Francesc Fabregas

Nah man, Sutherland was okay. Nothing special at all but he's certainly not the worst player I've seen at Stenny. Scored an important goal in the play-off semi-final against East Fife to secure our passage to Queen's Park. I think what counted against him was the fact he was a panic signing at the end of the January transfer window - Scott Booth probably didn't know a thing about him when he joined.

Scott Booth has taken charge of Glasgow City FC. Best of luck to them...

Earlier this evening, Stenhousemuir defeated East Stirlingshire to win the Stirlingshire Cup. The match finished 1-1 but the Warriors prevailed on penalties. I caught the start and the end of the match because I was playing sixes but from what I saw Stenny looked the better team (although speaking to other people, that might not have been the case).

Smith had won our Player of the Season award in 2014 and was well regarded by everyone at the club but he picked up a really bad injury over the summer. As he was cycling along the road, someone opened a car door right in front of him and sent him flying, and he picked up a nasty gash across his knee that took ages to heal. Jack Hamilton was brought into the club on a short-term basis but when he was recalled by Hearts, Greg Fleming signed up after Celtic Nation's demise. And Fleming was just so good that Smith could never displace him. Smith had probably agreed terms with Stirling Albion around March or April. Fleming was offered a new contract but rejected it in favour of moving to Ayr United. So we've lost two really good goalies in the space of a couple of weeks. EDITED TO ADD - Neilly's summed it up far more succinctly. Just bad luck on our part.

I didn't realise how small it was - that's 17 players, we don't have enough to fill a bench! I can imagine it'll be young jobbers from the U-20s that'll make up the numbers. Not sure if we'll bring in anyone else on loan - we've got an agreement in place with Hearts for the season but it only seems to have yielded young Liam Henderson. I wasn't there but our lads bodied their U-20s team on Monday last week and no-one really looked the part.

The Stenhousemuir FC team for next season is: Goalkeepers: Jamie Barclay Dean Shaw Defenders: Ciaran Summers Ross Meechan Liam Henderson (on loan from Heart of Midlothian) Stuart Malcolm Jamie "Jobber" McCormack Euan Murray Midfielders: Kieran Millar Stephen Stirling Jon Robertson Alan Cook Anthony Marenghi Mark Gilhaney Strikers: Colin McMenamin Jon McShane Allan Smith That looks alright, eh.

Interesting business. It's been a mixed bag in terms of transfer activity - the midfield has been superbly upgraded and looks far better compared to last year's options (I still can't believe we've got boys like Stephen Stirling and Mark Gilhaney in our ranks), while we've got three good forwards who each offer something a bit different - but I don't think we've necessarily improved our goalkeepers or our defence compared to last year. Twelve months ago we had Chris Smith and Greg Fleming, and I reckon both are better 'keepers than Jamie Barclay. We had Ross McMillan, Stewart Greacen and Alan Lithgow to pick from at centre-back; now, we have a leggy Stuart Malcolm and some youngsters to go alongside him. Who knows, Murray and Henderson could prove to be excellent players (and I sincerely hope they are) but I'm just a little anxious about how the defensive unit copes.

Stenhousemuir have signed Liam Henderson from Heart of Midlothian on loan until the end of the season. He's a defender, which is an area we're lacking in. At the back, we've got: Stuart Malcolm, Euan Murray, Ross Meechan, Ciaran Summers, Jamie McCormack and now Henderson signed up. Think that'll be us - six players, some of who can play in a couple of positions. Hope this Henderson's alright. I'm very happy with how the squad's shaping up - especially in midfield - but I am a little worried about the defence.

It'll be interesting to see what happens at Battleground - maybe Cena will drop the strap to Owens, setting up a rivalry with Cesaro. The thought of seeing Owens and Cesaro going at it is pretty exciting.

He looked okay-ish against Livingston last weekend. Big lump of a boy.

The only thing we'd probably be doing is taking him off your wage bill for the year. I understand money's pretty tight at Methil this season.

To be fair, King Kebab is usually on the ball when it comes to updates from Bayview. Is he any good? I remember him being a star at Dumbarton about five or six years ago.

Really hard not to be impressed with the calibre of player Dumbarton are bringing in at the moment. Dare I say it but could this squad push for a play-off place? This looks like one of the strongest part-time squads I can remember in some time.

Great banter, lads.

Yes m8, don't like Cena one bit but he's been superb this year. From the triple-threat match at the Royal Rumble to the US Open Challenge, he's really stepped his game up. The recent matches with Kevin Owens and last week's bout with Cesaro have been the best fights of the year.

Was watching the score coming in on Twitter and wondered if this link-up with Hearts is a good thing. If our jobbers are bodying them with little fuss, I worry what these young loanees will bring to the team. The defence is still a bit of a worry. Could really be doing with a Michael Devlin-style centre-back to make up for Stuart Malcolm's weaknesses but goodness knows where we'd get someone like that from. Still, a good result and pleased to see Allan Smith scoring. I've a feeling he'll be a handy wee player for us over the year.

Stenhousemuir lost 3-0 to Livingston in a friendly earlier this afternoon at Ochilview. All three goals came in the first half. The Warriors put together some nice moves in the opening ten minutes but Livi took control shortly afterwards and scored through a trialist, Liam Buchanan and Ross Millen. Both teams made a number of changes at the interval and the second half was a little disjointed. Stenny's team in the second half was more or less made up of teenagers I'd never heard of. There were a number of positives to take from the game. Of last season's players, I was impressed with Ciaran Summers, Ross Meechan, Kieran Millar and Colin McMenamin - all four look to have continued on their form. They played 45 minutes each. I liked the look of Stephen Stirling and Allan Smith too, both showed some good touches and the latter linked up with McMenamin very well. He's a worked too. Alan Cook came on at half-time and looked the part, seems like a no-nonsense, hit-the-byline-and-put-it-in type of winger. Some of the trialsts (#5 and #14) might also worth be having another look at. There were also some areas of concern. Tony Marenghi looked a little unfit and seemed to be gassing after half an hour. The way Millen took the ball by him in the build up to the second goal was pretty embarrassing. As always, Marenghi looked decent on the ball but he was poor without it. Stirling was screaming at him at one point after he failed to come infield to cover a Livi player's run. Stuart Malcolm looked badly off the pace too and was done about five or six times in the second half alone. If the ball's in front of him he looks okay but whenever it's played in behind him, he looks lost. It'll be interesting to see what happens on Monday with the Heart of Midlothian game. I won't be there because I'm playing badminton.

Both tops are rank. What a letdown.

Last time we had a player in our team with a rugby background it was Shaun Fraser. Terrifying.

Christ, that was a rotten afternoon. Still makes me feel nauseous. Don't know a lot about him but seven goals in 21 appearances last term is decent. Another striker and I reckon we'll be sorted up top.

Huge fan of Franko's but not sure he's good enough for the Championship. He's superb at dealing with the rough and tumble but I don't think he's all that handy at dealing with balls in behind. Scott Rumsby might be the better bet. I do hope it works out for him at Morton though. Jim Duffy has a propensity for signing centre-backs that don't seem to be all that great.

Think he'll be used exclusively as a winger. We'll quite well served in the middle of the park with Millar, Robertson, Marenghi and Stirling (and Meechan, of course). Last season's midfield were so powderpuff - I shudder thinking about the times we paired Marenghi and Kris Faulds in the middle - so it's great to see the whole unit being upgraded. We're about four or five players away from having a handy-enough team here. Feeling a little more relaxed about the year ahead (although I still would take eighth place right now).

To be fair, 2011-12 (fifth), 2012-13 (sixth) and 2013-14 (fifth) were alright for us. Last year was an unmitigated disaster though, I'll give you that. Would take eighth right now if you offered it to me.

Lovely stuff, very happy with both of them. I've always admired Stephen Stirling whenever he's played against us in the past and I think, from reading the Dumbarton thread, that Gilhaney should do a decent job for us. The midfield is beginning to take shape - by my reckoning we need a centre-back, cover at full-back, cover on the wings for Alan Cook's inevitable injury, and a couple of strikers. Maybe a goalie too but I think Jamie Barclay will be our #1 for the year ahead. The team for 2015-16 is (* denotes a new signing): Jamie Barclay* Dean Shaw Ciaran Summers Stuart Malcolm* Jamie McCormack Ross Meechan Kieran Millar Jon Robertson* Stephen Stirling* Mark Gilhaney* Alan Cook* Anthony Marenghi Colin McMenamin

It sums it all up when R-Truth was the best thing in it. Aside for his input and Kevin Owens at the start, that was a rotten show. I watched most of it at 12x speed to get it over and done with.