Christ, I must be slipping up now that I've commenced my seventh decade as I started last summer's one back in mid March 2022 much to Rico's annoyance.

Anyway, here goes, the exact date the window will open has yet to be announced but will be at some point in early June meaning we are potentially only just over six weeks away.

If we thought last year's one was busy, then I think its fair to say there is going to be a fair old churn this summer as well.

Difficult to forecast too much at this point given amongst other minor things we don't actually know who'll be in charge next season, but lets not let that stop us speculating too much.

Rumours in the papers suggesting we're still after the lad from Go Ahead Eagles that we came close to signing in January.

There will be all the usual chat about who's leaving and how much we'll rake in in fees, so knock yourselves out and get them fired in here lads. 

1 hour ago, OrlandoDon said:

I think Rama is like willo flood, had his fans but also some didn’t rate him. I think rama does a job for us, we’ve just struggled for flair, creativity, and width and he does more than he should. Will be tough to replace.

The comparison between Ramadani and Flood is a good one, but I'd say Flood was the better player. He did much of the same stuff as Rama, but better.

And even then, I don't think it was a case of not rating Flood, just that we needed better than him to go up a level. Just like Ramadani.

 

James McGarry, New Zealand International is our new left back 👍

 

Source Evening Express.

Any of you colonial types seen him play in A league. 

He's pretty handy. Plays for Central Coast Mariners who won the A-League this year. The top A-League teams are arguably on a par with the 3rd to 6th placed SPL teams 

A left field,left back signing.Hopefully an upgrade on fellow Kiwi,Rory Fallon,wonder strikes aside.

   Apparently he can play further forward.Preferably as a wing back also with a bit of luck

 Welcome aboard James

Edited August 2, 20232 yr by Elgindon

Good player, had struggled with injury earlier in his career but I was disappointed when he left the nix. He wasn’t first choice, but there wasn’t much between him and the then Lb. Wasn’t as good as Cacace who I wanted us to sign, but improved big time at CCM. Was always a frustration when he played for the nix that he didn’t shoot and get forward enough. Then he did with them and scored some screamers last season. Believe he started his career further up field and moved to the back line.

I’m trying to remember if I saw him play as part of a back 3, uffie played a 4-2-2-2 but not sure what Montgomery utilised.

EE saying we have accepted a £1.1M bid from Lecce for Ramadani. Considering we paid ~£100k for him a year ago, that's not a bad return 

20 hours ago, Reekie_Red said:

EE saying we have accepted a £1.1M bid from Lecce for Ramadani. Considering we paid ~£100k for him a year ago, that's not a bad return 

Good from a business perspective but not so much in terms of our squad.

Hopefully replacement is already lined up.

I wonder if polvara is the replacement based on recent comments from Robson, Hayes etc.

Interesting to note Celtic have a ‘defensive crisis’ and scales doesn’t even make the match squad today. Scales on the left of a 3 while the NZ boy at left wing back please.

3 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

Interesting to note Celtic have a ‘defensive crisis’ and scales doesn’t even make the match squad today. Scales on the left of a 3 while the NZ boy at left wing back please.

Feels like this would make sense, although I feel that is heavily reliant on scales forming the same type of relationship he had with the defence as he did last season. McGarry is fine going forward, but defending wasn’t his forte. When he goes bombing up, that person needs to be able to handle the pressure.

2 hours ago, manc_don said:

Feels like this would make sense, although I feel that is heavily reliant on scales forming the same type of relationship he had with the defence as he did last season. McGarry is fine going forward, but defending wasn’t his forte. When he goes bombing up, that person needs to be able to handle the pressure.

Not quite sure I understand you regarding ‘the defense,’ in terms of relationship he’d have the same keeper and be next to Macdonald again, the two closest to him. Williams or slob replacing pollock. You’ll train that 4 to work together, assuming it’s a back 3, full faith it would work. The big unit today didn’t look much different to pollock and I have to believe Williams has to be decent. Actually intrigued to see Mcgarry as an attacker based on your comments, thought Hayes looked average at best today, showed his age.

Edited August 5, 20232 yr by OrlandoDon

The one thing we're not crying out for is another central defender. And the only way Scales plays next Sunday anyway is if he's wearing a Celtic shirt.

 

1 hour ago, OrlandoDon said:

Not quite sure I understand you regarding ‘the defense,’ in terms of relationship he’d have the same keeper and be next to Macdonald again, the two closest to him. Williams or slob replacing pollock. You’ll train that 4 to work together, assuming it’s a back 3, full faith it would work. The big unit today didn’t look much different to pollock and I have to believe Williams has to be decent. Actually intrigued to see Mcgarry as an attacker based on your comments, thought Hayes looked average at best today, showed his age.

Suppose I more meant the level of competence we saw from him with McDonald and pollock rather than Stewart et al. 

Quiet morning after our first game!

fair to say we are committed to 3 at the back, and playing 3-5-2. Can’t see Williams or ruby coming here to come off the bench and Macdonald has been excellent for us. Thought ruby looked really solid although that was a game very suited to him. I also think we’re committed to 2 up top. Mcgarry and devlin as wing backs I’d assume. We’re missing another central midfielder with Rama gone despite the up talk of polvara. Cormack said 4-5 signings, surely it’s a central midfielder and wingers were looking at to finish the squad rebuild. Any names out there? And as for Liam scales, looking at the squad now, despite a different type of player I think ruby was his replacement in the squad. Mackenzie and Mcgarry, plus Hayes, have left back/wingback covered.

16 hours ago, Panda said:

The one thing we're not crying out for is another central defender. And the only way Scales plays next Sunday anyway is if he's wearing a Celtic shirt.

 

We're not crying out for one, but no way McKenzie is playing every week for us. He played well against Livingston, defensively, but does nothing coming forward with the ball and is slow to get it under control. Scales is a far better all round footballer and I think he could go on to be very good. If we get the option to sign then we should go for it, a loan would be a terrible decision as this is definitely the season that'll make or break him as a player. Ideally we'd get him in time for Europe, and it certainly shouldn't prohibit us from being on the lookout for a midfielder and a winger and number ten. 

5 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

We're not crying out for one, but no way McKenzie is playing every week for us. He played well against Livingston, defensively, but does nothing coming forward with the ball and is slow to get it under control. Scales is a far better all round footballer and I think he could go on to be very good. If we get the option to sign then we should go for it, a loan would be a terrible decision as this is definitely the season that'll make or break him as a player. Ideally we'd get him in time for Europe, and it certainly shouldn't prohibit us from being on the lookout for a midfielder and a winger and number ten. 

If there's a chance to sign Scales without paying over the odds for him, then aye, I'm up for it. I don't need convincing.

But I think Mackenzie given time in that position can also develop into a good player, so I'm not overly concerned about the situation. 

21 minutes ago, Panda said:

If there's a chance to sign Scales without paying over the odds for him, then aye, I'm up for it. I don't need convincing.

But I think Mackenzie given time in that position can also develop into a good player, so I'm not overly concerned about the situation. 

I'm just not convinced Mackenzie will ever be better than average.  Put it this way, if he wasnt left footed he probably would have been released by now. 

1 hour ago, tlg1903 said:

I'm just not convinced Mackenzie will ever be better than average.  Put it this way, if he wasnt left footed he probably would have been released by now. 

Well, we can argue all week about whether Mackenzie will be a problem for us this season, but we'll just have to wait and see. 

Unless Robson pulls a rabbit out of the bag, or Mackenzie skips the queue ahead of Rubezic at lunch and gets maimed badly for it, then he'll he playing against Celtic on Sunday.

On the subject of LCBs by the way, latest rumour is Celtic want Scott McKenna...

 

7 hours ago, Panda said:

Well, we can argue all week about whether Mackenzie will be a problem for us this season, but we'll just have to wait and see. 

Unless Robson pulls a rabbit out of the bag, or Mackenzie skips the queue ahead of Rubezic at lunch and gets maimed badly for it, then he'll he playing against Celtic on Sunday.

On the subject of LCBs by the way, latest rumour is Celtic want Scott McKenna...

 

Would be disappointed if McKenna was to drop down to Celtic’s level. I would have thought he had done enough for another bottom half EPL team to buy him if Forrest are selling. 
 

As for Scales I am still not convinced we should be paying for him especially the amount Celtic are allegedly asking for. 100% cannot be another loan. 

Any chance of us getting O'Hara from St Mirren? Would be a good signing, better than thon Baccus lad in my opinion. Offer them £100K plus a chance to play a lucrative pre-season friendly against us next summer.

4 hours ago, Jute said:

On the subject of LCBs by the way, latest rumour is Celtic want Scott McKenna...

Sounds like a rumor in the same vein as the one that Kieren Tierney would be going back to them. Scott Mckenna starts every week for a pl team when fit. Generally that means his value is £20 million+ at his age and there is no way Celtic will pay that for him. 

2 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

Any chance of us getting O'Hara from St Mirren? Would be a good signing, better than thon Baccus lad in my opinion. Offer them £100K plus a chance to play a lucrative pre-season friendly against us next summer.

O’Hara is under contract for another 3 years. Think we will struggle to get him for a decent fee. Baccus is out of contract so available at a cheaper price. They accepted £275k for Baccus earlier in the summer. O’Hara was better player on Sunday but overall think Baccus would be better option. 

2 hours ago, Jute said:

O’Hara is under contract for another 3 years. Think we will struggle to get him for a decent fee. Baccus is out of contract so available at a cheaper price. They accepted £275k for Baccus earlier in the summer. O’Hara was better player on Sunday but overall think Baccus would be better option. 

Whilst I don't think we'll get O'Hara for the reasons you state, with the draw for the playoff now made, Cormack must be looking at that and questioning whether or not to go all in. It's worth at least £1.5M as a single tie, against either of two teams we're very capable of beating. I'm thinking that two good signings, especially a midfielder, could give us a good chance. After the weekend's poor performance, I think a number ten might be of use. We're limited with our formations because of the insistence of sticking with Duk and Miovski, so I'd probably prioritise midfield over wide players. I'd be inclined to just meet the Tims' valuation for Scales if there's not much difference in our positions too, we need a centre half that can come forward with the ball, and overlap if we want to get anything out of our wide players. Devlin only got beyond Morris once on Saturday, and McKenzie didn't get beyond Hayes. If we're expecting our wide players to take folk on then this is vital when they're coming from deep as wing backs (think Tierney and Robertson for Scotland, but shitter).