JamesM82

Looks like they're going to go to 4-3-3 / 4-5-1, with Maclaren maybe only playing in home games or when they're chasing a goal and go to 4-4-2 / 4-2-4. To keep going with the 3-5-2 they would have to sign another centre-back. With McGregor out ATM they have zero cover for the three that are playing.

Boydy learnt his economics from Trump University.

Latest Daily Mail / Stephen McGowan story about Hampden is that QP are holding out for 6M. Apparently about what they think they can net from selling it to developers and repaying the government / lottery grants.

After all that fretting (including me) about Zenit, they got pumped 4-0. To a team who lost 2-1 at home to Derry City (manager: Kenny Shiels).

Yup, we've broken them alright.

He's behind you!

I think that was a go-er until Hibs heard that Bogdan had got a dodgy hip (EEN saying that Laidlaw might have to play tonight). .... Looks like we've broken another Glasgow club, lads (and I don't mean Thistle).

Hyndman signed on loan until January. That was quick. Villa are announcing a signing at 7:30. Presumably McGinn, although they've also been bidding for a left back from Bristol City (Joe Bryan).

Aye, well he had three* different managers in about three months there (Warbiola - Murty - Pedro). *Not 100% sure that I'm not forgetting somebody

I'm probably talking out of my backside, but I thought he looked quite good for them. Technical / goalscoring type midfielder.

I'm sure that St Mirren fans have made 33% of the posts on this thread.

You guys thought he was pish anyway. At least be consistent in your nonsense.

ex St Mirren chairman saying it's done.

I think Rodgers changed his mind about McGinn after the 2-1 game in April TBF. Scott Brown, who must have some influence in these things, has also been blatantly pushing for Celtic to sign McGinn, to the extent that Lennon told him to shut up about it a few weeks back. Rodgers' beef is clearly with Lawwell, given that he put McGinn forward as a transfer target months ago and Lawwell has made a total hash of it by being too clever by half. It's not as if McGinn would be a particularly hard "get" for Celtic, given that he was a fan of theirs as a kid and they have more than enough money to do it. Celtic made their first bid for McGinn in late June / early July (just after Armstrong was sold), when Villa were technically bankrupt. If Celtic had made a proper bid back then, Villa wouldn't have been able to do anything about it.

It's always tricky to value these deals, and the clubs rarely give full information, but I would hope for a base fee above 2M plus realistic add-ons and a sell-on clause. Look at Leicester paying 20M+ for Maddison. 10% of that kind of profit and you could double the initial fee. I can't see it being any less than that sort of value, given that they've already rejected 2M from Celtic. As you say, 2M or thereabouts as a total package would be a poor deal for Hibs given the sell-on to St Mirren.

How do you know Celtic would offer 2M if it goes past the English deadline? They wouldn't be bidding against anyone then. I also have some faith in the scouting / recruitment folk they have in place now not to replace McGinn with the 2018 midfield version of Darryl Duffy.

Yeah, but you could say the same about Juve (on a much bigger scale). Only need to do enough to keep ahead of Napoli, Roma, and the Milan clubs, and spending more to compete with Real / Barca / City to win the CL would be a folly. Yet they go and make big splashes in the market, despite the relative poverty of Serie A nowadays. For want of a nail the kingdom was lost.

Incredible how a genuinely big club can be such a bunch of cheapskates. For further evidence of this, I see that they're meaning to sign Izaguirre (who Lennon wanted to sign for Hibs earlier in the window) as cover for Tierney. Celtic would be signing Izaguirre on a free after selling him less than a year ago.

That is transparently a Celtic spin on the story. "We matched their offer" i.e. we did all we could, don't blame us, blame that nasty Petrie

Does anyone have a photo of the main stand at Deepdale? The "Barker's coming back" chat always seemed a bit odd, given the move for the next cab off the Man City rank.

High. Might even get punted. He never even got a chance v Runavik, e.g. in the first game when McGinn was out, Mallan was just in the door and Whittaker was played in midfield.

Mulumbu is obvious, but I doubt if he would be willing to play another year in Scotland. Maybe he will retire if he doesn't get a big contract somewhere? Scott Allan would be another obvious one, with using Mallan in a deeper role more often. An interesting idea a journo put up a couple of weeks ago is Greg Docherty, who seems to have been completely binned by Gerrard. But whether the **** would be willing to loan/sell anything to Hibs is dubious.

Agyepong (the City loanee who needed a work permit) has been listed on UEFA.com as a Hibs player. https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2019/clubs/club=52821/squad/

Brown fee went that high because Celtic and the pre-armageddon **** were in a bidding war. A few months beforehand, the media were trying to punt Brown and Kevin Thomson (as a pair) for £3M. I'm also not sure if this Villa bid will materialise. It depends if McGinn wants to go there. He's not shown much interest in Championship teams so far, although obviously Villa have more history / pedigree than most in that division. And possibly more money, as they were recently taken over by new owners.

Not really. Celtic have only qualified for the CL ~12 times in 25 years. Rangers something similar, and they haven't been in it recently for obvious reasons. In fact, Rangers desire / need to be in the CL every year was a major reason why they went bust, which in turn gave the other Scottish teams greater opportunities to win cups in the 2012-16 period. Bosman and just general football wage growth / globalisation have had far bigger effects on inequality within leagues. e.g. when a team produced/found a top-class player 30-40 years ago, they could pretty much keep them if they wanted to. It was harder to retain a top manager (e.g. Stein / Ferguson), but the club could continue to have success with the core of players left behind.