Summer 2026 Transfer Window

[Panda]

On 01/05/2026 at 15:05, Ajja said:

Wonder if McCowan will be surplus to requirements at CP next season. Think I’d probably prefer him over Cameron if we are going to go in for OF/Dundee sloppy seconds. 

He signed a new Celtic contract last week.

[Ajja]

1 hour ago, Panda said:

He signed a new Celtic contract last week.

That wasn’t in the script . I really should pay more attention. 

[The.Moog]

23 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

Well, aye, but the answer is, and always was, balance.

The problem with both Gogic and Boyle, is that they're both bordering on bottom six players. Safeish bets, but not with the potential that might come with the likes of Shinnie, MacLean etc when they signed. Difficult though. Maybe Slattery at Motherwell (I'm guessing Watt or Just would be hoping for better than us, and longelo will be well out of our price range now I expect)? Stewart at Falkirk would be fantastic, but Miller and Broggio also worth a look, as is Smith at Livingston. Not seeing anyone at St Mirren that is much more than bottom six level (O'Hara past his best, and playing right back), but Richard Taylor might be worth a shout as he's not getting much game time at Bolton (left footed, strong and aggressive). I'm sure there are plenty of others I'm forgetting about. 

Absolutely agree re balance - that’s been chronically overlooked this last couple of years with all the project and reclamation players etc and the complete absence of physicality in the squad - though I think labelling Boyle & Gogic borderline bottom 6 players is very harsh.

Hearts have got it right this year. Strong spine (largely Scottish), physical with a good mentality and have signed well from other Scottish clubs & supplemented that with good foreigners suited to this league.

I may never say this again , but we could certainly learn from their recent recruiting.

We’ll need some experienced pros to supplement the (hopeful) cherry picking of some of the top talent from other Scottish clubs as well as good physically robust foreigners. Boyle & Gogic do that for me. I genuinely can’t understand how anyone can have watched Gogic for these last few years and not think he’d do a good job for us for a year or two

Big job this summer, but Hearts and Motherwell have shown good recruitment can turn things around very quickly so fingers crossed we finally get it right on that score cause its about bloody time…

[RicoS321]

6 hours ago, The.Moog said:

I genuinely can’t understand how anyone can have watched Gogic for these last few years and not think he’d do a good job for us for a year or two

Because he makes a lot of mistakes by being too gung-ho. I think he would do a job for us, for what it's worth, but it'd be at the expense of Milne. I think he'd be decent alongside Knoester. I'd rather see try and develop Milne into a long term servant who plays regularly over the next decade. Or at least try. 

[The.Moog]

1 hour ago, RicoS321 said:

Because he makes a lot of mistakes by being too gung-ho. I think he would do a job for us, for what it's worth, but it'd be at the expense of Milne. I think he'd be decent alongside Knoester. I'd rather see try and develop Milne into a long term servant who plays regularly over the next decade. Or at least try. 

Fair enough, but we just can’t afford to develop Milne in our first 11 next season though. He’s far too much of a liability just now.

As I said, if we are going to persist with him get him out on loan to play alongside that big physical experienced CH he can learn off and see how he goes.

I’d imagine we’ll likely go back and hopefully have another look at Stephen Welsh from Celtic in the summer. Another Scottish lad who’s had a good season at Motherwell and would improve our defence…

[Panda]

Not exactly buzzing at this, however I've taken a deep breath and tried to view it in a positive manner.

Signing Olusanya likely means at least one of Yengi or Ambrose are surplus to requirements. And despite his lack of goals, Olusanya has at times been okay. He causes a wee bit of chaos for defenders. That'll be the "something different" Robinson is alluding to.

Secondly, I imagine he's very much a back up for next season - an option off the bench - and we'll still be looking for another striker. But we saw this season how long that takes (we started the season with Yengi as our first choice and Sokler as back up. We were three games in before Lazetic arrived, and Nisbet was deadline day from memory).

 

Edited 15 hours ago by Panda

[manc_don]

Let’s be honest here, he shouldn’t be anywhere near our club and is probably worse than Yengi and definitely Ambrose. It would be a complete pisstake to take him in permanently after what has been a pretty shite stint at the club.

[Ajja]

Not a good move. We are clutching if we think he’s a good option. His entire asset base is what he does off the ball, harassing defenders, running in behind etc. as soon as he has the ball he is a terrible footballer. We can’t have a player in our squad just for what he does without the ball. Madness. 

[RicoS321]

11 minutes ago, Ajja said:

Not a good move. We are clutching if we think he’s a good option. His entire asset base is what he does off the ball, harassing defenders, running in behind etc. as soon as he has the ball he is a terrible footballer. We can’t have a player in our squad just for what he does without the ball. Madness. 

Yes we can. We've had plenty of those over the years, hard workers who create space for actual footballers. 

I think that with the turnover we're likely to have in the summer, it's okay to get one or two like Olusanya. It's very low risk, and he might randomly go on a scoring run. We got two worse players in Yengi and Lazetic last season, and Ambrose the year before. There's every chance we could get worse again. 

The obvious downside is that he is definitely bottom six level. He can't be trusted on the wing as he isn't diligent enough back the way, so it means he has to play as part of a two. He doesn't really work as a straight sub for someone like Nisbet, because he's not a lone striker. If he plays, then it's a 3-5-2, or we're leaving big gaps. 

[Jute]

Signing Olusanya is only a good idea if someone else in the league is signing Rubi. He has not managed goals in the MLS, League 1 in England and our league this season. Signing him is no different to signing Lazetic and Yengi last season. 

I was not in favour of Robinson’s appointment and nothing I am seeing is changing that view so far. I really hope summer will prove me wrong and we won’t just try to recreate his St Mirren team in style and possibly personnel however, I suspect I will be deeply regretting my decision to renew my season ticket. 

 

[Ajja]

Think I’d prefer Mandron to Olusanya if we are plundering StM strikers. Looks like he can actually put a ball where it needs to be. 

[Jute]

1 hour ago, Ajja said:

Think I’d prefer Mandron to Olusanya if we are plundering StM strikers. Looks like he can actually put a ball where it needs to be. 

Mandron will be 32 this year and has a grand total of 4 goals. Might have been worth a punt if he was 22 but at his age no thanks. 

[Slim]

Keskinen could be far more effective at what Olusanya does if given enough of a chance. Especially if we're playing a 352 with no wingers, might as well use him there and leave whatever striker budget we have for someone who can challenge Nisbit for the number 9 role.

Bilalovic also had a small handful of good games in the 2nd striker role earlier in the season and got a couple of goals out of it. Obviously the consistency was not there given his age and the level he'd been playing at, but another who's likely not to get a chance of playing on the wing every week that can be re-purposed.

[Mason89]

Olusanya should be trying for a different  career after his attempt at Livi 

The standard in the league is shite. Surely we’ve got a youth player who fancies scoring a few 

[wee toon red]

You guys realise just how shite we've been for years, aye? As @RicoS321 says, there will have to be signings like Olusanya and Morrison or their ilk so that the manager/coach at least knows what he's working with as a minimum level. It'll be then up to him and Lutz to find potentially better players than those two but that doesn't come without risk. Ideally we do sign another striker to go with him and Nisbet but if we need to sign two it's, on balance, better that you at least know for sure what you're getting from one of them.

A squad isn't built by signing 20 good players, it's by incrementally improving what you have over a period of time. We've been a better team with Olusanya in it than we were before he signed, even if as a player he's very limited. I read an interview with an ex Everton player the other day and he was saying that with David Moyes, what you do off the ball is equally if not more important than what you can do with it. Now it's one thing having that approach with top class players but if you accept that he must know what he's doing, then it isn't a criminal offence for us to have a player or two in the squad who contribute more off the ball than they do on it.

If Olusanya and Morrison were to be our only signings then I'd get the outrage but considering Robinson has said "some" of our signings won't be "sexy" then it's also fair to say that some others also could be - for whatever that's worth.

Edited 7 hours ago by wee toon red

[RicoS321]

3 hours ago, Slim said:

Keskinen could be far more effective at what Olusanya does if given enough of a chance. Especially if we're playing a 352 with no wingers, might as well use him there and leave whatever striker budget we have for someone who can challenge Nisbit for the number 9 role.

Bilalovic also had a small handful of good games in the 2nd striker role earlier in the season and got a couple of goals out of it. Obviously the consistency was not there given his age and the level he'd been playing at, but another who's likely not to get a chance of playing on the wing every week that can be re-purposed.

A fair point. I guess Olusanya is proven chaos, whereas those two are unproven chaos! Olusanya has the physique (height, basically) that Keskinen lacks against big centre halves, and Bilalovic seems to be quite weak and lacks the diligence to even do the forward role. Bilalovic looks like the type that has the potential to be good, but will probably never fulfil it. Unless he has an amazing preseason, I'd like to see him go somewhere in Scotland on loan for six months to sharpen him up and get him putting the work in. 

What's most frustrating about the Olusanya situation is that he, and none of the other options, are actually as good as Esther Sokler. With a bit of work, he could have been a great asset when playing two up front. 

[TheDonbytheDee]

11 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

 

What's most frustrating about the Olusanya situation is that he, and none of the other options, are actually as good as Esther Sokler. With a bit of work, he could have been a great asset when playing two up front. 

100% correct. 

I think Olusanya has done a decent job for us over the past few weeks, but I'd rather we gave the laddie on loan from Caley a chance than sign Olusanya on a permanent deal.

 

[Ajja]

4 hours ago, Slim said:

Keskinen could be far more effective at what Olusanya does if given enough of a chance. Especially if we're playing a 352 with no wingers, might as well use him there and leave whatever striker budget we have for someone who can challenge Nisbit for the number 9 role.

Bilalovic also had a small handful of good games in the 2nd striker role earlier in the season and got a couple of goals out of it. Obviously the consistency was not there given his age and the level he'd been playing at, but another who's likely not to get a chance of playing on the wing every week that can be re-purposed.

Were you on the podcasts this week? . This was being discussed and they claimed that SR had hinted he might look at that as an option. 

[The.Moog]

12 hours ago, Panda said:

Not exactly buzzing at this, however I've taken a deep breath and tried to view it in a positive manner.

Signing Olusanya likely means at least one of Yengi or Ambrose are surplus to requirements. And despite his lack of goals, Olusanya has at times been okay. He causes a wee bit of chaos for defenders. That'll be the "something different" Robinson is alluding to.

Secondly, I imagine he's very much a back up for next season - an option off the bench - and we'll still be looking for another striker. But we saw this season how long that takes (we started the season with Yengi as our first choice and Sokler as back up. We were three games in before Lazetic arrived, and Nisbet was deadline day from memory).

 

Lot of assumptions there Panda min. Wish I could feel so positive, but I just knew that was coming.

I’ll be honest. They have got to be joking. The lad works hard and puts himself about - which is more than most of them have done this year - but there’s one small issue, he’s NOT A FOOTBALLER!!

Seriously if this is the level we’re going for - backup or not (and I’d not be so sure on that one) - then we’re going nowhere.

You think Hearts or Motherwell would sign that? Not a chance, and both of them have shown you don’t need to build a squad incrementally over time - one good transfer window with astute capable signings suited to your league and style can transform your team. 

Someone needs to have a word with Robinson, remind him he’s nae at St Mirren now and his budget stretches much further than Toyosi bloody Olusanya.

Get a grip AFC ffs…

Edited 2 hours ago by The.Moog

[Mason89]

14 minutes ago, The.Moog said:

Lot of assumptions there Panda min. Wish I could feel so positive, but I just knew that was coming.

I’ll be honest. They have got to be joking. The lad works hard and puts himself about - which is more than most of them have done this year - but there’s one small issue, he’s NOT A FOOTBALLER!!

Seriously if this is the level we’re going for - backup or not (and I’d not be so sure on that one) - then we’re going nowhere.

You think Hearts or Motherwell would sign that? Not a chance, and both of them have shown you don’t need to build a squad incrementally over time - one good transfer window with astute capable signings suited to your league and style can transform your team. 

Someone needs to have a word with Robinson, remind him he’s nae at St Mirren now and his budget stretches much further than Toyosi bloody Olusanya.

Get a grip AFC ffs…

It’s a bit like Mackie. Ran about a lot, tried hard but was probably playing about 3 leagues above his level because he was a smashing lad 

What’s wrong with signing people who can play football? 

[The.Moog]

15 minutes ago, Mason89 said:

It’s a bit like Mackie. Ran about a lot, tried hard but was probably playing about 3 leagues above his level because he was a smashing lad 

What’s wrong with signing people who can play football? 

Yep exactly, a little bit of me died inside every time the likes of Mackie and Langfield got a new contract time after time.

Just showed we continued as a club to have the ambition level of just being happy making up the numbers and no more.

A little bit of me died inside again just now seeing Pandas post… 

Edited 2 hours ago by The.Moog

[Mason89]

Langfield is a good shot stopper! 
 

Shame he was a bottle merchant who couldn't concentrate for 90 minutes, come for high floaty balls or indeed stop a lot of straightforward shots. Let’s give him another 3 year deal 

[Panda]

23 minutes ago, The.Moog said:

 

A little bit of me died inside again just now seeing Pandas post… 

I'll be spreading similar joy and happiness throughout the summer transfer window  

[The.Moog]

1 hour ago, Panda said:

I'll be spreading similar joy and happiness throughout the summer transfer window  

Well yer off to a cracking start there min…