January transfer window and the squad as it stands

[baggy89]

In consideration of our failing season, thought an update to our contract situation might be worthwhile. Apologies for the length.

GK

2023

• Woods (31) - Is he Injured? noticed the boy Ritchie was on the bench Sunday.

2024

• Lewis (34) - Been off form but capable of getting that back made some good saves yesterday. 

No real issues here. Lewis has been out of form, but not really a problem for January or even next summer. 

Defence

January 2022

• Devlin (28) - Injured needs to be released.

Summer 2022

• Considine (34) - Injured and aging but should be given another year extension.
• Gurr (26) - not of the required standard.

2023

• MacKenzie (21) - Injured will be fine once he recovers from injury.
• Gallagher (30) - Injured looked off form when he has been fit.

2024

• Hernandez (24) - Loaned out hopefully Atlanta repay us for the fee paid out on their behalf and the whole sorry mess can be put to bed. 
• McCrorie (23) - arguably a midfielder been OK at the back and we have had little option. 
• Ramsay (18)- Injured could end up receiving offers for him, maybe his current injury will delay them till next summer. 
• Bates (25) - improving. 

I'd hope we are looking to start next season with MacKenzie, Gallagher, McCrorie (is he a midfielder), Ramsay (unless the right offer comes in) Bates & Considine (depending on his recovery). In January, Devlin must be off the payroll, attempts made to get Gurr off too, and fingers crossed Atlanta buy Hernandez (for everyone's sake). Should be planning on 4-6 of the current lot being here next season. Assuming recovery from injuries and no more occurring;

MacKenzie, Gallagher, McCrorie, Ramsay and Bates till end of the season, that are good enough, scope for additions.

Midfield

Summer 2022

• Hayes (34) - can see him signing an extension if offered but is he as effective as first time around? Can we get better and younger for the wage?
• Hedges (26) - will be off, decision is balancing any money offered and what player(s) can we bring in against what little Hedges playing within himself brings for the remainder of the season.
• McGeouch (28) - Injured? (again) imagine he's looking to see what offers he gets and will be trying to minimize injuries to his fragile body in the meantime.
• Ojo (30) - Also seems to be looking to see what offers he gets and we should be able to do better. 
• McGinn (34) - Past it.

End of Loan Summer 2022(If possible cancel them all in January)

• Jenks (19)  - Not good enough
• Samuels (21)  - Not good enough
• Longstaff (21) - Not good enough

2023

• Campbell (20) - Doesn't appear as if Glass rates him that highly.
• Kennedy (27) - Injured (allegedly) tried to get rid of in the summer depending on how true the back injury is, will likely try again.
• McLennan (22) - Injured he's got strength, pace, skill all let down by decision making and consistency. Should be at a higher level if he's going to make it at his club. 
• Brown (36) - Injured? Will give his all and probably been our best player, but he's 36. 

2024

• Ferguson (22) - doesn't want to be here will push for a move to england again in January. 

Next season would be planning on Hayes (to sign a new contract), Campbell, Brown, McLennan maybe Hanratty. Potentially for remainder of the season we have;

Campbell, Brown & Hayes who will give their all all, albeit Brown is 36 and probably will need a rest at some point some & Hayes who is 34 and has 6 months left on his contract. Hedges, McGeouch and Ojo who will be playing with one eye on a signing on fee elsewhere, won't care where we finish and play accordingly. Jenks, Longstaff and Samuels none of whom are good enough and none have a vested interest in our success.  Kennedy and McLennan who are not good enough and Ferguson who is trying to get a move elsewhere. 

Forwards

2023

• Watkins (31) - Hopefully stays injury free for the remainder of the season.
• Ramirez (30) - Possibly Glass's singular piece of good recruitment
• JET (30) - wrong type of player for battling at the wrong end of the table

An aging strike-force. Can't see any of them being here after summer 2023. JET too much of a luxury but can't see anyone taking him off our hands in January. Ngwenya to join them next season?

Youth on loan

• Ngwenya (18) - contract till 2024
• Ruth (19) - contract till 2022
• Barron (19) - contract till 2022
• Ritchie (18) - contract till 2022
• Duncan (17) - contract till 2022
• Hanratty (18) - contract till 2024
• Mykyta (19) - contract till 2022
• McIver (18) - contract till 2022
• Gallagher (20) - contract till 2022
• Milne (18) - contract till 2022

As far as I can find only Ngwenya and Hanratty signed for longer than the end of the season?

Following Sunday it appears we may only have 15 fit outfield players fit. 3 defenders (1 is Gurr and McRorie will be banned for hibs), 9 midfielders (Longstaff might as well not be here, Jenks and Samuels aren't good enough, McGinn has made 2 starts from 7 appearances ), 3 forwards (1 is JET).

7 games till the break and opening of the window. 

Recruitment has been a shambles for a while now, nothing we saw in the summer points to improvements and this must be the most unbalanced & incoherent (almost as bad as this post), uncommitted and aging squad we've had in a long time. Hopefully our DoF has been making several plans based on any number of scenario's.

We have to;

• Mitigate the effect losing Ferguson and/or Ramsay would have
• Take into account the lack of commitment from the 8 midfielders with no contractual obligation beyond the end of the season.
• The imbalance inexperience and decimation through injury of our defence. 
• The age of our attack. 
• And the lack of players in their "prime years" throughout the squad.

And this has to be balanced against;

• how shit January is as a transfer window
• that we have enough to ensure we don't get dragged into relegation worries
• not make rash decisions that fuck up future season with more aging or not good enough players all playing the same positions on high wages. 

[RicoS321]

I think that moving players on is more important than signings in January. We've got a massive squad, filled with filler. We can't see the Woods (pun intended) for the trees.

I'd like to see about six or seven moved on and maybe one or two in. Devlin, Kennedy, the three loanees, Jet all binned. Probably McLennan too. Attacking midfielder and a winger in place of them.

Sorted.

[Jute]

Would like to see Gurr moved on/released and another right sided defender brought in that can play either right back or centre half in addition to Rico’s suggestions above. 

[manc_don]

Great summary, baggy, cheers!  Will reply later when i've got a bit more time.

[Jute]

Ryan Duncan extends deal to 2024. 
 

Currently on loan to Peterhead but don’t think he has managed a game for them. 

[RedKev]

Think with the likely departure of Ferguson in January, slot McRorie in his role. We'll have defenders back then to cover and let him play the MF role. Think he would be handy in the middle, he's got an engine on him.

I like the looks of Teddy Jenks, not sure if that can be permanent but he looks good also. 

Samuels... speaking with neighbours of Glass, apparently he is a great player but has a low footballing IQ, his technical knowledge is limited and struggles to take this into his play.

[BigAl]

Is Longstaffe away yet ?

[tlg1903]

1 minute ago, BigAl said:

Is Longstaffe away yet ?

Not as far as I'm aware

[BigAl]

On 06/12/2021 at 10:58, tlg1903 said:

Not as far as I'm aware

Surely will be come January.

Hugely disappointed how this one has panned out.

Had high hopes when we secured him on loan.

Probably fair to say of the loan signings he has been the poorest.

Is there a Billy Big Baws attitude at play per chance ?

Can't see him having too much of a future at The Toon  

[tlg1903]

40 minutes ago, BigAl said:

Surely will be come January.

Hugely disappointed how this one has panned out.

Had high hopes when we secured him on loan.

Probably fair to say of the loan signings he has been the poorest.

Is there a Billy Big Baws attitude at play per chance ?

Can't see him having too much of a future at The Toon  

I thought SG's "we would have liked better performances" line was quite telling Al.  Reeked of coming up here thinking it was going to be beneath him and he wouldn't have to try to hard to shine. 

[wokinginashearerwonderland]

Number one priority has to be a Hedges replacement, cannot see him being here after 31st January.  We seem to lose a lot of our attacking threat when he is missing.

[LA-Don]

I'm thinking Longstaff was Ferguson's replacement and we thought he was away in the summer. Not sure he'll leave just yet, especially if Ferguson goes. Saying that, as mentioned, with Bates and Gallagher now here, I'd rather see McRorie in midfield if Ferguson is away.

We need a winger and #10 in January. Plus offload the likes of Kennedy and McLennan

[tlg1903]

5 hours ago, wokinginashearerwonderland said:

Number one priority has to be a Hedges replacement, cannot see him being here after 31st January.  We seem to lose a lot of our attacking threat when he is missing.

Mclennan I would keep. There's a player in there and he's rapid. 

Mcrorie and brown in midfield has merit but I would want another centre half in.  We should be trying to get mcgrath in to replace hedges

[OrlandoDon]

3 hours ago, tlg1903 said:

Mclennan I would keep. There's a player in there and he's rapid. 

Mcrorie and brown in midfield has merit but I would want another centre half in.  We should be trying to get mcgrath in to replace hedges

I don’t see that in mclennan. I see a modern day Darren Mackie. Plenty of pace and the odd good thing, but more often than not it’s miscontrol and mistake/poor decision. Half the time mclennan beats himself. I haven’t seen a change in him since he’s broken in to the first team, think he’s worth cutting loose.

[manc_don]

1 hour ago, OrlandoDon said:

I don’t see that in mclennan. I see a modern day Darren Mackie. Plenty of pace and the odd good thing, but more often than not it’s miscontrol and mistake/poor decision. Half the time mclennan beats himself. I haven’t seen a change in him since he’s broken in to the first team, think he’s worth cutting loose.

Think I’d go with that. Haven’t seen anything that makes me think he’ll cut it. Might need to leave to realise that and might spur him on. I’d really like us to get in fergie and hedges replacements. I’d be surprised if either was still here come feb. 

[tlg1903]

6 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

I don’t see that in mclennan. I see a modern day Darren Mackie. Plenty of pace and the odd good thing, but more often than not it’s miscontrol and mistake/poor decision. Half the time mclennan beats himself. I haven’t seen a change in him since he’s broken in to the first team, think he’s worth cutting loose.

That's fair enough mate, he's a frustrating player at times for sure.  At times he looks amazing and others like it's the first time he's ever seen a football. The reason I would be prepared to give him a bit more time is that I think he suits our intended style of play far more than under DM and I'm interested to see if he can kick on under glass

[Elgindon]

Agreed ^^.  Think he suits a quick attacking side(where he doesnt have too much time to think). Hasnt helped weve been a bit disjointed the last few months,but if were on an upward curve,be good to give him another run to see/decide what he can do 

Edited December 8, 2021 by Elgindon

[Jute]

McLennan showed potential when he first broke through and had some good performances for both Dons and Scotland U21s  but he has not kicked on from there. Not sure if that is down to lack of ability, injuries leading to lack of game time or a combination of both but he is now frustrating watch. That said would rather we kept him for another year and gave him the game time allocated to the loan signings like Samuels and Jenks to see if there is a player there. 

[HaarDon]

12 minutes ago, Jute said:

McLennan showed potential when he first broke through and had some good performances for both Dons and Scotland U2s  but he has not kicked on from there. Not sure if that is down to lack of ability, injuries leading to lack of game time or a combination of both but he is now frustrating watch. That said would rather we kept him for another year and gave him the game time allocated to the loan signings like Samuels and Jenks to see if there is a player there. 

Im sure McLennan's level is slightly better than the Scotland U2s.

 

[Jute]

1 hour ago, HaarDon said:

Im sure McLennan's level is slightly better than the Scotland U2s.

 

Need to learn to read things before I post them. 

[HaarDon]

23 minutes ago, Jute said:

Need to learn to read things before I post them. 

I know the feeling 

[manc_don]

7 hours ago, HaarDon said:

Im sure McLennan's level is slightly better than the Scotland U2s.

 

Thought jute was being fair

[OrlandoDon]

Well, 3 wins in a row and we’re a point off fourth with a better goal difference, plus 6 off hearts in third with plenty of games to play. We’ve been far from convincing and many have doubts, including me, when third is clearly very achievable. Worse is certainly achievable too.

I do feel a decent January window is most certainly needed. With terrible injuries the picture doesn’t seem that bad now, especially if we were to do well in the Scottish cup. But shipping a few out and bringing in a couple of quality players is huge. Could still see hedges and Ferguson leaving this window though so we could see a bit of January change.

 

[tom_widdows]

Probably misheard but I seem to recall hearing mention on 'Off the Ball' of the Dons being interested in Tony Watt now he's announced he's not signing a new deal with Motherwell beyond the summer

Edited December 12, 2021 by tom_widdows

[Slim]

Meh, bang average striker going through a bit of a purple patch.