thewelllfan

I think Sparrow has been good in whatever position he gets asked to do a job in. Kaleta been solid enough at LWB when asked to play there. Wilson was brilliant in Cm away at Dundee Utd not a position he should be playing long-term tho. Halliday was ok in the game he had to play LWB and SOD had a good start to the season playing both RWB and Cb. I think in terms of the games they've played out of position they've all done fine. Your not going to get many good utility players in the SPL the last good one we had was Richard Tait and he's been gone what 5/6 years. If we hadn't had so many injuries the squad size would of been 25/26 as it is most seasons.

I found out of the current 33 man squad only 12 have contracts for next season. Aston Oxborough - 2027 Liam Gordon - 2026, Kofi Balmer- 2026, Johnny Koutrombis- 2026, Stephen O'Donnell- 2026, Ewan Wilson- 2027 Lennon Miller- 2026, Tom Sparrow - 2026, Sam Nicholson- 2026, Twanda Maswanhise- 2026, Zach Robinson- 2026, Apostolos Stamatelopolous- 2027 2 of the guys out on loan have deals utill 2026 Dylan Wells and Fillip Stuparevic So 14 under contract for next season and I'd probably be looking at moving 2/3 of them on as well.

we have utility players within the squad. Sparrow, SOD, Halliday, Kaleta, Wilson have all played in minimum 2 different positions for us this season. Our issue is we have around 10-12 players who have been out/will be out for a miminimum of 1-2 months. We've also signed 4 players in the summer that have about 7 apearances between them in Jair, Callahan, Stuperavic, Koutrmombis. Dundee Utd have been pretty lucky with injuries compared to us.

In that case fair enough.

I disagree with this we done exactly what we should of done in this window loans and short-term deals. The St signings with no manager are a bit baffling but I assume the club think we have sufficent depth for who ever we appoint to get a few results and try sneak into the top 6. Based on previous seasons we'll need 4 Wins out of our last 8 to make the top 6.

I'm concerned looking at our midfield and defence but the squad is huge so what can you do. Don't see anyone else coming in with an hour to go.

Right on que we've just announced the signing of goalkeeper Callum Ward

We'll only be signing a Goalkeeper as back up to Balcombe until Ox is back and to allow Connoly to go back to EK and play. Mair broke his finger I believe so he'll be going back to Norwich. Don't see us bringing else in other than that. Can't understand why we've kept Taveres at all.

I still think we probably still need another 4 Another Cm, Cb, Bu Gk, and a winger are needed if we want to stake a claim for top 6. Callahan, Koutrombis, Ebiye, Davor all need sold/loaned out. Taveres needs sent back to his parent club as does Mair who's broke his finger and out for 6/8 weeks. We have Robinson and Mcginn out for the season so that's us down to 31 that can be available for selection anyway. Seddon, Miller, Stam all out for at least another 1-2 months Ox out for 3 months. Current crop available for selection Gk- Balcombe, Connoly Cb- Balmer, Gordon, Casey, Blaney, SOD Rwb- Kaleta, SOD, Koutrombis Lwb- Wilson. Thompson Cm- Halliday, Andrews, Paton, Sparrow, Slattery, Nicholson, Davor Fwds- Dickson, Plange, TJ, Watt, Ebiye, Armstrong, Vale (Once suspension finishes) Those 24 to pick from currently w Vale to add back in. That to me looks weak and forward heavy. Top 6 would be huge for cost off-setting as would getting into Europe. Majority being loans is also ideal as it means we can actually squad build from scratch next season and aren't stuck with players the new manager doesn't want long-term.

Dickson is meant to be a very decent player from what I've heard of him. Can't say I know much about Plange so can only hope he comes good. Personally think we should probably have only got 1 and brought in a holding midfielder but we can only hope that all the new guys come good and we can scrape enough points in our last 9 games to get into the top 6

Don't think we'll be bringing anyone in without a manager

x and bookies odds

I'm seeing Chris Hughton being linked with the job that would be a really interesting one. He's been around the premeir league and championship in England for a long time and to me would be quite an exciting appointment. Lots of experience and great contacts not convinced he'd take the job tho.

any idea how long Carter-Vickers is out? If they are without him and they don't bring in a new St, there's a small possibility we can get a point from the game. Hopefully we get a 'new manager bounce with Frail and actually give them a game.

With us being out the cup the board have something like 3 weeks to get a manager in. We also can't bring anyone else in cos we have no idea how the new manager will want us to play. So we're stuck with what we've got untill at least the summer in terms of the squad.

Not against it but his recruitment during his time at Hearts was quite poor so I'd be concerned at him overseeing the huge squad rebuild that is inevitable in the summer.

Lambert in any case was unlikely. I forgot Coyle went to Queens Park not that long ago and didn't do particularly well. Graham Arnold is the only name I've seen declare interest publicly and I've heard rumblings via twitter we've approached County to speak to Cowie not sure on reliabilty of that source tho

Ideally Paul Lambert but he'll probably have his sights set on a bigger job. My rouge/left-field shout would be Owen Coyle. I think it will probably end up being one of the Australians tho based on the fact the board have been looking at making a foreign appointment for years and this is probably the lowest risk oppertunity they'll have to do it given how far from 12th we are.

I forgot he's played Nicholson there I think if it's a 5 Halliday is LWB based of the way the TS is normally layed out

That's a 433! Balcombe SOD Gordon Blaney Kaleta Sparrow Halliday Paton Nicholson Watt Maswanhise

If we get Thompson and add a holding mid I'd be quite happy. Need to get top 6 to help off-set the cost of this huge squad we've got. I'm not convinced it's off the level to end up there without Lennon but it looks better than it did this time last week

Can only hope he does well for us but signing a guy who can't get in the squad of 24th in League 2 feels underwhelming.

Might be reading into it to much but the blurb on balcombe on the website suggests he's coming in and starting straight away

I think Balcombe is a decent shot-stopper I think he's quite poor at Crosses and distribution isn't great either. Got to be honest I feel it's probably a bit of a luxury deal as I'm sure Mair could of done a decent enough Job till Oxborough was back. I also think in a window where we're desperate for 4/5 outfield players coming in loaning in 2 new Gks probably not the best use of funds. Either way he's coming so I hope he's brilliant for us. We need to bring in another 3/4 at least - A Target-man, Winger/No10 sort of player, Holding Midfielder, Left-Wing Back, We could also probably do with another RWB/Cb option if Mcginn is out for the season.

if it's a prem team we should be asking for 6-8m and a sell on clause that's pocket change to them and worth the risk for a player of his potential. I still suspect he'll go to an Italian team.