Ro Sham Bo Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 22 minutes ago, Dunning1874 said: How many first team players do you actually have now? By my count it's 25 but I could be over/understating that based on having no knowledge of which younger players would be classed as part of the first team, taking a first team wage, etc. Mental size of squad regardless. It must be somewhere near that amount, can't be bothered counting. We will probably let a few go in January but Locke can have absolutely no complaints about not being backed when it comes to adding to the squad. A week ago he was saying we would need to move others out before bringing adding anyone in January but already two players have signed and only Robbie Crawford appears to have left, who was probably on peanuts anyway. If this squad fails Locke has no excuses, because these are his players. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paco Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 I could be being exceptionally unfair because recent form/the old pals act has me really pissed off, but the only Locke signing who has been truly successful so far has been M'Voto, The rest of our better players this season - Cuthbert, Benedictus, Bobby Barr, Matthews, Callachan, Thomson before injury - were already here or McKinnon signings. The like of Jordan Thompson and Chris Johnson haven't been bad but aren't setting anything on fire. McHattie is great one week and awful the next so OK overall, I guess. McManus isn't working. Robbie Crawford already punted. Skacel is a disaster. Roberts too. I have no confidence that Locke will sign the right players going by his track record thus far - but you could make the same accusation of McKinnon last season, who had signed the likes of Wighton, Daly, Petrie, Megginson and McCord before getting it right in January (he had signed Toshney and Bene though, who were excellent).. The first-team squad currently has 23 players plus six youth players (counting Osei as youth since it's obvious he'll never play). That's quite clearly too big, and is surely the best backing our board has ever given any manager. I imagine Brennan who is out of contract soon (if not already) will leave. It's the perfect chance to punt Scott Roberts but Locke inexplicably wants to keep him. Makes sense to put Osei on a development loan so he can play first-team matches as well as for our u20's. But I don't see any other obvious candidate to leave - in fact, the two glaring people to get rid of are Rudi Skacel which won't happen, and (already) Ryan Stevenson... So Vaughan on loan might just be true. Imagine signing Ryan Stevenson and putting Lewis Vaughan out on loan. Surely not? It's like a parody of what we expected from Locke when he got the job. I also posted this on the match thread, but Locke couldn't find a spot in the squad yesterday for Vaughan and Matthews, but did manage to find space for three Rangers youth players and two of his over the hill old pals. Thought he was interested in youth development? Happy new year, Rovers fans. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bring Back Paddy Flannery Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 I wouldn't put it past Locke, but I don't think the board would allow it. Vaughn has been very highly rated in the past, and the club made a big effort in his recovery last year. I don't think they'd let him go to a team 4 points behind us. Surely the board have to back the manager? If he wants to get shot of him on loan and they say no they'd be as well punting him and bringing someone else in as they clearly don't trust his decision making.If Stevo and Raith have approached us chanting us releasing him so he can join Raith I wouldn't be surprised if we mentioned Vaughan as part of it. As much as we were happy enough to get shot of him he was contracted until the end of the season and would be daft not to use it to our advantage.I see he was left out of the squad completely yesterday, is that a regular thing? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renton Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 47 minutes ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said: Surely the board have to back the manager? If he wants to get shot of him on loan and they say no they'd be as well punting him and bringing someone else in as they clearly don't trust his decision making. If Stevo and Raith have approached us chanting us releasing him so he can join Raith I wouldn't be surprised if we mentioned Vaughan as part of it. As much as we were happy enough to get shot of him he was contracted until the end of the season and would be daft not to use it to our advantage. I see he was left out of the squad completely yesterday, is that a regular thing? No, that's a first. All so we could keep Rudi Skacel and Ryan Stevenson in the squad. Fucksakes. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No_Problemo Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 50 minutes ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said: Surely the board have to back the manager? If he wants to get shot of him on loan and they say no they'd be as well punting him and bringing someone else in as they clearly don't trust his decision making. If Stevo and Raith have approached us chanting us releasing him so he can join Raith I wouldn't be surprised if we mentioned Vaughan as part of it. As much as we were happy enough to get shot of him he was contracted until the end of the season and would be daft not to use it to our advantage. I see he was left out of the squad completely yesterday, is that a regular thing? Surely Raith wouldn't be that unbelievably thick, and would know Dumbarton would be desperate to get him off the wage bill. If Dumbarton have managed to get rid of him without paying off his contract then that in itself is a massive win for them. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renton Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 1 hour ago, Paco said: I could be being exceptionally unfair because recent form/the old pals act has me really pissed off, but the only Locke signing who has been truly successful so far has been M'Voto, The rest of our better players this season - Cuthbert, Benedictus, Bobby Barr, Matthews, Callachan, Thomson before injury - were already here or McKinnon signings. The like of Jordan Thompson and Chris Johnson haven't been bad but aren't setting anything on fire. McHattie is great one week and awful the next so OK overall, I guess. McManus isn't working. Robbie Crawford already punted. Skacel is a disaster. Roberts too. I have no confidence that Locke will sign the right players going by his track record thus far - but you could make the same accusation of McKinnon last season, who had signed the likes of Wighton, Daly, Petrie, Megginson and McCord before getting it right in January (he had signed Toshney and Bene though, who were excellent).. The first-team squad currently has 23 players plus six youth players (counting Osei as youth since it's obvious he'll never play). That's quite clearly too big, and is surely the best backing our board has ever given any manager. I imagine Brennan who is out of contract soon (if not already) will leave. It's the perfect chance to punt Scott Roberts but Locke inexplicably wants to keep him. Makes sense to put Osei on a development loan so he can play first-team matches as well as for our u20's. But I don't see any other obvious candidate to leave - in fact, the two glaring people to get rid of are Rudi Skacel which won't happen, and (already) Ryan Stevenson... So Vaughan on loan might just be true. Imagine signing Ryan Stevenson and putting Lewis Vaughan out on loan. Surely not? It's like a parody of what we expected from Locke when he got the job. I also posted this on the match thread, but Locke couldn't find a spot in the squad yesterday for Vaughan and Matthews, but did manage to find space for three Rangers youth players and two of his over the hill old pals. Thought he was interested in youth development? Happy new year, Rovers fans. Largely agree, although I think Johnston is coming more into it, and will be a good player for us, but yeah McManus, Skacel and Roberts haven't worked out, and the inexplicable bullet proof nature of both Skacel and McManus' place in the team is more damning than anything else. Stevenson is Locke's John Daly, him sating his urge to have some big b*****d to lump high balls at. The next few months could well be absolutely brutal, and we could well be in a relegation fight soon enough. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bring Back Paddy Flannery Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 Surely Raith wouldn't be that unbelievably thick, and would know Dumbarton would be desperate to get him off the wage bill. If Dumbarton have managed to get rid of him without paying off his contract then that in itself is a massive win for them. They wouldn't know we wanted shot of him...On your second point, I completely agree. He was top of my release list due to being our top earner, I never actually thought it would happen. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Vojáček Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 No, that's a first. All so we could keep Rudi Skacel and Ryan Stevenson in the squad. Fucksakes. Hmm...The fact he wasn't in the squad says to me that there could be some truth in the rumours.Has the guy on Fantalk who started the rumour said where he heard it? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renton Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 1 minute ago, Sonsteam of 08 said: Hmm...The fact he wasn't in the squad says to me that there could be some truth in the rumours. Has the guy on Fantalk who started the rumour said where he heard it? Vaughan to a team 4 points behind us is fucking insane. If Locke does that, it only proves how far he's lost the plot. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bring Back Paddy Flannery Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 Vaughan to a team 4 points behind us is fucking insane. If Locke does that, it only proves how far he's lost the plot. If he wanted Stevo badly enough and he doesn't rate Vaughan then... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renton Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 15 minutes ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said: If he wanted Stevo badly enough and he doesn't rate Vaughan then... Well yeah. I was more than a little disappointed when we got Locke in, but he did enough in the first few months to confound his critics, including me. He's reverting well enough to type now though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poet of the Macabre Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 Locke came in and Rovers fans didn't want him. He fluked a few decent results and the Rovers fans loved him. Now they're playing to their normal standard and the Rovers fans don't like him again. So wee, so fickle. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 Locke came in and Rovers fans didn't want him. He fluked a few decent results and the Rovers fans loved him. Now they're playing to their normal standard and the Rovers fans don't like him again. So wee, so fickle. Loved him? Tolerated him perhaps. We're stuck with him until the end of next season unless he really fucks up. What a time to be alive etc. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ro Sham Bo Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 54 minutes ago, Sonsteam of 08 said: Hmm...The fact he wasn't in the squad says to me that there could be some truth in the rumours. Has the guy on Fantalk who started the rumour said where he heard it? Apparently from Vaughan himself. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Vojáček Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 7 minutes ago, Martin Nelson said: Apparently from Vaughan himself. Well that's potentially smashing. I doubted this pretty strongly last night, but it does look like one of these mental things that could end up happening. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squeezeboxson Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 What's the deal with McManus then? Pretty sure he was highly rated early in the season. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renton Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 4 minutes ago, squeezeboxson said: What's the deal with McManus then? Pretty sure he was highly rated early in the season. Hard worker, quite pacy and strong but hasn't really been on form lately and hasn't had a natural partner since Vaughan got dropped. McManus and Stewart are too similar in style to be effective and Skacel is a passenger so that when they play together, McManus is left carrying the can for both of them - He's constantly pulled wide and never seems to be around the box when we need him. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boghead ranter Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 20 minutes ago, renton said: Hard worker, quite pacy and strong but hasn't really been on form lately and hasn't had a natural partner since Vaughan got dropped. McManus and Stewart are too similar in style to be effective and Skacel is a passenger so that when they play together, McManus is left carrying the can for both of them - He's constantly pulled wide and never seems to be around the box when we need him. I was at your game @ Falkirk - I was pretty impressed with him that day. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renton Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 13 minutes ago, Boghead ranter said: I was at your game @ Falkirk - I was pretty impressed with him that day. Aye, well, that was the last game we looked remotely threatening in. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 Surprised to see Locke signing another player with a connection to Hearts, tbh. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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