RicoS321

My team would be: ---------------Lewis--------------- Logan---Devlin--McKenna---NewGuyWho'sNameICan'tBeArsedLookingUp --------Ferguson--Bryson-------- Wilson-----Hedgeees-----McGinn ------------Cosgrove-------------- I think Wilson makes for as shite a winger as Stewart, but we might as well gie him a shottie.

I'm intrigued more than excited. My expectations based on last season's signings at the start of that season were low, and I'm in that same mindset this season. I'm with you in that I think we're a few signings short and the ones that we have made are fairly average. A lot will hinge on two signings for me. If Wilson turns out to be good at fitba then that would be a massive bonus and if the left back is anywhere near as good as Lowe then that'll be a boost too. I'm not seeing any other areas in which we've strengthened so I expect us to be worse.

You did not.

Ach, there's no harm in setting yer stall out on individuals before the start of the season. It's fine to be wrong now and again too. I think Main will be largely used as an impact sub to charge around and upset defenders and that's fine - hopefully we won't need that for most of the season. I think he might be cheaper than May too, which is why/how we've managed to add Wilson. May was an expensive backup like. I'm a bit concerned that we haven't shipped out May and Gleeson yet. I don't like to see us with a massive squad at this stage and we need to use the next couple of games to figure out where we're still lacking. I think Wilson might be a wide player this season, and so I expect and attacking midfielder to come in. I'm not convinced by the signings I'll be honest, I think that we're worse off than last season. I'd take a good midfielder and a good wide player before the end of the window, but I think we could still struggle for goals as ayrshire suggests.

It don't think he did, I think that he was "ordered to pay" and he was prosecuted. Would you prefer that everyone got sent to jail for everything?

I think that when you see something that flammable-looking too, the curiosity is just there. Setting on fire wid be fucking sair though.

Been unlucky with injury, but I don't think Frank Ross will make it like, he's nae quite got enough pace and I think that'll do it for a player in his position. Similar level to Cammy Smith in my opinion. Ethan Ross has the attributes to make it I reckon. If Frank could trick Ethan into going to Ayr instead of him, then he might get some game time before McInnes notices.

You guys clearly weren't at the Skonto Riga game. Absolute classic. Torino was a good game. Don't remember any other decent ones in the 90s.

It would have to be a hell of an improvement to see him anywhere near our first team. The reverse is that if he goes somewhere and does nothing (which is currently the most likely scenario given the last 4 years of his career) then even fewer clubs will be willing to take a punt on him, thus we only get 10% of his salary covered, as opposed to the 20-40% we might get by getting rid now. He's not been unprofessional in any way whilst here, just nae been good enough. Offload him and reduce the numbers in the squad thus giving Anderson a chance.

Nine times out of ten, that "technique" ended in him launching a shot 6 miles over the crossbar because he clearly hadn't perfected it in any match setting. He tried to do the modern style kicking under the ball technique on numerous occasions and was only succesful once (he had a great connection against Killie in the final game against them but it was too close to the keeper). It's really not that useful unless it's consistent and isn't done at the expense of all other parts of his game (which it was). Goodwillie also had great technique. Ferguson is just as good, technically, as Wilson in my opinion but backs it up by playing the game with his teammates in mind.

Given that we generally play a 4-2-3-1 and we only have Hedges, McGinn, Wright and McLennan to fill the wide areas (and at least two of those are actually better through the middle) I think that you could be right. I don't think we need May and Main, so I would get rid of May. That'd leave Cosgrove and Wilson fighting for the main striker role and Main to do the May position of filling in just behind/alongside dependent on the opposition. With Anderson as the first sub with a view to him getting more game time and hopefully more goals. Not necessarily true. Some strikers thrive on being a sub and some have useful attributes that can see them changing a game when they come on. Guys like Magennis for instance generally confused the shite out of defenders with his battering ram style. I could see Main being useful in that regard. In terms of Wilson though, I agree, he doesn't really have anything worth bringing off a bench. He's neither clever enough to fit straight in to an attack (Cosgrove is, because he has a very defined role) nor relentless enough to force a tired opponent to make mistakes.

It's a reasonable argument, but I'm not sure that Shankland v Wilson is a useful comparison. That's like saying that you don't like Boris Johnson so Jeremy Hunt would be a useful prime minister. In reality, both aren't good enough based on their current showings and attributes. I'd argue that Wilson has more untapped potential than Shankland - who I think has little room for improvement - but that doesn't mean that anyone will ever see it.

Is he not just another in the long line of Dennis Wyness's? That's the impression I've always had. Nae quite good enough in the top league, but ace in the second.

He was very shite for most of last season. Disinterested and unable to play as part of a team. "He could turn out to be amazing/there's a player in there somewhere" is a very risky strategy for what would be a high earner in such a vital position for us. It might work, but I have a feeling that it won't. In the two half decent - and that's all they were - games he had for us toward the end of the season, he still very much looked like a player that didn't know his position and didn't know his teammates. That could just be through lack of game time towards the end of the season, but it didn't look that way - he just didn't look like a particularly intelligent footballer. The biggest problem is that even with Cosgrove and Main, I still think we're short of a good striker. We've already got wastage in that area with May, we really can't afford more. I'd have been far happier we took a punt on someone else as I don't think Wilson improves our first 11 - at best he'll be a useful addition from the bench in 1 in 5 games. He got a lot of game time last season and was generally less useful than Stevie May. Imagine we'd just had Stevie May on loan last season and we were now trying to get him on a permanent deal. That's about the right level of underwhelming.

It was a shite penalty decision. Cheating cunts.

The Yanks are piling into our game. What's the deal? Be interesting to see the short term moves. Certainly, they've got a great infrastructure and a very good city centre ground, so they should - in theory - be way ahead of us now that their debt is cleared.

Don't worry, the plucky little English will put everyone in their place. From the Americas, to India, to Africa and the Middle East they're known for their sympathetic treatment of the little guy. If there was ever a team that deserved succes, it's England.

The dinked ball for the jap equaliser was sublime. Difficult not to overhit that type of pass. The winning pen was a farce and another example of how dicking about with the rules is ruining things. In this case the handball rule.

How does that work in reality though? Does it not just mean that we have a pre-defined price with his parent club? If he turns out to be ace and the huns offer his parent club the same as us but offer him double the wages he's still obliged to join us? Or is it that both player and parent club have agreed a transfer fee and salary that they will accept if we trigger an option clause? In other words, he's effectively contracted to the dons beyond the end of the season unless we think he's pap?

I think that you really need to be looking into these things in a lot more detail before getting people's hopes up. He looks like the type of player that we might - like Lowe - regret not getting in permanently. Although I suppose that is the market we are in.

Nonsense. Callum Morris was signed from a relegated team, and he was a revelation.

Fucking little shite decided he's too good for the dons already has he? Think's he's fuckin Airchie.

Shrewd move like. He's a very good player. The rehab costs nothing, but it certainly gains a lot if we get a player like Hoban at the end of it. As an aside, I'd like to think we'd do that for any player that was injured whilst playing for us but whose contract has expired. It's just the decent thing to do. Although, his parent should be first to offer.

But that's just a slogan though isn't it? I'm pretty certain that McInnes is buying players that he believes will be as good in their position as Joe is in his, it just turns out that they are not. It is very difficult to tranpose Joe's abilities as a goalie to an outfield player. He's just fantastically good at what he does (I'd argue the best in the league). There aren't really any attributes of Joe's that you think "if only Nial McGinn had those attributes he'd be amazing" for example. You could look at Shinnie and say "if every player had his work ethic, aggression and leadership" then we could look for those in potential recruits. Joe is just ace at one-on-ones, shot stopping and dealing with crosses which are largely useless in the hands of Curtis Main.

Agreed. If you loan him to Saints, then they'll only be paying him a portion of his salary anyway. If we pay him off, we'd (roughly) have to pay the difference between what Saints will pay him and what we would be paying him for the next two years. Either way, the cost to get rid is still the same in January when it comes to the next decision point unless he performs well enough to get someone to pay a fee for him to cover the remainder of his contract. Get rid now Remaining salary____£100K (arbitrary figure for illustration) less Saints salary____ £50K Total cost of pay off___£50K Wait until Jan Remaining salary____________£75K less Saints salary____________£37.5K add salary subsidy until Jan____£12.5K Total cost of pay off__________£50K If we're convinced that all he needs is a loan move to get his confidence up and he'll return as a goalscoring legend then go for it. Otherwise, take the hit now and look forward with a new striker. The alternative is to retain him in the squad and have another year of him coming off the bench or starting with zero impact on games.