renton

We cant get through the rest of the season trying to play Dingwall off of Baird. If there is something left on the table in terms of finances, the board should be looking at how tight the league currently is, and how basically decent the rest of the side is, for the first time in a couple of years. Real irony that the two years we had fit, able forwards in Vaughan and then Nesbit, we were fucking rank through the rest of the team. Feels like those cartoons where everytime you plug one leak, another opens up...

Who knows. Sutherland is the only one that's really confirmed we were in for. Gullan coming back was probably separate from that wish list. Yet, we may still be further weakened if a bid does come in for Bowie. Definitely need something to happen just to stay still, let alone improve us.

Even then it drops onto his foot. If you really mean a classic 1 phase corner: centre back rising above his marker and smashing it into the net with his head, then you have to go back to Euan Murray last season. Our corners have been toothless for a long time.

Do we think we were actually in for him? It's still someone who can play through the middle we need. Desperately.

Fucking hell.

For me, Robert's attitude wasnt his issue. He worked hard enough. He was just genuinely shite. Johnston was ruined by that injury. Then again maybe that streak of shitebaggery has kept him in the game, in terms of not aggravating his weaker knee. Of course we also had Bobby Barr, ultimate shitehawk. The archetypal McKinnon signing for the final third. Works fine if the back four and midfield pivots are working hard enough to let the front four have their freedom. Utterly at sea in Locke's meat and potato lopsided 4-4-2.

Do we really think Cal was a target?

Were we in for him? Its forward options were desperately needing, not midfielders.

I wonder if the club is expecting any movement for Bowie in this window. Unless their was a loan back agreement in place we could suddenly find ourselves down Gullan, Bowie and Allan (presumably with some money for Bowie). Imagine going into February with only Baird, Anderson and Smith...

Not a chance we'd be offering more money.

Nah, we just used our native charm when we arrived tbh

Mate, we did this at the start of the last season there, had a taxi booked from a firm in the town for 1645. Made it with a few mins to spare. Also bought the return journey carry out before the game and got the Stranraer office staff to hold onto it for us. Very obliging folk.

I dont think it's football related. McGlynn said it was private and personal and that was as much as he was willing to say.

Comfort is relative.

None of the US weapons would, in isolation, end all life on the planet. Or ours, or Russia or anyones. The problem is that there is a very small likelihood of a nuclear exchange remaining singular or isolated and a conflagration of two major nuclear poweres would produce a nuclear winter that would certainly decimate all life on earth. Back in the cold war there was sufficient nuclear tonnage to destroy everything down to at least bacteria level 3 times over.

Irrespective, we now have two fit keepers. One of whom in Thomson was brought in as number one. I really hope that we are not going to extend the contract of Munro and free up the cash for another player. Is McGurn fit? And in any case, Munro is the better keeper. Not McGlynn's fault he got stuck with Thompson. I wouldnt be playing a sub standard keeper just to free up a loan, I feel like that's just a world of hurt waiting to happen.

As far as I'm aware, the use of hypersonic velocities means the missile body builds up a hell of a lot of ionized air in front of it, like the plasma that builds up around spacecraft on reentry, and block out electromagnetic signals in both directions through the plasma. That has an interesting effect on the missile flight path and navigation method. In the first instance it means it has to fly very high for the majority of it's journey, unlike a proper sea skimming system, because otherwise the thermal friction and plasma effects at sea level air pressure would melt it. Second that in terms of navigation if relies on inertial navigation. That means you tell it to hit a certain coordinate and based on it's starting coordinates it plots a path. No active guidance, no GPS ( because of the plasma effect). Ballistic missiles do the same, but typically they are aimed at things that dont move, like cities. For those hypersonic missiles to hit a moving target they need some kind of active guidance: i.e. radar. Otherwise they'll fly into the coordinates they were set for which may no longer contain an aircraft carrier steaming 30 kts. That's not to mention the extreme lack of maneuverability at those hypersonic velocities - if it tries to turn it'll hit a solid wall of air and break up (see also, shuttle Challenger). That means, in order to dissipate the plasma make any high G maneuvers it needs and use active guidance to lock its target, the missile needs to slow down to mere supersonic velocities, and also drop down to a low level or it's a sitting duck. In other words, the hypersonic missile, in its terminal phase is no different from any of the heavy Soviet SSMs deployed in the last couple of generations. As vulnerable to a ship's own surface to air defence missiles as any other. The advantage of hypersonic systems is that their extreme velocities theoretically allow them to be based outside the strike range of a carrier group, and with it's high altitude high velocity approach, to bypass the fighters that form the outer line of defence for large naval groups. Once it's in it's endgame however, it's no more or less formidable than any other missile. It's a means of trying to achieve the penetration of a carrier group for countries or powers that dont possess their own carriers, but it's not the wonder weapon that is often touted.

It's about rules of engagement, as much as technology. A missile with a range of 70km is great, but if the RoE requires positive identification of target then your back to a 3km knife fight. Being able to flatten a few square km with your long range artillery is no good if your in an urban area and RoE requires you to avoid civilian casualties. So you have to go in and clear it street by street. US high end war fighting equipment can have much of its utility nullified by such considerations. Note also that typically Western nations, and the US in particular will not tolerate large numbers of US casualties in war. The Persian Gulf is also a bit of a fucker for an invasion. If you are building up forces for an invasion via Iraq, well, Iran knows all about those likely invasion routes. An amphibious landing in the straits of Homuz? It's so narrow that any assembly of ships will come under range from Iranian shore based artillery/mobile SSM batteries long before they are ready to land troops. Not to mention the economic fallout of turning one of the main petrochemical supply lines into a war zone. Iran can be indiscriminate in all the ways the US cannot. No doubt they'd eventually occupy Iran, but at a steep price and then only as the start of a new nightmare for them.

Can't agree with that. A striker is a must have. We are losing our only semi regular goal scorer back to Hibs. Bowie has the promise but isn't doing it regularly, Baird is looking sharper and fitter but fits into a deeper role. Gando has that chaos effect when he gets into the box, but lacks the killer instinct in front of goal. Allan has one league goal and may be out indefinitely. Smith may suddenly come good, but February is not a good time to find out he won't. We need someone who'll at least give us a one in three return over the rest of the season. We likely won't find another Kevin Nisbet in January, but we do need someone who'll give us a bit of a rhythm. Others are and hopefully will continue to keep scoring, but the team and the fans need someone they can look to that has a degree of confidence in scoring.

Wasnt so much naivety as simply being no where near the pace of the game, agree though that his time at Kelty should have brought him up a bit since then.

Regarding Sando, at the very least Benedictus looks far more like his old self prior to his leg break, and McKay has made a solid case for a first team start. Priority should still be a couple of forwards.

Looks like we'll be needing two forwards then if Gullan is back at Hibs and Allan is out indefinitely.

His goal/game ratio...

Agree with all of that but would also add that he's a lightweight shitehawk who gives up far too easily. First goal for Dumbarton came from him being out muscled in midfield and failing to either try to hold the ball or once he lost it to try and get it back or to at the very least foul the lad. You can't not try and keep the lad, cause he can score goals which is a premium in our strikers but he's definitely infuriating when playing in a role the requires any kind of hold up play, or defensive responsibilities.

Heard that story from a couple of different folk, no idea how and why it got started.