Coventry Saint

Is anyone clear who Stubbs does actually rate?

I actually agree with all of that.

Either way, you're my new favourite poster.

I'd put two syllables in 'poems', tbh.

Has to be King, I assume. Surely it can't be Heaton - we paid actual money for him

As in, two players we've signed this summer could be going?! Mental if true.

I know that Stubbs couldn't keep the smile off his face when Sky asked him about new signings yesterday...

You can keep your mitts right off Stephen McGinn. I'm not sure anyone else would fit the bill, in all honesty. We've got Kyle Magennis, too, but he's on a three year deal so you'd have to seriously cough up for him. In terms of ex-players, there's Kyle McAllister at Derby - very highly rated, but has had injury issues since he went down there 18 months ago. Can't see him getting a look-in with the players Lampard is bringing in now, so I reckon he'll be on his way back up here sooner rather than later. This is him:

Will you guys be looking to replace him? Assume the loss of both him and McGeough would be tough to absorb.

Russell actually had a decent-ish record for us, IIRC. I think I looked it up when he was sitting on the bench for England in the summer. It surprised me as well, though.

Hmm. Cheers. We seem to be playing 'hit and hope' at the moment.

A kick in the balls to Smith, as much as anything. Neither he, nor any potential buying clubs, will learn any more about him by him spending any more time in the Championship. He basically completed it last season. Going back again would be like replaying the level, fully powered up, just because you can.

We'd take him as a full signing, without hesitation. Great full back, scored a couple important goals too. One hell of a signing for you guys if it happens.

Yeah, I think that's totally fair. If, say, he (or any other player) is weighing up whether to come to us, or a cosier, closer-to-home option (such as Preston ) then any positive exposure the game can get here may help.

I don't know that it'd help us in any specific way, but anything that helps improve the standing of the Scottish game overall will be a good thing, so we may get some small benefit from that - but no more so than any other side up here.

I dunno, a lot happened in the past 14 months or so. Such as the time Jack Ross left us to become Dundee manager.

This used to be an awright thread.

Completely agree, but in all three examples there, we were an established top flight team. I can't remember reaching a final in 2010, so will take your word for it, but we'd been up for four years then. Seven in 2013. While it's dismissive to say you don't give a f**k about the cups, they pale next to priority that is not getting papped straight back down again.

Willock has signed. https://www.stmirren.com/news/club/all-news/2033-willock-joins-saints-on-loan

Quite. Our most reliable poster on this sort of thing has already poured cold water on it, so we can probably all move on.

Cool, thanks. Not sure he's precisely what we need anyway (in terms of priorities, midfielders are the bottom of the list) but it sounds like he'll add quality to a squad fairly short of it. Bodes well that he knows the game up here as well - we're really can't take any more players who are going to need time to come up to speed.

Is he generally well thought-of, then? Ie, would you have taken him back?

Which is all well and good, but if he doesn't join, they'll still be raging

Just had a Facebook memory about the Blyth and Whitley Bay games at the start of that season. We were hammering non-league sides that summer, and it eventually meant nothing, so maybe we shouldn't be reading too much into these results. Edit: My exact words in a conversation about putting ten past Whitley Bay: I'm a football expert.

Yeah, pretty tense. Especially as 4th August should be a bit of a celebration. Imagine the fury if we lose, say, 3-0. Doesn't even bear thinking about.