DA Baracus

Another 'encouraging' point and more 'to build on'.

Well I, for one, am shocked that happened. Shocked

It's closer to 15! We were ahead at Morton. Still an absolutely stinking record.

Think you need to check your maths on that one.

The team line up graphics they've given to ParsTV spell his name correctly. They do how spell Todorov's forename wrong, and also have Todd on the bench.

What's the deal with Ross Graham? Is he still at the club? He isn't even making the bench since he was dropped. Does he even sit in the stand at games? It's harsh to say about a younger player, but he's easily one of the worst players I've ever seen at East End and will almost certainly be regularly mentioned whenever anyone talks about worst XIs in the future. I know that quite a lot of people bit at the wind up posted about a player terminating their contract yesterday (proof, yet again, that folk can post any old bollocks online and folk will believe it), but there have to some players at the club incredibly dissatisfied and angry and who were sold a move based on a style of play and formation that was abandoned after just 4 league games. Jones is an obvious one. He got a 1 year deal but, barring injuries or suspensions to Connolly, Gaspuitis and Breen, will never play for the club again. He must be feeling pretty upset about moving here to sit on the bench and do nothing. Breen must also be pretty angry. He moved from Florida to sit on the bench and do nothing. Wonder how those guys felt when we signed Connolly. It was basically a big slap in their face, telling them that they aren't good enough (I know Breen was injured at the time, but he wasn't far off being fit). We also have Wilson, Allan, Pybus, Dorrans, Cole and Todd competing for two positions in the middle of the pitch (when they're all fit of course). For me it's Wilson and Allan incidentally. Lewis McCann; will he get opportunities, or will Grant just make the same three subs each week? Point is is that we seem to be carrying a really unbalanced squad, and it seems like quite a few players are simply a waste of a wage. Not because they aren't a decent player (although that may apply to one or two) but because they just won't be played. Some laugh.

This will sound a bit odd, but I always feel that the balls aren't mixed enough for the Scottish Cup draws, meaning we seem to get teams from the same league more often (and other teams get sides from their own divisions more often). Based on nothing of course, and there's probably stats that show that to be nonsense. The real issue is probably less teams in the draws, meaning the likelihood of getting a team from your own league is higher, so perhaps more teams being entered at earlier stages (and a better mixing of the balls!) would help.

The improvement in defence isn't down to Connolly, it's down to the change in formation, which saw instant improvements in the Hamilton and Inverness games, which were before Connolly signed. We've actually conceded in every game Connolly has played, except for Saturday. He's been decent (Watson and Gaspuitis were/are too), but the defence has still been giving away silly chances (first half against Raith especially, and there were a couple on Saturday), although they did that in the Hamilton and Inverness games as well. But overall the defence has improved significantly since the chance in formation, and Connolly has looked decent/solid in there. OFW really has improved. He's been pulling off some great saves (another one at the weekend!) and seems like a totally different player to the howler prone tit we had last season.

Mind how when we drew 0-0 against a very ordinary on the day Inverness that some fans insisted there were huge improvements and that it gave us something to build upon and to be positive about? Mind when we then drew 0-0 against the worst Hamilton team in a generation and some fans insisted that it was positive and something to build upon? Mind when we then drew 1-1 with a Raith team who should have been out of sight at half time and some folk insisted it was positive and something to build upon? Mind when we then lost 1-0 to a dire Queen of the South team and those same fans were a bit quiet? Mind when we then drew 2-2 with a Kilmarnock team who were pretty poor on the day, and in which we scrambled in a last minute equaliser, and that last minute equaliser was definitely, this time for sure, going to lift the team and players and was something to be positive and build upon according to some fans? Mind when we then instead drew 0-0 with a Partick team who were really ordinary on the day, and some folk insisted we are improving and there are things to build upon? There's some sort of pattern there. Strangely I wouldn't be surprised if we won tomorrow, but I would then fully expect us to lose on Saturday. A win tomorrow isn't enough. Grant must have a wee notebook filled with shite excuses. So far he's complained about COVID, injuries, the wind, the length of the grass on the pitch, the type of surface and other nonsense I've probably forgotten. He must be absolutely delighted we're at Gayfield on Saturday, as he can roll out a whole load of excuses about the wind and conditions, much like Crawford did last season in that abysmal game we lost up there. Grant never had his contract renewed at Alloa, and it was announced in March he would be leaving them. Were there talks with Alloa to get him to stay? Or did they tell him they wouldn't be offering him a new deal? Either way, I don't get the impression they were particularly sad to see him go. It also seems that precisely no clubs approached him before we appointed him, and clubs were pretty much able to discuss roles with him since March. Anyway, the board really are playing this terribly. They really are sacrificing the goodwill of a large number of fans, and are sacrificing the support of these fans, not just for them but for the team. The longer Grant stays and we play pish football, the less fans will turn up, and some of them won't come back for a long time, if at all. And for what? A failed manager who so many didn't want in the first place. The board are lying to themselves and to us that season ticket sales are down (and seemingly massively down) due to COVID, but the fact that many other clubs have actually improved season ticket sales, or at least not see a reduction, shows that up for the nonsense it is. The appointment of Grant utterly killed the enthusiasm of the fanbase. They know it fine well too. It's why they didn't ask for more 2000 for the early games when attendances were still restricted, whilst across the country many other clubs asked for, and got, increases due to demand. This season should have been such an easy sell too. Just talk about how fans will be back and how it's a new era. Whip up some excitement. Plenty of folk would have bought in to that. I know of quite a few folk who were raring to get back to East End. The board didn't push the return of fans to games at all though, and then the Grant appointment killed sales. We all know plenty of folk who didn't renew or buy a season ticket once Grant was announced. What a massively damaging appointment. It's so fucking baffling why they've done this and why they persist with it. They still need to answer very serious questions about this. Just what the f**k are they playing at?

Fucking hideously bad cup draw there. Genuinely one of the worst we could have got. Really, really annoyed with that, considering loads of the teams in the draw. Disgusting draw. We haven't scored in the Scottish Cup since January 2018. Can't see that changing here. In fact we haven't won in the Scottish Cup since November 2017. Awful, awful stuff. Only utter mentalists will be going to this one surely?

More pish today. These draws don't do anyone any favours. I genuinely think pumpings would be more beneficial at this stage. I don't want us to be pumped each week mind, but these draws seem to give him more time, and he (Grant) absolutely should not be given a second more. Draws are killing us. They allow the apologists among our fanbase to make excuses for Grant. They allow those on the board to make excuses for Grant. Draws also allow apathy to set in amongst the fans. Pumpings will see emotion, will see anger. It will see fans take actions. Draws just see fans drift away. It's very serious, and the inaction is so costly. I know some of our fans used to try and (laughably) claim we are a bigger club than teams like St Johnstone, simply on the basis of 'having more fans', but even that sad boast isn't even true any longer (and, for the record, we aren't even close to St Johnstone on any metric). We are falling so badly across all areas. Our fanbase is dwindling. How far away are we from shutting the NW (and that would be economically sensible but deeply, and rightly, unpopular among the fans)? I mentioned it in the game thread, but I no longer expect us to get pumped. I expect us to grind out low scoring games, be it draws or narrow defeats. I have no doubt we will probably win a couple of games with how we are playing, but I mean that we will win a couple across the entire season. We drag teams teams down to our awful level and strangle games, forcing the matches in to long ball spectacles. We are horrible to watch. We still give away far too many chances though, and we were fortunate Partick didn't score today. Peter Grant was supposed to make us title challengers, and was supposed to make us play good football. Today, every time the keeper had the ball, he played it to Edwards, who then punted it aimlessly upfield, and it went out play more than once. A total waste of possession. I don't even blame either player, as clearly OFW has been told to pass it out to Edwards, and Partick quickly picked up on this and closed him down, leaving Edwards zero option but to punt it. Yèt we persist with that terrible football that isn't close to entertaining. Our 'style' of play is really unclear. What sort of team are we? A quick aside; put me on the side of folk who don't hate Grant. I don't think he's 'arrogant' or similar. I think he's massively out of his depth. I think he's an awful manager. I think he's convinced himself he's not that bad. I think he'll kick around League 1 teams and below after us as a manager. But I don't think he' an arsehole. I actually think he's handled himself really well at games. He has remained professional and has applauded the fans after all games, regardless of the result. Someone made a good point, that Grant was brought in to shape a team in his style, with his players. However, that's been binned a while ago. Therefore, what is the point in Grant? We aren't playing his formation, and we mostly aren't playing his players. Reece Cole? Ross Graham? Leon Jones? Kai Kennedy has played a few games, but, whisper it, he isn't actually that good. He showed he might be last season in a couple of games, but that's it. There are a lot of disconcerting rumours kicking around the club just now. All could be pish, all could be true. The club obviously shouldn't be expected to address every single piece of nonsense that is posted online, but they should be aware that when things aren't going well, pish will flow, and they should move to stem the main sources of said pish. That wouldn't even take loads of specific statements. A few broad announcements would be fine. The middle to long term plans sound good, but have questions about them. A training ground sounds excellent, and is well overdue. However, how do we pay for the upkeep of it? A youth academy sounds brilliant. How do we pay for the infrastructure of it? Our crowds are falling. I know the investors plan to cover the start up costs, but with the razor tight incomes and outgoings, how do we afford these things as ongoing concerns? I really hope there is an answer, but I have concerns given that the club has either made small profits or has had to have board members pay for losses in recent years. The club can't increase entry prices as they are already at the limit for football at this level. But with so many fans leaving, how can they make up the shortfall? Apparently season ticket sales are significantly down. Apparently there are many, if not all, on the board who blame this on COVID, despite the massive anecdotal evidence that 'suggests' the appointment of Grant lost us almost 1000 season tickets. I don't think the investors have bad intentions (I've read some hilarious 'conspiracy theories' across social media about the investors), but there are still some questions needs answered. One positive; Wilson looked decent when he came on today. When he is fit enough, he has to start, and I think it should be him and Allan starting in central midfield. Pybus cannot ever be faulted for effort, but he's so very average. He does things well enough, but that's it. I can't understand the feeling over other social media that he's some sort of youth player who will improve loads. He's an average Championship player who will probably have a decent career at this level for a few years, maybe even up to a decade, before he falls down the leagues. I hope I'm wrong and he improves loads with us mind. A guy you would struggle to dislike. He's just as fans of QOTS said, although we never disbelieved them. TL;DR: Get Grant to f**k.

Since we ditched the 3 at the back atrocity we no longer get pumped. Instead, we now drag teams down to our awful level and play out abysmal games and get draws. We stifle games, strangle creativity and force the opposition to respond in kind. We still though give away far too many opportunities, and soon enough teams will take them. It happened today, and Partick missed a fair few chances. If Foster could cross a ball, we'd have been well down going in to the break. We missed a couple too mind, and I also think we will eventually take them and win a game. But it will just be a game, and it won't be near enough. Anyway, a draw was the right result today. Two desperately poor teams. P.S. Although the commentary in general was good, I'm unsure why Partick hired Bob Fleming.

Some more condescension rather than any attempt at discussion or debate. Do you have anything to add? Quite frankly professional clubs shouldn't rely heavily on volunteers. If they do, they certainly shouldn't be charging professional prices for their services. However, as I've said multiple times, the club should have paid for training for the volunteers. They haven't, and ParsTV have either been unable to source training or haven't tried, and that is why they can all get to f**k. Also, they should get to f**k due to the abominable cretin in charge who, to this day, continues to delete some posts against the club, and who should never be forgiven for his past behaviour. That utter garbage c**t should not have a thing to do with the club. £12, which is very reasonable, but I agree with what you say.

Had never heard of this until now. Just had a wee listen and it's a decent tune.