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dunning1874

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Everything posted by dunning1874

  1. I was hoping we might add someone who can play centre back if French and O'Connor are both out a while, as Blues or McGrattan at right back is less of a problem than Broadfoot at centre back, but another natural right back and defensive cover is still no bad thing. You'd expect Harkness in for French will be the only change tomorrow then.
  2. I recall you having similar thoughts about our appointment of Jonatan Johansson, who did of course turn out to be an absolute donkey. It's possible you're just inclined to think someone who had an excellent playing career is always going to be a good manager when that evidently isn't the case. As for who's done better with Forest Green than Ferguson - it's only 2 seasons ago Rob Edwards won them the League Two title - literally every manager they've ever had. His record makes Gus MacPherson look good. He took over in a difficult situation, but he made them considerably worse.
  3. You could take Ferguson being at Stair Park on Saturday as simply going to watch his son who's on loan at Forfar, but a more cynical person might wonder what conversations he had with McKinnon.
  4. Scot Gardiner in making appointment based on finding the staunchest candidate shock. Plenty of managers fail in their first job then learn from their mistakes and improve over time, but Ferguson really was an absolute catastrophe at Forest Green. One win and three draws in 18 games. I'd be terrified if we'd appointed him, put it that way.
  5. Them having "more resources" is also not a remotely sustainable state of affairs. Their higher spending than ours is entirely based on throwing substantial six figure sums on a bonfire every single season - the Scottish Cup run last year has only enabled them to keep the wolves from the door in paying off some of the debt to directors rather than putting them on a stable footing for years to come. In reality, they have considerably smaller crowds than Morton, are a never ending shambles off the park and unless they fluke promotion before then will likely be in administration within the next 3 or 4 years which will see them sink further. Even in the hypothetical and dramatic scenario that Imrie is scunnered with consistently working with the lowest budget in the division, this has irreparably damaged his relationship with the board and he is therefore willing to jump at whatever sideways move he can get, going to Inverness would still be a downright stupid thing to do. Even if he's not happy with Morton off the park, that would be frying pan into the fire.
  6. A challenge to find a journalist who's even more of a bellend than McCall to write that piece, but they managed it with Kevin McKenna. An insufferable dickhead. His nephew is shite as well, which is why he was released by Queen of the South in the summer, having been pretty much bombed out after Bartley took over when they were eighth, and hasn't found a club yet. He is of course the player who collided with 'The Edge' on that glorious day in Grangemouth.
  7. Baffling. While you can see King getting a benefit from playing every week and this hopefully helps nail down his best position, if Crawford is going to be out for any length of time King should be in the starting XI, and even if Crawford isn't then if either Gillespie or Quitongo are out for a time he should still be featuring regularly, from the bench at least. He should be ahead of Boyd and Bearne in the pecking order for the three behind the striker and ahead of Wilson for the deeper two, although admittedly that may have changed soon as Wilson gets fully fit. The squad is just too short to let him go.
  8. Not the first time the Tele's editors have attached an entirely misleading headline or sub-headline to an article which suggests nothing of the sort. There is clearly still money there and we are clearly going to sign more players. The only comment that's came out of the club recently that has even been possible to interpret as if we won't was Imrie saying in his Partick preview that he's content with the squad we've got ahead of the August deadline. I took that as him saying he's comfortable the squad we have currently can compete in games in the meantime so he wasn't going to rush into anything when we still have another month for loans and no time limit on free agents, not that he won't make any signings at all.
  9. Dallas made it into the worst Morton XI of the 2010s as voted by this forum, which as we know is the foremost authority on the club. Being absolutely dreadful when you're 19 and playing in the Championship after your only previous first team experience was in League Two doesn't mean you're not going to be a better player by the time you're 24, but I'm shocked he got as good a move as Kilmarnock. I'd have thought his record in the English National League could be enough for a Championship club to take a gamble on him, but not a Premiership club.
  10. The defence is clearly not in an acceptable state and we can't persist with just the four we have for half a season, but waiting for quality to come along rather than flinging a contract at anyone who's available, eg Michael Doyle, for the sake of it is an approach which has already worked for us in the past. As for the suggestion that one bad defeat and the squad not being complete come the start of September means Dougie Imrie is not that good a manager, this is a ridiculous take. He is quite clearly the club's best manager in decades, and even if we regress this season that will continue to be the case. If he did apply for the Dundee job or any other top flight job which becomes available then that's fine: an ambitious manager who's doing a good job is eventually going to get an upwards move and that's to be expected. Provided he's applying/being approached for jobs through the proper channels and not performing a Ray McKinnon style snaking then that's part and parcel of actually having a good manager for a change.
  11. I don't see any prospect of a striker. While not ideal, Quitongo and Boyd could be moved there in the event neither Muirhead or Oakley were available and when the two of them are fit they aren't being dropped, so no one's going to be keen to send us a player on loan who is rarely going to get a start. A different type of option as an impact sub would be nice if money was no object, but we're well stocked for attacking players as it is. Imrie said he wanted a squad of 18-20; if we're still capable of adding two to get to 20, they both need to be defenders.
  12. I think we'll get one more in defence and that's it. Two would be fantastic if it allowed a natural right back as well as a centre back who can cover left back, but we've already got 18 signed up, not including Garrity. I reckon it's most likely we'll get that centre back and see O'Connor become first choice right back. Obviously in an ideal world that's Ricki Lamie but probably not likely going by the Daily Record yesterday. Maybe a natural right back will emerge from somewhere and that'll be us, but we're not the only club who've struggled to find one.
  13. I don't think we'll be sending King on loan regardless - even with the new signings he's not as far down the pecking order as Garrity was - but this is why I was hoping for Lamie or a similar type of centre back who can also cover left back, because that really isn't a comfortable option if Waters ends up out for any length of time.
  14. If we're still not finding a decent right back, and bear in mind Queen's Park still don't have one either and could blow us out the water financially if they end up chasing the same player when someone Imrie wants becomes available, I could see a scenario where Blues (or McGrattan) are at right back until Baird is fit, then O'Connor moves across when Baird returns. Short of a natural right back becoming available, if we're going to end up with O'Connor as first choice there my ideal scenario is signing Ricki Lamie and then having him and Baird as the first choice partnership, but obviously not sure how likely it is that Motherwell are actually going to move him on despite now being sixth choice centre back.
  15. As for the potential signing of Wilson, is it possible this is unrelated to Crawford's potential departure? It could be an indication that Blues is now being viewed as the medium term solution at right back and Wilson is to give us another option in midfield in his place, with our options for the deeper two then being Power, Gillespie, Wilson and King.
  16. If the 5 figure fee in question is 10K then it's absolutely ridiculous but when we signed Crawford you had no inkling that there'd be the slightest possibility of a fee for him. He was a 28 year old who'd just been released by Partick, hadn't won a contract at Dundee on trial and had struggled to hold down a place in the team at the two top flight clubs he played for previously, and signed for us in August having been a free agent when the league season started. He's clearly a good enough player and is so important to our style of play that he could make more of a difference in prize money to us over a season than £99K, but if you're getting a transfer fee at all for a player who came to you with that background it's actually really impressive, and makes the club look attractive to potential signings who'll see it as a good move for their chances of playing themselves into offers from a higher level. If it was a choice between this clause in the contract for him to sign the extension in January and him not signing and seeing what offers he might get this summer, we'd have lost him entirely. The issue is how we replicate his pressing if he goes, as we're clearly at our best with him behind the striker to lead our pressing and no one else can do the same job; through no lack of effort, you just don't see the same intensity without him in the front four.
  17. Assuming we don't get a defender in today as well, with Blues suspended I wouldn't be surprised if Power's at centre back tomorrow. It's a less bad option than Gillespie in defence or Waters at centre back and King at left back. That's us sorted in midfield now and it's nice to have a real alternative to Gillespie and very possibly an upgrade on him, depending on much age has affected him at 35, but all eyes on the defensive signing now. I could live with only signing one and O'Connor being first choice right back if we add a centre back good enough to start who can also cover at left back. Hopefully Motherwell are willing to send Sir Richard out on loan soon, maybe they're waiting for more signings or Butcher to get fit before moving him on.
  18. I'd want two defenders before another central midfielder. We need a first choice right back and we're an injury or suspension to Waters away from King at left back. We need someone who can cover there as well as the right back. Ideally we'd be adding a Lamie type who can come in at centre back and cover left back if needed. Garrity going out on loan could maybe free up a space to add another central midfielder as well, we're well stocked for wingers even without him.
  19. Very surprised at bringing in a goalkeeper of that calibre and being able to have competition, but great. If drawing Rangers has enabled us to do that while still being able to add another couple of defenders then that's good news.
  20. MacDonald would make no sense really. If we were in a position to build a large enough squad to have two competing first team goalkeepers then great, but when we're still restricted financially and struggling to add to the defence you surely just want a cheap backup to Mullen.
  21. I noticed on Saturday they'd cleared and levelled it, I hadn't appreciated how big the space was. Interested to know what the plans are. If they're intending on putting a permanent building there then obviously that's going to be months away from being in use, but it's just a case of sticking a marquee up or something else temporary that could be done very quickly.
  22. I'd obviously love Brandon back but while he hasn't been starting, he's appeared as a sub in all of their games so far. Though Livingston have a very imbalanced squad and need to move defenders on to make attacking signings, they're not too well stocked for wing backs whereas they have six natural centre backs and another few who can cover there. I'd be delighted but surprised if we get him.
  23. We started that day at Ayr with a back three of Van Schaik, Grant and McLean, with Muirhead and Tumilty as wing backs. Grant went off injured after about 25 minutes and then we had various and increasingly hilarious changes of shape including Muirhead on the left of a back three, Muirhead at left back, McAlister at left back, Van Schaik at left back with McAlister at centre back. We could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble just by sacking Hopkin on the spot that day. When someone tells you you can't write a player off after one game, you only need to mention Van Schaik to prove them wrong.
  24. When a right back, defensive cover and second choice goalkeeper are all signings we need rather than just want and we might only manage to add a further one or two rather than three, you have to ask why we've signed Bearne when we already have plenty of attacking options. That's no criticism of him as a player, but we already had enough options there and we evidently don't further back.
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