dunning1874

I'd be chuffed with Cochrane. With the way we've seen the 4-2-3-1 function so far and the players signed up for the three, I think we'll need two energetic players who can both cover a lot ground defensively in the two instead of Wilson's partner being someone in the MacPherson or Lyall mould as a deep lying playmaker. A bit of an all rounder who's comfortable enough in possession to take the ball from the defence but also covers that defensive ground would be excellent and I think Cochrane fits that mould as well as anyone we're likely to get.

As ever with a player you've never heard of coming from that level, he could realistically be a hidden gem who'll be fantastic or a contender for the worst player you've ever seen. No point guessing which.

Without knowing the details of what's happened, regardless it's a real shame that an issue with one member can bring things to this point. The articles were designed specifically to stop that happening, it's why there needs to be a minimum number of members putting their names to a vote of no confidence, need to meet a quorum at an AGM/EGM etc, so individual agendas and vendettas (if that's what this is about) can't derail the organisation. If a member chooses to take a route outside the organisation rather than addressing their problems within it then there's sadly little board members can do about that.

After all the chat we've had here about how much attacking players might have seen their own end product suffer due to the failings of their teammates, there'll be nowhere to hide for Garrity next season as the only one of those wingers hanging about. Last season was really the one that he needed to kick on and show some consistency and instead he had a poorer season, which included definitely getting worse after Murray took over and he got the platform of a consistent run of starts, when one of the defences made of him under Imrie was that he was regularly in and out of the team. I'd have released him on that basis, but if there are straws to clutch at for why an improvement might come, Moffat definitely did improve for regularly playing on the right as a right footer under Murray and him going there meant Garrity rarely did. Maybe going to his natural side rather than being inverted will give him a similar boost, and his goal return is closer to being acceptable than Moffat or Shaw so he's possibly the one of the three needing the least improvement to be good enough for this division, though again his performances in the second half of last season make that an unconvincing argument. There being no sign of his decision making in the final third improving having played over 100 games has been really frustrating, but if he can add even 3 more league goals over a season then that would be a good end product for anyone who's not a centre forward.

That leaves Garrity and MacPherson as the only players we've had no official announcement on, although Murray did say "that ship has probably sailed" about MacPherson. Delaney and Moffat (along with Main and Lawton Green) rocking up at one of the PFA training camps for clubless players. Even knowing that we're going to have the lowest budget of full-time Championship clubs and lower than some in League One as well, extremely bold of those two to turn us down without having something lined up. Maybe they want to go part-time, but it would be surprising to see them in the Championship next season.

I like having the last game away to make a weekend of it, but Raith is a rubbish way to end the season. An overnight stay in Inverness on Friday to avoid a clash with a Scotland away game on the Saturday however? Very much appreciated.

Ian Murray playing someone out of position on the wing is evidence of a manager being too dogmatic to change his approach to suit the players he's got, not Delaney actually being suited to it. He was also only on the bench to be used as a sub on the wing in the first place because Murray was unhappy with his performances after Dunfermline & Raith and dropped him to try Longridge at left back instead. We've had far worse full backs than Delaney and we will again, he did improve initially under Murray and had a bit more composure in possession, but he was still a mediocre Championship left back at best who had some howling errors in him and along with the rest of the team regressed badly in the run-in. Maybe we'll end up with even worse (luckily Calum Waters has already signed a new contract at Alloa) but even with a reduced budget that's a position where an upgrade should be realistic.

Shaw could probably put together a highlights package that makes him look class with goals and assists which could fool a lazy manager who didn't scout him properly, so won't realise that he's actually total murder for 89 minutes in the few games he has an end product and for 90 in the games he doesn't. Moffat has playing first-team games for Celtic on his CV and has some pace so managers will always think they can be the one to finally get an end product out of him. Despite that ability for wingers to dupe managers into thinking they've got something, I strongly suspect better offers for these players won't emerge, as with Shaw eventually coming back with his tail between his legs in mid-July last season because no else wanted him. They may get more money out of Hamilton or East Kilbride than we offer but clubs with aspirations of getting near promotion from the Championship are not going to sign Owen Moffat after his performances for the last two years. The issue is that Murray is 100% not going to deviate from 4-2-3-1, so we'll have two wingers in the team every week regardless of whether we sign even worse than the already not good enough for the Championship options who are departing. We could hope he's at least sensible enough to go narrower with it as we saw with eg Blues on the right a couple of seasons ago, but all the evidence suggests it's going to be conventional hugging the touchline wingers or nothing. I wonder if Delaney wants back to Ireland, because he has even less a chance of getting a better offer than Morton in Scotland than the wingers do.

Murray's said that "that ship has probably sailed " about MacPherson and "Moff is probably just outwith our wage structure". No great loss in either case.

Was thinking we'd maybe only hear from Murray whenever the players are back for pre-season, and right enough the board update says they'll be back next week.

We're now a month on from Murray saying publicly that he'd spoken to all of the squad and informed them whether they were being offered a deal or not. You'd think we're probably not far away from a deadline for those who haven't signed yet to make a decision; the window officially opens on Monday so that could be a logical cut off.

The email of 24 May had the following update: In my eyes that effectively acted as the update you're looking for? If it was indeed concluded a few days later I don't see the need for a further email confirming that, when the next update could come with something more substantive like the finalising of the agreement and/or a timeline for when MCT members will vote? I understand a concern about a vacuum with no updates, but I don't think that's what we have here really. For a comparison, when the MCT takeover was happening in 2021 they set a deadline of when the takeover was to be fully completed, didn't meet it and then we didn't get an update for weeks with the Tele then filling the vacuum. I don't see this as the same because the end of the due diligence period wasn't actually a deadline for anything to be completed.

22 appearances in 3 seasons, 20 of them coming between September & February last season before he broke down again in February and wasn't seen again. He was great for them in 22/23 but that's a long time ago now. We've already got injury prone players signed up in Wilson, Gillespie & Brophy with an offer made to MacPherson too, adding an attacking midfielder with an even worse injury record than all of them just seems too much of a risk.

Stenhousemuir have appointed Marvin Bartley. Hopefully goes as well as his previous jobs and they're a distant 10th, would be good to have the cushion.

Much better for having white shorts than blue, though it'd be better still if they were plain white without the blue side panel. The socks are quite ugly, but the top itself is a cracker.