SPL Fanzone - As the supporters see it

Published on Wednesday 22 October 2008 00:28

DUNDEE UNITED IT STILL seems somehow a little inappropriate to be talking about football matters in the days after losing our chairman, but I suspect Eddie Thompson would be a proud man in light of the tremendous respect his passing has elicited from supporters of all teams.

The Thompson family have lowered admission prices for St Mirren's visit on Saturday and this should ensure that Tannadice is awash with tangerine to give Eddie a fitting send-off. It will be a tearful day, but joyous too as Arabs celebrate the life of 'ET' and reflect on just how great an input and impact he has had on our cub over the past few years.

Without his commitment, passion and financial wherewithal it might be a far greyer picture at Tannadice than the resurgent one he's left us with. Here's hoping we give him a suitable farewell on Saturday and that Sir Craig and the boys continue to honour his chairmanship with the kind of performances we're becoming accustomed to once more.

Hamish Mackintosh

www.dundeeunited-mad.co.uk

HEARTS

HIBS should have had a penalty. We scored a perfectly good goal, which was wrongly ruled out. We're often told that things even themselves out over the course of the season. I'm not convinced about that, but the two bad decisions certainly had that effect on each other on Sunday.

After succumbing to a neat Hibs move right at the start, I feared the worst. However, we quickly took control of the game, and it was great to see the superb Bruno Aguiar getting us a well-deserved equaliser. The second half was more even, but we should have done better with the chances we created. At the other end, Janos Balogh clearly hadn't read the script, denying Derek Riordan a late winner with a great save.

The excellent displays from the returning Aguiar and Andy Driver bode well for the weeks ahead, and the tireless contribution of Christian Nade showed he can make a difference up front if given the chance. However, his miss at the end highlighted the glaringly obvious problem we have. We need a goalscorer.

Sandy Leonard

www.hmfckickback.co.uk

KILMARNOCK

THE game against Motherwell was certainly not the greatest, but there is a lot to be said for "winning ugly".

The difference between this year and last was there for all to see. Last term Motherwell would have got a man sent off and we'd have conceded a last-minute goal, but now we have a team who are tighter than two coats of paint and see anything except a win as a bad result.

This weekend we host Falkirk and hopefully now that we are fulfilling our potential we can see an upturn in attendances. Low Killie crowds always seem to be highlighted in the media, despite other clubs faring much worse, but we are very aware that we should be getting more folk to the Theatre of Pies.

Alan Combe will be at the Howard Arms to collect his killiefc.com player of the year award after Saturday's match and we've invited Pasca and the rest of the boys to join him. Hopefully we can get JJ and BB along too and let them all know how much we are enjoying the season so far.

Barry Richmond

www.killiefc.com

INVERNESS CT

CHAMPIONS Celtic came to Inverness last Saturday and took all three points from a spirited home side. On the balance of play, we should have gone in at half-time in a winning position and our overall performance was worth at least a point.

We played some good football and kept Celtic at bay, but the chances we created lacked the finishing touch – a familiar theme for us this season. We were caught napping in the second half and then found ourselves chasing the game but without a real striker in our side the writing was on the wall. We can take some positives out of this defeat as the team showed real spirit and Wood's strike made for an interesting last 20 minutes. But a repeat of last season's comeback from two down wasn't to be.

A bad ankle injury to Phil McGuire could see us struggle at the back in the next few games, but this will give the youngsters a chance to stake their claim. Motherwell come to town next week and maybe we can find that cutting edge we so desperately need.

Dave 'Gringo' Wilson

www.caleythistleonline.com

CELTIC

IAIN Brines' eccentric refereeing only added to the mediocrity on show in Inverness last week. Celtic didn't help themselves by appearing to have an eye on Old Trafford in the first half and should have been one down at the interval.

Skoosh (Scott Brown] was the best player on the park throughout the 90 minutes but Robson turned in a great second half and it was no surprise that they were both involved in the goals that eventually won the game.

Cillian Sheridan, sporting his Jim Melrose haircut, replaced Skippy to add some much-needed height to our Tattoo-like strikeforce. Gordon Strachan should call on the young lad again for this weekend's match against Hibs, if only because his height might spike the tabloids' rush to portray the Celtic team as "dwarfs" and "midgets". Not to mention sticking Gordon Strachan's head on Snow White. Ingenious.

We await the return of the lesser spotted Derek Riordan this week. But how will we recognise him?

Dave Devine

FALKIRK

IT IS pretty frustrating when you don't get the breaks on 50/50 decisions in a game, but it is an utter nightmare when you don't even get the bulk of the 80/20 ones either.

Referee Willie Collum and his assistants gave one of the most inept displays of the season on Saturday, booking five and ordering off one in a game without a seriously bad tackle, seemingly willing to award the Dons a free-kick every time a red-clad arm went up in the air. Collum also disallowed a perfectly good Steve Lovell opener – a vital moment in the game. For the Bairns fans who cried "conspiracy" believing the word has gone out to referees to make sure Aberdeen do not get relegated, what they witnessed only fuelled the chat-room fires.

Falkirk now find themselves bottom of the league facing a game this weekend at high-flying Kilmarnock, another of our so called hoodoo sides, needing to burst the form guide and get a win to put our season back on track.

Brian Guthrie

www.bairnstrust.com

HAMILTON ACCIES

HAMILTON Accies supporters have been hit by a collective dose of reality over the past month or so after our heady days at the start of the Premier League season.

We always knew it was going to be tough to stay in the top flight, and perhaps our bright start to the campaign raised expectations just a little too high among some supporters. Having lost at home to St Mirren, the side most people predicted us to be battling it out with at the bottom, things are certainly not looking all that healthy for us. However, it would be harsh to be too scathing on a group of players who, it could be argued, punched above their weight in winning promotion last term.

The fact we play host to Rangers on Saturday should be enough to get the fans upbeat again, and hopefully the players can respond as well as they did the last time the Setanta cameras were at New Douglas Park, for the opening-day win over Dundee United.

It's time to unite behind Billy and his (young) boys!

John Aitchison

www.setbb.com/acciesworld

ST MIRREN

SATURDAY'S game against Hamilton was an important one. A poor performance would show that our win over Rangers was just a flash in the pan, while a good result would suggest that the corner has indeed been turned and things are looking up. Fortunately, it turned out to be the latter and we are now sitting in the heady heights of seventh place.

It's a far cry from a disastrous week last month when a cup exit and a disappointing league defeat left us bottom of the table and had many fans questioning Gus MacPherson's future. I'll freely admit I was beginning to edge towards that camp, but the recent results have eased my concerns.

Hamilton came up with a novel way to stop one of our attacks on Saturday when they turned on the sprinklers as we pushed forward. It'll likely be a 'What Happened Next?' moment on 'A Question of Sport' sometime in the future, but why were they only watering the half of the pitch Hamilton would be attacking after the break?

Stuart Gillespie

www.saintmirren-mad.co.uk

RANGERS

RANGERS had an idle weekend due to the sad death of Eddie Thompson. The decision to postpone the game was correct, and all Rangers fans would like to pass on their condolences to all connected with Dundee United at their loss.

The talk is of supporters who post on the websites, with David Murray and Walter Smith having them firmly in their crosshairs. While there is no doubt some idiots do talk nonsense on the web, it always seems to me that the loathing displayed by those 'in the game' about such places is based on the fact the web has empowered fans and given them a voice. You suspect they simply want us to buy a match ticket and shut up about everything else. Sadly for them, it doesn't work that way – the days of the fan as a passive consumer have gone; those in football should remember that.

Saturday sees us off to Hamilton on league business for the first time in 20 years and three points are a must for the Gers. After Love Street, nothing else will do.

David Edgar

www.theRST.co.uk

HIBERNIAN

CONGRATULATIONS to Hearts for winning the league at Easter Road on Sunday. Well, at the end of the match they certainly celebrated leaving ER with a point as if they had just claimed the SPL title. Aguiar throwing his shirt into the crowd, Shabba giving out hugs to all and sundry for a job well done, and all this for a draw? Perhaps I just don't understand the BIG-team mentality after all.

The mood on hibs.net is not of jubilation, it's more of frustration. Fans are confused by Mixu's refusal to accept that in most games we are being outplayed, yet his formations are obviously working to an extent as we sit fourth in the league. The stats show Hibs had more possession, shots on and off target and corner kicks, but it didn't feel like that when watching the game. However, all this would have been irrelevant had Deek not fluffed his late chance.

We play Celtic on Saturday and it's difficult to go there with any real confidence given the way we are playing, but you never know...

Eddie Henderson

www.hibs.net

ABERDEEN

A RUMOUR swept the city last week that Jimmy Calderwood had two games left to save his job. So does Saturday's victory mean he has removed the noose he put around his own neck?

No, especially as it was due in large part to Stevie Lovell doing a 'Stars in Their Eyes' and saying "Tonight Yogi, I'm going to be – Darren Mackie".

For the first time this season Calderwood span his 'Tactical Tombola' and came up with a formation that left the Reds fans baffled… Was it a 4-4-2? Was it a 3-5-2? Or was it just 11 blokes randomly positioned on a field? The baffling formation and tactics did little to change the opinion that watching the Dons under Calderwood has become a tiresome obligation rather than the pleasurable distraction it should be.

So whilst we're glad the losing streak is finally over and are grateful for the three points, for many Dons fans Saturday's win was viewed as not so much papering over the cracks as attempting to 'Polyfilla' the Grand Canyon.

Mark Alexander

www.aberdeen-mad.co.uk

MOTHERWELL

FANS have been crying out that football is too expensive for years – our board finally do something drastic about it and get pilloried.

What they'll find even more galling is that the reasoning behind the price initiative is sound. The games against the poorly supported clubs are now very cheap for Motherwell fans, especially if you are taking a kid along. We have cut the Old Firm prices because we know there is a huge market on our doorstep – 15 in our till is better than them putting 15 into their local bar. The only people who are unaffected are Hamilton (they'll come anyway for the derby) and the clubs from Edinburgh and Aberdeen. The medium three can bring potentially huge supports, almost filling the South Stand – but only when they're winning. If they're stuck in the lower part of the table, few extra will bother to make the journey to Motherwell on the basis of a 7 saving.

Instead the board's good idea has been undone by old-fashioned anti-Old Firm feeling.

Derek Wilson

www.firparkcorner.com