MacWatt

Your use of a pejorative term suggests some distaste for the young man or just for Americans in general?

I hope they are successful. He will not be granted a visa automatically as he does not fulfil the criteria. Queens will have to argue that he is good enough to bring something to the Scottish (Championship) game. Interestingly, Jason Scotland was denied a visa when Dundee United in the SPL lost an appeal. However, when St Johnstone in the First division appealed a few weeks later the appeal was successful. It was decided that he would make a significant contribution to the First Division whereas he wouldn't have in the SPL.

JM has another 2 weeks to play different line ups in the 2 cup games before we face the more important game against Dundee. He need not have a preferred line up. He has the choice of Russell, Lyle, Reilly along with Paton and Carmichael as additional offensive players to play with. Last season Johnston very often interchanged the strikers. Lyle and Reilly ended up with 13/14 goals apiece despite not being regular starters. 15 goals each from Russell, Lyle and Reilly would do nicely.

The pre-season preparations seem to have been well thought out and provided the perfect test for the players.. Starting off with closed door fitness proving run-outs followed by a local formal training session against Annan were ideal. The choice of playing the two weakest teams in the Premiership (apart from Hibs) provided the next stiffer test and the chance to gain valuable game time on the new pitch. The manager is doing well as are the new signings Dowie, Russell and Antell. We have good reason to look forward to watching a good footballing team which will challenge for a playoff spot. JM has got good options throughout the team and I am sure he will make good use of the squad.

Idiotic comment. They train on another 'difficult surface' every day....

Of course he will not automatically qualify for a work permit under the immigration rules. Normally non-EU citizens have to be established internationals and seek to play in the top tier. Celtic have successfully signed a number of players who did not qualify after appealing and obtaining the support of the SFA. They have to be able to argue that the players will help the development of the game etc. Jason Scotland was another who did not meet the criteria and was refused then mysteriously granted a visa. I do not know of any examples of clubs below the top tier in Scotland who have signed players who did not qualify.

Maybe he has gone back to get a work visa?

McIntyre has obviously seen enough in the friendlies and in training. He has a reputation as a very good shot stopper and was offered two year deals by both Motherwell and Hibs when he arrived in Scotland. Has played regularly for 2 years on loan with East Stirlingshire and East Fife. http://lostboyos.wordpress.com/2012/09/08/calum-antell-the-interview/ Here he is saving a couple of penalties....

I too would like the club to take a chance on Kevin Dzierzawski. I have been trying to guage what standard Dartmouth College Soccer team play at. In the US they have a top 100 ranking of players within all of the college soccer players. The soccer league in which Dartmouth play is not rated the strongest within the many college leagues although they are among the foremost academic institutions in the world and include Harvard, Yale and Princeton (Ivy League Colleges) However, Kevin made it into the top 100 at position 94. He captained Dartmouth. The only other Ivy League soccer player who made it into the top 100 at position 60 was Daniel Haber. He signed for Maccabi Haifa in January and then moved to Appollon Limassol in the Cyprus League in May to get more playing time. He received his first cap for Canada in May. So the best players from the Ivy League Soccer league could be very decent. Nykopings in Sweden were hoping to trial Dzierzawski but it looks like he has decided to try us instead.

Dartmouth were over here in March. Played against a St Johnstone 11 (2-2) and beat Rangers youths 2-1.

Not far off..... 1408 according to one newspaper.

http://www.queenofthesouth-mad.co.uk/feat/ed14/killie_fail_to_stump_up_cash_800367/index.shtml

At last. News of a prospective new signing.............. A new gardener for the car park flower beds. I am glad to see that the Board are still active.

I think the window is open until end of August and most players signed up by First Division clubs are free agents to which the window does not apply.

I would have been concerned if we had signed him. Best years behind him. His focus elsewhere (on his future career). I would rather have young and hungry. I would rather we signed young and hungry players too.

Not yet. Would only be on part-time basis if we did.

Calum Antell seems to be a decent shot stopper. He once saved 2 penalties in one match when playing for Hibernian under 20s and saved a last minute penalty in a cup tie when on loan to East Stirlingshire where he was both fans and players player of the year.

Maybe it is a reflection on the standard of our game and they may shine at our Scottish 2nd tier level.

As with Kabba Modou Cham, the signing off the Slovak defenders would appear to be a huge gamble on Moore's part. Both seem to have been struggling to get a game in the Slovak 2nd tier in the last few years. Neither seem to have more than a couple of games under their belts in the last 3 years However, I hope that they add some interest to the league.

It is far too early to rush to judgement and your allegation about 3-5-2 is based on speculation nothing more. As described on the Ross County tactics website, under his charge at Dunfermline his teams lined up in a variety of formations…. 4-4-2 with two wingers, Wullie Gibson higher up the pitch than the other, Joe Cardle. 4-2-3-1 with two holding midfielders that allowed an attacking four licence to attack. In this formation, of the two holding midfielders, one was always spare and the positioning of the two wingers high up the pitch pinned teams back and caused them to rush when in possession. In some matches he moved to a 4-2-4. One of the few constants that can be identified is that McIntyre likes to play with a winger on each side. McIntyre said…“Passing the ball is the one thing Dunfermline have been renowned for”, adding that “we’ll always try to pass the ball, we don’t bang it long…that won’t change.”

Billy Dodds reported as joining the coaching staff.. "Billy will work with the players during the week and attend our games when his media commitments allow. I am delighted to have him on board."

Hewitson may have been willing to let Johnston talk to Kilmarnock but he is not going to let Kilmarnock start dismantling the squad without significant financial compensation. Kilmarnock are not in position to offer large fees for players under contract. So it should be relatively easy to resist if they come in offering a pittance. If they were to offer £50K then he would probably have to think about it though.

He coached Global FC for the qualifying stages of the Presidents Cup. They lost to teams from Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan (6-1) and were knocked out the competition on 12 May.

^^^ Seething. Never mind. You've still got Alan Moore. If it wasn't for wee Dougie dipping into his golden casket every year to keep you afloat you would be playing on the Paisley and District Amateur League. Crawford must be getting mightily hacked off seeing his inheritance being pissed down the River Clyde every year. Time to pull the plug? Flush the toilet? You could always ask Sir Hugh to return. ASDA still haven't found a site?

Played 5 games for us at the tail end of last season and did ok. I wouldn't have been disappointed if we'd kept him.