TopCat

The Cammy Blues of last season wouldn't be a dramatic loss for us. He's shown himself to be a very effective box to box player in previous years but we rarely play like that.

Not if we bin a load of useless sanddancers and use the budget space generated to sign fewer, better quality players.

If we do (again, this is unlikely) sign all 15 players on this list, we'll need at least 4 players in Brophy's wage bracket to have a go at a playoff spot and ensure this lot are mostly backup. i.e. a new 1st choice CB, 1st choice winger, 1st choice attacking midfielder/second striker. Plus two goalkeepers and some loan deals. A big ask.

I'd be very surprised if we go with a squad of more than 20 this season. Last season's was a bloated mess and actually made us worse on the park.

Apart from Wilson, there's no real standout great (or really terrible) players being offered deals. All 8 signing up would place far too much weight on incoming quality signings, but that seems an unlikely scenario.

I'm happy for Mr Duncan to continue to bleat to the tele as much as he likes, so long as his involvement with the club doesn't extend beyond paying in at the gate.

Strapp's long throw is a great asset. He's a committed player and hard as nails, but his limitations (rash decisions, poor positional sense) were made massively evident not 2 weeks ago when he effectively relegated Airdrie with a moment of madness. No thanks. Lyon would be a decent squad player, but we've bigger priorities to sort out.

Nothing wrong with making him one of our bigger earners, but I'd generally disagree with the idea of making big offers to fend off interest, even for Wilson. Ayr chucked a relative fortune at Oakley and he made no significant contribution to them this season after a decent initial return. Our best counter could've been equally fruitless. Our budget is always going to be too tight to take a big risk on an expensive star man (especially one with an extensive injury history) unless we find a sponsor willing to bankroll signings.

If Wilson stays and Murray sticks with his 4231, we need a first choice upgrade on Gillespie/Blues as the second deep lying midfielder, which should also make us less reliant on Wilson's fitness. Blues is a great box to box player for this level, but not very convincing sitting further back. Both Blues and Gillespie (pace) struggled at times with the opposition running straight at them this season.

This is an issue we just need to deal with and treat as the norm. We don't have the fanbase or budget to operate at Championship level as anything other than a shop window for players pushing their way up the pyramid. Our whole setup should be geared towards that. The list of players worthy of being poached is also pretty short this year and the tricky bit will be getting a high % of our recruitment correct following a necessary clearout.

Looking back this morning with a cooler head - it's hard to give any players pass marks other than Wilson, Longridge, Storer and O'Halloran. We may have snatched survival but it was only after Strapp dropped it at our feet. I get why folk look to defend the players (especially those who consistently run their guts out) but the edge O'Halloran gave us when he came on demonstrates the general lack of quality this season. Murray needs to have a good look at himself for his involvement in the Q4 collapse but hopefully the recruitment improves dramatically in the summer to give him a chance. We're unlikely to have the buffer of a Ross County esque basket case to rescue us.

Survival update. Ross County and St Johnstone exiting the league and Livi and (probably) Inverness entering reduces the average financial clout of the league but puts us in more direct competition for players with another 2 clubs. Keep: all of the Dalrada-funded contracts, Owens, Wilson, ask the question for Storer. Maybe (depending on budget to fund better and availability): Blues, Ballantyne, Comrie. Release: the rest

I didn't say he was, but did he step up and get a grip of any of our recent shitshows? He's had 7 years at the club but it's been a while since he was critical to our performances.

Huge relief, and always great to see Airdrie suffer. Garrity, Shaw, Moffat, Delaney and Main shouldn't be allowed to step foot in Cappielow again. It's probably a good point to call time on Blues, Gillespie and any/all of the squad filler as well. Survival is massive but we need a serious, unsentimental look at the structure of the club, the ground and the playing squad to ensure our survival as a top 20-ish outfit. Hopefully the Estrella deal can provide the stability Dalrada failed to deliver.

Any worry for ourselves should be overridden by the need to relegate this horrible stain of a club. Get them down.