thruthenight

How much of this defence is sticking around when we get relegated? Kelly almost certainly, Devlin probably, Brandon if he still counts as a defender, is that about it? If we have a Kelly/Nottingham/Devlin/ANOther defensive line in the championship we're going to get bodied and do an Accies.

If the equipment was his, and they've just effectively fired him, then he is of course 100% entitled to take it with him. It would also make sense if our sound system was held together with Pritt Stick and random bits of equipment from CY, rather than something a professional outfit would have. I've been as close as you can get to a happy clapper this season, but the club have fucked it here

The most Livingston that Livingston have ever Livingstoned. Saw it coming as soon as Bradley picked the ball up and didn't hoof it

Catching up on this thread this afternoon, the phrase 'Shit or get off the pot' comes to mind

Agreed with all of this. We've been great, and even though we're one down then it's a friendly so I don't really care. Shankland has struggled a little, but you can't blame him for not getting much change out of Van Dijk. Patterson's been dodgy, and I can't believe I'm saying this but I'd like to see Ralston in the second half. Christie has been class, Gilmour has been class, Robertson and Tierney are back to their good shit again. More of the same second half, would like to see Ralston, Ferguson and Dykes pretty soon

Are you asking why Martindale would want to keep control over the football club when he's not financially responsible for it? Because the value he gets from Livi isn't purely financial. I suspect the investment that Rankine, Hogarth and Sumner have is entirely financial

Squad's announced tomorrow. I can feel a surprise in my giblets. A Harvey Barnes or a Tommy Conway inc

I legitimately think that Shamal remains our most sellable asset. He had an awful 6 months in 2023, but he's been massively improved recently, and if the stories of a difficult personal situation are true, then potentially a return to his 2022/early 2023 form is coming. At that point, he was statisticly a top 3 keeper in the league, and if he can get back to that then he'll be too good for the Championship. Welch-Hayes and Lawal also may well be starters in the Championship. Sounds good to me.

If the players who are still contracted are still here in the Championship, I think we'll be more than alright. Shamal, Holt, Yengi are all too good for that league. Donnellan, Carson, Bradley, Sangare, Pittman, Kelly, would make an excellent squad which, on paper, should have enough to at least get us into the playoffs. Of those, you'd expect Kelly and Shamal will go, Yengi and Sangare are 50:50 and everyone else probably sticks around. Get a decent defence sorted out and next season should be a lot more fun than this one.

For an awful game of football there are a decent amount of talking points. Referee had no handle of that game whatsoever. We completely took the piss with the timewasting at some points, but instead of doing what you're supposed to in those situations and throw bookings out, he just let other infringements go unpunished. The worst was when Shamal held on to the ball for around 30 seconds, May tries to kick the ball out of his hands during his kicking motion, and the ref just turns around and gives Shamal a row for holding on to it too long. Follow the damn rules and give the indirect free kick. Montano's booking was entirely for being annoying, he was fouled, and it wasn't even anything that remotely resembled a booking, but having been time wasting before and clearly annoying the ref the card came out anyway. Shinnie's finish was quality, but he was absolutely awful for the rest of the game. I still don't see what Carson brings to this team, yet he's somehow become an instant starter, which might be indicitive of our entire season. St Johnstone in the first half were absolutely pish. Worst half I've seen from anyone this season. So what do we do, we decide to spend the entire second half time wasting and refusing to get out of our own box. Any minor sense of adventure would have seen us hold on there, but I can't help but feel that we got what we deserved. The Sangare/Brandon substitution is absolute peak Martindale. Nothing sums him up more. Due to injuries we're taking off an attacking mid and a full back, so we put on an attacking mid and a full back. But wait, wouldn't it be funny if we put them in the opposite fucking positions?? When on earth has Jamie Brandon ever looked like an attacking mid? Then, 2 minutes later, Clark finds the gap between Sean Kelly and Sangare to score from a free header. Can't help but feel that we got what we deserved. Guthrie was ok when he came on, but putting Yengi out on the left wing neutered him. I did very much enjoy his refusal to let Mitov take an uncontested drop ball though. I'm sure there were more things to talk about. Nottingham is a much better full back than a centre back, but Martindale's refusal to put him back in there today was insane. He's not great at CB, but he is better than Sean Kelly. Shamal looked good, great save on the 1-on-1. Yengi should be our number 9, every time when he's fit. McKay was ok, but Bradley must be wondering what he has to do to get game time. Oh well, at least there's no VAR to ruin celebrating goals in the Championship.

Lawal hasn't played much, but has shown potential when he has. Speedy, can play a pass, although certainly a bit lightweight at the moment

We've played an awful lot better than that and come away with nothing in the past month. I was worried St Mirren were going to stroll it after the first 15 minutes. Still, Yengi, despite looking like an octopus on roller blades, had made a massive difference to our attack. Clear upgrade on Guthrie, and the resurgence of Nouble is coming at the right time. The penalty, technically a pen. It's the kind of horseshit that VAR loves to give and wouldn't have been given a second thought a couple of years ago. County next week is massive. Brb looking up flights to inverness

If he was onside, yeah, that was a bad one

You can see where the goal's going to come from. Tanser and Kiltie have so much space down the left

10 mins in, St Mirren look dangerous. Need to get our foot on the ball a bit more

Had a little confidence, saw the lineup, now less confident. We're really struggling for centre backs at the moment, somehow

Raffa was class in the first leg, then got injured 20 minutes into the 2nd leg as well, leaving only 37 y/o Lee Miller do do 90 minutes of running 3 times in 8 days. Boy did good

Can't find a stream for this one in all of the usual places. Stats make the game seem balanced so far, but difficult to find anything

I hold some hope. It's naivete. We're down. But until we're mathematically down, I'm still going to dream of Martindale pulling out another Febrary 2021 winning run out of his arse.

Not the first time that the opening goal at Ibrox this season should have been ruled out by VAR. I'm still salty about Sima on Brandon being given. By far and away the biggest positive of the Championship next season is the lack of VAR.

He's out of contract in the summer and can sign a PCA. Also rumours we've asked about Stevie May. I miss Callum Carson

That's Carson officially here. Seen him described as a 'Gives 100% every game, but not technically gifted' footballer, which might be exactly what we need

Better team in the second half, but as has been said, if we keep giving ludicrous goals away then better performances mean f**k all. Equaliser gives us a miniscule amount of hope, but tbh it means f**k all. We're not good enough to stay in this division.

Both penalties in the 'technically the correct decision but not really in the spirit of the game' decisions. First one is a push, and it starts in the box. Soft in terms of contact, soft in terms of position, but an infringement that starts in the box is a penalty. The second one, yes it looks like he gets a lot of the ball, but there's no angle good enough to overrule the original decision, particularly as he's coming in from behind and is likely to have caught some of the man as well. 3rd goal should have been chopped off, but we were so shit defensively I'm quite glad it wasn't just to make the point of how we've gone from one of the best mentalitites in the league to massive bottlers in the space of a calendar year.

Next season in the championship has the potential to be exciting. Bradley, Lawal, Kelly (if we can keep him), Teto (if we can get him in the door) would be a young, exciting, and capable of getting in the playoffs squad. But there's no way we stay up unless some crazy signings happen in the next 4 days. And we need to beat County.