Handsome_Devil Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 33 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said: Interesting, this. Following Turnbull/Campbell/Scott/Hastie it felt like there was a bit of a drop off (as we've seen in the first team certainly), probably not helped by a global pandemic interrupting all football, but reassuring to hear there's at least a handful more who can potentially make the grade. It is. Tbf the club flagged in advance there'd be a break after those four as the two top prospects, McAlear and McKinstry, were snaffled before the first team stage. Had they progressed as planned they'd likely be moving on around now and the gap to players before and after them would have been much closer. I do find it a little surprising AB is even hinting at what's to come though - the most hyped prospects have been Miller and Rice, who afaik are only 15 so they're not even getting token run outs till late next season at the very earliest. We haven't been getting much (any?) recognition at the international age groups above their level recently, again afaik, so unless he's talking about Johnston - odd given we'e just signed McGinn? - or Devine it's coming out of the blue somewhat. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santheman Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 Heard a wee rumour from my friends in the WOSL that we've made enquiries about entering a B team into the Lowland League to join the OF. Don't know if there's anything in it but would certainly give us a platform for regular meaningful games for the fringe/youth players. Whether having a LL full of B teams is good for Scottish football and the pyramid system in general is a whole other argument though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 (edited) 36 minutes ago, santheman said: Heard a wee rumour from my friends in the WOSL that we've made enquiries about entering a B team into the Lowland League to join the OF. Don't know if there's anything in it but would certainly give us a platform for regular meaningful games for the fringe/youth players. Whether having a LL full of B teams is good for Scottish football and the pyramid system in general is a whole other argument though. Burrows was asked about this at the last AGM I was at a few years ago and the response was <paraphrase> it's something we'd be interested in, in principle, from the POV of player development as we felt the young players got more out of the competitive games they played in the Irn Bru Cup than the Dev league/Reserves but the associated costs of effectively running two teams would make it unrealistic </paraphrase>. I wonder if the whole having a new, more robust pitch/playing surface at FP thing plus the additional backroom staff we seem to have hired might make it more viable on that front? Edited June 23, 2022 by capt_oats 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al B Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 "Alexa, show me a picture that explains how long it is since we won at Ibrox in the league, without the need for words" 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 Pitch update. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santheman Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 1 hour ago, capt_oats said: Burrows was asked about this at the last AGM I was at a few years ago and the response was <paraphrase> it's something we'd be interested in, in principle, from the POV of player development as we felt the young players got more out of the competitive games they played in the Irn Bru Cup than the Dev league/Reserves but the associated costs of effectively running two teams would make it unrealistic </paraphrase>. I wonder if the whole having a new, more robust pitch/playing surface at FP thing plus the additional backroom staff we seem to have hired might make it more viable on that front? It would certainly help in a development sense, proper competitive games on a decent pitch can only make them better players. I would certainly go and watch them if I wasn't going to an away game or we were playing at different times. As you say finances would probably dictate in the end as well as the LL being open to such a move (they're not going to agree without some kind of sweetener) I know my pyramidster friends are already frothing at the mouth at the mere suggestion and banging on about "integrity" 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisGRAEME Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 1 minute ago, santheman said: As you say finances would probably dictate in the end as well as the LL being open to such a move (they're not going to agree without some kind of sweetener) About £20 should do it I reckon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigkillie Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 It would certainly help in a development sense, proper competitive games on a decent pitch can only make them better players. I would certainly go and watch them if I wasn't going to an away game or we were playing at different times. As you say finances would probably dictate in the end as well as the LL being open to such a move (they're not going to agree without some kind of sweetener) I know my pyramidster friends are already frothing at the mouth at the mere suggestion and banging on about "integrity" How would you feel if Man Utd or Chelsea put a B team in the Premiership? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu92 Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 It’d probably be quite beneficial to us from a player development perspective, but I’d be quite opposed to a B team in the LL on a matter of principle. I’d be much happier to see us commit half a dozen loans to league 1/2 each season where players could still train with us throughout the week but still get competitive, meaningful football. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu92 Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 Not sure if this point has been made by someone else previously, but I thought it interesting that both signings made so far this season have been established senior SPFL players whereas last year we signed players from more or less everywhere but there (Scandinavia, EPL academies, lower league punts, etc). I wonder if that is just by coincidence or design. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YassinMoutaouakil Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 2 hours ago, santheman said: Heard a wee rumour from my friends in the WOSL that we've made enquiries about entering a B team into the Lowland League to join the OF. Seems harsh on St Mirren 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 14 minutes ago, stu92 said: Not sure if this point has been made by someone else previously, but I thought it interesting that both signings made so far this season have been established senior SPFL players whereas last year we signed players from more or less everywhere but there (Scandinavia, EPL academies, lower league punts, etc). I wonder if that is just by coincidence or design. Aye, it's something that occurred to me when @Ron Aldo mentioned "Let me know when we've signed a 24 year old "anywhere across the front 3" striker from Kettering Town who has scored 5 goals in his entire career." Between Spittal and McGinn they have 759 first team appearances between them. I've not checked but it feels like that's more than some of Robinson's entire trolly dash summers cumulatively. I know it's become a bit talking about how predictable Robinson's 'anywhere across the front 3' and "he's a big, strong physical boy" signings are but in all seriousness Alexander's into his 3rd window proper (I don't think anyone really counts that January when he got the job) and honestly I have no fucking idea what a 'typical' Alexander signing is. We've signed highly rated waifs from LOI, a dreamboat from Norway, an EPL academy prodigy who played in the Toulon tournament, a Finnish international and a bearded Dutch shithouse from various leagues across the continent and with ages ranging from 18 - 32. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Manhattan Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 1 hour ago, capt_oats said: Pitch update. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Manhattan Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 15 minutes ago, capt_oats said: We've signed highly rated waifs from LOI, a dreamboat from Norway, an EPL academy prodigy who played in the Toulon tournament, a Finnish international and a bearded Dutch shithouse from various leagues across the continent and with ages ranging from 18 - 32. When you see it all laid out like that it's more like some insane Jeux sans frontières comeback. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santheman Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 1 hour ago, craigkillie said: How would you feel if Man Utd or Chelsea put a B team in the Premiership? It would be a change from watching 4 games against Livi and St Mirren etc that's for sure. Not sure if their grounds would be up to SPL standard though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YassinMoutaouakil Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 This is the year of Robbie Mahon, I can feel it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antiochas III Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 (edited) 15 hours ago, Allroy for Prez said: I’d rather we’d signed a competent left back Been hoping for that since Hammell left the first time. We finally did that when he returned... Edited June 23, 2022 by Antiochas III 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke92 Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 (edited) 2 hours ago, stu92 said: Not sure if this point has been made by someone else previously, but I thought it interesting that both signings made so far this season have been established senior SPFL players whereas last year we signed players from more or less everywhere but there (Scandinavia, EPL academies, lower league punts, etc). I wonder if that is just by coincidence or design. It's a good point. I was 100% the guy that used to moan about Robbo having a hard on for Conference/L2 guys so I am not going to complain now. I do like the fact that Alexander has cast the net wider and doesn't seem to isolate recruitment to any one league. I'm not sure if that is just a result of Brexit or a genuinely broader scouting network. Whether his success rate has been any better is debatable though. It looks like Hibs and Aberdeen are going to step up their recruitment this year so I doubt they can be as shite as they were last year. Generally I'd be shocked if we managed to get top 6 with the level of quality we are currently carrying. Last few years I've sat in pre season naively optimistic because we have mostly had a fresh slate of players that I don't know much about. This year however I know a lot about the guys that we have and the majority aren't up too much. With that being said, I think if we are able to work out a system and playing style that works then bring in actual first team quality players we might be okay. In my view we should be in the market for guys who are starters rather than squad players, we have enough of them. Probably highly unlikely but I think we atleast need a starting striker, centre back and left back as a minimum. No harm to them, but some of the guys in those positions are not of the required to be considered first team quality (Shields, Efford, McGinlay, Ojala, Maguire) these guys are fine for the bench but there should be folk ahead of them Edited June 23, 2022 by Luke92 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeadStar Posted June 23, 2022 Share Posted June 23, 2022 Seething at Aberdeen and Hibs signing regens from Eastern Europe. I want in on that action 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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