Well, figure it’s close enough to start the thread and may get some more enthusiasm than the current season. So what do we need?

manager - Alex Neill

formation - 4-2-3-1/4-3-3

I’m going with the belief that we currently have 7 starters - Devlin, ruby (or gartenmann), Jensen, Mackenzie, shinnie, clarkson or McGrath, and sokler. 4 legit starter signings needed, plus more. I’d argue McGrath has been better than clarkson this year, but I dont think both together are our midfield solution.

goalkeeper - NEEDED to replace Roos, doohan is back up

right back - devlin, Richardson, SiGN gartenmann

left back - think Mackenzie deserves to be our left back, one of our few successes this year, mcgarry as back up, jenson cover too as gartenmann does right back.

central defense - ruby, gartenmann, Jensen, Macdonald - think that’s good enough, just need a legit and consistent keeper and midfield to protect and support them

Right mid - TWO needed, starter and back up, vinnie as back up? sell morris

left mid - ONE needed, possibly hoilett and mcgarry as back up, vinnie?? Don’t think Duncan is good enough, squad filler.

center mid - sign TWO. ONE starter needed, plus assuming Barron leaves. Free agent Baccus? Shinnie clarkson or McGrath,  and one other, mcgrath/clarkson and polvara as back up, sign another ONE physical/athletic worker so that shinnie and new signing aren’t run into the ground.

Forward - assuming Miovski and duk are sold, I want sokler given a chance. SIGN one to compete with him to start, bavidge the third option and given minutes. Sell GUEYE.

I’m assuming miovski, duk, morris, gueye, and Barron are gone, and we sign gartenmann and hoilett. Hayes retires. Mcgarry gets a summer to get fit and prove what he can do next year, been unfortunate to date. A bench from Richardson, mcgarry, Duncan, clarkson/mcgrath, hoilett, bavidge, doohan, Milne, polvara, vinnie, plus a new back up right mid and an enforcing center mid.

Obviously Mikey Johnson is one of our new signings.

Edited February 18, 20242 yr by OrlandoDon

4 hours ago, Panda said:

Kristijan Lovric, Croatian winger; has followed Alan Burrows and Rubezic on instagram which may be a sign he's on his way or at least there's some sort of interest. Although he did similar three years ago when he followed Celtic.

Was a £2m signing three years ago, seven goals in 25 appearances last season in the Croatian top flight. If Duk is leaving this would seem a more than adequate replacement (but 8 yellow cards, never seen a winger get booked so much).

Replacement for duk? Not even considering duk, we need wingers. We have Morris, Duncan, and I think Vinny is still considered a winger, but none are starting level players for us. Or even good enough for us. get him signed! 
although, im sure Alan burrows is like Ronaldo and simply has millions of instagram followers.

5 hours ago, Panda said:

Kristijan Lovric, Croatian winger; has followed Alan Burrows and Rubezic on instagram

Deal as good as done.

Absolute silence? Where the Croatian Rico promised us? Anyone more news on some tricky wingers?

any info on Richardson, Morris, gueye, Vinny? Any outbound? 

when’s our first kick about? Any upcoming friendlies to tell us a little more of what JT has in mind?

11 minutes ago, OrlandoDon said:

Absolute silence? Where the Croatian Rico promised us? Anyone more news on some tricky wingers?

any info on Richardson, Morris, gueye, Vinny? Any outbound? 

when’s our first kick about? Any upcoming friendlies to tell us a little more of what JT has in mind?

First friendly in U.K. is against Peterhead on 10th July. Not sure if there are any games in Portugal for the training camp.

4 hours ago, Jute said:

First friendly in U.K. is against Peterhead on 10th July. Not sure if there are any games in Portugal for the training camp.

We played Cove Huns last Saturday behind closed doors 

20 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

Absolute silence? Where the Croatian Rico promised us? 
 

Aye he was posting some nonsense about instagram the other day. A time waster.

20 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

 

any info on Richardson, Morris, gueye, Vinny? 

Morris snores according to the Aberdeen instagram. He's rooming with Miovski and it was exclusively revealed he snores.

Not sure about the other three. We could maybe all take it in turns to keep a watch on instagram?

20 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

when’s our first kick about? Any upcoming friendlies to tell us a little more of what JT has in mind?

Thelin says we might have a kick about in Portugal, if not we'll have an internal friendly. Again, exclusively revealed on instagram.

Anything….?

rumors? Blatant lies? Where’s that Croat winger??

 

You want a rumour @OrlandoDon, I'll give you a rumour.

1 hour ago, Panda said:

 

You want a rumour @OrlandoDon, I'll give you a rumour.

Massive dandy apparently. 

Scored for Ecuador against Argentina the other night. Was on loan to WBA and Ipswich last season so would be surprised if they would loan him out to us this season. 

8 hours ago, Jute said:

Scored for Ecuador against Argentina the other night. Was on loan to WBA and Ipswich last season so would be surprised if they would loan him out to us this season. 

It's every player's dream to play in the league cup group stages. The Sun have picked up the bait too, and they've never been wrong about a transfer story, they only ever print stuff when they've checked with at least five reliable sources I believe. 

Had a wee snoop around Brighton/Ipswich forums.

Brighton consensus seems to be that they’ve signed a shitload of expensive wingers and he’s nowhere near making their 25-man squad.

Ipswich consensus seems to be that he was mostly an impact sub for them, capable of the odd moment of magic but not really a priority to re-sign. Sounds a bit similar to Duk for us last season. Didn’t start much for WBA either.

Could make sense that Brighton want to see him in a team where he’s the main man and see if he can cope with that pressure.

Mr Burns pouring scorn on this rumour.

Doesn't come as a great surprise to read he is out with our finances but I applaud the club if this is the level of player we're trying to get on board.

Sivert Heltne Nilsen, 32 year old Norwegian midfielder, previously played under Jimmy @ Elfsborg

6 minutes ago, BigAl said:

Sivert Heltne Nilsen, 32 year old Norwegian midfielder, previously played under Jimmy @ Elfsborg

Under contract until 2025 so assume there would be a fee. Not sure we will pay a fee for a 32 year old.

15 minutes ago, Jute said:

Under contract until 2025 so assume there would be a fee. Not sure we will pay a fee for a 32 year old.

Just seen that he turns 33 in October.

If we are to sign him then must be a low fee as doesn't fit the trading model with no resale value 🤔

5 minutes ago, BigAl said:

Just seen that he turns 33 in October.

If we are to sign him then must be a low fee as doesn't fit the trading model with no resale value 🤔

Job-share with Shinnie?

Deal agreed allegedly.

Nilsen is on the way.

Apparently likes to get stuck in.

1 hour ago, RicoS321 said:

Job-share with Shinnie?

Aye taking turns serving suspensions 😲

1 hour ago, BigAl said:

Apparently likes to get stuck in.

Should be playing at Peterhead tonight 

 

 

Also at 6’1” bit more of a presence than shinnie Barron or clarkson. 
I do see age differently now, he’ll be 33 soon but we should get 2-3 years out of him. Shinnie is the fittest guy in the squad, and he’s older, hope this guy has a similar engine.

A mental case in the midfield, that'll please the fans. Just what we've been lacking, they'll say. "I've been saying it for years". In a year's time, they'll be moaning about lack of discipline. I do like a strong midfielder, but I think it's less important these days than being able to cover a lot of ground, or being able to control the tempo of the game.

Quite a few on that twitter feed suggesting he's a Ramadani replacement, but seems a different player altogether. Ramadani wasn't a defensive midfielder, in the sense that you couldn't have him sitting on his own in a 4-1-4-1 type formation (Goodwin tried it and it was terrible). Ramadani defending - like Shinnie - on the front foot, by playing high up (or deeper) in people's faces. His game - like Shinnie - involved covering lots of ground and being fit. He could sit in a two also - like Shinnie - but I still don't think you'd call him a defensive midfielder. Ramadani is basically just a less aggressive version of Shinnie, which, when added together, was very potent. 

It'll be really interesting to see what Thelin has in mind for him. From the lineup last night, it looked like it could be a 4-3-3, but I don't see us going with that if this guy is in the team alongside Shinnie, which I assume will be the case. I don't think we'll need two sitting midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 for most games (at home, anyway), so this guy might sit in while Shinnie bombs about and Clarkson does his thing, both pressing high off the ball. I can see Clarkson being the weak link in that press, but hopefully the preseason will have battered it into him. It does suggest that we have the option of completely changing the way we play by bringing Polvara off the bench. He finished the season very strongly and has a good bit of headroom to improve if he's given the opportunity. McGrath will be, I assume, out wide and probably cover several roles. We really need something creative from the wings. 

Don't count on Polvara.

Rumour doing the rounds that he is injured and potentially out long term 😲.