Shadwell Dog

It was pretty obvious that Hughes was only interested in the Raith job to get his name back in the papers again. He was shit scared that people would have forgotten all about him as he'd been struggling to get another job for a while. I think he felt it was a no lose situation for him but thats backfired somewhat by Raiths performances being so bad, the keeper debacle and the fact that its now common knowledge that the players couldn't stand him.

He's also completely body swerved the fact that Ross is a Dundee fan for some reason. Its not exactly a balanced view.

Always seems to happen to clubs our size that just when things are going really well something comes along and boots you up the arse. If you weren't in direct competition to us I'd be hoping he'd stay at Saints instead of joining the perennial cheats at dens but you are so I've got to hope he buggers off I'm afraid.

Come on sir your mis quoting me here. My first mention of it was : 'Jack Ross is a big Dundee fan and has been since he was at school' Now that doesnt say to me that he simply liked them as a boy

Don't believe me if you want mate. Was in my brothers school team and has always been a massive Dundee fan. Its ok saying yeah you'll get a move to a bigger club at the end of the season but that's in all probability not going to be Dundee.

You've just realised that? Its been happening for years. Happened to us with Jeffries and McCall.

He also came behind us in the league with a 5 times bigger budget.

Yeah and then he resigns and goes anyway or your left with a very pissed off manager. To be honest I reckon he might have stayed if it was a straight choice but the fact he's a massive Dundee fan swings it for me I'm afraid.

I doubt Increasing his wages slightly will make any difference. Dundee will still be able to pay him more. The only thing that will stop him going to Dundee is if he doesn't feel comfortable with the current owners up there. It might be the only chance he gets to manage his team though which is bound to have a strong pull.

All that means feck all if you've got an emotional attachment to the other club though. And their player budget will still swamp St Mirrens next season. I can assure you of that.

Possibly not impressed with his league record at Hibs.

I suppose you've got to try and convince yourself that the better option for him is staying. He may not fancy the set up at Dundee just now you never know but to neutrals its hard to see why he wouldn't go. 1. Dundee fan. 2. Dundee are a bigger club. 3. Dundee are in the Premiership. 4. Higher wages for him.

Surely the one over whelming factor in this is that Jack Ross is a big Dundee fan and has been since he was at school. I'm sure if they offer him a decent deal he'll be away. Lets face it who would knock back the team they support when they come calling? He started off his footballing career their too.

Houston unfortunately is a far better manager when your losing than when your in the lead. We won a lot of games last season at the last jap as that didnt give him any time to lose the match with his dodgy tactics. United at home was the classic example. Second half we just let them roll all over us through poor substitutions. Ridiculous as it may sound I feel we would've had more chance of winning the game if we hadn't scored first and the game had gone on at 0-0 till late in the day.

Yeah and the time before that we won the league. And just because Hughes made a pigs ear of it doesn't mean every manager will. No-one here is talking about spending a fecking fortune here anyway. A little bit more leeway in the budget and the ability to pay a higher wage if required shouldnt put us out of business. We've currently got about 3k odd season ticket holders. These people won't hang around if you don't show a bit of ambition. We need to strike while the irons hot and whilst we have the extra money in from a second place finish. A shit season and season ticket sales will drop as will prize money and that in turn leaves a big hole in the budget to start with.Too many people still seem content to be below huge clubs like accies and plastic whistle.

Who says its someone to fill a bench. St Mirren got Loy in last season. He's wasn't filling a bench. Morton got players in from Celtic who didn't simply fill a bench. United got Andreu in he wasn't filling a bench. The loan market if used correctly allows you to get players in that you normally cant afford whatever level your at. Celtic got Roberts in for instance too, I dont see them worrying about how that will effect the future of their youth players. Mr Dust your right about Loy. My main complaint would be if we lost out on him to the likes of St Mirren next season. But is the reason we cant get near his wage due to some ludicrous wage cap or is it simply because Houston would rather have 3 or 4 medicocre players in his squad instead ? If its the latter then our squad needs thinned out and we need to start replacing medicocre quantity with quality. If its the former then we need to get rid of this wage cap asap, The manager should have a budget which he is allowed to spend in which ever way he sees fit. If that means having a player on 1500 quid a week instead of 3 on 500 quid then so be it. Ross Wilson is a good shout too. Surely he should be able to help us out in one way or another. Southampton must get a number of players on trial etc who arent good enough for them but would do a job for us. Could also be a decent avenue for loan deals. Can't believe the plastic pitch rumour. They were quite happy to play against us on the same surface and most of these youngsters will be training on plastic at least during the winter months.

I agree with you their mate but we need to be a bit harder to deal with when it comes to selling players. We need to loosen our wage cap and we need to use the loan market more to give us access to a better player whether they come from England or Scotland. Every other side in the league uses the loan market extensively apart from us.

I couldn't give a flying feck where a player comes from and whether hes here for more than one season at a time if he helps get us out this hellhole of a league. Once we're in the top flight we can then worry about the fact thet they've headed back down south .. Yes teams will want to keep hold of their better players but I was talking about factoring loan deals for Swansea players into the deals we are agreeing with them to sign our best young players. Tell them yes they can have Stephen Kingsley but we want money and so and so on loan for a season. I'm sure they'll cope with us having one of their best young players for a season if their getting a future Scottish international in return.

Watched the FA youth cup final a few weeks back. Standard was absolutely fantastic and 18 out of the 22 starters were eligible for england. Standard of football on show was superb. Whilst the likes of Swansea are not at that level I still saw two or three players in their squad when they faced us that could've been decent on loan additions for us. Guys with a bit of pace which is something we badly miss. I'd even take Ryan Blair back on loan. Would be a certain starter in our midfield now in my opinion.

Wouldn't take too much to at least get people interested in next season. A signing like loy would be a statement of intent and raise the spirits. We should also be looking at some decent loan deals to get better quality in. I still can't understand why in all these deals we've done with Swansea getting some young players on Loan from them was never factored into any of these deals.

You'd probably end up getting signed. It happened to the likes of Taylor Morgan and Rory boulding .

Our most recent seasons have been a struggle due to less than impressive transfer activity during the close season. Best close season I can remember was the one under McCall. You knew by our signings that the team was going to be exciting to watch and would in all probability win the league. That was what you would really call a total overhaul. Something we badly needed this season but going by recent contract moves we ain't going to get.

Noones talking about going balls out but it's obvious that we are going to have to loosen the purse strings to get out of this league. We need better quality in and yet we're re-signing the likes of Kerr and offering Baird etc new contracts. We're also being linked to the likes of Stanton and Harris . Is it any wonder that fans aren't exactly overly ecstatic currently about the new season.

No matter what their financial situation is we'll still trott out that excuse. Doug will be right on to Houston letting him know that due to Dundee United staying down and brexit we can't increase the budget.

Chairman will be overjoyed tonight. Another season he can make an excuse for a lack of investment in the playing squad. I mean how could we ever compete with a massive club like dundee united.