Yorkyred

It’s fair to say your early contributions to the forum have not been strong I’m afraid. I find it’s generally better to concentrate on the football rather than spending most of the time winding up other members.

No thanks

We need to now invest in a new striker.

Quite enjoy the place myself, easy to get to, always a decent atmosphere, good view from the stand. The pitch is the main problem.

GA has certainly improved a good few players, he deserves a lot of credit for that. I still think commenting on a player from another club is fine and I don’t believe that means he won’t receive support if the club choose to sign him. Forums are all about offering different opinions and I think giving an opinion on other teams and their players is part of that.

I don’t believe there is anything wrong in having an opinion on a player that is not even at the club, we do that all the time in various sports. Should the club chose to sign him he will certainly have my support but at this point it’s just an observation on a player from another club. I don’t rate Shankland that highly either.

He’s going to need a way better first touch at Premiership level

Personally when I’m watching lower league football I’m looking for someone that has that technical edge even if playing in a poor team or on a poor pitch. White is a good example of a player that certainly puts in the effort as does shields but they don’t have the ability of a Tony Watt who for much of his career was overweight and guilty of a lack of effort. As you say he ran around a lot and is obviously fit but I don't think he would get near the first team. He looks nothing more than championship level to me and I would hope we are not looking at pushing the boat out.

Not that impressive in truth.

I must admit I did tend to see a few Thistle games but have not been for quite a while now. I think looking at potential in the lower leagues is important but my goodness it’s tough getting it right at times. We already have Shields written off by one or two and that’s someone that had very high praise by his former club. It’s quite a step up.

Speaking with my work Colleague who’s a long Standing season ticket holder at Thistle, he’s surprised at the interest in him. Does not think he’s premiership level.

We should just be thankful it’s not us that gave him the long term contract on big money that some wanted.

Is SOD really that bad a right back ?

Competition of course is always needed, I don’t think giving Shields a shot means we can’t bring someone else in to push him. With Watt away we have space freed up.

That’s my thought, we need to give Shields his shot first, no point bringing in promising players from the championship on 3 year deals if we don’t give them time. We might as well just go back to 12 month contracts if that’s the case.

I think if a deal is not done ( I believe one will be) it’s going to help no one. If he plays I can see a backlash from a percentage of the support, if he’s then not in the first team we’ve lost out on a chunk of money for a replacement. It’s ok Alexander stating he will play and that’s fine IF he’s not getting abuse from the stands.

I can see a deal been done, I don’t think either club want this to drag on until the end of the season and it’s money we can use to strengthen up top ourselves. I’m sure Alexander will have someone lined up even now should it go through and Watt moves.

Great news mixed with the realisation that he will be picked off by another club should he carry on being relatively successful with us, we just receive a little more in compensation. We’re heading in the right direction and hopefully regardless the model we have adopted continues.

I think given his football level he’s ended up playing a blinder. I often think players should stay a while longer and develop, then move on even though the argument is they could have a career threatening injury at any time. However in his case I don’t believe he would have developed.

We all talk of him being a one trick pony and that really was the case, he was going backwards before he even left us for Rangers and getting subbed off in games. I thought he would make Championship level but it’s now looking more like league one or two. It’s a shame but he’s not the first and won’t be the last to look amazing for a very short time before going backwards.

Yep we need to be careful for a young guy that’s not played a huge amount of games at Championship level. Thistle are obviously trying to hold out for good money but he’s out of contract in the summer. Surely he could do a Watt and just sign a pre contract ?

Most of those goals are at Championship level though. His stats for Premiership league games are nothing special.

I’m not a huge fan personally. I can’t say I’ve seen enough to suggest he’s a really effective top level striker. We do of course have a really positive habit of getting the best out of many players but I’m more confident in Shields developing further than I am Shankland.

Shaw in and Crawford out should be a good piece of business.

Yes good luck to him, still a bit baffled why he was given a contract in January though, he never looked the standard we needed.