AuldReekie

All fair points I think. Definitely don't think it's easy and maybe calling it a fully-fledged academy is over-selling it. I'm not talking about building a youth side - far from it. It would be hard enough for a club of our size to survive in Premiership with seasoned pros - we ain't about to do with the young team. Instead, I really see it being just enough to complement the first team, be a facility that attracts players to the club, enhances our reputation, etc. To put it another way, be the club we want to be in future, not the club we are now. If we can establish ourselves as a Premiership club, I think the academy and it's facilities build an infrastructure we want to try and establish long term success. It's nae easy though. I'll give you that.

Interested in your reasons. I'm interested in it alongside our clear desire to develop a decent academy. For me, the merry-go-round of managers and players, hoping to hit a good combination for a while (alongside a good owner/board) and move up the leagues, doesn't really build up a longer-term foundation for the club. A David Wotherspoon (just as an example) joining the Pars and then moving on doesn't really do anything for me - we use him, he uses us, hopefully we get a bit better, but often we'll pay inflated salaries for guys who have reached (roughly) the level we're at. Of course, there's nothing wrong with this - if well run, the club can make a success of it. But I am interested in trying to establish credible academy, where decent players might start their career or at least see Dunfermline as being instrumental in the early stages of their career. We hopefully produce some players that are able supplement the first team squad - such players are cheaper (in wages at least), they are in investment and from a romantic point of view, I'd love to see players go on from Dunfermline to play at a higher level. The challenge of course is ensuring that the academy pays for itself, whether that's by producing players that can play for the first team, sell-on for fees that fund the academy, facilities that can be used by the community, etc. It's undoubtably a harder business strategy to execute.

Yep. It's the reality of football these days and an explicit part of the business model now - you bring players with potential in, you hope to develop them, and you try and sell them on for profit, ideally with a sell on clause. Otoo is perfect example - love watching the big guy play, has still lots to learn but has potential to play at a higher level. You hope we take him there but the club's (hopeful) progression will be slower than any individual player so the key is having them play well, impress other clubs and sell them on to boost the overall financial position of the club. Rinse and repeat. There's a couple of players in my safe list who aren't good enough for the Premiership so they'll ideally be sold (for good or bad) at some point. What's also an interesting discussion is our strategy around loans. It's unclear to me whether we have any real chance of signing Summers, Moffat, Fagan-Walcott on permanent deals (akin to the signing of Otoo and KRH) and I'm not sure how the club balances trying to develop loans into permanent contracts, as opposed to just using players for 6-12 months that can get you up the league (but knowing they'll drop out of your squad at some point). The fact we are targeting younger players with medium/long term potential suggests to me we want to get them on a permanent contract as part of the wider business strategy of selling them on. If it was all about using a loan player to help propel us up the league, I'd assume we'd see us being more competitive in some of the players teams around us are signing.

Yep. Missed Fisher. Safe.

Good to see Sharp return - I'm actually OK with Mehmet but there needs to be a stronger keeper pushing him (and ideally pushing him to number 2). The following are currently heading out the door if it was me: Little Allan Wighton Breen Jak (quite like him but needs to show more) MOH At the other end of the conversation, the players who are very safe: Bene (I'll be looking for an injury free season next year, otherwise I'd be starting to move him on) Otoo Edwards McCann (will be looking for more predictable contributions though) Hamilton (need to get him in more natural position) Todd KRH (like Bene, will need a relatively injury free season) Possibly Comrie Possibly Chalmers Outside that last list, I'd be monitoring the market for upgrades and replacements. There needs to be squad progression each season. In terms of the loanee's, with Sharp gone, would take any of them on permanent if it were an option. As others have said, I genuinely think the squad is strong enough for this point in the rebuild. Had we not had the injury crisis, I think we'd be up challenging for 3 at least, and with a good run, think we'd have taken points from both Raith and United, and would have an outside chance of challenging for 2nd. As such, I think McPake's doing a really good job, even if there's room for improvements.

I think this is where a signing or two is almost more important than how we perform in the immediate short term. Obviously, we don't want poor performances but it would have been hard to quell increasing frustration if there were no signings. That frustration isn't necessarily aimed at those fit enough to take the field, or even McPake to a certain extent, but rather aimed at the board who clearly needed to help shore up the squad. I was pretty pessimistic about what support McPake was going to get but even just the one signing helps lift the mood amongst the fans and hopefully amongst the squad. Mon the Pars!

Obviously, would LOVE a win tomorrow, but even if we drop points, this helps dull the pain a little in that it's going to take some pressure off others in the squad over the coming weeks. Sounds like another might be in the pipeline and these will go a long way in the coming weeks and months. Would be happy just to get through tomorrow's game with the return of a few players and no new injuries.

Like it! Welcome to the Pars Malachi! Hopefully both he and the club get a lot from this deal. Sounds like he has good potential and he's obviously going to get plenty of game time. Hopefully gives the squad and fans a lift after what has been a pretty shite month or two.

Stopped posting on .net years ago when Brian and his team we're doing the club's bidding and moderating the f**k out of everyone. Shite website, badly written - it's some issue with cookies I think - clean out any dafc.net cookies to get going again but it'll keep happening. Think it's something to do with long threads that cause browser's to throw a wobbler (I use Chrome).

Totally agree. You have to have ambition, right? Otherwise, what is the point in all of this?! Unfortunately, this is the downstream effect of the Old Firm on Scottish football - the Premiership is a broken product where the upside is very, very limited and most clubs are destined for a pretty miserable existence. To establish yourself (financially, structurally, reputationally) as a stable Premiership club, you're likely talking a 10+ project where everything on and off the park needs to be managed really well. To maintain that and become a top six club, 20+ years. And in all of this, the most success you are ever likely to experience is a cup win. But you're unlikely to get a cup win from the Championship. It's a question of slowly raising your ceiling but always making sure your floor is safe. The hardest part is resisting the temptation to throw money at success. If you manage the money wisely, even one season in the Premiership could be the start of longer term success.

Waiting on at least one signing gif today. Expectations have been set. We all need a lift...

I think that's slightly harsh. While he's not fresh from the academy, he's still a relatively junior member of the team and will likely be on modest wages. He's not going to impose himself on games, he's not a leader and he's not likely to be a starter were we not in an injury crisis. He's a squad player and played pretty well in a number of games earlier in the season. As the injury list increased, and things became more desperate, the more his limitations have been exposed. He's absolutely not what we want to be depending on right now, but I think it's somewhat unfair to say he does nothing. It does look like this will be his ceiling though, so he's running out of time to make his mark and I expect he'll struggle once the injuries clear up and hopefully the squad continues to improve.

I think I'd agree with all of that. I do hope we get to see how our attack looks when Bene and a solid defence is fully fit and playing, and we get a better foundation on which to build attacks and more progressive players back in midfield. There have been signs that both Jakubiak and MOH offer a decent attacking threat in wider areas but it's been part of a dysfunctional and limited attacking threat which makes it difficult to judge what their ceiling is. Moffat and Summers have clearly shown what they are capable in short spells but again, this has been limited due to their relative inexperience and the general fractured team around them. Summers looks like he's been playing with an injury or is knackered. We all know what Matty Todd offers. Otoo looks like he could definitely move on to play at a higher level. All in all, I don't look at this squad and think there's been poor signings or investment. If they were all fully fit, I genuinely think we'd be in a race with Partick for 3rd at the very least. There's a couple of guys who have a history of being somewhat injury-prone but in a normal season I think we could have managed them and got valuable game time out of them.

When I say they'll want to try and maximise their close-season budget that doesn't mean they'll sign noone. It might mean they'll sign 1 player instead of the 3 or more people seem to expect. It might mean they'll be quite limited in the money they'll want to spend even if they are in the market (which I'm sure they are), which limits what players we can attract. Just for those hard of reading, I started my post with "I think there's an outside chance we sign noone" - an outside chance. I think they'll be looking but if people are expecting a big refresh of this squad, I think they are going to be disappointed.

Disappointed to see reading comprehension is poor on Pie & Bovril - it's the sort of declining educational standards I'd expect on lesser forums like .net and Facebook. I didn't say they wouldn't try to sign anyone. But rather that we're not overly active in the market, whether that's down to the league position and form of us/other teams, a very limited budget or some other reason. I also don't think we're buying/loaning from a position of strength - unlikely we'd want to sign anyone up beyond the summer and that's not exactly going to have players knocking the door down. As bad as the situation is, I don't think the club should or need to be throwing money at the squad - I do think we should have more than enough to be safe. Just to be clearly so you boys don't wet yourself: I do think we need at least an experienced centre-half and something different in centre of midfield in this transfer window. I'm just not convinced that's going to happen.

I think there's an outside chance we sign noone. I think we're very light on money and if McPake and the board feel we have enough to stay safe of relegation, even allowing for recoveries for injuries, I suspect they'll want to try and maximise their options and budget for the close season window. Not saying I agree with it but I think expectations need to be calibrated somewhat.

Totally agree. Mentally, I'm writing off the next 2-4 weeks in the hope that some of the injured and tired players can begin finding form again through February and into March. The only concern is there are 4 home games coming up we would otherwise have looked to bring in a decent points tally - difficult balance between letting players rest and being competitive in key fixtures. Difficult balancing act but hopefully some rest does the squad the world of good.

Good to see the polis genuinely following through on what happened after the Raith game: https://www.scotland.police.uk/what-s-happening/news/2024/january/arrests-following-assault-in-dunfermline/

I'd be happy risking three points here by continuing to blood academy players if it means some of the injured senior players get recovery time. Cannot continue to ask players to play if not fit or if injured.

Don't think you do. I'm not a subscriber and read it earlier. Try cleaning out cookies or try in incognito mode.

No issues with Fenton's performance, or Sutherland up top. Boys did fine given the circumstances. I'd keep giving them some game time to try and let some other guys recover - ultimately, you hope they step up but it's a balancing act between giving them the experience and protecting them from the pressure and expectation. Important fans support them regardless of performances.

Totally agree. There's going to be increasing pressure and scrutiny across the club: players need to stop feeling sorry for themselves and step up to plate, management need to find a way to navigate the crisis, and the board need to provide some support in the form or 2 or 3 players even if just loans til the end of season. 4 home games in the next 5 - support need to try and find a way to lift the team and bring some points in.

Knock yourself out big guy. You stick it to us as much as you like until you think the scales have been balanced. That'll teach us.

Maybe he's quite happy for us to continually remind them they signed David Goodwillie, and forever hold it against them. Thankfully, he's not representative of the Rovers fans I know or read on here.