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Squad for next Season


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1 minute ago, irnbru said:

We competed with a decent Motherwell side in the cup. Didn't concede in 90 and both their goals came after 110 minutes. Not really a great example of a defender not being good. 

How many games have Motherwell won in 2022?

The site is supposed to be a place for the extended 'family' of Morton supporters - having an affinity with people that you don't know, because you share a love of your local football club. It's not supposed to be about point scoring and showing how 'clever' or 'funny' you are, or just being downright rude and offensive to people you don't know, because you can get away with it. Unfortunately, it seems the classic case of people who have little standing/presence in real life, use this forum as a way of making themselves feel as if they are something. It's sad, and I've said that before..

 

So, having been on Morton forums for about 15 years I guess, I've had enough... well done t*ssers, another Morton supporter driven away. You can all feel happy at how 'clever' you are

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1 hour ago, vikingTON said:

How many games have Motherwell won in 2022?

Quick count of 4 wins and 6 draws against premier league teams from 17 games which has got them a top half finish. So, yeah a decent premier league team. 

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Good move for him and three year deal is excellent. Definitely tailed off a bit towards the end of the season but that's no surprise after being out so long. Multiple games where we picked up points changed when he moved in to midfield for us as well. 

Hope he can stay injury free and really progress in his career. He's probably better suited to the Premier league as well when he will have more space on the ball. 

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Good people will do good things, bad people will do bad things, but only with religion do good people do bad things!

 

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43 minutes ago, irnbru said:

Quick count of 4 wins and 6 draws against premier league teams from 17 games 

So 'dung' then. 

The site is supposed to be a place for the extended 'family' of Morton supporters - having an affinity with people that you don't know, because you share a love of your local football club. It's not supposed to be about point scoring and showing how 'clever' or 'funny' you are, or just being downright rude and offensive to people you don't know, because you can get away with it. Unfortunately, it seems the classic case of people who have little standing/presence in real life, use this forum as a way of making themselves feel as if they are something. It's sad, and I've said that before..

 

So, having been on Morton forums for about 15 years I guess, I've had enough... well done t*ssers, another Morton supporter driven away. You can all feel happy at how 'clever' you are

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^^^ Gus McPherson found

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The site is supposed to be a place for the extended 'family' of Morton supporters - having an affinity with people that you don't know, because you share a love of your local football club. It's not supposed to be about point scoring and showing how 'clever' or 'funny' you are, or just being downright rude and offensive to people you don't know, because you can get away with it. Unfortunately, it seems the classic case of people who have little standing/presence in real life, use this forum as a way of making themselves feel as if they are something. It's sad, and I've said that before..

 

So, having been on Morton forums for about 15 years I guess, I've had enough... well done t*ssers, another Morton supporter driven away. You can all feel happy at how 'clever' you are

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Obviously we don't know what's going on with budgets etc and if something has driven Imrie to decide he can't get better than what we have - in which case we can wave any idea of a top four push behind - but looking at what we'll have for next season if everyone chooses to stay doesn't make for good reading.

In an ideal world where everyone you personally wanted to keep stayed (discounting loanees for simplicity), I think you'd have been looking at this sort of XI if you wanted a credible top four challenge:

Hamilton

New - New - New - Strapp

Lyon/New - Wilson - New

New - Ugwu/New - New

We aren't going to be finding the room for 7 new signings if everyone other than Russell & Ledger stays here and we have 17 (18 if you include Bysouth) players signed already even if some players go out on loan. McGregor, Easdale and King going on loan won't open up the space for three new signings. Even with all those signings you'd still be short on some areas eg full back cover.

If we were to assume all of them including McLean and Ugwu stay, then you'd be looking at this XI out of the 18 signed:

Hamilton

Hynes - Lithgow - McLean - Strapp

Blues - Wilson - Lyon

Muirhead - Ugwu - Garrity

Then you've Bysouth, Jacobs, King, McGrattan, McGregor, Oliver and Easdale left as cover. That needs a minimum of three significant upgrades to the starting XI to not be relegation material. If you even manage five in to replace the five out of Russell, Ledger, McEntee, Brandon and Reilly, what do you get?

We clearly need better than Hynes, so a right back is essential. Imrie wants to play a back four but evidently doesn't think either Lithgow or McLean can do so or we'd have been playing a back four this season, so two centre backs, and one of those players needs to be able to cover left back as well to have any alternative to Strapp.

That's three gone already. So you only have two signings to go and you already have Jacobs, King & McGrattan as cover in the middle - can you justify signing another with six signed up? Can you justify not doing so when we so clearly need creative quality?

For the front three you clearly need more goals than we have - again, we only scored 7 in our last 11. Of the options we'd have three are totally unproven at this level with two really needing to go out on loan, and another is Gary Oliver. That leaves you Muirhead and Ugwu; are either going to get you double figures? So do you sign one winger, one centre forward to give you a real alternative to Ugwu through the middle, gamble on someone who can do both?

I really find myself hoping that at least McLean, Blues and Oliver decide to move on themselves. That's not to say none of them can do a job as part of the squad, but we'll have no scope to add players who can do more than just a competent job otherwise.

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Oh Lord, Brian Wake

 

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If Dougie genuinely wants to keep McLean, suggests to me that he might be thinking about sticking with 352 which he said was a possibility in a previous interview. Having Lithgow and McLean as backup to a 4 would still concern him surely when 1 or both are required to step in at some point, so if you have the chance to release one, you'd do it surely to bring in someone with more pace.

Time will tell I guess.

Just hope Dougie isn't making the mistake of offering him(or Oliver) something because he's a nice guy, good to have around etc. 

Would imagine we will hear some news on the contracts soon, doubt the players will have much more time to make a decision.

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12 hours ago, Madton said:

If Dougie genuinely wants to keep McLean, suggests to me that he might be thinking about sticking with 352 which he said was a possibility in a previous interview. Having Lithgow and McLean as backup to a 4 would still concern him surely when 1 or both are required to step in at some point, so if you have the chance to release one, you'd do it surely to bring in someone with more pace.

Time will tell I guess.

Just hope Dougie isn't making the mistake of offering him(or Oliver) something because he's a nice guy, good to have around etc. 

Would imagine we will hear some news on the contracts soon, doubt the players will have much more time to make a decision.

Moving to 4 at the back would also involved finding centre backs who are good enough to do that. I'm not sure Ledger and McEntee were (although with McEntee I think it's decision making and judgement, he seems to have the physical attributes and he might have been fine alongside the right partner). That means being able to find a couple of central defenders who are actually commanding and competent enough to do the job. For all we know the discussions with McLean are more along the lines of if we get our defensive targets there won't be room for him, but if we don't then it's plan B and stick with the back 3. 

Perhaps we'll aim to play with the back 4, but injuries or other reasons might mean switching to the 3/5 at certain points. Nothing really seems in the "ideal" category when it comes to Imrie's squad building this summer. 

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There's sometimes talk on here about the benefits of putting together a team made up of the best part-time players, like Arbroath have done. But the other aspect of it is that they have been very good at picking up and improving players who have come from a similar or lower level. Their squad is made up of players from the likes of Queen's Park, Forfar, East Stirling, Airdrie, Berwick, Stranraer, Morton, Raith, and Dunfermline - complimented with good loan signings. They seem to have a group of hard working, talented players with the right attitude. There's no substitute for actually having a decent eye for a player, and knowing the right players to compliment each other. 

I think the second half of the season showed that the squad was at least part of the way there. The trouble is that we might lose quite a few of the better players (Brandon and Reilly already, with Strapp, Hamilton, etc. undecided). I suspect Imrie is wary of changing too much and risking too much, hopefully that won't backfire. Ideally I would've liked to have seen us make minor changes to the squad (replace Reilly and Brandon and improve upon Oliver, Jacobs, Ledger, and McEntee). We would know the worth of what we had, and look to compliment that with good signings. As it is my worry is that we're going to be left with too many of the poorer players and not enough space to make those shrewd signings. 

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Ledger is in today's Tele saying he was offered a longer deal last summer but turned it down, and that he feels he probably wants to go somewhere closer to him as most of his career has been away somewhere and it was a mutual decision for him to leave. He speaks very highly of the club and says he hopes he'll be able to get back to watch the team again.

I think it was probably the right thing for him to go this year, but it's also a bit of a shame as I think he's a decent player who just had a bit of a patchy season rather than someone who is inherently not up to it. We can't really afford to take the gamble on that of course, but nonetheless he was really good last season and had some good spells this one so if he goes to a non-Championship team then I wish him well.

AWMSC

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33 minutes ago, EanieMeany said:

Ledger is in today's Tele saying he was offered a longer deal last summer but turned it down, and that he feels he probably wants to go somewhere closer to him as most of his career has been away somewhere and it was a mutual decision for him to leave. He speaks very highly of the club and says he hopes he'll be able to get back to watch the team again.

I think it was probably the right thing for him to go this year, but it's also a bit of a shame as I think he's a decent player who just had a bit of a patchy season rather than someone who is inherently not up to it. We can't really afford to take the gamble on that of course, but nonetheless he was really good last season and had some good spells this one so if he goes to a non-Championship team then I wish him well.

I felt that Ledger defended really well from right back but didn't really show the other qualities of a full back or wrong back, but his performances at centre back were always a bit patchy (I'm not surprised he never made that position his own over the last couple of years).

If he could really nail down and improve in either position then he'd be up to this standard, but that probably won't happen playing second fiddle in both roles. So it's the best decision all round, I think. He's definitely cut the kind of figure that is easy to wish the best in the future. I hope he finds somewhere he can nail down his role and improve his game. 

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The "David Vize" page on Twitter, clearly ran by a wee boy is suggesting Reilly is off to League One - probably with Queens. 

Taking it with a pinch of salt of course but I'd be shocked if we haven't offered Reilly a deal. Imrie got the best out of him and he's probably our best chance of a 20 goal striker in our current position unless we unearth a gem. Oliver, Ugwu and Muirhead would maybe contribute maybe 15 goals between them over the course? I'm not even considering 'Zander' in that discussion.

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17 minutes ago, ChampTon said:

The "David Vize" page on Twitter, clearly ran by a wee boy is suggesting Reilly is off to League One - probably with Queens. 

Taking it with a pinch of salt of course but I'd be shocked if we haven't offered Reilly a deal. Imrie got the best out of him and he's probably our best chance of a 20 goal striker in our current position unless we unearth a gem. Oliver, Ugwu and Muirhead would maybe contribute maybe 15 goals between them over the course? I'm not even considering 'Zander' in that discussion.

Another top scoop. The follow up tweet makes literally zero sense when competing for an out of contract player but it's not even worth discussing as he clearly doesn't have a clue on transfers. 

Screenshot_20220511-162221_Twitter.jpg

Screenshot_20220511-162335_Twitter.jpg

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Good people will do good things, bad people will do bad things, but only with religion do good people do bad things!

 

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1 hour ago, ChampTon said:

The "David Vize" page on Twitter, clearly ran by a wee boy is suggesting Reilly is off to League One - probably with Queens. 

Taking it with a pinch of salt of course but I'd be shocked if we haven't offered Reilly a deal. Imrie got the best out of him and he's probably our best chance of a 20 goal striker in our current position unless we unearth a gem. Oliver, Ugwu and Muirhead would maybe contribute maybe 15 goals between them over the course? I'm not even considering 'Zander' in that discussion.

Yesterday he had Livi giving us Reilly as a thank you because Dougie 'helped secure Brandon's move to Livi' (weird interpretation of picking up a call from Martindale who said he was interested and Dougie passing on the message).

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56 minutes ago, ChampTon said:

The "David Vize" page on Twitter, clearly ran by a wee boy is suggesting Reilly is off to League One - probably with Queens. 

Taking it with a pinch of salt of course but I'd be shocked if we haven't offered Reilly a deal. Imrie got the best out of him and he's probably our best chance of a 20 goal striker in our current position unless we unearth a gem. Oliver, Ugwu and Muirhead would maybe contribute maybe 15 goals between them over the course? I'm not even considering 'Zander' in that discussion.

I think with the right service and players around him, Ugwu would easily score double figures for us.

7 goals this term when the service was pretty horrendous and he was unlucky not to bag a few more. Imagine the goals he would have scored with Cadden and Nesbitt on either side of him??

Even when he is not scoring, he causes so much trouble for opposition defences with his physicality and trickery.

If he moves down south, fair enough but would be gutted to lose him to another Scottish club at a similar level.

 

 

 

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I see Josh Rae isn't staying with QoS. If Hamilton leaves I'd be happy enough with him as a replacement. Always thought he was decent when I saw him. 

Good people will do good things, bad people will do bad things, but only with religion do good people do bad things!

 

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