Sons' sorrow

[Jan Vojáček]

I'm taking this as a good sign. Also, I absolutely love that he trains in his free time wearing a Sons top  

 

[Passionate]

5 hours ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

Not according to Wiki....

Did our Steven not leave his wife and young child for a polis with massive jugs and emigrate to Canada,   always,seemed a,quiet lad to me

[The Moonster]

Have you ever seen bendy water, Leigh? They have it at DFC.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

In other news Rangers have now withdrawn their B team from the Lowland League in what reads like a massive fit of pique.  Quelle domage.

[TullyBascombe]

1 hour ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

In other news Rangers have now withdrawn their B team from the Lowland League in what reads like a massive fit of pique.  Quelle domage.

Did Alex Lowry die for this?

[lorenzo71]

3 hours ago, The Moonster said:

Have you ever seen bendy water, Leigh? They have it at DFC.

First Ben Armour now the Griff....your missing Armand One surely?

PITK.

[welshbairn]

6 hours ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

In other news Rangers have now withdrawn their B team from the Lowland League in what reads like a massive fit of pique.  Quelle domage.

Wonder if Ibrox quietly passed the word to Dumbarton that they'd better look for other tenants for next season?

[BallochSonsFan]

Michael Ruth signs.

Not sure if he's an out and out striker or more of a player who can play a couple of attacking roles? Either way, its good to see us try and add a bit of offensive threat to the squad.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

1 minute ago, welshbairn said:

Wonder if Ibrox quietly passed the word to Dumbarton that they'd better look for other tenants for next season?

You are way behind the times my friend....our Board has now fixed up Broomhill for the next five seasons

[welshbairn]

6 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

You are way behind the times my friend....our Board has now fixed up Broomhill for the next five seasons

That's what I meant, did Dumbarton get an early warning or did getting kicked off your ground prove the final humiliation for Rangers B?

[The Moonster]

17 minutes ago, BallochSonsFan said:

Michael Ruth signs.

Not sure if he's an out and out striker or more of a player who can play a couple of attacking roles? Either way, its good to see us try and add a bit of offensive threat to the squad.

As much as he hasn't really scored goals it could be dropping to this level is what he needs. If I remember correctly he has a bit of pace about him which is usually pretty important in this league. Pretty sure he can play as a striker or off the left but may be wrong. Happy to add him to the squad. 

Griffiths must be next. 

[BallochSonsFan]

11 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

As much as he hasn't really scored goals it could be dropping to this level is what he needs. If I remember correctly he has a bit of pace about him which is usually pretty important in this league. Pretty sure he can play as a striker or off the left but may be wrong. Happy to add him to the squad. 

Griffiths must be next. 

 

I'd rather we didnt sign Griffiths. Not the kind of guy I'd want at the club. We've signed some players with questionable pasts before, so this isnt purely about Griffiths. And I'm sure we'll sign folk in the future who aren't nice people. If he signs and he scores goals then obviously I'll be satisfied that we've got a prover scorer, but I do wish it wasn't Griffiths. 

[The Moonster]

1 minute ago, BallochSonsFan said:

 

I'd rather we didnt sign Griffiths. Not the kind of guy I'd want at the club. We've signed some players with questionable pasts before, so this isnt purely about Griffiths. And I'm sure we'll sign folk in the future who aren't nice people. If he signs and he scores goals then obviously I'll be satisfied that we've got a prover scorer, but I do wish it wasn't Griffiths. 

I'm just joking around, Griffiths won't be anywhere near a part time side in this country. 

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

In ye come big shagger Ruth. 

I reckon this could be a shrewd addition. He doesn’t appear to have had the best of seasons last year for whatever reason but I think Ruth will do well at this level. Many a striker has dropped into this hovel of a league and grabbed double figures after doing very little elsewhere, lets hope Michael Ruth is the next one!

[O'Kelly Isley III]

40 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

That's what I meant, did Dumbarton get an early warning or did getting kicked off your ground prove the final humiliation for Rangers B?

I think the truth of it was that for a couple of reasons the relationship between ourselves and Rangers had cooled and they would not have been playing here anyway - the decision to withdraw their B team from the Lowland League wouldn't have had any bearing on things.

[FifeSons]

[Skyline Drifter]

1 hour ago, BallochSonsFan said:

Michael Ruth signs.

Not sure if he's an out and out striker or more of a player who can play a couple of attacking roles? Either way, its good to see us try and add a bit of offensive threat to the squad.

He's an out and out striker. Don't think he could really play anywhere else. Quite tall. Never got a run of games with us. He started the season injured early on and took a while to get fit and by then he was behind Ruari Paton and others. I think he was likely signed as a physical option off the bench and perhaps cover for Gavin Reilly who had a disappointing season himself. First half of the season he was largely used as a late sub. Scored his only goal in a 4-0 demolition of Edinburgh in the SPFL Trust Trophy when we fielded a few fringe players. When Bartley came in and immediately dropped Gavin Reilly out, he gave Ruth a chance to stake a claim with 3 starts in a row but it didn't happen for him, culminating in subbing him off in the first half of the SPFL Trust Trophy semi final at Hamilton. He never played for us again, though continued to be an unused sub for much of the rest of the season before missing the last month altogether due to a training injury.

Didn't really see enough of him at first team level to say how good he was. He played more for Falkirk on loan the year before so they'll know more. He ultimately only started 6 games for us. Used sub 17 times but most of them were very short appearances. I think / hope he'll do quite well given a run of games but I wouldn't expect any fancy flicks and tricks. He's a physical player.

[The Moonster]

I'd say it's just some cover for centre back and our squad is complete (on the assumption Harry Broun re-signs). I'd like another left winger for reasons I'll go into but I'm not sure we'll stretch to that. We could potentially field a team in which Aron Lynas, Tony Wallace, Ryan Wallace, Micky Ruth and Ryan Blair were all on the bench and the starting 11 would be a strong one. Certainly much more strength in depth this year. My worries are goals and balance. Nobody in the squad has a great number of goals to their name so we'll see if we come up short in that department again. On balance, we look as strong as you'll get in League 2 down the right but the left leaves a fair bit to be desired. Lynas, Pignatiello, Wallace and Orsi should all see us well down the right side. Young is still inexperienced even though seemingly rated and the back up there is Greg Wylde (Malcolm if we're stuck). Further forward it seems we're going with Ross MacLean or Greg Wylde and for me that just pales in comparison to the opposite flank. We could become easy to stuff out in attack if it's all down one side. We'll see how it goes but it's good to have almost all of our business done this early. 

[PWL]

So, aside from the potential re-signing of Broun and Vata, are we thinking that's our business just about done for the summer? 

Edit- much better put by @The Moonster

Edited June 15, 2023 by PWL

[Jan Vojáček]

25 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

He's an out and out striker.

I wouldn't expect any fancy flicks and tricks. He's a physical player.

Music to my ears.

Anyway, I've always quite liked the look of Michael Ruth. And I had a feeling we'd be in the market for him this summer. He ripped us to shreds for a terrible Falkirk team a few seasons back, and he always looked like 'he had something about him' - albeit it would need a bit of smoothing off.

He's not played a great deal of football since that loan spell a few seasons back, but he's exactly the sort of player I've been wanting us to go for. Young, to a degree unproven, with experience at a higher level and (I would imagine) a bit of a point to prove and a desire to get back full-time.

Obviously he's not scored a great deal of goals in his career. But we were never going to be able to sign someone with 15/20 goals to his name last season, and Ruth looks like someone with the potential and raw attributes to score double figures in this league with the right service. Tommy Goss didn't score many for QOS (albeit in the Championship) but always had the raw attributes to be a threat with the right team around him, experience and perhaps a bit more time at a lower level. Here's hoping that Ruth can be a similar hit. If he can net half as many goals as Goss managed last season then we'll have a gem on our hands.

I'm looking forward to seeing him play. Which is the case with quite a few members of this squad. We look in a decent place squad wise to me, especially give we're still a few days before pre-season starts. I'm already playing about with potential formations and lineups in the my notepad!