Can't quite believe we're almost at the end of the Season, have to say, It has flew in, I know there is still a good few weeks left, but the Manager will be thinking about next season for sure.

 

The likelihood is that GMS & Shinnie will be off, they'd surely have agreed an extension by now if they weren't? McKenna may have more interest and may leave, Stewart will go, Lowe will go, Gleeson ( Still not had a fair crack of the whip in my opinion ) will more than likely go also, Forrester already off the books, Hoban sadly injured, Reynolds off to Dundee United ( All the best ) James Wilson (  )  we will be rather light yet again.

 

We're a good amount of players down. What are the key positions that we need to address? Will we finally expand our scouting network?

 

This is arguably the most difficult task, in terms of recruitment, that McInnes will face.

 

 

 

 

Hopefully Main's addition is acceptance from the manager that Stevie May is no longer required. Send May to St Mirren or Hamilton etc... for a season long loan, in which he can be recalled if the need arises, get him regular games in his natural position and hopefully finds him his confidence back. Maybe he can still have a part to play but on the basis of that season there, he's not cut out just yet.

 

Cosgrove, on the other hand, whilst he was sluggish in terms of his goals at the beginning, he was still our best option up front, he was causing far more problems than May was and he at least started scoring, his goal return shouldn't be underestimated, it will be very interesting to see if he can maintain double figures moving forward, though.

 

I am more than happy to afford Curtis Main the opportunity. His signing seemed to go down a hell of a lot worse than Taylor's re-signing did. The negativity has been unreal, I absolutely get that his career total is rather underwhelming, but maybe we're going to go with 2 up front now, or maybe he'll suit us and McInnes's tactics better, who knows. I have a feeling he'll do okay to be honest. 

if sam scores another 20 plus goals the £1m valuation may seem less hyperbolic

Would anybody have gone with Kris Doolan over Curtis Main given length of contract the latter was given??

Would anybody have gone with Kris Doolan over Curtis Main given length of contract the latter was given??

 

Nope. Doolan isn't good enough. A good finisher but slow as hell. A significantly poorer version of Rooney but in the same mould. Main is far more of a battering ram as well as capable of finishing if opportunity arises.

Main's strength is his ability to bull defences. Defenders will hate playing against him. I've seen him bully the Huns and us something hellish. He's never had an amazing goal tally but I'm hopeful that he'll score more if we can get him some service. He might be an underwhelming signing but it's a damn sight better than Gash.

Presumably main will play alongside cosgrove winning the ball and laying it off to him then? To be fair May doesnt offer us that option. I would have liked to see someone who could play up front on there own coming in.

Presumably main will play alongside cosgrove winning the ball and laying it off to him then? To be fair May doesnt offer us that option. I would have liked to see someone who could play up front on there own coming in.

 

I think Cosgrova can play lone striker, he just needs the midfield behind him to do so.

need to play ball into mains feet then hes 5,11

If we sell big Sam, i would expect £1/2m -£1m from the Championship, is he worth it ? course not, crazy money down there

I'd heard he viewed s himself as a winger?

No idea if it's true mind you

I'd heard he viewed s himself as a winger?

No idea if it's true mind you

 

With his goal scoring record it would perhaps be better if he has been bought in to play on the wing. I thought he was taller then 5'11 it must be because of his physicality.

Happy enough with the lad Hedges signing for us, a young player who may be hungry for a chance to prove himself, the type of player we should be signing, hopefully it all works out well and happy to risk on guys like these providing they have been properly scouted.

 

Taylor and Main are a little bit worrying if that is the standard of player we are bringing in and I'm afraid they are more than just squad fillers. Taylor is not the worst defender we have ever had, not by a long way, but you just feel we should have moved on from him, he's not like a McGinn, who had something to offer by returning and offers that something extra on the field when required. Main I see as nothing more than a donkey and don't rate at all, yes he can bully defenders, but is a poor footballer and doesn't improves us other than being and tells me that I should prepare for another season of eye bleeding football.

 

Glad to be proved wrong though.

Definitely not whelmed or above by our signings so far.  Time will tell, but there's nothing in any of these players' provenance that excites the mind.

I'm just hoping that McInnes' first choices are either proving difficult to get or are likely to take some time to come, so he's got a few back-up players in early to ensure we've a team for the early rounds of the Europa League. At the moment we'd be threadbare - McGinn, GMS (even if he stays), F.Ross all likely to be missing, Wilson away, Ball not yet signed, Shaughnessy has dragged on that long it's looking unlikely.

 

In that regard, Main, Taylor, Hedges and one or two more leave us in better shape than we ended last season.

 

But hopefully over summer the standard of signing is going to be much higher.

At the moment the signing I am waiting for most is the autograph gms gives next. Would love it if we kept him.  Still annoyed we didn't try and get Scott Allan.

At the moment the signing I am waiting for most is the autograph gms gives next. Would love it if we kept him.  Still annoyed we didn't try and get Scott Allan.

 

Agree about Allan but supposedly he had his heart set on joining Hibs...he thought Celtic were releasing him last summer but for whatever reason suddenly reneged on it and asked for a fee.

At the moment the signing I am waiting for most is the autograph gms gives next. Would love it if we kept him.  Still annoyed we didn't try and get Scott Allan.

 

We may well have tried to get Allan, Halkett and a whole other bunch of players but a lot of people prefer to live in the central belt. The money we offer is only marginally more then Hibs and Hearts as they are both similar sized clubs.

Daily Record reporting we're still interested in Scott Pittman. He signed a new contract in March remember, so would naturally involve us paying a fee, just never been impressed with him any time I have seen him, would be underwhelmed if we paid for him.

 

Also rumours resurfacing that we're going to back in for Christian Doidge, strange one if that's true, given we've added Main, and already have May & Cosgrove. Of course they could be moved on, sold in Cosgrove's case.

They're taking a flyer. Not a hope in hell we will paying a fee for him, reports that he's interesting some Yank team in Cincinnatti...may be a bit more legs in that one given his father was a US international.

Being reported in the press that Ball has rejected contract with Dons.

great news

As mentioned several times, he was at the very best, a squad player. This isn't a gut punch or even remotely disappointing news.

 

We do though, need at least 3 midfielder's now. 1 x CAM, 2 x CDM.

 

Unless McInnes has aspirations of heading into next season with Gleeson & Ferguson as our sitting pair. Fuck that 

Read this morning that we have pulled the plug on Shaghnessey deal. Not surprising with Ash Taylor coming in.

Read this morning that we have pulled the plug on Shaghnessey deal. Not surprising with Ash Taylor coming in.

 

Indeed, saw something similar, if not the same thing, apparently Shaughnessy's old man was the problem, is he is agent or something? Joe was all but happy to sign the deal on the table but his old man wanted more wages ( Apparently )

 

So that's St Johnstone and now ourselves, pulled the plug. He'll end up at St Mirren or Motherwell.

 

 

Ant the Sun going with Ball having pulled the plug on us....