Devil's advocate (or a more sober version of what pants wrote)

The thing is folks, we KNEW it was going to be a tough, tough ask for things to turn around that quickly. The club has fundamental problems in terms of debt, has essentially produced rubbish on the pitch for 75% of the time since being relegated in '95, and even the 25% which WAS a success - the period between 2001 and 2004 - was achieved by overstretching, leading to the debt which we have to cope with now.

When Grant was appointed, I said he had until Xmas 2008 to demonstrate clear progress, and May 2010 to get us up. This line of thinking was, presumably, very much in keeping with that of the board, given he was awarded a three-and-a-half year contract. And in that regard, it's still very early days in Grant's first full season at the helm. So far, all he's been able to do is clear out some deadwood: but we lost three players of real quality at this level during the summer, and you could argue that he inherited such a pathetically thin squad that he was forced to replace quality with quantity.

Then, a number of central midfielders got injured - and for whatever reason, he was unable to strengthen in central defence, forcing the situation we saw yesterday. Murray at left back? Lappin pushed inside? Doherty still starting at all? We're unbalanced, and just don't have enough quality - but that's inevitable given we're £20m in debt and in our first season without parachute payments.

We are where we are: we all know the reasons why. But to be honest, this was always going to be the toughest period: no parachute payments and a rebuilding of the squad which has only just begun = major, major struggle. I'm worried, of course I am: we haven't played well once this season, and Hux' comments, not to mention three sendings off in our last two matches, suggest major, major disharmony in the dressing room.

But does this equate to where we were under Hamilton seven years ago? Not yet it doesn't, no. The next few games offer us the chance to move away from danger, into mid-table: I expect us to take it, and put this near crisis behind us. Only if we're bottom 6 at Xmas, or embark on the same kind of terrifying second-half-of-the-season plummet which saw us flirt with catastrophe ten years ago, would I advocate Grant's exit. It's s**te, but it's only realistic given the circumstances: despite our growing doubts, the very least PG deserves is time.

Posted By: thebigfeller, Sep 23, 00:59:18