ascender

What a week this could be for us, fingers crossed!

I guess any further signings will depend on who leaves, did PLG say he wanted a squad of 23/34 to work with?

Remember that PLG has seen most of our games from last season and has now worked with the lads up close for a couple of weeks, so he's probably as best placed as anyone to make judgements now.

How much is Setanta this season, I was thinking of giving in and ordering it?

I think the PPV games are still available on Freeview, so you can pick and choose which matches you buy. Thing is, I'm guessing if you're going to watch one a month, you might as well just subscribe.

Like we've said with other players, its difficult to judge them based on last season where there was so much going on to make things hard on the pitch. Its weird that its taken him this long to find a club.

Apart from the goal in Porto I didn't see much from McCormack that made me think he was anything special. Remember just how dismal we were playing last season, the goal from a young Scot gave us something to be optimistic about, but its not like he started to bang in the goals like Kris Boyd did. You could aruge he wasn't given much of a chance, but if AM sent him off on loan and now PLG thinks he should leave, maybe he's just not up to the standard we need.

It says that McCormack has been told to find a new club.

No great surprise though, is it? He's going to be behind 3 or 4 forwards in the pecking order and if you have someone like Boyd banging in the goals again, there could be precious few chances for him.

Good luck to Marv and Boab, they've both been great servants to us and there were times last season where I wish some of the others had their attitude.

Superb news!

Who is the guy in the second last photo, lying on the ground. He looks older than me and just as chubby.

Looks a bit like Goram!

Yeah, but I noticed that he hasn't improved bits of his game that need work. An example that sticks in my mind.... After missing a couple of sitters, can't remember against who, but I think they were headers that he blazed over, you'd have thought he'd work on them in training. But no, because I remember a bit later he did the exact same thing. I know these were isolated incidents, but they stood out to me as an example of what was maybe wrong with him or the coaching.

Having said all that, he keeps getting picked for Tunisia, maybe he's worth keeping to see if he flourishes under PLG?

Interesting stat in the times though, Sven's win ratio is nearly 60% in all games, which is just behind Alf Ramsay, so he wasn't that bad in terms of actual results.

Yip, I'm guessing its for fitness too, especially when you see how fit PLG is having just completed the Marathon des Sables this year.

Read an interview today with Jim Sinclair who has been put in charge of pretty much "everything outside of the first XI" at Murray Park. The guy is 48 and has been in football all his life in some form or another as well as having a degree in sports psychology. It wasn't an in depth piece, but he certainly seems keen to make an impression.

Anyway, the interesting thing that he did say was that PLG had a look and wasn't at all happy with the youth players coming through, which is why he's been signing quite a few youngsters. One of Sinclair's top priorities is to sort out the youth system, so for me its very encouraging that the club are finally doing something about this.

Totally agree, would love to see France go all the way with him having a starring role.

Should we start taking bets on whose fault it all is? I'm guessing Ronaldo and Sven cop most of the blame.

I couldn't believe it when Shearer said it, the studio went kind of quiet too as if no-one knew what to say.

Great game and Zidane was back to his best tonight, seems keen to retire on a high. France are starting to look better with every match.

The strikers thing was a huge gamble, it just didn't make sense to anyone at all.

Sven's tactics seemed naive at times and he's definitely got his favourite players, but a few of them were rank rotten on the pitch and a change of tactics wouldn't have helped that. For someone who who was so brave to take Walcott, its strange that he doesn't have the balls to drop some of his favoured XI when they're not playing well.

You can bet the press and fans will be blaming Ronaldo for single-handedly putting England out of the WC when in fact they just played shite. Sven will also get grief, some of it rightly so, but the fact in my eyes is that a lot of those players under-performed.

England should have waltzed through to the semis with ease if they'd played anywhere near their best. Whether that's down to Sven or the players or a combination of both, they were largely rank rotten and its ironic that Hargreaves gets booed when coming on but then goes on to be one of your best players. I still think the England starting XI is on a par with anyone, but Sven's decision to take 2 unfit strikers and an un-tried one was just bizarre. Even moreso when he never played Walcott in any of the group games.

Didn't quite understand the pundits looking for reasons to blame Rooney's sending off on anyone other than Rooney. I think he was going before he pushed Ronaldo, although that sneaky wee shite was bang out of order. But all these guys play at the top level - they would have known exactly how the Portugese players would play-act and make the most of things.

The way the WC has gone, it was almost expected that some of the best players would miss penalties that they'd score in their sleep for ther clubs. Ricardo made some pretty great saves though. Portugal won't go any further, that's the annoying thing I'd guess.

Just can't see Portugal scoring though, I reckon its penalties with England winning.

As for Rooney, I can't remember what it was, but he did something in the first half which made me think he was about to lose the plot. He's let his frustration get the better of him again.

Juventus youngster Davide Tosetti is also on trial but Le Guen added: " I think Tosetti is too young to be included in the first-team squad."

So I guess that confirms Furman is also one for the future. How old were the 2 French players he signed at the same time?

So, Elmander and Clement as expected. Will there be enough money in the biscuit tin? Guess we'll know in a weeks time.

I'd still have him, I bet in the SPL he'll score a fair few goals over a season, even if he's not starting every game. If the wage demands weren't too bad, I'd have him, but like others have said, I'd rather we take the long term view and sign youngsters, even if it means not winning the league this season.

That's the impression that I get, that there's 2 or 3M tops to spend, hence why he's holding out for Clement. If the Elmander deal is still on, then he's obviously hoping to get the pair of them for the money left, then supplement them with some Bosmans. Any more money that comes in is a bonus then.