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The General Ross County Chat Thread


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You have Billy Dodds as assistant - He and Chisholm signed Fox for us. Wonder if it was based on his recommendation? Although obviously I'm sure McIntyre has seen him enough on his own considering you share the same league!

Just the fact that you've beaten a regular top 6 club to a striker that was already on loan to them and now a keeper that Partick Thistle wanted to retain. To me that suggests County are pushing the boat out a little, even if it is on players you don't think are exactly amazing!

For Graham, I dont think he was guaranteed first-team football and wasnt made to feel very wanted, by the fans or the staff (other than during his wee purple patch). McIntyre however had been on at him for a while apparently, going by the interviews etc. anyway.

The Fox move confuses me. I'd heard the rumours previously, but when I saw his comments about Scotland ambitions thought he'd never come. Partick have Scully coming through, and Fox has lost his place to Gallacher a few times (admittedly usually through injury etc., but sometimes struggled to get back in), maybe he fancied somewhere where'd he be more secure in the #1 position? That would also give him more game-time to improve and more exposure, in case Strachan is still paying attention :unsure2: ? That is total conjecture on my part, just trying to make sense of it.

We are definitely giving longer contracts than previously, I think maybe larger too as we are giving fewer contracts (happy to be told I'm wrong here)? Even with that, I struggle to believe we are spending more than Partick or St J on wages, though the likes of free accommodation may help swing it... Again, conjecture on my part, but well-thought out conjecture ;)

Regardless, not overly excited by his signing. Obviously better than nothing, which is what we had for the last week, and no worse than who we let go.

Edited by dingdong1929
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I've no idea if it was reported in the media or not but it was said that we offered Fox a deal but on the same terms as he was previously on. It probably wouldn't even take Ross County offering much more, if anything, if they were offering a 2 year deal. With Scully coming through it probably gives the management the push needed to chuck him in with Gallacher as cover if needed.

He's better than Brown from what I've seen but has his weaknesses. As has been shown in the last couple of months if you have a defence which can limit opportunities for him to display his weaknesses (I could probably count the number of one on ones he's had to face in recent times on one hand) then he'll be a good enough signing. His distribution and ability with the ball at his feet was crucial at times to the way we played passing football building from the back in our 1st division winning season.

Edited by Pie Of The Month
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For Graham, I dont think he was guaranteed first-team football and wasnt made to feel very wanted, by the fans or the staff (other than during his wee purple patch)

Apart from the fact our manager was constantly talking about wanting to sign him permantly, obviously.

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Good luck to Foxy, he's every right to get more cash and length of contract. He was only on about £800 per week so I'm sure Uncle Roy will have feathered his wee Inverness nest somewhat. A fairly competent keeper and he has got nice hair.

Looking back at Keepers that used to play for Thistle Langfield, Colin Stewart and Kenny Arthur came up. Langfield has had a few clean sheets against us but did ship three last season at Firhill. Stewart lost five, twice as well as a catalogue of clown shoe errors and King Kenny shipped seven whilst playing for a fairly dreadful Airdrie United side.

He'll do fine overall for County but you will now suffer the ignominy of shipping goals to Josh Maggeniss on a regular basis 8)

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Sorry to totally hijack your thread with yet another Jags fan posting Staggies, but Fox is a decent keeper. Good shot stopper and can handle a cross. His biggest flaw is his criminally slow ball distribution. Don't expect a quick throw or kick to the full back or winger bombing down the wing unmarked. It'll never come and the ball will be hoofed upfield after the opposition has regained their shape and marked up.

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Sorry to totally hijack your thread with yet another Jags fan posting Staggies, but Fox is a decent keeper. Good shot stopper and can handle a cross. His biggest flaw is his criminally slow ball distribution. Don't expect a quick throw or kick to the full back or winger bombing down the wing unmarked. It'll never come and the ball will be hoofed upfield after the opposition has regained their shape and marked up.

And his inability to see a corporation bus flying through the air at him from 35 yards.

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What shite folk talk, he's quite obviously a half decent keeper

Literally nobody has disputed this. And that's part of the problem; a half-decent keeper is exactly what he is.

It's not too bad a signing from County's perspective. I think he's probably better than either Reguero or Brown, so in that respect you've got an upgrade, but I also get the feeling there were probably better keepers out there to be had. Not necessarily ones who have played at this level before, mind you, and maybe McIntyre wanted to make a signing that he was confident about rather than going on some scout's advice. Either way, I'm sure Fox will be fine for you lot.

What this signing does, though, is make a bit of a mockery of Scott Fox's interview last week. He said he wanted to move to a bigger club with a bigger support and more exposure, therefore putting him in the frame for Scotland call-ups. With no offence meant to County, he's gone sideways at best on all of those claims.

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Paul Quinn and Steven Ross leaving, Quinn linked with Aberdeen.

That's a blow.

Quinn more so than Ross. Every time I see him play I think "you aren't quite good enough". He'll be next for the Brora dream team, I'd have thought.

Quinn's a blow - Sango'o to replace him?

ETA - I notice in the Herald that County are looking for another keeper to challenge Fox for his place.

Edited by Savage Henry
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Apart from the fact our manager was constantly talking about wanting to sign him permantly, obviously.

St Johnstone started negotiations the day that Graham signed for Ross County. Jim McIntyre had been hounding him for months and backed it up with a contract long before Wright did.

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I was a bit scunnered about the Fox news when I learned of it last night, but am a little more philosophical about it today. He's got his strengths that Jimbo clearly likes. In County's system, it's hugely beneficial that the full-backs get the ball early, so that Curran has a better chance of the lay-off to the wide players who then bring Boyce in. Boyce's second at St Mirren was the archetypal Ross County move in the last six months. Having a goalkeeper who is confident at releasing the ball makes that work so much better.

Fox does let in some really soft goals, though, which I can't help but be concerned about. He's let in some bad goals against Ross County, especially 2013-14. Then there's Magennis etc. When County were up against Thistle, the first name I'd looked out for in the Thistle line-up was Fox, because Gallacher was simply a more dependable 'keeper IMO (the second name would be Lawless).

--

The priority will now be a strong centre-back to partner Scott Boyd. I was hoping that we would see Paul Quinn, Boyd and another but it wasn't to be. Quinn was very good in 2015 and deserves a crack at a bigger club again. With Fojut leaving Dundee United he'd be a good fit and make much better money there.

Edited by bunglebonce
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Quinn more so than Ross. Every time I see him play I think "you aren't quite good enough". He'll be next for the Brora dream team, I'd have thought.

Quinn's a blow - Sango'o to replace him?

ETA - I notice in the Herald that County are looking for another keeper to challenge Fox for his place.

If word on the street is to be believed that Brora Rangers dream team is shaping up nicely.

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Fox perhaps isn't the most inspirational signing available, but he's certainly a step up from what we had. I'm more concerned about losing Quinn.

Yeah if Quinn were to leave it'll leave a big whole in our back four, if the likes of aberdeen are sniffing about we couldn't complete with those wages and at his age this could be his last chance of a move to a bigger club. Good luck to him if he goes but I'd rather he stayed with us.

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I wonder whether McIntyre wishes he had kept Frempah now.

Saunders was playing at a much better level than Frempah in the DL. Arguably Frempah has more potential to play at a higher level, but he is a long way from that IMO and still was even before the ankle break.

You could argue Frempah is the more obvious fit beside Boyd than Saunders, but I'm more disappointed in losing Saunders from a short term point of view.

It's a moot point. Let's hope a good rugged centre back who can play will arrive. For the umpteenth time I do hope it's Durnan.

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Fraser was more than handy at centre-back against Hamilton, in open play.

However, he was part of a defence that didn't win the first ball at any of the corner kicks they had to defend. Hamilton could have been 5-0 up at HT just from set-pieces, the highlights didn't show them all. That wasn't directly Fraser's fault, but if he was next to Boyd on a permanent basis I'd worry about the lack of aerial presence against the larger teams.

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Fraser was more than handy at centre-back against Hamilton, in open play.

However, he was part of a defence that didn't win the first ball at any of the corner kicks they had to defend. Hamilton could have been 5-0 up at HT just from set-pieces, the highlights didn't show them all. That wasn't directly Fraser's fault, but if he was next to Boyd on a permanent basis I'd worry about the lack of aerial presence against the larger teams.

And this is a physical league. As much as we'd love to play the silky stuff all the time, you need an element of strength, height and physicality to do well. Most of the other sides have that element. A big, commanding centre half is what we need IMO.

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