CallumPar

Are we at the stage that every single rumour posted on social media, or heard in the pub, is now accepted as being factual?

I don’t think his decisions were the issue. He wanted to be the centre of attention and clearly absolutely loves himself. Some of the bookings were ridiculous too and he had to make a massive show of every one of them.

That point helps nobody. Think it’s clear that was the bottom 2 going up against each other. We were better than them first half, conceded a goal and looked really vulnerable again after that. The confidence has gone. No idea how we didn’t score towards the end, but I also thought Mehmet had chucked one in the net towards the end and MFW saved us with some really last ditch tackles.

Kane is exactly what we’ve needed up front. Been a decent first half. In better conditions, O’Halloran makes it 2-0, rather than losing his footing right after we scored. 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 is working well so far.

Based on the warm up, looks like Hamilton in the middle of the back 3 still, with Comrie at RWB. Maybe we’ve just opted against playing with a midfield?

Would imagine Hamilton and Otoo are the other way round, but this would be how I expect that team to line up. Unless we’re mixing it up and going 4-3-3? O’Halloran and McCann could be wide in a front 3, with Comrie at RB. I’d love it, but can’t see it.

Allan and Chalmers dropped.

If we’re going to end this slump, it has to be today. We need to attack Arbroath, I’m fed up of our negative tactics and our lack of ‘plan b’ once we concede, which means we collapse. If we’ve signed 2 strikers on the last month and haven’t got a game plan that creates chances for them, that’ll just be such a waste. Both teams low on confidence. Early momentum could be really important. If either team concedes early, they could get hammered if the team in the lead continues to attack them. I know it seems unlikely when you look at the goals scored column for both teams, but both defences are so low on confidence that it might happen. If we weren’t in a relegation scrap with Arbroath, I’d be wishing Jim McIntyre well at his latest club. Got a lot of time for him, after his spell with us. Really wish he’d gone on to have a better managerial career overall. Also like Arbroath as a club and as an away day. But, it’s us against them, so I hope they lose this battle.

Not sure how reliable it is, but it’s a player we’ve been linked with, that would be a fantastic signing. Ashcroft is exactly what our defence is needing right now. That guy’s use of hashtags irritates me. He’s basically said “the former Come On Ye Pars defender”. But I’m willing to let that slide if this is correct.

In fairness, I don’t think this is the environment to throw a kid into. We’re now in a relegation scrap, on a terrible run of form and the atmosphere in the stadium is poisonous. There’s also that noticeable lack of experience on the park. The young guys on the park, who have more experience than the kids on the bench, look distraught out there. As soon as we concede once, we collapse. There’s nobody playing that Bene role of trying to keep them going, lifting spirits and trying to organise things. There’s just that feeling of ‘here we go again’ and we look defeated as soon as we lose a goal. Throwing even less experienced kids onto the park wouldn’t make any sense at all, in my opinion. If we were throwing kids onto the park in this scenario, we would risk destroying any confidence they may have. Saying a 17/18/19 year old kid isn’t ready for that sort of environment is not the same as saying they’re not rated.

Don't think there’s any need for that kind of comment, we all get things wrong at times. Also, I was just going by what was reported by some media outlets around deadline day. Here’s one example: https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/when-is-transfer-deadline-day-in-scotland-what-time-does-the-window-shut-can-players-sign-after-deadline-4002186 But, you just continue to be patronising for no obvious reason, because you’ve obviously never been wrong.

Think the limit is 5 domestic loans and we currently have 2. So we can get 3 more. They would have to be from the top flight too, as you can only loan players from a higher division during this window, I believe.

Pretty sure it’s 5 domestic loans at any given time. So you can have 5 guys join on loan until January, then another 5 from January. So Sharp won’t be counted in the figures. Guys from Blackpool/Cardiff don’t count as domestic loans either.

Cheers mate. Genuinely not convinced he’s what we need. But I really hope I’m wrong. Looks like he’s been injured a lot and we need guys that will stay fit and play every week. We also create zero chances and our strikers get zero service, so that doesn’t sound like it’ll suit his style of play? If everyone was fit, he’d probably be ideal to play with Todd running beyond him. But our current (fit) midfield options aren’t exactly going to be making runs in behind. We also already have McCann and a 6’2 striker we signed on loan in January to be a physical presence/nuisance for defenders, without scoring much. It might just be one of these signings that just works out though and there’s no obvious reason for it. Fingers crossed, for everyone, that proves to be the case.

Hadn’t actually looked at his stats until now. Hopefully he hits some sort of purple patch, rather than continuing his (lack of) scoring form over the last 10 years. Glad we’ve brought someone in. But I still believe defence/midfield are where we need experience most.

Pen gif is out. Hoping for someone exciting, expecting Chris Kane (hopefully not the one we had 10 years ago though).

I’m honestly jealous. I’d love a couple of weeks off (again).

Agree with this completely. We set up to play for 0-0 on Saturday. Chalmers and Allan were clearly asked to protect the defence and were so deep, meaning the attacking players had o support. Also left an enormous gap between defence and attack, which meant every second ball was being swept up by Queens Park players. Then we conceded, had no plan B and completely collapsed. I’m also not convinced Summers has the awareness or footballing-brain to be able to be consistently effective, given his lack of pace. Keeps trying to run away from players, then gets caught easily. He’s also brushed off the ball so easily. Still young and I’m sure he’ll learn and improve, but he’s definitely not ready to consistently perform at the level we need him to right now. You’ve said you disagree with someone saying Summers wouldn’t take Todd’s place in the team, then argued that Todd is a better option. Am I missing something?

This is 100% true and you clearly haven’t just made that up. In fact, I’m sure that in one of these public conversations between board and manager, they said they wouldn’t care if we went down to the lowland league, as long as we try to play football the right way. They’ve learned their lesson after making the mistake of punting both Hughes & Grant, who tried to play it out from the back, at the expense of our place in the championship.

He seems to be a nobody, that tweets rubbish in the hopes that one or two things prove to be correct, so he can pretend he’s ’in the know’. If he’s wrong, he’ll just delete it. I’d be very surprised if McPake is punted before the weekend. However, if we lose this weekend, I’m expecting an announcement next Monday morning.

This thread has become a car crash, with the last few pages being filled with about 3/4 posters arguing with each other and twisting each others’ words to make them look stupid. Please stop. We all want the same thing, and the reality is nobody on here is likely to be ‘right’ about everything. Everyone’s entitled to their opinions on things. Everyone’s entitled to draw their own conclusions. If you disagree with someone, you don’t need to keep attacking them. Likewise, if someone disagrees with you, you don’t need to keep going at them. We don’t all have to agree. It’s honestly getting to the stage that I’ve been avoiding this thread, because it’s just reminding me of .net - which, ironically, most of you criticise because it’s exactly what this thread is in danger of becoming. For what it’s worth, the facts are that we have failed to sign experienced players when they have been targeted. None of us know why, but the fact that some of these players (like Wotherspoon) have come to train with us, been offered a contract, continued to train etc, suggests that it’s not a case of them just not wanting to come here. It suggests that it comes down to money. What I would say, is that the experienced players we have signed, the vast majority have worked with McPake/Mackay before - which suggests people actually like/want to work with them. Experienced players will generally ask for more money than youngsters. That’s normal. But a lot of these experienced players will have families to feed, bills to pay etc. their experience is also very valuable on the park and in training - as we have found out. If we have opted not to pay this ‘premium’ for experience and opted for ‘cheaper’ inexperienced players instead, we’re now paying the price. That suggestion doesn’t seem too farfetched, when you look at the business we’ve done in the last 7/8 months. Regardless of what has happened/gone wrong with the offers to experienced players, I’m sure everyone involved is now seeing exactly why you have to pay more for experience. Players at our level aren’t earning life-changing money and the experienced ones don’t have a long career ahead of them. Their decisions will absolutely come down to money. Just as career decisions will with just about everyone on here - if you have a couple of job offers on the table, one’s offering you £40k per year, the other is offering £45k, which one are you taking? For the avoidance of doubt, (before people start twisting words to suit their own agenda) this doesn’t mean there’s some kind of agenda by the board/investors. It simply means that mistakes have been made and, to date, haven’t been rectified/fixed.

Are you the same guy that claimed Jakubiak was celebrating with the Raith directors earlier in the season?

Yes. Much cheaper option than a year in league 1..

But, like us last year, you’ve not exactly been up against much. Genuinely think you guys need to look at what’s happening to us, to appreciate the gap between league 1 and championship. Our team and manager would still be winning almost every week in league 1 - as they did last season.

Airdrie have adapted tactically, to be competitive at this level. They played free-flowing attacking football last year and conceded a lot of goals along the way. Their management team and players have adapted to the championship. Our management team and players have been found out though.