Ben Reilly

It's hard to see how there wouldn't be a difference in approach between Beuker and any Head Coach. Beuker's job is to develop the long term strategy of the youth development. Frankly he shouldn't be all that interested in the first team results or league placings at this point. The Head Coach, whether that's McKinnon, Coyle or whoever, is the one who is concerned with the first team, and understadably they want to have the best chance to put a winning team on the pitch as its their professionall pride, reputation etc that's at stake. Obviously there needs to be some synergie between the two (and to be fair Coyle seemed to buy into to that based on what he's said repeatedly), and moving up the leagues should create more income to fund the accademy, but we're at a stage in the process where the long term plan and the shorter term goals don't quite tie up. In some ways it would be easy for the club to say that first team success is not the current priority and that all focus is on the longer term plan, but that's not an easy sell to fans, coaches, players or even some sponsors who want understandably want the club to be competing as high as possible. I do believe that if we'd finished 3rd this year, and exited the playoffs at the same stage, having never been serious challengers for the title, then almost all of us would be delighted and say that it's been a fantastic season. But given the way things played out its difficult not to see it as a glorious failure. The same probably goes for coyle and the players.

If it's true that Coyle is leaving, could it be that he feels it's time to hand the reigns over to his son? That would be a very risky approach given his inexperience, but I wouldn't be shocked if it was the case

I'm all for us having a B Team (we already do - Young QP) and fully support them playing in competitive league and cup competitions with all the other B teams (they already do - the reserve league and Glasgow Cup) However there is no way that B teams should be involved in the same competitions or league structures as their First teams. If the reserve league is to be redeveloped to once again include the old firm then thats fine. If it can attract sponsorship etc even better. But it shouldn't be part of the pyramid, and it shouldn't be in a new league that effectively relegated everyone below it. I'm not going to pay to read the article, and don't have much time for the Daily Mail, so I really hope this is just poor journalism and not remotely true. However, sadly the news doesn't shock me.

The "West Coast Media" hype train is now in full effect. Derek Ferguson on the BBC Sport podcast saying that he's expecting a crowd if 4-5k at the game. I reckon he got the capacity figure in writing from Stenhousemuir as part of his extensive research. You can tell he knows his stuff, as he also highlighted how losing Murray has been a big blow for us as he "was forming a great partnership with Shields" The very same Shields that made his first appearance after Murray had already played for Ross County

I assume your phone has a camera on it?

I'm not convinced that maths and fractions are your strongest subject. And if everyone was sitting in that stand there would be zero empty seats, just a lot of people sitting on cold concrete complaining they can't see. You're welcome.

I know it's been covered here before, and mostly ignored because it doesnt suit some folks narrative, but you do realise that the terrace will be pretty much full. The rumoured capacity at ochilview seems to keep expanding day by day over the last 2 week's, and I've seen some people suggesting it holds up to 5K. In reality (and someone can correct this with exact figures if they can be bothered) it actually only holds about 2.5k. With QP fans having just under 700 in the stand and another few hundred standing, and Dundee having just under 1200, it's going to be pretty full. Even with the BBC's ultra 4k HD cameras, you're going to struggle to see the wide open spaces that some people are assuming.

The Galactic Senate would have been manipulated into moving the game to Hampden and creating a Clone Army of Dundee fans to fill it.

Fair enough i suppose, but personally I'd rather guarantee I saw the game. I suppose its one of the advantages of having a small support that I've never had to think about it. This must be the first game ever, or at least in decades, that our demand has been more than our allocation. But with the low capacity at Lesser, we may start to get used to it

Even if you might not see the game?

Genuine question. I've seen a number of Dundee fans posting about heading to Stenny without tickets. Why? Is it in the hope that they will find a way to get into the ground, or to see the game from some other vantage point (I'm not sure there are any)? Or is it some sort of protest against the ticket situation, which admittedly hasn't been great for either set of fans? I understand both sets of fans want to be there for such an important game. But with the news now that there will be an additional cordon round the ground (presumably because of fans planning to come without tickets) and more importantly, with the game live on free TV, why would anyone want to stand around outside the ground, possibly in the rain, and risk missing the game entirely, or at best, watching on a phone (probably with a delay so you'll hear the live crowd reaction before you see whats happening) when you could watch if at home or in a pub. I've seen some say they'll watch it in a local pub in Stenny, but why go to the expense and hassle to travel through there rather than watch it in a pub close to home? Surely even Dundee has a better range of boozers than Larbert/Stenny. Again, this is a genuine question, as I don't think I would have ever considered it as a serious option if I didn't have a ticket. What am I missing?

I phoned the office on Friday to get additional tickets for members/season ticket holders. I specifically asked if more tickets would go on sale to those without season tickets and I was told that they would. I'm guessing that the office may be shut for the bank holiday today, so hopefully they will be released tomorrow.

Plenty of tickets already sold to QP fans with a high demand for the rest once they are made available. Queens will fill all the available space on their two sides of the ground, whereas Dundee will only half fill their one end. It's hilarius that to the watching TV audience in this great showpiece advert for Scottish football, it will be Dundee who will look to have been unable to fill their stand

I'd probably go with the same lineup as started at Ayr if possible. If Kilday is out then put Bannon in. If Thomson is out then put Davidson in. If/when changes are needed then Healy impressed off the bench last time at Morton and could be a good impact sub as folk start to tire. I just dont understand how Henderson gets on ahead of Jarrett (or anyone else for that matter). We can all see that he's not interested, I don't know what he's doing in training to convince Coyle he's worth putting on ahead of others. McPake blows hot and cold, but is still a better option. As crazy as it sounds, if we are still chasing goals with 20 mins to go in either of the next 2 games, I would genuinely consider throwing Eze up front before Henderson. At least he could go up there and cause havoc with opposition defenders having no idea what he'll do next.

I ordered additional tickets today. While on the phone I asked about the arrangements and they confirmed that tickets will be made available to non members/season ticket holders next week, including standing tickets.

To be honehst, 'If' there is still a chance of us winning the league on the last day, I would expect that we would quite easily sell out the Main Stand, meaning we will then want to use at least part of the terracing. In that case, by the time there is some segregation etc, the Dundee allocation would need to be greatly reduced. If we can sell/give away enough tickets? Then the Dundee fans may even be in the standing section behind the other goal. I suppose we'll find out soon enough. Besides, the game is live on TV, so there's no reason for any Dundee fans not to see it

In other news, Liam Brown is apparantly a target for East Kilbride. I'd hoped he'd have been able to play a bigger part in our season but obviously that didn't happen for a few different reasons. However, surley he can do better that the Lowland League.

Firstly, I am delighted that the club is making an effort to ensure that Dundee don't get an advantage by having more fans in the ground than us. However, it does seem crazy that non members/ST holders that have been traveling home and away all season may not be able to attend. That has potential to really reduce our own support. The deadline for members/ST holders to apply for additional tickets is this Friday, a whole week before the game, and before we know what exactly is at stake following this weekends results. I can only hope that the early deadline is so that there will then be an opportunity for non members/ST holders to apply for tickets early next week once they know how many tickets are still available. Obviously there will need to be a system in place to make sure it's only QP fans buying them, but surley the club have a record of the email addresses used to buy individual match tickets for the home end throughout the season. I could see the sense in it if that's the plan, but the club should lay that out at this stage so that people are aware of it. I'd also be happy, once all regulars have been given a chance to buy tickets, for us to give tickets to all the youth and community teams and/or local schools again to give us as big a home support as possible.

I thought that would probably be the case. I'm sorry that it didn't take off, as like you, I enjoyed having our own forum that wasn't often 'invaded' by others. Thanks for giving it a go at least.

Does anyone know what happened to the Spiders Talk Forum? The site seems to have been down for weeks. I know that there weren't many of our fans using it (cue jokes about the size of our support), so I wonder if the folk running it just gave up on it. If so, it's a shame it didn't take off in the way that had been hoped.

I'm assuming your referring to the comments about the money for the Lesser redevelopment, in which case your correct, that money is limited and being drip fed to us. However there is no shortage of money for the rest of what we're "trying to do". For all the comparisons people keep making to Gretna, the money one is miles off.... we have far more money coming in than they ever did

My understanding based on what the President has told members at meetings over the last few years is that the reason Lesser has such a low capacity is that its all we can afford initially. We got £2.5m upfront for the sale of Hampden with the other £2.5m coming in instalments over the coming years (either 5 or 10, I can't remember which). That initial money will only go so far, otherwise I assume we would have gone for a bigger capacity right from the start. It's no secret that we have progressed through the leagues quicker than expected, and the expansion of the stadium (and money to pay for it) hasn't been able to keep up. Of course none of the above is any excuse for the delays and changes to the build.

I agree with everything above. McPake for Henderson with Heally as an impact sub later in the game. Unfortunately against Arbroath Heally was wasted when he came on as we kept missing him out by launching balls forward. If he plays he needs to be able to use his pace and quick feet to hurt the opposition. The other option is Savoury out wide with Jarrett through the middle. Thomas, Jarrett and Savoury are our three best attacking midfielders/forwards, but to have all three playing either Savoury or Jarrett need to play wide where we don't get the best out of them. I totally agree that we need Shields in the box more often. He does well in the channels but as we saw against Hamilton he's handy in the 6 yard box, and that was sorley missing against Arbroath.

I think it already is a hybrid pitch at Hampden. The new pitch at Lesser Hampden is hybrid, and apparantly its exactly the same size and type as the pitch next door.

I went past Lesser a few times over the weekend. The main entrance area still looks like there's a fair bit to do. I'd be very surprised if that was all finished, plus 2 test games played in time for the Hamilton game.