Beattie

Precisely.. I could be totally wrong but I have a slight inclination that even King himself has said in the media that he's an easy name to suggest in such situations and that it's mainly unfounded.

Anyone suggesting a change of management is off their fucking heads.. Pardon my French. We're told the bank are insisting on no new contracts.. tell me how you get a manager in under that scenario? This would never happen, but by that logic, the only way we get a new manager is if McDowell/McCoist/Smith all leave when their contracts expire in January and we promote from within on unimproved contract terms. Personally, I'm happy for Smith to continue fighting on behalf of the support.

I was always under the impression that King had no real interest in buying?

We can afford those �£20,000 a week wage that he's on can we?

Good start to the season but has been deplorable in recent weeks. Against Unirea he spent half of the game with his hands on his head.. he knew he was having a stinker. Would definitely of been dropped out for a couple of games at least if we had fit cover.

Refreshing honesty. Am I right in saying he also said that every player is for sale and that the club are stagnating until we find a buyer? A certain poster on another forum with an impeccible track record of information was laughed at a while back when he suggested the bank were pretty much in control.. I believed him then but it's nice to get confirmation as oppose to constant lies.

Good information.. cheers. .

Was also brought on as a sub at 0-0 and they then won 3-0..

Suprised we're offering 7/1 on the website.. Hibs are 9/1 in-shop.

None. Honestly.

I dare say he wasn't scouted and was brought in on name alone when he was made avilable at the last minute.

Can't recall exactly when it was but it was early on.. possibly even 1-0 to us or at the most 1-1 but looked up at the screen and at that point they had 65% posession... unreal.

I'll be the sports scientist. Speaking of which.. for the first time found myself keeping a proper eye on Adam Owen in the warm up tonight. He's got a better left peg than Smith, Papac and Rothen combined!

Cracking priorities! . :fish:.

We're still above the 350 mark?

Unfortunately neither of the 3 mentioned seem to be having many good days at the minute.. Had to laugh tonight. From my viewpoint.. our opener was a mediocre effort from Mendes which took a huge deflection which the keeper possibly should of done better than yet it brings around a chorus of 'Do Do Do Do.. Pedro Mendes' which is all well and good in the spirit of going ahead but from the individuals point of view, papering over cracks came to mind..

Fair point. I'd rather a below-par Ferguson than a below-par Mendes for the fact that, as you say, even when not playing well himself he can get tore into others around him. So aye, fair point that.

Again, a player I wanted to give time to and thought his class and experience would show through once he's settled. Now, granted, he hasn't had too much time at all yet but I am amazed at how little he's shown. One above-average game against Stuttgart made people believe he might struggle on the cold days at Motherwell etc. but the European stage would see him flourish. Tonight poured cold water on that train of thought. I don't condone the abuse the lad took tonight. For every ball he touched to be boo'd and to get the reception normally saved for the likes of Neil Lennon when being subbed is not going to help. Boo'd off the park.. how does that encourage him to go into training and work hard to play well for us? I'm digressing here.. the main point is: Is it now becoming more and more apparent that he was made available at the last minute and was brought in merely as a sign of us still being able to bring a player in to avoid the tag of going a summer with no one coming in?

By your definition of it not mattering if he's atrocious on the park then, by that logic, if it's his leadership skills you want then we'd be aswell offering him the managers position.. see what I mean?

Anyone else think we're suffering from this? Had a quick glance at our lineups this season and unless I'm missing something.. we've had 12 games so far this season and not once have we named the same starting XI up front. Our goalkeeper and back 4 pretty much picks itself without injury or suspension creeping in. It's from then on we get problems. We've got 3 decent central midfielders on their day in Mendes, Davis and Thomson, not including Edu when he returns. As for the wide positions.. Naismith isn't a natural there, nor is Novo, but both have been played there. The position they are both naturals for is where the problem comes in for me. We need to select any 2 (or 1..) from a pool of Miller, Boyd, Naismith, Lafferty (and people say our squad is too small..) Our inability to select a strike partnership is a huge hinderance which no one is picking up on. For a while last season it looked like Boyd/Miller.. but now it's different every week. The constant change makes it nigh-on impossible for a partnership and understanding to grow and from the individuals standpoint takes away the chance to go on a run of 3-4 games of getting goals consistently, thus breeding confidence. I think it's time to play 2 up top consistently, and for Walter to decide which is his best partnership and stick with it for 4-5 games and let the understanding grow.. if that happens, I think we'll see a huge benefit.

Funny as that may be.. it's a fucking good point. Barry Ferguson of 2003 and before would of given Barry Ferguson of 2005 onwards an earbashing and a slap had they, hypothetically, of course, played in the same team.

Agreed regarding Weir. Am I the only one who thinks he's gone a little quiet recently? Whilst never the type to shout and moan.. when he see's the shambles unfolding beside and infront of him which seems to be quite often now.. as captain and the wily veteran of the side I'd like to see him handing out more ear-bashings.

Lafferty is one I'm persisting with, whilst not glorifying by any means. When he was first played out on the left he was absolutely rancid.. You can't ever tell me a 6'4 guy with not-such-considerably pace is a left winger. However, when played up top he's in spates proven that he can cut it. I remember his first half performance at home to Hearts being tremendous before he picked up his injury. Lafferty to me seems like he needs a run of games to get into his stride.. as BD says, I'll ultimately judge him after such a run.

Someone above mentioned anger.. I meant to say, I've never seen or heard so much anger at Ibrox in my life. I forget if it was after the 3rd or 4th goal, pretty sure it was the 4th, and not sure how it came accross on TV, but there was a period where every single touch we had was being boo'd. The boo's were deafening when Rothen was subbed.. as shocking as he's been that's not exactly going to make him want to get any better for us. And I think young Fraser alluded to this earlier but the sarcastic cheer when McGregor made a routine catch was ridiculous.. unless I missed something and admittedly I haven't seen the goals on TV, he did nothing wrong. So aye.. just a lot of anger and frustration in the ground tonight.

We do seem to lack leadership in the middle of the park.. Ferguson is gone and there's nothing we can do about it. Mendes and Davis aren't leaders. Thomson could be if he got his finger out his arse and it's a game of wait and see when Edu is fit. Not much even Ferguson at his best could do with the team defending like we are at present, though.