DoofersDad

That's precisely why so many of us feel he should be playing in midfield and not up-front. Playing as a striker and having to live up to his own hype has put a lot of pressure on him. Reverting to his more natural left midfield role will take that pressure off him and as a result he will probably score a few more coming in from deep positions. We need Foran primarily as a creator of goals not a scorer of them - goals he does score should be seen as a bonus. Hopefully Sutherland will get a run in the side but my worry is that our position in the table will put a lot more pressure on him to score than had he given a starting place at the start of the season.

There is certainly an element of truth in what Romanov says, but it all sounds very hollow when you consider that with the money he has been prepared to invest in Hearts, he had the opportunity to break the mould, breathe fresh life into Scottish football and end the Glasgow monopoly. Unforunately his lack of knowledge of the Scottish game coupled with being a control freak means that he has blown that opportunity. He has also contributed to the image of Scottish football as a laughing stock with some of his bizarre behaviour.

It's just as well that I read the article because I saw the thread title and thought the team weren't going to shave till next time we play Falkirk. It's a good cause and let's hope it coincides with bringing the youngsters some cheer on the pitch as well as off it.

Football? In my book it doesn't even count as sport.

Makeshift defender gives away a penalty and we remain bottom of SPL. Munro scores for County who keep another clean sheet and extend their lead at the top of the SFL. Hmm.

All very interesting and an excellent post from CapitalCaley. But I wonder if another factor is whether, in our frantic search for promising players, we are taking risks on players who have a known injury problem. Take Tudur-Jones for example; he had a known and chronic knee problem before we signed him. His entry in Wikipaedia (must be true, then) states:- On 19 December 2006 it was announced that Jones would be travelling to the United States to see surgeon Dr. Richard Steadman for a second opinion on his ongoing knee problem. He is now sidelined with a knee problem. I don't know about others but that's just a thought. Another concern is how long it is taking for players to come back from injury. Is it just me or do our players seem to be sidelined for significantly longer than players with similar injuries at other clubs?

Missed a great chance when put through and then the young lad Wood came on as sub and got the winner. I think Adam will be a little down the pecking order but should get enough chances to prove his worth.

Take my advice and just settle for that.

Not a chance that they'd be as successful 2nd time round and it would be sad to see them fail. It would tarnish the memory we have of their time at the club. Just because the Board have recently successfully completed negotiations to keep Terry and Mo at the club is not a good reason to open new negotiations to get rid of them. The current management team have a number of failings which I won't go into here but they also have a lot of good qualities and on balance have had success here. Our current position is more a consequence of our injury problems and poor refereeing decisions than poor management IMHO. I remain confident the season will turn around and feel it is way to soon to question Terry and Mo's position.

Esson Don't really care Sutherland Too often this season, the team has played well one match and been poor the next, or well in the first half and poor in the second. To be honest, there is not a lot to choose between the players that are available and what matters is not who plays as much as what attitude they have and how well the team is prepared. This is an important match and a loss coupled with a poor performance would give legitimate cause for worry. I want 11 players on the park who will hurt if they lose and it is the manager's job to make sure that whoever is in the starting line up has the right attitude and knows what the team expects of them on the park. I'd probably give Foran one last chance. If he can't be morivated for this and give encouragement, rather than mouthing off at his young team mates, then I'd find a new captain.

It's far too early to worry about the possibility of County playing in a higher division than us next season. Despite a disappointing result today, we are only 5 points off a top six place and County are only 8 points off the bottom. There is more chance of County being 2 divisions below us next season than them being a division above.

Think the same myself. As I've said before, it is difficult to see how you can drop either Tade or Foran but also difficult to see how you can play them both if they are spurning the number of chances they are getting. If MacKay is fit he needs to be given a chance to get at least 20 - 25 minutes in a few games to see if he can capitalise on the opportunites the others create.

I think Levein is doing a decent job and this is going to be a very interesting group. Croatia are not as good as they were and Wales are getting better. As a result there is no standout team in the group nor are there any whipping boys. All teams are perfectly capable of taking points off all the other teams and unless one team really comes good then it could go down to the wire with 3 or 4 sides in contention. IMHO this is as good an opportunity for Scotland to qualify for the World Cup as they've had for many years. Without the distraction of the European Championships there is an opportunity to get a group of players together and work with them to get a real focus. Whilst Scotland are never going to be anywhere near as good as Spain they will have learnt some real lessons from their 2 matches against the World Champions. First is that they have nothing to fear from anybody. Second is that up against good sides you've got to get at them and disrupt their rythmn. Scotland had good spells in both matches and worried them when they got the opportunity to press. But to me, the most important is that they need to understand each other more. The Spaniards almost instinctively knew where their team mates were in their slick passing movements and that can only be acheived with a good understanding of what the team is trying to do collectively and individually. By contrast Scotland were always looking to see where players were to pass to and therefore would dwell too long on the ball and either get caught or end up playing a hurried ball or a pass which was easy to read. There will no doubt be all sorts of debate in the next couple of years about who the best players are, but to me the key thing is for Levein to decide soon who should be in the squad and then stick with them and mould them into a team. He's fashioned decent sides from ordinary players at club level and If he can do that at international level then I see no reason why Scotland can't earn a trip to Brazil.

Totally agree. I don't think I would want to make a list other than to say that however you might compare the different attributes of midfielders, top of the list would have to be Barry Wilson. There was always a buzz of expectation when he got on the ball and he still remains 2nd in the club's all time scoring list - and what goals some of those were!

According to the stats on this website, in terms of strike rate, Iain Stewart is way out on his own at 57%. Paul Ritchie had a surprisingly high strike rate of 48% as did Craig Dargo. Adam Rooney and Scott McLean come next with 43%. Denis Wyness is just out of the top 5 on a strike rate basis with 42% but is top of the total goals scores list at 101. Brewster was good but to my mind never played enough to be considered in a top five. Top for me would have to be Iain Stewart by a country mile. Admitedly he was playing at a lower level but the sheer composure and awareness he showed in front of goal suggests to me he would have been knocking them in for fun had he been playing in the SPL at his peak. There is precious little between the next 4 IMHO but for what it is worth I rank them Rooney, Wynerss, Ritchie, Dargo. Rooney because he scored consistently whilst in the SPL and was steadily getting better and better. Then Wyness for the number of goals he scored and the fact that at his best he could fashion a goal out of nowhere. Paul Ritchie gets my vote at number four not just for the goals he scored but for his work rate and wider contribution to the team. His strike rate is phenomenal for someone often considered as a support act but I have my doubts whether he would have made it at a higher level - can't fault the effot but just lacking a bit in class. Finally at fith would be Craig Dargo. Again, he played at a high level but I would have liked to see him at the club for longer. By the way Top Six, why is this not a top six?

Best signing of the season IMHO. That's not to say I don't have concerns about a few things but the stability this affords the club is really important. Butcher and Malpas have been good for the club. It was a great acheivement to bounce straight up from the SFL and a great acheivement to equal our highest ever position last year. This year the league is tight and we are in a false position at the foot of the table, but despite that, the team is playing some very good attractive football. I am confident that we will soon be heading up the table playing a brand of football which will excite the fans. Well done to the Board for offering a 2 year deal and well done to Terry and Mo for accepting.

It wouldn't be a choice between Esson and Tade, Butcher would have subbed him before it got to that.

And just how often have you seen MacKay play to come to the conclusion that you would far rather see him playing upfront with Tade than Foran? I accept that Foran has missed some glorious chances this season and in that sense he's a bit like Tade. Both work hard in their different ways but Foran has the vision Tade lacks. He plays some great through balls, attacks the ball very well at the back post and lays off good balls to others - such as for our first goal on Saturday. It's a bit of a dilemma for Terry. On the one hand you feel you can't leave either Tade or Foran out but on the other you can't afford to play them both. To my mind Foran should be playing deeper but I don't know who you would leave out - particularly when Hayes and Doran are fit again. But we do need to score more goals and can't rely on the midfield to chip in all the time. I would be inclined to give Sutherland the guarantee of a few games to see if he can exploit the chaos Tade causes. I would also like to see MacKay get a chance - he could come on as a late sub for either Tade or Sutherland and if the Tade / Sutherland combination does not produce goals then he could replace Sutherland for a run. Another option is to play Sutherland in the lone striker role because he strikes me as more of a Rooney type player who can hold up the ball and bring in the supporting midfied players - he also seems to be sharper in front of goal than Tade. Tade sure scares the hell out defenders but seems to lack the awareness to bring in others and therefore unless we can find a way to exploit the very considerable attributes he has, I fear he may be the one who has to be left out of the side. I am confident that either Tade will start scoring more or he will enable someone else to. We are not far from being a very effective attacking force and it won't be long before things click and I really hope Tade is a part of that. Nobody deserves success more than him.

We're only 4 points away from 6th place - it's hardly the impossible dream.

Nice one. That is really quite extraordinary. I've played in a game when we conceded an own goal from within our own half but I've never seen a headed goal from anything like that distance. Does he have steel plates embedded in his forehead, I wonder?

Watched a bit but decided I wanted to do something more exciting - so I cleaned the fridge instead.

I've only been able to get to a couple of matches this season so really cannot comment on the way players are playing. However, the general theme seems to be that we have a team capable of playing some good stuff, are creating a lot of chances but we are being let down by some basic errors at the back and a lack of a natural scorer at the front. When Golobart was signed I think I read that he was a defender who can play as a striker so I wonder if it would be worth trying him at the other end. If he could be responsible for as many going into the net at the right end as he appears to be at the wrong end, we could start moving in the right direction. People seem to be praising Tade's work rate so it would be hard to drop him. Foran appears to be playing further forward but has missed a number of good chances. An alternative would be for him to be playing deeper with Sutherland in a more central striker role playing off Tade. Sutherland has often impressed me and seems to have an eye for goal. It seems a waste to play him wide as often seems to be the case.

I agree with Dougal that the stadium design is not conducive to a good atmosphere, but regardless of the pros and cons of a move to a proper stadium it simply ain't going to happen any time soon. I also respect the right of the blanket and Werther's brigade to remain silent; although it would be nice for them to at least clap when we score a goal. What I object to is those who appear to object to those who do try to get behind the team and offer some noisy support. As I said on another thread, we need to find ways of getting more youngsters into the ground. Get enough in to get a good amount of noise going and it will be self perpetuating. But above all, reintroduce standing areas. This is the single most important factor in the decline of crowds and the disappearance of a decent atmosphere.

We need a few more injuries to make the team selection easier.

I doubt that there is now much scope to reduce expenditure. Most of the potential to reduce expenditure will be in players' wages and if wages are not at a pragmatic level players good enough to keep us in the SPL will not sign. We need to increase income. Of course, one off investment would be good but what is needed is a steady increase in revenue and a few good ideas have already been suggested. For me one of the key things must be to try to get more folk into the ground and I wonder if the club would benefit from reducing entrance fees, programme costs etc. I am lucky enough to be able to afford these prices without worrying about it but it doesn't stop me from thinking the prices are a bit steep and I am sure the price will put others off. Reducing prices, particularly for the youngsters, will encourage more to attend - more attending will improve the atmosphere - a better atmosphere will provide a better match day experience and perhaps also help the performance on the pitch. Folk may argue that if you cut the admission by 25% you are unlikely to see a 25% increase in numbers but it is not as simple as that. If paying less to get in you are more likely to buy a programme, more likely to buy a 50:50 ticket and more likely to buy refreshments. You end up spending much the same or maybe even more but just feel you have got better value. Coupled with a good marketing campaign there would be a real opportunity to boost the fan base (vital for the long term future) as well as increasing overall revenue. The other thing that I don't think has been mentioned is revenue from transfers. It seems that most players are being signed on short term contracts of 2 years at most. Apart from a worry that this strategy relies on making "finds" every year and hard negotiations with them the following year to keep them at the club, this strategy gives us no income from transfers. Contracts of 3 or 4 years carry the risk that injury or failure to fulfil potential will mean we end up paying for donkeys but there must be a happy medium where players like Rooney keen to develop their careers can be sold on whilst still in contract. There must be players who would welcome 2 year contracts rather than 1 and probably local lads who would happily sign for a 3 or 4 year contract at fairly low wages in order to have a real opportunity to develop and put them in the spotlight. If they blossom then they will want to move on to higher wages and can be sold. If they don't then most would probably still be useful squad players and the few that really disappoint aren't going to cost that much in any case or could be given free transfers to get them off the wage bill. There are real risks with longer term contracts for high wage players but low risk and opportunity for considerable returns with unproven young players of the sort we are signing. We have a good youth system and a knack of finding good young players from down South but we don't make any money out of them. Indeed, they end up costing us as those who impress and we want to keep cost a lot more when their contract is renewed.