Yngwie

The justification for this latest attempt is reported to be on the grounds of "health & safety" of their players, who have to play week in week out. Quite a neat idea, as health and safety of players is always stated as being paramount to the footballing authorities. When this one fails, what other trump cards can we expect them to play - racism, ageism?

Which usually translates as "trying to get a better offer from elsewhere". Not that you could blame him for considering his options.

On the other hand, that's where Rangers got Filip Sebo from!

I suspect you'll be reviving this smiley then And oh look, there's one for Hughes too:

He was a cracking player, very talented. I'm still trying to come to terms with a chain smoker who was lazy and hated training, now being responsible for preparing our team and getting them match fit.

One thing to note. Whilst Boavista is a club with a good history and stadium to match, for the last few years they have been playing in the Portuguese 3rd flight, which according to Wikipedia comprises non-professional regional leagues. On the plus side, there is a chance that any decent players they have might see us as a step up!

Pre-season tour of the Caribbean?

Can we expect to see a signing or two from Portugal? I'm sure Latapy has been involved before in bringing Portuguese players to Scotland.

Northern Scotland, definitely!

What ignorant plonker wrote that? Good article fella, and there's not a lot I'd disagree with.

The voicemail message is in an Irish accent and says: “Greetings and salutations, you have reached the voicemail of Gary Goals. I’m not able to take your call right now because I’m either playing a match, out with a lady or hitting the gym hard. If you would like me to play in your game leave your name, where said match will be taking place, the colour of the clothes and the quality of all the people playing the football game. I am a top class striker with a proven track record scoring goals for teams all over Ireland and all over Europe - especially Ireland.” I reckon it's Curtis Allen.

Sadly it seems that with attendances the way they are, we need a cash injection like this every single season just to maintain a competitive squad.

Was our last sale Lee Cox to Swindon in January 2012? Undisclosed fee, but reportedly he cost them £50,000 - although I don't know how much of that quoted figure went to the agent and the player, or if some of it was contingent on future appearances etc.

Kendal Town had already accepted "a four figure sum" from Chester when we made our move. When was the last time we outbid another team?!

But not as pish as spending £47 on a train, £25 on a ticket, then seeing your team humped 4-0 or such like. Think positive!

All the teams around us and below us will be strengthening this month. The best we can hope for is to stay the same. So the 2nd half of the season is inevitably going to be more difficult than the first, regardless of who we have in the dugout.

At least we now know the term for the opposite of a Midas touch.

Here we are exactly half way through the season, and it is remarkable how the first goal in a game has been decisive. Of our 19 league games: 10 wins – we scored first every time 6 defeats – we conceded first every time 2 no score draws 1 score draw (2-2 at Celtic) – the only game in which the team scoring first didn’t go on to win. Some people mentioned elsewhere that the players heads seemed to drop the other day after going behind – maybe it’s because they know that they haven't so much as salvaged a draw when that has happened! The positive thing is that ICT have been incredibly good at holding onto leads. The message for Hughes is that the only tactic we need is to score the 1st goal, the rest will take care of itself. I don’t know why he didn’t think of this before.

This Filip Kiss (Slovakian U21 etc) has a very decent pedigree and seems the sort of midfield hardman we could do with at this particular moment in time whilst Foran and Draper are out. I stumbled across a spoof Twitter account for him, which recently said "The gaffer wants to send me to Ross County on loan. Do they have beer, strippers and cocaine in Scotland?" Kiss - Crazy Nights?

I think we can forget about finishing above Hibs this season. (Or next, for that matter). Butcher has worked his magic there to bring about a quite remarkable transformation, even before any transfer dealings. Got to hope that St J don't find a run of form and push us out of the top 6. That would be a catastrophe.

Am I the only person expecting us to lose this game by 4 or 5 goals? Motherwell are on form. we are not. And playing the Steelmen with absolutely no steel in midfield will not help.

Well I'm bravely sitting down with the bottle of Amrut (Indian single malt!) that I got for Christmas. Unwrapping it was actually a bit like the moment I found out Hughes was to be our manager, in that my initial reaction was, of all the fine malts there are out there, why've I been given this one?! The tasting notes that come with it are rather ominous. The best words and phrases their marketing people could come up with include "complex", "confusing", ".....hammers home", "a slight struggle" and the intriguing final sentence "The spices, rather than lying down and acepting their fate, rise up and usher this extraordinary whisky to its exit". Wish me luck.

Well put it this way. From what we have seen, there is very little evidence that he is capable of doing well for us upfront, and add to that the fact that he is a 22 year old striker who hasn't scored even a single goal since he was 18. We need a 2nd choice striker who is at least remotely capable of challenging for a 1st team place, and sadly he isn't the answer. He was a panic signing when it became apparent that Curtis was a total dud.

Aye, and you can add to that the fact that Partick have only won 1 of their last 15 games. No prizes for guessing who it was against.