CSmith

Aye, it’d be great to get a full, uninjured, pandemic-free season out of him. Despite the fact it’s v early in, and many of our signings are unknown/we don’t know if they’ll be hits or not, I feel like this season will be a really fun one. (If we keep everyone currently and make at least one more forward signing who’s half decent.) Turnbull and Polworth doing ballon d’or things, Campbell and O’Hara demolishing midfields for the pure entertainment value that destruction brings and Tony Watt being... a meme? Also predicting in my lovely imaginary land that Grimmy will finally score a 30 yard rocket in off the bar that sees a rightful pitch invasion.

Even better

I like to imagine it’s more of a case of Burrows and Robinson rolling up in a van, smuggling Lang in the back and leaving 50 quid on the ground with the option to loan Sherwin Seedorf

Seen that myself. Interesting that from what he’s also saying regarding Wigan that they need cash right away. Leaves us in a strange situation as we rarely pay for players never mind six+ figures (which I assume this must be?) and perhaps casts doubt on us bargaining with Kipre money. (Whether that’s outstanding costs or sell on %) Will be intrigued to see how it all develops.

Big fan of the ITK Civil War making its way over here. Was too good to be left purely on SO

I had this sinking feeling when Covid hit that many of life’s great pleasures would be temporarily taken away. I am thoroughly delighted that this Summer’s ITKMarv Transfer Teaseathon is still going ahead. Not only that, but it may shapeup to be the best one ever by the look of things.

On the Lang story, I see some absolute crazy jokesters are having some top bantz editing his wiki page. He’s now currently playing for Hibs, but was at Accies and Motherwell last night. Amazed people are that bored.

Had a quick look on the club site and seen Charles Dunne has reclaimed the 18 jersey from White after signing his extended deal. White has been moved to 9, weirdly like Long was shifted from 12 last year. Scott Fox also confirmed as 12 for this season.

I genuinely hope we to get O’Hara in on a longer contract. Everyone is correct in saying we are well stocked with good midfielders but the difference is I can imagine O’Hara staying long term. Turnbull is destined for greater things and I am confident that Polworth and Campbell won’t be sticking around too much longer either, and will move on in the next season or two. Even Donnelly seems to have drummed up a fair bit of interest, and might be on the move sooner rather than later. I also understand that people want to see the academy kids like Maguire, Semple and Cornelius break into the first team on a regular basis but overall I don’t think they’d really be competing with O’Hara. Not one of the midfielders we have, whether it be current first team or hopeful reserves can match the physicality O’Hara has, and especially in games against the top 4/6 I’ve felt we’ve lacked a bit of strength and height in the middle. I understand he’s similar to both Campbell and Donnelly in terms of being a sort of classic box to box option, but with that added height and strength he offers something we don’t have. Won’t be devastated if he doesn’t join, but at the same time, I think the calls of “we’ve got enough midfielders,” might be a little short sighted. That being said, if we happen to bring in a couple of quality options in the forward line on longer deals then that’s obviously to be welcomed and would be a much better short term investment. Overall though I really think picking O’Hara up relatively cheaply on a long term contract is a good, long term move.

Great guy and versatile. Excellent crosser of the ball and good with both feet. Reads the game relatively well but has now reached the point at which he’s just too slow to compete against any relatively quick winger. Good leader on the park too and was essentially our club captain when Hartley was injured. Would’ve liked to keep him as an option off the bench but can completely understand why he’s been let go/didn’t extend. Ultimately he’s just too slow and is too attack minded ...also this

Wouldn’t have imagined that the biggest shock of 2020 would be that #ITKMarv is actually the secret alias of Chris Humphrey. The ITK Civil War on steelmen has also been a recent highlight.

I’d agree. In an ideal world, probably 2 but at least 1 as I don’t imagine Seedorf should be an automatic first pick after last season. I think we also need another striker (unless Long extends his deal.)

Any scoops for us Marv? This is normally your time of year!

So I’m terms of making an actual XI, I’ve gone with this: Hladky O’Donnell Simunovic Hartley Tait Gogic Slivka. Bozanic Wright Lawless Hayes Opted to go with Hladky over Gillespie as I wanted to go keep it to two players max per club. Didn’t include loans expiring either and just went with players who were released, not offered a new deal or those who have declined new terms. Seems harsh to maybe not include Foster from County, but felt O’Donnell and Tait have been better. Aberdeen didn’t seem to have many OOC and Rangers’ releases won’t be missed I imagine. Unless I’m mistaken, there’s no real great strikers that have are confirmed as being released yet, so chucked Lawless in there and decided to add in Drey Wright for a St Johnstone pick.

We also finally have a date for the squad announcement which is positive. Will be on Sunday. Suppose that also addresses what Burrows regards as “soon.”

Think that would be the most Robinson thing ever to be fair. However, he’ll have to go through his latest round of trying to lure big weird Kyle first, then probably an 8th attempt for someone like Rory Gaffney before he decides on Uche.

Ariyibi, Ciftci, Ainsworth, Turnbull, Polworth. Would happily watch us win or lose by 5 goals a game. Pure entertainment value. Get it done Burrows!

Mind Grimshaw extended his contract until 2022 as well. All part of the plan you see. Sell a 19 year old horse riding Celtic-angerer and restore #LG4 to his rightful place on the right wing. Now we just need to find the tape to bind Tait’s knees back together and we’re back in business boys. Still have plenty of time to #ANNOUNCETONY too.

Just confirmed now

I mean, if we’re signing Dykes, Bayo, Griffiths, Watt and the boy from Hartlepool, then I think I might possibly be ok about Scott leaving. Securing any of Ainsworth, Ariyibi and Prince Ciftci would seal my support though... #ANNOUNCETONYANDPALS

Shhhhh!! If we keep quiet about it, Hull might forget...

Realistically, there’s a lot of meh there isn’t there? I’d be hoping we could keep a good few, but in all honesty the lot listed there shouldn’t be overly difficult to replace. Long would be the one I’d be most keen to keep I think, but that’s probably based on his current form in addition the the fact we have no other strikers at the minute. Gillespie you’d obviously hope would extend but then again, do we really need 2 first team keepers? (and the wages that’d cost) Looks to me like it might be more sensible to sign up Ferguson as back up and have faith in Carson to play as first choice next year Hartley and Dunne have also been good servants and if the manager trusts them/can’t get better options, then they’re clearly worth keeping around. I’d also want to keep the projects (Ilic and Manzinga) on the go, unless their wages were being chucked into something much better (and proven at this level) if that was at all possible. Certainly worth another year though surely? Also wouldn’t mind if we could get O’Hara permanently. A very Robinson type player that I think has offered enough in recent weeks to merit a contract if it can be offered. I mean, I love Richard Tait, but from his last few outings, he looks done at this level. Think Livingstone is also as good as gone at this point, which is quite a shame considering how exciting he could be at U21 level. Much in the way of the bold DT23, he hasn’t appeared to have transitioned to first team football as well as we’d have liked. Unsure on Maguire still as well.

We seem to love a good punt on a name in the January window. Very happy to see that continue... #ANNOUNCETONY

Who then?

Would normally back us to win at home but can’t shake the feeling we’ll be dropping points due to the absences in the forward line. With Long probably out and Hylton unwell, that only leaves Scott as a nailed on starter. With that in mind, I’d expect us to run with that same midfield 4 we played against Aberdeen with Scott partnering up with any of Ndjoli/Manzinga/Ilic/MacIver/Seedorf. Expecting an energetic and battling performance where we’ll be hoping to take advantage of set pieces and all the usual malarkey that goes with that. Would take a draw now. Bonus points if we manage to see the elusive Casper Sloth feature at all.