madton

We had budget problems in the Summer and rumour was we offered players less than last season so wouldn't be surprised if Queens offered both better deals. Our budget improved towards the end of the window once we secured a 6 figure partnership deal which allowed us to sign Robbie Crawford, Grimshaw and Ambrose. I was gutted to miss out on both as they did well for us last season and thought they were cracking signings for league 1 but Dougie has done very well to replace them.

Am i right in thinking both contracts are up at the end of the season? I doubt Kabia will be offered a new deal but Martindale seems to talk highly of Schwake. Will Brian want to go back to being a backup at a club after playing so much 1st team football? https://livingstonfc.co.uk/contract-extension-for-brian-schwake/ https://livingstonfc.co.uk/welcome-jaze-kabai/

Is David MacKinnon your new CEO? That's a shocking statement. Think your board are forgetting just how much your fan base got behind your club last season and into this season. Christ, you've sold more season tickets than many full time clubs in this division, including us. Not defending any personal abuse fans have shouted but it sounds like standard stuff any club in a relegation battle shout and its absolutely fair game.

Heard some unofficial rumours that the council are happy to give us Sinclair street so if that is the case, hopefully we can be a bit more creative further down the line. As you say, all comes down to money so would need help to fund it or for us to have some lengthily time in the Premiership.

Aye maybe if we went up and stayed up we would make that investment, unless Dalrada are happy to fund it in the summer. I'd prefer us to build a new stand on Sinclair street with facilities for commercial opportunities, again not cheap!

I hope he doesn't but I wonder if Dougie gives a few fringe players like O'connor, Carlo, King etc game time here. Play our strongest team and let's hope for a cup run. Would hate to lose this by resting some players. Expecting a difficult game. We know the qualities of guys like Wilson and Reilly and I'm surprised they aren't doing better this season. Looks like you have issues defensively, that fair? Got to fancy us but won't be easy. 2-1.

Hopefully we press Johnston early on having played for Scotland U21s on Thurs night.

Tempted to head up to this. A ground I've not been to but plan to head up for an overnight on last day of the season for the promotion party! Tough game. Cove very decent at home, won 3 of their last 4 so a point won't be the worst result. It was a very even game at Cappielow with a bit of class from Quitongo winning it near the end. Was impressed with Cove against Queens Park in the recent TV game too. However we are flying, scoring goals and keeping the back door relatively shut so it's a very tough game for Cove too. Gillespie being suspended is a blow but likewise they have Megginson out( i think) which is a big loss. I'd prob bring in Carlo and keep the rest of the team and shape the same. Would be happy with 4 points out of 6 from the next 2 games, this and Arbroath away but 6/6 certainly possible if we play like we have being doing. 2-2

Would agree with that, Lithgow and Hynes are probably the 2 players we should be trying to move on. Hynes should try and find a club in League 2, needs to be playing games at his age, he's 24 in Jan. Lithgow's fitness clearly an issue. Not sure what his short term plans are around continuing playing. I've heard its a possibility he will chuck it and move into personal training or something like that. Perhaps we can agree a deal to let him move on in Jan and we can save a few quid. I'm assuming he is one of our top earners after signing a 2 year deal from Livvy. If we can bring 3 or 4 new players in, I'd be happy to let King and/or McGregor go out on loan to get game time too, possibly league 2/lowland league. Garrity not getting much game time at Dumbarton so wonder if he will come back. Don't expect to see Lyon again and Jacobs is clearly finished with us. I think Jan will be quite busy for us. Heard from a few different sources than Dougie will have decent funds available to bring in some quality players( thanks Dalrada). A few quality final 3rd additions and a top 4 finish should be realistic, only issue is actually finding them!

Hopefully we hear news on Grimshaw extending his stay soon. He had a rusty start whilst he got up to match fitness but has been very good for a while now and has been a key part of our recent success. A 18 month deal would be magic, a 30 month deal, even better! Hopefully we are speaking to Strapp and Crawford too.

Missed yesterday, was down at City v Brentford for a 40th so just watched highlights. It looks like a very good performance and on another day, we could have scored 4/5. Muirhead, Jai, McGrattan and Crawford all with really good chances, McGrattan and Jai need to be doing better. Not a pen on Jai for me but looks like Crawford was clipped. Shame Jai was brought down at end, would have been icing on cake if he went through and scored. Thistle didn't really threaten at all unless Morton have missed some chances. Good to see a decent home crowd at Cappielow supported by Dalrada again. Numbers up around 600 in space of a few weeks, really encouraging. Will have been awhile since we last had 2k+ home fans. Guessing it could have been The Return of the Snake 4 years ago, Oct 18 or even Jan 18 v St Mirren. Hopefully we can stay around that moving forward. Dougie Imrie man!

That's Dougie picked up 3 of a possible 6 MOTM awards.

Garrity is an interesting one. He was getting plenty of appearances off the bench for us this season and with our lack of final 3rd options in our current squad, we all assumed we would get a more ready made replacement when he went out on loan in but it never materialised and now we are considerably short in the final 3rd. Not saying Garrity is good enough to play every week in the Championship but he was a useful option to have coming off the bench. If he isn't really playing for Dumbarton, he might as well be coming off our bench with 10-15 mins to go rather than yours. I've always liked Garrity, think he has something, albeit raw but if he's not getting game time at Dumbarton, I wonder if Imrie will recall and put him elsewhere. Edit- If that 3 team rule in one season is still a thing, then he wont be going anywhere else so stay with Dumbarton for the season or back to Morton in Jan.

Orsi scored a couple of goals for Brechin against Livvy when they won the Championship so Hopkin must have thought he could do a job for a better team at the same level. Orsi was an honest, hard working but limited big guy who was well liked at Morton. Was never going to make it at Championship level and not surprised to see he hasn't scored many for Dumbarton either. His physicality is an asset though and I'm guessing that's why he 's still getting game time for Dumbarton.

Aye Dougie will absolutely have revenge on his mind and hopefully the players have too, but these kind of games never sit easy with me. Form team in the league, scoring goals, keeping clean sheets against a team devoid of confidence, getting pumped every week and in a bit of a crisis. Reminds me of Inverness v Hamilton a few weeks ago and we know how that turned out. Thistle still have decent players so will take any sort of win here. Hope we get a big crowd in for it, club deserves the support.