The manager was in relaxed mood and handled the questions with ease. He is a strong and confident character who appears calm and clear in his thinking.
The current position of the team in the league is causing concern. He appreciates that a gap exists but remains upbeat about our prospects.
“Nobody'd thumped us in football terms”, he said, and he returned to that theme several times. The defeats, in the main, have been narrow and he has confidence in the ability of the team.
He is philosophical about the spate of injuries which has hampered our progress, “that's football for you”.
He was disappointed that the pre-season signings failed to materialise, “Financially, there were on a different planet”. He still has Murphy as a target and hopes that “something can be sorted soon”.
Mark Reynolds' was “forced in” to the team much sooner than he had expected but of his impressive form he said, “long may it continue”. He re-affirmed that Ross McCormack's recovery from a virus attack means that he cannot be rushed back and he is able to play only for limited spells.
Of the recent huddles, he commented that they were an indication of the good spitit in the dressing room. Team morale? “Never a problem, good”.
Why did he switch to 3-5-2? He felt a need to freshen things up. “Formations don't win games, players do.” His preference is for four at the back.
Mo says that he “loves the job” and when asked about what he learned from Jim McLean his first suggestion was “how to wear a thick skin”. Most of his coaching style was learned from
Chris McCart played his part in the Q&A session too. He spent some time outlining the problems faced by young players who are promoted to the first team. He feels that there are several good prospects in this season's U19s especially among the attacking players.
It was a good natured session which gave the audience an insight to the thought processes which drive the manager – let's hope his thinking can produce a home win on Saturday!