Francesc Fabregas

Are you Jamie McKernon or related to Jamie McKernon?

Lads, has Jamie McKernon always looked a couple of pounds overweight? That was the first time I've seen him and while I was impressed with his use of the ball, he looked out of shape.

Hard to say but given how unimpressed we've all been by our transfer business this summer and the poor performances against Oakley United and East Kilbride, a decent showing against a full-time Premiership outfit is probably something we should all be happy with.

We started the match in a 4-1-4-1 formation: - McGuigan - - Cook - Gibbons - Halleran - Hopkirk - McKernon - - McIlduff - Munro - O'Neill - McLaughlin - - Marley - We had two trialists, Tiwi Daramola, Ryan Watters, Marky Munro and Brandon Luke all on the bench. I thought that was a decent run out this evening. We should have won the match based on some of the chances we missed (although Vaclav Hladky made three or four brilliant saves) but a draw was probably the fair result. By the end of the match, St Mirren had virtually swapped their whole XI around so things became a bit disjointed but I think we should be happy enough with that. The goalkeeper didn't have much to do, nor could he have done much to block Tony Andreu's well-executed goal. The back four looked fine - I presume Chris O'Neill filled in at centre-back to cover for David Marsh - with Scott McLaughlin and Aidan McIlduff putting in a decent shift at full-back. Neither of them were overly stretched, with St Mirren only getting in behind a handful of times towards the end of the game. I'm still unsure about the midfield. I was appalled by Jamie McKernon's condition - he looks about 18lbs overweight, with his gut visible beneath his shirt whenever he broke into a sprint, and I can't believe a player would return to pre-season in that shape. He did, however, look quite handy on the ball and played some nice passes. Thomas Halleran and Kieron Gibbons look like they've beefed up a bit during their time away but we're still lightweight and lack creativity. Alan Cook could have scored a hat-trick, twice from free-kicks and another when he was put through on goal, only to be thwarted by Hladky. His delivery from corners was mince though, and most of his balls either didn't beat the first man or sailed right over everyone's head. David Hopkirk looked sparky to begin with and had a very good chance of his own before dropped out of the game. Mark McGuigan put himself about and held up the ball well but he should have scored before the interval when he unexpectedly found himself on goal; instead he hammed his shot straight at Hladky. The substitutes were fine. Towards the end of the match, one of the trialists played in Ryan Watters down the left flank, who strode into the box and clipped a handsome ball for the other trialist to finish. I'm not sure if they're worth a second look. I do want to see more of Tiwi Daramola though - he was only on the pitch for about 10 minutes but he looked bright whenever he had the ball. Roll on the Betfred Cup!

We really are lacking some razzmatazz in the middle of the park. I do worry where that spark will come from. When we were relegated two years ago, we had to build a new squad almost from scratch and brought in well-known players like Mark McGuigan, the Dunlop brothers, Mark Ferry and Jamie Longworth, and augment them with world-class loanees like Harry Paton. On paper, that team was good enough to challenge for the title and I was excited about the season ahead. This squad, however, are a real gang. As "Vimto90" above me states, Chris O'Neill is probably the only target we landed. I reckon we've been too ambitious in trying to bring in high-quality players (Robert Thomson, Bobby Barr) and didn't really prepare a plan B if they turned us down, meaning we've had to fill in their positions with jobbers who formed part of a Berwick Rangers defence that shipped 91 goals last term. Has there been any talk of a Meet the Manager forum soon? They're generally interesting and it'd be good to hear Colin talk through the summer's transfers and his aims for the season ahead (and assuage my fears!)

Weirdly, I can already see us turning the squad over in January and bringing in better players. In most cases, you should be looking to improve on the players that left or on the ones that are already there, but we have not done that - all of our superstars were at the club last season. I hope to be proven wrong but I am not too optimistic about the season ahead!

We've made two more signings! Aidan McIlduff, a left-back who was at Berwick Rangers last season, and someone called Brandon Luke, who last played for Dunfermline Athletic. He can play in central midfield or on the right wing. Meanwhile, young Kyle Johnson has left the club. I didn't even realise he was a Stenhousemuir player. The squad is really coming together! https://www.stenhousemuirfc.com/2019/07/08/new-signings-3/

He's most certainly a central midfielder. He might do well if he's given a specific role within the team but we gave him free range to do whatever he wanted.

Not particularly. Russell Dingwall was one of Colin McMenamin's first signings, joining us on loan from Ross County in January. I don't know what his best quality is other than "energy". He's not particularly proficient on the ball, he's not a great tackler, nor is he much of a goal threat. He was a bit of a waste of a jersey and by the end of the season, supporters were openly questioning his inclusion in the starting XI. Probably the most memorable thing he did was collect a red card for elbowing the Brechin City goalkeeper for no reason.

The midfield looks so stodgy, with the possible exception of Thomas Halleran. One of our (many) problems last season was the lack of creativity in the middle of the park and it doesn't appear to have been addresses yet. A 35-year-old clogger like Scott McLaughlin and Kieran Gibbons, who didn't really impress last season, just won't do.

In his two years at the club, Lewis McMinn was out back-up goalkeeper to Chris Smith and then Graeme Smith. Having checked his stats, he came into the team for a few games in 2017/18 after big Wally was injured, although I have no memory of this happening. The games he did feature in included embarrassing home losses against Cowdenbeath and Elgin City that threatened our top-four placing. He did make one league appearance last term in a 4-1 thrashing to Arbroath in January and looked poor, slow to come off his line or offer any assurance to the defenders in front of him. In summary, I'm not sure if he's any good or not but he would most likely be signed as reserve to Paddy O'Neill.

Apparently we drew 0-0 with Oakley United today. A clean sheet against a side from the East of Scotland Football League (Conference A), you say? Ambassador, you are spoiling us!

We've already got the best player in the division in Mark McGuigan so "unlocking" the David Hopkirk of old would be quite a thing indeed!

If? When! We have signed him!

I don't think the Harvey Swann debacle will put any potential additions off (as embarrassing as it was). We're being ambitious with the players we're talking to, which is good, but in the case of Robert Thomson, why would you want to drop down into League 2 when you could be playing for the best part-time side in the country? In the case of Bobby Barr, meanwhile, there was no way we could match what East Stirlingshire were offering him. We seem to be in this weird limbo where we apparently have a bigger budget but not too big a budget. There are still a lot of hold-outs kicking around but loads of teams, ones higher up the food chain, will be looking at them as well. As for David Hopkirk, if we have indeed signed him, I'd treat it with caution. He seems to fall out with management wherever he goes and his spell at Clyde last season ended after a couple of months, with stories about personal problems swirling around. However! If he's managed to put them behind him (and we're able to give him the support he needs) and he accepts he's a lower-league jobber then he could be a very handy addition to the team. Big "if", right enough.

This is good news, The last player we signed from Queen's Park (Vincent Berry) was a wee superstar so I'm looking forward to more of the same!

I don't doubt we've increased our budget (attempting to sign Shane Sutherland on loan from Peterhead, for example) but I reckon the management team just hasn't been able to land a single target and have had to turn to players like Jamie McKernon and Scott McLaughlin instead. It's so disappointing when you're talking to guys like Robert Thomson but have to sign up jobbers from the Lowland League instead.

That's a shame, I was looking forward to seeing a bit of him next season.

We'll need cover in defence, a right-sided midfielder, a bit of creativity in the middle of the park, and another striker. You're not kidding when you say the team looks uninspiring. There's still time to bring better players but so far, this has probably been the most disappointing summer since I started supporting the club!

Let's take a look at the 2019/20 squad as things stand. Please let me know if there are any superstars I've missed out on: Goalkeepers Graeme Smith Kyle Marley Defenders Andy Munro David Marsh Chris O'Neill Marky Munro Midfielders Kieron Gibbons Thomas Halleran Scott McLaughlin Jamie McKernon Alan Cook Forwards Mark McGuigan Ryan Watters

Albion Rovers at home on the first day of the season, is it. It's been a while since we locked horns with our bete noirs but this has a 3-0 win to the visitors written all over it!

My word. Three pretty underwhelming signings. As "the_bully_wee" mentioned on the previous page, why was Mark Ferry let go and Scott McLaughlin brought in? It's a like-for-like replacement (albeit McLaughlin will double up as a fitness coach). One slow clogger for another. He might actually play at left-back - this is where he played for Albion Rovers in 2017/18. I wonder how he'll fit into the dressing room. I've never heard of Kyle Marley before - and the reports elsewhere in this thread don't fill me with confidence - but I imagine he'll be back up to Graeme Smith. Jamie McKernon, meanwhile, is a name I'm familiar with but couldn't really tell you much about him. It's been a pretty mediocre summer so far - we mucked up the Harvey Swann transfer, missed out on a tonne of good players, and brought in this mob instead. I'm looking forward to seeing them in action and I wish them all the best for the season ahead, but it's all a bit uninspiring and doesn't scream that this is a side challenging for the title.

I've been told by an associate we've apparently offered a contract to former Livingston, Greenock Morton, Ayr United and Clyde midfielder Scott McLaughlin. Last season he was playing for Edusport Academy in the Lowland League. The 35 year old has several offers from junior clubs too but we're also in the hunt.

Final Fantasy X is brilliant. Loved the world of Spira, all the different religions, the backstory about the Machina wars, the Sphere Grid, the Break HP Limit stuff... I understand the criticism that it was too linear but I liked that, it was something different. Tidus was a bit of an arsehole, right enough, and I didn't understand the stuff with Sin, but I thought it was a great game.

Tried playing it again last night and I don't think I can be bothered working to get Cloud's Omnislash or the Knights of the Round materia. I think I'm fed up. Forty hours I won't get back. What a waste. Might just complete it and move on. Bought the guidebook for Final Fantasy X-2 on eBay so I might give that a bash. X is probably the best of the bunch so I have high hopes for its sequel!