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The problem Callum Davidson faces is that when you start weighing it up, there are so many facets of his management that you can pour scrutiny on, whereas the defence is limited to past achievements that don't really provide much source for optimism in our current situation. He turned it round last season - by luck or design - with the introduction of a couple of new players into his system but the big difference was that despite not getting results, all the indicators pointed to a change of form. Basically we created a lot and gave little away. That brings us to the first aspect of his management, tactics: The system he developed last season was good and became even better when you added the predatory instincts of Melamed and everything that Rooney offered. Wide diagonals were effective with the aerial prowess of the latter and Tanser, McCann would snap in and win the balls off those contacts. Wotherspoon understood and thrived in the inside forward position behind a main striker. Kerr advanced up the field to give the extra man you need when pressing in games but operating with a back three. It wasn't perfect - we didn't score enough goals - but it worked. It looked a system that the manager had developed to suit his squad, which is always encouraging, and he received plaudits for his ability as a coach. It was understandable that he wouldn't change much going into this season in that sense but as the team changed, so did the results. We no longer had the ability to win the first or second contact on the diagonals, nobody to pick up the ball in the pockets of space in attacking midfield and nobody to step out from defence. Yet he has persevered with the same system for now four months with no upturn in form, results or performances. Quite the opposite and it's drained the belief and confidence from the squad of players it is his job to manage. At some point (in my opinion about a month ago) he had to realise this wasn't working and try something different. I think the players would have relished it as much as the fans. It might not have worked straight away but it would have shown an acknowledgement and willingness to rectify a worsening situation. We now don't know if he can come up with something different tactically when assessing where to go from here. The morale of the players looks at rock bottom and that's part of his remit, to manage a group of individuals and the unit. He said yesterday that they hadn't done what he asked of them in the first 40 minutes. The problem with that is that we were so well-drilled last season and the system has hardly changed. So why aren't they doing what he says? It's hard to believe they don't understand what is being asked of them given where we were previously. Have they stopped playing for him? The reaction to going a goal behind in the defence of your trophy was as limp as it could be. Is the bigger picture that he can't inspire players in the way some of his predecessors could? Saints have always lost their better players to clubs with greater resources but have largely avoided seeing the sort of defection witnessed with Scott Tanser's switch to St Mirren. The list of players not interested in signing a new contract under the manager is far longer than the list of those that are. Maybe that's purely financial and you can't judge him overly on that but you can on his business, or lack of, in the transfer market and his failure to evolve the squad he inherited. There is a defence, the uncertainty of the pandemic, the timing of his own arrival and most certainly the timing of the August departures of Kerr and McCann. But there is also a pretty damning case for the prosecution: Despite the success of the team last season, at just 0.47 goals per game, Saints recorded the lowest goals per game at home of ANY club in ANY division in the HISTORY of the Scottish league... AND we lost Guy Melamed. Yet this summer the manager made no proven additions to his striking options that he was clearly going to be happy with. How did he think that was going to work out? Tanser was replaced with a young loanee with no experience and the potential sale of Kerr was prepared for in the same manner. Loans have been the order of the day until this month, when it's potentially too late in any case. The advantages of Saints making a change now are you hope it lifts the players, we see something different tactically to surprise the opposition and you have a few days left to recruit some reinforcements with a lot of scouting having been done on potential players by others at the club. Sad to say but what are the potential disadvantages? I think when you get to the stage where you ask yourself if it can get any worse, you probably already know the answer to both that and whether the manager should remain in his role...

If you watch the background closely you can see it was Imrie himself

I guess no one in our Award Winning™ Social Media Team listened to the audio on this.

Brandon Barker - surely?

You've posted this in the wrong forum m8. Your team is in the Championship.

Paul McGowan's head looks like a map of the Orkneys

Shadwell, you know that the players are shite, I know that the players are shite, Martin Rennie knows that the players are shite, ok? The thing is though, we are on a public forum and it's ok for us to say that the players are shite. He can't, and shouldn't, no matter what he thinks, it is better to keep the criticism in-house. Remember the furore when Gary Holt criticised 2 of our players in public?

There's been some very good points made on both sides of the argument over the last two years, but none of them were from you.

I think Rennie is very aware of what he says, he knows to get a tune out this lot he has to blow smoke up their arses. never judge people by their words, but by their actions. Making a sub at half time isn’t the action of a content manager.

In what way would giving an immune deficient person extra room at a check out offer meaningful protection? How did they cope before March 2020? These are utterly pointless gestures .

True Dat.

Every single weekend we are reminded of how shite VAR is. Every single weekend.

It's really not my responsibility to look out for a wee badge before deciding if i can stand somewhere when im out and about. If you don't want people to be close to you, avoid crowds.

Nobody mentioned union jacks or saltires so this is a very odd thing to say. The Trump flag on its own certainly can be seen as a joke but when there’s a clown next to it nazi saluting it seems much less of a joke. I’d personally rather there weren’t Airdrie fans nazi saluting because I’m an Airdrie fan that’s neither a fascist nor a fascist sympathiser. It should be condemned, not ignored.

There are clearly going to be situations where it's not possible to give people space (public transport / bars / events). In those circumstances it really isn't up to other people to make sure people with a wee badge on have plenty space. Ultimately, if you are scared of close contact, then the onus is on you to avoid crowded spaces rather than everyone else adapt their behaviour to make you feel safer. It's well intentioned i'm sure, but it's not really that practical.

Well done Auchinleck on a great Scottish Cup run-today was a massive challenge which frankly no team at our level would have overcome.We might be great rivals at our level but that doesn’t ever mean we wouldn’t acknowledge the performances Auchinleck have put in against so many teams from higher tiers.No disgrace today at all.

With that grammar, I highly doubt it.

Every time Peter Grant talks.

Mobile is 5 3 3. I simply wont hear otherwise.

Why should I modify my actions, away from what would normally be considered socially acceptable, for no reason other than someone would like me to? If you think I will be checking for a wee badge or lanyard before doing something that, prior to March 2020 would be seen as perfectly normal, then you're sorely mistaken. Like I said earlier, the onus is on the people scared of getting too close to other people to modify their behaviour / avoid crowded places, not the population at large. That isn't the same as being hostile to them or, indeed, wishing them harm.

Keena's a natural finisher. We won't see him missing many sitters. It's true that his playing style is somewhat 'relaxed' but I think he works a lot harder than some, well, one in particular, make out. I thought Dowds was poor yesterday which was hopefully just an off day, but I'd like to give him and Kabia a shot up front next week with Keena being available from the bench.

Extrapolating and fabricating an argument no-one is making as usual I see.

In respect of these badges, context is important. If they are against the backdrop of dropping all legal requirements for masks, distancing etc but people have the option to display that they’re a bit uncomfortable then fine, I find it odd but no harm done and I’d respect it as long as it’s not abused. If it’s in addition to all the “protections” then it’s yet more nonsense that adds months and years to the recovery people are going to require from the scaremongering and it can f**k off.

I know they’ve had a few different ones down the years, but that’s the worst Leeds United crest ever.

Are you Brian Howieson?

I sort of get why managers (like Robinson and Alexander) love anywhere-across-the-front-three-ers so much. Competent, out and out, strikers are a pretty rare commodity in our market- we fairly lucked out in ending up with Watt and KVV at the same time, while the rest of teams at our level have to gamble on guys like Cummings and Griffiths or persist with the likes of Kane and Main etc. I do feel this leads to situations like ours though, where our striking options are now essentially a talented, but angry, old Dutch man and four wingers. Even a Jordan White shaped lump to throw on in the last 15 minutes would give us something different imo.

Agree in principle JD but Nelms has boxed himself into a horrible position. McCann’s full time appointment was a disaster. McIntyre’s appointment was not only a disaster but perfectly illustrated the lack of knowledge Nelms has about the club and Scottish football. McPake’s appointment was simply a toss of the coin as to whether it would work or not given Mcpake had never before managed an adult team at any level. I also don’t think there is a budget to pay off McPake and fund an overhaul of the squad which I’m sure a new manager of any stature would demand. In short Nelms is doing what he always does. Simply hoping and praying things will turn around while ignoring the evidence in front of him.

Despite the score, The boyo had a Fantastic day today. His first time at a football game and, of course, he had a million questions He definitely wants to go back to Somerset and more than anything, see an Ayr goal. We toured Somerset park during the game because he "only has wee legs and can't stand too long" (Despite him dangling from the terracing railing for the majority)so we had to get a seat He loved seeing the team in real life, singing the songs and the atmosphere. Knows that another day, the score would be better Above all, he loved the Panda His eyes lit up as soon as he saw him Overall, I think we have another Honest man in the making and one very proud and happy daddy

The guy just wanted to watch a game of fitba, what happened is sickening. We're all the same inside, some people should remember that.

Rangers Women 2-1 Hibernian Women. Probably the biggest game in Scotland today and it didn't disappoint. Hibs deservedly led at the break but Rangers were much improved after half time and probably did enough to earn the three points even if the penalty from which the equalised was extremely soft (a true Chris Gentles special).

Aside from all the fun and games about who did and didn't smile at who, I'd quite like a wee reflection on where we're heading for the rest of the season. I've been impressed by Faz this month. He's identified the areas where we've needed improvements (the defence, and a focal point striker) and he's addressed those issues. Will the players who he's brought in be good enough to fire us up the table? That remains to be seen. But I don't think one Sons fan would disagree with the positions he's recruited in. Especially with other clubs seemingly struggling a wee bit to add bodies this month (albeit with plenty of time remaining). It's probably easy to forget how quickly Faz assembled a squad. I know I'm certainly guilty of overlooking that fact. He was appointed on May 29 with just Ryan McGeever signed. We played our first friendly against East Kilbride on June 22, and in that time he released near enough an entire squad and signed a new one. It was never going to be perfect, but it feels like he's identified that and fine tuned the areas in need. Turning our season around is still a big ask. Joshua Oyinsan might flop, Stephen Bronsky might prove that League Two is his ceiling, Adam Hutchinson might be the new Kirk McKnight and Gregg Wylde might be the player he was for Clyde. Who knows. But I'm feeling a lot more optimistic about things now than I was at the end of December. In the last two games it's felt like we've had a much better balance between defence and attack. Carlo Pignatiello has been a big part of that, and Gregor Buchanan has looked much more like himself. In midfield Paul Paton has been superb, and Joshua has finally given us the focal point in attack we've needed. Ross MacLean benefitted from that against East Fife, and I thought Conner Duthie was tremendous yesterday. In fact I really don't have a bad word to say about Duthie at all this season. 10 months ago he was out of football entirely. A forgotten man serving the last few months of a ban. Now he's looking like a really good, direct League One attacker. If he could add a few more goals to his game (and he gets in terrific positions) then he could be vital between now and the end of the season. I've really liked what I've seen from him as he's gone from bench warmer to one of the first names on the teamsheet. I know the wee bams ruined things with their pyro and bricking of the bus. But it was superb to see the stadium with a bit of atmosphere about it yesterday too. I've missed that. Hopefully an upturn in form over the next few weeks can bring back a bit of noise to the place. Tl;dr version: Faz has signed players in important positions and hopefully they can be what is needed to turn our season around.

I’m sure the entirety of the DFC staff will be absolutely shiting themselves at the prospect of this.

Drawing attention to not wanting to be close to people when you're in a place where people are isn't emerging or dealing with fear, it's prolonging it.

It’s always been done is quite a poor justification. Something that belongs in the past and a gesture I have never made in 30 years of football matches.

Dalry Thistle 1-4 St Rochs (Kilmarnock Pie West of Scotland League Cup) St Rochs started the game poorly and it was a pretty scrappy game. Poor back pass from the Candy defender allowed the Dalry attacker to capitalise and take it round Starky in the goal to open the scoring. St Rochs only really turned up with five mins left off the first half, missing sitter after sitter until Jamie Longworth opened the scoring. St Rochs totally dominated the second half and should’ve won by more. Dalry looked like a pretty poor team and only their number three impressed. Their number three was absolutely outstanding though and clearly a cut above anyone else in their team. Three goals seen St Rochs cruise to victory as Dalry lost their heads in the second half, mainly down to the frustration of not being able to lay a glove on St Rochs. Two red cards for Dalry. Decent atmosphere. Dalry had a young ‘ultra’ group banging bins and singing songs, then had some older lads next to them with the pyro. Some pyro from the Candy fans too. Would say att. was somewhere in the 250-300 region.

Certainly feels like it's just been one mistake after another and a constant spiral of decline since Hartley run out of ideas. You'd think by happy coincidence that something would go right eventually, and getting promoted through the playoffs was a welcome break in the narrative, but the club have just appointed one absolute numpty after another and don't seem to have the intuition to recognise that things aren't going to magically correct themselves by just standing by and watching. I could understand taking a punt on McCann. He's articulate and at least gives the passing impression of knowing what he's talking about, but the timing of his firing, the appointment of McIntyre, and especially the appointment of McPake all scream of an upper management at the club who really have no idea what they are doing. The fact they went into this season not only with a questionable manager, but without significantly strengthening a squad that, if we're honest, struggled a bit in the Championship just underlines the impression that they don't really possess any ability to accurately assess where the club is and what is needed to fulfil their stated ambitions. I think it's become apparent this window that this is quite possibly an impression that is shared in wider footballing circles, given that nobody appears to want to actively make themselves a part of what is currently happening at Dens. I think I could accept things if they punted McPake right now, they brought in a few new bodies in the areas we are obviously deficient in, and they still went down, but standing by without doing a thing about it and waiting for the inevitable is unforgivable. I know that sounds similar to the scenario with McCann/McIntyre that I've just slated them for, but that was a subtly different scenario in that we weren't a newly promoted club at that time. McCann was incapable of halting a slide that really started in the last couple of seasons of Hartley's time, whereas this time around it's a total failure to build on a little bit of traction gained in the latter half of last season. I said in spring last year that I thought firing McPake would be entirely justified even if he somehow got us promoted, because I felt he was totally underperforming across an extended period and that there wasn't a hope in hell of him keeping us in the Premiership, and I think I'm still entirely justified in having said that.

Definitely not disputing that Keena isn’t good enough but he is infinitely better than Wilson and Ompreon who would struggle for game time in the Lowland League.

McPake out banners required for this IMO.

Also good to see Tierney, 5 minutes into his debut, giving Van Veen pelters for shooting and not passing to him.

Leave Elixir out of this.

It would be classic Dundee to get promoted with a Championship calibre squad, do virtually nothing in the summer to improve it, watch it circle the drain for months, then fire a totally hopeless manager with only hours left of the January window. Only way to top that would be to fire him just after it closes and leave the new guy no option but to get relegated with McPake's bunch of stiffs. I don't know why anyone would take the job under these circumstances, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's not a factor that's at the back of the minds of prospective new signings, given that there is apparently nobody of any stature with the slightest interest in making a sideways or slightly downwards move to come play at Dens.

Let me just get this straight. Cammy MacPherson has largely been dreadful, but we're dangerously short on midfielders. The obvious plan of action would have been to go about our business quietly, keep a hold of him until the end of the season for squad depth reasons, and then send him packing at the end of the campaign. Callum Davidson's solution: Offer him a thoroughly undeserved pre-contract, resulting in his current club taking him back and demanding money for his return. Is this correct?

I gave up my life as a high flying corporate lawyer to pursue my dream of earning a living building dry stone walls bare handed in the Scottish highlands. It is terrible, my hands are so sore, my family are starving, please send money.

If you need nearly 5 mins to confirm something is ‘clear and obvious’, it isn’t clear or obvious….

Are you seriously suggesting in this hypothetical scenario that there will be 75,000 covid deaths in the UK over the next year even if we do wear masks, and 150,000 if we don't? How many deaths there have been in the past is totally irrelevant in terms of how we act going forward.

I don't miss this.

Maybe if they'd showed a bit of balls and jumped into the pyramid quicker then it wouldn't be so...... It was there for them but they chose to stay junior while others like Kelty saw what was coming and moved over....... It will sort itself out north,south,east and west,just gonna take a bit of time .....