Kingsmills

It's not just players wages but other staff as well as all the othersorts of overheads any busuiness has. On top of that football clubs have substantial bills for policing and stewarding. Generally speaking, given the size of our gates, it's a constant struggle to break even. It's been done in the past through transfer money, compensation for parting managers (not very likely this time), SKY Scottish Cup matches and the like. In past seasons in the SPL we've also had decent bonus money for respectable league finishing places (again not likely this time). Unless we go on a run to at least the Semi Finals of the Scottish Cup and get a couple of live TV games on the way, we're likely to post another loss this financial year despite getting Marius off the wage bill.

Avery difficult one but, on balance, I'd give Esson a run.

From what I've seen so far, Rooney appears to carry a greater threat than Barrowman.

To be fair it's probably just the sheer weight on numbers of Old Firm fans queuing up to spout their nonsense.

Dods yes but Dargo hasn't been in any sort of form now for two seasons and continues to be injury prone so I wouldn't be keen on seeing him back.

I wouldn't be unhappy with Frail but Chisholm would still be my first choice.

The odd unfortunate decision from match officials is not the problem.

Don't agree about Fraser. You can probably get away with one experienced 'keeper and a rookie in the SFL but not in the SPL.

There's been a lot of discussion on various threads about the sort of player(s) the club should be trying to recruit during the January transfer window to get us out of our current difficulties. However it's no secret that ICT are not exactly awash with cash at the moment having sustained a significant loss in the last financial year, with gate income substantially down on last season, our CIS Cup run, such as it was, at an end and some doubt about how much, if any, of Marius Niculae's transfer fee will eventually end up in the club's coffers. Realistically, we might well have to move one or more players on before anyone comes in. If that's the case, who out of our current squad could we afford to part with ? Personally, I would nominate Djebi-Zadi, McAllister and very sadly indeed, Roy McBain who, for whatever reason, seems well below his best this season. Taking into account Markus Paatelainen whos salary is already being saved that would be four salaries available which might enable us to bring in two quality players, one in defence and one up front, with little or no net expense.

I can also see St Mirren joining us and Hamilton in a three way battle at the foot of the table come the end of the season.

Maybe the difference is that United have an experienced competent manager.

Hard to disagree with that..

and the rest, crowds of no more than about 1,800 paying not much more than half SPL prices as well as related reduction in commercial revenue. Also the sponsorship income from Clydesale Bank. In our case I bet that would be around ?1,400.000 in total only marginally offset by the parachute payment.

The fact that Dundee United put three goals past and were on the verge of beating the same Rangers side who humiliated us shows just what a bad result and performance that was.

A new stadium and debt wiped out, that has a familiar ring about it !

I suspect that Foran would be outwith our budget.

I believe Rooney has the potential to become a fine striker in a year or two. The trouble is we need someone who can do a job consistently for the first team now.

It's a modest payment made out of the SPL's tv revenue to go some way towards easing the financial plight of teams relegated from the top flight at least in the first two years.

The problem is that it wasn't "going fine" right up to last Saturday. Our last decent performance was against Killie weeks ago and we were even outplayed for the first half hour of that match until they switched off for some reason.

I wonder if there's any point in trying to pursue Dods again in January ? As far as a forward within our price bracket is concerned, I'd like to see us make an attempt to land Kenny Deuchar on loan.

Nothing at all was a hugely excessive price for watching that first 45 minutes

I'd like to see Barry on from the start even if, as is probable, he doesn't last the full ninety minutes.

We are far from doomed, the players have the talent to survive, it's still largely the same squad who kept us up before but if we are to survive then performances and leadership both on and off the park will be a factor. As things stand, I personally would rate our prospects at about evens.

I reckon that in the event of relegation our turnover will be down by well over a million even taking the parachute payment into account. More once the new Setanta deal kicks in.

Given that it might well be an issue at the end of the season if we carry on at this rate, what's the current level of the SPL parachute payment ? I know that a few seasons back it was ?250.000 for the first year and ?125,000 for the second. Has it increased since then ?