AGPar

Got to laugh at all this chat about how utterly rancid the Championship is when we have literally just been swatted aside with the absolute minimum of fuss by a team from said Championship. Beyond delusional. We have won two games in League One since the 4th March. Two. So for the moment we'd be far better concentrating all our efforts on breaking the habit of a lifetime and not utterly shiteing the bed against whoever finishes third before shouting about what we are going to do against Arbroath/Cove/Hamilton. That's if either of us even get that far. One thing is for sure. The time for the same old excuses that we hear week after week after week is now well and truly over. Finished. Deliver or GTF.

Well, it certainly worked to reasonable effect against Dunfermline a few weeks ago, but long since abandoned unfortunately. I’d have put Oliver on at h/t today and gone 2 up top but that is not in McGlynn’s script, cannot make a substitution until the hour mark so he’s chucking on subs when we’ve gone three nil down and it’s far too late. A one-trick pony with little to no idea of how to change a game in progress. Played some decent stuff today but giving up chances at one end and failing to take golt-edged ones at the other is never going to end well. ICT were far, far too streetwise, something I never thought I would say. We are still soft as shite both on and off the park, something I hoped McGlynn would rectify but hasn’t.

Then the players were wrong. Badly, badly wrong. Which is my most of them will still be flailing about at this level next season whilst Dunfermline are straight back to the Championship[.

Simply not true. The Saturday after the Ayr game Dunfermline drew with Edinburgh. Had we won at QOS the gap would have been six points, with the game against Dunfermline at TFS still to come. Two weeks later they drew with Kelty Hearts, the same day we could not beat a rank-rotten Clyde. We have had the opportunity - at the very least - to put Dunfermline under a bit of pressure and really make them work for their title. Unfortunately we have a group of players who clearly had no interest in taking such opportunity. Fine for that section of our fanbase who are now deluding themselves that we'll just "flick a switch" and roll over the top of, on current form, the best side in the Championship. Not acceptable to the rest of us. In terms of mounting a serious championship challenge, this has been a complete waste of a season.

He's had the biggest budget by some way - make that a long. long way - this season. We haven't been able to mount anything approaching an even semi-credible title challenge. Some of out fans still consider this to be a "miracle season" because the previous one was pretty much the single worst in our 147 year history.

I’ll be amazed if we start next season with anyone other than the current manager in place, irrespective of how this one ends Personally I become a little bit less convinced by him with each passing week. I give us little chance in the play-offs and, given the form ICT are in at the moment, none whatsoever in the s/f. McGlynn looks clueless at the moment.

They are. We'll be under infinitely, infinitely more pressure to perform there than we were yesterday. Which makes that second half car crash when under zero stress all the more concerning. Especially as it followed on from a 15 minutes of very similar madness exactly one week before. When we were 2 goals up at home and under zero stress. If McGlynn cannot get a grip of this - whatever it is - and very, very quickly - we are going nowhere.

I'd genuinely give us more chance of making progress in the play-offs if we finished third. The gutless, shitebag mentality that has been all too prevalent at this club for far too long (and which McGlynn appears to have done little to resolve, the Scottish Cup Q/F being very much the exception to the rule) means I'm struggling to see much of a downside to going away for the second leg of any semi final. Playing at home second in front of a large home crowd would only precipitate yet another bottle job and a fifth season flailing about at this level. That collapse today, from a position of pretty serene control against an opponent who had offered absolutely nothing in the first half was a complete and utter disgrace. Bottlers.

If that is the case - and I must admit I share some of that suspicion - form, formation, tactics, team selection won't matter a jot. We'll be going nowhere. We are now well into April and I genuinely still don't know what to make of us. On the one hand, I think McGlynn has built a squad of very decent players - there's no-one I look at and think "complete numpty", although Wright may fast be approaching that status. On the other, I still wonder about a soft underbelly, typified by the first half today when we went from total control and a thoroughly merited 2-goal lead after 30 minutes to complete panic stations 10/15 minutes later (and Todd should really have buried that chance to send them in 3-2 up at the break) Right now, someone could tell me that we'll (a) be kicking off in the Championship come August or (b) collapse like a house of cards in the play-offs and be flailing around with the Airdries of this world for a fifth consecutive season, and I'd find both scenarios completely believable. This could still turn out to be a very good season. Or a pretty crap one. It's not boring at least.

Who, Oliver? He's made more appearances than any other player in the squad this season. It's Burrell who has the real cause for complaint. Oliver had a very good run of form in January and February coinciding with the team as a whole playing well, and scored four or five goals. No-one suggested he was being mis-used during this period. His hold-up and link play has also been fairly good, the lack of goal threat is the downside. The lack of playing time afforded to by far our best forward is the real frustration. Hopefully today marks the end of the loan, isolated striker against packed defences crap and Burrell being cemented in the starting 11 from here on in. He needs to be the focal point of the attack, no-one else. Should have happened weeks ago, but better late than never.

Don't disagree with most of what he has said, but the fact he is referring to "the pressure being taken away" doesn't inspire much confidence sadly. They should absolutely have been wanting Dunfermline coming to their place tomorrow with the Championship and automatic promotion on the line and up for grabs. Unfortunately, for many in our squad, I suspect the fact that there is little riding on tomorrows outcome will be viewed as a very welcome relief. Not great at all.

You can add on the prospect of a couple of thousand Fifers coming through for a party and to generally rub our noses in it in the biggest way possible (and who can blame them?) Saturday has the potential to be an extremely unpleasant and uncomfortable 90 minutes. Don't blame any fan for giving it as miss.

I actually think he has done a bit more than that - and that's why there is a growing level of discontent about recent performances and results. On paper - and that's the key caveat - a squad that contains say Morrison, Kennedy, Nesbitt, Oliver, Allan, Burrell, Lawall as viable final third options, or McGinn, Henderson, Max in the middle should be highly, highly competitive in this division. I don't care about last season, that should be challenging full-on for the title, nothing less. And there's probably one or two managers in the league above who would be pretty content with these options. But having built a very decent squad, he seems unable or unwilling to make the most of it and is doggedly sticking with the same old, same old in terms of formation, personnel and tactics every week when it's clear that it's no longer working. We are very, very predictable. Yesterday against a poor Clyde side was the perfect opportunity to try something a bit different, shake it up, yet he did nothing. There will be loads of calls for change and freshness next week - understandably so - but I just do not see it for a minute. He didn't do it against Clyde, there's no chance he'll do it against Dunfermline. If it's the same type of performance and result as in November and a few weeks ago, the criticism will be justified. He's been extremely well backed relative to every other manager in the division, McPake included. I actually think he's done well recruitment-wise. But he's not currently getting nearly enough from the squad and appears incredibly stubborn in his refusal to give others a chance when his favoured players are not doing it. That's nothing to do with last season. A huge month coming up, the success of this season is still very much in the balance.

It's always the same 1 or 2 posters who, when they offer an opinion that could be construed as in any way critical of the club/playing staff/management/board, are accused of "having an agenda" It's always the same 1 or 2 posters making that particular accusation. And it's always the same vague "agenda" insinuation. Never anything specific. Funny that.

There have been a grand total of , erm, two posts on their thread since 16:45. So the chances of any contribution from an opposition supporter are, well, not very high. Absolutely no-one gives a toss about them, which is why he comes running on here craving attention. They are truly the small-time diidiest of the diidies. All about the Falkirk.

Hate this “wait for next season, the makeup of the league will be more favourable” chat that is noticeably creeping back in. Loath it. Detest it. Had it for years in the championship when Hearts/Hibs/Rangers were in it, although it was a valid argument at that time, albeit our best league campaign in an age came with two of these three in it. Then we had to wait until Ross County and McGregors millions had cleared off. Then it was Dundee Utd. We were even being told last season that we could not really expect to compete on an even footing with Cove and QP. It’s ridiculous, reflective of the Zero Expectations, Zero Aspirations culture now endemic in much of the fanbase We are in League One, if the primary goal was not to win the title we should just have forgotten the whole thing. Complete waste of time, money, effort.

I think plenty of Dunfermline fans would respectfully disagree with your assertion that McPake inherited a squad ready made to cruise uncontested to the title and automatic promotion back to the Championship at the first time of asking. I don't think he inherited anything of the sort, making their achievement all the more impressive.

Is it? Where, and by whom, is it being suggested that there has been no improvement upon last season ? It is perfectly reasonable to acknowledge that we are a much better team than last season - and, as you're looking for context, that particular comparison is against one of the very worst sides in the club's history - whilst at the same time being disappointed that we have never seriously looked like mounting a serious challenge for automatic promotion from the third tier of Scottish football - the context of that particular disappointment being the provision to the manager of by far the largest transfer budget of anyone in the division. These positions really do not need to be mutually exclusive.

The criticism of Jordan Allan is utterly ridiculous. That he was not the lone, hold-up play type of striker that McGlynn is wedded to would have presumably been well known to the manager at the time he signed him. I'll be judging Allan when he's had a proper opportunity and run of games in a system that may actually have some chance of getting the best out of him. He certainly hasn't had that to date.

Relative to whom? Sorry, McGlynn has had, by a considerable margin, the largest budget in this league and whilst I think overall he has done a decent job, and undoubtedly inherited a shit show I find our complete failure to mount any sort of sustained title challenge disappointing in the extreme. 1 point from 9 and zero goals is poor, poor stuff. Handed it to them on a plate. This is the time when our depth and quality of squad should be coming to the fore yet we've gone down without so much a whimper. Tonight I got the sense we were just chucking on attacking players in the vain hope that someone would make something happen, no real structure or alternative ideas about us. Loads of aimless balls into no-one in particular against a packed defence, hopelessly outnumbered in their box, especially with Oliver up front alone, and very little that was clear cut. Four seasons in and we are still seriously lacking in conviction in our ability to take the initiative and get out of here. Yet Dunfermline are straight back up after one.

Not half as weird as the fact that, more than 48 hours after the final whistle, QOS fans are still droning on about the absence of Falkirk fans from a thread relating to a match that, I would hazard a guess, the majority of us were not even in attendance at. Profuse apologies for not paying you guys the attention you clearly feel you deserve.

I could not disagree any more with this. Why exactly was it not a surprise? We are coming off a massive win five days earlier, confidence and morale sky-high, general good vibe about the club and amongst the support, options and depth of squad unrivalled in this division, playing an opponent we had already beaten convincingly three times and who themselves were not exactly flying high. Really, really struggle to understand how that particular combination of circumstances translates into this "aye, crap performance and result absolutely to be expected" theory that's being banded about all over the place. The suggestion that Dunfermline were completely uncatchable at three o'clock yesterday afternoon is just complete and utter nonsense. Loser's mentality writ large. Had we won in Dumfries the gap would have been six points. Still a long shot, but with two reasonably kind fixtures to come prior to them coming to TFS on 8/4, certainly not in any throwing the towel in territory yet. I actually do not believe for one second that was the attitude of the playing staff or management (because if it is, that's a problem) We've had a very good run of form pretty much from the home defeat to them in November, but when it really came to turn the screw, the cliched business end of the season, we've turned in two shite performances, lost both, and that's pretty much cost us any chance of automatic promotion.

You are talking - literally - about one specific supporter. Whose opinions and takes on all things FFC generally bear little - make that no- resemblance to (a) reality or (b) anyone else's. Stick him on ignore.

Genuinely never thought I would see the day where I was happy to have McKay as part of our central defence. But here we are. A complete, utter and total turnaround from the unmitigated disaster of last season. For me, our most reliable centre-half. Credit.

You're going back the best part of a decade in relation to some of these games. For me, a more telling sample size is the now four seasons we've been at this level. The league has been won (or in one case awarded) by Raith Rovers, Partick Thistle, Cove Rangers and, barring a miracle/seismic collapse Dunfermline. In thirteeen league games against these four opponents, we have yet to win a single game. Not one. Seven points from an available thirty-nine. I don't think that record is anywhere close to being good enough for a team with legitimate title aspirations. And explains why questions about bottle/mentality/ability to perform under pressure in front of a big crowd have been and remain entirely valid. Something is going to have to change, fast, as the pressure in a tough, but winnable Scottish cup Q/F, or potentially four end-of-season play-off games sure as hell isn't going to be any less intense. We've had a very decent season, a lot of good football, could not realistically ask for much more in terms of both recruitment and moving on unwanted players. But the ability to perform when it really matters - still a massive question mark there unfortunately, which last night did nothing to remove. Huge let-down.