SetPieceSpecialist

As Jagfox has said, it's just a slight re-writing of Devine's ET interview. Wouldn't take this as any kind of confirmation. They seem to be suggesting it would be a loan but if a deal is happening, I reckon it would be a transfer. Either way, they've pulled the 'set to' chat from out of their arse by the looks of it.

I get the feeling that with just a year left on Keown's contract, they might sell for a decent price if we're willing to pay up. They don't seem to see him as ready to play a role in the first team and he'll end up leaving on a free next year if they don't sell now so I reckon we have a good chance. Also, I think one of the reasons Liam went for a fairly low price by our estimations is that when he signed his new deal last October, Archie probably said that he could leave if an English club made a decent approach. As such, Keown might be tempted to join us as he would sign a two or three year deal, play well for a season and then maybe get a move back to the Championship. Might not be the case by just a thought.

If we're going to be spending money...

If that's the case then so be it. If we can get a decent third striker in, I wouldn't be against the idea of loaning Azeez out to the Championship for even six months just to try to build some confidence in front of goal.

Correlation does not mean causation. To put our loss of late goals down to Ade is ridiculous. If you look at the goals, most of them are caused by individual mistakes and misjudgements or the team dropping to deep while giving up on trying to keep the ball.

I'm in no way saying that Azeez has been useless. His chasing down at the end of matches can really help take some of the pressure off the backline like the Hearts 2-0 game when he gave Tziolis a really hard time. What I'm saying is, if there are offers on the table for Ade, and especially if there's a small fee involved, we should take what Ade had plus the money we already had set aside for a new striker and try to get in someone decent who can be a physical presence and chip in with a decent amount of goals. For all that Ade does, to have appeared in over 40 games and to have only scored three times is really poor. Personally, I'd still keep him unless there's a substantial cash offer because I think he will get better and I could see him getting 7 or 8 this year if we continue giving him minutes. We do need another striker though as if Doolan did pick up a lengthy injury, we'd be f****d.

Doolan is a treasure. Would do a job for most teams in the league and we're lucky to have him but he can't score all the goals. I'm a big advocate for giving players the time they need to develop but Ade isn't good enough to be our second choice if we want to be anywhere near the top six again. Also, the more I see of Nisbet, the less convinced I am that he can make it in the Premiership. Neil McLaughlin is a player who I want to see get more of a chance. Great finisher, reads the game well and can play striker, centre attacking midfield or out wide if need be. His main problem would be his size. He's pretty short and not very strong but that can be a good thing. Still reckon Archie wants a big, hold-up lad.

Point taken but we know that Doolan is a player that goes on streaks and there will be periods when he rarely scores so maybe having a decent replacement, instead of an Azeez or Eccleston or German or Pogba, would boost us when he's not scoring. Obviously, finding a decent striker isn't as easy as I'm making it out to be but surely we can sign a good striker. We also have to look at the fact that Liam is now gone. He scored a number of important goals that we also need to replace such as the equaliser at Rugby Park, the opener at Dingwall in December or the goal that put the Hearts game to bed. Now we'd hope that Bannigan coming back in might bring some more goal from midfield when compared to Edwards' goal tally but we can't rely on that considering the fact that he's not played competitive football for over a year. We can't expect Spittal to be an instant success or instantly prolific either. Just hope we sign a decent striker because our ratio of Quality:Pish has been about 10:1 and the one good one was a loan.

It'll likely be at Garscube Sports Complex. Not sure when though. I'll ask around.

From what I've heard, we've looking to bring a striker in with Azeez in the picture. If Azeez does leave I'd quite like us to combine his money with what we were looking to spend on a striker and actually get a decent player in who will chip in. If Doolan can score 12 or 13 and someone else scores even just 7 or 8 then we'd have been much better off than we were last season. For example, the Motherwell game at Firhill when Azeez missed three good chances to put the game away when we were 1 up and he missed them and we ended up drawing. If we could get a quality second striker in who'll stick them away when he gets the opportunity, then we could be pushing for top five next season.

Is there supposed to be a fee involved or would we be letting him go?

Tragic.

October is key. If we fall flat in October, we'll struggle to make up lost ground. December also important. On the plus side, we generally have Killie, Accies, Dundee and 'Well in a row so hopefully we can put mini runs together when we need them like we have done in previous seasons.

When Archie leaves, Frans should have first refusal, to be honest.

Toshney's arms are too long...

The fact that Fraser's new deal is until January makes me think that he's not aiming for the start of the season but maybe just building himself back up gradually for the rest of the year to show he's worth keeping on alike to Welsh last year. Agree about Bannigan though, can't wait to see him back and hopefully he'll get back to his best fairly quickly because he's got more competition than he did previously in midfield.

I think that we'll go a back four with Devine and whoever we bring in (hopefully Keown) with Barton and Osman at the base of the midfield. I could see Bannigan being tried at centre attacking midfield. Similar sort of energy as Edwards but with an end product. Get the feeling that Barton and Archie are in agreement that ideally Barton would play midfield. Either way, I reckon we'll go back to a 4-2-3-1.

Some guy.

Don't think we'll be looking for a no. 10 as we have Erskine, Edwards, Lawless, Spittal and in an emergency McLaughlin who can all play there. Could see us going back to a four-at-the-back for the start of the season at least, depending on what the centre-half situation is at the end of the summer. If we do, I could see us signing another wide player, even as a back up player but we do have a fair few potential wide players. I think two centre-halves are needed if Lindsay leaves. Hopefully Keown may be one of them. Another striker would be nice. I reckon Archie might go for a big, hold-up player to do a similar job to Pogba but ideally with a better goal return. Spittal is a good start but we obviously need more.

Baffled that so many people fail to grasp the importance of add ons.

Charming.

Second this. Definitely a man who values a well-run stable club that are willing to stick with him so doubt this Swindon job would lure him away from us. Unfortunately, you're also correct in that it's probably the first of many jobs he'll be linked with in the coming months. Hopefully, the new dynamic of being a top six club and the to-be-built training centre can keep him here a tad longer.

I would hope that his time on loan might have helped him with the physicality of first team football and apparently he's still spent time training with the Thistle first team so he'll have had a good balance of League 1 experience and working with our guys. If I recall correctly, we scored three goals in two games as a result of his corners at the tail end of last season which can only be good.

Could be worth giving Penrice a chance, at least. East Fife fans have been very complimentary of him and he did well when he played at the end of last season. His set piece delivery would also be a huge asset.

Jordan Jones is out of contract at Killie. Could be a good signing with Amoo likely leaving. Willing to take his man on and get a cross in. Another defensive option is Eoghan O'Connell. 21-year old Celtic centre-half that's out of contract. Played fairly well in a couple of the European qualifiers for Celtic last year and has been playing in a three-at-the-back at Walsall on-loan in a mid-table league one side. He might get better offers but we can show what we've done for Liam Lindsay, Niall Keown and even Danny Devine as young centre-backs with Liam on the brink of a move to the championship and Keown being given the chance to show Reafing what he's made of. Can't say I know much about him but saw him on a list of out of contract players.