Berry

Would’ve taken 0-0 at HT, Queens were always going to come out on the front foot and the good thing is despite starting poorly we were able to contain it. Would like to see us exert more pressure second half and nick a goal to take home.

Dorrans picked for his experience which I can understand. Aim should be to control possession and take the chances when they come, how difficult that could be on the Firhill pitch is another matter.

I don’t mind that lineup to be honest although would like to have seen Thomas in.

I get the benefit of offering a bonus, just the principle of it. I’m not angry at being in this position, just rewarding players for getting us out the mire when the objective and bonuses should’ve been centred on promotion and that alone. If the club can afford and are offering a bonus it’s in thanks to income from the fans, who shelled out a lot of money for season tickets to watch utter dross this season, just doesn’t feel right…but I get it.

You’re in a way rewarding failure. Some players haven’t truly earned their salary and in other industries if you fail to perform you’re not eligible for a bonus. You perform high throughout the season you get noticed, new club, bigger contracts etc that’s where the incentive should be. Giving them a bonus to beat Queens Park and either Airdrie/Montrose man….should be bread and butter.

I’d be fuming if the players were offered a bonus for staying up GG, you’ve been rotten all season but here’s a nice wee bonus for you if we get through these next couple of matches. Playing for their career should be enough of an incentive to get us out of this mess. I’m not convinced some of our players if relegated would ever see Championship football again, they’ll be stuck in League One/Two.

Think Airdrie can turn it around. Call me petty all you like but glad ICT won tonight as well, sod Thistle and resting players!

I have a shock on the cards as well, I use the term ‘shock’ loosely. Really depends how revved up the players are, there is no doubt Queens Park will be right up for it and if we don’t match that then it could be an embarrassing defeat. We show up we could win by a couple, tough one to call.

Good news that they’ve reduced price, will keep an eye for the refund. Just yet a silly own goal really that just puts seeds of doubt as to how the club is being run and how important they believe the fans are. I do think whoever does the PR or writes these statements on the website needs to really think about what they put up, one sentence can make the whole piece go awry, like the one about being priced as per previous campaigns, one it comes across defensive and secondly just opens themselves to more scrutiny when there’s holes in it. Sometimes less is more.

They aren’t going to change the pricing now for Saturday, far too late as a lot have bought tickets already. I don’t think GG there has been a misjudgement of the mood, you’d think it was an absolute no brainer, the team have been brutal this season but when they have played at their best it’s when the crowd has been on it, so pack the stadium with £10 entrants and teams like Queens Park/Airdrie/Montrose are more likely to crumble. That’s not what the board have done, they’ve used it as an opportunity to fleece fans and take advantage knowing that a lot of fans (including myself) will suck it up and pay up because it is such a big game. It’s a blatant money grab. They should be ashamed of themselves, advertising season tickets to fans, buy early, gives us an opportunity to be best prepared for the promotion push…£300+ a ticket. Make no mistake, this season was an excellent opportunity for us to get promoted. The board hire Peter Grant who didn’t even apply for the gig and were too stubborn to make the changes that were so obvious to so many so early on, instead post daft statements targeting the fans and now we’re close to being relegated, which is a real possibility, none of these teams are going to be pushovers. It truly has been a shambles.

Bought tickets, the fool I am but how apt it was the order came through into my junk folder.

I’m assuming they have control over the prices for this match, they aren’t obliged to charge at the standard match cost throughout the season? If it is within our gift then £22/£20 is absolutely scandalous. The amount of money fans have paid towards the club and what they’ve been through this season, for what truly is a massive game to charge that speaks volumes. People paid that price for that performance last night man. I will be one of the fools that pays for the QP game but the final May end up just being an Alba job.

Vytas was homesick was he not and struggled to settle. Wighton was arguably our best finisher at the club but he had opportunities and didn’t really make much of them, can’t say I’ve really rued Wighton moving on since he left to be honest. McCann up front on his own was in an effort to try and plug the gap and issue of leaking stupid goals. In that role, McCann did pretty well, he would benefit from another striker up there to link with though but who do you put up? Todorov who’s not really had an impact and O’Hara who as a striker should hang his head in shame at not getting a couple of goals last night, McCann would’ve finished them.

In County’s case, he got the job done that he was asked to do. They then wanted to go in a different direction with a different footballing style of which they were entitled to do, why does that have to mean Hughes was not valued or at fault somehow. It’s really easy to big up a persons failures in their career and disregard any of their achievements regardless of how far back they were. I’ll give you McIntyre, he was one I would have liked to have seen come back but Levein, the guy who detests Dunfermline, aye he’d be a sound pick. Thanks for the shortlist of names Raymie, I’ll reflect on them and come back tomorrow. I noticed Coyle was in attendance tonight. For what it’s worth Hughes wasn’t my top choice for the managerial job, McIntyre was up there but I was willing to accept a few years working with an upcoming manager who had promise, I was willing Petrie to take the plunge to be honest with how good he’s done with Montrose but reflecting on it now glad he decided not to bother as his reputation with the Pars would likely be in tatters the moment a poor run came along. Hughes is our manager now though so I’ll back him and continue to back him until I feel he’s had enough of an opportunity to turn this around, for me that isn’t now after only a handful of months. I’m not as trigger happy as others.

John Hughes: Falkirk promotion to Premier League in 2005. Took Falkirk to the Scottish Cup final in 2009, narrowly defeated by Rangers. First season with Hibs got them Europa League qualification. Took ICT to a cup final with a narrow defeat, guided them to third, their highest ever position and European football. He also then subsequently won the Scottish cup. Saved Ross County from relegation. Give us a name of a manager who would be willing to take Dunfermline on with that experience.

No Grant was the only one out of them I actually backed for being sacked. If we hadn’t hounded Crawford out, he would have done better this season I have no doubt. Changing manager isn’t always the answer is my point. Yogi has the most managerial experience than what we’ve had in recent years and has decent credibility. We need to give him the time to sort it out, one transfer window having inherited a team of wasters I don’t think is fair to base an assessment on whether he should keep his job or not. If he keeps us up through these playoffs, he’ll be our manager next season, if we don’t, I can’t think of anyone else I’d have more faith in than Yogi to get us back up so for me he stays.

Tensions are clearly running high at the moment but changing the manager isn’t going to solve this. It’s always the easiest conclusion to jump to but it doesn’t work does it, AJ, Crawford, Grant…fans have called for heads and we’ve got progressively worse. How much of the performance was down to just knowing the Ayr score, the game was meaningless after about 10mins. The situation was an absolute mess when Yogi came in, he’s only had one very difficult transfer window and is working with players he won’t see having a long term future with, but obviously he wouldn’t openly admit it. Ambrose, Chalmers, Polworth mentioned but we’ve omitted the GK and Lawless, they’ve been alright? Tin hat on but I think Chalmers has been alright as well with exception to tonight. Since Yogi has come in, we have improved, not leaps and bounds but we’ve managed to compete and win a handful of home games which has been some feat considering how brutal this season and team has been. He needs a fair crack at it with his own squad whether that be in the Championship or League One. I can’t think of any manager that would be any better than what we have that would want to come here. We need to suck it up and accept there is no quick fix to the situation we are in which as Deutsche points out has predominantly been caused by the appointment of Grant, but it’s ok we gave RM, one of the key people securing that appointment a great send off tonight.

Will be there tomorrow night but wouldn’t say I’m feeling nervous or excited, just glad that this season is coming to an end and whatever the outcome we can’t grumble, our own fault we’re in this position. I’m not as confident as others that we’ll win comfortably tomorrow, with the last two performances in mind, but think we will get the W somehow, it’s just what happens with Ayr. I’d be genuinely surprised if Ayr don’t win with Partick all but secured the playoff spot already. If we finish 9th, let’s just see how we get on in the playoffs, if we get 8th I won’t be jumping for joy, just a sigh of relief. I must admit, given the significance of this fixture and the implications, I find the plans in place to recognise RM to be rather strange. Yes he played a major part in saving our club but to do it tomorrow when we’re in a right relegation scrap, just doesn’t feel like the right time. What will be will be!

I’m gutted to be honest with today, I had it in my head if we won today, we were getting 8th and I thought we might’ve pulled it off. The team talk would’ve been easy, the importance of that game was obvious, fans there in numbers, what a special occasion for the players to go out and give it a right good go. Lineup was surprising, not listened to the post match interviews yet but some of it will have been down to injuries surely and possibly overthinking it a little bit with the pitch in mind. Now we have to beat QOTS, which I think we can do but then to rely on Partick Thistle holding Ayr, a Partick team who have as good as sewn up the playoff spot and have Ian McCall as manager, someone who has deep affection for Ayr, just can’t see it happening. I wouldn’t be confident going into the playoffs that we’d make it through them. I see there are call outs for Hughes to go regardless, I’ll put my neck out and say I’d like him to stay whatever the outcome. I have no doubt had we changed Grant earlier Hughes would’ve got us out of this mess and I can’t think of anyone better to lead the charge back into this league if the worst was to happen. Changing managers all the time is not going to solve the problem. The team needs a proper gutting, Yogi has a lot of experience behind him and for me is a safer bet to assemble a squad that can compete in whichever league we end up in than anyone I can think of who would be available and interested.

This isn’t good for us at all. Partick all but secured their playoff place bar a large goal swing but hoping they don’t think like that and play for at least the point. Last game of the season and it’s out of our hands. Hopefully Queens don’t bother putting up a fight.

Ayr equalised.

Gutted for Arbroath, with my Pars hat on though thinking about next season, more beneficial getting Killie out of the league to be honest.

Todd should be and will be starting ahead of Comrie, I’ve been surprised at how well he’s suited to the role. When we’ve played poorly and lost I’ve never thought once that it was because of how he played. That being said, I think it would be really sad if we let Comrie go, he’d admit himself this season has been a right stinker for him but we know what he’s capable of, one of the bankers on the team sheet for many a season and rarely puts a foot wrong and with everything crossed that we manage to stay up this season and if we really want to make a promotion push next season if we can get Comrie back into the same headspace he had been in prior seasons he’d be a solid asset and I’d have him in before Todd. To have strong competition in that position as well is a positive. As for Williamson, gutted for the lad for a number of reasons, I thought he had great potential, he used to take the ball and just run with it, used to be exciting when he got on it. His quality of cross at times was missing and yes he could brush up defensively but with a bit more coaching that was fixable. Alas as mentioned the injuries have really set him back and what’s more frustrating was one of them was needless, remember being at that Forfar game, win was in the bag and there was no reason to go in for that ball but he did and I ended up on the bus home feeling like we lost. Additionally, the way he left the club leaves a sour taste, he had no interest in signing with us again despite having been offered a contract because of the way a small minority of fans behaved towards him and family. Despite what you thought of him as a player, as a person he was as loyal and hard working as they come which is pretty rare in football these days.

It was a stone wall penalty, Donaldson tugged him back by the arm.

Do think Ayr still have a slight advantage going into the last two. They play QOTS first who are now all but down whereas we’re away at Partick who still need something to qualify for playoffs. If Partick then get something that cements their place it will be all rest for the Ayr final game. If we manage to pull it off and beat Partick, we stay up in my opinion.