Francesc Fabregas

Fair play. I thought he might have been worth pursuing but I think he was injured when Stephen Swift came in so it was probably an easy decision not to take him up on a permanent basis. I wonder when the remainder of our summer signings will be announced. Later this week? Or will be have another underwhelming bonanza on Saturday and Sunday?

Cameron, I green-dotted your post so hard I think I've broken my laptop.

As long as it isn't Ross Smith, all will be well.

Jamie Mills is one of the five BSC Glasgow players we've agreed terms with (Lewis Bell is apparently the fifth, if you believe other posts in this thread). They'll probably announced later today, maybe at 5pm or 7pm. It's an unimaginative way to recruit players but I don't think we've got a lot of money to spend this time around and have to be "creative" with it. Daz Christie is a Pollok player but he was on loan at Annan Athletic at the tail end of last season. He scored against Stenhousemuir in the 5-1 rout at Galabank last month. BSC Glasgow finished in fourth place of this year's Lowland League before the shutdown. Stephen Swift never quite had them competing for a title but they always seemed to finish at the right end of the table, despite the lack of finance relative to the teams around them.

Stenhousemuir have signed Declan Hughes from BSC Glasgow. I understand he had a spell with Cowdenbeath. Is he any good? What kind of player should we be expecting?

Declan Hughes: CONFIRMED Someone should turn down the saturation on that photo, the poor boy looks like he's got high blood pressure.

According to Soccerbase, Robert Thomson's last goal for the Wasps was the equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Greenock Morton on 2 January, while the last time he started a match was against Heart of Midlothian on 16 January. I watched a few Alloa Athletic games when our league was shut down and Peter Grant preferred to use Innes Cameron as the lone striker in their system, with Thomson coming off the bench here and there. Adam Brown, meanwhile, made just seven league appearances last term. I can't say I know too much about him. While they could well be decent signings at this level, I found the tone of this week's newsletter quite sarcastic (especially when the daft exclamation marks were chucked in). Our "former Rangers academy player" is Ross Lyon, who has received indifferent reports from Clyde supporters, while our "Championship striker and midfielder" is Robert Thomson and Adam Brown respectively, two players who rarely featured for a side who finished in last place. It's not a great way to build anticipation and goodwill towards the new season. I'm probably overthinking things and should be looking forward to the new direction under Stephen Swift but I'm finding it hard to get excited at the moment.

Michael Anderson: CONFIRMED I've literally never heard of this player before. Best of luck to him.

Let's wait and see about that. We've had our fingers burned by "great signings" in the past so I'm reserving judgement for the time being. I'm not sure if this is apocryphal but Stenhousemuir were in for Robert Thomson when he left Greenock Morton in 2019, with the club and the player very close to agreeing terms. Someone who fancied themselves as an ITK posted in this very forum that it was more or less a done deal. This was subsequently read by someone at Alloa Athletic who informed Jim Goodwin that Thomson was available. Goodwin got in touch with Thomson and convinced him to move to the Recs instead. I think it might have been for less money than we were offering him too.

Great bit of ITK here, chief. It's Ray Grant from Alloa Athletic.

Robert Thomson: CONFIRMED You'd like to think this could be a really good signing given his general style of play and the level he's been performing at over the past few years. At least we've all probably all heard of him! I wonder why we're spacing these announcements over the course of the weekend and not revealing them all at once. Fair play all the same.

Adam Brown: CONFIRMED

If anyone knows how to get the best out of him, it'll be Stephen Swift! I imagine this will be a phrase used in relation to every single one of our summer signings given we appear to be bringing in the BSC Glasgow squad en masse.

Thank you for this ringing endorsement. I understand Ross Lyon will used at right-back, with his manager believing he can become "one of the best in League 2".

Ross Lyon: CONFIRMED The first of the seven!

I liked Tam Muir and wouldn't have been averse to him staying at Ochilview for another season. Stranraer are getting a wholehearted player, someone who will press from the front, get wired in and generally make a nuisance of himself. I was sorry supporters didn't get the chance to watch him last year as I'm sure they would really have taken to him. He only scored twice for Stenhousemuir (and only once in open play) and he's not the most technically proficient of strikers but if you can get the right kind of support around him to make up for his shortcomings, I think you could have a really useful player in your ranks.

We're also looking to bring in Thomas Orr from Stranraer. Stephen Swift has worked with the striker at BSC Glasgow, you'll be astonished to learn.

Fair play! I think he could do quite well alongside Darryl McHardy - as Neilly says, Creag Little was at his best for Stenhousemuir when paired alongside Andy Munro, an aggressive defender who talked him through matches, and he and McHardy might reprise that kind of dynamic at Borough Briggs.

Plus the fact they'll be on absolute buttons.

Best of luck to him. A decent-enough defender but I don't think he'll dislodge Stephen Bronsky or Darryl McHardy at the back. A solid option in reserve.

That being said, I don't think Paul Brown, Cammy Graham or Callum Erskine featured under Stephen Swift, but they were all offered contracts. Jack Hodge played a couple of times for the new manager (and one of those appearances was at right-back) but has only been invited back for pre-season. As I said earlier, I thought Hodge would have been one of the first players offered a new deal but perhaps Swift has seen something he's not quite sure about and needs more time to make up his mind. I'm surprised about this but then I'm also surprised Adam McCracken has been asked back. I only saw him a couple of times and didn't really rate him.

I reckon our squad will consist of a handful of experienced SPFL campaigners, youngsters left over from last season and a lot of unknowns recruited from the Lowland League and below. I've absolutely no idea what to expect from them but I'd be surprised and delighted with a top-four finish.

Not fantastic, truth be told. People were really quick to tell us: "Wow, Greig Spence is a great signing for League 2!" after he joined from Arbroath in January 2020, but they obviously hadn't realised he'd gone two years without scoring in the league. He played okay-ish in some matches and chipped in with the odd goal but he certainly wasn't the talismanic penalty-box striker some of us had hoped for. This season, with Davie Irons determined to play a 4-3-3 formation no matter what, Spence was used as a wide forward (?) and a number 10 (?), roles that really didn't suit him, and he was eventually packed off on loan to East Fife. I don't think he made much of an impression there. He might do well back at Cowdenbeath and he could form a good partnership with Liam Buchanan, but I'd treat his signing with caution if I were you.

Just thinking how daft it was to have given Graeme Smith and David Hopkirk two-year contracts at the end of the 2019/20 season. Smith has been a fine player for Stenhousemuir but was there any need to hand a 37-year-old goalie such a long contract? He was in decline even before his ACL injury and I'm worried how he'll fare once we're back in action. Hopkirk, meanwhile, might have been one of our better players that year but it wasn't enough to justify such a lengthy deal. Someone might need to correct me but I don't think we've ever signed a player on a two-year contract where it's worked out well.

Our squad for the 2021/22 season so far looks like: Goalkeepers Graeme Smith Defenders Adam Corbett Midfielders Callum Tapping Forwards David Hopkirk