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MurrayWell

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Posts posted by MurrayWell

  1. 17 minutes ago, Handsome_Devil said:

    Resale value isn't something we should worry about for keepers imo. It's an exceptional position which merits its own approach.

    We've seen with ourselves and others that selling goalkeepers is incredibly hard. Pay the money for the best we can afford in the present and consider it well spent for the time that guy is there.

    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.

  2. 38 minutes ago, CoF said:

    When you say go down that route, what exactly do you mean? The route of signing excellent goalkeepers? As @crazylegsjoe_mfc says, it’s harder than just plucking an out of favour keeper off a league one bench. 
     

    If you mean out of favour at bigger English clubs, then you could argue that’s the mould of a lot of our recent keepers. Griffiths was at Everton, Oxborough - Norwich, Ripley - Middlesbrough, Chapman - Peterborough, Archer - just released by Fulham. All varying degrees of success.
     

    We’ve definitely been spoiled by Ruddy, Randolph and Gillespie - here’s hoping you’re right in the next one coming in replicates their successes. 
     


     

     

    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.

  3. 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. 

  4. 2 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

    Tbf, regardless of whether it's Celtic or not, going by the reporting I think the main takeaway from the Kelly thing is that (as expected) he's most likely away.

    Which is fine and I think everyone agrees that a fresh start somewhere else is what he needs.

    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'. 

  5. 1 minute ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

    McGinn has been incredibly consistent since he's come here, regardless of what sort of basket case is going on around him. I'd be amazed if we started next season with a back three who were all upgrades on him. Giving him an extension even isn't a question for me.

    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. 

  6. 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. 

  7. 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? 

  8. 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. 

  9. 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. 

  10. 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. 

  11. 1 minute ago, Eliphas Pettigrew said:

    Puts Bair ahead of quite a few former goalscoring heroes in terms of goal scored in 1st season at club:-

    Relying on memory,

    van Veen

    Higdon

    Sutton

    Porter

    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. 

  12. 1 hour ago, Ron Aldo said:

    Maybe he could try coaching us on how to defend corners? 

     

     

    6f3ac503f4839adbeaa517e96724785f.gif.bca7acde8adb7e4b865a54c30ed26d5c.gif

     

    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 😂

  13. 16 minutes ago, Vietnam91 said:

    Covered about 20 pages back but let's not rewrite history here. When signed it was more of a collective shoulder shrug but most were fair willing to give the benefit of the doubt albeit measured as it was accepted he was a 4th choice .... pastures new and all that.

    Until Christmas the vast majority of our support couldn't see much of a difference from his St Johnstone spell and if they did they were very much an outlier.

    Cometh the hour though and he stepped up when Mika was recalled and off that has at the very least earned a decent salary bump in August to a very generous one dependent on offers pretty much due to the last 15 games.

    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. 

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