Hi Rico

It's never too early so here goes.

Pile all the speculation/unfounded rumours etc in here lads.

The defence needs a tweak. Something just ain't right. Midfield is ace and seem to be scoring most of our goals. Upfront we have a plethora of slightly above average players here. Bavidge and Boyd will hopefully come good in a season or two if they continue their development trajectory. 

McKenzie ALLEGEDLY being linked with Preston, Stoke & Sheffield Utd

Source The Scottish Sun 

Even the Lancashire Post can't confirm whether Preston are actually keen, as they've also quoted The Scottish Sun.

Funny how all these unsettling rumours always start circling just as we are about to play either side of the Old Firm, and they rarely have actual quotes 

So who is going to be rumoured either on Friday or Saturday to be signing one of our players by the gutter rags ahead of the cup semi 🤔

Thelin to the Huns? Ambrose to Real Madrid?

18 minutes ago, OrlandoDon said:

Thelin to the Huns? Ambrose to Real Madrid?

Don't joke about Thelin.

The deluded Huns think that he would ditch us in a heartbeat to join them.

Sumo more or less made the same comment on Sky last night.

TBH, think Jimmy has far more about him than to even consider that.

I don’t know jimmy obviously, and less than all of you in Scotland. based on what I’ve read, and heard him say, the way he conducts relationships, his affection/care for the clubs he has managed etc, I think we have him for 3 years minimum. He’s also openly talked about this being a 3 year plan (initially.)

it was clear he cared for elfsborg, he didn’t leave until the end of the season. He apparently told us the previous season we should hire Robson since he’s earned it. He cares about clubs, has morals, brings a ‘we’ and ‘family’ approach. I also think this approach is perfect for us, a family club. And I think what has happened here with him so far is special and far from guaranteed at every club. The fans and players appear to love him and vice cersa. Obviously he’ll approach each club he manages differently, but I don’t think his approach works for every club.

it’s early doors and things can go to shit. Successful managers have been sacked the following season. I think for us we try our best to keep Peter leven happy, he made a very good impression on us and the team last season. Hopefully he learns the ins and outs of thelin and perhaps takes over if and when the time comes.

Willie Miller said on the radio last night that his understanding was Thelin had promised Cormack 5 years.   

1 hour ago, tlg1903 said:

Willie Miller said on the radio last night that his understanding was Thelin had promised Cormack 5 years.   

Is that 5 years after we win the league? Five years in champions league??

Just a flat five but if he sticks to that that's probably at least 2 seasons longer than I would expect to keep a manager of this potential all things considered.  Thelin seems a man of his word too, look how he was with not prepared to leave Elfsborg in the lurch after agreeing to come here.  That does make me wonder how far he could take us in 5 years....... 

It's going to be very interesting to see how this window goes.  As things stand the only position we are lacking natural cover for is RB and perhaps CB.   With Mcgrath, Mckenzie and Duk all OOC there is plenty of potential for a curveball though and we may end up accepting an offer if they have already agreed a pre contract elsewhere.  As much as Duk is looking a player reborn I can't see him extending (though I would hope we would try anyway even if it's just for one more season) and it's 40/60 against for me on the other 2 at the moment.  Have to say the prospect of losing both the JM's is the one sour mark on this season so far.  

On JT to Ibrox, you also have to consider that Cormack seems to be letting Thelin run the footballing side of things, and he knows he's got a budget in January after not spending the Miovski megabucks. Ibrox is £17M in the hole, we on the other hand are solvent. JT would surely take all this into consideration.

On what we need in Jan, the defence needs bolstering. Devlin and McKenzie have been brilliant, but the others are still a work in progress. We have also not got a proven goalscorer yet. Yes, Gueye will come back from injury. But he's not a tricky, skilful player who can hold onto that lone striker role efficiently. I quite fancy Jimmy to go and grab someone like Isaac Thelin from Malmo, who was top scorer in the Swedish Allsvenskan last year. The amount of chances we had in the first half vs Rangers, can you imagine how many of those a striker like Miovski would've buried? We could've been 3 or 4 up at half time with a proven striker 

Midfield doesn't need touched 

8 minutes ago, Reekie_Red said:

On JT to Ibrox, you also have to consider that Cormack seems to be letting Thelin run the footballing side of things, and he knows he's got a budget in January after not spending the Miovski megabucks. Ibrox is £17M in the hole, we on the other hand are solvent. JT would surely take all this into consideration.

On what we need in Jan, the defence needs bolstering. Devlin and McKenzie have been brilliant, but the others are still a work in progress. We have also not got a proven goalscorer yet. Yes, Gueye will come back from injury. But he's not a tricky, skilful player who can hold onto that lone striker role efficiently. I quite fancy Jimmy to go and grab someone like Isaac Thelin from Malmo, who was top scorer in the Swedish Allsvenskan last year. The amount of chances we had in the first half vs Rangers, can you imagine how many of those a striker like Miovski would've buried? We could've been 3 or 4 up at half time with a proven striker 

Midfield doesn't need touched 

Isaac Thelin is an interesting shout RR but not sure it would have too many legs on account of him being 32 and having two years remaining on his contract.

You could of course point to Sivert Nilsen to discount my theory that he wouldn't fit the player trading model and guess there will always be exceptions to the rule.

54 minutes ago, Reekie_Red said:

On JT to Ibrox, you also have to consider that Cormack seems to be letting Thelin run the footballing side of things, and he knows he's got a budget in January after not spending the Miovski megabucks. Ibrox is £17M in the hole, we on the other hand are solvent. JT would surely take all this into consideration.

On what we need in Jan, the defence needs bolstering. Devlin and McKenzie have been brilliant, but the others are still a work in progress. We have also not got a proven goalscorer yet. Yes, Gueye will come back from injury. But he's not a tricky, skilful player who can hold onto that lone striker role efficiently. I quite fancy Jimmy to go and grab someone like Isaac Thelin from Malmo, who was top scorer in the Swedish Allsvenskan last year. The amount of chances we had in the first half vs Rangers, can you imagine how many of those a striker like Miovski would've buried? We could've been 3 or 4 up at half time with a proven striker 

Midfield doesn't need touched 

Funny, agree midfield doesn’t need touched when we had no midfield or width last year and we were awful there. Topi sivert palaversa have been very good signings and a reborn Morris and Vinny give us depth that are good enough for now. 
agree we need a 9. I don’t think nisbet is the answer and sokler and Ambrose give us depth. Gueye is an attacking player who gives you depth in all 4 attacking positions but I don’t see him as our main 9, or even a regular starter.

really want to know where we stand with McGrath and McKenzie. Think we need to look at a contingency plan and a legit left mid/winger may be the right thing to do, perhaps giving us better balance in midfield. Maybe the young Aussie we were linked with??

i don’t agree we haven’t spent the bojan money, it’s not just paying for players but also signing on fees, salaries and new contracts (eg devlin). I do believe adding topi, sivert, palaversa, and Ambrose also adds up to decent money.
Adding say a 32 yr old in January could be an option, but I’d be more likely to look at pre contracts this summer and ride out the season. Although could a legit center forward be the difference between 1st and 2nd or 2nd and 3rd, both having significant financial ramifications.

2 hours ago, Reekie_Red said:

On JT to Ibrox, you also have to consider that Cormack seems to be letting Thelin run the footballing side of things

He's not going to Ibrox because he's not an idiot. Just the same as McInnes didn't. 

I don't think Cormack is letting Thelin run the football side of things at all. In fact, I think that'd have been made clear up front and probably a position Thelin is comfortable with. He'll be getting the same autonomy as Goodwin and Robson did. Positions required identified by the manager, passed to the recruitment team who already have an array of players that they've identified and been watching, for them to draw up a shortlist with the manager getting the final say. The manager is given leeway to sign a modicum of players he knows he wants from his recent footballing experiences (Nilsen is no different to Devlin or McGrath in that regard, just that Thelin's recent experience is in a different country). On top of that, the recruitment team will present any players that they feel are not to be missed despite them perhaps not being of a required position. Similarly, Thelin will be given little control over the comings and goings of the youth team, save for a few targets that the club will be suggesting he meets (minutes for youth products etc, which might be his only failure, if you can call it that!). In corporate speak, it'll be a flat structure, with recruitment sitting alongside football management and coaching. The recruitment guys won't be reporting to Thelin and he'll have no control over where and who they scout. They're a service department if you like. Whereas, under McInnes, Richardson was a direct report (as he seems to be at Killie). 

Anyway, I think Polvara and Gueye returning is huge for us. If Polvara can begin the way he ended last season, then that'll be massive, and Gueye just offers something that the others don't. If we are looking at another 9, then I think we'd have to cancel Nisbet's loan. I don't think we can accommodate another forward player. If we're serious about challenging for the title, or at least consolidating second, then we probably need better cover than Vinnie and better fullback cover, although I would ideally like to see that cover coming from our youth setup. In all, I wouldn't be disappointed to see no movement in January. Unless injury strikes between now and then. A striker and wide player if I'm being greedy. 

I think we need to get cover at right back. Jack Milne is okay as an emergency cover but if Devlin was to be injured for a few weeks then don’t think he is the answer. Not really his best position anyway. Would like to see us getting in another younger player to cover there and given Devlin’s age be the long term replacement for him.
 

Left back is probably a more pressing need as cannot see McKenzie signing a new deal and McGarry just has not looked anywhere near good enough. I would like to see at least one coming in there as cover until the summer probably to take over then. 

When we signed Nisbet I wondered if this might be a short term move until the January window when players from Scandinavian market are out of contract and JT may have some players he would want club to look at. Still think that might be the case. Nisbet has done okay but fitness was a concern when we signed him and with him injured currently still one. 

It is often hard to get value in January  and if we only were to sign one in I would want it to be a rb, perhaps even just a loan if necessary.  I really dont think we should be touching middle to front, as rico says if one were to come in one would need to go out and given how tight the team is I think we should go with what we have.  It's not like we don't have plenty options either, all the wingers are a wee bit different from each as are the strikers.  I reckon Nisbet will come into his own in games where teams are sitting in and you need someone just to find a half yard of space in a tight penalty box.

Re LB I haven't seen enough of Mcgarry to say yay or nay on him yet, certainly not under Thelin anyway.  He's got something of a record already of getting a tune out of previously deemed not good enough players though and 2bf Mckenzie has been pretty much undroppable so far.  There hasn't been much opportunity to give Mcgarry minutes  in other words.   I think we wait and see how Mcgarry looks when he does get some game time which he surely will before we get to January with December as busy as it is. 

Just me that thought McGarry looked really decent (going forward at least) when he first came to AFC?

36 minutes ago, Tyrant said:

Just me that thought McGarry looked really decent (going forward at least) when he first came to AFC?

Yes

So do we expect to hear about McKenzie signing for the Huns in Jan or will they wait until the end of the season? I’m guessing we’ll find out this seasons scape goat status soon 😂

Wouldn’t be surprised to see McGrath sign for Celtic before the end of the season. I always hope that the young guys would rather head down south but unfortunately even being a local gives them about a 50% likely hood they support one of the old firm.  

9 hours ago, DantheDon said:

Wouldn’t be surprised to see McGrath sign for Celtic before the end of the season. I always hope that the young guys would rather head down south but unfortunately even being a local gives them about a 50% likely hood they support one of the old firm.  

Is he good enough? The Dundee boy is a bench warmer and why would they want McGrath other than he’d be free and one to sit beside mccowan? He’s been good for us but in their eyes Celtic are a step above us. I’d argue miovski made the right move than ‘settling’ for Celtic but I don’t see McGrath as that level. He’d struggle to start and I think he’d want to be more than just a squad player.

4 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

Is he good enough? The Dundee boy is a bench warmer and why would they want McGrath other than he’d be free and one to sit beside mccowan? He’s been good for us but in their eyes Celtic are a step above us. I’d argue miovski made the right move than ‘settling’ for Celtic but I don’t see McGrath as that level. He’d struggle to start and I think he’d want to be more than just a squad player.

Agree with this. He’s not at their level. The only reason they’d sign him would be to weaken us, which is of course a possibility. 

6 hours ago, manc_don said:

Agree with this. He’s not at their level. The only reason they’d sign him would be to weaken us, which is of course a possibility. 

I agree he’s not a starter for them but he could be a squad player. I don’t think he’s going to the English championship to be a bit part player but the team he likely supports, I think there is a fair chance he would go for it. Especially if the money is good. 

On 25/11/2024 at 04:51, manc_don said:

Agree with this. He’s not at their level. The only reason they’d sign him would be to weaken us, which is of course a possibility. 

Not so sure.  McGrath is quality and our best player by a country mile.  Very under rated by our support.  Everyone thought Liam Scales would not play when he went back and he was a first pick for Rodgers, Ryan Christie the same after his loan finished.  Jonny Hayes also became a first team regular after moving across to the dark side.