wee toon red

It's a "shame" Saints don't have access to whatever super duper stats system the BBC say Hearts are going to use to pick their new manager. Apparently it's going to have them challenging Celtic according to the story yesterday

Consi did fine in his Scotland appearances so hopefully Devlin can do similar if he gets on the pitch.

He didn't get in, despite Conway being injured. There had been chat that Dykes might be injured as well but he's one of three strikers included, which is fair enough.

Scotland return for our boy Kev likely today?

MacDonald's all the player he'll ever be, while Rubezic has miles of room to grow and already appears to have done quite a bit of that since last season. On that basis it's Ruby in the team every day of the week for me (and Jimmy) with MacDonald being a competent backup for both Ruby and Malloy.

10/10

You can see it being the only place the players can pick up similar wages to the ones the daft Huns were paying them but Christ knows what’s in it for the clubs.

Promotion to League A or whatever it's called is coming back to bite us in the short term, as predicted. We've done alright in both games but been undone by individual errors that teams at this level punish. Certainly last night was a different game to Thursday but in both we've at least been competitive. Had we been playing lesser teams then who knows, we could be sitting with six points from six. This "season" of the Nations League has to be about gaining further experience of playing teams at this level, which is why it's so good to see kids like Hanley, Ralston and McLean getting good game time.

The two things aren't mutually exclusive though. If he screws the nut and gets his career back on track, that will be good for us this season even if he was to leave on a free next summer. That's better than no Duk or fat Duk stinking the place out for nine months.

It isn’t a great situation right now but the future is in his hands. Knuckle down, get fit and give the manager 22/23 Duk and he’ll be fine. Otherwise his career will be near enough over.

BIlly Gilmour is a stick-on for centre mid and McTominay will be there as well. Christie plays in a deeper role for Bournemouth these days than Clarke tends to use him so that's probably the area of the team we've got the least to worry about. It's time to say thanks and cheerio to the likes of McLean and Hanley.

Same team as last week other than Milne in for Rubezic.

The club have confirmed Miovski's away. No specific figure mentioned but "a club record fee". https://www.afc.co.uk/2024/08/15/bojan-moves-on/

The city group is all the clubs owned or partially owned by the folk who own city. Girona, Troyes, Melbourne city and New York City from the top of my head. There may well be others. An abomination in football terms.

Palaversa is an interesting signing. Seems like a 50/50 call but giving ourselves an out after a year looks like a wise move. Think whoever wrote his career history for the signing announcement might need to check their calendar mind you, the dates are all over the shop

I could be wrong but I don't think the majority of Scottish clubs have got enough players for an old-school reserve team, so it just ends up being a youth team anyway. With as many as 16 "senior" players involved in every league game, there aren't many left over to play in the reserves. As for Fletcher, 16 does seem a bit young to be playing any kind of regular first team football so, as Panda says, he's as well staying with us, training with the first team when appropriate and making the odd appearance here or there.

I see there's talk that Liverpool want to loan out Ben Doak. Given our previous dealings with them, I wonder if there's any chance? Exactly the type of player we need.

I’d still like to see Hoilett back when he’s fit. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we were a much better team with him in it.

Rightly or wrongly, this is still our pre-season so three wins from three is all we're looking for. Airdrie are a decent outfit but it's encouraging to see the team getting tweaked at half time and improving immediately, exactly what you'd hope for as the players work in a new system. Surely we'll get some more players coming in once Bojan's exit is finalised so on that basis I'm not hugely worried about Morris starting at the moment.

Saw him play for Kelty at Queen of the South near the end of the season. Looked like he was plenty good enough for that level so even though I agree with you and expect him to be loaned out again, I would still have expected him to have been in the first team squad on Saturday.

Hopefully Bavidge will be with the first team more than these young XIs this seasons.

A guy who you have to feel got everything out of his talent. A 20-year top flight career, almost entirely at his boyhood club, winning a trophy and gaining international recognition. What an example. I don't know what his retirement plans are but getting someone like that into a youth set up somewhere at least seems like a good idea.

That's been one of the most noticeable things about the tournament, the majority of players looked knackered. I thought it was definitely true of Scotland and England look the same, while France, Italy and Portugal's performances would suggest their players are shattered as well. Too much football being played for the players to be in top condition all the time - and too much for fans to watch as well. Way beyond saturation point now. What's the scoop in Scotland with the extra tv deal this year? 80 potential games? Madness.

How good does a fixture list full of Saturday's look?! Unfortunately it'll all go to shit when tv and European games get involved and we'll have more shite like the Monday 8pm kick off we've been handed to kick off.

We seem to have paid about £250,000 for Ferguson from Hamilton and the story goes that £500k would be the expected compensation figure for Barron.