Francesc Fabregas

Stenhousemuir absolutely bodied Real Kashmir earlier this afternoon, beating them 6-0 at Ochilview. The Warriors strolled through the match - they must have had about 80 per cent of the possession and they looked like scoring every time they crossed the halfway line. Fair play to Real Kashmir but they're probably the worst side I've ever seen us face, even including non-league jobbers that pop up from time to time in the Scottish Cup. We were fitter, stronger and faster then them from the off and they couldn't deal with the overload in the box and the endless overlaps from Ross Meechan and Ruaridh Donaldson. On the rare occasions they did have the ball, their passing was wayward and their decision making poor. It would be wrong to go into any great in-depth analysis given the paucity of the opposition but there were a couple of players who stood out. Meechan was tremendous at right-back and galloped up and down the flank all afternoon. Mark Ferry sprayed some nice long passes about, Harry Paton looks like he could be a gem in the middle of the park, and Jimmy Scott showed some clever touches. Jamie Longworth's link-up play was excellent and Mark McGuigan took his hat-trick well. Far sterner tests await, starting with Queen of the South next weekend, but that was decent fun. On another note, Ross Meechan was the only player from last season in today's squad. Felt weird watching this brand-new group of players working together. It'll take a wee bit of getting used to.

Albion Rovers beat Real Kashmir 5-0 earlier this evening.

The lack of width is a concern and I'd like to think the manager is still doing his best to bring in some wing-backs, regardless of how the rest of the division is shaping up.

Game on, according to the brers at the Falkirk Herald.

Following on from discussion earlier in the thread, I see Real Kashmir have cancelled their friendlies with Albion Rovers and Hamilton Academical's U-20 side - I presume our match against them next weekend will fall by the wayside too?

I thought today's match was kicking off at 3pm, not 2pm. This was supposed to be the centrepiece of my weekend as well.

A decent squad player and a handy option from the bench but we'll need someone better for the flank if we're looking to playing with wing-backs this season.

That's the boy. I think I remember being impressed by his pace when he played with Alloa Athletic but that was about it. If we're playing with a 3-5-2 system, I wonder if Ferns would have the discipline and intelligence to fulfil the win-back role. Who knows, if he does sign he might be arriving to beef up the numbers. Having a fast player to come off the bench isn't a bad thing.

Is he any good? My abiding memory of him is being pretty quick, but having little beyond that.

I'm sorry to have missed last night's AGM, I didn't even know it was on. Some interesting points raised, it would seem. I'm pleased to see us persist with the three-man defence next season, it served us well over the final few games of 2016/17 but we need to get quality wide players to make it work. Adam Strachan has been mentioned in dispatches - is he any good? He seemed like a really unpleasant guy in his younger days and that seemed to overshadow his ability. I'm surprised to see Ciaran Summers is keen on full-time football at this stage. I'm pleased the boy has ambition but I'd be surprised to see a bigger club take a punt on after his indifferent form over the last two years - he might be prudent to stay at Stenhousemuir, keep his head down, regain the same level of performance he showed in 2014/15 and take things from there. If Jim Paterson has been promoted to assistant manager, I presume Davie Irons has left the club? Or have they swapped roles?

I see the points you're making but I'd disagree on the whole. Nicky Devlin wasn't fantastic in his final season at Stenhousemuir but I don't ever remember him being a liability or a particular problem at right-back. I was disappointed when he left the club but I think greater focus was on the number of players Scott Booth had allowed to depart in the summer of 2014 (something like 17, I think) and just how he was going to replace them, rather than on Devlin alone. As for your point on Sean Dickson, there were a number of factors for the outcry over his release - Booth's ever-decreasing popularity, Dickson's standing amongst the support, the fact he was one of the team's most experienced players, the side's terrible league position at the time - so I don't think it's fair to compare the two situations. It's also worth pointing out that Devlin's immediate replacement was Robbie Duncan. Duncan played the last couple of games at the end of 2013/14 and was the first-choice right-back at the start of 2014/15 and it quickly became apparent he was nowhere near good enough for League 1 football. Ross Meechan ended up replacing Duncan and was hopeless until Bomber took charge of the team and delpoyed him in central midfield alongside Kieran Millar. I would probably agree with your point that Meechan's performances in 2015/16 were better than anything Devlin turned in for us, but I'd certainly agree with your final one - Nicky's a brilliant guy and I'm also delighted to see he's won a good deal. I hope he makes a massive success of himself.

Speak for yourself! While he didn't have a great season in 2013/14, he definitely had the tools to develop into a very good player. He's big, strong, reasonably quick, has a good attitude and a willingness to learn and improve. He was generally excellent during his three years at Ayr United.

Last season's continuity saw us relegated, so maybe ripping up and starting again was the best thing to do. On a completely different note, Nicky Devlin has signed for Walsall. When he left the club in 2014, Scott Booth didn't think he was "confident enough" a player. Scott Booth was an idiot.

Having looked through the squad of players for the new season, we have only retained two (Colin McMenamin and Ross Meechan) from last season. I can't remember us ever turning the squad over to such a great extent over the last 12 years. The times they are a-changin'.

And David Crawford, for that matter, I can't imagine we'd have any use for a third goalkeeper.

We've got a decent-looking team together, one that looks like it's capable of challenging for the play-offs. A good goalkeeper (our first in two years), a solid defensive base and handy options in attack - all we need is about three more players and we're good to go. As others above me have said, we need wingers. We had three very handy wide boys last year in Alan Cook, Connor Duthie and Willis Furtado and it'll be difficult to replace them with similar quality. I know Mark McGuigan has played out wide in the past before but I think he's better used as a striker. Goalkeepers Lewis McMinn Chris Smith Defenders Ruaridh Donaldson Mick Dunlop Ross Dunlop Joshua Gracie* David Marsh Ross Meechan Midfielders Nathan Blockley Mark Ferry Thomas Halleran* Harry Paton (on loan from Heart of Midlothian) Jimmy Scott Robbie Sinclair* Strikers Jamie Longworth Mark McGuigan Colin McMenamin (* denotes a player signed from the Forth Valley Football Academy) We're still to hear from David Crawford, Carlos Mazana-Martinez, Stephen Stirling and Ciaran Summers.

Yeah, he left no impression at all at Stenhousemuir. Although he spent most of his time on the bench, he did nothing in his fleeting appearances to suggest he was worth keeping in League 2. Best of luck to him, right enough.

Thomas Grant has signed for Alloa Athletic. No great loss whatsoever.

If he's a left-back then I imagine Ciaran Summers will be leaving the club. If that is the case, it's a damn shame, he looked like a smashing prospect when he broke into the team under Scott Booth at the end of 2013/14 but he always looked a little subdued since returning from his long injury in 2015/16, and the change in formation over the last few months of last season didn't really help either. Who knows. We're still to hear about the futures of Stephen Stirling, David Crawford, Thomas Grant, Carlos Mazana-Martinez and Summers himself.

Interesting. I wonder where he plays - if he's a defender, I can only imagine him being a full-back as we seem well stocked at centre-back. I hope I does us a good turn, we don't seem to have a lot of luck when it comes to signing boys from Junior or non-league football (unless someone can correct me).

It's a hard question. Paul McMullan is probably one of my all-time favourite Stenhousemuir players but Willis Furtado probably has the potential to go further with his career. There's a lot of similarities between the two - they're both wingers, they're both pretty fast, they're both technically excellent - but Furtado's superior physicality and finishing makes him the better player.

Both, stick them on either wing and then step back and watch the magic happen.

This is good to hear, I hope he impresses and signs on with St Mirren. Willis is a really exciting, technically gifted player. When he's got the ball at his feet, something is likely to happen and he's a very capable dribbler. He's a strong lad and won't get shoved off the ball all that easily. I reckon an upward-looking Championship team like St Mirren would be a good fit for him. Conversely, he has the habit of completely disappearing out of games - there were a number of times last season when he would start a match strongly, looking incredible in the first 10 minutes or so, before dropping out onto the fringes. His performances over the last couple of games, however, were very good.

At his age, I doubt there's likely to be any considerable improvement. Fair play to the Stirling Albion fans in their assessment of him, I always thought he had a decent kick on him.

Chris Smith is an excellent signing - after the disasters of Jamie Barclay and Colin McCabe, it was important Bomber brought in a solid goalkeeper to start the season with, and Smith is the ideal fit. We all know how good a goalie he is, we all know he's a big lump who can command his area, and we all know he can kick the ball for miles. He is an immediate upgrade on his predecessors. As for Mark Ferry, I'm hoping the brers from Albion Rovers can fill us in but I don't remember him ever being particularly outstanding when we met them last year. He was fantastic at Queen's Park and at Raith Rovers, but that was some time ago. Nonetheless, I hope he's a big success and can help guide us to promotion.