Handsome_Devil

Don't love the strip so good they announced Casey with it. Four more to go - both wing-backs, a body in midfield and another up top - for me.

Fair enough that's just an educated guess from the outside but you can see the stats from @capt_oats already. Re the physical aspect in general, I've never understood why when people wonder whether players are physically up to it there are chortled comments about others being under 6 foot tall as if height is the only consideration. In any sport requiring talent and physical attributes combined, you can usually get away with less of the latter if you're through the roof on the former. But otherwise you will almost certainly have to bring some combination of height, speed, stamina, acceleration, balance, agility, strength, durability, Dougie Arnott's patented low centre of gravity etc to the party if you're going to make it. From all we've heard from Alexander re Tierney needing time to adjust, the evidence seen in games and his time outside the squad, concern - not writing him off, just concern! - about whether he can hack it as a top-flight pro seems one of the least controversial takes out there for me.

Does Tierney have potential? Yes. Does he have an obvious role? No. Does he look physically capable of starting 30+ games? No. If those are three questions and answers when you sign a kid it's fine. If those answers haven't changed at all in 18 months of development at a supposedly higher it's pretty concerning.

Good for our finances too, you would assume. Shields to India also appears on so it looks like we're doing quite well in limiting the losses of the cut losses, if that makes any sense!

Doidge would be a massive no from me as well. As an aside, I find it interesting Fletcher hasn't signed somewhere yet. The Scottish clubs are now approaching the first, if not big kick-off, and if he was easy to deal with as a free you'd have thought he'd have picked by now. The shout of someone on here (forget who, sorry) that he might patch us and St Mirren to kick around League One in England for more money is looking pretty spot on.

I suspect that's it exactly. With the exception of Danzaki, most of those deemed not good enough are actually fine for 10 games and a handful of sub appearances over the course of the season. The trouble is if you have 10 of these guys and think some will be hitting 25 games... So as said, it's less important who we punt rather than punting X bodies from that group to free up wages for the first team. And we'll adapt to whether it's a Shields or Maguire etc we manage to get out the door.

If only we'd recently signed a couple of injury prone players to give us an idea of how this gamble would likely turn out.

https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/northern-irelands-kofi-balmer-linked-with-loan-move-to-scottish-side/a1760208688.html Wiki suggests he can play all across the back three...

I know he wasn't great but it's a bit harsh putting Law in that company.

Bizarrely you wouldn't have said so - he either played such brief cameos or in complete disasters where he was hidden among the rest of the shite.

Think it's safe to assume it wasn't free but cheaper than paying him the full whack.

We finished preseason today with a 1-0 win at Tannadice, Wilkinson with the goal.

There's no doubt we've gone from being very well run to significantly less so in all kinds of areas but I'm not nearly as bothered about the past as the future. Part of it is because like on the pitch, off pitch cycles exist at our level too. And finding a Burrows who both nails it and spends the majority of his life working for us is obviously never going to last. Another part is being very philosophical in the fact that you can do all the theory right and some sporting decisions just don't work out. Everyone was happy we were moving away from the revolving door squad, Kelly, SSJ, Slattery for example, seemed just what we were after. They weren't. It happens. The bigger concern is not losing the odd youth cheaply because they were misjudged, it's that the collective eye has been off the ball for 18 months and there is absolutely no indication we have any idea how to fix it. The 'we' in the above is particularly apt as a fan owned club - ultimately it's on all of us. The knock on effect of being crap and spending emergency money is clear and there's a reason clubs who get sucked into a relegation battle but survive one May often struggle not to be back there the next. I'm not saying we're doomed in season 23/24 by any means (indeed looking at the league I'd back us to stay up) but if you operate increasingly like a lower league club, eventually you'll end up there.

It's one of the consequences of being shit...it's obviously great we found the means to sack two managers and fund an emergency rebuild in January but ultimately it has to be paid for somehow. I'm certainly not writing this season off by any means but if it turns out we're bottom six but safe(ish) throughout you'd certainly consider it a job well done rather than a chance missed.

The only surprise with Robinson for me was he took a wee while to get going. He's obviously a very solid manager for our level. He did brilliantly for us before eventually collapsing under the weight of the Xth rebuild in three years and if St Mirren get another good 12-18 months before papping him off for cash, so that doesn't happen again, they'll have played a blinder. Obviously delighted to see lasley doing well too, at the rate our CEO process is going he can practice for another year in Paisley then come home!

Rather them than us but I do wonder if SR will get something out of him as a non-scoring focal point a la Main... we'll see.

He clearly came onto a game and some of the passes he was eventually pinging through/over to MJ in particular were worthy of a much higher level. But from a two-year deal he was basically missing for way more than half...for whatever reason that is who knows there's no way we should be breaking the bank for him and if he wants to move on we wish him good luck.

And the semi final. And the 3-0 at pittodrie. There's no doubt more I've forgotten. I'd love our content team to dig out the Benny Hill theme tune for a compilation of his highlights but I suspect that's not the done thing! You really wonder how someone who was obviously decent enough in general managed to commit so many grade A howlers against the same team.

Our pitch is amazing but tbqh what does it really get us? Couple of youth or women's internationals and a smug feeling? I'd rather our pitch was nice than not and obviously I don't want it costing us money. But until it hits, say, February 2008 level, it barely even registers with me.

I appreciate its not as urgent as LWB - where we only have McGinley - but unless SOD has regained a yard of pace, a new RWB is an absolute must. Essentially 3-5-2 moves the strain - everyone in the crowded middle has help to muddle through but you're relying on the wing backs getting up and down with some zip and presence all day or you'll be shut down very quickly going forward. The good thing is we don't need a star, a Furlong equivalent churned out on loan will be fine, but it's definitely needed.

I'm fine with it. I suspect what Fletcher offers is pretty set and short-term, this guy on the other hand may well be worse but may also turn out better and be more long-term. He's certainly our profile, as you say, and time will tell whether he's a hit or a miss.

Beat me to it... good luck to him.

Time will tell but for me that'd be a huge risk. It's one thing not expecting KVV2 to hit 20+ goals, another altogether to deliberately sign someone known for being a good player but not a good goalscorer.

I'd hope he's not replacing KVV if he comes to us either, he should be seen as a replacement for Mandron with Obika back up to that role.

I don't blame SB as he was asked the question but that's hardly a Pulitzer in the waiting, you'd have been utterly amazed if there wasn't news this week!