Kmcalpin

What we now need is some wide players. There doesn't appear to be any breaking through from the Academy. Last season we had Ariyibi, Hastie, Frear and Cadden. Now all we have is Hylton. Presumably we're waiting to try and secure Ariyibi on another loan deal.

Its a no from me. A short sighted option.

I'm not sure that is the case. I assume, without having seen him play admittedly, that he's a replacement in the "all rounder mould" for Gorrin. Someone who can defend but is also comfortable on the ball. As for rebuilding its still early days and no need to panic. We all know where our deficiences lie i.e. wingers and strikers and Robbo has said this publicly. Without having seen him play I'm not sure Long is an out and out striker in the Number 9 mould. Scott, in my view, isn't quite ready yet and Johnson is a penalty box player. From Robbo's comments I suspect we'll play some variation of 4-5-1 this season which is great, but at the moment and for the next few weeks, we don't have the personnel to do it effectively. We certainly lack in the final third and need to acquire an out and out big striker an old fashioned number 9. I think we do look reasonably solid defensively, on paper, however. Anyone we bring in now might not be fully fit. Some good debate on Pie & Bovril about this. So it could be a harder league cup campaign in the group stages than we would wish. The saving grace is that the management team are well aware where we need to recruit and are actively working on it, albeit without much success so far. As we have nowher near replaced those who have departed, numbers wise, there will be money in the war chest.

Ties in with what I've read - travelling to London to have his operation carried out by a top specialist this week.

This. I read this somewhere in the past few days. Top English clubs subject potential signing targets to a whole battery of sophisticated and very expensive medical tests whilst those down the pecking order will cut their cloth accordingly. I suppose if you're on the brink of forking out £10m a series of medical tests costing say £10,000 are small beer.

Does anyone know the second half team from yesterday's game in Belfast? Was there a huge change at half time?

Who owns the Society?

My final word on the subject as there are now more pressing issues for us to address. Its perfectly reasonable for Celtic to have wanted to amend the terms of the deal, as you say. However the devil is in the detail. I would have thought that something along the lines of a reduction in the up front fee and an increase in the sell on % would have been reasonable but that doesn't seem to be what was offered. IF rumours of the revised offer are accurate then I can quite understand our fans' reaction. We should offer the lad a 1 year extension.

Could someone who was there give us a brief resume of the Society AGM held last night?

Maybe now that the DT issue has been temporarily resolved everyone including the club, can now move on and focus on preparing for the new season.

Do you know more about this? I've got mixed views about the whole episode. Short term we now have much needed clarity but over a longer timescale there's still alot of uncertainty. First of all I feel sorry for the lad himself - the expectation of a move and then a huge letdown. At 19, how will he cope with such a letdown? Anything I've read indicates "preventative" rather than remedial action. That sounds slightly more positive. I don't suppose he or the club will know much more until he's had his operation, or procedure as its now known. However I've read he'll be out of action for anything from 10 weeks to 6 months. From the club's perspective they've lost a huge payday for now anyway. Will the lad recover fully? How much longer will he actually play for us? Will he be worth much less with say 18 or even 12 months left on his contract? Would he sign a further year's extension? Will Celtic come back in for him once he's recovered (for a smaller fee of course)? Many questions but few answers. From the club's perspective they seem to have handled this well telling Celtic to do one. I qualify that by adding that we don't know the terms of Celtic's revised offer.

No need to panic over last night's bounce game against Crusaders but it did highlight where we need to strengthen, if we didn't already know. We have no cutting edge in the final edge and that requires attention. I'd hope that we can begin to rectify that sooner rather than later as the League Cup will be starting in just over a fortnight's time.

Apart from anything else how can they possibly afford a transfer fee and attractive wages?

This 100%. The "Undisclosed Fee" jibes seem to be resurfacing despite this practice being explained before, and frequently, ad nauseum.

Captain Oats makes a very valid point on P &B about this to put the £3.25m into perspective. Our entire turnover in 2016-17 was £4.18m. Next year (year ended May 2020) our turnover will be approximately £8.0m, the highest by far in our entire history. Of all the clubs "interested" only 2 were interested enough to meet our valuation. NB: no offence taken about age Iain.

As Fizoxy says, the deal has not been completed yet. Until such times as it is the club should not comment.

On the other hand, I'm looking forward to seeing an influx of new players like Long, Hylton and Sloth turn out for us. Don't forget Moult, Johnson and Ainsworth were once virtual unknowns too. Out of interest who have we sold that we didn't need to do so? Remember that our legacy debt is only now being cleared.

I'd hate for anyone, including you, to buy or renew their season ticket under false pretences. We've always been a selling club and always will be. Other clubs are in exactly the same boat. At the age of 9 (showing my age here) I was heartbroken to see one of my boyhood heroes, Bobby Roberts, leave for Leicester City. My father gave me short shrift and said that if I couldn't accept that then I should give up football alltogether or go to Ibrox or Parkhead (he wouldn't help me to go to those venues and I'd have to do it under my own steam). I decided for better or for worse to stick with the Well and I've done so for a further 55 years or more. Since then I've seen scores of our players move on including : Joe McBride, Dixie Deans, Keith McRae and Tam Forsyth; and thats all before 1970. I could go on ad nauseum. David Turnbull is one of the best players I've ever seen in claret and amber but he'll not be the last to leave to better himself. I don't care. The club is bigger than any one player and if you can't accept that then perhaps its time to think long and hard about whether MFC is the club for you. Nothing wrong in deciding it isn't. We'll move on whatever.

Lets not forget contract negotiations dragged on and on for weeks and almost certainly didn't focus solely on wages. At the very least there would have been a gentleman's agreement on the level of acceptable offers ie £3m. I doubt very much if the lad himself expected to play in the league for us this sesson.

Probably around the festive season.

Going by Alan Burrows' comments, SR will continue to pursue an attractive playing style. From the little I've gleaned about Casper Sloth he is an all rounder in the Gorrin style.

Oxford reporting that they've "agreed" a compensation fee with us for Chris Cadden but there seems to be other clubs interested in him and he's said nothing so far.

Its becoming very clear that there's a release clause in his contract probably based on a £3m bid. I'm speculating but suspect he wouldn't have signed a new deal without it. Unlikely therefore that there would ever have been a bidding war.

Why Busta? I agree our model, which has been very successful, should not change. However budgets, be they Academy or facilities, will change- they have to otherwise transfer monies will gather dust in bank accounts. I'm sure our windfalls will change several budgets for the better.

Now that our outstanding debt to John Boyle and Les Hutchison is about to be paid off, all being well, any Society monies raised can now be invested 100% in the club itself whether it be to improve facilities for fans; invest in the Academy, or to modestly add to the playing budget. Its all a balancing act of course.