GG Riva

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. 🫰

I'd be amazed if McPake and his backroom staff abandoned the training methods which served them so well last season, when we had only a handful of significant injuries, and embraced one which produces serious injuries in game after game. They'd have to be completely crazy to persist with it if that was the case,

It may be quite challenging to get the players McPake has in mind. 1. Do they want to come to the Pars? 2. Is their club prepared to release them? 3. Can we afford their wage demands? 4. Are other clubs with more financial muscle in for them? 5. Are they of good character and unlikely to disrupt the harmony in the squad?

😀 Moffat is another Zibi Boniek. Juve's President nicknamed him "Beautiful at night" because he reserved his best performances for the European midweek cup ties under floodlights followed by some anonymous performances in domestic games at weekends. Back on topic, 3 pts would be great and maybe expected by most Pars fans as QP are on a horrendous run, but depending on the team we can put out, a draw might be a decent result. I think it's a game we must not lose.

I can`t get my head around why anyone would want to be a part of such mindless thuggery. And who stood idly by filming the whole sorry incident and then posting it on SM. Why didn`t anyone intervene to help the poor lad?

If every game, or even most games, went as predicted, there wouldn't be any rich bookies. Who would have tipped Fulham to beat Arsenal and Forest to beat United at the weekend? There's no 2 without 3 as any Italian will tell you. 🙂

This could well be our starting XI but maybe a 3-5-2 with Otoo at the back with Fisher and Breen and Comrie and Edwards pushing up as wing backs when we have possession. That might mean O'Halloran dropping to the bench, though.....