D'Jaffo

The fact he hasn’t played much consistently in this second part of the season might just mean that he ends up sitting tight with us for a season. I don’t think he’s been frozen out or treated harshly by Brown. He had an injury but came off the bench on Saturday and made a difference. If he is fit he should be starting every game for the remainder of this season. Whatever happens over the summer will happen.

Those stats do look fine however 6 of those 10 goals were against Airdrie (lol). He’s a good all rounder but he’d benefit greatly from having a more natural goalscorer alongside him as he does a great job in creating space. I’d be content enough with him staying next season but wouldn’t be gutted if he went.

Pretty sure he’s just a bit of a ned.

A point against Morton and a win against an already relegated Arbroath. As you say, easier said than done but if we can’t manage it then we deserve ninth.

Some will still be fighting for new contracts however with the rumours that no one likes McIntyre I think it’s more likely they just completely down tools.

Aye it’s been the same since Brown came in. Only deviation from that was when we followed up a defeat to Dundee Utd at home with a defeat at Ibrox in the cup. It’s frustrating to see but Brown is getting results at the right time and doing it with a paper thin squad so I’m looking forward to see what he does with more of his own team next season.

Muirhead and Crawford will always play well against us regardless of form so I’d be quite happy if they were dropped. We really need to hope McHugh or Syla are able to play here. I’d be starting Willoughby as well in place of McKenzie. We’re at home and a win makes us pretty much safe so I’d be really going at them here.

Half the time I forget we have Paul Smith. Clearly isn’t rated at all by Brown if we’d rather play a striker there than bring him on.

Brown made a comment about Tomlinson saying he has a lot of work to do on the defensive side of his game if he is to play right back. Personally I thought he looked OK against Airdrie playing further up the pitch but as the first half went on he started to fade out the game. I don’t see the merit in making him a right back so early in his career when he could be a perfectly decent winger.

I suppose another frustration with McAllister signing on is it puts a bit of a stop gap on Watret for next season unless we’re running with those pair as our number one and two in that position. I think the best way I can describe him is frustrating. He should’ve been having a far greater impact on games this season and he had a wee purple patch but outside that I think he’s been underwhelming. Definitely not as good as he was last season although maybe that’s the change of position. There’s been a lot of games I’ve seen where the full back gets the better of him in the first five minutes and that’s him done. I don’t think the pitch at Somerset helps. It’s no coincidence that his best games this season have come away from home on a wider pitch where he can get on the outside and away quicker. I think if he gets fit then he needs to play as he obviously still has more output than Bryden but I think if the best you’re hoping for with a wide player is one good game in five then you can get a cheaper alternative. The teams that win this league very rarely have outstanding options out wide. It’s in their defence, central midfield and up front that makes the difference. If he was willing to take a big cut from his rumoured wage at Dundee United then fair enough but I can see teams being willing to pay more and I don’t think we should get drawn into that. We signed a right back in the summer. He was horrible but we did sign one. And would’ve signed a left back if it wasn’t for injuries elsewhere. I think also people need to look at the summer past and remember that Bullen deciding to f**k off for a fortnight probably killed us. He is obviously entitled to a holiday like everyone and I’m not proposing we lock Brown in a room until all the signings are done but those first couple of weeks after the season ends are crucial and the club were just absolutely no where in that time.

Why do Ayr train in the front of the Railway End, no?

Yup cause we absolutely won’t sign any replacements for players who leave and will just default to what we have.

Might be so but he still isn’t worth the money it would take to sign him. If the likes of Dunfermline or Raith want to spend that cash on him next season they can. I don’t see how he returns enough to warrant it.

Logan Chalmers won’t be the best player for any Championship club next season even if he signs for one of them. He’s woefully inconsistent and most full backs have some sort of idea as to how to stop him. He should be playing for us right now if he’s fit but the wages he’d be after to sign him permanently simply is not worth it. I’d be quite annoyed if we broke the bank to sign him.

FWIW I’d be very much in favour of seeing what McHughs availability is for next season but only if we can make him our own player like we did with Dempsey

He is shite and you’ll only get the one good game in about five from him but I can understand Browns rational here if he intends to upgrade elsewhere. We’re already likely to be facing a defensive cull with Musonda, Sanders and McGinley away. He maybe think it too much to do to be signing upwards of 7 or 8 players in the summer. It is a bigger indictment that we’ve gone from summer 2019 without a quality right back though.

1 year extension for McAllister.

Bootlickers, the lot of them.

I never claimed to have any evidence and have acknowledged it’s pure speculation. It is however absolute nonsense that a football club cannot afford to part ways with a manager. I was simply using that as a theory as to how they could get rid of McIntyre. I don’t see how it’s an absurd suggestion that he’d take over Arbroath with a similar clause in his contract. He’ll still be collecting a decent-ish wage and if he had managed to keep them up then he’d get a bit of credit in the bank and he’s still manager of a Championship team. It may well all be horseshit but it’s a more sensible theory than gormless fans going about claiming a club cannot afford to sack a member of staff.

Well yeah it’s those very dismissals that have lowered his stock. He wouldn’t have been inundated with job offers with Arbroath being just as desperate as he was. I’m not saying he’s not going to get paid off. I’m speculating that there may be a release clause that the club can activate should they be relegated. It’ll still involve some sort of payment.

Well done, you just described Jim McIntyre.

Aye we can paint that on the rubbish bins at the back of the SRE.

People who think clubs can’t afford to sack managers have very little understanding on how contracts work. I’d imagine every manager in the league will have some sort of break clause that means clubs can part ways without paying up the rest of their contract. Given the position Arbroath were in when McIntyre was appointed you’d guess relegation will allow for a parting of the ways without any fee being due.

Lawrence Shankland trying to decapitate the Airdrie goalie at Somerset.

How close was he to actually leaving last summer? I know we offered him what he was after but I always presumed he did that just to force your hand and give in to him. Not sure if we’d go back in for him this summer if he leaves.