bdu98196

Since last season we havent revolutionised the squad, TB took us from D1 back into the SPL and now has us in the QF of a national cup and with a 'fighting' although fading chance of the fabled Top 6. If thats not moving us forward from when he took over and we bottom of the SPL, what is peoples expactations? As for is it as far as he can go, if we get top 6 and win the cup - then realistically I'd say yes in tems of achievements, but there is still scope to develop the squad and younger players, improve our football style and move forward in teh future. Fact is we will never win the SPL, we will be lucky to ever get top 4 and into Europe so focus has to be cup wins and consolodation into a solid financially stable club who can nurture talent and play attractive football. TB needs some funds to invest in the summer, strengthen then see how we progress next season - if we perform better then he is still good for the club, if we are worse then this time next year people can consider calling for change?

With the ugly sisters playing tonight we will finally know who we are up against and I believe on our day we can beat either of them. With the terrible dip in league form and the fact we are pretty well garunteed SPL football, do we need to stop talking about top 6 and putting pressure on the team - yes we are only 6 pts of Killie in 4th, bth within 3 pts of us are another 3 teams (Hibs, Aberdeen, St J), so realisticly top 6 isnt looking too hopefully. Should we now be focusing in on the cup game and hoping the distraction from the league form and even though its a home game get firmly behind the team and try and drive forward to a domestic cup final. If we miss top 6 and go out of the cup to the OF (providing its a good performance and we play well) then is it really a bad season? SPL survival, glimpses of good play and consistency - just highlights the areas of the squad to develope for next year. I'd suggest that even just a cup semi would be a tremendous achivement, anything further or top 6 would be punching well above our weight. Not negativity, realsism I think?

???? Who would you propose in the squad? Considering we dont have a huge pool of Scottish players, apart from Esson is there even a contender - cant see Rossco getting a call up? If the FA were picking the team, we wouldnt be seeing younger players like Maguire, Conway, MacArthur getting a shout.

The squad is starting to take a good shape, 2 high quality keepers, Huton looks good these days although some of the otehr defence choices such as the 2 wilsons are odd, hopefully Webster will get fit and games at Hearts then him & Wallace can come in for the next matches. Midfield looks strong, has to be built around Adam, Fletcher, Bannan & Brown just need Driver fit. Up front looks light (think Goodwillie would have been there had it not been for the issues he has and Fletcher - what a silly boy, Faddy to return as well) but overall its looking like a decent squad Levien is starting to create. ---------------------Gordon----------------------- ---Hutton----Berra--------Caldwell-----Bardsley---- -------------Fletcher------Brown------------------- -------Naismith-------Adam-------Commons------ ------------------Miller---------------------------

If Diouf thinks thats bad wait til he tries walking down Argyle st, Bellamy & Lennon have both had slaps in Glasgow and neither are hated as much as him. Wouldnt condone that happening but wouldnt be surprised if it did some nutters out there and he will be a prime hate figure for the Celtic fans

Supposedly hes just signed at Castle Greyskull. Wonder what reception he gets at the next OF game at Parkhead lol.

Holloway thinks hes worth more than £10m and in this crazy transfer market who can blame him. But 18 months ago this guy got booted from Castle Greyskull for not being good enough for the SPL for essentially pennies - now touted for Liverpool or Villa amoung others. When did Charlie Adam morph into 'Super' Charlie Adam???

Hardly say a move to hIbs is a lack of ambition, ok they are having a very bad spell and sold a lot of players, but they have a good youth development scheme and will improve - the curent league postion doesnt reflect the potential of the team or the support. As for moving money, isnt that what we all do - you weigh up the options based on finance, prospects etc and decide what to do. We have to accept we are a small club and will loose players to Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen, Dundee Utd just like they loose players to the OF

Once upon a time I'd agree ith you, but its not just Scotland that is suffering now - look at many smaller countries that have a 1 or 2 team monopoly, even the bigger leagues such as Spain - Real Madrid, Barca : Italy - AC, Inter, Juve : England - Man U, Arsenal, chelsea - without any multi-billionaire investment into a singular os set of teams every league in Europe is monopolised due to the Champions League pot of gold.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/9368803.stm Must be a player that should interest us, althoug other bigger clubs like Aberdeen, Hibs, D Utd & Hearts may want him too. But signing a player of this quality til the end of the season ould be a good move?

Can one part of your anatomey touch another - if so go do the unmentionable!! Seriously though How can Scottish football achieve something every other Eurpoean league is failing to do and introduce competitive football and break the malase of their being a monopoly of title winners caused by the Champions League? What is the proposal to reduce the financial gap between domestic clubs and introduce a more level playing field for competitiveness? How is going to 10 teams hoping to achieve this as the situation with having a duo-opoly of title winners will continue leaving 2 from 8 at risk every year, where is the possible breathing space for clubs to introduce younger players and develop technical skills?

I'd give ?50 but Terry has to call Donny a @rse!!! May as well get hung for a sheep as a lamb haha

Dont see him being anything more than a squad player, like Sanchez & Odi - maybe get a few goals in D1 but not SPL quality. I know that if Rooney leaves, we have a hole and need to get someone and its important to be proactive in the market, but not sure he is the solution. Would rather see us move on a couple of guys, then pay a little more in salary to less players of higher wuality and try bring a few youngsters through as well.

Sadly I think Calderwoods days will already be numbered - like the MacGee situation at Pittodirie the players just look dis-interested and arent putting in effort, there may be a transfer windown but he cant revolustionise the whole team without cash. Apart from Stokes and a few other lesser players this is the same team that was pushing for Europe last season, nothing has changed but mentality. Looking at the next 3 fixtures Saturday, 22 January 2011 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Motherwell v Hibernian, 15:00 Wednesday, 26 January 2011 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Hibernian v Rangers, 19:45 Sunday, 30 January 2011 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Dundee Utd v Hibernian, 13:15 By the start of Feb and the home game V's St Midden, CC may well be out the door - realistically they look unlikely to get anything from the above 3 games. Time to stop paying these prima donnas wages (not just at hibs but any club, basic salary and big bonuses not the other way round)

We should give him freedom of the town!! Fully agree we are lucky to have someone who is passionate and free thinking in charge also who has a high profile and is well know due to his services to the game. Hopefully some of hie peers will join him in speaking up!!!

Good on him for speaking up - too many managers refusing to get involved and too many Chairmen sitting on the fence. Least we know where TB's passion lies.

Its hard to understand what the reduction of a league size will do apart from being financial. We need a competitive product in this country to get media interest, all having 10 will do is create a league which is going to force spending which teams dont have in order not to drop into SPL2 - unless the 'bigger' clubs are going to reduce their share and split all monies equally between the 22 clubs? With 10 teams where is the space and oppertunity to develop youth? There wont be any, its 2 for the title and 2 out of 8 for the drop, big pressure. How will the new proposals level the field? Same as every league in Europe now its monopolised by the champions league qualifers, obviously UEFA/FIFA get what they want with the same clubs every year but where does that leave the rest of us - if the OF wish to improve the scottish game then they need to give back some of the CL monies into the league pot for distribution, if not the gap will never close (excluding all their being a big influx of arab sheiks wanting a bit of SPL action) Fact is teams need to live within their budgets and accept that taking less TV money and gates V the OF by having a bigger league will give the chance to develop youth. We need to look ahead 10-15 years, not into 2 years and what Sky want to show. Currently the product is dire, how can 10 teams all getting deeper in debt possibly help other than showering the teams with 2nd rate foriegners? just look at the shining example of the EPL - exciting football - Yes, great players on show - Yes, good technical skills - Yes, enough good english players to make a decent national team (ie players in the top 4/5 or 6) - NO, thats what we will have to endure for years yet again.

Where has this come from, it seemed that 4 including ourselves were firmly against this and listening to the fans, a morning in a room being bullied by the OF & thrown some cash and its a done deal. I hope that since the voting had to be 11-1 or better, that we held our nerve and was the '1' with the otehr 11 making the majority - hate to think we have a jelly spine like the rest. So 3 relegated next year, hope the genious's at Hamilton, St Midden, St J, ourselves and some others are happy because they are essentially voting themselves into SPL 2!!! What a load of tommy tank this is going to be :(

Well teh biggest mystery with that one is the fact anyone thinks he's good enough for Serie A - we can all understand Birmingham, afterall they are chasing Charlie Adam too - Big Eck is going for some sort of Castle Greyskull reunion

Yip Stenny still to play Threave from the 3rd round due to several postponements Good draw overall for us, the OF being drawn together opens it up, but looks like there could be quite a few SPL oposition next round - think the dons, jamobs and even D Utd will be fancying their chances of teh final. Hopefully we can get an away draw next round and sneak on into a semi :)

What I find odd - is that he's an SPL footballer (star at OF club) and was allegedly reported to police by Michell Mone (well known business woman and paper/tv celeb these days). So in the whole of Glasgow and visiting Costco nobody apart from one famous person spotted anothers indiscretion?

Based on the players thatw ill be out of contract in the summer, I'd perfer to avoid bringing in new faces just now unless they are good quality loans who will add depth to the squad. No point in signing for ths sake of it or ending up with bit-part players, rather see more youth get chances on the bench. Use the money we have aside (if any) for loan wages, signings in Jan to sort out some contracts then take stock in the summer and work a way to improve key squad areas. I think a creative midfilder is required as we really struggle to create anything at home which contributes to our bad run of form at TCS, also think if Rooney goes we will need someone with the ability to score goals, whether a loan or we find a gem released from English clubs.

Lot of dreamers expecting 500k lol, Rangers look to be lucky to get near that for Kenny Miller and he's got International experienece (not saying that makes him good btw) My personal view is that if we are getting 50-100k for him, minus the Stoke 40%, then its not worth letting him go. He may want to leave now, but has a legal contract so will have to stay to the summer, I'd keep him in the hope he scores a few goals and gets us a cup run and as high in the SPL and thus prize money as possible. Possibly between the 2 competitions we could get the 30-60k in prize money to cover what we would loose out on by not selling - plus it gives us til the summer to start scouting replacements. Wouldnt want to sell for a pittence, then struggle for goals over the next few months and drop away in the competitions. Doesnt matter if its Russia, Turkey, Englandshire or SPL we dont have to let him leave right now, he can sign his pre-contract and get on with playing.

Anyone away. Perfer to avoid the OF & Jambo's/Aberdeen but take it as it comes, think realistically to get further we need to avoid being drawn at home and if we can have a televised tie it would bring in a few extra coins.

Why stop there, if we went a few miles further south still we could get Man U, Man C & Leeds!! What a ludirciuos idea.