Slipmat

Cheers for clarifying that, I had assumed it would be decided on goal difference. All the more satisfying should Darvel lose out on penalties. Make it happen, Tranent!

Three team mini-league between the WOS, SOS & EOS league champions.

Talking of players who follow the money, I see that the £££Darvel side containing Andy Stirling and Ian McShane huffed and puffed their way to a 3-1 win over St Cuthbert Wanderers tonight in the round robin Lowland League promotion play-offs. Tranent beat Saints 7-0 on Sunday so only have to avoid defeat against £££Darvel on Saturday to clinch the promotion spot. General hilarity will ensue in Castle Slipmat on Saturday night if £££Darvel fail in their bid to buy their way into the LL...

This. I don't expect we'll be seeing the same Reilly as we saw during his last spell, injuries and a lack of a good run of games certainly hampered his career. I wouldn't have taken him last year in the Championship, but he did show some signs of getting his mojo back at Morton so I'm hoping that he'll be a success in League One. Good to see that we are offering 2 year deals too.

If we assume that Connelly, Cooper, East and Fitzpatrick aren't going to be with us beyond next week, I'd say we would be needing to sign a goalkeeper, four or five defenders, two or three midfielders and at least 3 forwards to have a sustainable squad for the first half of the season. It's a big ask for a novice manager to bring in 10-12 new players and have the team ready to hit the ground running so good luck to him. Hopefully next season we'll see some earlier activity when it comes to extending or offering contracts to our better players.

Is that a life-sized cardboard cut-out of WG that's been used for the photoshoot?

I'd also like East to re-sign with a view to playing a centre-back role. It's difficult to judge whether or not he would be a decent central strike option due to the relatively few games he's played for us as a No.9. AJ for some unknown reason seemed to see him primarily as a winger, despite having other wing options available at the time, where he was bang average, and then even more bizarrely Cameron would probably still have been picked as main striker if we had Harry Kane on the books when East could probably have done a better job. East certainly carries a goal threat at set pieces which makes me think he could do a job up front but I don't think he's the sort of player who's going to get into double goal figures over a season. If played up front I see him more as a Sean O'Connor type who is physical, can win the ball and provide assists. I certainly don't see him as a first choice left-back. Left side of a back three maybe at a push, but never on the extreme left of a back four/five.

Current contracts expire on 31 May as far as I know. If there's no news by then I guess the four who've yet to re-sign won't be doing so unless we go back to them with much improved deals to those that they have already been offered, which, judging by the Josh Rae case, I doubt they would get. It will be a true indication of the ambition of the BOD if all four were to walk given that we supposedly have money sitting doing nothing in the bank.

Really? Would you sign, say, Mark Durnan, who was good for us 8 years ago but has been a total binfire wherever he's been since?

The farcical nature of the play-offs has reared it's ugly head again as a team that finished 21 points behind the second placed club gets promoted. Maybe we only need to assemble a squad that is capable of winning less than one in three league games and finishing fourth and we're looking at a possible immediate return to the Championship

Very pleased to see McGrory re-signing. He could have done a job at another Championship club. Hopefully McKechnie can get a run of games next season, we haven't seen much of him but I think that he has shown some promise and maturity. As for the news on Joseph...

Too inconsistent for my liking.

When I was at the Partick game a month ago someone said to me that the ball seemed to bounce nearly twice as high as it would on a grass pitch. The worn patches were also looking extremely threadbare, especially in the goalmouth. I'm not sure what "tests" the pitch has to pass, but the bar must be set really low because it is an embarrassment and has been for a while. Mind you, the whole stadium has that feel of having been under attack by a combination of Putin and Monty Don - the latter using it as experiment to introduce new weeds into the UK.

Cooper & McKechnie too. Decent enough players but fitness would be a worry in both cases. Is McMahon classed as a first team squad member? Can't see Joseph having more than a bit part role if he stays (hopefully not), the question is would he be happier being a benchfiller or going part time, because I wouldn't think any other club would be daft enough to offer him a F/T deal.

That's Greenacres out of the running for the job then.