Leaderboard

If anyone reads my posts from last season, it's obvious I'm in the "want to play more football camp". I'm also a realist, however, and understand it takes a few seasons to build a team. When Robinson took over, he had a mandate that included: - do not get relegated - get rid of the high earners - fix a defence that was leaking like Donald Trump's Whitehouse There's no doubt that he achieved all 3 of those. He also said he wanted to add pace and bulk to the defence. Again, something he achieved. The 2 Cup Finals were a bonus, and it was a smart piece of business to bring in transfer fee for Moult when he was available on a pre-contract for zilch. On top of all that, Alan Campbell became a first team regular, as did Kipré (who went on to make us a small wad of cash), and Cadden picked up a couple of international caps. The pitch contines to be the best in the league, and we have even replaced the old scoreboard. All of this being achieved while the club transitioned to full ownership by the Well Society. We definitely lacked depth last season. (I was at the Accies and Dundee games in December, so had first hand experience of how dire we were). For a club our size, that lack of depth could just as easily have put us in relegation trouble as miss out on a top 6 spot. Fortunately, it was the latter. So I completely understand the desire to add numbers. None of this prevents us from blooding youngsters this season - although, it's easy to forget just how young our squad is already. For me, it's far too soon to be making a final judegement on the quality of the players we have brought in. As I endlessly point out to the moaners, Dunne was a target of the experts this time last season and now they are all miserable because he is out for a few weeks. Johnson might be the natural finisher we need, and Rodriguez-Gorrin might be the first step towards having someone who can put their foot on the ball. I'm certainly prepared to wait and see. I still want us to be moving towards playing a more attractive style of football. That isn't an overnight process, though. When Wee Tommy was in charge we spent a few seasons parking the bus to make sure we avoioded relegation, before he was able to start bringing in better footballers and create a style that was winning us a Cup (and bulidng a team that wasn't too far away from a league title). Thistle and Dundee were the poster boys for bottom 6 "footballing" sides last season. One was relegated and one was nearly relegated. It's a difficult balance. And Dundee Utd were the poster boys for a recruitment model that many said we should follow. So I'm quite prepared to see how the first half of the season unfolds and re-assess the team and their progress after that. It's easy to forget that if Les hadn't stepped in and, not only provided a loan, but implemented a complete restructuring of the club, we might be talking about how we manage to avoid League One this season, and where we should play games after Fir Park was sold off. Are we where I'd like us to be? No. Are we better off than when Robinson took over? Undoubtedly. Are we heading in the right direction this season? Bring it on, and let's find out.

It’s been evident for years that even just one player of genuine quality when they find form by playing regularly at a provincial club it can have a huge impact. Mulumbo at Killie last season for instance. Personally I’d swap Sammon, Johnson and Newell for a Tony Watt, O’Halloran, Greg Stewart or Stokes kind of signing. Sure I remember Lasley actually being quoted in the past recalling the McCall and McGhee teams that he thought it raised his own game and others around him when they knew playing with likes of Ross McCormack or Chris Porter that if you created a chance they’d be likely to stick it away.

Glad everyone is taking this so well. We've sold a good player for good money as we expected we would this summer. It won't make or break our season. At least we can play Celtic with 11 men now....

With Dunne out short term, and Cedric gone, I'd like to see someone with a bit of pace brought in. As excellent as Aldred was, I see him as a more natural replacement for Hartley. I'd also be happy to see Maguire get some more game time after his suspension.

Moult starts for PNE Kipré starts for Wigan

Great phrase This irks me a wee bit too, Cos he's not throwing a young guy in he's tagged like this

Nice gesture by the club to exchange fans' new 2018 Kipré printed shirts, and have the big man sign the old one for them.

Luckily, no-one on here ever second guesses those people, let alone questions their ability.

Aye, scored and set up. Maybe just coincidence, but I was watching some highlights and Vigurs always seemed to be the guy being skinned by Ainsworth or Humphrey. I remember at the time he joined us thinking it was mainly to avoid having to play against Lionel again.

No.....weeyins comment alluded to the fact that Vigurs lack of pace as an opposing player played a significant fact in some goals Humphrey scored. Sent from my SM-A320FL using Tapatalk

Agree with a fair bit of what you say here. My one concern is that you feel hounded. This is the Internet, not real life. Any **** with a keyboard can add content and it is all just bs or insightfully brilliant at one and the same time my own input included. Do not let it get to you.

Apologies Wellowell if I seem a tad impatient. We've been over this issue time and time again ad nauseum. Its quite normal these days for transfer fees to be classed as undisclosed. Usually, but not always, its at the request of the buying club. There can be a number of reasons for it including not publicising to rivals how much cash you have to spare. Deals, these days, are far more complex than they used to be and can be hard to quantify. On a separate note we do need to replace Cedric's physicality and pace. I'm sure the club has already plans afoot as they would have been expecting this bit of business months ago.