ohwulliewullie
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Posts posted by ohwulliewullie
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1 hour ago, wellwell91 said:
Stuart McKinstry on loan anyone ????
Is that based on anything, or just wishful thinking?! Either way, I’d assume that the relationship with Hammell would make it more of a possibility
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11 hours ago, Kmcalpin said:
We simply don't know if Lambert is in the running at all, but it intrigues me that some posters keep bringing up his name.
I just don't get why he'd be a serious candidate for our vacancy.
It’s bound to be the famous German contacts
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Lamie had been doing really well too, but only one winner
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8 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:
If I am not successful in the ballot I am also looking for 2 adult tickets if anyone has spares, and won't be travelling.
I suspect there’ll be lots of people in the same boat, with some or all of their group not successful in the ballot. I hope the golden ticket emails come out today, so that at least we know where we stand. Maybe there’s some horse trading going on to see if there’s any chance of us getting an increased allocation?
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28 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:
Red top rumour that highly rated Bailey Rice is attracting interest from the gruesome twosome and Manchester City. I think this has been on the go for several months. He wasn't in the list of lads who stepped up to the professional ranks. No doubt the club is trying to retain him but the lure of big names may turn his and his parents heads. I think the club will be due some compensation although it'll be minimal; we can negotiate with add ons etc. Not a great situation losing top rated youngsters before they make the breakthrough but thats life.
From my admittedly limited understanding of how this works today... I think this whole system needs to be revised and updated... as it acts as a massive disincentive for smaller clubs to develop players (thereby eventually resulting in fewer clubs having academies... a smaller pool of potential players... who because they develop at different speeds / stages, some may be lost to the game). The bigger clubs can hoover up high potential boys and take a chance on paying the limited compensation when they're teenagers, and the smaller clubs lose out on potentially much larger transfer fees later on... not to mention the chance to see brilliant young players in the first team for a season or two. There could be a sliding scale of much more significant compensation, e.g. 10 appearances in a top tier league = £1m... 30 appearances in a top tier league = £5m... 5 appearances in the Champions League = £1m... etc. The top players will still end up at the richer clubs, but at least there'll be a better incentive for clubs like ours to have great academies, and with the dough spread a bit more widely, it might even result in a more level playing field. It's just so depressing to see our youth internationals leaving before they've even signed a pro contract, and we get a relatively paltry sum for the trouble of developing them for a number of years.
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On 6/25/2022 at 10:01 AM, Spiderpig said:
I think they use TNS's ground at Oswestry as part of a ground sharing agreement with the other Welsh league Euro teams as its the only one up to UEFA standards. Wrexham play in the English leagues so that may be why they can't use it as uefa would consider them a different country.
You might be right, fair enough. The irony being TNS’s ground is in England, and Wrexham’s is actually in Wales!!
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5 hours ago, dennyc said:
We really should hope Sligo get through. Their allocation for the away leg was increased to 300 (almost one third of Uefa capacity) and sold out in minutes... but only after major problems with the ticketing site. Reads like Sligo fans had to purchase tickets direct from Bala. That 300 total was a big concession as Uefa regulations state that only 5% must be made available to away fans. Hopefully if we do end up facing Bala, the tie is switched to a larger ground but that is not even being mentioned as a possibility as yet.
Anyone know why they wouldn’t switch the tie to Wrexham if they get through? It’s about the same distance from Bala as Oswestry, and it’s not like they’d be giving up home advantage… as Oswestry isn’t their ground anyway. Obviously there’s a financial element (ie the extra they’d gain from a bigger crowd v possible extra rental fees)… but surely they’d consider it?
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1 hour ago, FirParkCornerExile said:
yeah but if 3 individual clubs improve and we stand still it can affect us. Who could actually go backwards from the shite of last season.
Hard to say, and obviously recruitment is key for everyone. You’d expect that Aberdeen and Hibs will be better than they were last season, and Killie may well be better than Dundee. But other teams around us have lost key players… off the top of my head… Forrest - Livi, Siegrist - Dundee Utd (and they need a new manager), Charles-Cooke and Hungbo - Ross Co, Ronan - St Mirren, even Souttar and Sims at Hearts, although they’ll still be strong. Who knows whether the replacements they bring in will be as good as those who’ve left?
Although we had a very patchy season, we have the advantage of less turnover in the close season than we’ve had for a while. Like everyone else, the quality of the new recruits will determine whether or not we move forward, and at least become more consistent
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43 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:
Yes, Sligo was the only one to worry about, they should beat Bala but a fully flexible free cancellation etc booking was made just in case and I can change it to the 21st if Uefa agree the swap in dates so happy days.
If its Bala, the game will be played in Rhyl so thats just a case of jumping in the car for a 4 or 5hr drive so no worries there.
Do you know for sure that if it's Bala the game will be in Rhyl? I think I'm right in saying that they'll play Sligo at TNS (i.e. Oswestry)... but both Rhyl and Oswestry are quite small... so they may at least look at Wrexham to be able to get all fans in. I have no inside info in this, just guessing. You'd hope that by today we'd know (a) which leg will be the home game, and (b) if it's Bala... where will they actually play the game!!
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Does anyone know definitively if the draw for the second qualifying round is regionalised? And if so, which countries are in our region?
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8 hours ago, weeyin said:
Wouldn't the players that sign PCAs just get snapped up at the end of the season by the same teams anyway?
Not necessarily… I’ll use the example of Liam Grimshaw. It’s January ‘22 and he’s out of contract at the end of the season. Even if MFC hasn’t formally told him that he won’t be offered a contract extension, the writing’s on the wall and it’s not looking good. At least with the existence of PCAs (and the ability to ‘legally’ talk to other clubs) he and his agent can see what other options are out there. Kilmarnock (say) are interested, and he signs a two year contract, to start when his MFC one ends. Security for him and his family.
Same scenario without a PCA. There may well have been an informal conversation with Kilmarnock (as we all know that kind of thing happens), and they shake hands on a rough agreement. Grimshaw comes on during the last game of the season for a farewell to the fans, gets injured and is out for six months. Kilmarnock renege on the gentleman’s agreement and the player is stuffed.
I’m speculating here, but in those circumstances I can see why it makes sense for PCAs to exist.
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3 hours ago, weeyin said:
I don't even know why PCAs exist.
If you want someone in January, pay for them and take them in January.
If you want them when their contract expires. sign them after their contract expires
The rest is just unnecessary complication.
I don’t know the reasons for PCAs coming into existence in the first place, but I can see an argument for them in a league like Scotland with wages generally a lot more modest than elsewhere. If a player’s contract is up in the summer, it gives them a bit of time to sort out their options and make a decision.
I can imagine that if you’re approaching becoming out of contract, players would get very nervous towards the end of the season with nothing sorted… and the possibility of getting injured… medical bills and rehab to cover… with nothing coming in to pay your mortgage etc.
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11 minutes ago, Stuwell2 said:
From what I’ve seen - so may not be 100% correct - being seeded in Q2 means we don’t get drawn against any other team joining at the same time so we will get a team from Q1.
I don’t have better info… but I don’t think that can be true because of the numbers… are there not a lot more teams already known that enter at Q2, versus the number of either / ors that will come in from Q1?
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In addition to David’s assessment of the squad ins and outs, there’s the additional dimension of other clubs coming in for some of our players who are still in contract. Kelly and Slattery seem to me to be the most obvious candidates…. With perhaps outside possibilities for Mugabi, KVV and O’Donnell (although the latter probably hasn’t had his best season ever).
The only other thing I’d add is that I think Ojala is a good player… but he just looks miles off being fully fit since he came back from injury. The decision on him I think rests on the prospect of him getting back to full speed.
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6 hours ago, middleeastdave said:
Have to say I actually thought he had a good game Mathew MacDermid, just the one booking (Slattery) which was deserved and CERTAINLY better than our usual supposed to be senior refs namely Collum and Beaton and would think he will be the rising star for referees
I also thought the ref had a good game. We often say that the ref sets the tone in the first couple of minutes… if they give fouls early on for players falling down at the slightest contact, then that’s what happens for 90 minutes. He let things go, and guess what… the players generally got on with it without the cheap falling over.
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23 hours ago, C&A not the shop said:
If I was being extra picky I'd have County finishing 5th on goal difference so if they lose to Rangers by less than Celtic beat United it would be even better.
Ah, that would be hilarious. I won’t be going to or watching our Celtic game under any circumstances… but if we beat Hearts to create the scenario of Ross County needing a win against United to put them into 6th… it would make that match unmissable!
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This was on the bbc website the other day the European places…
Celtic and Rangers will be in the Champions League next season, so should the winner of their semi-final go on to claim the cup, Scotland's sole Europa League spot - in the play-off round - would be awarded to the team finishing third in the league, highly likely to be Hearts.
As a consequence, the teams in fourth and fifth would earn Europa Conference League football, at the third and second round of qualifying respectively. That would also come to pass if Hearts win the cup.
In fact, the only way the fifth-placed finishers would not be in Europe is if Hibs beat Hearts in the other semi-final, win the cup and finish outside the top four.
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2 minutes ago, coldonmac said:
Looking at the fixtures pre-split, we should have the following:
Celtic - away
Rangers - home
Hearts - home
Dundee United - home
Ross County - away
This is what we SHOULD have, but as it's down to the SFA/SPFL it probably won't be.
The problem is that would leave us with 20 home games and 18 away. I reckon it’ll be balanced with an extra away trip to Tannadice, as Dundee United need an ‘extra’ home game to balance 19 home and away games. (This is based on just looking at our games, and not who everyone else in the top 6 had already played home / away, so it could change obviously.)
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I'm currently wrestling with a number of conflicting feelings... I'm still pissed off at today's poor performance... and although the pitch is really poor, Livi did fine in long spells... but more to the point we looked lethargic and lacking desire in such a big game, and couldn't even string simple passes together. And this is on the back of a long run of (mostly) similarly poor performances.
On the other hand... is the bigger picture that we secured the top 6 spot, and at least we have a chance of a very decent season with a European place? Had we turned one or two of 2022's draws into wins (say v Aberdeen or Hibs?)... or a defeat into a draw (St Johnstone or Ross County?)... we would be comfortable in 4th right now. And even if we finish 6th, it's still an improvement on last season's 8th.... and we've finished above both Aberdeen and Hibs who have much bigger budgets.
Glass half full or half empty? I'm not sure where I stand at the moment.
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This is one for the return of the 'no-one' option.
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6 hours ago, grizzlyg said:
Same team apart from efford, I would start woolery......let's do this well
I’m in a similar place… only decision to make is Efford or Woolery… but do you make any changes to account for the opposition and the pitch? Alexander mentioned that a couple of players had been ill earlier in the week as well.
Looks like the tombola is getting another run out.
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Although this season has not been enjoyable at all in my opinion, we still have a huge opportunity to make it quite a successful one. This is one of those games to get along if you can and support the the team.
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1 hour ago, C&A not the shop said:
Alan Campbell probably up against Chelsea tonight (unless Luton do that thing that Championship sides do where they rest players in the FA cup), a good showing here would be great for him.
Be good if the Lanarkshire Kante goes up against the actual one, and does well
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15 hours ago, joewarkfanclub said:
Efford had a decent first half.
Looks like a good signing, but seems to have faded a bit in the games we’ve seen… which means he’ll be even better if his fitness improves
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2022/23 ins & outs discussion
in Club Chat
Posted
If it is Moult, then I think the only ways the paperwork can go through are either (1) the deal was actually done last night, with the medical completed down the road with Louis still in England, and they wanted to wait until he’s actually in Scotland to make the announcement, or (2) he’s negotiating an exit from Burton, so he can sign for us today as a free agent