2024/25 Squad and Transfers

[Jamie_M]

Arbroath sign Brynn Sinclair - centre half we had on trial.

[TRVMP]

17 minutes ago, Jamie_M said:

Arbroath sign Brynn Sinclair - centre half we had on trial.

I liked the look of him from what little I saw. Will be curious to see how he gets on. 

[thehustler]

3 hours ago, Jamie_M said:

Bizarre signing

[LargsTON]

Shocking signing on paper.   A 37 year old wide player will do nothing to resolve our problems of scoring goals.  Utterly bizarre.  I'd rather we signed Mr Motivator to help JET lose some weight tbh.

[vikingTON]

5 hours ago, RossMcC1874 said:

Should be banging down the door for him been here before knows what it's about and would be playing week in week out of course wages might be an issue. 

Grimshaw is a very good player at this level, but who would he be replacing in this current team to play week in, week out: Ballantyne or Wilson? I don't see why we should (hypothetically) invest so much in upgrading already pretty strong positions for us. We couldn't afford to sign Grimshaw just as cover or an alternative option given the wages he'd rightly command, superb option as that would be. 

As for McGinn, while it's certainly a surprising signing, listing all those attacking midfielders simply underlines the desperate lack of goals between them. I'm not convinced Niall McGinn at this stage of his career is the answer, but our limitation clearly looks like a lack of dependable firepower this season. No amount of sand dancers (of which some can be loaned out in September) already signed to the club changes that reality: we have been in desperation stakes in the forward positions since the end of May. 

Edited August 31 by vikingTON

[irnbru]

11 hours ago, RossMcC1874 said:

Should be banging down the door for him been here before knows what it's about and would be playing week in week out of course wages might be an issue. 

McGinn is a strange one particularly at his age however I don't think it's the worse signing as probably on a short term deal to see how he gets on. 

Still playing international football until a year or two ago. 

Not convinced it's a great idea but he's been a much better player than Reynolds or Davies in recent history and if budget is tight it's maybe worth a gamble. 

It's probably more an indication that Imrie realises the others aren't good enough than just signing more players. The money on them is wasted now though and if they aren't good enough then they shouldn't play. 

[dunning1874]

6 hours ago, vikingTON said:

Grimshaw is a very good player at this level, but who would he be replacing in this current team to play week in, week out: Ballantyne or Wilson? I don't see why we should (hypothetically) invest so much in upgrading already pretty strong positions for us. We couldn't afford to sign Grimshaw just as cover or an alternative option given the wages he'd rightly command, superb option as that would be. 

As for McGinn, while it's certainly a surprising signing, listing all those attacking midfielders simply underlines the desperate lack of goals between them. I'm not convinced Niall McGinn at this stage of his career is the answer, but our limitation clearly looks like a lack of dependable firepower this season. No amount of sand dancers (of which some can be loaned out in September) already signed to the club changes that reality: we have been in desperation stakes in the forward positions since the end of May. 

Admittedly it's an extremely small sample size for both so far, but I think Lyall has looked a lot better when he's been more advanced in the middle of a three behind the striker(s) than he has sitting deep beside Wilson. No idea if there was room in the budget for two more and particularly at the wage Grimshaw would command, but especially with the fact that we also have no full back cover I think if two more signings were possible then Grimshaw fits the exact profile of player we need: someone who slots into the team sitting beside Wilson as a starter and can drop back to right back in the event Ballantyne or Delaney (with Ballantyne moving across to left back) are out rather than having to put Blues there or take Wilson out of the midfield.

Then, even if we were deciding we're now done with Reynolds & Davies and won't use them again, your starters in the three behind a new striker are Moffat, Lyall and one of Garrity/Crawford, with Shaw also to return from injury at some point, and King joining whichever two of Garrity, Crawford & Shaw are on the bench as a credible sub. There's still depth there even if those two are entirely written off.

The point about the lack of goals and desperation for firepower in the team is valid but the resolution for this isn't stockpiling more wingers or attacking midfielders - looking at a performance like last Saturday those midfielders are all having good games in their own right but being hamstrung as an attacking threat by the lack of a credible centre forward to play off. If we do only have enough in the budget to sign one more player and have to watch Grimshaw go elsewhere in the Championship then so be it, the one signing then has to be an attacking player as the biggest glaring weakness in the starting XI, although the credible scenario of having both a full back and Wilson missing at the same time will be a right laugh if we're stuck with just the defensive bodies we've got.

If that's the case though it makes the decision to sign Niall McGinn worse, not better. We need a centre forward above anything else, even if at 37 McGinn is still more likely to be a 7 or 8 goal a season player than the other wingers and attacking midfielders in the squad who might only deliver 4, 5 or in some cases 0 then that's not a signing worth making. Replacing Garrity or Crawford in the starting XI with Niall McGinn is not going to have the impact that replacing Emmanuel-Thomas with a centre forward who can actually run and isn't as far out of their depth as Davies or Reynolds will have.

[RossMcC1874]

I take it McGinn isn't happening anyway since the window is now shut. Unless we are all being kept in suspense and he is going to be announced just before kick off or something and signed last night. 

[Tink]

32 minutes ago, RossMcC1874 said:

I take it McGinn isn't happening anyway since the window is now shut. Unless we are all being kept in suspense and he is going to be announced just before kick off or something and signed last night. 

The club may choose to delay the announcement until international clearance comes through, or until just before team lines are exchanged today. As long as the transfer has been submitted to the SFA before the deadline, it will be allowed. Clearance can take a couple of days at the deadline.

[CBTON]

McGinn confirmed

[Jamie_M]

[RossMcC1874]

Oh well we can now sing the McGinn song. Willing to give him a chance would rather an out and out striker but see what happens. 

[Jamie_M]

 

Loan rather than permanent. Could have been that it was a cheap option. 

Was said at the time of the Ally Roy loan from them that it didn't cost us much.

And they probably owe us one from that one.

Edited August 31 by Jamie_M

[Alibi]

I'd love to know whose decision it was to sign Reynolds.  Did they make the decision on a video of that one goal against Ipswich?  He just seems to lack the basic qualities expected of even an amateur footballer.  He's supposed to be fast, but I've yet to see him outrun anyone.  I can't understand what marked him out as a player for us to sign.  Given the club chairman seems to have another role as a player agent, surely that's not been allowed to influence any of our own signings?  That would be a massive conflict of interest and I think would require the chairman to be removed from his post.  I really am at a loss to understand what process we go through before a player is offered a contract.

I can't really comment on Davies yet as I haven't actually seen him do anything and he even seems to be behind Reynolds in the pecking order.

And still the wait for a striker goes on...

Edited September 4 by Alibi

[SpoonTon]

11 minutes ago, Alibi said:

I'd love to know whose decision it was to sign Reynolds.  Did they make the decision on a video of that one goal against Ipswich?  He just seems to lack the basic qualities expected of even an amateur footballer.  He's supposed to be fast, but I've yet to see him outrun anyone.  I can't understand what marked him out as a player for us to sign.  Given the club chairman seems to have another role as a player agent, surely that's not been allowed to influence any of our own signings?  That would be a massive conflict of interest and I think would require the chairman to be removed from his post.  I really am at a loss to understand what process we go through before a player is offered a contract.

I can't really comment on Davies yet as I haven't actually seen him do anything and he even seems to be behind Reynolds in the pecking order.

And still the wait for a striker goes on...

The last half hour against Falkirk is the only time Reynolds has been on the pitch without Davies (who had more playing time than Reynolds in the League Cup). I think the fact that you can't really comment on Davies yet is incredibly telling (and a bit unfair on Reynolds who is actually involved enough to not look very good). 

The problem is that it's a step up in level for both of them, and they're struggling with that. It's early days and they might settle, but it's the kind of risk clubs take any time they take a player from a lower level of football (or part-time football). 

[Alibi]

2 hours ago, SpoonTon said:

The last half hour against Falkirk is the only time Reynolds has been on the pitch without Davies (who had more playing time than Reynolds in the League Cup). I think the fact that you can't really comment on Davies yet is incredibly telling (and a bit unfair on Reynolds who is actually involved enough to not look very good). 

The problem is that it's a step up in level for both of them, and they're struggling with that. It's early days and they might settle, but it's the kind of risk clubs take any time they take a player from a lower level of football (or part-time football). 

From what little I have seen of Davies, he seems to be a bit out of his depth.  I'm reserving judgement until I've seen more of him but from what I've heard from others he's not really up to it (we've had similar strikers before within living memory) but if Dougie thinks Reynolds is a better option to bring on then it doesn't point to Davies improving the team much.  However we'll see, and if Davies doesn't get game time then we can all draw our own conclusions.  It's a pity, because these two signings gave us some hope of building a decent squad and we actually have that apart from when we get to the opposition penalty area.

I hope Dougie is about to announce a decent loan signing to add the missing ingredient.  We have a decent squad apart from that one flaw.

[thehustler]

1 hour ago, Alibi said:

From what little I have seen of Davies, he seems to be a bit out of his depth.  I'm reserving judgement until I've seen more of him but from what I've heard from others he's not really up to it (we've had similar strikers before within living memory) but if Dougie thinks Reynolds is a better option to bring on then it doesn't point to Davies improving the team much.  However we'll see, and if Davies doesn't get game time then we can all draw our own conclusions.  It's a pity, because these two signings gave us some hope of building a decent squad and we actually have that apart from when we get to the opposition penalty area.

I hope Dougie is about to announce a decent loan signing to add the missing ingredient.  We have a decent squad apart from that one flaw.

One flaw? Out the cup and winless in the league. Points to more than one flaw. Maybe Dougie will bring back Joe Harper? He does like the "old heads".

[SpoonTon]

1 hour ago, Alibi said:

From what little I have seen of Davies, he seems to be a bit out of his depth.  I'm reserving judgement until I've seen more of him but from what I've heard from others he's not really up to it (we've had similar strikers before within living memory) but if Dougie thinks Reynolds is a better option to bring on then it doesn't point to Davies improving the team much.  However we'll see, and if Davies doesn't get game time then we can all draw our own conclusions.  It's a pity, because these two signings gave us some hope of building a decent squad and we actually have that apart from when we get to the opposition penalty area.

I hope Dougie is about to announce a decent loan signing to add the missing ingredient.  We have a decent squad apart from that one flaw.

Davies reminds me a bit of Andy Dallas, who we had on loan from Rangers in the 18/19 season (probably with a higher work ethic). You can see that he's trying but his touch has been a bit heavy, he's been very poor with the chances he's had, and he's struggling to get on the ball. I can't quite figure out what type of player he's meant to be - he's not shown great speed, he's not a target man, he doesn't seem to want to take his man on. That's the feeling I had with a player like Dallas as well (who has gone on to have a decent scoring record in the National League in England)- I'm not sure what he's meant to be. It might be that he's going to show himself to be a good goalscorer who just needs that bit of confidence to get going - lets hope so. Like Dallas has gone on to show, there is a level and situation in which Davies has scored goals. 

We shouldn't forget that good goalscorers are very difficult to find at our level. And I don't blame Dougie for trying to be inventive to find one. It's still early days, there are loads of reasons why players can be off form (not being very good is the most common one, but there are plenty of other reasons) so hopefully Reynolds and Davies will make us look silly for doubting them - but they haven't made a good first impression.

[LargsTON]

Reynolds certainly looks a lost cause already, sadly.   However Davies is clearly capable of scoring goals but it's hard to judge him properly at this level until we actually create chances for the guy.  I've never seen a Morton team so bereft of pace, flair and creativity in christ knows how long.  

Edited September 4 by LargsTON

[dunning1874]

Absolutely not claiming he's actually looked close to good enough as he's been out of his depth even against League Two and Highland League sides, but I thought Davies was at least fine when he came on at Livingston. He actually did offer an outball and brought a couple of high balls down under pressure then found a teammate, which amounts to more of a positive contribution than Reynolds and JET combined over the Livingston and Falkirk games.

Obviously he did that coming on on the wing rather than centre forward, we've seen enough already to know that we can't play him as a lone striker, that's only one competent performance while over the piece he's still been miles off it and maybe Imrie has seen something in training to lead him to Davies being the one who's already written off entirely when his one competent performance is a better competitive contribution than some others. When we're persisting with two up front though it would be worth seeing if he's any better at that than he was as a lone striker, because if the alternative impact sub at centre forward is Reynolds it genuinely isn't possible to contribute less.