capt_oats

Quotes from Hammell's press conference in the Record.

Rylan #content

Hoping to have some more new faces to announce "soon".

Out of contract next summer as well if Transfermarkt's to be believed. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/matt-penney/profil/spieler/485546

you big tease. you anaw.

I see he's pied Hibs and signed with Bristol Rovers. Couldn't say no to working with Joey Barton I guess.

Exactly. I mean, I wasn't being deliberately snarky (well, maybe a wee bit) but as things stand "Hopefully" is probably the best Burrows can say. I thought the quotes from Hammell leaned into that as well.

I mean, I'm not sure what sort of reply the bold Michael was expecting given we've openly said Hammell's been given "resources" to recruit..."Yes we're definitely 100% signing a bunch of players." / "No we're not planning on signing anyone. LOL.". Anyway, another Hammell interview here:

I mean, if Tam Courts offered him a contract...I take it all back. My point is that Gogic fits a certain type of team playing a certain type of way and he's good at what he does. It's not a criticism. The fact that he was phased out and eventually loaned before being released by a team looking to change the way they played with a focus on being a possession based side suggests that if you're a team looking to transition towards a bit more expansive, possession based football then Gogic possibly isn't that guy. I don't think that's a particularly controversial take tbh.

So what you're saying is Gogic has been a good fit for St Mirren but was replaced by an alternate player before eventually being released by Hibs? Sound.

Some laugh like. Full 90 in the spoiler for anyone of the inclination.

I suppose the counter is that it doesn't necessarily need to just be a destructive b*****d in the mix. As I say, Ally Gorrin was a good example of someone who filled that holding role but had an extra bit about him that meant he was a bit more than a centre back chucked into midfield to kick folk. As @Handsome_Devil says though, it depends on availability. Strong FM22 Search: Free Agent > Nationality: Scottish > Midfielders > Sort: International caps vibes from me but how did Kevin McDonald get on at United last season? Signed in February, 11 appearances - 680 minutes played (his debut was in the 2-0 against us and he featured in their post-split games against Rangers and the 1-1 with Celtic). Obviously he has his medical situation but someone *like* that who knows the role and could be dropped in when needed could be a short term fix. I mean, given we're suddenly in a transitional season having emptied Alexander and there's just over a week of the window to go an experienced short term option might not be the worst shout.

It's academic now but with Gogic there's probably a reason why he's been a good fit for Accies and St Mirren but looked like a fish out of water at Hibs. We're only a handful of games in with Hammell but of our 4 games so far we've had more possession and passed the ball more than the opposition in 3 of them. As @thisGRAEME mentioned after St Johnstone - we made more passes in that game than any last season under Alexander. 31/07: St Mirren - 51% possession, 367 passes vs 342 06/08: St Johnstone - 57% possession, 475 passes vs 350 13/08: Aberdeen - 40% possession, 297 passes vs 481 20/08: Livi - 58% possession, 409 passes vs 299 It seems relevant that we've had Goss in as the midfield 1 in this 4141 so far. He's not there to put tackles in and disrupt - he's there to get on the ball and try to make passes. If this is the direction we're going with Hammell - and it seems to be given the comments from the players about training being more possession based and focussed on short, quick passing - it probably means that what a player is like 'on the ball' is going to be something that we're considering more than we ever did when Robinson was here (and to a lesser extent Alexander) given SR's view was that sort of stuff was 'coachable' - his priorities were physical attributes like pace and physicality. So from that point of view Gogic - a brick shithouse who's fairly limited on the ball but can cover a couple of positions - feels like a good fit for Robboball but (IMO) less so for what Hammell seems to be trying to put together. TL,DR - Gogic? Not for me, Clive. (Fwiw, I agree with @Handsome_Devil that we could do with a 6 - though an Ally Gorrin type would probably be a better fit than a Gogic IMO)

Aye, he clarified that to someone who was calling him out on it. Similarly he was quick to serve his receipts to a guy who was giving it "Nope can't recall a single instance of @Alan_Burrows telling everyone in Scottish football to get behind Celtic in anytime we've been trying to get through the qualifiers". I mean, for avoidance of doubt I want Rangers to lose literally every game they play but he's consistent with his position (I'm also not a chief executive of a football club).

Apart from the amusement of the win this was my main takeaway from the game. Given the clownshoes nature of some of the goals we've lost I had the fear that big Nouble was going to run riot but broadly between them Sol and Lamie handled him really well. In their last away game at Tannadice Livi had 11 shots on goal. On Saturday they only managed 5 (1 on target) with the same front 3. I'm not saying we've turned a corner defensively but it felt like a step in the right direction. As an aside, I've generally been a Paul McGinn sceptic but I thought he had a really tidy game on Saturday and totally get why Hibs fans were pretty much saying he's the sort of player who'll give you a 7/10 every week.

His agent/management is SMI (it's in his IG bio). I've no idea if that's the agency Preston works with or not. We've been completely open about the fact that we've spoken with him, are keen to sign him and have made him an offer that we're waiting to hear back from him about. Hammell seemed happy to confirm all that in his pre-match press conference on Friday. I didn't read the piece that mentioned St Johnstone and St Mirren as also having an interest - I think it was in the print edition of the Sunday Mail - but it doesn't seem to have gained any traction ie: I haven't seen Scott Burns mention anything about it. @Coventry Saint mentioned it in the St Mirren thread yesterday as seeming like they were just a name that had been dropped in. I don't know if it was similarly the case for St Johnstone.

Swap deals for Grant Russell and Laura Brannan IMO.

"A bunch of irons in the fire."

There he is, #WeeAl

I noticed Hammell singling Joey Efford out for praise in the press after the game. I get that he's probably just being nice to give the bold Joe a wee boost but still... Just speaking generally, I've never been that down on this squad. The "worst squad in 40 years" shouts or whatever from the brains trust on Twitter always seemed a bit daft IMO. I mean, this is essentially the same group of players who finished 5th last season and regardless of the style of football they were playing they were still capable of beating the majority of the teams in the league (when they were motivated). What is probably worth mentioning is that there's not a single player that Hammell's used in his 4 games thus far who wasn't available to Alexander for the Sligo games. Which says a lot if you read between the lines.