Frankie

Burke is another enigmatic player. When fully fit and playing well he was exactly the kind of player I paid my season ticket money to watch - tricky, exciting and a typical Scottish winger. Unforutnately, injury and a general lack of improvement in his game (such as his decision-making and final ball) meant it was definitely the best move to move him on.

Oh, Allan McGregor played very well and was our best player by far.

The banner raises the issue to those fans who may not get online to be aware of current feelings amongst such fans. As for the introduction of Fleck, you are quite correct. St Johnstone were tiring but the lad found the space and touch other players couldn't for the previous 85mins. Davis was awful again (other than the last 15mins) or so and seems to suffer badly from spikes/troughs in confidence. Not to mention an 'ability' to shirk out of 50/50 challenges. Ferguson was disgraceful and if he got any deeper would have been playing sweeper. Not that he would have tracked any runs then either. Naismith tried hard and had a few decent touches but was clearly unfit - Aaron or Fleck should have played ahead of him. Mendes flitted in and out of the game as usual but was generally anonymous and that's why we could have lost 3 or 4 goals in the first half. Defence played reasonably well but sat far too deep. Miller was abysmal and Boyd seemed to work hard enough at times but had no support and even less strength in the challenge. Like I say, unacceptable.

Ferguson is past his best. The odd flash every few games for ten minutes at a time isn't enough for this bear. Unfortunately, better scholars of the game than me watch him play so if we think any team will offer the �£3million we require to balance the books, then we're sorely mistaken. He should never have been brought back and his return is symptomatic of our club's backward outlook.

Aye and Kev is away for the pies...

What BD said. Protest (direct or indirect) is required but unfortunately with no answers, with no focal point and with no leadership then it is doomed to failure currently.

I don't disagree but it's impossible to quantify or generalise about the support unless the situation does get to a stage where bankruptcy or just a complete lack of success is more real. The pre-Souness early 1980s do tell us that thousands of fans will just disappear but I'd like to think that the experiences of Celtic in the 90s and better methods of communication now may change that apathy to something more constructive. Unfortunately, as it stands, that doesn't seem to be the case as many supporters either just won't believe the chairman is incompetent and, even if they do, they don't care enough to change it. Even worse, there is no Fergus McCann on the horizon to focus our protest round. Finding a buyer is our biggest challenge. Couple that with apathy then we have a situation that doesn't bear thinking about.

Obviously with the problems regarding the forums being down, we've not really discussed the Boyd issue. What is clear from it for me is not the individual player we're selling (although selling our best goalscorer is nonsensical half way through a season) but that once again we're paying for unacceptable strategic errors by the administration. Now, the players are to blame for being so poor against Kaunas but the manager and chairman must take their fair share for spending the money wrongly before that game and then, crazily, spending another �£9million after we were knocked out. As such, if SDM wants someone to blame for the current situation, then he need look no further than his own bathroom mirror. The fact we've been guilty of similar mistakes in the not so distant past is unforgivable. As such, this constant and unsuccessful high-risk, short term strategy must surely at some point awaken the apathetic majority. I'm all for workable protest action to help.

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Ferguson leaving doesn't bother as much as Boyd to be honest... Does mean we now need a right midfielder though unless Edu is to be finally given his chance.

Depends what they were told when they signed. I can only assume Smith wants to sell Boyd as surely no manager would put up with his best goalscorer being flogged off half-way through a must win SPL season? And for less than �£4million at that...

The guy has lost the plot.... If we're not a selling club and still want to win the league, why would we sell our top scorer for what isn't really all that much.

Great post biggordy... Well short on ideas I'm afraid and even if I (we) did have any the chairman is too arrogant to listen.

As I've tried to stress several times, this isn't about Kris Boyd (or Ferguson or Davis or whoever) but the very fact our club is being run so badly we again have to sell a key player as we attempt to win the league from 5 points behind. How anyone can begin to suggest this kind of risky strategy will result in consistency and success is beyond me?

It's not a small one. It is 20% so ~�£700K if we sell for �£3-3.5million.

Well, we're having to pay �£23+ for netx month's friendly against AC Milan... I wonder if some of the overpaid players and staff at the club will forgo a similar %age of their weekly wage to help out the club?

No chance of this I'd have thought... Fee, wages and the fella's poor performances should mean he won't be coming.

You are completely correct CB... We can all point the finger of blame at Murray and we'd be right. But, we - well the apathetic majority - are just as culpable. 2nd best seems good enough for many Rangers fans. What they don't realise is that 2nd best may not even be attainable the way we're going.

Our players and manager can't even seem to put any effort into playing well over 90mins against inferior teams never mind win championships. The lack of belief, character and commitment at the club is leading it to its doom.

And that's the problem we face. 1. We have a chairman who wants to sell. 2. No-one wants to buy. 3. The club makes a loss unless European football (specifically CL Group Stage qualification) is attained. 4. The club is current run badly/inefficiently and the owner seems unable or unwilling to accommodate new ideas/staff to address this. Vicious circle of the worst, worst kind. A whirlpool that we're all drowning in.

His overall assets may be worth that but with his bank debt and the recession he's probably not worth much more than you or I right now...

Agreed Johnny. Our money is being wasted year after year. I won't be paying over �£400 again this Spring to see it wasted again.

Nah, Barry is the tech man.....

Must be Boyd's turn to become a Ferguson for a couple of years... See you in 2011, Kris.