Squad for next Season

[Greacen2000]

13 hours ago, Pedrodelawasp said:

Got to assume a starting RB will be high on Dougie’s list. After that a wide forward? Another signing in the mould of Grimshaw that can cover a couple of defensive positions would be welcome too.

Not sure what the deal is with him fitness-wise, but given how few games he has played for Livi, I wondered if Brandon might be an option, either as a loan or as a signing.  I really liked him in his first spell with us, and like Grimshaw he is capable in midfield too

[dunning1874]

We need both a first choice right back and someone who can cover full back on both sides. Ideally you want another midfielder who can compete with Gillespie and Blues as well, depending how much trust Imrie will have in King going into this season, rather than having to drop Crawford deeper whenever one of them are out or off form, but that maybe doubles up with the full back cover being an anywhere across the defensive positions type.

In an ideal world where money didn't limit the squad size then in addition to getting the above three positions covered you could add an attacking midfield alternative to Crawford, another wide option, a third choice centre forward in case Muirhead is playing elsewhere and another first team goalkeeper to compete with Mullen, but that would take us to a first team squad well over 20.

Something has to give there and that's why I reckon the other goalkeeper is going to be a similar signing to Green and we'll be making do with Muirhead and Oakley up front with Quitongo moving inside if both are out. With Miller departing another wide option would seem an obvious choice, but with Quitongo, McGrattan, Muirhead, Garrity (assuming he stays) and potentially King who can be used there is that as big a priority as other positions where we still have less cover?

[SpoonTon]

It does seem slightly odd, on the face of it, if Mullen is being signed as first choice 'keeper. He seems to have been a highly rated young player, but his first team experience is incredibly limited and he's coming off the back of a very injury-hit season which doesn't seem to be his only trouble with injuries in his career.

To go with an untested 'keeper with a significant history of injury struggles as the only real first-team 'keeper seems like quite a big risk to take. 

[Mr.Blue]

21 hours ago, Pedrodelawasp said:

So far, we can line up something like:

Mullen

Broadfoot O’Conner Baird Waters

Blues Gillespie Crawford

Muirhead Oakley Quitongo

 

Bench - King, McGrattan, Garrity

Got to assume a starting RB will be high on Dougie’s list. After that a wide forward? Another signing in the mould of Grimshaw that can cover a couple of defensive positions would be welcome too.

We're actually quite light looking at that squad. 

Need another gk, rb, cm and a winger at the very least.

Perhaps another striker and a centre back too.

Grimmy being linked with Dundee United. I'd be gutted if he signed for them 

Edit- Dundee United twitter teasing a blurred out signing. It looks like him

Edited June 21, 2023 by Mr.Blue

[Jamie_M]

11 minutes ago, Mr.Blue said:

We're actually quite light looking at that squad. 

Need another gk, rb, cm and a winger at the very least.

Perhaps another striker and a centre back too.

Grimmy being linked with Dundee United. I'd be gutted if he signed for them 

Edit- Dundee United twitter teasing a blurred out signing. It looks like him

Gutted to see him still in the Championship.

[port-ton]

Disappointed he will be playing against him but absolutely no hard feelings for choosing a club like Dundee Utd that will be paying more wages than us. According to Wikipedia when I checked weeks ago he's only played about 150 career games at the age of 28 so if that's the case then he needs to make the most of his stock being high. 

[SassenachTon]

5 hours ago, SpoonTon said:

It does seem slightly odd, on the face of it, if Mullen is being signed as first choice 'keeper. He seems to have been a highly rated young player, but his first team experience is incredibly limited and he's coming off the back of a very injury-hit season which doesn't seem to be his only trouble with injuries in his career.

To go with an untested 'keeper with a significant history of injury struggles as the only real first-team 'keeper seems like quite a big risk to take. 

Fair point, but there can't be many players who were more injury-prone than Jai. And look how that turned out

[Scott]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CtxIys0Mz7d/?igshid=MmJiY2I4NDBkZg==
 

Nice words from Grimmy. Wish him all the best, apart from 4 games next season. Seems a great guy and can’t blame him for moving for more money and a 2 year deal with a club chasing the title. 

[bob_the_builder]

Surprised Grimshaw won't be playing across the street for Dundee in the Premiership, I'd have stuck money on him going there!

DU must be throwing silly money about if he's picked playing in the Championship again over the Premiership (if he even had any offers I suppose) and England.  It'll make watching them struggle even more entertaining.

[so72]

1 hour ago, bob_the_builder said:

Surprised Grimshaw won't be playing across the street for Dundee in the Premiership, I'd have stuck money on him going there!

DU must be throwing silly money about if he's picked playing in the Championship again over the Premiership (if he even had any offers I suppose) and England.  It'll make watching them struggle even more entertaining.

Their signings so far seem more fitted for this division than some of the shite they signed before such as Edjinguele (who gave us that amazing Falkirk moment) and Kuate.

[RossMcC1874]

Are we linked with anyone else? The squad is still pretty light at the moment and we need some more bodies. Obviously right back is the priority maybe even a couple of loans to just pad out the numbers a bit. 

Would love to see Brandon back he was a brilliant player but I don't even know if we have the budget for someone like him. 

I suspect Dougie is making us all wait in anticipation for some real gem signings. 

[Madton]

42 minutes ago, RossMcC1874 said:

Are we linked with anyone else? The squad is still pretty light at the moment and we need some more bodies. Obviously right back is the priority maybe even a couple of loans to just pad out the numbers a bit. 

Would love to see Brandon back he was a brilliant player but I don't even know if we have the budget for someone like him. 

I suspect Dougie is making us all wait in anticipation for some real gem signings. 

Dougie said a few weeks back he hoped to have most of his squad in place for the start of pre-season today but we are clearly  5 or 6 players short. He said he wants a similar squad size to this season but also said 18 and 18-20 on different occasions  so hopefully its closer to the 20 mark and we still have room for 5/6 more players.

Lost,

Schwake- replaced by Mullen.

Green

Strapp

Pignatiello

Ambrose- Replaced by Broadfoot.

Grimshaw.

A.Crawford.

Miller.

Roy.

and of course we save a few quid by Lyon going, although it turns out he left in Jan so his wage might have been used up by one of the Jan additions.

 9 out the door, only 2 so far so work to do.

Think we ideally need;

Keeper

Right back-

Cover for LB/CB

Def midfielder

Att midfielder

Winger

Striker

That would give us a squad of 21.  Probably wishful thinking  but feel we got a bit lucky with injuries last season( Only Strapp was out long term) and if we go with a smaller squad and pick up 2 or 3 long term ones, we would really struggle. That 21 also includes Garrity and King who are still young and prob not on too much.( A new contract for King would be welcome)

 

 

 

 

 

[Pedrodelawasp]

Club posting about Waters and Mullen joining up with their new teammates (not really the case for Waters…) but no mention of Broadfoot. Presume he’s on holiday.

[Brian Skelton]

I really thought Dougie would have had most of his business done by now.

[Toby]

45 minutes ago, Brian Skelton said:

I really thought Dougie would have had most of his business done by now.

It would be foolish of him to do so. You don’t want to be left with one substitute when the group stages of the League Cup again, but there has to be a balance between early preparation and striking while the iron’s hot later in the window.

I’d say he’s probably on track with three signings at this stage, albeit the losses of Miller and Grimshaw are set backs.

[port-ton]

Fans don't like it but for championship clubs like ourselves the best players are often to be found towards the end of the window (loans from clubs who have their squads sorted) or after the window (players still without clubs having to drop down to a level of club below what they hoped for). 

There's certainly no need to panic yet, especially as a large portion of the squad was already signed up for this season. 

[Scott]

Imrie’s latest interview suggests Mullen is here as 1st choice keeper. Indicated 1 or 2 more signings and don’t look too much into who we see in training with us at the moment as he’s happy to allow players to come in for fitness purposes. 

[Mr.Blue]

6 hours ago, Scott said:

Imrie’s latest interview suggests Mullen is here as 1st choice keeper. Indicated 1 or 2 more signings and don’t look too much into who we see in training with us at the moment as he’s happy to allow players to come in for fitness purposes. 

I took that as keeping his cards close to his chest. Typical Dougie which I'm fine with. 

As Port-Ton said its not unusual for clubs at our level to hold off until later in the window to bring players in. I reckon we'll see a couple of players in the door to see us into the league Cup.

Looking at the clubs around us the only players so far that I'd have liked us to sign are Jack Hamilton who went to Raith and Ruari Paton who's signed for QP. Plenty of time and plenty of players out there. 

[dunning1874]

16 hours ago, Brian Skelton said:

I really thought Dougie would have had most of his business done by now.

There's not a club in the country who have nearly concluded their business by 22nd June, with the start of the League Cup over three weeks away and the first league game over six weeks away. We're in a very good position for this early stage of the summer.

[Pedrodelawasp]

19 hours ago, Brian Skelton said:

I really thought Dougie would have had most of his business done by now.

There’s no precedent for that, either in the division as a whole or our club particularly. We’re miles ahead of where we’d normally be at this early stage of the summer window.