Squad for next Season

[so72]

7 hours ago, port-ton said:

I thought Waters had another good game on Saturday again after a slowish start. I'd be more than happy for him to replace Strapp next season. 

With so many signed up for next season it's going to be interesting to see what qualities Dougie feels he needs to add to compliment what's already here. We are so used to ripping the squad apart and starting again so he's not going to have much room for manoeuvre and needs to have a great success ratio from his summer signings. 

 

Less players to recruit means less pressure time wise and, hopefully, more chance to pick the right players. I'd back Dougie to have a good ratio with a smaller number of players rather than signing 10+.

[Jamie_M]

Tele reporting that, unsurprisingly, Reece Lyon will be leaving this summer.

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.greenocktelegraph.co.uk%2Fsport%2F23480316.morton-midfielder-reece-lyon-leaving-cappielow%2F

 

[Scott]

Bit of a shame to see him leave after a very bright start, but can’t argue with the club being happy for him to go. Been given plenty opportunities! 

[Brian Skelton]

Good luck Reece

[DreamOakTree]

I think Tidser knows a midfielder when he sees one. Good luck to Reece and I just hope McGrattan, King and Garrity don’t follow him out the door along with fellow academy graduates Strapp and McGregor.

[Mr.Blue]

4 hours ago, DreamOakTree said:

I think Tidser knows a midfielder when he sees one. Good luck to Reece and I just hope McGrattan, King and Garrity don’t follow him out the door along with fellow academy graduates Strapp and McGregor.

Let it go you fucking clown.

Edited April 26, 2023 by Mr.Blue

[so72]

27 minutes ago, DreamOakTree said:

I think Tidser knows a midfielder when he sees one. Good luck to Reece and I just hope McGrattan, King and Garrity don’t follow him out the door along with fellow academy graduates Strapp and McGregor.

I know you are most likely baiting people now but I imagine Garrity would be best served going somewhere down the leagues where he'll get game time. 

[TRVMP]

1 hour ago, so72 said:

I know you are most likely baiting people now but I imagine Garrity would be best served going somewhere down the leagues where he'll get game time. 

Agreed. King and McGrattan both have bright futures here. Garrity might as well, and I hope he does, but based on what I've seen he needs League One next season.

[port-ton]

I'd be surprised if Garrity is here next season. He was sent out on loan to improve his defensive work off the ball and he couldn't get a game for Dumbarton in league two for the reason that their manager likes his wingers to be better defensively. When Ross Maclean is keeping you out the team then your days at Championship level are probably numbered. 

There's undoubted talent there though so I hope he can go away and get the game time he needs or a manager that is happy to accommodate his current weaknesses. 

[Jamie_M]

Aye, Garrity should and likely will also move on.

Another DOT meltdown will just be a happy by-product.

[SpoonTon]

Players like Easdale, Garrity, and Lyon were all given contracts during last season and will all probably leave before the end of them. Imrie has made use of McGrattan but I've never really been convinced of how much Imrie was really keen on those players. We seem to have wanted to give home grown players a chance over and above what Imrie actually thought their worth was. 

You could also say that this have changed since then and we have less need for such squad fillers, but they definitely stand out as being different cases to the other players that Imrie has brought in. It's not surprising to see them leave. 

[vikingTON]

The Tele butchering the English language by describing Lyon's (potentially) "sensational" reunion with Tidser. 'Seaside league manager signs seaside league midfielder' is not exactly Messi returning to Barcelona. 

[dunning1874]

I think it's easy to forget how well Lyon played when Imrie first arrived. In that 6 game run with 4 wins and 2 draws at the start of his time in charge he was comfortably among our best performers, and it wouldn't be wild to guess there was an off the park reason for him falling out of the team at that point: Lyon alluded to this himself in the Tele in the summer when he admitted he could have worked harder in training, so he had his own part to play in losing his place in the team after earning that contract at the start of Imrie's tenure.

He then got starts again early this season, and while there were bigger weaknesses in the team he was frankly terrible. That's what led to him being bombed out on loan and ultimately led to this.

I still think he's capable of being a good Championship player, had more good games than bad under Imrie and I'd have kept him. I also reckon it would be better for King's development to be starting 30+ games for a League One side next season than making a dozen appearances in the Championship and having Lyon back in the squad as cover could have given us the depth to allow that, although that might still be possible anyway.

All that said though, it's hardly a difficult decision to understand and the fact the run of good performances in the last four seasons you can point to as an argument in his favour was a mere six games tells its own story.

[Jamie_M]

 

[DreamOakTree]

21 hours ago, SpoonTon said:

Players like Easdale, Garrity, and Lyon were all given contracts during last season and will all probably leave before the end of them. Imrie has made use of McGrattan but I've never really been convinced of how much Imrie was really keen on those players. We seem to have wanted to give home grown players a chance over and above what Imrie actually thought their worth was. 

You could also say that this have changed since then and we have less need for such squad fillers, but they definitely stand out as being different cases to the other players that Imrie has brought in. It's not surprising to see them leave. 

You’re probably correct. My grievance is maybe based on enjoying seeing our own players coming through and being given a chance, rather than what impact they have on the team. That’s where Imrie has to make the tough decisions.

In Strapp’s case it could be financial, in Lyon’s case he probably feels it’s difficult to tell how he’s going to perform, likewise Garrity and previously McGregor. I’d hope he sees something in McGrattan and King though. 

Imrie no doubt has some “ready made” players in mind to supplement the squad and he’s making room by letting go some with potential yet to be realised. It’s his job to improve Morton, perhaps ruthlessness is part of that.

[TRVMP]

2 hours ago, DreamOakTree said:

You’re probably correct. My grievance is maybe based on enjoying seeing our own players coming through and being given a chance, rather than what impact they have on the team. That’s where Imrie has to make the tough decisions.

In Strapp’s case it could be financial, in Lyon’s case he probably feels it’s difficult to tell how he’s going to perform, likewise Garrity and previously McGregor. I’d hope he sees something in McGrattan and King though. 

Imrie no doubt has some “ready made” players in mind to supplement the squad and he’s making room by letting go some with potential yet to be realised. It’s his job to improve Morton, perhaps ruthlessness is part of that.

Possibly your first ever decent post. Keep it up. 

[DreamOakTree]

1 hour ago, TRVMP said:

Possibly your first ever decent post. Keep it up. 

SpoonTon’s balanced post made me think maybe it’s not all one way. 

[DreamOakTree]

So given that’s Dougie’s plan, what players does he have in mind to supplement our current squad and give us a competitive/winning starting eleven?

Mostly guessing here as I don’t know who’s available or in Dougie’s plans:

GK -  Hamilton?/Fulton?

FB - Tumility?, Waters?

CM - Grimshaw?, Murdoch?

LM/LW - McCowan?, Mullin?

[vikingTON]

Friday's game - both the goal we cheaply conceded, plus us losing control of the game needlessly after a dominant opening 20 minutes - underlines the need to upgrade in central midfield. We got a lot from there this season, but if we're serious about taking that next step, then we really need a higher quality player as our first choice operating in front of the defence. 

Adding a central defender (with Ambrose likely going) who can cover left back as well would also significantly strengthen the squad. Sir Richard is out of favour at Motherwell now - bring him home. 

Otherwise our business should involve replacing the full-back and goalkeeper positions based on who extends their deals. Possibly an extra attacking option if there's room in the budget but I'd prioritise the two positions above. 

Edited May 7, 2023 by vikingTON

[dunning1874]

Under contract: Baird, O'Connor, Pignatiello, Gillespie, Blues, Robbie Crawford, King, McGrattan, Garrity, Muirhead, Oakley

Out of contract: Green, Grimshaw, Ambrose, Quitongo, Miller

Loans expiring: Schwake, Waters, Ali Crawford, Roy

Confirmed departures: Strapp, Lyon

We're certainly in a much stronger place than a year ago when the under contract players were Hynes, Jacobs, Lyon, King, McGrattan, McGregor and Easdale. We even have the core of a decent starting XI with under contract players as it stands:

?

Pignatiello - Baird - O'Connor - ?

Blues - Gillespie - Crawford

Muirhead - Oakley - McGrattan

A new contract for Grimshaw is an obvious decision, but he's surely going to have top flight interest; he's better than what Dundee have at both full back and central midfield for starters.

Miller's performances in recent weeks have earned a deal and even if Quitongo isn't going to be fit all season he's still someone you'd be happy to have coming into the starting XI at any time. Miller, Quitongo and McGrattan is a perfectly good set of wide options, with the option to use others there if we need to.

I'd let Ambrose go. You could argue a player of his experience willing to be cover is useful and it's great to have a centre back who can impact a game off the bench with his ability to carry the ball out of defence but we know how error prone he can be, we can get better and could do with someone with a bit of versatility back there. If we can hit the Ricki Lamie jackpot of an upgrade on what we've got at centre back who can also play full back that'd be brilliant.

Not fussed either way on Green. We're always going to have a young goalkeeper sitting on the bench as cover rather than two competing for first choice and if the club can find a better youngster then fine.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Garrity moved on despite having a year left. He did really well in League Two with Annan last season so maybe Dumbarton was just the wrong move/manager for him, but failing to get games ahead of Ross McLean and Kalvin Orsi doesn't suggest he's got much hope of breaking into the team ahead of McGrattan, Quitongo or Miller if he hangs around here.

On loanees, I'd expect Livingston to loan Schwake out again and would be happy to have him back, but I'm not sure Imrie would. While there might be better out there we've had an extremely good run with goalkeepers post-Ramsbottom and at some point we'll end up with an actual dud as opposed to a generally good goalkeeper who drops an occasional clanger. The heavily rumoured Ryan Fulton would be a downgrade IMO, although still in that generally good category.

Waters is out of contract at Killie. He's been the epitome of a dependable but unspectacular Championship full back giving a consistent 6 or 7/10 performance every week. On that basis I'd be fine though hardly excited with signing him; he's obviously a considerable downgrade on Strapp, but that's true of every realistic target and there are far worse full backs out there.

Ali Crawford has another year at St Johnstone, but I wouldn't want him back anyway. He's a player with a great pedigree to the point that getting him was a bit of a coup on paper, but whether he's deteriorating at a younger age than most players do or just doesn't fit this team it hasn't worked at all. There's been nothing to justify making it permanent.

No chance Ally Roy will be back.

If we had Ambrose, A. Crawford, Roy and maybe Garrity joining Strapp & Lyon in departing with Waters signing, (obviously it'll be one first team and one young goalkeeper regardless of whether that's Schwake and Green) that would hopefully allow us the room for some real quality upgrades when we don't necessarily need to add as many as leave. Lamie has already been mentioned and a coup like that to make the defence even more solid would be great.

Central midfield is the obvious area to upgrade the starting XI. Obviously we're not getting Jamie Lindsay but that style of player who can give more protection to the defence, make it harder for physical sides to bully us the way Ayr have and add even more energy. A starting midfield three of Robbie Crawford, a new signing then one of Gillespie/Blues/King rather than two of them is the sort of incremental upgrade which is realistic and would make this team an even more threatening proposition.

Then you've got an alternative centre forward. This one is a hard sell as you're realistically bringing someone in to be third choice and therefore you might struggle to find clubs willing to send loanees here when they're not going to be guaranteed games, but we should be looking for a different type of player to Muirhead and Oakley to mix things up.