capt_oats

I had a swatch at YouTube last night: I mean...fine?

I think another aspect is the question of what shape we're playing as it probably has a knock on in terms of what we still need. With Biereth and Wilkinson away and Oli Shaw tbc as leaving that's (potentially) 3 bodies out but if the plan is to stick with one central striker then presumably we don't need to replace all 3 whereas if we're planning on playing with 2 up then chances are we do unless we're expecting some sort of Lazarus situation with Obika. Similarly between Montgomery, Gent and Halliday we probably don't need any cover for LWB. Short lived as it was I was pleasantly surprised by the Scott Fraser link as it was someone who you'd have thought would have been a level above what we had/have. Scott on the other hand, would maybe have been fine and we know he can play both wide and as a second striker but it's difficult not to echo @thisGRAEME's point yesterday that given it's so long since he's actually been good it'd have been a risk - which is kind of the opposite of Fraser. If we're sticking with the 3421 sort of shape this is kind of where we look to be at the moment (IMO) another 3 in would have us brought 7 in in total and carrying a squad of 24 (including injuries) which doesn't actually sound that far off what Kettlewell was talking about before the window opened in so much as he wanted to add a couple more on top of what we already had (which I think was around 22 bodies at the time).

McGinley's a weird one - he was signed by Stephen Robinson in the Pandemic season and by his own admission he found it pretty difficult to settle what with the lockdown situation and all that. By all accounts he just generally seemed to have quite a shite time as he was up here on his tod. He was supposedly brought up as a left sided centre back but ended up playing left back and he just generally looked quite awkward at this level. After Robinson resigned and Jake Carroll got himself fairly needlessly sent off against Dundee at Fir Park Alexander started playing him regularly. He wasn't an attacking full back/wing-back and he doesn't really *look* like a footballer but broadly he seemed to do what Alexander told him to which meant he stayed in the team which in turn meant he became a bit of a lightning rod for sections of the support who weren't exactly taken with Alexander's brand of football. The assumption seemed to be that he'd be released at the end of his contract given the whole thing about him finding it difficult to settle but instead Alexander decided to offer him a new deal, presumably because he's a player who did what he was told and padded out the squad but it definitely rubbed quite a few in the support the wrong way. Following that he picked up an injury and he effectively disappeared for well over a year - which is where it got a bit weird. The club never clarified exactly what the nature of the injury was and hasn't really kicked a baw since. He made it back in and around the squad this summer where we loaned him out to Thistle but he didn't play a minute for them. Tbh, he should be fine for League 2 if that's where he ends up. There's no reason why he couldn't do a turn at that sort of level. It's apparently an accountancy degree he's been doing and from the outside looking in I'd say that part-time would probably suit him if he's just wanting to get back to kicking a ball.

No. That was Connor Smith. Had no idea he'd been mentioned as being in on trial but either way, coming off the back of c***s talking about Zak Rudden this doesn't feel like the worst. I'd imagine he'll fit in as either the #10 that Spittal plays or as one of the inside forwards of the 3.

Wait...what?

Oh….

Is the capitalisation of "Shocked" more #ITKbusta hints? #ITK

The wording of that is *really* fucking weird. It doesn't actually say we're interested it just says it rules out a potential move.

He was used as a #9 now and again at development level and we gave him a run there instead of Main at the end of the 18/19 season when it was clear Main was away and we were safe and he looked like what he was ie: an 18 year old laddie going up against experienced centre backs. The form that got him his move came from him playing off the right as a wide forward in a 433. He got a serious injury during his first training session at Hull and tbh it looks like his career has never really recovered. There were questions over his attitude at Hibs as well IIRC - Jack Ross basically called him out for not being fit enough: https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/hibs/james-scott-hibs-forward-opens-up-on-public-shaming-and-criticism-as-he-prepares-for-hull-return-3694039 If you take a look at Exeter's forum they're not exactly disappointed about the prospect of losing him. I get that he's the sort of signing that Robinson probably couldn't help himself with "he's a talented boy who's moved for big, big money..." etc but genuine question; do St Mirren actually need someone who's nominally a right winger?

So long Toby...

Tbf, I'm not anywhere near certain on that but I was sure there was a cap on the number of loans you could have from teams in the same division.

@Handsome_Devil suggested that may be in play the other week. Also, assuming that's Shaw away it leaves us literally with one fit striker. We've really cleared the decks in that area of the park and in keeping with the Cutthroat Ketts line given the loan window for Championship sides up here runs a bit longer would anyone definitively rule out us trying to offload Obika at some point if we're not able to rely on his fitness (which we're not)? Logically, even if Obika was to stick around with Wilko, Biereth and Shaw away (and us not having had to pay any of them off) that presumably frees up budget. Begs the question of how many we actually need to add though. 3 out 2 in? Seeing as Shaw being here probably wasn't planned until Wilkinson and Mika picked up their injuries?

Your radar is missing a 'Tam Aldred and Scott McDonald told us he was good' metric.

Obviously Shaw being injured with both Spencer and Biereth being recalled are out of our hands but once Little Oli Shaw heading back to Barnsley is announced that makes it 5 of our 8 summer signings that are out the building in January. Souaré (contract expired), Spencer (recalled), Wilkinson (sold), Biereth (recalled), Shaw (injured) Thelonius, Gent and wee Dave are the last men standing.

He can aye. As @rowsdower says didn't get on the park for Thistle. You can register for 3 clubs but can only play for 2. Tbh, and I don't say this with any snark, given how little football he's played since whatever that injury/issue was I wouldn't be surprised if he looked at other options. Was he not doing accountancy with the OU or something?

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.