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I'm a bit late to this particular party I know, but I was surprised by the state of the pitch last Saturday. The POD Stand side looked a bit on the bare side. I know we've ahd far worse, but we've also had much better. The winter so far, hasn't been that bad, so it seems a bit odd. In previous years, we've hired UV growing lights in winter to boost growth. By Scottish standards we've got a state of the art pitch and spent a wad of cash on it so why the problems?

Two goals for Tony Watt at the weekend.

1st prize 350328 2nd prize 349841 3rd prize 349957

Hi all Didn't catch the numbers for this on Saturday and bought a few tickets, can anybody on here get them for me please from the club? Cheers

We have 16 league games left and he can’t play in two of them. Played 22 from total of 38. We have 2 already played Celtic twice so only 2’gamws against them if we are top 6.

I don't think we need 2 Cbs if Mcghee is back fit he's a solid player and replaces Balmer. I wouldn't say no to Welsh coming back but now he's cup tied it restricts the games he can be used in even further. We have minimum 17 games left and he's unavailable for selection for 3 (providing we finish T6) before returning and any cup games should we progress. Our priorities rest of the window should be:- - Sign a ST (Bjorgolfsson is basically a done deal assuming we're waiting on a work permit before announcing) - Sign a CB (Wither that be a Welsh return or a New CB) - Sign a LB (Longelo needs competition he's been poor since Aberdeen (A) in the QF of the premier IMO needs someone to push him) - Sign a 10 we need an attacking midfielder to open up the low blocks ideally someone of the Spittal mould who can play a pass and shoot from range. - Line up a Maswanhise replacement if the bid we can't refuse comes we need to be prepared and have his replacement lined up. - If we're being greedy we could do with another CM (Halliday and Watt both being out is going to put strain on Slattery, Preistman and Fadinger) so another player in that area wouldn't go a miss unless he has enough trust in Mcallister to play minutes over the run where we have 5 games in 2 weeks or chucks Sparrow in midfield which he's not done all season. - Loan out Luca Ross sitting on our bench most weeks probably isn't helping his development maybe use the co-op agreement with Stenhousemuir and get him some game time that way he can still be used if needed. - Make a decision on Nicholson, Stuperavic and Robinson and Halliday if they're going to play a role keep them if not loan them out/mutual agreement. - Finally once the big Norweigan is announced send Osong back up the road no point him being sat on our bench when he's having little to no impact.

Agree 100%. I would prefer both solutions. Welsh and another CB asap that Askou feels fits our style. Rangers fans seem to think discussions have taken place regards Nsiala. I hope not as it would be another loan and from what little I have seen he is also a bomb scare.

I think that depends on the terms. It cant have anything to do with Maswanhise as that just muddys the waters. Meanwhile if we can identify a suitable replacement, preferably on a permanent deal, then we should do so......

The cup tie thing is obviously nonsense, because they can just make not playing in the cup a condition of any loan. For all we know Welsh might have agreed to play tonight so Motherwell would be the only option for his next loan and the Board can't entertain any other offers now. It doesn't really matter, though. Celtic need to take care of their business and we need to take care of ours. If there is a beneficial overlap - great; If not, then we move in another direction.

I don't believe he brought him back and played him just to cup tie him. Given he couldn't have played against them even if he'd stayed with us, that makes no sense. If you read O'Neill's reasoning behind the recall, it's all about being down to the bare bones due to a lack of signings. He spoke about one of the young defenders being a great prospect - there was absolutely no suggestion Welsh has a future at Celtic. 10 changes tonight doesn't suggest a lack of players, but their performance did scream a lack of quality. O'Neill plays the bewildered pensioner, but he knows exactly what he's doing, and reading the Celtic fans reaction to the recall shows they got the message, loud and clear.

I’m not quite sure why Celtic played him. They just locked him into Celtic or Motherwell. Do Celtic plan on playing him? To me, it looks like they really don’t want to play him, so are they going to be out 10 grand a week for nothing? Seems like it is to everyone’s advantage, Celtic, Welsh, Motherwell, for him to complete the season at Fir Park. From our point of view it’s good that he can’t join another Scottish club and play against us this season. I really would like to see him come back here for the rest of the season.

How about playing him tonight just to make sure he cannot play for us in the cup if he returns? That was also a suggestion. Or the Board recalling him to spite O'Neill ....or was it the other way round? Or did the Board recall him to spite the fans? I've lost track.

So other than the knickers in a twist comment we more or less agree? Nothing to do with the goodness of their hearts though. If having had a look at Welsh in light of his form with us, Celtic decide he still does not cut it then why not offload him to the only place he can go. If Motherwell agree. Surely that is best for all parties?

Strange take from a normally sensible poster. Who is getting their knickers in a twist? Of course Celtic are within their rights to recall their player. And absolutely within their rights to play him in the cup tonight. But given that they have done both of those things, surely any expectation that they can suddenly decide to return him to us out of the goodness of their hearts once they have signed someone better, can be resisted? We need to do whats best for us. For me, we should get on with finding someone else that can do what Welsh does and not hang about waiting on Celtics "benevolence". Of course if we get to the window and dont have anyone in the door and the offer is still there, it would be mad to refuse, but is it that crazy to not want to be left at the whim of another club?

O'Neill recalling Welsh purely to show up the board's lack of signings isn't much of a conspiracy theory, given he basically said that was the reason he did it.

Is there a point in bringing Welsh back it's not his fault but he's now cup tied were realistically not going to win the league so surely we bring in a CB that can play in the only competition we can potentially win.

If we had a spate of injuries and were short of players for a position, would those getting their knickers in a twist about Welsh react the same way if we recalled a loanee whose wages we were paying to see if he could fill the gap? Especially if he was performing at an exceptional level. Pretty sure I read on here that some folk thought it would be a good idea to recall Whyte from Stenhousemuir to see if he could do a job in our midfield as cover for Watt or Slattery or perhaps sit on our bench to give us more options. Celtic are perfectly within their rights to recall Welsh to see if he can improve their current squad, bearing in mind injuries and other players moved on in this window. We knew that when he came to us as the recall date was included in the Agreement. If he does not cut it in training or game time he will be back with us soon enough, if we want him. All this talk about conspiracies, victimisation etc is nonsense. The situation is inconvenient and might be stalling us bringing in a new face or two. But that's all it is.

I just do not see JT wanting to move to another team in Scotland? Why would he? There’s clearly teams down south looking at him, I know he’s a Zimbabwean international but his ties are in England, he’ll want eventually move down there and prove his worth and also get paid more than any other side will offer up here. i dont really have any concerns of the talk from the Klarna twins and there payment plans. my main concern is our manager getting bored of Scottish football by playing Aberdeen 5 times before the middle of February.

Something fishy about this

With regard to the Welsh situation, I think it is probable that a few people are overthinking the whole thing. Celtic are simply doing what they consider is best for them. They are in no way trying to screw us over. They don't care. The same goes for the player and his future. As such, I think it would be wise for us to act in a similar manner and ask ourselves what would be the best course of action in this situation for ourselves? If we can get Welsh back to Fir Park on the same terms as before, for the rest of the season then great. He has been an excellent player for us and there is no reason to think that will change. If they are thinking about making a move for JT and using Welsh as a bargaining chip then they can take a hike. Selling our prized assets to anyone in our league is generally a poor move as it, quite rightly, upsets our own fans and they will be offering less than we can get elsewhere if we really feel the need to sell.

I don't buy the 'deliberately cup tie him' angle. Unless we were planning on buying Welsh, he couldn't have played for us against Celtic anyway. Playing him today shows he wasn't brought back with the intention of flogging him to anyone else in January, and subbing him proves he has no future at Parkhead. That suggests O'Neill brought him back as a fuck you to the board, or a fuck you to Welsh. No idea what he could have against the player, so my money would be on the first - but that still results in the second.

Ok

You’ve got to feel for Welsh. That mob are a disgrace. Rotten to the core.

And one of your reasons was that he was hopefully injured. I’d rather he played utterly shite on his debut and got hooked than get injured and subbed.

Dear Martin ........ go and take a flying fuck to yourself.