GG Riva

It's hard to come to any other conclusion, SP. I think Rosyth Par should bring his evidence to the next home game and present it to Willie himself. He can be found in the Former Players area, behind the Directors Box, before the game.

Maybe I'm misremembering the Morton game or just going doolally, but I didn't think they were any great shakes, but we were so dire we made them look good, especially in the last half hour. I do agree that Ayr lost belief at 2-0 and completely threw in the towel at 3-0, but thought they looked decent before that. We played far, far better against Ayr than we did v Morton, which is bound to colour fans opinions.

Not a wind up, mate. I'll explain my reasoning. We definitely got the rub of the green, yesterday, opening the scoring from a corner which was clearly a goal kick to Ayr. They were then denied a very strong penalty claim. I didn't think there was a lot between the sides in the first half and fon Williams made a couple of smart saves. At 2-0 down they lost a bit of belief and chucked it at 3-0, which is understandable. I thought they looked a better side than Morton a couple of weeks ago, yet they beat us after going behind. Shows how necessary it was to change our manager for one who can cut it.

Yea, a collapse in form by one team isn't unrealistic, but for two teams to bottle it is probably a bridge too far. ☹

No, I've not been up all night, celebrating two (wins) in a row. The league table is really weird, with a massive gap between the top and bottom 5. Realistically, the best we can hope for this season is 6th place, but at least we can feel much more upbeat about avoiding a relegation struggle, something that looked almost inevitable just a couple of weeks ago. We're still in the mix, of course and I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but I can't help looking up the table and wondering if there's any chance of going on a really good run and closing the gap on the promotion contenders? Highly unlikely, I know, but there's still a long way to go. I think the players will have a totally different mindset now to the one they had under Grant. For us to sneak into a play off spot, two of the five would have to experience a real form collapse, but if the Pars continue their newly acquired winning habit, who knows?

I can see your tongue almost bursting out of your cheeks, DD, but even if the police were stretched, it's surely a matter of prioritising deployment. When I went past the Aldi car park entrance one frantic motorist was repeatedly blasting the horn. Maybe he/she had bought some ice cream and needed to get home sharpish before it melted? 😃

Or a week, even. 🙂 I can't believe some folk are talking down the game and saying Ayr were rubbish. I thought that was the most enjoyable game I've seen this season. The Pars played some scintillating stuff at times and Ayr played their part. They were unlucky on a few occasions and might have had a penalty and a couple of goals. 4-2 to the Pars would have been a fair reflection of the game.

I spoke to Willie before the game today and told him I'd read about him having 6 caps now and he said it was news to him. I put it to him that if he'd played for Rangers or Celtic he'd have won far more than his solitary cap and he replied that he only wanted to be capped as a Pars player and wasn't interested in playing for the Glasgow clubs.

I'll be signing autographs outside the players entrance, from 2 pm today folks. 🙂

Having listened to this interview, I think Yogi will have his players well up for tomorrow's game. Training will have been great this week, with everyone buzzing after that great result in Inverness. Ayr will be desperate to keep us out, but with a bigger than average crowd behind them, the Pars can make it 2 in a row. I'll take a narrow win, but will probably get greedy if we score first early on.

FIFA took no action because they said that neither team broke any rules - there's nothing in the rules which says a team is obliged to try and win or score goals etc. but it's clear that both teams were happy with the 1-0 for W.Germany, meaning both went through. Algeria went out as a result and few were upset about it. FIFA arranging all last group games to kick off simultaneously after Spain 82, was an admission that they knew that skullduggery had taken place.

Unfortunately, FIFA have previous when it comes to bending over backwards to avoid political conflicts. Israel play in the European tournaments to avoid their Arab neighbours, Kosovo are not paired with their Slav neighbours and Gibraltar are kept away from Spain. There are past examples such as N. and S. Korea.

It's been suggested on dotnet that FIFA will ensure that Russia and Ukraine cannot meet in the final tie, due to the considerable tensions between the two. This may have ramifications for Scotland, as it may increase the chances of drawing Italy or Portugal assuming all three get through their semi-finals.

It's obvious from some of the posts on this thread, that the bar of expectations has been raised considerably, after last week's welcome win in Inverness. It's logical to think we can beat Ayr at home, if we can beat ICT away. If only football was that logical. A week earlier we were comprehensively beaten by the 2nd bottom team at home. See what I mean? I'll take any kind of win, but I won't be rushing to put serious money on it.

I see the WC qualifying picture is a lot clearer. Scotland will play a one off semi-final at Hampden against either Austria, Czech Republic, N. Macedonia, Poland, Turkey or Ukraine. All tough but beatable opponents, imo. With a bit of luck,the draw might throw up another home draw if we get through where the likes of Italy, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and Wales may be waiting. Norn Iron, showed how far effort and commitment can take a team with a passionate home support behind them, against the European champions. With a bit of composure in front of goal, they could have won it.

This. Successful footballers have a highly developed competitive streak. They want to win every single game they play and absolutely hate losing. If anything, this attitude is even more intense in those who go on to become managers or coaches. The clubs they once played for are irrelevant. If anything, they'll want to beat them even more than other teams.

He was a top player, Digs and great company according to a journalist friend of mine. "He was a cracking player and a very witty chap. His wee brother co-wrote a play called The Lions of Lisbon about the lengths the fans went to to get there. It was out just before the 25th anniversary in 1992 and I was blessed to be asked by the features editor of The Scotsman to get a Lion to go see it with me and then take him out fo dinner. I asked Big Billy and him and his wife came and were brilliant, had time for everyone. About half past midnight I quite literally pinched myself as I was sitting with them in their favourite Italian restaurant and Billy was still telling stories. One of the best nights of my life, so I salute the Auld brothers once again." He cast aside all niceties and put himself about on pitch though. Jim Fraser was the recipient of a horrendous tackle in the 1968 SC 3rd round tie at Parkhead. The Pars famously beat the EC holders 2-0 and went on to lift the trophy but Fraser missed out as a result of the injury he sustained. Alex Edwards was another Par on the wrong end of a meaty Auld tackle, also at Parkhead. He was exerting a lot of influence on the game, but was reduced to a hobbling passenger and the Pars lost 2-1 after taking a half time lead. Auld is the type of player you'd love to have in your team and hate as an opponent. R.I.P. Bertie.

Well, we didn't get the first goal but still won, but Jimmy Greaves was spot on, yet again. I think most of us would have been happy enough with a draw, so an unexpected win was positively ecstatic.

Apologies, Stanza. It must be the fond memories I have of Chris Smith which fogged up my addled brain. 😄

Just read my way through this thread. Good to read that the vast majority are prepared to get behind Yogi and give him a chance to sort out the mess PG has left behind. I also picked up that many posters said he would not have been their first choice. (He may not have been the BoD's first choice either, for all we know.) In recent times, the club has sprung more leaks than a colander. The statement on COWS relating to the appt, says that, in addition to those who applied, a couple of managers were asked if they'd like to be considered for the job. My information is that this referred to Robertson and Petrie. Neither was interviewed, so you can draw your own conclusions. The third point concerns Shields and Whittaker being kept on. It may have been purely a financial consideration, but I think it's more likely that Hughes was asked if he'd be OK to work with them for the time being. The same thing happened when AJ came in and Potter was kept on, but further down the line Sandy Clark was brought in as his No.2. I believe a lot of unease about JH is down to that ill advised interview he gave at Raith. Of course it was a mistake, but context is everything. After a 5-0 hammering v fellow relegation rivals St Mirren, the players arrived the following Monday, (in their flashy cars) appearing to have not a care in the world. Being the kind of passionate, 100% guy he is, he lost the plot. Hughes didn't shy away from that in his first interview but admitted that he couldn't have achieved what he did with Ross Co last season, if he hadn't been through that unhappy experience at Starks Park. Besides that, Raith were all over Brechin in both legs of the play off but Jean M'Voto sold two goals and Chris Smith saved 3 pens in the shootout, according to Stanza who was at both games, so the Raith players didn't exactly lie down to spite him. Finally, the disagreement between Digs and Keyser. Again context is key. You'd need to have been there. Did Hughes have a wee smile on his face when he turned away from the young player? Were the other players laughing? Do we know for sure this scenario even took place? The worst kind of argument you can have with anyone is either by phone or on a forum, because you cannot see the other person's body language, so it's easy to get the wrong impression although at least on a forum you can add a 😉 or similat.

Aye, the True Blues are not taking it very well at all, are they? There's a lot hate and bitterness out there on social media, perfectly illustrated by Shooboax's example above. It's shocking and funny at the same time. It all stems from the delusion that Therangers are a big club, bigger than Villa, bigger than any club in the EPL, actually, the most successful and decorated club in world football. How could Gerrard be so crazy as to leave such a wonderful institution for a diddy wee English club, who they hope will now be relegated and him sacked. Any reasonable fan, would thank him for leading the club to their first league title and wish him well in his continuing apprenticeship for the Liverpool job. Is it a coincidence that his contract with Villa will expire at the same time as Klopp has said he will leave? And there are folk who think Derek McKinnes will be asked again to become their next manager, after snubbing them a few years ago? There's more chance of the Pars asking PG to come back. 😀

That's beautiful, 1950. Thanks for sharing. We owe those who made the ultimate sacrifice a great debt.

ICT were top and we were bottom when we played them at EEP. You'd have been hard pressed to know who was who if you were watching as a foreign tourist.

They need to punt the King of Charlatans and bring back Big Eck and Superally, to steady the good ship Sevco.

That's as downbeat an OP as I've ever read from you, S'Ally, but you have every reason to feel despondent. There is zero possibility that a new manager will be appointed this week, but I'm optimistic he'll be in the dugout v Ayr, so our first league win will probably have to wait until then. Auld farts like me can remember season 70/71, in the old First Division, when we had to wait until December for our first win. We had signed Joe McBride from Hibs days earlier and he lifted the team to a 4-1 win v Airdrie. A second consecutive home game v Ayr the following week brought a 5-0 win and we began to believe we could escape the drop. We did, albeit on goal average. As for Saturday's game, logically we should lose it but "Football's a f@nny old game" as the late, great Jimmy Greaves liked to say. If we get the first goal, I think we might just pull off a shock, especially if any prospective new manager is in the stand.