Kmcalpin

I've seen better and seen worse. Not keen on vertical pinstripes.

Happy with that. A whole hearted reliable defender. Just what we need

David Healy has a very good track record in Ireland but if hes interested in the Dundee job then his judgement has to be questioned. Its a complete basket case of a club and has been for a good few years. Meanwhile, we're quietly going about our business.

A bit disappointing that both home games in the League Cup are midweek. Morton game is being televised.

In short, what Willie Collum is saying is that the decisions to strike off Callum Slattery's "goal" at Tynecastle and Portales' "goal" at Dens were both correct. Dundee FC and Tony Docherty please take note.

A real coup to attract Hertha Berlin. They'll bring a decent crowd with them.

It seems like we've negotiated our best ever back of shirt sponsohip deal with Kwiff.

I was in the East Neuk this morning to collect our seafood order when another driver in the car park called me over. It was none other than Stevie Kirk, who had been doing the same. We had a good natter. He's had a few health issues of late but is now back to fitness, I'm pleased to report. He still follows all things claret and amber.

You deserved a medal not a written warning!

Pretty much so. The excact phrase used was "We remain in dialogue with all remaining players, whose personal circumstances are all different. Given the current managerial situation at the club, decisions will be made in the coming weeks with regards to these players. Thats somewhat different to how we've phrased it in previous seasons i.e. the reference to "personal circumstances". That hints at a range of different factors at play. It also contradicts what Michael Wimmer said prior to the Ross County game; something along the lines of he was clear who he wanted to retain and who he didn't. These players' contracts will expire on Saturday. I can only assume that Shane Blaney wanted to move on; and that the club was 100% clear about Ross Callachan and Mark Ferrie having no future with us or they wanted to move on.

Good post. I think we've limited our options for bringing in fresh faces by re-signing both SOD and McGinn. In hindsight, mistakes made when renewing their contracts earlier. Hopefully, we won't see SOD in central defence this coming campaign. Undeniably, the defence badly needs an overhaul and more of the same simply won't do. Any overhaul should also involve the wing back positions and defensive midfield. The current and very odd muddied situation with some contract renewals such as Seddon, Casey, Thompson, Davor and Paton isn't helping.

Out of intetest why? They're the ones I was brought up with.

What a stange and underwhelming list. I've no problems with those being released. However, the "under discussion" list is lengthy and downright odd. I've no problem with discussing terms with Casey, but the others? If we're wanting to clear the decks and freshen the squad up? I get that the managerial situation complicates matters just now but the term "We remain in dialogue with all remaining players, whose personal circumstances are all different." Seems a bit odd. Does that mean option clauses could kick in?" No mention of Matty Connelly who I think is also out of contract and we have 3 signed keeprs already. Pleased that Olly Whyte and Mikey Booth have signed new deals, as they seem highly rated.

You don't know Kelty obviously. 🤣

Yes, it was. It answered many, if not all, of our questions. It seems we're looking for much the same qualites in a manager as we did before which is encourging. The issue of family ties was discussed with MW as part of due diligence, but clearly that changed and there wasn't much we could do about that. Comforting to know that the club is ticking over nicely before the window opens on 12 June and pre season preparations are being made. That will ease a few concerns.

Some overlap with the managerial thread. Not sure I wholly agree David. We're a fan owned club and should be kept informed of what is going on. Again I'm not advocating a blow by blow account of everything thats unfolding;thats clearly unreasonable. However its not unreasonable to be told if anyone is in charge, even temporarily, of the playing side. The club clearly reads this forum as Kyrk MacMillan's recently released interview answers most if not all of our questions. Having listened to it, I'm now pretty much up to date with what is going on. He's given us the necessary information in an open way, whilst still being professional. Thats all many of us asked.

Not everyone got the bank holiday yesterday. Some were working. The club could have said something along the lines of "We knew last week/2 weeks ago (delete as appropriate) that Michael was leaving and we then started the process of finding a new manager. That is now well underway. Ahmet Koc currently remains with the club and is in temporary charge until a new manager is appointed." We don't need to know the identity of those being considered or interviewed. That should remain confidential.

Communication about the managerial recruitment position has been very poor. I'm not expecting pages and pages of routine updates but all we've had is one sentence at the end of Michael Wimmer's resignation article last Friday to confirm that our search was beginning.

Given Michael Wimmer's comments, it's highly likely that the club knew about his concerns some weeks ago. That being the case you'd imagine that the Directors would have started thinking about a new manager a wee while ago.

Aye the timing does seem somewhat odd.

Yes. Presumably the club knew he was unsettled some weeks ago and would have begun preparations. If not then, when he told the club he wasn't returning. The exact timescale is unclear from the official announcement.

The club has announced that the squad will once again travel to the Delden training centre in the Netherlands for a training camp. They will play 2 games, one of which will be against FC Twente. 25 June - 2 July. From that, I assume that pre season training will start sometime w/c 16 June. So, hopefully our new man, or woman, should be in place roughly a week beforehand, if not before that.

When we appointed him his managerial record was limited and not much was known about his style. Kilmarnock will have known far more about him now. His win percentage wasn't that bad, although he took us on some lengthy and worrying winless runs (KVV factor?). Having said that his preferred style of play was very unattractive. Now that might be acceptable in Perth, but it cetainly is not in Kilmarnock (or Motherwell). His transfer dealings, one notable exception apart, was poor. He never did manage to sort out our defence. The manner of his departure though should have set alarm bells ringing and loudly. He'll have a lot to do to win over their fans. He's yesterday's man though and we should now focus our attention on our own vacancy. I'm expecting another left field appointment, and credit where its due, the club handled things very professionally and well a few months ago. That took about 3 weeks although there were mitigating circumstances. This time, things have been very quiet on that front and the club's public statement was very short and terse about the recruitment process, as opposed to MW's departure (I detect Brian Caldwell's influence). I'm not expecting a daily blow by blow account by the way. Also nothing so far on the release list.

I wouldn't worry about competition with Kilmarnock over their favoured candidate. If Kettlewell is confirmed tomorrow that might, might, save us a few bob.

We're not that far apart in reality. 100% the squad need serious pruning down to an overall size of 22/23 or thereabouts, with an emphasis on quality over quantity. Although we haven't heard officially yet, the likes of Callachan, Paton, Blaney, Zadrowski and maybe Seddon will be off most likely before the new man comes in, as contracts expire on 30 June I believe. Return of loanees to parent clubs will account for a fair proportion of the cull. Like it or not, we won't cut loose injured players like Robinson and Nicholson just yet although I agree long term. That then leaves O'Donnell and Halliday from your hit list. We do need some continuity and experience going forward, but the former's deal was signed quite some time ago. The new man will want to assess his squad first and will have time to do that before the window closes. It might well be that he wants to move on 1 or 2 players fairly quickly. One aspect I'm uncertain about though is progression young players. In theory I'm 100% behind this but they have to be good enough to make the step up and I simply don't know the youth squad well enough to form any opinion.