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Walking Down The Halbeath Road


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4 minutes ago, DBA said:

Looking at the squad now, I reckon the main business needed for AJ now is to keep Herron until the end of the season. Losing him would be a big blow.

Is McMullan already signed to the end of the season? If not, AJ needs to get him signed up as well.

The only other business will be if players leave. I'd keep Farid as back-up, but it all depends on his wages and whether AJ has identified someone else who could take his place. I wouldn't lose sleep if he left, but we would need a replacement in.

I'd be surprised if Spence and Hopkirk are still here at the end of the month - reckon they both could leave permanently, or at least out on loan. Also think Williamson will go out on loan - with a recall clause should we pick up a few injuries/suspensions. I really like Williamson but he's struggled this year and needs regular game time, and he's now third/fourth choice.

Reilly is the only other who could move on - would be no great loss, but it depends on the terms of the loan and whether Cathro actually wants him back!

Overall, if we end the month with the current squad still here, I'd be delighted.

Spence can only play for Brechin again this season so that may be a factor in whether he leaves or not this month. 

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6 minutes ago, smpar said:

Herron and McMullan are staying until the end of the season. May as well hand us that Championship trophy now tbh.

That's great news. It says Herron "made sacrifices" to stay here. Can't beat a bit of Voodoo in the quest to finish 4th. 

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That's great news. It says Herron "made sacrifices" to stay here. Can't beat a bit of Voodoo in the quest to finish 4th. 

Not really much of a sacrifice to choose the Kingdom over the scaffiest town in England (maybe a close second to Margate).
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I'd very happily take Herron on a permanent basis if he's out of contract at the end of the season. Is his contract just up until the summer or is it longer?

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12 minutes ago, smpar said:

I'd very happily take Herron on a permanent basis if he's out of contract at the end of the season. Is his contract just up until the summer or is it longer?

as far as I can make out he signed a plain 2 year deal in 2015 so is available in the summer i guess. I would also happily have him back

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RE: Reilly's potential - It is literally no benefit to us if he has potential or not. Right now he is ineffective at best, which we don't need. He may well be decent in the future and I wish him all the best but right now we would be better off without him, especially given that he pushes Hopkirk and our youth guys one more rung down the pecking order, the problem with our youth system for years was that we turned away players for being too short, not too bad as well as guff wage-thieves keeping the ones who were good and tall enough out of the team. Before Nicky Phinn I cannot remember the last player who successfully made it through our youth system and went on to hold any kind of position in or around the first-team.

As well as the fact that any guys with good potential tend to get snapped up before we can actually start playing them, notably McHattie and Crossan, although if it wasn't for the former leaving us we wouldn't have had such an easy opener at Starks, butterfly effect i suppose.

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There was a Hibs fan page that said ourselves and Raith had shown 'interest' in Danny Handling.

So I'm going to assume that we 100% will not sign him, as it's the same Hibs fan page that confirmed El Bakhtaoui as a pre-contract signing 7 times last season.

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18 hours ago, Adam101 said:

Glad they are both signed up for the rest of the season, I wonder if Herron is looking at getting a move back to Scotland after his Blackpool contract is up at the end of the season.

Nae doubt! So many Scottish players cry back to Scotland after being found out down south. Did Nicky Clark even last 2 minutes :lol:

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We should Reilly with a proven striker like Loy? Loaning out Williamson, Spence and maybe Hopkirk. Would keep Farid on and see if we can get one more in? Right back and Herron replacement if injured. Geggan, Martin and Fordyce can fill in but we lack a real quality right back. 

If we can keep everyone fit we will stay up but if Herron or Murdoch gets injured we will struggle.

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We should Reilly with a proven striker like Loy? Loaning out Williamson, Spence and maybe Hopkirk. Would keep Farid on and see if we can get one more in? Right back and Herron replacement if injured. Geggan, Martin and Fordyce can fill in but we lack a real quality right back. 

If we can keep everyone fit we will stay up but if Herron or Murdoch gets injured we will struggle.

In an ideal world, I would agree. However, you've got to accept the reality of the situation. We can't just send Reilly back to Hearts. There was no recall agreement in place when the loan was agreed. Also, we cannot afford to have quality replacements/backup for every position. I'm sure every team in this division (perhaps except from Hibs), would be struggling if they lost one or two key players, as Herron and Murdoch are for us. That's the reality of where we are, and it doesn't put us at a disadvantage when compared to our rivals. That's why it's important to have versatile players like Geggan and Martin, who are competent in a few different roles.

Spence can only be loaned back to Brechin, as he cannot play for any other club this season. Hopkirk is never fit, so can't see him leaving on loan - unless we pay a substantial percentage of his wages. If possible, we should be trying to loan out Williamson - again, you need interest from other teams for that to happen.

AJ sees Martin as a full back. He has looked very good this season and is our first choice RB. Geggan has done well covering there, and Fordyce is also an option there. We also have Spark and Duthie in the u20s as options. I'd be very surprised if we spent money on another RB, and would argue that LB is a bigger concern. With nobody other than Martin (first choice RB ) to cover there. We have no left sided defenders other than Talbot.

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Agreed, I do realise this. In an ideal situation.

AJ was a bit naive in thinking that four or five players were up to championship standard. BRE, Williamson, Hopkirk, Spence and Hutton should not have been signed on. McCabe and Moffat have came up to a decent standard recently but initially struggled.

Fair play to him for turning it around though and the signings of Herron and McMullan saved the day.

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Reilly's potential would have shown through by now. We can't expect a player to take 6 months to realise this potential. It's not just the lack of goals but the fact that he has been so utterly ineffective so far.

Talbot and Ashcroft have scored more goals than him, as have Geggan and McCabe. And Cardle, McMullen, Higginbotham, El Alagui, Moffat and Clark. 

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