Kenny_m Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 1 hour ago, thediamonddude said: This is the kind of thing I was talking about a couple of pages back - how do any of us know there’s ‘something short’ on any of our offers? I sincerely doubt that any them have left for less money. 1 hour ago, thediamonddude said: I trust McCabe’s judgement implicitly, and while we’re still a couple of players short, I’ve been really happy with the calibre of our signings so far. So do I, although I've absolutely no idea how the signings will work out although the comments seem to be, unsurprisingly, that they are all technically good footballers. The Formartine fan I know is still in shock that Aaron Reid has a club at our level given that Cove turned him down. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cb_diamond Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 (edited) Good to see the club deciding to make both signings announcements today. It makes sense and placicates a jittery fan base. Both seem like positive McCabe type players. I'm sad to see Telfer go, he was great last year, however I get the impression that he isn't a "loyalty" type player so can see him looking for a bigger move and more power to him as it's a short career. Of the others who have left I am gutted about Dycey, but I suspect that's been a situation that could have been different had the rumoured bust up not happened. Ballantyne, Aitken and Rae spent an awful lot of last season on the sidelines for one reason or another so although I would have loved for us to retain all 3 I think perspective is important. I think Rae and Aitken have been replaced to a large extent by new signings. The jury is put on the new RB so we will see how that goes, but he absolutely deserves a chance. Would love Megwa back but can't see it. A great, great young player. I just hope he doesn't rock up elsewhere else in the league on loan. I would have liked to see Lyall back, he's raw but promising, but sounds like he was on eye watering wages at Rangers that he will struggle to get elsewhere, mainly due to the fact that at this stage of his development, he's simply not worth them. He does seem like a good young guy, so you would hope that he will be sensible and go somewhere where he will get games and time to development. He should use Josh McPake as his cautionary tale who started in the same way and do the exact opposite of him. Edited June 15 by cb_diamond 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhys McCabe Hype Train Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 5 minutes ago, cb_diamond said: Ballantyne, Aitken and Rae spent an awful lot of last season on the sidelines for one reason or another so although I would have loved for us to retain all 3 I think perspective is important. I think Rae and Aitken have been replaced to a large extent by new signings. The jury is put on the new RB so we will see how that goes, but he absolutely deserves a chance. This is exactly it. Numbers are starting to build back up again but by the looks of it we’ve replaced Fordyce, Telfer & Rae with de facto first teamers(Wilson, McGrattan, Johnson), but the jury’s still out slightly on how we replace the strikers and if McDonald will be the out and out right back to replace to Ballantyne & Megwa. Don't get me wrong, I think we’re still a good few players away, but I’m a lot more energised this evening than I was when I saw that Charlie had departed. I think the squad situation is certainly “less bad” than the doom mongers are making out. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 (edited) Might not seem it but the squad’s actually starting to fill up now. 18 players by my count although that includes Rowley, Gallagher, Dunlop, Reid who may be fringe players in the squad. The more I’ve thought about it the more I’ve felt Ballantyne will be a big miss given how comfortable he is on either side. It remains to be seen if MacDonald can be as good as either Megwa or Ballantyne at right back as it’s a fairly big step up from the Lowland League (or if Watson might move there with another centre back incoming?) but there’s no backup for Hancock now either. I think we need to bring in a centre back and a left back still. We have numbers in midfield. McCabe, McMaster, Frizzell, Gallagher, Dunlop, McStravick, McGrattan, Armstrong. A couple of those might be on the fringes but that’s still 7 midfielders already signed up. McGrattan seems a good signing. Plenty of games for a fellow Championship club and still only 23. Armstrong’s another one like MacDonald that’s stepping up from a lower level, but given he’s been rumoured for a while I suspect it’s someone McCabe has been very keen on and I trust his judgment. Don’t think there will be many more midfielders to join, maybe one before the league starts and another on loan in September. Still need a few forwards in. We’ve got Todorov, McGregor (not a natural striker) and Reid (unproven at this level). McStravick might play next to a more natural centre forward at times but I’d say at least another two forwards are still to be signed. By my reckoning there should be two defenders, two forwards, one or two midfielders (although not a priority) and a backup goalie still to come in. Edited June 15 by ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr November Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 Just now, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said: Might not seem it but the squad’s actually starting to fill up now. 18 players by my count although that includes Rowley, Gallagher, Dunlop, Reid who may be fringe players in the squad. The more I’ve thought about it the more I’ve felt Ballantyne will be a big miss given how comfortable he is on either side. It remains to be seen if MacDonald can be as good as either Megwa or Ballantyne at right back as it’s a fairly big step up from the Lowland League (or if Watson might move there with another centre back incoming?) but there’s no backup for Hancock now either. I think we need to bring in a centre back and a left back still. We have numbers in midfield. McCabe, McMaster, Frizzell, Gallagher, Dunlop, McStravick, McGrattan, Armstrong. A couple of those might be on the fringes but that’s still 7 midfielders already signed up. McGrattan seems a good signing. Plenty of games for a fellow Championship club and still only 23. Armstrong’s another one like MacDonald that’s stepping up from a lower level, but given he’s been rumoured for a while I suspect it’s someone McCabe has been very keen on and I trust his judgment. Don’t think there will be many more midfielders to join, maybe one before the league starts and another on loan in September. Still need a few forwards in. We’ve got Todorov, McGregor (not a natural striker and Reid (unproven at this level). McStravick might play next to a more natural centre forward at times but I’d say at least another two forwards are still to be signed. By my reckoning there should be two defenders, two forwards, one or two midfielders (although not a priority) and a backup goalie still to come in. Was just in the middle of typing something very similar. When you break things down, I’m generally quite happy with what we have so far, though we do need some real quality in a couple of positions. I do think we’ll start the season as one of the favourites to struggle, perhaps naturally so given we’ll have one of the lowest budgets, but that’s fine with me. I think everyone is happy with Murray Johnson as a replacement for Rae. As you say, I’m expecting one more starter in defence and another as cover. Armstrong and McGrattan replace Aiken and Lyall, maybe another midfielder to come to replace Telfer and possibly more cover depending on when McStravick is back. Two forwards who can improve the team and another wide option would be nice too. In terms of numbers we’re ok at the moment, six signings before pre-season feels unheard of for us. The concern is how much experience we’ve lost. I think our young squad under McCabe has been overplayed a bit, it was generally an inexperienced bench but the starting 11 was full of guys with lots of games behind them. We’ve lost Fordyce, Ballantyne, Telfer, Gallagher, even McGill who have all played a lot of first team football, it’s a shame to lose that at the same time. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cb_diamond Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 You have to also assume we'll get another couple of quality loan signings, we must be one of the most attractive options for premier league clubs to send young talent to given our relative current stature and how much of a chance they will get under a talented young manager. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhys McCabe Hype Train Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 Going by the current squad screen, I suspect this is about where we are right now. I’d think we’d need at least another two defenders to be cooking with gas. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamonds are Forever Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 2 hours ago, thediamonddude said: This is the kind of thing I was talking about a couple of pages back - how do any of us know there’s ‘something short’ on any of our offers? Of the two players you mention, one seems to have been offered a two-year deal at Morton when we were offering one, which is our prerogative and I understand given his injury record in the past two seasons, and the other was our player of the year and has always clearly harboured ambitions of playing at a higher level, and/or down south, so that could well have been out of our hands. You could argue that paragraph was pure speculation on my part but that’s the point - about 0.01% of us on here have any actual clue, so the prophecies of doom seem a bit overkill. Telfer was my player of the year and think, along with Dycey, he’ll be the biggest loss for us this summer. However, no player is bigger than the club, I trust McCabe’s judgement implicitly, and while we’re still a couple of players short, I’ve been really happy with the calibre of our signings so far. Hopefully, more to come in the next few days. Totally, and what's the alternative? The club know how important he was last season and will have made the best offer they can make. If that's not enough then the options are the player leaves, or we start making stupid financial decisions that in the long term will cost us. Telfer was great last season and I voted him POTY, so my following point isn't me saying that I didn't want him to stay, because I absolutely did. However if you look at his whole career, he's nearly 29 and I don't think I'm exaggerating by saying last season was his only real succesful season in his career (in terms of his own performances being at a consistently high level). He was chased out of Falkirk, had an underwhelming year at Morton and spell at Livi. And floated in and out of the Dundee Utd side for a few years when he was younger. His first season with us looked like being a continuation of that. Despite how good he was last season the club also have a duty to look at the bigger picture when making an offer - his whole career suggests last season was the exception rather than the rule, and he has no sell-on value. I trust they'll have made the best offer they can, but if he has interest from elsewhere it will get to the point where the club think they are overpaying. If you'd said 12 months ago that we should make Telfer our highest paid player and offer him a longer term contract I think most fans would have thought you'd lost the plot, I'm not sure one good season at his stage in his career should mean that we start throwing silly money at him to get him to stay. Based on last season he is a loss, but midfield seems to be where we are well stocked and hopefully his wages can be put to good use in more pressing positions like centre back and in the forward areas. No hard feeling towards him at all, it's a short career and they need to make a living. Looking at how his career has gone you'd think he might have realised that chasing the money rather than where he's playing his best football might not be the best decision, but that's easy to say when it's not my bank account. Interested to see where he ends up. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thediamonddude Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 30 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said: Totally, and what's the alternative? The club know how important he was last season and will have made the best offer they can make. If that's not enough then the options are the player leaves, or we start making stupid financial decisions that in the long term will cost us. Telfer was great last season and I voted him POTY, so my following point isn't me saying that I didn't want him to stay, because I absolutely did. However if you look at his whole career, he's nearly 29 and I don't think I'm exaggerating by saying last season was his only real succesful season in his career (in terms of his own performances being at a consistently high level). He was chased out of Falkirk, had an underwhelming year at Morton and spell at Livi. And floated in and out of the Dundee Utd side for a few years when he was younger. His first season with us looked like being a continuation of that. Despite how good he was last season the club also have a duty to look at the bigger picture when making an offer - his whole career suggests last season was the exception rather than the rule, and he has no sell-on value. I trust they'll have made the best offer they can, but if he has interest from elsewhere it will get to the point where the club think they are overpaying. If you'd said 12 months ago that we should make Telfer our highest paid player and offer him a longer term contract I think most fans would have thought you'd lost the plot, I'm not sure one good season at his stage in his career should mean that we start throwing silly money at him to get him to stay. Based on last season he is a loss, but midfield seems to be where we are well stocked and hopefully his wages can be put to good use in more pressing positions like centre back and in the forward areas. No hard feeling towards him at all, it's a short career and they need to make a living. Looking at how his career has gone you'd think he might have realised that chasing the money rather than where he's playing his best football might not be the best decision, but that's easy to say when it's not my bank account. Interested to see where he ends up. Summed up perfectly DaF - do wonder sometimes whether folk really think through the implications in us ‘pushing the boat out’ or breaking our wage structure for players. We are where we are in terms of budget and I, personally, would rather keep my club than lose it again chasing success - although that wasn’t fundamentally what happened last time, but why take the risk? Of the players that have left, this is how I see it… Rae - Good keeper, would’ve happily kept him, but is he irreplaceable? No, and how could he turn down a Premiership club? Hemfrey - I liked the guy and didn’t get the hate from some for him. Josh had plenty of fumbles last season too and think he’d have been a great option for us, especially with our number one being a loanee now. That said, his departure doesn’t inspire panic. Ballantyne - I’ve said it before but while I’m not going to try to erase any of the good from his time with us, he hardly set the heather alight. Injuries, suspensions and some very mediocre performances. Solid enough for this level but again, not irreplaceable. Megwa - Obviously, we’d have loved to keep him but even if he doesn’t make it at Hibs, he was always destined for bigger things than us. Fordyce - Big loss, great experience, solid, and the assistant manager. That said, you can’t have dissension in the ranks and as much as I love the big man, Rhys has earned the right to be the priority. A shame, but necessary. Aitken - Promising lad but again, how long did he play for us? From August to October? Let’s not kid ourselves, most of what we achieved last year, we did without him. Lyall - Similar to Aitken, but in reverse. He joins in January but hardly features regularly until March. He was good but not worth breaking the wage structure for. Telfer - Like Dycey, this is the big one for me but a point that DaF made hadn’t really registered with me until now - what if last season was his peak? He’s never turned a season like that in before and we’ve brought in a couple of young, exciting midfielders, who I’m sure will be great additions as replacements. Gal - Again, the guy has been such a great servant for us but he was done at this level and had to move on. Gabby - A mix of Gal and Cammy here. What he’s contributed has been superb but he’s missing so often that it’s hard to be too worried about him being gone. I’ll always love him for what he’s done for the club and he seems like a great guy but it is what it is. I know there are others that have left but those are the main ones for me and, while they create a damn big whole in the squad, I genuinely think it can be filled. And, for me at least, the evidence suggests we’re well on our way to doing that. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airdrieman Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 Centre-half and centre forward definitely the priority now. I know that’s a few midfielders signed but we still need another 1 or 2 additions in centre mid. At the moment it’s looking like a starting 3 of McMaster, Frizzell and Armstrong. But beyond that there’s McCabe who hasn’t played since March and was playing himself less anyway, GavGal and McStravick who’s going to be out for a few more months at least. So there’s essentially no depth there. Gonna have to be room for a few more centre mids yet! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny_m Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 29 minutes ago, thediamonddude said: Summed up perfectly DaF - do wonder sometimes whether folk really think through the implications in us ‘pushing the boat out’ or breaking our wage structure for players. We are where we are in terms of budget and I, personally, would rather keep my club than lose it again chasing success - although that wasn’t fundamentally what happened last time, but why take the risk? Of the players that have left, this is how I see it… Rae - Good keeper, would’ve happily kept him, but is he irreplaceable? No, and how could he turn down a Premiership club? Hemfrey - I liked the guy and didn’t get the hate from some for him. Josh had plenty of fumbles last season too and think he’d have been a great option for us, especially with our number one being a loanee now. That said, his departure doesn’t inspire panic. Ballantyne - I’ve said it before but while I’m not going to try to erase any of the good from his time with us, he hardly set the heather alight. Injuries, suspensions and some very mediocre performances. Solid enough for this level but again, not irreplaceable. Megwa - Obviously, we’d have loved to keep him but even if he doesn’t make it at Hibs, he was always destined for bigger things than us. Fordyce - Big loss, great experience, solid, and the assistant manager. That said, you can’t have dissension in the ranks and as much as I love the big man, Rhys has earned the right to be the priority. A shame, but necessary. Aitken - Promising lad but again, how long did he play for us? From August to October? Let’s not kid ourselves, most of what we achieved last year, we did without him. Lyall - Similar to Aitken, but in reverse. He joins in January but hardly features regularly until March. He was good but not worth breaking the wage structure for. Telfer - Like Dycey, this is the big one for me but a point that DaF made hadn’t really registered with me until now - what if last season was his peak? He’s never turned a season like that in before and we’ve brought in a couple of young, exciting midfielders, who I’m sure will be great additions as replacements. Gal - Again, the guy has been such a great servant for us but he was done at this level and had to move on. Gabby - A mix of Gal and Cammy here. What he’s contributed has been superb but he’s missing so often that it’s hard to be too worried about him being gone. I’ll always love him for what he’s done for the club and he seems like a great guy but it is what it is. I know there are others that have left but those are the main ones for me and, while they create a damn big whole in the squad, I genuinely think it can be filled. And, for me at least, the evidence suggests we’re well on our way to doing that. Of course it will all become apparent round about October when everyone has bedded in and had their chance. As usual with the new signings no contract lengths have been stated which baffles me as it's only the fans that are in the dark about this as all the agents will be well aware. It's always intriguing seeing new signings but stability is equally important to a club our size and a high turnover of players cannot be sustained, even short term. Whilst I have every faith in the manager and understand the club model, we really only have had a return on Justin Devenny and no one has really progressed through the academy. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunning1874 Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 I was a big fan of McGrattan, but it was definitely best for everyone that he moved on this summer. In 22/23 there wasn't far off a direct correlation between McGrattan starting and Morton winning. Correlation isn't always causation of course, but for me he was consistently making a difference. He just seems to have lots of those positive attributes that don't necessarily translate into consistent goals, assists or other stats that can make a player an obvious standout, yet are nevertheless very important to a team. Things it's really hard to train a player to improve at and will only generally come with experience like positional sense (both offensive and defensive) awareness, the vision to spot the space for a pass or run when most players at this level don't, he just naturally had even when he was first breaking through. We were at our best that season when all of the three off the striker were defensively capable while having the energy to press teams to death, and that meant being better with McGrattan there as he was very good at that, but with a lot of wide options he was still in and out the team and there was a feeling that he needed to build on that season by adding a consistent end product to those less tangible positives. Instead he went backwards last season, to the point he could have no argument with being released, and it's hard to say why. He did get shunted around different positions a bit, even having a few games at right back earlier in the season when we didn't have one, but versatility is supposed to be a strength so that doesn’t really work as an excuse. I do think he'd been better on the left than the right the previous season, where he linked up really well with Strapp, but then was mostly on the right and wherever he was had full backs who were rotten with the ball at their feet behind him, but again other wingers had to suffer being stuck with French or Waters and still delivered good performances so that can't be an excuse either. He did have a great game away at Arbroath in December in the game which started our unbeaten run, scoring one although missing another sitter which Imrie publicly called him out for post-match, and could probably feel hard done by to be dropped after it, but the run we went on without him vindicated the decision to drop him and from then on he was consistently poor whenever he came into the team. I get the impression that he's maybe a player who's good enough to make a difference in a team who are already playing well and that's what we saw in 22/23, but not the type of player who's going to single handedly take a game by the scruff of the neck and dragging teams to results while his teammates are playing poorly, or suddenly burst into life by scoring a screamer while having a poor game himself. There's definitely the natural ability to be a good Championship player in there, but he wasn't transforming that into actually being effective often enough and it clearly wasn't going to happen under Imrie. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him kick on now and become properly established as a good Championship starter, but equally if Airdrie go backwards on last season it's not hard to see him having another mediocre at best season himself. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Reed Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 15 hours ago, Rhys McCabe Hype Train said: This is exactly it. Numbers are starting to build back up again but by the looks of it we’ve replaced Fordyce, Telfer & Rae with de facto first teamers(Wilson, McGrattan, Johnson), but the jury’s still out slightly on how we replace the strikers and if McDonald will be the out and out right back to replace to Ballantyne & Megwa. Don't get me wrong, I think we’re still a good few players away, but I’m a lot more energised this evening than I was when I saw that Charlie had departed. I think the squad situation is certainly “less bad” than the doom mongers are making out. Doommongers or maybe just concerned,when you see all your best players away would seem cause for a wee bit worry , 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
++Ammo - Airdrie++ Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 (edited) On 30/05/2024 at 15:23, Diamonds02 said: Pretty sure he signed fairly quickly after the play offs last year. I think he appreciates that he’s found a place where he can play his best football and will stay as a result. Well we can file that under garbage Edited June 16 by ++Ammo - Airdrie++ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny_m Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 51 minutes ago, ++Ammo - Airdrie++ said: Well we can file that under garbage Cruel, we're all guilty at times 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
++Ammo - Airdrie++ Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 1 hour ago, Kenny_m said: Cruel, we're all guilty at times Aw anno mate, and I hope @Diamonds02 takes it as the joke it's meant lol. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamonds02 Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 2 hours ago, ++Ammo - Airdrie++ said: Well we can file that under garbage Anyone want the lottery numbers? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Passionate Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 21 hours ago, AJ77 said: Nothing on either player no. Anything else imminent on the signing front, still avoid few short in attacking areas especially. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ77 Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 5 hours ago, Passionate said: Anything else imminent on the signing front, still avoid few short in attacking areas especially. Not to my knowledge now mate, still chasing plenty targets but as is every other club in division. We’ve done some good early business so far imo Centre back, Wing back and striker now the priority. Plenty stuff going on in the background but could be quiet few days before next signing. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr November Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 33 minutes ago, AJ77 said: Not to my knowledge now mate, still chasing plenty targets but as is every other club in division. We’ve done some good early business so far imo Centre back, Wing back and striker now the priority. Plenty stuff going on in the background but could be quiet few days before next signing. Any idea when pre-season starts? Noticed a couple of clubs are back already, guessing we’ll be in towards the end of next week. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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