Matty-RCFC

I seriously think it would be of benefit to County to hold onto Dhanda and just lose him at the end of the season for a free. I’m unsure of the difference between the prize money amongst the positions in the league, but the sheer impact he has on our team could literally give us another 15-18 points which could be another 3/4 positions higher than we’d be without him.

Week 1 - Celtic Week 2 - Rangers Week 3 - Stranraer Week 4 - Bonnyrigg Rose Week 5 - Forfar Athletic

Aye, I’m absolutely stunned he’s going on to have the career he’s having. Don’t get me wrong his playing style is incredibly unique - his feet were remarkably quick for such a long guy and his finishing was also very consistent. I suppose with better coaches, they refine these raw attributes and turn them into the type of player they want. I was always infuriated with how poor he was in the air for his size but he seems to have developed in that sense down south. I thought Sunderland, at the time, was a perfect move for him. A club at the top of League One challenging for promotion. I’m surprised (but delighted) that he’s now found himself at a club that will expect to finish top 2 in the second tier in England and likely play a big part for them.

The benefit of playing the Old Firm so early, I suppose, is that we now have a genuine opportunity to build some momentum. We don’t play either of them in the league until November.

This is, without a doubt, the most we’ve spent on a squad before. The pressure is certainly on to deliver a vast improvement on last season. That being said, the signs are looking very promising. Dare I say it - lots of reason to be excited…

Anyone any idea the size of the sell on? I’ve heard 10% of all profit but could be ballocks.

It won’t happen because the uproar would be genuinely mental, but if Malky were to go to Hibs I’d like to take a punt on McCabe or Murray. Be tough to prise them away from their current jobs though.

On another note, with Motherwell starting the season well, I see the “hard done by” claims have resurfaced regarding Kettlewell’s tenure with us. When John “Yogi” Hughes comes into your football club and outperforms you, I think it’s safe to say you’re underachieving.

Week 4 - Bonnyrigg Rose

I can’t work out whether Midge looks like a 16 year old Weegie, about to whip out a flask filled with thunderbird or-the-like, or if he looks like a mid to late 50 year old enjoying his one and only night out of the year.

Fair play to Airdrieonians. They shift the ball between the lines quicker than most sides in Scotland. It must be very fun being an Airdrie fan, going to a game and not knowing whether you’re going to win 6-2 or lose 7-4. Enthralling. If you can keep pumping the tinks and push them further down the mire, we can all be friends here.

++Ammo - Airdrie++, thanks for playing!

Be interesting to see how many goals we will put past these skud books. I’m expecting 6 - though I’d settle for 5.

Attended Buckie v Forres last nigh. The Can Cans were the better side in the first half hour, before Buckie started to get a foothold. Spider obviously tore them apart at half time and they came out a different team in the second half - on another day they could’ve had 5 in that second half. I was reasonably impressed with Forres, though, and think that they may take some scalps this season. I thought Dylan Lawrence, on loan from Elgin, was particularly impressive.

In fairness, this isn’t a bad two week period of the season to be out for. Missing a League Cup Round of 16 game against Airdrie - a game I’d like to think we can win without Dhanda - and Rangers - a game we’d lose even if Dhanda was playing - isn’t so sore. Just hope that he can be back for the game after Rangers.

8/1 for Stirling Albion to beat EK tonight. I know The Binos have a cup tie against Aberdeen on Friday night and will surely be prioritising that, but 8/1 seems absolutely ludicrous. Anyone any idea?

Week 1 - Celtic Week 2 - Rangers Week 3 - Stranraer

Have heard it’s potentially broken ribs, but that could be utter nonsense.

I’m flabbergasted at the number of people that thought Iacovitti was, for the most part, good last season. He was nothing more than a meat and potatoes centre back. He’d head a brick if it came towards him. However, he was one of the worst players I’ve seen at County for a few years in possession. He had no composure on the ball and would just shell it up the channel at any given opportunity. As long as Leak doesn’t do that, he’ll be an upgrade.

You do gods work, RandomGuy.

Transfers Scotland has you boys interested in him. I don’t know how credible that dude is, if at all, though.

If we receive offers for him in January, I still believe we should hold onto him until the end of the season. Yes - he’s available to leave on a free at the end of the season. However, the difference between him in the team and not is night and day so I’d rather have him leave for a free in June and get a full season out of probably the best player in the bottom six, than get a pittance of a fee that we will definitely not be able to find a player of his calibre for and slide down the table.

I thought we played through him more on Saturday at Parkhead than we did all year last season. Hopefully he’s finally realised that Dhanda is our primary creator. Quite enjoyed seeing him come off the left and cutting in on his stronger side.

£28 for two sides likely to be playing each other 4 times this season is ludicrous in the current climate. Muggins over here will still pay it, though. Weirdly optimistic about this on Saturday. Watching Sportscene on Saturday (admittedly you can’t take too much from a 5 minute highlight reel) I thought St Johnstone didn’t look to carry too much of a threat going forward. Hopefully it takes a little longer for their new signings to settle in and gel than this weekend. That being said, you’re going to get chances out of our back 3 because we still don’t look to have any defensive structure and have conceded in literally every game we’ve played this season (including Nairn). There is cause for optimism - we have genuine pace going forward and creativity in midfield. We just need to get that balance right and hopefully that starts this weekend. I think we’ll start something like: Laidlaw Brown - Smith - Baldwin - Nightingale - Harmon Loturi - Turner Dhanda White - Murray That side is dependant on a few things. I suspect we won’t sign another centre half before Saturday so I assume Dylan will play at centre half as he looked comfortable coming on at Parkhead. Harmon needs to come back to where he’s comfortable as he looked a bit lost at centre half on Saturday. I expect us to probably have the majority of the ball on Saturday so I can see Turner coming in for Randall to give us more creativity in the middle of the park. Hopefully Brophy will be fit for a 30 minute cameo off the bench too.