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. 

I wonder now with Ange leaving Celtic if that affects our chances of getting Liam Scales on a permanent. New manager might want to take a look at him or even give him a chance.

He's not exactly irreplaceable, or as integral as a Clarkson or Shinnie, but would have been nice to get a left sided centre back that is a known quantity signed up.

Being linked with Will Fish who was on loan at Hibs last season.

 

https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/sport/hibs-could-face-fish-transfer-27062549.amp

A fishscales pairing at the back would be excellent. 

3 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

A fishscales pairing at the back would be excellent. 

Pollock, Fish & Scales surely 😉

Shame Conor Sammon and Allan Trouten are both in the twilight of their careers.

Shame Conor Sammon and Allan Trouten are both in the twilight of their careers.

1 hour ago, BigAl said:

Shame Conor Sammon and Allan Trouten are both in the twilight of their careers.

It wasn’t funny the first time. 

21 minutes ago, Jute said:

It wasn’t funny the first time. 

WTF a doubler.

Not had one of those for many a year.

Personally I blame the Greek wi-fi and feck all to do with the drink taken 😉

1 hour ago, BigAl said:

WTF a doubler.

Not had one of those for many a year.

Personally I blame the Greek wi-fi and feck all to do with the drink taken 😉

9 hours ago, BigAl said:

Pollock, Fish & Scales surely 😉

Back of the net.

12 hours ago, OxfordDon said:

Back of the net.

You’re trawling new depths there

That’s EFL put Wigan under a transfer embargo. Going to make getting Shinnie signed more difficult.

 

33 minutes ago, Jute said:

That’s EFL put Wigan under a transfer embargo. Going to make getting Shinnie signed more difficult.

I saw a suggestion this morning that he can terminate his final years contract due to none payment of wages. If its a matter of compensating him for that hopefully we can just offer him a decent sign on fee to cover it. We were likely going to have to pay Wigan something anyway. It would be a bit of a nightmare to miss out on him so hopefully the club are exploring all options. 

Think it would have to be several months of non payment to allow him to go down that route rather than late payment which it has been up until now. I still expect us to get Shinnie but does not look like it’s going to be something that will be resolved quickly which isn’t ideal. 

I don't think it's a big deal whether or no he signs to be honest.  We are talking about someone who is turning 32 shortly who we might get a couple of decent seasons out of, he's not Lionel Messi and more relevant is that he's also not the 28 year old Graeme Shinnie who departed in 2019.  If we can't get him on a free just move on and make other plans.  It might be a good time to bring one of the youngsters through.

37 minutes ago, wokinginashearerwonderland said:

I don't think it's a big deal whether or no he signs to be honest.  We are talking about someone who is turning 32 shortly who we might get a couple of decent seasons out of, he's not Lionel Messi and more relevant is that he's also not the 28 year old Graeme Shinnie who departed in 2019.  If we can't get him on a free just move on and make other plans.  It might be a good time to bring one of the youngsters through.

I disagree. There's not a youngster out there that will bring anything close to what Shinnie brings to a team. There are better footballers, of course, but there are very few captains ready made to walk into the side (I don't just mean a young player either). Ramadani could be considered one of our better signings of the summer, and he's nowhere near as good as Shinnie. On top of the ten other signings we need, losing out on Shinnie would be hugely destructive for the team. We're already trusting a huge amount to luck in the transfer market, having a player that is a known quantity and very reliable is vital. Robson is on a hiding to nothing as it is, he definitely doesn't need to lose his captain.

1 hour ago, wokinginashearerwonderland said:

I don't think it's a big deal whether or no he signs to be honest.  We are talking about someone who is turning 32 shortly who we might get a couple of decent seasons out of, he's not Lionel Messi and more relevant is that he's also not the 28 year old Graeme Shinnie who departed in 2019.  If we can't get him on a free just move on and make other plans.  It might be a good time to bring one of the youngsters through.

It's mental the number of people who think players are past it once they reach their 30s.

If he was about to turn 36 I'd be slightly concerned, but at 32 I think it's safe to say he still has at least three good years in him before performances may begin to dip.

Duncan Shearer played for Aberdeen in his 30s by the way...

42 minutes ago, Panda said:

It's mental the number of people who think players are past it once they reach their 30s.

If he was about to turn 36 I'd be slightly concerned, but at 32 I think it's safe to say he still has at least three good years in him before performances may begin to dip.

Duncan Shearer played for Aberdeen in his 30s by the way...

I'm actually surprised there aren't more players playing until they're forty to be honest. With advances in training and such like, it seems fairly doable. 

I think there is a point to be made about age and Shinnie's best attributes, but those are the type of questions you'd raise when he's around Hayes' age. Certainly no issue now. He'll have a couple of bad games and the old "legs have gone" cliche will be out for the remainder of his career.

I would genuinely be devastated if we don't get Shinnie back.  I would also add to jutes point about Rama that I think Rama is a far better player when he's alongside Shinnie.  

1 hour ago, tlg1903 said:

I would genuinely be devastated if we don't get Shinnie back.  I would also add to jutes point about Rama that I think Rama is a far better player when he's alongside Shinnie.  

As a combination, they were great, although Goodwin's tactics had a lot to answer for with regard to Ramadani's early form. He continually played him as the number six, deep lying midfielder despite him being unsuited to that role. He has to play as part of a pair, either behind an attacking midfielder or ahead of a good number six. Robson corrected it fairly sharpish and it turned things on their head for us. It's not just that Shinnie makes him a better player, it's that he absolutely needs to be part of a pair in order to be effective. I'd say it was probably 50% Shinnie and 50% positional that resulted in the improvements in the latter half. A balance that brought the best out of Clarkson too.

3 hours ago, Panda said:

It's mental the number of people who think players are past it once they reach their 30s.

If he was about to turn 36 I'd be slightly concerned, but at 32 I think it's safe to say he still has at least three good years in him before performances may begin to dip.

Duncan Shearer played for Aberdeen in his 30s by the way...

Nah, not saying players are past it in their 30s but certainly past their peak.  Difficult to say how many years Shinnie could go on for, no one has a crystal ball of course.  Your Shearer example is fine but he was great for his first couple of seasons, cannot think he would have scored many goals for us past 32 yrs of age but I'd be interested to find out.  

My point was more to do with Shinnie's ability than age really.  He's a decent player, don't get me wrong but all of the "he's one of our own" stuff clouds our supporters views in my opinion.  A fantastic leader, yes but he doesn't create anything, is not some brilliant passer of the ball and does not score many goals.  Might be a controversial opinion but I don't think there would be a great clamour to sign him if he was a Hearts or Hibs player for example.  I hope he stays on but I would not push the boat out to keep him.

 

I think getting or not getting shinnie is huge. He was massive for us and his influence on our improvement cannot but understated. No surprise we had a bit of a wobble when he was suspended. I’ll also add that if it was easy to find a replacement we’d have done that. As mentioned, I’ll be gutted if we don’t get him. I can also see him playing until mid/late 30s, you may not see as many lung busting runs but his influence will continue for a while. 32 still gives us a good 3-4 years in my opinion.

1 hour ago, wokinginashearerwonderland said:

A fantastic leader, yes but he doesn't create anything, is not some brilliant passer of the ball and does not score many goals.

 

I find this a strange statement.  A "fantastic leader" drives the other players to higher levels of creativity, passing, goalscoring (and defending, concentration, motivation). He's the catnip of the squad and it's been pretty evident we are less effective as a team without him.

Tonio Teklic incoming 🤔

🇭🇷  U23 intwrnational attacking midfielder

1 hour ago, BigAl said:

Tonio Teklic incoming 🤔

🇭🇷  U23 intwrnational attacking midfielder

Guessing that means no Clarkson then.