David Kelly

Pacific is child friendly and have plenty of screens if you're wanting somewhere central in the town. I don't know what you consider decent beer, and I can't stand that craft shite that's popular these days. They certainly have better options than Carling and Fosters though.

Apparently they are confident that any season ticket holder who wants a ticket will get one. Particularly bearing in mind there's virtually no chance everyone who is eligible will be able/will want to go. I'm in the first section though so happy with the way they've done this. The only slight issue is that you can only get seats together for the up to six tickets you buy at once. There's about 15 of us going down so we'll be in at least three different groupings. But that's hardly the end of the world.

I don't disagree with any of that Craig, including the bit about Shelvey who arguably has been treated better than he deserved for the output we've had from him for large parts of the last 7 years, but I'm delighted to see the club showing respect to former players. My feeling is though that we have a real chance this season to leap forward at a greater speed than anyone expected and it's just a bit disapointing we haven't jumped at that chance, especially when the risks of losing the likes of Bruno and Botman to teams who are playing in the champions league will get greater and greater the longer we aren't able to offer that.

My concern with the transfer window played out perfectly in a mini version last night. The three substitutions were made and with one of them being Willock we had no other options to bring on in midfield when they were getting well on top and threatening to make it a very nervous last ten minutes. And then Bruno gets sent off and we have no one to replace him (even at a lesser standard). So now for the next three games we have three central midfielders for the three positions on offer. We have no options off the bench if it's not working or another one of them gets injured/suspended. It may be fine and and the extra wide option of Gordon along with Isak and Wilson getting fitter and fitter, might get us through, but it could also be that it seriously derails our bid for champions league football next season. I'm not saying that I'm unhappy with the business we have done (ins and outs), I'm not saying that I'm not delighted at where we've got to in such a short space of time. I'm just disapointed that for whatever reason, we've not been able to build on it further in this window particularly in a season in which Liverpool and Chelsea in particular have massively disapointed and allowed us an opportunity to do something which could have huge implications on how we can finance our aims going forward.

Well we seem to think we have addressed the concern of an injury to Tripps with Ashby no? For me the middfield has started to look a little jaded in recent weeks and we now have no other options to bring in anyone who's not already playing. That's got to be a bit of a concern. If Bruno is out for any length of time we are massively fucked. But then again, to bring in the level of player who can cover for Bruno was never goung to be likely this window.

I think we're taking a real risk in terms of going for Champions League qualification if we don't have a midfielder come in. We all knew we were short at the begining of the window and although Shelvey has played very little this season. selling him certainly doesn't help matters. And I don't buy the theory that bringing Gordon in allows us to move Joelinton back more centrally. We've had Maxi pretty much fit since before the world cup so we already had that option (Isak further increased the options too). I'm certainly not going to whine on like an Arsenal fan as we're in a fantastic position (hopefully even better after tonight) but I think this would be the first failure of the new regime if we don't bring anyone else in. It might be that we carry luck with injuries and form and Bruno, Joelinton, Longstaff and Willock can carry us through the rest of the season. But even if that happens I think we will have been shown a little wanting this month in our recruitment.

The question is just what Howe considers our best side. There's at least 9 players locked in.

Obviously if Howe picked a team similar to the Sheffield game I wouldn't be conifdent of scoring, but any realistic team and I'm confident. Very few games against premier league opposition are cake walks, but if we can't be confident there is something seriously wrong with us.

A bit better finishing over the last few games and we'd have had another game this weekend and would be 2 points behind City. The goals will come whatever team Howe picks and I fancy Southampton will think they need to have a lead tonight so will come at us. 3-1 to us.

Train booked immediately after the draw was made.

Hotels already booked.

Who is Craig Russell?

Bruno, Trippier and Botman should be nowhere near the pitch tomorrow.

The fact that clubs like Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea already have global appeal would surely make them an interesting purchase. Yes you have to spend a lot to keep it going but the revenue streams that you have access to far surpasses us, Villa, Everton etc. And if you're not interested in sports washing then revenue is what you will be looking at.

You have to remember with Kuol that he's only ever started a couple of league games. We'd all love to see him tearing up the championship or eredvise but the reality is playing regular pub football along with some compatriots is probably a good move all round at this stage. And you'd expect Hearts to be a better run outfit than the usual loans we have at Jaggie Thistle.

Lets not forget that Liverpool went years without being a true premier league force before Klopp. Of course we would have given anything to be in the position they were in through the vast majority of that time but they were rarely title contenders other than for the odd season (ie about the same as us in that sense) before Teeth Gilespie came along and turned them into real winners. They are of course a massive club and anyone investing in them will no doubt have money to spend, but it will very much be done as a business and it's unlikely they will be of the Saudi/Abu Dhabi/Qatar level. So they will be relying on the work of their manager and it's looking more and more like the Klopp 7 year cycle is a real thing that he has no real idea of how to break out of. There's definitely a chance to break clear of them if we continue to build as we are. Of course you're right in that we aren't going to have it all out own way. Which is something I'm more than happy with tbh. I'm not desperate to be Bayern winning the league at a trott every year. I'd much rather we were competing in a league were there are a number of teams at the start of each season with a realistic chance of winning it.

Judging by the way Klopp is imploding we're not going to need to have a rivalry with them. They're heading back to their previous premier league norm of being nowhere near the title race.

May as well have left him in Australia as put him in the SPL.

I'm absolutely loving the bitterness of the supporters and management of Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd against the way we've played against them this season. My latest favourite is them complaining about how Tripps was at the ref every foul after a card. How quick they are to forget the decades of this their own teams have subjected referees through, and in much greater numbers than just their captain (who in Trippier's case consistently stopped other players from approaching the ref). The amount of photos you can find online of them doing it is staggering. Arsenal were brought up on a charge for doing this as recently as October ffs. Year after year we have watched as we meekly surrendered when we've went to these clubs and they simply aren't happy that we are now building something and have the resources to prevent their darlings from winning trophies or making the champions league as regularly. Who knows how long this will continue, the Saudi's may pull out/be forced to pull out before they can reach our stated target, but I'm just loving every moment of it as long as it lasts.

I love the "probably only lost 3 or 4 times all season" comment. Trying to disguise the fact that they will be more aware of our record than we are!

There's a fair few of them I've never heard of. And that's not counting the caretakers.

Well I didn't want to step on anyones toes and go that far.

Has anyone mentioned Botman to score tonight?

Aye I'm getting the same when trying to get tickets for my lasses young un.

Bizarre decision to have this series between the World Cup and the Pakistan test series.