capt_oats

I was away to ask about whether there was anything to read into Toby not being on the bench at the weekend. Shaw being away pretty much gives us a clean slate up front like.

He mentioned 'building a squad' in his post-match on Saturday. Tbf, as @Swello says there's a disconnect between the quote used in the announce and the optics of a 6 month deal. Ngl I laughed when I read it as well. Having said that, I just took it to simply mean that we are utterly threadbare and he needs bodies in to give him some sort of a squad to choose from rather than it being any sort of nod to long term planning.

There's Callan...

I'd been having a nose about the Exeter forum off the back of the weird Theo Bair bit that was doing the rounds and shall we say, they're not very complimentary about oor Jimmy. They're definitely taking this news in their stride: https://www.exeweb.com/forums/threads/garys-january-transfer-window.64079/post-2279830 Tbh, I had wondered if he'd fit our profile - (ex-)player we know has/had a high ceiling, on the fringes at his current club, contract due to expire etc. If we were looking at a wide forward like Nouble then I guess he sort of fits that based on the way Robinson used him here. As an aside, along with him Exeter currently have the bold Zak Jules and Jack Aitchison on their books. It was Exeter who chucked us some change for Bad News Bowman and had Jake Taylor and Nicky Law playing in the same side. Just generally they have a wild number of players at the club who've played up here. Plus, Gary Caldwell's their manager. I'm generally sceptical about HITC 'news' but they're quoting us, St Mirren (of course), Dundee and Ross County as being interested. Hmmmmm.

Bring him home...

Just following this point up and it probably tracks. It seems like Elliot actually moved from 'The Nix' for a club in Greece - and he played precisely zero games. Signed a 3 year deal in 2020 but was back in Wellington in the next summer. The Greek club have since folded 'On September 19, 2022, Xanthi FC announced its withdrawal from the Super League 2 championship, putting an end to its presence in the professional categories, as it failed to address the financial and administrative problems it was facing.' Doesn't exactly sound like a great experience. Anyway, I see there's a bit of chat about him on a Wellington Phoenix forum: https://yellowfever.co.nz/categories/kiwi-players-overseas/topics/callan-elliot-xanthi-fc-greece/page/3?highlight=post_1430401

Yeah, that's definitely possible. I guess it just feels like having had the security of a long term deal on the table at the start of May last year but knocking it back is quite a while to go without kicking a baw.

Aye, I think that's why the suggestion from @MurrayWell that a couple of the players we're in for are RWBs kind of made sense. Mitigating risk and all that - it's not like we're running with a bloated squad either for that to be an issue. Ngl I quite liked the sound of big Paacho anaw. Reading between the lines it sounds like Elliot had maybe been overpromised by an agent about finding a club here so KB'd the contract offer he had on the table from Wellington - in saying that scrolling through the socials there seemed to be general surprise that he hadn't found a club yet.

A wee bit of digging on Callan Elliot and apparently he was Wellington Phoenix's u23 POTY (I'm guessing the equivalent of YPOTY). I'm not sure how much stock you'd put in this write up from 'Front Page Football'. It reads like a bit of a puff piece as going by this it makes him sound like the second coming of Roberto Carlos but it's maybe quite useful as a broad overview:

I think I clocked the same tweet but equally if Shaw is still injured then we could legitimately cancel the loan (as we did with Aarons and Moult last season) citing the injury as the reason rather than just wanting shot of him because he's mince. Which seems to be the rumour doing the rounds of what's happening. Obika being out with a hamstring issue...?

Someone had to post them I suppose.

Aye. I'd be surprised if we'd go for that. Our 'nominal' fees have generally in the 5 figure area. Trevor Carson is probably the best £10k we've ever spent. Although, having said that we did manage to cumulatively spend £500k on an assortment of players during Alexander's season in charge. However the approach from the board was very different at that point. Reading the article Burns posted it really just said that we were interested (not that we'd bid) and tbh that sounds about right. I can imagine we've had a conversation but having had a swatch at Exeter's forum (off the back of the weird chat about them being interested in Thelonius Bair) they seem to be in a position to chuck a bit of money and do a deal like that. As I say, I'd be surprised if, given the choice, Livi would be up for selling to us - a league rival - vs an EFL club

I wouldn't say it's a concern given the number of players who have moved over from the Australian league. I wouldn't use Danzaki as a bellweather tbh. The thing I noticed is that - according to Transfermarkt - he's been without a club since last year so hasn't really kicked a baw in a while. I see from the piece the Record are running he had a trial at Hearts earlier in the season which is nice for him (he's also Scottish). Given he's OOC and presumably a permanent signing I do wonder if this is maybe with a view to longer term succession planning. Seeing we're as short as we are would there maybe be an argument for bringing another RWB in and making that RCB position a thing for SOD along with McGinn (who I thought showed up well on the left of the 3 - and as @crazylegsjoe_mfc mentioned has also fitted in well in the centre).

Absolutely fair point. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be seeing it as a priority or anything more of an opportunity before it hits the free agency auction. I guess it'd be in the area where Spittal and Gent were. Ultimately Gent isn't our player and as @Busta Nut has alluded to there will be games upcoming where it might not be working for him, it'd be nice to have an alternative. Same with Spittal who it still feels we're wildly reliant on for creativity (albeit that feels mitigated a bit given the quality of some of the balls Gent was putting in). With Slattery injured and out of contract, Spittal's contract up in the air and Gent contracted with Blackburn until 2025 I guess it's someone who could be a good fit for us. Incidentally, I don't know how instructive it is but I thought it was interesting that it was Paton who was replaced by Halliday rather than Davor (or Gent).

Tbh, I'm another in the "I think Nouble needs a change of scenery" club and there's a reasonable chance he could do us a turn in the right circumstances. Either way, I know Livi are skint and have these court cases coming up so it's very much a beggars can't be choosers situation but I'd imagine that their preference would be not to sell him to a club in the same league (ie: us) if they have offers from EFL1 - which it seems they do and judging by their forum Exeter are increasingly desperate. Anyway, see if Livi are taking 'nominal' offers for their players can we not chuck them some change for Stephen Kelly seeing as Hearts have taken Fraser off the table?

Cammy Kerr anaw.

lt could easily have been a wind up or a bit but I noticed this in a 'Motherwell' search amongst the abstract-expressionism and grim Township news. Also...what's this all about then? I take it it'll be the weans and also he meant players from the club not just c***s with an ML1 postcode?

Tbh, all things considered I thought we were broadly fine. Given the circumstances - we're coming off a couple of weeks break, we've just lost our top scorer (and best player) without having the chance to replace him, we've a raft of injuries, we had 1 (ONE) fit striker and a bench full of schoolchildren - there were actually positives. Montgomery looks like he'll absolutely do, Gent may find it more difficult in that role against 'better' teams but he's absolutely got something to offer there, Dovor was tidy, put himself about and gave the midfield a bit of balance, we scored 3 good goals and Lennon Miller got a run out which eases the concern about Slattery a bit. As I say, fine. If folk are of the mind to focus on the negatives (and Christ knows that accounts for a large section of our support) then you don't really have far to look. Kettlewell said himself that there were plenty of aspects he wasn't happy with but as @MurrayWell said a few pages back we just seem to be in this place of self-flagellation regardless of outcome or performance and Bair and Kettlewell are just going to get it whatever happens. I mean, fine if that's your kink but after navigating a potential banana skin like yesterday (in the context of some of the other results) it's pretty fucking old. As @eliphas says Kettlewell was pissing with the cock he has. He played a shape we're familiar with (whether folk like it or not) rather than some 4D chess situation and in the end we're comfortably through. Had the penalty gone in then chances are it may have been more so but in terms of performance yesterday was absolutely nothing like the sort of thing it had the potential to be - see the SC fixture against County (managed by Kettlewell) where we car-crashed our way out the competition with Charlie Dunne clown car-ring it at LB in a flat back 4 and Ross McCormack making his 2nd debut. We're clearly in the market for players, we had a RB on trial through the week (and there was another RB name flying around Twitter as well) so it suggests that we realise that position is an issue and that finding ourselves having to stick Blair Spittal in there won't really do. Absolutely none of that means we're going to be safe or anything but clutching pearls over stuff we seem to be actively trying to fix is a bit *sigh*.

I was away to say, I wouldn't be surprised if we were one of the teams looking at him given how short we are up front and our pivot to this 343/523 whatever you want to call it. We've had no issue paying 'nominal' fees in the past. I'd still imagine he'll head to Exeter though.

Am I being whooshed? He scored a brace at Fir Park against QotS?

Was Bair a Davidson or Grieve signing? My read on it is that, from the outside he seemed to fall into that group of players who Davidson wrote off pretty quickly or didn't really know what to do with when he got them and couldn't be arsed trying to make it work. Were Mahon and Cleary not in the same sort of boat? Whether that was part of that odd pissing contest that seemed to be going on in the background around that time IDK. It kind of feels like the "chance" he's got here is really down to the manager actually having a bit of belief in him (whereas Davidson didn't) and also circumstances falling in his favour a bit given all four of our other strikers have had significant injuries since he's been at the club; Wilkinson (calf), Biereth (knee), Obika (hamstring), Shaw (hamstring). Vaguely related, given the bold Thelonius wasn't exactly I noticed this last night when I was doom scrolling, it's quite a well worn trope and there’s definitely an expectation vs reality issue but it did make me wonder:

Tbf, I think Spittal at either WB position has been last resort stuff rather than a 4D chess tactical tombola. Assuming Butcher isn't still crippled and Kettlewell's apparent belief that Montgomery and Gent can play in the same team then based on what we apparently have available I wouldn't be surprised to see something like this tomorrow with Halliday coming off the bench given he's only played 29 mins of league football this season and hasn't been on the park for Hearts since 1st November.