part of the answer is that the novelty of being in the SPL has worn off, amongst other factors. Here's the report if anyone's interested: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_prem/6645249.stm

I'm a little surprised that he's getting no game time whatsoever recently. I saw him in Celtic's friendly against Inter and he looked very good. Would love to see him come back here on loan but I can't see it. He's a wonderful talent and has the potential to be a future Scottish international. The national team don't have many players that can unlock a defence like he can.

Still in the game but creating very little at the moment! Think we need to take off the big lad up front, he's not looked very threatening.

Very good point, off the bottom of the table as well. Not expecting anything from next week, although hopefully they'll be feeling the effects of an old firm game followed by an away tie at Barca!

True, we were had a well conditioned squad when Brewster was in charge. He brought in a fitness coach which as far as I'm aware we haven't had under any other manager. I remember him making Barry Wilson lose a stone before considering him for selection.

Have to disagree with you there. Foran has already brought in higher calibre of player than Hughes did. We've already seen how good Mulraney is, he hasn't only performed in pre-season but also during the league games thus far. Yes the jury is still out on Boden, but he scored around 15 goals in league two last season so he comes with a decent reputation. Kevin McNaughton was a solid championship defender and Billy King is a Scotland under 21 international, with the majority of Jambos disappointed he hasn't been kept at Tyni. Not sure about this Cole lad, but he has played at a decent level and sounds like he might be what we need. Obviously the proof is in the pudding. How the players perform and gel will determine how good a transfer window this was, but on paper I don't think there's any question it has been successful.

Think overall this is one of the most successful transfer markets we've had in the last few years, at least on paper. We already know Mulraney and King are exciting players, and it sounds like this Cole lad is in the same mold. Boden has been mixed, McNaughton would have been a good signing if it wasn't for the injury, and Brad McKay is a good young defender who is a good player to have as back-up. Certainly more successful than last summers transfer market!

Judging by some of those comments he could go on to be a good defender given the right guidance. I saw him play more than once at Hearts and I always though he was decent. We're pretty good at developing players who were seen as below par at their previous clubs, numerous examples of that. I'd prefer Devine as back up but he obviously wasn't prepared to be a bit part player, so McKay will do instead.

Saints fans are pretty disappointing he's left judging by some of the comments on twitter. We can't ask for much better as back up now that McNaughton is injured. He's still a young centre half and has all the tools to go on to be a good defender. He's also has a fantastic attitude towards learning his trade (I know from my time working at the Hearts academy when he was still with the under 20s), so hopefully Warren can take him under his wing and teach him a thing or two.

Bradk McKay would be a decent signing as back-up, he certainly has the stature although his technical ability is often called into question! All the Saints fans are saying he's been released so could well be true.

Don't think we need Gary Oliver considering we now have 3 strikers and generally play with 1 up top. He never managed to break into the Hearts team although he was highly rated, there was just too much competition for him. Interesting to see if we sign someone today with Richie saying on the weekend that we'd almost certainly get on over the line by Monday.

Brilliant to get 3 points on the table. I was at the game last week and despite some of the reports, the performance in terms of our build-up play was decent, it's just that we couldn't score and couldn't defend. If we rectify that, which we seem to have done today, then we'll be OK. We have good players all over the pitch and are capable of a mid-table finish with the quality we've got. I still think we're missing an attacking mid-fielder. I heard Draper played behind the striker today and did well, but neither him, Tansey nor Vigurs is suited to that position. Hopefully we'll bring in a defender and a number 10 in the next few days and we can look forward to the rest of the season with a sense of optimism!

1-0 up, Drapes on the score sheet. Lets push on and get another to put the game to bed.

Looks from the video like a pretty good player, although I realise those montages are made to make players look good! He's athletic and from watching the Hearts game on the weekend we desperately need athleticism upfront. His touch looks decent as well. A defender and another pacey attack minded player and I think we can push on.

Not seen any of him apart from the Scottish Cup final, but Peter Grant at Falkirk was absolutely solid against us. He was athletic and put in some brilliant challenges, as well as taking his goal well. I'd have him as back-up any day. As for Gunning, he was pretty highly rated when he was younger, but was in a Dundee United side with an awful defence last season. Judging by reports, his personality wouldn't fit in with the culture at the club and Richie has stressed the importance of having players with the right attitude as well as footballing abilities. Saying that, desperate times call for desperate measures!

Mulraney best player on the park for me, every time he got the ball he was direct and had their left-back toiling. Meekings looked decent but hard to give anyone at the back pass marks. Other than that Draper did OK and Fisher had a decent strike with the OH kick.

I was at the game and it was a strange one to say the least. If you were to watch the game without any of the goals you'd probably say it was even, our build up play was decent, Mulraney had their left back on toast(before he was worryingly stretchered off) but we were hapless up front. Bolden offered absolutely nothing, he struggled to hold up the ball, and had two chances which ended up as comical misses. Our defending let us down big time, it was so easy for Hearts for all their goals. At the end of the day they have so much more quality than us and it showed with their goals. I've seen us play a lot worse and lose by less, don't no if that's a positive or a negative! Realistically we need a defender for cover and two attacking options, if we had a Ryan Christie or Matley Walktins today we would have taken something from the game. Unfortunately we'll probably only sign one more player. At this point I'll be happy to stay up. Tansey was poor and from the sounds of it he has been all season, Vigurs head went down early, Draper was ok. Horner looked better than Raven, I think we should be starting him. On a positive note, the only way is up!

Draper has done a job as a stand in CB before, I'd probably rather see him there than Raven. Saying that, Meekings played 90 mins the other night so hopefully he is ready for tomorrow. Not optimistic for the game, especially seeing as Hearts will be desperate for a win and should be right up for it. Let's hope we can replicate our form the first time we played them last season!

So not only do the Dons steal all our players, but they don't let us loan their fringe players. Anyways, it's good to see we're still in the market for a CF, I think Boden can do well with someone beside him but he's a bit lightweight and not athletic enough to be up top on his own.

Remember how bad we were when Yogi first took over and he turned out to be alright! Early days.

Very disappointing to be out of the cup, and two bad results in a row makes things worse. However, quite a few would have predicted this result. They're on great form and confidence is high, playing at home on a Tuesday night on a plastic pitch against a team on low confidence after the result on the weekend. Easy to get disheartened at this stage, but I'll wait until we play County to begin to make any sort of judgement on the start of Richie's reign.

Disappointing result, but not totally unexpected against our bogey team. Sounds like we weren't at the races but I wouldn't get too worried at this stage. Next weeks derby is now all the more important with both teams having lost on the weekend, two defeats in a row would not be the start Ritchie wanted! Should we be worried that there was no Meekings in the squad? I know he's had an injury recently but I fear there will be teams out there who can guarantee him first team football, which we can't at the moment! It baffles me that no one has came in with an offer for him in the last few years (at least not to my knowledge).

I'm quite surprised that the bookies have almost every SPL under 20s team as favourites for the ties. I'd imagine Arbroath (and most of the lower league teams) will be playing a full strength side and will have considerably more experience than our lads. Could be some money to be made here.

Shame, but he would most likely have been out of our price range.

Hearts have an online TV channel where fans pay a subscription and get highlights of first team and under 20s game, as well as insight into the teams training and interviews with staff and players. I wouldn't mind paying a small fee per month for something similar, providing the content was worth the price!