Mark McGhee - are we due a rebate?

It is harsh to blame him for losing to Nancy. They were simply a superior side but after his noises all summer long about wanting to test himself in Europe, there is no question he came up short. His tactics in the first leg were simply appalling; a relic from a by-gone era, his glory days at Aberdeen, when teams did nothing but defend away from home. We never so much as threatened an away goal and it was luck rather than design which kept us in the tie with a 1-0 defeat.

At home we were outclassed but the dropping of Murphy and Sutton, our best player recently and our main goal threat, seems unexplainable. He cannot be faulted for Quinn's inexplicable push, nor the lucky free kick which stole in at the back post, but when the team has one shot on target in 180 minutes, it is not impressive. And remember, Nancy were the lowest seeds teams we could have been given - what if we'd met someone who could actually play!

But even accepting we were out of our depth in Europe, our domestic season is far from rosy. Our defence is woeful and his pursuing Webster and Kennedy, players clearly out of our league, simply wasted valuable time. When we finally strengthened our defence, we did so by signing a crock who can't play and was ineligible for Europe - McGhee's first priority - anyway.

Reynolds and Porter, key players last term, have simply fallen off the radar and if McGhee received praise for turning round the careers of Quinn, McGarry and Clarkson last summer, it must be asked just what he's doing now. On the other hand there is Stephen Hughes, who bravely turns out week after week despite a series of injuries which are clearly hampering his fitness. Arguably our best performance was in the second half against United and our most courageous was coming from behind to beat St Mirren. Hughes played in neither. Coincidence? It's impossible to tell, but hardly reflects well on anyone concerned.

While no one would have expected us to finish third again, we had a right to expect a decent go in the UEFA and a proper cup run. Instead we surrendered meekly in one and lost at home, for the third time in three domestic cups, in the other. The league at least is clearly still salvageable as we are, remarkably, only three points off fourth with a supposedly easier run ahead but we will need to lift our game.

Mark McGhee talked his way to huge wage increase in the summer and while he is still probably the right man to have at the helm, his salary means we are entitled to see some form of return this season. Unless he reaches Hampden in the Scottish or repeats a top six finish, he may well find he has priced himself out of the Fir Park job for next season - with his other options significantly less than they were twelve months earlier.