AllyM

Got to feel for Liverpool fans this morning. 31 years and counting since any or them will have actually seen them win an English league title.

So just the usual "working from home" then.

I think this point is important. From about 2006 - 2014, we survived by the skin of our teeth in the SPL/Premiership and must have lost (or not won) more league games than any senior team in Scotland and England in that time. It became a turgid shit-fest. The only thing worth clinging to were a couple of "must win" away games at Falkirk and Motherwell; which were great, but just a couple of games. The other real positive in that time, though, was that being in the top league meant we were good enough to go on some cup runs, culminating in the disaster of 2010 followed by the redemption of 2013. Clubs like us are never going to win the top league - cups are our only hope of tangible success ("top 6" isn't something I'll remember for the rest of my life) . However to be good enough to win a cup, we really need to be in the top league. After 40 plus years of this pish, I've come to the conclusion that it is better to cycle between the leagues, win some (2nd tier) championships and, hopefully get to the odd cup final/semi-final, maybe even win it, once or twice in a lifetime, rather than sit hopelessly 9th/10th the Premiership year on year on year.

You would expect about a doubling every 20 years just due to inflation, so it is not that far off. However, to put it another way, it is quite understandable that my fellow buddies remain as outraged now as they were 20 years ago.

If by some chance, Engerland. win this thing over the summer, I trust that the BBC will remind us all that they have not won a "Major Event"

Hmmmm. I remember Ross County in the early 2000s. Both of us in the league below, one of their "fans" on here threatening to lob tins of spam at us all the way back down the A9. Or is my memory playing tricks again?

What it says is that if we get two injured/suspended CBs, then the manager will be at least as comfortable using (Paul) McGinn as a makeshift or else using (Nick) McAllister or McBrearty than using Baird. As such, Baird needs to go out on loan and show JG what he can (or can't) do.

I think they both still post on B and W Army, but under different names. The Captain is back on here after a long absence as Jeremiah Cole. Having a good go, for old times sake, on our Sevco match thread this week.

Yeh, these things even out. Four penalties given in the game at Ibrox last year balanced out a little by one not given today.

If we win by 11 we go top - for a couple of hours or so at least.

If I understand "Media Dreams Expert" Ian Wallace correctly, this is a classic, quite common dream (dream number 17). The first part (1-1) means you are a balanced individual, comfortable with the ebb and flow, ying and yang of 21st century life in the West of Scotland. On a more practical note, it means that, remarkably, Sevco are going to miss three penalties again. The second part probably means that you live up a mountain somewhere on the Cockbridge to Tomintoul road and its going to snow heavily on Sunday evening.

Typical of the authorities to fix it so that Celtic had to play in two cup competitions on the same evening. Little wonder that they lost in both. Didn’t happen to Rangers I see. It’s a clear conspiracy.

If that entire first 11 got injured or suspended but everyone else was ok, we could still field an 11 of: Lyness, McPherson, Baird, McAllister (N), Erhahon, McGinn, Magennis, Djorkaeff, Kellerman (or Breadner), Mullen, Cooke. Add an experienced defender who can play anywhere across the back, and I reckon we are nearly there. When does the league cup start?

Agreed, but a club like ours can't have both. When he was good (at Hamilton first time) his role and style was compared to that of Cesc Fabrigas and, in fairness, he scored a fair few goals. We could never play him with two strikers as well, unless we were chasing a late equaliser/consolation goal or else playing guff like EK Thistle, Edinburgh City, Albion Rovers or Morton.

We are going with 4 - Mullen, Andreu, Obiku and Cooke. It is just that we've lost Cooke for the season already, Andreu stopped scoring in 2017, Obiku hasn't arrived yet and Mullen only scores against teams from Dundee.

Whatever the strategy, you'd assume we'd have the full set of players we want fully bedded in by the 14th of September (more than 6 weeks from now). We will only have played 4 league games by then.

First three games are against teams better than us. The "easiest" is the first against Hibs but it is away so we are still big underdogs. These three teams are better than us now and would still be better than us if we'd loaded the team with mediocrity just to get the job done. We might or might not pick up some points or even a win from these, but against the odds either way. The first game to really target is the away game against Livingston exactly a month from now. If, by then, we have bedded in a few of the better targets we've been aiming for, or else acquired some newly available targets who have run out of options when the English window closes next week, then we will be in a much better place than if we'd just signed bodies to make up the numbers. From everything I'm hearing and reading - that is the plan. Let's see if it works.

I'm sure that deep down all players harbour ambitions of playing in 2 qualifying rounds of the Europa League. Are Hibs hoping to be better than Killie then?

Last season was a 3 horse race. We decided to turn up in a pantomime horse outfit with a donkey leading us round the paddock and, no surprise, we finished last, despite quickly swapping the donkey for someone that happened to be passing by on their way home. Somewhat inexplicably, the wonderful city of Dundee bailed us out. Twice. This season looks like a 4 horse race, but I'm not ruling out the fakes or even Killie joining in for a laugh. Despite our performances to date, we've got the core of a decent squad and a promising manager. Now we need to build it into a team through acquisitions, loans, development and management. It's July ffs. The time to even begin to start worrying is at least 6 months away.

Been excellent value this thread, but all good things...……………..

This thread ffs. SN1F sums it up in one word- “needy”.

I reckon they’d have stuck with the idea of a promising manager from the lower leagues. The Clyde manager, for example. Or the young guy at Airdrie.

As in, Matteo "don't take away the" Muzek? …………………..I'll get my kazoo.

Nothing new there