Skyline Drifter

Yeah, we thought that. We have some good players for this level but it's a different league with different tactics and some adapt better than others. With all due respect, Falkirk are miles better than you're giving them credit for here (although nobody's really been good enough to test them at the back, not that convinced about their defence). They've pretty much battered everyone. Dunfermline the year before dropped down and bounced straight back up by having a solid defence and grinding out wins in a completely opposite manner to Falkirk. We on the other hand spent fairly big assembling squads that should have been able to challenge and have spent the majority of both seasons in the bottom half! Hamilton have very comfortably finished 2nd but they spent a lot of money gutting their squad in the summer and changed a lot of players. Montrose continue to surprise but they are an aging side and I suspect this is their last hurrah at the top end before having to gut the squad also. They and Alloa though have been over this course often enough and know the level well and how to stay in games. Arbroath may drop down and do the same if you are keeping the majority of a part time squad who took you to all that success and they still have legs. But it wouldn't be a major surprise if you dropped down and did the same as us.

Well that's just factually untrue. Dykes has started 5 of their last 10 league games. Michael Frey has started 4 of them. One game v Sheffield Wednesday neither of them started (Sinclair Armstrong did). The narrative here of Frey being preferred, doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Dykes may not be favoured, he may be moved on in the summer, He's still currently their most regular starting forward, and when he doesn't start, with one exception v Birmingham, he's coming off the bench and gettting game time anyway.

Yeah this. The idea that Ralston's a better option than Patterson because Patterson had a bit of a nightmare against Northern Ireland, not getting much game time under Dyche and should drop out altogether is silly IMO. Ralston's nothing special either (and is far from a regular at Celtic for that matter) and there wasn't much evidence he's a better defender against the Dutch for instance. Ralston's very much a third choice at right back. Like Taylor the other side, he'll do a job if need be and had he been available in another era maybe he gets 30 or 40 caps, but he's miles behind Hickey and Patterson. He goes to the Euros as Patterson's deputy if Hickey doesn't make it, or he potentially goes as a 3rd right back (far more likely if we're allowed 26 players) if there are significant doubts about Hickey even though he does make it.

He's certainly better than Patterson but what makes you assume he's not been "sounded out" already? It's not like his eligibility is some startling recent revelation. Livramento has no particular reason to jump our way at the moment unless he was raised 'Scottish' a la McTominay, which his involvements in young England sides would suggest he wasn't. He's 21 years old. England's established right back Kyle Walker is 33. He'll be competing with the regularly injured Rhys James for the England right back slot soon enough and likely for the next decade. There's no reason at all for Livramento (or Gordon) to be committing as Scottish any time soon if they'd prefer to play for England. Nor Anderson I suppose but he's not as good as them plus he was Scottish through his youth career so his recent consideration to defect the other way was a surprise. Harvey Barnes is slightly different in that he's nearly 27, has one England cap from 4 years ago and plays in a position where he's up against guys like Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Marcus Rashford for a place. His chances of playing for England are much lower and he has 5 years less in which to do so. However, you have to respect if he considers himself English and only wants to play for them that's fine.

I think if Hickey does go there will inevitably be lingering doubts about him though. If he's fit by early May (I think that was the last estimate?) then he'll not have played in over 6 months and he'll have at best two games with Brentford and then probably only if they are safe and not looking over their shoulder. In a 23 man squad that's maybe a risk Clarke thinks he has to take. In a 26 man one it lets him take Ralston as extra cover and I'd think he would. But as @Butters Scotch is keen to stress, only my opinion. I think there was a general acceptance that the squad he picked in March plus McGregor, Hickey and Jack potentially was where the names were coming from barring any significant injury to one of the three strikers, etc. I appreciate we were thinking 23 man squad then so it is possible he'll go left field to an extent with one of the extra picks but I can't see it. He's pretty loyal. That said, with Hanley still completely out of the picture at Norwich and an interview this morning saying he's likely to remain so until the end of April, it's looking more and more like he may not make it. If he doesn't then both Cooper and Souttar probably go and there's another slot there. Not sure Jack's any closer to making it than Hanley is so maybe Fraser or a fit Brown comes into contention. I'm unsure where Brown's at in terms of return date? Initial reports suggested "April" but that could mean this weekend or it could mean three weeks from now if it's even still valid. This is true. But my opinion is based on the factual squads he's been picking to this point and his previous comments that it's unlikely anyone from the u21's set up would be promoted pre-Euros. Your opinion that Conway should have been part of the squad already is perfectly fine, but it's pretty clearly not Stevie Clarke's opinion. My "wild take / fantasy" remark was more aimed at the continual suggestion that Harvey Barnes is just waiting for Stevie Clarke to go see him so he can profess his undying devotion to Scotland and start wearing a kilt daily. I'm not sure how much clearer the boy can be than to give a direct answer to the query about his international future during the last window saying he's still committed to England and believes he can add to his one cap to date.

This is another wild take. You can discuss it all you like but it's fantasy stuff. If UEFA increase the squad size to 26 (and there are no enforced injury absences) then Clarke will call up three from Cooper/Soutter (one of them will already be in), Taylor, Ralston and Jack. Conway's chances of going almost certainly depend on one of the established three strikers missing out and even then it's possible he'll call McBurnie first. He'll certainly call Jacob Brown first if he's fit by then. If Clarke's already said it's not likely any of the u21's will be called into the Euros squad (which he did) then calling Conway up to the N Ireland game would be pointless. Barnes has been in the press the week of the international break and reaffirmed his hopes to play for England. He's clearly not planning to defect to us any time soon and the notion that neither Clarke nor Carver have not already spoken to him or his agent is naive (or just deliberate trolling?). Nobody switching country will be appearing in the Euros now. If they were they'd have had to switch allegiance ahead of the last break.

Bloody hell. Well thats debatable. Your opinion does not equal fact. To suggest he's outside our best three though is an absolutely wild take. I think we can agree on that.

He had one of his better games with even most of his detractors in the QPR support conceding so going by online posts. He created their goal. Whilst they are frustrated by his lack of goals, general opinion is that they play better when he's the starter from their three centre forward options, none of whom are regular scorers.

Just about the right final five I think with Phil the obvious outlier. From VERY early in the process it's been obvious Tre and Flo were the standout candidates. Rachel looked a strong 3rd early on in the series but has stumbled towards the end, losing three of the last four tasks, two of them as PM, and she made a backside of it last week and absolutely hung Faluso out to dry. She deserves her place in the final five but is well behind the other two now. Paul's been quietly effective throughout without ever standing out. He's never been in the Boardroom apart from the one he lost as PM and he's clearly getting along with the other candidates and making wise calls as he goes. He's a dark horse for this. Given he owns a dental business one would assume his business plan relates to expanding that. Would be a bit left field for Sugar but then he invested in the Beauty Clinic of Leah Totten a few years ago so he's not above going left field. I think he'll deal with interviews well. Wouldn't be a bit surprised if his plan stands up better than the others and he makes the final. As for Phil, he's clearly been a bit useless throughout, though probably unlucky to have lost as often as he did. Given he's in the food business, leading the team last week should have been an open goal for him and he even made an arse of that, though was saved by Steve's bizarre decision to go for curried cheese. The unavoidable conclusion is that Sugar quite likes his business plan also which will inevitably be based on expanding his existing pie business. I suppose there's a chance therefore that having made the final five he then gets through. I assume it's likely Flo has a business plan relating to her existing recruitment consultant job which is a bit old hat. It's been done several times before and he's invested in a couple (Ricky Martin, James White). Rachel's clearly looking to expand her fitness studio into something franchisable which isn't that different to last year's Boxing Gyms. Not absolutely clear what Tre's business will be but he's been very likeable throughout the process so he has a chance of selling it if whatever it is stands up to interrogation. I've said before, I hate the "new" process (I say new but it has been in for 12 years out of the 18 now) of it being a pointless 10 week gameshow leading to a two week episode of 'Dragon's Den' (and to be honest, I'm fairly convinced he normally knows who is winning after the interviews, the final week is just a glorified reunion show. They may as well let Justin Lee Collins host it!). Preferred it when it was a job interview and there was more merit in the early tasks, as daft as they are. There's probably a fairly good chance that Phil and Paul end up the final two with established businesses that are probably scalable.

Surely the match dates / international windows are set by UEFA just like the mens game? They cant just tell Slovakia, "Never heed Tuesday, rock up Saturday instead!"

It was turgid stuff. Precious little attempt to even score a second. Gibson made a good save at Slovenian feet late on or they may have paid the penalty.

Watching this as had nothing better to watch. I also saw 25 minutes or so of the Serbia game on Friday. Both of them have bloody tedious, and I've been watching Queen of the South all season! Truly dreadful. Devoid of any attacking intensity, bad decisions and on the odd occasion they've had a half chance dreadful final balls or shots. Erin Cuthbert's the only one with any threat. EDIT - And right on cue we finally score. That it was a set piece header from Cuthbert's ball in was absolutely no surprise. Only way we were breaking the deadlock.

Mmm, yes, an all too 'rare' start. A whole 8 days since his last start. He's started 3 of their last 5, 4 of their last 8, 5 of their last 10, and 11 of their last 18, He's generally come off the bench in all the ones he hasn't started either with the one exception being against Birmingham a couple of weeks ago. He's not had a brilliant season by any means, nobody's pretending he has, but the notion that he's "out of favour" at QPR doesn't stand up to much scrutiny. The new manager there brought another centre forward in and has been rotating his front players generally since Xmas.

Not updated yet I see. My account still shows 8 points and the list of memberships by points level on the SFA site doesn't include the last two games yet.

How does pick up work? I've never had to do that. Do they literally set up somewhere outside the ground immediately before the game or is it previous day or something? Depending on how far ahead of the game you need to pick up there are presumably travel ramifications? Games on the Monday with KO still to be confirmed but presumably evening. I'd probably travel Sunday at some point if going. Actually now I've worked out it's still in school term and I'd have to pull the boy out of school for two days again I'm less likely to go anyway. They weren't happy with taking him out for two days to go to Amsterdam and that was the last two days of term!

I'd imagine so. The system Clarke prefers calls for only one on the pitch so he doesn't need a bundle of them and Christie can be pushed forward too if need be. If Brown (or even Nisbet or Stewart) had been fully fit and playing regularly they'd be in the mix for that 23rd man spot which currently lies between Cooper, Souttar and Taylor but they aren't and nobody else has made a solid enough case to be called up.

This. As I've said a few times, given the paucity of other options and the long term injuries to Brown and Nisbet, I wouldn't be astonished if McBurnie's name appeared out of left field in June in the event that either Dykes, Adams or Shankland gets injured and misses the tournament. My feeling is that Clarke still quite likes him, he was a regular pick prior to the last Euros. He had a couple of poor return, injury affected seasons post Euro 20 and hasn't been in consideration since as the system didn't call for a lot of strikers in the squad and others were preferred. Even in a half decent promotion season for Sheffield United last year he wasn't called but we were winning every game with a settled squad. As you say, he's doing ok domestically. It's far from spectacular and he's not done enough to warrant displacing any of the others, but he's maybe next in the mix if we lose another. I certainly expect him to be ahead of Hardie if Clarke wanted another 'senior' player given his past inclusion and that he's currently playing in the Premier League. Especially if the missing one was Dykes as he brings at least the same or better physical presence option. The other option presumably would be promoting the potential of Conway. He seems a more likely replacement for Shankland as the 'goal grabber' option.

Yeah got it last night. Would have preferred a "maybe" option in the survey as that's where I'm at. I appreciate that's not much use to them though. I plumped for "yes" but I'm far from certain to go. I'd like to but there are financial considerations having gone to Amsterdam, plus we have a big inspection at work currently scheduled for the following week. We're trying to get it deferred as nobody wants an inspection the first week of the damned Euros! But if it isn't deferred I won't be able to go to Gibraltar anyway.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68766794 Its interesting how it affects our squad if we move to 26. We're still not taking 4 keepers so there will still be a choice to be made between Gordon and Kelly. The most obvious beneficiaries will be Cooper, Souttar and Taylor who probably all go instead of just one of them. Jack possibly also if he gets fit. Or Ralston as extra right back cover if Hickey's a doubt. If Hanley doesn't make it and opens up another spot perhaps a 4th striker goes, with Brown probably most likely if he gets fit himself? Perhaps a late chance for Ryan Fraser?

Not sure if this is sarcasm? I've posted it several times on this thread but most recently above. If it was being picked today I think Kelly would go, not Gordon, but Clarke will desperately be hoping that Gordon gets significant game time for Hearts post-split. And if everyone was fit my feeling is Cooper will shade the 23rd spot from Souttar and Taylor, but it seems fairly unlikely absolutely everyone will be fit.

Jacob Brown didnt play. He should certainly be mentioned before Nisbet.

Of course it doesn't. And if Cathro doesn't want the job or thinks it's beneath him that's fine. But it doesn't change the fact he's currently unemployed (*). If the SFA offer him £500pw it's still not a salary drop. (*)Caveat - I have no idea if either Cathro or Mourinho are currently on a gardening leave arrangement whereby they are still being paid by previous clubs until they take new jobs, in which case of course the answer may be very different. I'm taking at face value the earlier thread statement that Cathro is "available right now" to mean he's currently out of work and earning nothing.

I'm not sure you're quite getting this. He's currently unemployed.

I understand that. But it doesnt change the fact he's currently not earning a penny. What someone paid you last week is irrelevant. It only matters what your alternative job options are next week. Clearly a top club job would pay more but maybe nobody wants him currently. Its surprising he didnt go to Forest with Nuno. Or maybe he's made plenty money and fancies a go at international youths? Or maybe he wants a break from it and isnt interested amd thats why he didnt go to Forest. They wont know unless they ask. I dont think what he earned in his last job means anything at all to be honest.

But it includes an arrival drink! I believe we're doing one in the car park at the QoS Arena.