MurrayWell

Scott Burns is having a shite few days, Nick Montgomery gets another hammering and now this headline.

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Aye, you're probably right here, I'd imagine it's something we canny completely dismiss as a selling club, but may well be a lower priority. I remember expecting us to make a fair bit off of Randolph and we got nothing in the end, and as you've said others seem to struggle when it comes to selling keepers. I think ideally for us we sign a number one with a point to prove and have someone who has some experience as back-up, but I also suspect that's not an easy thing to do either for a club with our budget.

Signing excellent goalkeepers would be a great tactic eh? I more mean looking to bring someone in as number one with a career ahead of them, rather than someone at 36 who we'll have very little resale value in. Mentioned Ruddy/Randolph/Gillespie as they should be our go to names for getting those of similar standing to choose us rather than a rival. Obviously as you say there is no guarantee someone will settle, which is why I mentioned having experienced back up might not be a bad idea.

I'd expect (and hope) we're trying to go down the Ruddy/Randolph/Gillespie route for our next first choice keeper. Kelly is likely away, Oxborough is as well leaving. I mind there being a good bit of chat that he was being trained up to ultimately be Kelly's replacement, but given how little he's featured, particularly when Kelly stopped using his hands, it's probably not a project that's worked out. If we're looking to bring in two keepers, one in the Ruddy/Randolph/Gillespie mould and another as back-up, I have absolutely no issue with that back-up being Joe Lewis. He's far from a world-beater but is experienced at this level and probably gives a bit of a safety net of your back-up not being a total rookie if whoever else we bring in takes a while to settle. It's highly unlikely we're going to get an experienced back-up of a higher standard than Lewis, if he was signed as number one, that's a whole different story.

Adam Montgomery really must have impressed in that Alloa game, he's just been given a new Celtic deal. Wonder if it's on the cards for him to be back to actually have loan stint next season, would prefer we got a new permanent left back if we can't get Gent but Ketts obviously liked Montgomery enough to bring him in.

Personally, it's the constant conceding of goals that annoys me more.

Also our highest earner by a fair bit apparently, so makes sense. Kettlewell seems to like him, so I wouldn't at all be surprised if he was offered a new deal on reduced terms. But personally I think if someone is offering Kelly thousands of pounds a week to be third choice he'd be daft not to take it. He has been good for us at times, but it's really not working out here for him at the moment. I'm sure someone else pointed out, earlier in the thread, he's now at the point where, even if he went on an incredible run of form for us, as soon as a mistake is made all confidence is lost again, from the fans anyway. He may well not end up at Celtic as third choice, or whatever, but I absolutely agree it's time for both parties to shake hands and say 'aw the best'.

If Kelly gets a life-changing contract at Celtic after the season he's had you have to say fair play . Was seeing something about them needing eight homegrown players in their squad and only having six at the moment, so maybe not the wildest suggestion.

Did hear he's been offered an extension and was just a case of waiting to secure our Premiership status before finalising it. Hopefully that's true, McGinn has been terrific for us.

I'd absolutely keep SODs, he's been really decent for the most part this season and has bags of experience at this level. Given how many players we are likely to see coming in (many of which I'd expect will have little to no experience of the Scottish Premiership), I think it's important we keep a few experienced bodies around. If Liam Kelly, Bevis Mugabi, Callum Butcher, Jon Obika and Blair Spittal are heading for the exit, that's a huge amount of experience at this level. I'd be keen to keep Stephen O'Donnell, Paul McGinn and Sam Nicholson. It's also why I don't think Halliday is a bad signing, albeit he's not been great so far on the park.

Might we be in for two right backs? We've got about 40 just now.

Lazy clickbait merchants. I did notice the reporter doubled down on the error too, pretty ridiculous mistake to make. Literally going to Lennon's wiki page would be the extend of the effort required. Shocking stuff.

I'd say in general we've seen players grow in confidence, buy into the system under the current coaching staff. I get that goalkeeper is a unique position, but I think Kelly is a bit of an outlier here. He's had an absolute horror show of a season, where he's looked like he's constantly second guessing himself. Could it be the case that he's hit his ceiling and we saw the best of him a few seasons back? I'd say it's more likely to be that than coaches telling him to stop communicating and to just do nothing at corners. I think Kelly has been a good keeper for us at times (absolutely not this season) but he's nowhere near as good as some of the hype videos from the club would have folk believe, or his reported salary would suggest. Defence hasn't helped this season but, as @Busta Nut said, could some of the shambolic defending be a symptom of having less confidence in the keeper organising it all?

Did say the name wouldn't excite folk... Only thing I suppose is perhaps we're looking to get an actual experienced back-up keeper in, rather than first choice, similar to when Scott Fox cut about for a bit. At points this season, Liam Kelly absolutely should have been dropped, but when the only guy we have to replace him is someone who has played twice for us and isn't trusted, we didn't have a choice but to play him.

The name I heard wasn't David Marshall or Scott Bain... A man of chucking them in against us at Fir Park fame, most recently spotted training with Manchester United. Very odd if true. Not sure if that's the same fella @Despheard about too, but certainly raised a few eyebrows in our group when it was mentioned as being a likely deal.

I must admit my reaction to it wasn't "Man, will that signing unite the support"... (it's not de Gea).

We've just signed Moses on a 1.5 year deal from a league that runs in a different cycle than us, I'd be absolutely astonished if he wasn't with us next season. I think he's looked okay in the limited games he's had, took his goal well at Dundee, should have had an assist against Hibs (Oli Shaw chance). He's only played 51 minutes for us, let's see what he can bring after a full pre-season I'd say.

"An experienced keeper" has already agreed a deal was some of the chat at the game too, which if true would likely suggest that Liam Kelly is offski, or if he is staying we have actual competition for the GK position. Not that I think we'd get him, but Mitov might have a relegation clause @Handsome_Devil, allowing him to leave if St Johnstone go down?

Right enjoyed the game yesterday, said it before but when we're in the mood we're a really fun team to watch. Halliday's already signed a deal with us, he'll be here. I don't think he's brought much, but he was fine yesterday. Willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and a pre-season to see what he can bring. We also do probably next a few experienced heads given we're due for another sizable rebuild. I'd look to keep Nicholson, have wondered since he came in if Kettlewell viewed him as a bit of a Spittal replacement, played that role yesterday really well. Always thought he was a cracking player at Hearts, so would be great if he stuck about. Also heard the Rooney and Easton chat yesterday, but also that we've already got quite a few signings lined up on PCAs. That does add up with Friel's comments the other day about having a more complete, settled squad for pre-season and not repeating what we did this season, where a lot of players who were with us in the Netherlands were getting punted. Theo Bair is just getting better and better for us. Will be interesting to see if anyone does come in for him or if he fancies sticking about here. I know he's still got another year but you'd expect/hope we're offering him improved terms. Lennon Miller is just an absolute joy to watch, an unreal talent. Thought yesterday was one of his quieter games but he was still absolutely class on the ball, his pass to Gent for the third was superb, as was Gent's cross for Bair. Speaking of Gent, I think he's gone from a guy Blackburn fans didn't even know played for them to someone we'll struggle to get back, another cracking player.

No, no me too. I just thought he had 16 league goals that season but must have just had his overall in mind.

Off the top of my head too but I always thought Higdon was 16 in his first season. Point still stands though, Bair has been great for us this season.

Speaking of Louis Moult... Best ever league return for us: 15 Theo Bair's current league return for us: 15. Narrative eh?

FWIW at the time I really didn't think it was a red. Still think it's harsh and maybe shouldn't be a red (that's a whole other argument about how the game has changed) but I canny get my head around the reaction from the football club it's really not the massive injustice Kettlewell is making it out to be

All about opinions, but I also said about 20 pages back that I thought even when he wasn't scoring his link up play was pretty good during our early decent form and pretty key to how we were playing at that time (Hearts away for example). Can't speak for the majority of the support here, but certainly a good few on here have been pretty vocal in their support of him from the early days, praising his work rate and general play. Perhaps that was in part to counter the negativity, but I don't think that's a rewriting of history.