Xervish

First game of the season for me, and after reading about the pre-season performances, I was expecting a lot worse. Defence was definitely not bulletproof, but also wasn't as much of a bombscare as I feared. Petkov looks like he will be a very solid defender, great tackling although maybe a bit brainless. I am a huge fan of McNiff, and I have to admit he was far shakier looking than last year, I only hope he can regain his form. Howie was terrifying and I hope never to see him at right back again. Going forward, we had some really good moments, hampered heavily by an invalid Goodwillie who was barely moving. Johnston has fantastic skill and tenacity, but is very light weight. Wallace was unremarkable. Smith I thought looks like a great player, a lot of speed and strength and will definitely get goals. Was very disappointed that he didn't go up front when Gpodie went off, think he could have made a difference with Lamont and Johnston behind him. I am optimistic, our team still has a much higher ceiling we can stretch to when our injured players return.

Lang was a good defender, but he was not our best player. Not even close. Goodwillie is on a level so far ahead of the entire league that it is unreal. He was involved in 37 goals in 40 appearances. The season before was 37 in 42. He is untouchable. Goodie aside, I would argue that Banks is a better player now, and a far better prospect than Lang. Rankin was also far better and more important to the entire squad's performance than Lang. Lang was good, but he is replaceable. I would rather a slightly less showy defender than one who gets himself sent off or booked for reckless challenges.

Just out of curiosity, I understand our fans were singing songs about how much Ally Love hates Accies? Is there an explanation for that chant, aside from the fact that it is an obvious rhyming slang for a racial slur against Omar?

Recent news post on the club website is concerning. Seems like we are desperate for a cash injection if Norrie is begging the fans to dig in to their own pockets. The football we are playing is great, but I worry about the cost.

Why use 5 words when 500 will do? Behind Norrie's overly flowery prose I read a concern about cash flow while more money is being pumped into non-essential endeavors. Is our "best lounge in Scotland" raising more money than our old match day hospitality offering? Why are we settling for being tenants in a stadium we could be evicted from at any point? For years our objective was to get a stable home of our own and we seem to have abandoned those plans. Where is our long term future? Don't forget haufdaft that along with that £60,000 loss is a massive bank loan. How much money are we going to piss away so that Norrie can preen and strut about telling us how great he is? Our on pitch performance is not in any way groundbreaking, and everything else just feels very cosmetic.

Out of curiousity, do other fans feel like renting for 25 years and continuing to rent is good? We were tenants at Shawfield for 50 years before they screwed us and we haven't recovered since. I don't see 25 years beholden to a landlord as anything to celebrate. As for Norrie's "superb links with the landlord" that's all well and good, but what happens when the landlord changes in a few years? And then again a few years after that... Has anybody also noticed that we appear to be haemorrhaging money in the last 12 months? Including a hefty bank loan when we have just taken years to clear all our debts...