dunning1874

Would be happier to see Albinson in goal than Woods, but for me that only confirms that we should be starting the season with Murdoch as first choice.

Tele says Keay has rejected our contract offer, but we did make it before the deadline to be due compensation so we'll get something regardless of where he goes. There'll be a bigger sum if he goes to England due to the same rule about a player's first international transfer that had us owing Liverpool money for Bearne.

Versatility is good of course, but I remain sceptical about how many Delaney mistakes Longridge being at centre back rather than left back will survive.

Queen's Park made Callan McKenna first choice as a 16 year old in 2023, despite their massive overrating of Calum Ferrie, with Ferrie only getting back in because McKenna got injured, then keeping his place once McKenna was fit again in December as the latter was obviously away to the English Premiership in January. That got Queen's Park a fee of £300K up front with add-ons that could take it considerably higher. If a significant factor for the club in giving Murdoch a two year deal is the prospect of a decent transfer fee, we need to give him games at a decent level rather than loaning him to League Two. Start with him in goal and if he visibly isn't ready then fine, bring another first choice in, but he's already been thrown into first team games unexpectedly and looked good so far.

I think that's a reason to go into the League Cup with Murdoch as first choice - the little we've seen from him suggests he's a much better keeper than Woods - and then if he struggles we can bring in a replacement, rather than making a default assumption that his age means he isn't ready.

Missing out on what would probably only have been a four or very low five figure sum for Lyall was one thing, but if they've not had the basic competence to offer Keay a deal more than 14 days before his contract expired and miss out on compensation, the fallout is going to make the reaction to the embargo look positive.

Good start, an upgrade at left back and another option at centre back if needed.

Don't believe for a second that McKay is training with us or won't have better offers, and I'm very glad of that. He's still the same shiftless waster who'll only try when he needs a contract that he's always been.

Would be very happy with Longridge, an upgrade on Delaney as first-choice left back who can play centre back if required. It feels like we've had years of our full-backs either being obviously one of our best players or not being good enough for this division. Longridge doesn't fall into either camp, I wouldn't expect him to be at Ballantyne's level but it'll be good to have a dependable above average Championship player there.

We already knew there was a likelihood of this happening because of the deal being delayed, it was one of the biggest issues with the timing. While Lyall was always likely to have other offers and therefore putting a contract on the table would have been extremely low risk, a far bigger issue is Keay, and remember that if a player moves outside Scotland then the offer had to be made 60 days before rather than 14 days before to ensure compensation. Putting an offer of the same value as previous contracts in front of Murdoch and Keay initially to ensure compensation in the event they left would have carried literally no risk with the pittance they'll have been on previously, whereas Lyall could potentially have saddled us with an unaffordable wage. Put in a word to them that if the deal went through the wage could be revised upwards and they weren't expected to sign on whatever youth players get, it's just to ensure a fee if they move on. The sum we've missed out on through not making the offer for Lyall was possibly as small as four figures. The sum we'd miss out on for Keay would be much bigger.

Yeah, that's Mullen, Shaw, Adeloye and Keay who are still in negotiations. If another club have made Shaw a better offer then I'll be delighted that we don't have to suffer him again. Mullen leaving would obviously be a blow, but one that's softened considerably by the emergence of Murdoch at the end of last season. It wouldn't be fair to expect a 17 year old to be as good as Mullen is already but at least we know there's a promising goalkeeper there rather than ending up with Woods as first choice. Would have liked to see what Adeloye could do fully fit with a pre-season behind him but if he has a better offer it can't be helped, and there'll hopefully be some sort of compensation if Keay goes.

The issue isn't just did the club have sufficient coverage or not as a yes or no binary. Part of the explanation given at the meeting was that the insurance would cover a simple patch up job, but may or may not cover all or part of further repairs and improvements, and in an ideal world while we've got work being done to the roof anyway the club would rather do more extensive repairs than simply patching up the hole, such as reinforcing or potentially even replacing undamaged parts of the roof to reduce the chances of this happening again, replacing gutters and other minor improvements. So it's a matter of negotiation whether insurance will cover those costs on top of basic repairs, and the club can't risk charging ahead and do it all then find a substantial hole in their pocket when the insurance ends up covering the cost of the fixing the hole and nothing else. I do agree that time's ticking on and work will need to start soon to avoid impacting the crowd at competitive games, but as it stands if there's no further news and they expect a definite answer imminently I understand why they're waiting to confirm what work is being done and what the timescale is before making a statement.

Terrific news on keeping Wilson, even if he misses more half the season we're so much better with him there that he's well worth the place in the squad. Crawford had a good season and Gillespie seemed to regain Imrie's trust with the amount of game time he got in the run-in - I always thought his performances merited a contract but the reduced game time he got when the midfield would have been better off if he was used as the Wilson alternative maybe meant it was best to let him go, but if he's going to be used more again next season then great. A two year deal for Murdoch is really great news. If there genuinely are clubs the stature of Sheffield United sniffing about already when he's only played three games then a successful run in the team could bring bigger clubs than that calling and if so he'll likely not still be here in 2027, but even if he's not going to get Callan McKenna level attention and money by next summer it also gives us what so far looks like a solid at worst goalkeeper signed up for two years if Mullen leaves. We've done so well with first choice goalkeepers in recent years with all of them since Ramsbottom being good that it's easy to forget how not having a good one on the books can absolutely tank a season: having Murdoch signed up means we avoid that even if Mullen goes.

Personally going to wait until after new director elections have been held before increasing my contribution, but making it much easier to do than the previous 'create a new entirely separate direct debit' is a great step that the board deserve credit for.

Yeah, getting a sell-on is the big thing here. While £200K compensation would itself be massive for a 17 year old who's played three games and the majority of teenagers who go to England don't make it, there's always the chance that he's does. Even if in the long-term he was to become no more than a bang average English Championship keeper rather than immediately anointing him as the next Craig Gordon, the money going around at that level now means a sell-on fee could make substantially more than the initial fee. Even if you get around the same fee for him as an initial transfer fee with say a 15% sell-on in there, some other add-ons about first team appearances etc, that's got the potential to make you much more than £200K and that's what every Scottish club should be thinking about when an English club is looking at a young prospect. Sticking with Sheffield Utd, they signed Michael Cooper from Plymouth last summer which gives us an example of a 24 year old goalkeeper moving between two Championship clubs. The fee was officially undisclosed but media reports had it at around £2M with add-ons that could take it to £4M. 15% of £2M is £300K, then getting 15% on the add-ons could take you to £600K. When Queen's Park sold Callan McKenna to Bournemouth (although it was straight to the Premier League, some similarities to Murdoch in being a 17 year old who'd only played 9 games) the initial fee was £300K but their add-ons can take it to £1M, presumably around hitting a trigger of first-team games for Bournemouth, international caps and so on. None of this says Murdoch is definitely moving to that level and if he stays and is part of the first team here instead then great, but the club needing to be thinking hard about the future earnings from a move like that rather than just the money in front of them immediately.