GG Riva

I believe (hope) the players were really hurting after last week's nightmare and will be determined to put that right on Saturday. The other thing that gives me hope is that Queens Park are nowhere nearly as good as Morton - on current form. It is likely to be a grind but hopeful the Pars win it. Maybe a 1-0

Not sure I follow your logic. If two teams reach the last round of games level on points and GD, surely both have performed more or less equally and it is all on the last game. The accusations levelled at our club in 2003 were horrible. Why could the SPFL not decree that H2H takes precedence over GD, to ensure such a scenario is not repeated? At least if it does happen this season, the Pars won't be involved. Still, I wouldn't like to see any other team accused of "lying down."

Somebody should tell him he's maybe not cut out for this management lark. And Grant and Hughes while they're at it.

Just looked at this again - nothing has changed since 2003. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that Celtic and Rangers could go into the last game of the season level on points, with similar if not identical GDs and it's all down to who can bag the bigger win on the day. In Italy, they're so scared of corruption that GD is much further down the pecking order. H2H may count in certain circumstances, otherwise teams finishing level on points have a playoff to determine final placings.

Was this brought in by the SPFL, parsforlife? If so, I must have missed it. I don't remember it grabbing any headlines.

A casual glance at the Scottish Premiership table is eerily reminiscent of the table of the 2002/3 season, going into the final round of games. Then, as now, both Celtic and Rangers were tied on points and had almost identical GDs. Still a long way to go this season, but if it happened before, it could happen again. Apologies for reminding Pars fans of this but our team visited Ibrox and Celtic were at Rugby Park. A 4-0 victory for Celtic was not enough to secure the title because the Pars lost 6-1 at Ibrox, so Rangers were Champions by a single goal. There followed lots of conspiracy theories and allegations that Jimmy Calderwood had set the Pars up to lose heavily because he was "a Rangers man." I was sure the SPL bosses would have wanted to ensure such an unnecessary state of affairs could ever happen again, by adding extra layers to separate teams level on points and GD, such as H2H records, but no more than 20 years on, nothing has changed. In 2003, there had been talk of a playoff between the Ugly Sisters if they had finished level on points, GD and goals scored and conceded. Strangely, the Glasgow Polis were none to chuffed at the prospect.

I have a feeling that, while this arrangement primarily affects Championship clubs, every club shares the money pot at the end of the season and was voted through by all 42 league clubs, so even if all 10 Championship clubs wanted out they couldn't do it. That's democracy for you. 🙄 Incidently, 're my post further up, if you check the Premiership fixtures you'll see that the game which is moved to the Sunday each week is invariably the one involving Rangers or Celtic as the away team. Now while it's no longer live on the BBC, it will undoubtedly have a negative effect on the home team's gate. And so the poor get poorer. It it any wonder it's a 2 horse race every season?

We don't know who has the final say on which players are offered contracts. In this country, it's usually the manager but on the continent he is just a coach and a director of football decides which players come in and which leave. Given we have a number of investors from Germany, do we know which model is in operation at EEP?

Not great at all from a financial perspective. There will be fans of both clubs who will not be able to make the game for logistical reasons and others who need to watch their pennies who will opt to watch it on TV. It`s all very reminiscent of some 20 years ago when the televised game, live on BBC1, was always the Celtic or Rangers away game. The £100k for each game was split with £55k for the home team. This just about covered the loss at the turnstiles, but the OF, who would normally get nowt from an away game, pocketed £45k. Who in their right minds signed up to that deal and the current one?

He might dispute it but the set up suggested that the main objective was not to lose the game. That doesn't preclude sneaking a wee win, of course. 🙂

Agreed - it will be a totally different game. The fans would not tolerate the team sitting in for a draw. We'll have to be on the front foot going for a win, but that will leave us more vulnerable in defence... Still and all, Giovanni Trapattoni and Arrigo Sacchi were always telling anyone who would listen that there's no 2 without 3, so I'm going for the Pars to complete a hat trick of wins over Morton by the odd goal in 3.

A point away from home is always a decent result - to take a point at the league leaders is extra special.

It's Dougie Coulston, SP. He's a really good guy. Maybe a bit shy and wary of players parents as some can a bit demanding and unrealistic of their kids abilities. That's not a criticism of you or any other parent - it's human nature. Every football mad parent wants to see their child make it as a pro rfootballer. Back on topic, Greg Shields is a huge loss. He had the kids playing really good, possession based, passing football. Finding another equally good coach, is a tough ask.

It's Dougie Coulston, SP. He's a really good guy. Maybe a bit shy and wary of players parents as some can a bit demanding and unrealistic of their kids abilities. That's not a criticism of you or any other parent - it's human nature. Every football mad parent wants to see their child make it as a pro rfootballer. Back on topic, Greg Shields is a huge loss. He had the kids playing really good, possession based, passing football. Finding another equally good coach, is a tough ask.

Thanks for explaining your thinking, Digs. I wasn't suggesting we have no money whatsoever either, but perhaps we don't have as much as the confident statement by DC implies. If we are still shackled by a lack of credit facilities then that will limit our ability to bring in players of a higher standard, given that they and/ or their agents will demand higher salaries.

Gigi Riva was one of my boyhood Italian heroes, along with Gianni Rivera. Riva played almost his entire career with Cagliari, in Sardinia. His goalscoring exploits led the islanders to the Serie A title in 1970, a feat akin to a club like Arbroath winning the SPFL. He had many lucrative offers to join the likes of Juve, Milan and Inter before and after that but turned them all down, preferring the life of a big fish in a small pool. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68064258

Not disputing what you heard, Digs, but if there was little or no money to play with, would you expect the manager and Chairman to say we're skint? Am I right in thinking we still have no credit facilities, thanks to the excesses of the previous owners? Eta. David Cook told fans at the pre Christmas meeting that we made a significant financial loss in League 1 last season.

My preference would be for the game to go ahead. It's not good for the (fit) players to go too long without a game. Also, for purely selfish reasons, I prefer a Saturday game at this time of year. Dragging myself out when it's dark and baltic is no fun for an auld fogey. 😔

It is a quite bizarre statement and perhaps just an excuse to avoid saying he'd been sacked due Ayr's perilous league position. They were in danger of going down when Bullen arrived but he kept them up and they finished as runners up to Dundee last season, in an incredibly tight league. The truth will come out at some point, Digs, but I think it's more likely the chairman has panicked. They looked very decent last time they were at EEP.

You could be right but it doesn't read that way to me whereas the posts on this forum do come across as making light of the postponement due to our injury situation. The stuff on other forums is certainly putting the boot into the Pars but that's to be expected, but not from our own fans surely?

Does this sound tongue in cheek to you? HalbeathRoad, Sat 13 Jan 20:49~#~There are people on here that will dig themselves into their trench . Fair enough . Defend the club to the hilt. Which I guess is understandable up to a point . We have rigged the game . We’ve essentially cheated . Now maybe it’s just dark arts and part of the game but it’s not a great look imo. Is that what we’ve become ?

He ticks all the boxes then. We need a right back to deputise for Aaron Comrie who's going to be out for a spell. He's known to McPake and has played for Dundee. 🙂 Seriously, McPake will know how good he is as a player and also his character.

The conspiracy theorists are certainly out in force on dotnet - basically accusing our club of deliberately cheating to get the game postponed because of our injury situation. And the proof is that "everyone's giving us pelters on social media." Must be true then, eh? 🤣😂🤣

That's a ringing endorsement from his coach, who is in a great position and well qualified to make it. Sam is a very level headed lad - he's not yet 18 - who knows what he wants, which is a decent playing career and perhaps to stay in the game in a coaching capacity beyond that.

Every player I've ever spoken to has a positive mindset, BPP. they don't dwell too long on a poor result - you can't change the past - but they always look ahead to the next match as a chance to make up for the last one. It can't be any other way. As a former footballer himself, I'm sure James McPake will be exactly the same. The squad will come in on Monday morning, look at video of the QP game and at what they did well, but more closely at some of the mistakes made and discuss how these can be eradicated or at least minimised during the next game. After that he will start assessing his squad and try and work out who might be fit for Saturday, so that he can come up with a tactical plan and formation to get a positive result against Airdrie. 🫰