In defence of Coughlinho

For weeks, the online supporters' forum has been full of appeals for JC to throw in the kids (which I did not agree with). Now all of a sudden everybody (me included) is shocked to see Quinn and Murray out of the side. Fundamentally you can't have it both ways - with Dickson and Plenderleith coming in, some of the regular players had to be dropped.

My own view is that if you play youngsters out of desparation, you gain nothing. They come into a team which is already struggling, they quickly get their confidence shattered, and nobody gains anything. If there are specific youngsters who deserve to be picked on merit, that is a different matter and they should be encouraged - Dickson and Plenderleith may or may not come into this category, I can't judge as I've only seen them once. But throwing them in simply because we've run out of ideas is foolish.

Re: the manager's ability - form is temporary, but quality is permanent. JC has transformed our club over the last 3 years, and we are now - undeniably - going through a rough patch. I do not, however, believe that he has 'lost the dressing room' - remember that we put in a good solid performance against Brechin just two weeks ago. The solution is not to sack him, but to allow him to settle on a stable starting XI built around our key players (Williams, Clark (when fit), Murray, Anderson, Stirling, etc). Because of injuries he hasn't had a chance to do this until now; contrary to rumour, however, he has used consistent starting XIs in previous seasons, and I look forward to him doing so again.

I would be quite keen to see the Board delver a Vote of Confidence in John - so long as it's a genuine vote of confidence like the one he got two years ago, and not a 'fake' vote of confidence to be followed by the sack two weeks later. Guaranteeing his position until the end of the season would remove the current sense of uncertainty, and this can only help the players.

Root Vegetables

It was another long journey back to London after our defeat by Airdrie United, but - searching as I do for small crumbs of comfort - this was undoubtedly a higher calibre of defeat than that which we suffered on my last trip north (the 2-0 defeat by Ayr in September). Put simply, I would much rather lose to a spectacular overhead kick from Jamie Bain, than to some arbitrary Ayr United goal conceded when the usually excellent Scott Gibb falls on his backside.

The plush surroundings of the Shyberry Excelsior also made a pleasant change from Ayr's stone-age stadium, and - as if that weren't enough - we were kept entertained by the most bizarre set of advertising hoardings in the SFL. Staring back at us from across the half-way line were the words 'Root Vegetables,' emblazoned in bold type with no further explanation in sight. Equally odd was the advert, a little further to the right, for a company offering 'Clean Air Containment Services.' I would have thought the good people of Airdrie would be more concerned with containing polluted air, but evidently they do things differently in Lanarkshire...