diegomarahenry

Wonder if Brexit plays in to some of the deals we are giving out. There are still vast amounts of money in the English domestic game but they can’t spend it on low ranking foreign jobbers any more. Taking in a player like Dempsey, offering a 3 year deal and hopefully making him a player with a greater reputation means we can hopefully turn him for some cash in 18 months time, if not we have a decent player for 3 years.

If they had been promoted via the playoffs, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have signed him.

Baird is a decent central defender but his first season gave away a goal a game. Always switched off and left his man in the box. He was also a silent captain during the lockdown games when the team needed a lift and we looked uninterested and had zero fight. Since he was dropped he never put a foot wrong in the games he was asked to play in and maybe that was Bullens reason to offer him a new deal. Dempsey is the player I was most keen to keep. Our season changed when he signed and a gap that was created when Docherty left was finally filled. If he needs an operation or treatment then the club should send him for it now because he will be a big player for us. I am guessing today was the deadline for agreeing new deals. Maybe they are mixing good news with bad.

Cove signed a 35 year old defender based in the North East. A 30 year old midfielder based in the north east who went part time because he couldn’t train full time Queens Park signed Simon Murray, who was heading to part time football and wasn’t in the top 3 goal scorers at his club. What makes you think he is earning a fortune? Or does this come down to Morton fans yearning for Bob McHugh again?

Muirhead is a good Championship centre half and signing one you know is reliable is always a challenge. McCall always had one and Bell or Adams filling in. We signed him and he was the third best centre half at the club, He became the best because of the players round about him got worse. Him and Baird were rotten together, as were him and Roscoe. Nbada couldn't help them either. He's 31 and unlikely to get better but he is undoubtedly a safe pair of hands the majority of the time. He's not going to be the difference between Thistle finishing 4th and 1st though. Disappointed to lose him but I'll get over it quite quickly.

Fyvie has a bad injury, Reynolds is 35 and Simon Murray has had a good 6 months in a 5 year career, My point was that not one of them was better than the lower end of the Championship so none of them will be on over 4 figures a week.

Neither Cove or Queens Park have bought or signed players that would command silly money, they haven’t signed players that should be playing above the middle of the Championship. Be interesting to see if that changes now or if they will content with the slow build and signing the kind of players they have been.

Based solely on that Eeeh-Aye-OH-Eeeh-Aye-OH Airdrie song I hope Queens Park come up f**k listening to that 4 times a season again.

There haven’t been to many real positives to focus on. Yes we stayed up. But reportedly had a bigger budget before. Went weeks without a win and played some honking football. Last season we hoped Hopkin would have a clear out and not sign any of his Morton duds. it went badly. This summer, folk were looking for big changes but they have offered the bulk of a poor team new deals with the majority of the best performers yet to sign on. I think we are in a better state off the pitch in terms of stability and planning but that has to make it on to the pitch at some point. There were signs in the last 4 games that we were starting to get a team performing together but it was as a result of changes a lot of people were looking for for a while before they happened. I don’t think it is negativity to want the team to avoid making mistakes or for performances to improve.

Think BBC Alba were expecting Dunfermline to at least make the final judging by the half time package about Ivo Den Bieman

A good servant, be sad to see him go, however

Wonder when the big week will be, new signing, season tickets announced, possibly a look at the second and third strip and starting to get folk looking towards the new season again. My bet would be first week of June. it feels like ages since the season ended but the playoffs haven't even finished yet.

No wonder the players didn't have a clue listening to Hopkin. I wis sayin. Yuv goat tae huv the composure tae, the game is won when yuv got that sumhin special that composure that can sometimes create a match winnin like Simon Murray, Hes that kind a player.

Think Stillie is only doing match day stuff, opposition penalties and keeper warm-ups, Timmins does the day to day coaching and leads the warm-up on a Saturday.

Every sentence he says starts with "as I says" and its getting unbearable. He is also very critical of both teams set up and tactics.

O'Conner showed in the Dunfermline game he is good enough for this league. Needs 2 things, games and a replacement. If he is having a shite game and not beating his full back, someone needs to come in to replace him in the second half. Much like we didn't do with Maxwell.

Claudio Valletta, the Italian centre half Stainrod signed from “the third team in Rome” so basically the Italian Partick Thistle, Fucked off as well, didn’t turn up to training and when they phoned the hotel to get him, he’d cleared his room and not paid the bill. Remember when Yogi Hughes was Falkirk manager, they signed a French defender during the week, Stainrod was his agent. They interviewed Hughes pre-match on Radio Scotland and asked why the new player wasn’t in the lineup. He said he hadn’t turned up for the pre-match meal and wasn’t in his digs, he put out an appeal for anyone sighting a “6’5” black laddie in a Falkirk tracksuit, speaking with a French accent” to contact the club urgently.

Dempsey is the big one for me along with Murdoch. McInroy would be an added bonus. Murdoch has been pretty consistent since arriving and is normally a 7/10 every week. No problems with signing him up long term. He had a difficult period in the late Kerr, Full Hopkin period when he was the sole midfielder but as soon as he had a hand in the middle of the park returned to form.

I remember hearing that Alec Bone just fucked off. He stayed up north in pre-mobile phone days. He just stopped coming to training and would occasionally turn up on match days.

I'm sure it was Sammy Johnston. 100,000 from St Johnstone.

It is a perfect formula if the players you have signed are good enough and will get better. On that basis I have no concerns about signing the majority of last seasons squad on three year deals.

I think this may be a slow window to be honest. I think a lot of the players we sign will have to be convinced to move north rather than offering a few quid to free agents from other clubs in the championship. some will obviously look to stay in England so it may be late in the window we get guys in

Queen’s Park will stay up If they are promoted, maybe bottom Half but they will stay up. Airdrie would be the weaker of the two if they came up.

Moffat went from free scoring quick forward to Wiley link up play, capable of taking 2-3 defenders for a walk, creating space for guys like Shankland an Moore and pitching in with a few goals. He’s shown a few times this year he is still capable of the latter. Unlike Dobbie, our hopes aren’t pinned on him scoring goals and haven’t been since he left for Dunfermline.

Both full backs have went from attacking wing backs to full backs, Reading has coped slightly better but gave a few goals away over the season, normally because he was sleeping when deep crosses came in from the right. He doesn’t get forward very much, which is a shame because he can put in good crosses. Houston was largely fine this season, probably because he isn’t being played as a wing back and he is only being asked to defend his performances were defined by his occasional defensive mistakes rather than the usual, he is good going forward but his defensive side of the game needs work. If we are bringing in a second right back then we need one that sits in a back 4.