2024/25 Squad and Transfers

[ChampTon]

I understand the reason specific players are undroppable but when they are in the team the only ones that come to mind are: Mullen, Baird, Strapp, Wilson, Crawford and Oakley. 

We noticed a desire from Muirhead when Imrie started him on the bench for a while, I think he lacks that currently. 

The likes of Garrity and Bearne getting the odd 15/30/50 minutes to impress are more bizarre than David Iron's 45 minute trial. They both have the ability to be good wingers at this level but they, more so Bearne, play very few minutes. Someone will have the numbers on Bearne but he was the best player on the park by miles against QP.

Two wingers either side of Oakley is what I would want. Pace and ability to take on a player and deliver for Gorgeous George to fire home, we severely lack that currently.

[dunning1874]

4 hours ago, vikingTON said:

The only two players who play on the left hand side are Garrity who has been okay, nothing more than that, and McGrattan who categorically has not contributed more than Muirhead either since January, August or indeed any other period you're now setting your stats by. While Bearne's performances are likely overrated too, they're irrelevant because he doesn't even play on that side of the park. 

I'm far from President of the Robbie Muirhead Travel Club, but the idea that our current wide options are an adequate replacement for his contribution to the team in this existing setup is demonstrable nonsense. The simple facts show that all the alternative options put together do not deliver as many goals, do not deliver a significant number of assists and also do not deliver any potential threat from set pieces. Which is likely why Imrie files all this mewling in the bin too.

Muirhead started on the right on Tuesday with Garrity on the left. A player who plays on the right is directly relevant to the conversation about Muirhead's place in the team when Muirhead is starting games on the right.

You were the one who claimed Muirhead is undroppable regardless of recent form because fringe players aren't doing enough. He is obviously getting a contract offer for his contribution over the season, but since the start of February he has 2 goals in 10 starts. In the same time period Garrity has 3 in 3 starts and 7 sub appearances. It is an indisputable fact then that in the last two months Garrity has contributed more goals than Muirhead, while on not providing a significant number of assists or set-piece threat, he literally assisted a goal from a set-piece on Tuesday; something Muirhead has not done since the Dunfermline game at the start of February.

No one is saying Muirhead hasn't had a better season overall or that his current dip of form is going to last forever, but the idea that we have no one to displace him from the team just now while he's struggling is demonstrable nonsense.

[vikingTON]

3 hours ago, ChampTon said:

The likes of Garrity and Bearne getting the odd 15/30/50 minutes to impress are more bizarre than David Iron's 45 minute trial. 

The only thing that's bizarre here is someone who was throwing his toys out the pram about the club not swooping for 'Frankie Deane' and a ringer off Tiktok questioning Sir David Irons' decision-making skill. 

Next.

2 hours ago, dunning1874 said:

Muirhead started on the right on Tuesday with Garrity on the left. A player who plays on the right is directly relevant to the conversation about Muirhead's place in the team when Muirhead is starting games on the right.

You were the one who claimed Muirhead is undroppable regardless of recent form because fringe players aren't doing enough. He is obviously getting a contract offer for his contribution over the season, but since the start of February he has 2 goals in 10 starts. In the same time period Garrity has 3 in 3 starts and 7 sub appearances. 

That's 2 goals in 10 games versus 3 goals in 10 games. So even by your latest exercise in cherry-picked 'analysis' (RIP: The Lewis McGrattan Win Ratio, 2023-err, 2023) the difference in contribution is not substantial between Muirhead's worst spell of the season and Garrity's best. No serious manager is going to drop the former for the latter given what Muirhead has demonstrated to Imrie that he can deliver. 

Your argument about Muirhead starting on the right in one game out of 40-odd this season is self-evidently ridiculous.

[HamCam]

In his post match interview last night, Imrie appeared to acknowledge he has to consider a squad overhaul for next season. The problem he will have is if we do not finish higher than the budgeted finish of eighth there will be less in the transfer fund to build a bigger squad never mind improving the quality. 

[LargsTON]

19 minutes ago, HamCam said:

In his post match interview last night, Imrie appeared to acknowledge he has to consider a squad overhaul for next season. The problem he will have is if we do not finish higher than the budgeted finish of eighth there will be less in the transfer fund to build a bigger squad never mind improving the quality. 

I wouldn't suggest spending outwith our means but surely a bit of speculation is required at times such as this.

[SpoonTon]

All in all our biggest problem is that we lack the quality in depth to cover for injuries and dips in form. That's pretty much impossible to solve with our budget, and shows how tough a jog Dougie has in getting every signing right. French not really working out and Boyd and Bearne failing to add real attacking options were probably our biggest failings last year. 

Mullen: Good goalkeeper. Happy he's signed up for another season. 

MacDonald: Decent backup. I'm not sure what the best approach to backup 'keeper will be next season. 

French: Dundee fans were hoping that a few months with us would get him up to speed for the Premiership. We haven't seen that player. We may as well spin the wheel and hope for better in the summer. 

Waters: Solid enough defensively, nowhere near as good as Strapp. 

Strapp: Quality player. Really hope we have a chance of re-signing him. 

Broadfoot: Ropey start and end to the season. You can see the quality but I wouldn't like to see him to try push it at this level into his 40s. 

O'Connor: Not his best season but there's a good defender in there. Broadfoot's better distribution of the ball has kept him out of the team. 

Baird: Decent for the most part. Looks tired at this point of the season. 

Wilson: Excellent middle part of the season, between injuries. He's like having an extra player in the middle when he's fit. 

Gillespie: He was excellent in the first half of last season, and looked almost back at his best in a handful of games a while ago, but looks like he's struggling to keep up at this level. 

Power: Class player at times, but just off the pace at other. He's handed away the first goal in 2 of our last 3 matches and that's been a theme at times this season. I don't think we can afford to take the risk on him for another season when he's only really given us a dozen or so good performances. He'd be a good squad player if we could afford a bigger squad.

Blues: He supplements what other players do very well, but struggles to be a driving force himself. But we know what he offers and he's played over 80 games for us in the last two seasons. He's a bit of the opposite of Power in that respect, and I don't think we can afford to let him go. 

Crawford: Good player, form has tailed off. 

McGrattan: I just don't think it's working for him under Imrie. He'll be away no matter what, anyway. 

Bearne: There's a player in there, but maybe not a player for Imrie. 

Garrity: Talented player, capable of good stuff, but also lacking in match understanding at times (like when he played a ball back to the centre of our defence at head height last night or when he was too late to close down and let a player just ghost past him on Tuesday night). Not really sure what to think. 

Quitongo: We all know Jai's strengths. If he was fully fit I'd keep him.

Muirhead: His form, like others, has tailed off recently, but we'd desperately struggle to replace what he brings to the squad. 

Oakley: We'll be very lucky to hold onto him. 

If we can do this for next season then I'd be delighted:

_________Mullen

New__Baird__O'Connor__Strapp

________Wilson__New

Muirhead_Crawford_New

____________Oakley

Bearne, Davies, Blues, Murdoch, King, (3 or 4 other options).

I think the squad building will be a much bigger struggle than this, though. 

[dunning1874]

19 hours ago, vikingTON said:

That's 2 goals in 10 games versus 3 goals in 10 games. So even by your latest exercise in cherry-picked 'analysis' (RIP: The Lewis McGrattan Win Ratio, 2023-err, 2023) the difference in contribution is not substantial between Muirhead's worst spell of the season and Garrity's best. No serious manager is going to drop the former for the latter given what Muirhead has demonstrated to Imrie that he can deliver. 

Your argument about Muirhead starting on the right in one game out of 40-odd this season is self-evidently ridiculous.

When you're talking about a player's recent run of form and whether they could do with being dropped for it, picking a cut off of the last two months isn't arbitrary cherry picking: it would be stupid to include January and before because, as I am totally in agreement with, Muirhead was still playing very well in January as he had from the start of the season, and that's why he's earned a contract. Looking at the contribution from the start of February is pertinent to the discussion about how to respond to Muirhead's loss of form because that's the time in which he's gone off form.

He has played on the right several times throughout the season.

1 hour ago, LargsTON said:

I wouldn't suggest spending outwith our means but surely a bit of speculation is required at times such as this.

What does speculation mean if not spending outwith our means, which we can't do? The club have already said they're increasing the first team budget for next season and that some of the around £200K profit we're heading for if we finish 8th will also be added to that budget on top of their already planned increase.

[vikingTON]

12 minutes ago, dunning1874 said:

When you're talking about a player's recent run of form and whether they could do with being dropped for it, picking a cut off of the last two months isn't arbitrary cherry picking: it would be stupid to include January and before because, as I am totally in agreement with, Muirhead was still playing very well in January as he had from the start of the season, and that's why he's earned a contract. Looking at the contribution from the start of February is pertinent to the discussion about how to respond to Muirhead's loss of form because that's the time in which he's gone off form.

 

The 'last two months' is quite clearly arbitrary. Why not the last three months? Who decreed that two months was the definition of recent form - other than it suiting the purpose of your cherry-picking exercise?

And in any case even by your own goalpost fixing exercise, we seem to have 'player on a terrible run of form who should definitely be dropped' on level pegging with 'guid young player - start him instead and/or award new contract too'. 

I for one think that we should accept neither benchmark of performance as acceptable next season, which means upgrading on our existing options by providing serious competition instead. 

He has played on the right several times throughout the season.

Fooling absolutely no-one: how many times has Muirhead started on the right hand side of our forward line this season? Be extremely specific.

Edited April 13 by vikingTON

[LargsTON]

30 minutes ago, dunning1874 said:

When you're talking about a player's recent run of form and whether they could do with being dropped for it, picking a cut off of the last two months isn't arbitrary cherry picking: it would be stupid to include January and before because, as I am totally in agreement with, Muirhead was still playing very well in January as he had from the start of the season, and that's why he's earned a contract. Looking at the contribution from the start of February is pertinent to the discussion about how to respond to Muirhead's loss of form because that's the time in which he's gone off form.

He has played on the right several times throughout the season.

What does speculation mean if not spending outwith our means, which we can't do? The club have already said they're increasing the first team budget for next season and that some of the around £200K profit we're heading for if we finish 8th will also be added to that budget on top of their already planned increase.

Well if we're 6 figures in the black I'd like to see Imries budget increased further allowing us to aim for a higher placed finish which would potentially offset any increase through prize money.  Do we have details of the difference between the budget of this season and next? 

[LargsTON]

With regards to next season I'd be happy if we kept Mullen, Baird, O'Connor, Strapp, Wilson, Crawford, Blues and Oakley.  Not that arsed about the rest.  

[tondaft1874]

The main issue with the current squad is as soon as one of the starting XI is out of form/injured our fringe players are not doing enough. Garrity, Bearne and McGrattan are all decent on the ball but apart from that look lost in most games especially against better sides like last night. 3 of them have either made a decent impact off the bench or started a game well then died off, then when given another opportunity the following week have failed to take it. I don't think any of them are up to scratch at this level as of yet, or will ever be. I would look to move on all 3 players, or at least get them out to get more 1st team experience at a league 1 team.

Blues and Crawford especially have been well off it for a few months now and contributed absolutely nothing. Power is in the same boat over the last few weeks as has Muirhead. The 4 of them are out of form and really need to be taken out the team for the 3 mentioned above, who haven't taken their chance. Id keep all 4 next year and hopefully they get back into form. I don't think we can question muirheads goal return over the course of the season.

Gillespie hasn't impressed much all season wether it be starting or a few calamitous performances off the bench and his time is up at the club.

I have just about ran out of patience with Quitongo, but willing to give him another 6m deal to prove his fitness and hopefully get back to his best. When on his game there aren't many better wingers in the championship.

O'Connor has been a bit unfairly treated this season taken out of the team for Broadfoot who is finished. Him and Baird are still are best CB pairing and id keep the both of them.

Watters isn't good enough at this level and I hope we are doing our best to keep Strapp at the club beyond the summer.

Would love to keep Oakley but think there will be a few teams chasing his signature.

Keep:

Mullen, Baird, O'Connor, Strapp, Wilson, Blues, Power, Crawford, Muirhead, Oakley, Quitongo and incoming Jordan Davies.

Get rid:

MacDonald, French, Watters, Broadfoot, Gillespie, McGrattan, Bearne, Garrity, King

 

Edited April 13 by tondaft1874

[vikingTON]

24 minutes ago, LargsTON said:

Well if we're 6 figures in the black I'd like to see Imries budget increased further allowing us to aim for a higher placed finish which would potentially offset any increase through prize money.  Do we have details of the difference between the budget of this season and next? 

We're only six figures in the black this season because we a) got a favourable League Cup draw to get out of the group stage, which allowed us to b) draw Rangers in the next round, pocket a windfall and also create a credible player budget. We then did well and got some fortune with the draw in progressing to the Scottish Cup QF too, but that wouldn't have happened without the first two conditions being in place.

It's entirely likely though that we'll get a complete stinker of a League Cup group next season that will leave us unlikely to progress unless we win the group outright against Premiership opposition. Which if we fail, then leaves us relying on a Scottish Cup run and money-spinner just to make ends meet. That's not sustainable in any way. 

The fundamentals of the club's income hasn't substantially changed and until we develop the infrastructure to address that then we shouldn't be speculating to accumulate on the first team. There's nobody to write the IOU if it goes wrong and we shouldn't want someone to do that again anyway. 

Edited April 13 by vikingTON

[dunning1874]

1 hour ago, vikingTON said:

The 'last two months' is quite clearly arbitrary. Why not the last three months? Who decreed that two months was the definition of recent form - other than it suiting the purpose of your cherry-picking exercise?

And in any case even by your own goalpost fixing exercise, we seem to have 'player on a terrible run of form who should definitely be dropped' on level pegging with 'guid young player - start him instead and/or award new contract too'. 

I for one think that we should accept neither benchmark of performance as acceptable next season, which means upgrading on our existing options by providing serious competition instead. 

He has played on the right several times throughout the season.

Fooling absolutely no-one: how many times has Muirhead started on the right hand side of our forward line this season? Be extremely specific.

Because he was still playing well three months ago. He had not lost form in January, hence his form in January is irrelevant to a discussion about his contribution since he lost his form.

I reckon it's five: Kelty and Rangers in the League Cup, Airdrie and Kelty at home in October, Ayr on Tuesday, without mentioning all the times we started with him on the left and switched wings during the game.

[dunning1874]

Anyway, keep:

Strapp, O'Connor, Blues, Crawford, Garrity, Muirhead, Oakley

Release: MacDonald, Waters, Broadfoot, Gillespie, Quitongo, McGrattan, no offer for French

Undecided: Power

My gut instinct has been to keep one of Power & Gillespie as cover for a new signing and release the other, while Imrie's preference has clearly been Power which would suggest Gillespie is the one who goes, but I'm increasingly leaning towards releasing both of them. Power was great through our good run, but when the team as a whole has been bad (two thirds of the season) he has been exceptionally awful, and there's a serious question about how much of that is down to his general fitness at 36 rather than just getting into a rut when confidence is low or becoming a wee bit leggy at the end of a long season.

Maybe getting a proper pre-season and being firmly considered second choice so playing less would fix that issue compared to this year, but if this is just the player he is now and you're only going to get a few good months a season out of him because he doesn't have the legs to do more than that you can't justify keeping him. There's the issue of leaving enough room in the budget to make the serious upgrades required and there's got to be consideration given to if and how much King or O'Boy are going to be considered part of the first team picture in midfield too, or whether they're going out on loan again. If you have Wilson, Blues, Crawford, King, O'Boy and a new first choice holding midfielder all being considered first team players, I'm not sure you can justify carrying Power too.

[TopCat]

Offer deals/keep; 

Strapp, O'Connor, Blues, Crawford, Garrity, Muirhead, Oakley, Power

Release;

MacDonald, Waters, Broadfoot, Gillespie, Quitongo, McGrattan, French (into the sun)

Consider a loan out until January;

Bearne, King, Garrity 

I'd keep Power for cover for another season but we really need a good upgrade on Gillespie to make that one work.

Given that the competition for players will only increase with the clubs likely to be in the league, I'd hope we'll already be chasing players from League One who look like they're on an upwards trajectory. We need a bigger squad but it's likely to be cheaper young players and loans we can afford to do that with.

Edited April 13 by TopCat

[vikingTON]

1 hour ago, dunning1874 said:

Because he was still playing well three months ago. He had not lost form in January, hence his form in January is irrelevant to a discussion about his contribution since he lost his form.

So 'recent form' consists solely of the period in which you think a player isn't performing; any sequence of games that goes against your thesis isn't 'recent' and so magically doesn't count against your case. 

As I stated then, what you're providing here is an exercise in cherry-picking rather than credible analysis. 

[dunning1874]

7 minutes ago, vikingTON said:

So 'recent form' consists solely of the period in which you think a player isn't performing; any sequence of games that goes against your thesis isn't 'recent' and so magically doesn't count against your case. 

As I stated then, what you're providing here is an exercise in cherry-picking rather than credible analysis. 

This is how the passage of time works yes, what with February and March being more recent than January.

[Tink]

Good chance that Ross Millen signs for next season. He can play right back or centre back.

[dunning1874]

Aye, in a fantasy land squad building scenario you're wanting Livingston's financial situation combined with a relegation clause in Jamie Brandon's contract to lead to him making his way here and Dundee United to allow Grimshaw to go as he's been in and out of the team recently, giving us two players who are huge upgrades at both right back and holding midfield, but I doubt either will come to pass. Millen would be a perfectly good signing and a significant upgrade on French.

[TRVMP]

Power is a release for me. Obviously a class player, full of vision, can spray a lovely pass, you can see his movement makes a hell of a lot of sense. But we're shipping goals due to his lack of mobility, which is an inevitable aspect of his age. We can't count on a preseason to turn back the clock; it's just too much of a risk. So with all well wishes and admiration, and the hope that he won't be a stranger and that he'll remember his time here fondly, it's time to have an amicable parting of ways.