stewarty

Reading between the lines it seems to be an effort to streamline the governance arrangements. What needs to go along side this though, is clarity over roles, responsibilities and delegated authorities. Additionally, the club board need to set a framework for making time critical decisions that are normally reserved for RIFC non-execs oversight, but where they are not available. And ultimately, if Stewart Robertson is the MD, he needs to be allowed to be the MD.

Having a wee chuckle at the Easdale dig...

Pretty sure it can be done, if someone is willing to register as an agent.

I think we should combine this and the club1872 threads. On that basis, my vote for Pedro's "Cultural Attache" is Craig Houston.

I seem to recall reading a couple of board meeting summaries, but couldn't remember how many. I checked and minutes/ summaries of board meetings held on the following dates are available to members: - 29 October 2016 - 2 December 2016 - 9 January 2017 - 30 January 2017 - 6 February 2017

A sensible response from the remaining board. There are always two sides to any story, so hopefully the public meeting will allow for that to be put forward. On the face of it, it is really concerning to read what came out over the weekend. My only aside though, is that given the way that Blair's views on independence and conflicts of interest during the Board elections have been undermined by his actions in the Takeover Panel, and possibly now by this, I don't have a lot of faith in his views if he is one of the two members with significant governance experience referred to.

Just doesn't make any sense. Why would he move north, to the team of his boyhood rivals, for probably less than a third of what he's on or could get staying down south?

Agreed. But neither seem to be in Strachan's favour. An odd state of affairs

On the latter point, I would agree.. And the concerns over Blair's conflict of interest come back into full view. Whilst I was willing to accept the reasoning given at the time of the C1872 merger, this information was not known to us at the time, but it would have been to Blair.

Murty certainly merits consideration. He was coy about the suggestion post-match, but he seems to have something about him. The only question is whether he fits the criteria of a local man who knows the game up here - given he's not played up here and only coached for a few months. Neil McCann would certainly be a popular choice. But as Frankie says, good punditry doesn't always translate into good coaching. Ferguson - would fit the mould in terms of knowledge and passion. He would almost certainly not turn us down, and given Pedro talked of teaching the assistant about his approach, perhaps this is a good opportunity for Barry to develop the next stage of his coaching/ managerial career. Alex Rae: more experienced than the other candidates, so may be seen as a steadier hand to support Pedro's team?

three left backs but no right back?!? Otherwise looks our best squad for a good while.

I suspect our signings in the summer might well have a spanish/ portuguese flavour. Undoubtedly there could be some good value to be had in terms of adding some technical ability to our squad. I think we need a stronger spine and I hope this is something he addresses quickly. Centre half, defensive midfield, goalscoring striker. The other aspect might be how he views players not currently playing. As an example: Dodoo seems to have dropped away quickly, but I have wondered if he might have been worth giving a run of games to see if he can string some performances together.

Back to the OP, I think its highly unlikely that we will be given a blow-by-blow account of the recruitment process. We've had some of the highlights from Robertson, as have been mentioned already around Pedro being the outstanding candidate from the process. Even if it turns out to be a bad appointment, not every club gets every appointment right. You can look at every club and find managerial / head coach failures. Not all of them fail because of the appointment itself, but because of other factors that could not necessarily be predicted or factored into the recruitment process. Ultimately any manager will be judged on results and performances, taking account the constraints they work under. Whilst not being hugely overwhelmed by his appointment, there's enough about him that gives me encouragement that we've attempted to do the right things.

The main thing I took from it was a commitment to re-engage more regularly on the basis of c1872 as a shareholder and representatives of its supporters. Lots of positive noises - its now down to Robertson and the Board to deliver on these commitments.

Hopefully they increase his ban to cover the rest of the season... reprehensibly stupid of Kiernan to give such a poor referee a chance to send you off. When you consider the game situation and the pitch location... deary me.

As much as I think a yellow would have been a fair decision, I was less annoyed by Clancy giving the red than i was with Kiernan for being so stupid and reckless. For me this was the final straw - I would be happy if he never played again for us. We can't afford to be carrying someone like that.

I think its unlikely that the Board will step aside and give someone else a shot, so its therefore vital that we look to the incumbents to show ckear leadership and vision - a point very well made by the OPs. Amongst other things, in my view, we must: - strengthen the Board with an independent director and reconsider the fans voice on the Board - we need checks and balances in the Boardroom. I could live without a fan rep on the board in the short term, but an independent non-exec is vital. - strengthen the executive team - agree completely we need a strong FD, but also there's just far too many plates for Robertson to spin - we need a clear set of delegated authorities for the executive to work within - the fact that every key decision requires King's sign-off may be not be unreasonable, but we simply have to to look at the decision making process so that it is proactive and efficient - if that means delegating more to the executive, or have some sort of proxy sub-board that can step in at short notice if King isn't available, so be it. - the value of transparency needs to be upheld - the final days of the Warburton saga are as clear as mud. Its taking the Michael of the support not to clear this up and resolve things in a professional manner

I'm assuming this is just part of a gentle build up in terms of intensity. I'd be surprised if he wasn't at least several weeks away from normal training.

Strikes me that this is, in part, a response to some discussion over the weekend around c1872's role as a major shareholder and to what extent we are holding the Board to account in a constructive manner. Although I'm sure that work is progressing in the background, given the turmoil the club is continuing to experience, its natural the supporters begin to look to the likes of c1872 to seek assurances that we are indeed working to the plan that SR referred to last week. Although clearly of good intention, the statement seems designed to fill the vacuum, but the language was a bit clumsy and begs further questions and uncertainty. Something for the c1872 Board to reflect on in due course, but for now I'm more concerned with the outcome of the proposed meeting and look forward to seeing the minutes when published.

Its fine to try and act professionally now, but given their conduct in seeking out new positions at Fulham and then Notts Forest, by having their agent involved directly in conversations around striking a deal for their release, by talking immediately on Friday to Chris McLaughlin and by leaking information on a seemingly regular basis at least over the last month or two; it seems a somewhat ridiculous position to set out. This is just posturing to secure and maximise their payout.

I went along to the U20's fixture vs Aberdeen last week and thought Beerman showed some glimpses of good play. Murty was talking to him constantly throughtout the first half when he was playing right in front of him - mainly talking to him him about his positioning.

I think one of the galling aspects is that there aren't that many of the Hearts squad (if any) that you would get into our team. Maybe the boy that got two of their goals - he looked decent. What they clearly had done though, is analyse our strengths and weaknesses and put in place a plan to win the game. Positionally they were clever, they pressed high and worked hard in transition phases to stop us getting the ball forward quickly - often causing us to make mistakes or to play it long. They out fought us and were regularly first to second balls (good positioning). When we did get forward, they doubled up on our main attacking threat in McKay. Miller hardly got a sniff all game.

Its all relative. Gilks obviously wants games at his stage of career, and perhaps Alnwick is a replacement for big Wes. Given Fod's form and progression, it would be no surprise to see a big club down south offer some serious money. There simply aren't that many GK's that are as consistently good with the gloves and his feet...

The political equivalent of kicking this into the long grass...

I think Halliday/Holt as a combo is perhaps not good enough, but individually if they had better midfielders around them, they could do a job and be successful. Oh to have a 23yo Barry Ferguson again...