the_bully_wee

Thank goodness. As others have said, there was no worse time to pull something like this than right now with the Crownpoint decision on the horizon. I can only hope it hasn't affected that in any way. You also have to question why absolutely nobody involved in this provided any kind of detail when one of their key complaints is a lack of transparency from our current custodians.

Glad we're all staying nice and normal in here!

Don't think I've ever seen a player back pocketing a referee quite like McCarthy has managed today. Embarrassing.

That was actually alright in a few spells but over the piece you can see how deficient we are. It's not really sustainable having a right-back who needs support in every single defensive situation and Carswell looks completely done in the middle; with Scullion in there we'd be far more competitive. Good goal that we scored but after that short early spell we've barely threatened.

Didn't see that one coming, so fair play. I don't think the DoF structure is at all a bad thing when you've a rookie manager, so I wouldn't be averse to another, but it has to be someone with a keen eye for a player if recruitment is a key part of their remit. McLean couldn't sign any worse on his own, mind.

I don't have minerals quite that hard myself, but I've got very much the same happening on my £20 double of Peterhead/QP, who have also shortened over the week. Eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw the odds on Tuesday!

Additionally, the taboo around betting against your own team is nuts. If the bookies want to price Peterhead at 13/5 then you'd be a fool not to go elbows deep in that. If we win or draw, money well spent!

This can only mean one thing - a revised preview to be published in due course with news of at least two more injuries

There'll be lots of angry words as per, but realistically that side we were able to put out tonight was always going to struggle in that game. Ross Forbes as the only semi-recognised central midfielder is only going to end one way, after all. It's a big old mess, having a decent chunk of change to spend but relying on a guy with a track record of guff recruitment to produce with it. Add in the fact that there are plenty of injuries in such a thin and inexperienced squad so soon into the season - big trouble!

Ross Forbes. My word.

Bonnyrigg started well and caused us problems before the wide players were bodied into defending the wing-backs properly, but it's been awful stuff from two really poor sides since. Not convinced about the penalty shout myself, would have to see it again, but you just knew we would concede as soon as they went up the pitch afterwards.

Absolutely horrific stuff, but at least the midfield pair and Dunachie showed up well. A long season for both sides I would suggest.

Heard we are playing naked today to celebrate the boarding of HMS Piss The League, can @shawfield shed boy confirm

Biggest result of the day was probably Cuddihy starting and getting through 90 mins, didn't see any of the game so can't really comment but that's ostensibly a reasonable result against a fairly strong Livi side. Hopefully gives them a lift before the real stuff starts next week, just need to hope we get a few back from injury for then.

It is getting harder and harder to see any real positives from the boardroom, and you'd like to think that failure to get over the line with Crownpoint (the one thing they appear to have handled in a non-ham-fisted fashion of late) would result in big changes, voluntary or otherwise. Given Finnart seemingly have a few councillors sweet on them I think that's a fairly likely scenario, so the question is: what then? As much as the CIC model has its sceptics (and its haters), it is eminently advantageous in several ways. Firstly, it ties in well with the Foundation side of the club (pretty much the sole perpetual bright spot Clyde-wise in the past dozen years), which should always be a key pillar of any attempt to embed ourselves within whichever community, or communities, we come to exist. Secondly, it (and the aforementioned) provides the kind of set-up which gives us the ability to seamlessly apply for community asset transfers, as in the Crownpoint circumstance, which represent our only realistic hope of self-determination; even if Crownpoint falls through, there may well be others in the future. Thirdly, it insulates the club to a pretty significant degree from roguish characters who could raze it to the ground and decentralises complete control. Finally, the power ultimately exists for Clyde fans to enact fundamental change within the club, should they come to a voting consensus and join the membership. There's no doubting that the one member, one vote system has been pathetically short of any kind of meaningful action in the past dozen years, but then it's on members to change that, and it's surely coming time for folk to join up en masse, put differences aside, find a consensus on key issues and hold the board to account. I do, unlike some others, think it's fair enough that most important decisions are made as a board with a mandate rather than being decided referendum-style, but there's a glaring lack of anything else - even relative trivium - to drive engagement and a feeling of inclusion when it comes to membership. What we really need, though, is to look to the final point in the above paragraph; unite, work cohesively as a fanbase to get clarity over boardroom mechanics and then, if they won't do it themselves, proactively identify and support at least a few folk from within the support who have the requisite time, enthusiasm, skills, manner and fresh, modern ideas to either support or largely replace the current incumbents. As has been said many times, that's by far the hardest part and cheap talk is so easy to come by. You look at two very long-term and fairly popular Clyde fans in David Alexander and Ian Fitzpatrick, who have both volunteered for the club historically. They are now CEO and head of media, respectively, at Stenhousemuir - can't realistically have any idea about the job the former is doing, granted, but you just have to look at their thread on this forum to see how proactive the latter seems to be and how well his work is being received. Andy Clark, who was co-opted to do marketing stuff recently, is another young(-ish!) one who's in the same category as those two. We also have some great volunteers at the club presently - on the media team especially - and I'm sure with better resources and more influence, these guys could help to drive more engagement of the kind that we have to enviously look on at clubs smaller than ours enjoying. There will be others out there who have something to offer, too. David Dishon is an example of a non-Clyde man who got involved and, though he eventually came to use us as a stepping stone to move up the food chain, did great work for the club for a long period. People of his profile who are either professionals in a field with potential, or who have done great work at lesser lights, are exactly the types we should be targeting. Like it or not, we were never going to be a destination club any player would be satisfied about reaching his ceiling at, and any sliver of a positive future we are to have is in embracing the club as a stepping stone for people on and off the pitch towards better things. Any reputation we can foster in that regard will incrementally improve our appeal to talented players, staff and club officials. We do have talented, intelligent people in our support and wider 'family' and there will always be people with the relevant skills and desire to step up within - or, if need be, outwith - that group. In the coming months, more than ever, everyone of the opinion that things have to change has to find a way of getting together and then from there, apply pressure on the board to restructure with fresh blood they can identify, or then unite as an ownership and identify replacements to elect themselves. It's not an easy proposition whatsoever and I certainly do not have all, or any, of the answers, but P&B diatribes aren't worth the pixels they're visible on; if we are serious about halting what's looking like a bit of a death march to likely oblivion then there's going to have to be a big effort made by as many people as possible. If the desire to really change things is there, then we do have that capacity.

Yeah, if true that is absolutely nuts and tinpot. By all means give McLean advice after the fact and mentor him a bit, but to be present and active within the dugout in games is insanity.

It's a bit early to smash the panic button yet with four likely starters to come in to that team, plus more recruitment seemingly ahead, but the signs are undeniably quite worrying as things stand. Impossible to judge McLean too much at present so we'll have to give him some time and support, but so much will depend on how we recruit between now and the window closing. It's imperative that we bring in at least two or three players who markedly improve the strength of the squad, and not just the depth.

Hopefully he was on £10 a week at Hibs if the rumour holds true that he's on a tenner less here

What a team!

Cuddihy crocked already? Oh dear, oh dear.

New signing inbound, feeling of impending doom returns apace

Someone please take the pen away

Clown car stuff. You could forgive this sort of shambles if everything was being poured into the Crownpoint proposal but that's been done and dusted for some time now. At least they've not tried to spin it as a decision to return to old colours!