That's looking like a very, very tasty, tasty prospect.

Yeah, well, they played just each other last Tuesday.

They finished 1-1 in Dingwall.

And I think that was a huge point for Hamilton.

I think that, by all accounts, the first 30 minutes, County came out and gave them a bit of a battering.

And it could have been far more severe than 1-0 at that point.

But when Stuart McKenzie equalised for Hamilton, I think that brought a nice ebb to the match.

Do you think there's any saving either of them? I mean, as I just said, it is only beginning of November, but I mean, I suppose when you're in this kind of rut, it's pretty hard to get out of it in football.

They are banging in the goals at the moment.

Yeah, it's amazing.

It's just absolutely amazing.

Seeing that on the Saturday afternoon, seeing the score coming in from Palmerston, genuinely jaw-dropping.

And I think that people were like, are they going to get 10? Are they going to get 10? And it can't be far off where Ross County beat a team in the league 10-0 because they are absolutely relentless at the moment.

I remember when we spoke about Ross County in last season's podcast, we unfortunately were very negative towards them because it was an absolute all-timer of a season.

They were probably pound for pound the worst team in the country.

I mean, do you sense, Craig, that this is going to be a two-horse race? Or do you feel the way Ross County are reining in goals on teams that they might just pull away at some stage?

Right, Telfer, this is-

And, and sorry, Fowler, just before we actually get into it, well, there's something I, I have to, have to, to, not, not confess to the listener, but Yeah, listeners may have remembered on Lower League podcast, uh, I had to pay 50 pounds to an Arbroath-based charity after saying I wouldn't mention Stenhousemuir on a podcast, and invariably did mention Stenhousemuir.

So a guy in Pineboveral, Andy, who is a longtime listener of the show, got in touch and said I should donate some money to the Lunnan Bay Community Partnership.

They're looking to raise funds to build an accessible pier for Lunnan Bay.

It's about a two-mile stretch of beach around the Angus coastline.

Absolutely beautiful.

Visited by locals and tourists from further afield alike.

Yeah, aye, they're just-

How do you think we should kind of look at his place overall in Scottish football history?

I think that Andy Robertson is a brilliant example to anyone that's ever been told you're not good enough, um, and that what you can achieve by, by believing in yourself and taking any opportunities that come your way.

I remember seeing him playing for Queens Park in the 2012, 2013 season and thinking, "That boy's really good." Never in a million years would I think he'd go on to achieve what he did.

But just seeing him, the progression from Queens Park to Dundee United to Hull to, to a, a, a incredible cog in this high-flying Liverpool team, it's been, it's been absolutely incredible.

So certainly at, at club level, there, there's no question about what Robertson's achieved.

Absolutely phenomenal career.

I do think perhaps there's bigger-- His, it's perhaps a bit more nuanced when it comes to talking about him internationally.

[laughs] Tends, tends to be

Uh, Craig, let's get to the big story of the Championship, the first managerial casualty, Glenn Wheeling, uh, Glenn Whelan, uh, leaving Livingston Surprised?

Yes and no.

Surprised that it's so early on into the season, but no, because I always felt like Glenn Whelan was a bit of a misfit at Livingston.

I think that at Livingston with David Martindale, who's now gone on to, to replace him on an interim basis, with Martindale's presence still at the club, I think it's, the feeling I get is quite difficult for any manager to come in and, and put a stamp on the team when you've got such an important figure like Martindale in the background.

But like Glenn Whelan, when he spoke after the defeat to Partick Thistle, and when he spoke after the defeat to Arbroath the other week there, you kind of got the feeling that he, they've got a really big squad at Livingston.

He didn't rate half of them, and the ones that he did rate and wanted to play, he didn't really know how to do, what to do with best of them.

I got a good look at Livingston on, on Friday night, and they want to play football out from the back, but they want to play football out from the back with Brooklyn Cabongolo in there.

[laughs]

when you're in the Premiership

... let's, let's not, let's not get too carried away.

I think it's, uh, I think Marvin Bartley, after every interview he's given, he's always very quick to point out this team haven't actually achieved anything yet.

He's taking it one game at a time, and I, I agree with him.

It's going to be a long, hard season.

At the moment, it, we've just got the points that keep us away from, from the foot of the table, which could be huge come the end of the campaign.

However, I thought that was Stennis Muir's most complete performance of the season at the weekend there, the 3-1 victory over Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

You cannae keep him off it.

You, you hope that this, from top to bottom, we're starting to look at a fresh approach to talent identification for Scotland, because we need as much as we can get.

Yeah, absolutely.

I think that Ryan's absolutely spot on.

There seemed to be a lack of, and I don't like using this word because it's very LinkedIn, but there did seem to be a lack of synergy between the, the men's first team and, and the under-21s.

Scott Gemmill, I, I, like, not to, not to be too critical of the guy, but I, I'm not sure what his, like, his, again, to use a LinkedIn term, what his KPIs were, because it certainly couldn't have been results because it seemed to be that we would just, like, lose a lot of under-21 games to nations who you would think that we should be, uh, competing against.

And there didn't seem to be too many players coming through the under-21s into the first team, Finley Curtis being a good example of that.

So that's something you want to see.

[laughs] Uh, exciting times at the moment.

[laughs]

Aye.

No, it, it's, it's like, it's good to have ambition, and that's good that he wants to be the league's top goalscorer.

And I thought that, this will sound really weird, other than two very good chances that he put past the post to, to bring Hibs back into the tie, I thought he actually played quite well.

I actually thought Hibs were all right in this game.

I bought the, the stream for it, and I thought that they were e- They were the better side, um, and they did create a couple of good openings.

Lowe had those two chances that he, that he should've scored from the, the, the, the second one especially where it's effectively a one-on-one and he sort of just hits, just...

A win for the Warriors sees them go through on top.

How desperate will they be to go straight back up, and how do you think they will fare in that quest?

To answer the first question, desperate, desperate to go back up.

I think it's huge for the, for the club to get back up.

I think that the, the third tier is, is a level that, that's not befitting a team of, of their resource and the amount of money they've put into it, uh, over the past couple of years.

But, and this is the big but, when, when I was invited onto this podcast over the, the past season, I said that as County were struggling at the foot of the championship, they needed a cultural reset from top to bottom, and ultimately that hasn't happened.

Stuart Kettlewell is still the manager.

Stevie Ferguson's still the CEO.

I'm wondering, John, if you're expecting to see any changes to County's style given that, you know, they're kind of almost in unfamiliar territory.

in at Somerset, what will he bring to Ayr, and do you think success is headed Ayr's way with him in charge?

Yes, I do.

Yes, I do.

I think Gary Naismith's an absolutely fantastic manager.

His three years at Stenhousemuir brought the club an unprecedented level of success.

It was almost as if he had completed Stenny and deserved his move up into, uh, a bigger team.

And I think with Ayr United, with the, with the infrastructure that they've got at the club, you know, that new training facility that's been built right next to Somerset Park, that ma- that, the new stand that's in there, the redevelopment there, and you've got a chairman in David Smith who is, I think, willing to put his hand in his pocket for, like, uh, to, to do, do work behind the scenes and bring players in.

[laughs]

Do you think the rest of the other Bostonians feel the same way?

I think so.

I think so.

I think that any of the Bostonians that I've spoken to, they've been really, really pleased that we've come here and we've really enjoyed ourselves and had a good time here.

And as I say, it's not just about coming here and enjoying yourself.

It's about being respectful and courteous as well.

We are having a good time.

Is there one that's your favourite?

What do you think?

Hmm.

Well, that, that's really interesting.

In terms of the, the preparation for, for me to go, I actually only booked my stuff, uh, just, like, two weeks ago, uh, which was quite fortunate because I think the, the prices for hotels was beginning to crater at that point.

I think that the, a lot of the, the hoteliers were, they'd bumped the prices up in anticipation of a big influx of people coming there.

That, that hasn't quite happened, so I was able to get there relatively speaking quite cheaply.

Um, so my plan is to be in Boston for six nights for the, the Haiti game, New York in two nights just for a jaunt, back to Boston for the Morocco game, and then down to Miami for five nights for the, the Brazil game.

Craig, this game against Bolivia does look like a step up from that Curacao game at the weekend, doesn't it?

Is questions gonna be asked about, about him going into the, the close season, Craig?

You know, it's quite, quite funny.

As, as bad as Hearts were or sort of like as poor as Hearts were in the, in the first half, I think a lot of people were thinking, "Well, it's all right.

Rangers don't real- Ran- you get a good half out of Rangers." So that's Rangers in the first half.

That was their good half.

Then we're gonna maybe see them struggle through the second half and, and as Hearts made that change, Bliss Spittle coming on for Islam Chetnikoff, who'd been quite ineffective.

It just, that little tactical change just completely took Rangers out the game.

Yeah, it's been interesting to watch their rise, Craig.

Aye

... would've been more kind of fair reflection on their, not quite dominance, but not far off this season.

I think, think I, I, I, I, I agree with everything you said there.

I agree with you, Chad, and I do agree that this match is perhaps a perfect encapsulation of the, of following Caley Thistle this season, where you've largely been the better side over...

Like, it was obvious, just look at the league table.

But you, you can do something silly that just allows the other teams back into it, and, and by conceding a goal to O'Hara and then conceding a late penalty, things could've, things could've got well out of hand, um, up there.

But I think that for, for Caley Thistle, when they're on it, they, they're such a, they're such a good side.

[laughs] Give the people what they want.

[laughs]

... for a job well done.

I've got to say, though, it's been...

You're, you're right.

It has been a, it has been a funny season for them.

You know, it, it...

I think, uh, I, I can't even imagine what it's like to, to go through that as a, as a player.

And, uh, you look at Steve Clarke's squad, and you don't need to be scoring goals as a striker to get in it.