edinburghhonestman

Straight red so usually that's the next two games in any competition.

I don't agree. If you look at what League Two teams down south are prepared to pay for a prolific striker, £175k is at the low end. I think the club are absolutely right to hold out for more.

I doubt that will happen. Seems to me we're handling this pretty well.

I'd be pretty confident away to Patrick on the 27th as long as he doesn't have 10 mates with him.

I'm hoping the Amartey and Murphy signings signal a change of shape and they're there to provide some goals alongside a Dipo replacement. We need a broader attacking threat than we had last year

Big loss. He's played a significant part in Albinson's development and I was looking forward to seeing what he would do with Mutch. He's also coaching all the young keepers in the Academy. Always looks like a great presence on the touchline during matches as well. At this stage in his career, though, you can't really blame him if there's a chance to work closer to home

Mutch has given up a full time job to move down from Aberdeenshire so he won't be on peanuts.

Think you might be right. From his build he doesn't look like the lone striker/target man type.

I think the days when members of the nobility played the gentleman's game ended more than a century ago.

Good interview from Robbie Mutch. He seems a pretty confident guy. He's giving up a decent job and moving down from Aberdeenshire to join us. Interesting that being coached by Timmins was a factor. Maybe bringing him in was Hopkin's only masterstroke.

Suspect even if he was asked, Mathie would have found a politician's answer as he's pretty capable at talking but not really answering. That aside, the fact that clubs see us as an option to develop players is positive. A year ago we wouldn't have been expecting to get a guy who'd sat on the bench in the Premiership. If we can exploit that it'll give us an edge.

Not disappointed to see Thistle stay down as it's a much better away day than County but you're right on VAR. It's a blight on football and it's ruining the game.

Took my wife to both playoff games v Thistle. She's not a great football fan but that was exactly her view of both games, Tiffoney in particular.

They lost >£800k last year and their auditors had concerns so you'd think there would be something to address there.

Looking at Dunfermline's home league crowds, your figures look a bit light. I have their average as 4776 and given they only had 6 home games with less than 4000 that seems legit. That's where my £700-900k came from. Irrespective of exact figures, it's clear we've had a very good season financially compared to other clubs around us and that should allow us to build for next season.

He's a decent top half of the Championship player. He's on a fair whack, though, so if you do sign him I suspect you'll not be bringing in as many new players as your fellow fans are speculating about elsewhere on P&B.

Also doesn't take in to account other revenue streams to get total income. Looking at average gates Dunfermline's receipts are probably £700-900k more than ours depending on what they charge. Nor does it take in to account the financial state of the club. The good thing about Ayr is that we're in a good place financially so anything over budget should be able to be used to keep developing the squad rather than servicing debt.

If you haven't seen the full thread, this is the total prize money each of the teams in the Championship next season won this year, showing both Partick and Ross County and assuming ICT don't win the cup: Dundee United £1.982m Ross County £1.43m ICT £820k Ayr £721k Partick £540k QP £523k Raith £430k Morton £371.5k Arbroath £309k Dunfermline £198k Airdrie £143k

It wasn't Bullen out there second to every ball. You can pick faults in tactics or selection but individually we were way off it tonight.

In the first 10-15 minutes he wasn't isolated and O'Connor, Mullin and McGuire were all getting close enough to provide support. The Thistle goal seemed to deflate us and we just didn't maintain that bar a spell towards the end of the first half We didn't start the second half at all and Thistle were 3 up before we got a kick. It was only the final 5-10 minutes when we got any support to the striker As has been said, we're hopeless at stopping crosses in to the box. Both centre backs are fine when teams attack us centrally but the full back weakness needs to be sorted next season. I also think we could do with a bit of an enforcer in midfield. Dempsey and Murdoch are fine at this level but we're too soft. I also think we need two strikers up front next season. We can't assume we'll have another 20 goal number 9.

No chance Arsenal are letting him go. He was on the bench against West Ham last season and is highly rated.

Thought he might have been off when the ball initially came in.

Defences on top at Firhill.

I'd heard it was Much from Edinburgh who I wouldn't be averse to. He's 6'4" and got 125 league appearances so really decent back up to Albinson. Could also improve with the coaching he'd get at Ayr.

Second half of the season in particular he's been our best player. Timmins probably gets overlooked as he came in with Hopkin but seems to know what he's doing regarding coaching keepers.