DantheDon

That’s a fair point and something I was taking for granted was that Besuijen would be moved on. Besuijens main issue is his lack of pace, he’s never looked a bad player but he wouldn’t be able to beat a man playing as a winger. He’s done ok in the number 10 position before though.

Let’s get him signed up, if only to screw over the Jambos. Seriously though there might still be space in the squad for a versatile attacking midfielder/winger. We’re going to be playing a lot of games while in Europe. It’s maybe the balance between having enough players and allowing our own younger guys the space to break through.

I think it depends how his career goes in the next year or two. Another season like the one he just had for Girona and he won’t exactly be in demand. Hopefully he can kick on and show what he can do, was hopeful when he left he could cut it in La Liga. It’s a good advertisement for the game here if he does well and he can return here for a few seasons once he’s won the champions league with Real or Barca.

Interesting. Seems he was really influential in getting Portsmouth promoted from league 1, but this season was hampered by injury and hes now been released on a free. According to Wiki he was number 10 for Portsmouth, which is probably a good thing as it doesnt look like he has ever been particulariliy prolific in front of goal. Certainly could be worth a punt on a free transfer.

Only argument that we could be made for bringing dorrington back is if you moved Tobers into midfield. Believe he has played that role previously. Then you could move Shinnie to left back where we are lacking. However not sure that is optimum and I think from what I’m reading we would be looking at another loan for Dorrington. That means we are developing him for Tottenham, you occasionally get the chance to sign these guys permanently ala Clarkson but more often they go elsewhere.

I would assume this is more to do with compensation than ambition. Which I guess I can’t blame him for. He’s 25 now and he will no doubt be on a good bit of money there. I think he’s a decent player but not likely to get a big money move if he signs on. No hard feelings for me, just glad he never went near the old firm.

Sorry if it comes across a bit negative but a proven striker in one of those leagues is going for millions, not hundreds of thousands. And then you still can’t be sure they will be able to adapt to the more physical nature of the spfl. I think while the idea of us doing this is exciting, I don’t think we would be in a position to do so until we have established ourselves consistently as getting into the group stages of European football (if that ever happens). The only way I think we might be tempted to spend that kind of money is to bring Miovski back. Considering that even then I can’t see us spending more than a couple of million, I think it’s unlikely to happen. You would need Girona to be desperate to unload him and as much as he has an affection for Aberdeen you would imagine he would be reluctant to have his wages slashed significantly.

He's probably a situation now where his confidence is rock-bottom with all these loans that haven’t worked out. But he’s only 21, his ability doesn’t just disappear and from what I remember reading his attitude is spot on. Coming back to a familiar place with his family/friends around him might be what he needs to get back on track. I think we are going to need to rotate our squad with European football till Xmas and with Jensen seen as a versatile option I would say if the opportunity to bring him back arises we should take it. Edit: Also if McInnes had remained in charge I don’t think Ramsay or Jack MacKenzie would have made the first team. He would have rotted in the reserves for years before being released to a championship club.

How’s Calvin Ramsays situation now? Injury has really hurt his development and his chances at Liverpool but I would imagine they may be willing to let him go on the relative cheap now. I know it’s not a priority position as it’s well covered but presumably he would count as a homegrown player in terms of the quota and he’s still a young guy who could develop into a great SPL player.

It will interesting to see if we have any Scottish players on the radar. It’s not ideal if we hold off sending young guys out on loan to meet a quota, but it will be interesting to see who of the youngsters who have been on loan are ready to make an impact at first team level. Ryan Duncan is the one who I would expect to come back into the first team squad and be expected to make an impact next season or be moved on. I think the quota situation necessitates us moving foreign players who aren’t making an impact on, Vinnie, Ambrose etc. However I would be a bit reluctant to let guys like Clarkson, Morris and Polvara go unless we are offered silly money. There is no guarantee that we will get anyone who is better than these guys in, so I think it’s a bit of a Ramadani Situation where we potentially weaken ourselves letting them go. I’d be trying to get them signed on longer deals now off the back of winning the cup.

Was always hopeful with the Mackenzie transfer talk going quiet and no announcement that he is off he might stay with us. But I doubt that getting a chair to the face is going to go anyway towards convincing him to stick around.

I think to be fair, there is no doubt that the job Thelin is doing is under a bit of scrutiny at present. We are on 53 points but 31 of those were gained in the first 11 games. So that’s 22 in the last 26 games. So to then be taking a couple of hammerings in a week doesn’t help. Celtic maybe in a different class at the moment but Rangers are poor. I think if we compare Thelins tenure to that of Robsons there are some striking similarities. Both start off on an amazing run then fall away. You can’t say we are in a terrible place but we aren’t playing well and are we convinced we are going to turn it around anytime soon? Now I’m not saying we should rush to sack the manager, on the contrary I think the recent pattern of replacing managers only for the process to repeat proves that we need to stick with Thelin a bit longer. But should we start the next season in the same form I think we might start to see some discontent from some sections of the support. It’s also particularly depressing to be heading into a cup final wondering how many we will lose by. I can’t remember a time where I just can’t imagine the prospect of us sneaking a victory at least.

Sounds like we didn’t really do enough again today. You would think with what’s at stake we would have lifted our game. The radio was saying that the disallowed goal was dubious but still doesn’t sound like we created much else throughout the game. Anyone there able to give a bit more insight.

I notice the manager of the season has three nominees Brendan Rodgers, David Gray and John McGlynn. I’m not going to say that Jimmy deserves to be there, but I think it really highlights the fact it’s too early to call something like this. Gray has been in charge of Hibs all season so very much comparable to Jimmy, yet come the end of the season we could have won the Scottish Cup and have beaten them to third in the league. Out of the three I’d give it to McGlynn as the Championship is a slog with most teams on a fairly even footing. But if Livingston pip them to the league on Friday you can’t re-allocate the nomination to Dave Martindale. What I actually think will happen is that it will go to Rodgers as the pundits easy choice. And while I think Celtic have done well in Europe this season they are financially miles ahead of everyone in the league to the point it’s hard to argue they have achieved anything other than what they should have achieved.

I assume by the comments here the highlights weren’t wholly reflective of the game, they made it seem it was all Hibs first half. Important thing is the result today. Puts us in with a real shout of getting third, although I still think it will depend on Hibs dropping off a little. They have more favourable fixtures from here out and are still in third.