dunning1874

Dunfermline signing Thomas is possibly good news for us given their rumoured interest in Nesbitt. While he was in and out the team in the first half of the season he really hit form and cemented his place from January onwards, and with Cadden away he's pretty much going to be a stick on to start games for us barring a total collapse in form. At Dunfermline they've already got Dow and Thomas as well as options through the middle if he was to be used as a number 10. He's a better player than Thomas so would have every reason to be confident of earning a place ahead of him, but considering the Dunfermline tendency to hype up sand dancers or wasters and ignore genuine talent right under their noses (see Cardle, Joe; Barrowman, Andy; v Forbes, Ross) he'd be risking moving to sit on the bench for much of the season. Also good recruitment can only get you so far, and his record to date suggests that Crawford is a poor manager.

https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/07/08/the-pro-privatization-shock-therapy-of-the-uks-covid-response/ Long but interesting read on one of the reasons the UK has fucked this up so badly.

No idea if it updates automatically or someone does it manually, but going by the membership counter on the website it's gone up about 30 already since the announcement. That's pretty impressive and you'd expect another boost today as word gets around and it's picked up by more media outlets.

The stadium is the big downside of this. I'm not at all comfortable with Cappielow passing out of the hands of the club, but if the lease agreement ensures Golden Casket can't either raise the rent to an exorbitant amount or sell it from under the club's feet then those are good safeguards to have in place. Questions about the costs of any future redevelopment do need an answer. Frankly I'd still prefer to wait a few more years to get to the position of community ownership and have to raise a significant sum to buy GC out with the stadium remaining in the hands of the club than have MCT getting the club for £1 or whatever the tiny nominal fee is without ownership of Cappielow. However I also don't think those valid concerns are a reason not to support this. We've known for years that the club is effectively in a managed decline with the Raes in charge and ownership had to change. Now we've got that opportunity. This is a chance to build a more sustainable club and possibly a more successful one - fan owned doesn't mean fan run and overhauling the culture of the club from top down with new and above all else competent faces could be exactly what we need for the club to progress.

I said after Cadden leaving was announced that it didn't massively change the job Hopkin had with recruitment this summer, but Nesbitt going too would mean our first choice front three is away. We could really do without this. We're not going to be back in training until mid-August at the earliest so I'm not expecting to hear anything about new signings for weeks yet, and I expect most clubs at our level won't really have much movement on that until August with Dunfermline and Hearts being the only exceptions so far. Not hearing anything about renewals is becoming a concern though; what's stopping the players already here signing new contracts?

Parma style kits are great, but we'd probably be better off having them as third kits. I doubt the SPFL would sanction having that much blue in both.

Regardless of what you think of the Challenge Cup generally (the correct answer is that the inclusion of foreign teams is brilliant and the only change needed is binning the colts in favour of more Highland & Lowland clubs) there's surely an argument for running it as a pre-season tournament this year with Scottish teams only, also on an opt-in basis. This would obviously have to remain flexible to be decided some time in August when we have a clearer picture of whether crowds will be back at games, but if you get 16 teams interested it could run from mid-September before the League Cup starts? If clubs are back in training from the start of September and would be playing friendlies at that point anyway they're as well getting a trophy and prize money to play for, however meagre it is. In the also realistic scenario that even distanced crowds aren't possible and/or teams aren't interested, scrapping the whole thing is obviously the way to go. There had been rumours about it not starting until 2021 but I'm not sure it's sensible to be planning fixtures for midweeks in March when there'll inevitably be postponed league games over winter to cram in.

That is an absolute beauty.

While deciding not to participate in the League Cup will possibly allow clubs to save money through not going back to training until a couple of weeks later than other clubs, I think most of them will be desperate to take part - they won't want to give up their share of prize money and it's not outwith the realms of possibility we'll have distanced crowds back in grounds by the start of October, assuming that's when it's held rather than slotting fixtures involving Premiership clubs into midweeks in September and having the all lower league ties at weekends while the Premiership is playing.

He was apparently mince at Stenhousemuir so that's no big surprise, and there are clubs in the new West of Scotland leagues throwing around some serious money for that level. Tier 6 Darvel have signed Ian McShane, Liam Caddis and another ex-Morton player in Jordan Allan. Tier 7 St Cadocs (Mark McLaughlin on the coaching staff) seem to be just spending enough to sign from bigger ex-junior clubs rather than players you'd expect League 2 clubs to be in for, but have Stephen Grindlay who we seemed to be linked with every summer when McInally was in charge, and more ex-Morton players in Kenny McLean and Dylan 'fucking' Dykes.

What? You're simultaneously complaining that our players have signed for other clubs and complaining that we haven't released everyone? Do you think it would have been more or less likely for players to choose to stay at Morton if we released them all so they received no money throughout June and July, when keeping them contracted and furloughed literally costs the club nothing and allows them to continue receiving 80% of their wage?

I can see Hopkin going with Nesbitt and McGuffie as first choice wingers. I think completely rebuilding the attack is overstating it - we already needed another centre forward, we still have Colville and Lyon as creative midfielders with Nesbitt an option in a more advanced role through the middle as well. We could now do with adding another winger too but it doesn't mean we're having a total overhaul. This is obviously shite news but we all knew it was a distinct possibility.

I wouldn't object to having him back, seen as he might be a perfectly competent centre back. As long as he's not coming back to be anywhere near right back.

Yet we had heard of Ryan Scully. Win some, lose some.

McGinn's a player I'd expect to have interest from most of the clubs in the division, but assuming he lives somewhere near Paisley I'd hope that would give us an advantage over clubs who can pay more. At 31 he might not want to be driving up to Dundee or Dunfermline every day to protect his body, something Millar said really impacted him into his 30s at St Johnstone. While we're talking about obvious free agents, Danny Mullen will probably be a target for everyone other than Hearts. I'd expect we have little chance of getting him in normal circumstances if it's a divisional bidding war, but as he's worked with Hopkin before we might have a shot. They'll no doubt have options outside the well known lower end Premiership to mid-table Championship free agents as well, none of us had heard of Luca Colville, Cameron Salkeld or Sam Ramsbottom. Whether convincing players to relocate from another country is more difficult this year remains to be seen.

I think a lot of clubs may be following the logic of keeping squads together as much as possible in the circumstances, but considering who we have under contract already the shortened season doesn't change who we should be keeping or releasing for me. The players to let go are all easy decisions. Keep: Tumilty, McAlister, Cadden, Nesbitt, Sutton (assuming he'll still be here as a coach anyway) Release: Ramsbottom, McLean, McGinty, Millar, Muirhead, Doolan Needing a goalkeeper and new defence to gel isn't ideal with a shortened season, but it's preferable to saddling ourselves with players we know aren't good enough. That'd leave us needing: First choice goalkeeper (Rogers?) Four defenders (Two starting centre backs, two to cover centre back and full back. Gunning?) First choice central midfielder in the same mould as McAlister, allows us to avoid starting him in every game at 35 First choice centre forward

Speaking of Peterhead, Balmoor in 2014. We'll disregard the snake who scored and just recall the scenes. I believe there is also a gif of said scenes.

Bring him home.

Wild that Zlamal and Doyle have international caps. A pair of Ryan Scully level dunces.

Watson's one of the better centre backs in the division when fit, but they'll be doing well to get 20 games out of him. It'd be a big risk for us to bring in someone with that injury record when the budget will presumably be even more constrained this season. Whittaker on the other hand was finished three years ago and I expect even at this level he'll get roasted. As it's a player coach role he's maybe there as a coach first and foremost, but I wouldn't want him near the Morton team as a player.

So, Hamburg.

Signed up for the webinar as soon as I saw that, no idea what it is but clearly significant. Without speculating too much on what it is, probably a reasonable guess that they're announcing what their plans are beyond the initial two year period and fundraising target? Can't think what else would merit that much hype.

Another reason to bump this fine thread. Look at the state of this: https://www.falkirkfc.co.uk/2020/06/26/gary-deans-interview/ Absolute gold. "Are Falkirk the forgotten victims in all of this? That’s how it feels.'"

Everyone will be aware that Jim Duffy was in hospital after a heart attack a few days ago. Dumbarton have announced that he's now back at home and recovering.

So does this forum upgrade mean we can upload images as normal now? Just checking.