dunning1874

Aye Ryan Mullen also hadn't played many games at Clyde and turned out to be terrific for us but we all know Mullen's fitness issues which were the reason he didn't play much there, and he was only there for a season after leaving Celtic. Kinnear has been at Clyde 3 years and was legitimately second choice there while being fit. He's clearly not going to be as good as Ryan Mullen so I hope and expect he's being signed as second choice to allow Murdoch to go on loan, with a first choice still to come.

I've never seen McLuckie play but if you're going to have some cheap gambles on teenagers being let go by Premiership clubs, on the face of it one who's just scored 8 goals in 17 games in League Two is about as good a pedigree as you're getting in that category. If we're making comparisons with previous young cheap signings to pad the squad out in the same position, that's more goals in considerably fewer games at a higher level and younger age than Zak McKay.

That'll be Gillespie, he's on 142. Hope Murray is going to be a bit more realistic about what you can get from him at 35 and isn't expecting him to start every game.

The absolute brass neck of that big lump to expect Morton to be chasing after him when he was consistently hopeless.

Considering that something like "big chances" can only be a subjective measurement and a stat like that is considerably less likely to be accurate for our level of football than the Premiership, hence the discussion about the credibility of "fotmob", probably the only way we could really make a reasonable judgement of this would be someone sitting through the highlights of all 36 games, seeing how many missed sitters there were for how many chances were missed and which player it was who created them for judging which players have been unlucky with their teammates' finishing. Even then you'd be relying on the editing of the highlights to actually include everything that could be considered, and the subjective opinion of the person watching it on what constitutes a big chance. Above all else, even a statto bore like me frankly cannot be arsed with the extensive effort that would take just to find out that Moffat and Garrity would have 5 more assists each if Adeloye and Main weren't shite.

The East Fife game is also clashing with a World Cup semi-final, to really add to the appeal. Another example in Fife as well, as we've had previously with Dunfermline and Raith, of a train schedule where a 7:30 kick-off would allow making it back to Inverclyde by train and 7:45 doesn't.

Absolutely terrific news. I could make flippant jokes about him demanding a never playing at centre back clause in his contract, but it's surely not out of the question that he's had a conversation with Murray about wanting to play in midfield and been happy with the answers he had. The thought of a fit Iain Wilson in midfield makes the season ahead a lot less scary, we've seen already how big a difference he makes to results.

Easf Fife away on a Tuesday really adds to the thrill of this draw.

The thing with giving Moffat a pass because everyone else is missing chances he creates and poor finishing from other players isn't his fault is that the same could be true in reverse. How many more assists might Garrity have had in the last two years if it wasn't for Moffat's own poor finishing? Ultimately none of them have done enough.

If it follows the usual format they've always had of home/away based on seeding, that's St Johnstone & East Fife away and Inverness & Linlithgow at home. Two boring away games that we've had recently and the worst possible pot 3 opponent for our chances of progression. Season ruined already, sack the board for not showing the ambition to get a better cup draw, sell to Angelo Massone.

Whether being spared the dilemma is a good thing entirely depends on who goes. If it's eg Comrie or Moffat making a sideways move then fine, shouldn't be starting games anyway and gives us room to recruit more players who can. If it's Wilson or Blues who we realistically aren't going to sign better than, it makes things even worse.

We have been in the top half and nearer to 4th than 9th on points before since MCT took over - even with how bad this year has been our average league position over those 5 seasons is actually an improvement on the years before it - so it clearly is possible. It would surprise me too as it stands, but that's more of a reflection on Murray's record with the players he's trying to keep rather than the budget making it impossible.

Livingston will be spending a fortune this season, they're now owned by Henry Ford's great-great grandson who has not been shy in talking about spending. Still need to appoint a manager of course so hopefully it could all implode like Ross County did, but on budget alone you'd put them among the early favourites. We know Dunfermline are also throwing stupid money around while it would be nice if Partick's bubble finally popped. I still think we really needed the latter to happen over the last season though, there's a reasonable chance they'll actually have made a profit for the first time since relegation this season, but they will have something of a minor rebuild required with Stanway, Chalmers and Fitzpatrick likely away. Dunfermline will likely need a rebuild too with a lot of players out of contract so hopefully there's room for a big spending implosion in there.

Gillespie started 14 of Murray's 16 games, only missing the two he was suspended for. Surely to god when he's turning 35 before the season starts he isn't actually planning to have him start every week? You cannot seriously expect him to start 30+ games a season at this point, and if we end up with a smaller squad having all of Gillespie, Wilson and MacPherson is a pretty injury prone midfield. If everyone offered does sign a new deal, and assuming Murray won't deviate from his beloved 4-2-3-1, an XI from the existing squad would look something like: GK Murdoch RB Ballantyne LB Delaney CB Moore CB Longridge CM Wilson CM Blues AM MacPherson RW Moffat LW Garrity ST Brophy Holding out hope that he at least pushes a central midfielder forward for the central attacking role rather than playing three wingers, and ends the colossal stupidity of Wilson at centre back. Cover from Comrie, Gillespie, Robertson & O'Halloran. If that's your strongest team as it stands, we'll definitely be signing a first choice goalkeeper (and maybe two with Murdoch being loaned out). You'll need someone to compete with Brophy who isn't a total punt as he'll inevitably miss a sizeable chunk of the season injured, maybe two centre forwards gives you to option to go two up front or play one behind Brophy. We need another centre back and that should be an upgrade on Longridge, while we should also be looking for better than Delaney. Neither Garrity or Moffat should be starting games. You're probably done in central midfield. So that's likely five starters needed if you want to be looking up the table, no chance that's happening and it's hard to see anything but a grim relegation battle. The thing is that we know a few of these players can be part of solid Championship side pushing into the top half, but all the evidence we have suggests they can't be under Murray. Either he needs to learn his lesson that 4-2-3-1 with these players doesn't work and change his system to something that does, or if he must be dogmatic about a style find players that actually suit it. Keeping so many and not changing anything tactically after how bad we've been for months would be mad.

We were the second worst team in the league from the point Murray took over with only Ayr worse. If everyone offered a contract accepts that'll be 15 signed up (I'm not including Murphy at the moment). Still a first choice goalkeeper to come too, so if we're making 4 to 6 outfield signings beyond that it's hard to see them all being starters. You'd expect some cheap young loanees to be padding the squad out to some extent if we're going to end up with 21 or 22 players, and we know they've been looking into coop agreements which would mean up to 3 players fitting that profile. We already know Murray is incapable of getting acceptable results with these players and when given the opportunity to have a clearout he's deciding to keep the vast majority, leaving very little room for upgrades to the starting XI. We're going to have mostly the same defence that's leaked goals like a sieve under him, probably with a poorer goalkeeper behind them, the same midfield that has been routinely overrun defensively (though that could easily be fixed by Murray not being so dogmatic) and mostly the same creative unit that has lacked an end product. It's clearly not out of the question that Murray can build a squad he can get good results with, he's done it before in this division, but it doesn't look like there's room for the rebuild needed to do it if all these players are retained.