joewarkfanclub

This seems more like the kind of signing we should be making. We cant really afford this kind of quality anymore unless we develop it or sign it on loan. Hopefully he is as good as his reviews suggest.

Good point. These are the things we will never know. We also dont know what part of "The Project" SK sees Bair taking up. It would be hard to believe / accept that he sees him as a first pick striker ahead of Obika and Wilkinson, who already have their detractors lining up to proclaim them both failures. More likely he is seen as back up to Obika and is there to learn from him and try to develop into a more effective hold up / support striker. The difficulty I have with that is we already had Mandron in the building and let him go, so if that IS his role, than SK is gambling on Bair being a better (or maybe cheaper) option on that front. If we do in fact get the Arsenal boy in on loan, this transfer wont seem half as risky as it does now. But we need that or something like it to happen to take the pressure of and generate some additional hope/expectation going into the start of the season.

Peak Carson was definitely a better GK than Kelly. Its whether you would be getting peak Carson anymore. Both good shotstoppers and Carsons distribution was infinitely better. Certainly no resale value on him now so you would want to be getting a few seasons out of him as your no.1 if you were paying a fee. Not seen enough of Oxburgh yet to decide whether he will be our no.1 when Kelly moves on, but not a position we are desperate to fill right now. Agree it wouldnt have been a crazy move if Kelly was moving on right now and the net transfer fee was in our favour, but thats not wgere we are with talk of us extending Kelly's deal. Good luck to Trevor, except on Saturday of course.

I think its fair enough to question the length of the deal given the circumstances. Casey got 6 months to prove he was worth a longer deal. Something similar for Bair would have been palatable to most and far less risk to the club. Thats not to say he wont or cant be a success, but it does seem a heck of a gamble to give him a 2 year deal based on very little evidence that he is worth it. Hopefully he will go on to prove all the doubters wrong.

I think the frustration for most is that SK has been very astute in managing players out the door who werent going to make the grade in the SPL and streamlining a somewhat bloated squad. The expectation was that he would then replace them with players of a higher standard that would improve where we were last season (leaving KVV aside). Most of the criticism/debate appears to be towards SK for his signings so far and concern that we may actually be going backwards instead of forwards and I think that is fair game on a football forum. What I would say is that given where we are in the season and the various levels of fitness of the players, its far too early to be calling whether any of our players will be any good for us in the future. Lets see where we are in September and make an assessment then.

On the face of it, if he hadnt been at St Johnstone last year and come with negative reviews, this is the type of signing, I wouldnt have been enthused about, but would have thought, mmmm, wait and see. But given that St Johnstone had him and let him go doesnt really bode well. He is only 23 however, so Im hoping he cant be worse than Mandron and is a back up for Obika rather than someone to play alongside him.

"We are all Stuart McCall.........."

Not my recollection of the game at all. We played some very nice football on the night and were schooled on the importance of being clinical and taking your chances.

What games have they picked for tv? 😉

Not the best draw we could have had, but not the worst either. Rather play on grass than away to Killie or Livvy and the journey to Ross County is never enjoyable. Short travel distance should ensure a decent away support and the extra spice of all the ex Motherwell connections. Hopefully Obika is fit and we can see whether he or Mandron is the better player. A perfectly winnable tie for either side.

Without knowing the real ins and outs of youth development and with having no experience or knowledge of it whatsoever, it appears to me as an outsider that the development of youth players at national level is skewed towards producing the best elite players for the national team. While it looks like we are having some success in this regard with the first Project Brave graduates now featuring for the national team and enhancing our chances of qualifying for tournaments, the pathway for those that are late developers or not at elite level seems less clear. Probably deserves a topic on its own, given the importance of the debate to our game.........

I meant in respect of winning the group and seedings. But, yes, the 2nd place teams certainly have a beef. And of course its Inverness they play not Raith. My bad.......

This is absolutely the way forward for our club and any other fan owned club for that matter. It will take SK a few windows to get us there as he tidies up the contracts situation and assesses who is ready for the step up. It will be a gradual process and one he will have to manage carefully, because he needs to keep his job in the meantime. But hopefully we will start to see the benefit of the strategy as we go along.

So glad we didnt take the risk on him. No place for dewey eyed sentiment in football.......

The time added on, or not in this case, requires an answer for all the reasons discussed above. It hasnt adversely effected us on this occasion, but it could in the future. The authorities shouldnt be allowed to gloss over that. Also, why is the Dundee v Raith game being allowed to be played today? Again its not effecting things on this occasion, but it could have provided one of those sides with a sporting advantage by knowing exactly what they need to do to qualify/be seeded. I know Viaplay will have an input, but its generally accepted in other competitions that it cant happen.

Given this outlook, your negativity surrounding the club generally is surprising. Its not too disimilar than my outlook, which is why, Im usually philisophical with my expectations. Is your negative outlook purely self protection based on previous experience? Honest question.........

Glad to hear he looked sharper. He has the pedigree to be a good player for us if he can get the fitness.

👏👏👏👏👏

Thought it was a strange looking team selection to begin with. But when you look at SODs and Obika being unfit to start, its not actually that surprising. McGinn is currently our 2nd choice RWB, so had to start there. So you have to replace him in the centre so Mugabi is the preferred choice there. Obika being out means either you play young Ferrie or push Spittal up. I would suggest Spittal is the least risky option in a must win game. Paton is our back up midfielder so he plays and Slattery is pushed up into Spittals role. Obviously Oxborough instead of Kelly is unforced, but again not a surprise to give him a run out in case Kelly gets injured at some point and we need him. Given that we are 2 up at half time and cruising, I think we need to give the manager the benefit of the doubt again. He might just know what he is doing.......

Good spot. I hadnt noticed that.

From SKs presser he sounded like fitness has a bit to go so probably wont start but should feature from the bench.

Wilkinson and Ferrie up front should be fine. In that situation Wilkinson is the hold up player and Ferrie the foil. As long as we get support from Spittal and Slattery getting into the box we should still have enough to get the job done. We just need to keep the door shut at the back. It was failing to do that, that killed us at QoS.

I presume its because Viaplay have paid for the rights and wont allow the club to broadcast them. Its been the same for most of our games since last season. Only the exiles get to see livestream as they are outwith the licensing agreement. The rest of us have to make do with audio. Its a bit shit, but not a lot the club can do about it as they dont negotiate the contract.

I agree. The tone came across very much that Joe just doesnt fancy it. I think he always had a year left on his deal. I dont remember him getting an extension. Sheilds got game time in Holland and he is away Fits very much with SK's "They are our contracted players and I will continue to work with them" attitude. Until of course they are not our players. He also dropped hints that certain players didnt fit his style of play. Given his apparent preference for 3-5-2 you would struggle to see where Efford fits into that. Whether thats the case or not and whether thats linked to this latest "injury" is obviously pure speculation, but it passes the time! 😉

Absolutely loved Kellys reponse there. "Ah love playing fitba mate. I'll get a break when am finished" Brilliant! 😆😆😆