wellsince75

Many of the summer signings make no sense . for a club who bleet on about cash being tight I see zero strategy here . its looks like take the cash for Bair and take a whack a mole approach to signings how many of these signings will get game time , what formation or style of football are we aiming at. All as clear as mud at the moment

Wow - that will have us up to 9 first team forwards - quite like vale but can’t understand several of our summer signings no clue what formation we’ll play or whether likes of vale and watt will play in midfield .

Our midfield is light in numbers . Slattery is a complete unknown if he’ll recover Paton often picks up injuries others are aging and likely to miss games lose Miller and it looks dire . some quality loanees would be a good shout

completely understand that and I'm not advocating that we spend 3 - 4x on a single player. It's harsh though to see us losing the ability to compete with several other clubs who haven't stayed in the SPL. Likes of StMirren, Killie, Dundee etc.

I thought the point was if you have a set budget rather than spend it on say 25 players, spend the same budget on c18 players instead. Overall go smaller squad and higher spend per player but keeping the same budget. Last season we seemed to do both, smaller squad and smaller per player budget. I can see the argument of less players and better quality but we'd need a deeper pool of youngsters coming through which is harder to achieve as each season passes.

Appreciate that Scottish football is getting worse year by year and we're relative to that in terms of budget, but overall we must have signed bucket loads of journeymen. Please note I'm not pointing any comment at any single player , it's more about the sum of all parts. Our perm signings since Dawes has come in have in the main been underwhelming. I just don't see any plan that gives me cause to think we're on an upward trajectory. I know Bair will be blasted back at me here, yes he performed well above expectations but in the whole we've not made many perm signings that have proven to be that valuable since likes of Spittal/Slattery arrived on the scene. I'd almost rather we brought in mainly loanees - they've been far better quality than most of the perm signings.

Just checked with SK's hiring super computer. Worked with him before - tick 30 years old - tick recent serious injury - tick can be found at Poundland or similar bargain basement stores - tick

Bevis gave 100% every game and came across as a really good guy to have around the club. A very likeable guy who's built like an absolutely brick s&*t house. His situational awareness for me was the issue. He wasn't always aware of what went on around him, opposition able to drift behind him with relative ease. Thus his timing was often off, which simply cost us goals an all too often basis. To be fair had be been consistent he'd have left the club 3 years earlier akin to likes of Kipre. Good luck to the big man.

I rather hope we sell Bair to Blackburn - get cash and in exchange keep Gent and Vale. If we could get £700k + those 2 players it would be an excellent bit of business

Point was our defence has been really poor - the stats and data back that up . offering the same guys contracts doesn’t stack up to me , unless we’re happy to accept similar amount of goals conceded .

You're spot on. From what's been shared we made offers to S'OD, McGinn, Butcher, Mugabi and OX . Keep doing the same thing and expecting different results is insanity. From the current defence the one guy we really want to sign is Gent, which we may be able to do depending where Bair is headed but none if it inspires confidence that SK knows what he's doing in the transfer market. I'm not worried about who we haven't signed but offering so many contracts to so many who have proven not to be consistent performers concerns me.

Slattery is a much better forward thinking player as proposed to a hard working grafting midfielder. For me he and Spittal together with a 3rd midfielder was never the right balance . The watch out for me is if Nicholson and Slattery both play then we'll need a couple of other defensive/grafters to tuck in behind them and do the grunt work.

At 29 he shouldn't be passed it. I'm more enthused about him staying than I am re Halliday. He has shown some very decent skill and has had an impact on several games BUT it''s been limited and often been anonymous in many games. Is he good enough to replace Spittal ? Time will tell but we should remember the 'aw naw brigade' when we first signed Spittal.

I hear you David . The broader the net the broader the opportunity of getting good players. Re Shields - it was a massive gamble. He'd scored something like 20 goals in over 100 appearances at lower level - albeit 8 in his final season before coming to us. The data of 1 goal every 5-6 games should have been a red flag At least the likes of Parton has notched up c50 goals in 100 appearances - that's the kind of player I'd love to see us land. Guys who've actually got a decent record.

agree - would prefer not to go for someone with a proven record of not scoring I'd like to think we'd be making moves for some of the better strikers in the Scottish Championship - likes of Paton , 23years old and scored +20 goals per season. Appreciate may need a small signing fee .

I honestly don't see the point in giving squad players who aren't ever going to be first 11 a new contract. I'd prefer to have youngsters as a back up and go and recruit some decent players. Personally I'd have been more brutal and let the likes of S'OD, Mugabi and Ox go. Although easier said than done now is the time to recruit a very good goal keeper, central defenders and quality defensive midfielder.

Spittal proved to be a great signing and this season particularly was at the heart of everything that was positive. Watching the clips highlights how many assists he got. He's going to be very hard to replace .

Reflections are there's not a huge amount to be excited about. At best glad we avoided relegation. With a reduced budget 9th was always a likely outcome and after a horrendous run of 17 game it became a decent outcome. I'm struggling to see any progress as a club. When I look at the squad I don't see many young Scots coming through or many young anything coming through. The positives were young Miller , Gent, Bair & Spittal. All of whom may not be here next season. We like most of Scottish football are regressing, sadly I think we're regressing quicker than many. I'm sick of signing journeyman from lower reaches of England and equally fed up listening about the lack of funds, offering the same duds new contracts. The glimmer of hope is new investment, new CEO etc may kick us up the backside and move us forward.

the way debates are going Halliday could be in goals next season.

Given the budget cuts 9th is about where we expected for the season. Think most are in the camp that we don't want a rotating door for mgrs. SK is a decent man manager and will continue in role. I think he needs to improve though, both he and the squad need to evolve over the next period. Like a few have said we need to clear out and be ruthless towards players that simply cost us too many goals too often. Sounds like an easy job but our perm recruitment has been poor. For me it's the loan signings + Miller + Bair + Spittal that kept us safe. Will also be tough to replace likes of Miller & Spittal. With a new CEO and potential investment I really hope we start seeing a better brand of football. Not expecting total football , for now a team doing simple things well with some hope for the future will be enough.

I always liked O'Hara. There were lots of mix views about him and think he's kicked on since moving to StM

Sod has many positive attributes and imo gets a rougher time than most reason for my comment is his days of pushing up as a RwB are behind him . Very nice guy and want him around but don’t see him as a automatic start in first 11

very reasonable list. I've not see Ox enough to say if good enough to retain. I've been a reasonable advocate of SOD, he comes across well , local guy etc but as long as he's squad player only rather than starting 11.

If we have an offer in/around £1M then we should take it. I can see many championship level clubs being interested and think it's good money for someone we pulled in for free. Also helps attract other players to join us. The club and mgr are doing a great job at getting. XX% more out of players.

We will always have high/low points to a season. In terms of what he's been asked to do re league position I'd say he's delivered . To secure 7-9th with a lower budget is job done. Comes across as a good man manager, getting the most out of players. Would really like to see an improvement in recruitment. Some loanees have been very decent, could do landing some decent perm 1st team regulars.