Durnford

Didnt John McGlynn used to do the stadium plumbing?

I don't always agree with Martindale's substitutions however the most salient point are: Can we afford a better manager for the money we have available? - I certainly doubt it. Is there a better manager available for working on such a shoestring budget? - Extremely unlikely; there are managers who will have a good season working with practically nothing (Dick Campbell with Arbroath last season for example) but very few can do it season after season. I suppose it might be interesting to see what Martindale could do if he had the budget.

TBH dropping those two points against United really have made things a lot more challenging.

More "safe journey home afterwards". Looking at the BBC; the weather isn't looking too good for the A9 after 6pm. Take it easy guys.

Think its normally one match for a "professional foul" but this is his second this season so could be different.

The potential disappointments would include Kouider-Aïssa and Kabai who, on paper at least, should be doing better than he is. Also some that people originally wrote off as duds, such as Sean Kelly, has started to come into his own once being played in the correct position. It is however regretful that, of the names you've listed, for those that have left; only two of them did we end up getting any money for at all. I suppose its always a balancing act over length of contract for an unknown quantity.

I agree with a lot of what's said here, but I think a lot of what's caused other clubs to drop down in previous years is the standard of management; not just of the team but for the club as a whole. Vision as well should not be underestimated. Year after year we've ended up ahead of clubs better funded; with better facilities; larger income and support etc. etc. Punching above our weight is often a term used but its more than that. Quite often, in my business life, I have liked to use the example of Samuel Pierpont Langley. If you haven't heard of him; he was the real shining star in the Physics and aeronautic world at the turn of the twentieth century. He was a professor of astronomy but also Secretary for the Smithsonian institute. He spent a lot of time trying to discover the secret of powered flight and, in the late 1890's was given a sum of $70,000 mostly from the US War Department (somewhere in the region of £140,000,000 in today's terms) to basically develop manned flight. With this money he recruited the best authorities in their field; physics; engineering etc. and he bought the best equipment. So why is it so few people have actually heard of Samuel outside the worlds of Physics and Astronomy? Surely the promise of almost unlimited funds; of access the the best; all the best publicity; not the mention the undoubted pedigree of the man himself; this MUST have meant that he HAD to be successful; right? Strangely the names most people have heard of, when talking about powered flight, are the Wright brothers. Two brothers who's principle business was a bicycle repair shop; who could only attempt powered flight on their day's off; who, it is said, could only ever attempt four tests on one day as that was the limit of the spares that they could carry on the back of their van out to the Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina. Surely the outcome was clear; the premier all-stars v's the eager upstarts? No contact. Well not until December 1903 and the rest, as they say, is history. The thing though that is rarely published is what Samuel did after the news broke that the Wright brothers had beaten him to it. Rather than taking their idea and trying to improve upon it or pressing ahead with renewed vigour; he simply gave up. Within less than three years he was dead. Personally I would hope that we try to emulate the Wright brother; not Samuel Peirpont Langley.

Yes; this has been his poorest season although he did also seem to fall off a bit when he was first made Captain; seemed to interfere with his focus. All that being said he's been an excellent servant to the club and a club ambassador. His long throws will be a big loss but then again we haven't really been capitalising from them this season. Not surprise over the wage comment to be honest. For a club with an average home support of around 1500 plus the cost of VAR is a huge challenge. Simply put we really need to increase the home support section to around 3000 if we're to stand a chance wages wise. Free tickets to schools was one of the most effective in the past but, to work, it needs to be several games on the trot; to build up the "habit" of coming back to games.

I would struggle to think of a better manager anywhere for spotting a diamond in the rough and bringing them through; as a trainer for developing a high tempo side; for letting, what some people may describe as, mediocre or flawed player realise their full potential. I do sometimes question his tactics; often in the form substitution choices but then I doubt there's any manager I haven't been guilty of doing that with. I'm not a glass half empty or half full guy. I'm not even a glass is twice as large as it needs to be. I'm a "that glass needs topping up" codger.

I think what riles most Livi supporters is that we recently had Pittman and Holt receive straight reds that were significantly less clear cut that this one. However, the last thing we would want is for a SFA review with a prospective post award of a red card. That just wouldn't be fair and reasonable and nothing to do with the fact that you play St Mirren next and we would prefer you to be a full strength.

Ignoring the cards debate for a moment - I cant get over how bad we've become from set pieces. There was a time, not too long ago, when a free kick just outside the area; a corner or even a long throw in, gave us a strong chance of a goal. For a while now we've been totally toothless. Almost everyone of our corners went sailing over all the players to the far end of the penalty area with no-one around.

you can watch it in glorious full motion technicolor if you prefer https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/64897751 TBH the guy seemed genuinely remorseful afterward; effectively really bad timing but Oor Wullie (Collum) would have had the red card out even before contact was made.

Would love Guthrie to prove us all wrong and really start to show what he can do. Sadly I dont think its going to happen. Agree about Omeonga; he was pretty poor, won a lot of balls but seemed almost clueless on what to do next. Always said; for him to be effective he needs to be on from the start so that he can grow into the game as it develops; he certainly isn't an impact sub and trying to force him into that role is going to cause more mayhem

Just watched the highlights off the beeb: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/64897751 What on earth was Devlin doing for their goal? Seemed totally oblivious that there was a player behind him. As for the tackle near the end on Pittman; how on earth was that not a straight red?

Yes; Anderson chased and harried himself into the ground as usual. It was good to see a few route-one balls as well where he was given the chance to run on to them rather than standing being cuddled by a defender. Thought Nouble was good playing more on the left side; faded a bit when moved to the right and don't think he had enough left in the tank to play in the centre. Also thought Shinnie had one of his best games for us for a while. De Lucas had a very solid game; looked more reliable than Fitzwater of late. Thought Holt was well off the pace; both in terms of speed but also concentration. Maybe the in/out of the team situation has effected his concentration. Taking Bradley, who had been playing well but faded off in the second half, for Omeonga was completely baffling. Omeonga may be able to mix it up in the midfield but offers zero goal threat. Surely Bahamboula would have been the better choice there? If we had to bring Omeonga on surely the best choice would have been the underperforming Holt. As for taking our main striker off fifteen minutes from the end when we really needed a goal - well; I'm totally flummoxed there.