Kmcalpin

Sometimes OTF's post are a wee bit cryptic but there's a good reason for that. Sources, whoever or whatever they are have to be protected and respected. His posts are usually right on the money and they are very interesting to read. A very important contributor to this site.

Alan Martin leaves QoS for East Kilbride.

Pie & Bovril. Original source the online Daily Record /Sunday Mail.

Just to be clear, Stephen Robinson has quashed rumours of an Elliot Frear return, if indeed there was ever any substance to it. Probably a case of 2+2=5. He adds that we hope to secure the signature of 2 wide players this week.

We're 2-0 up at the break. Long scores after Gallagher's header was cleared off the line and Donnelly nets the second with a thunderbolt. Apologies wrong thread.

Stephen Robinson is on record as saying that his preferred formation is dependent on the type and quality of player we have. The long ball game is preferred by teams on a limited budget. Thats about the limit of my tactical knowledge. I remember Derek Adams telling us at Perth one evening that its sometimes very difficult and complex for managers to work out what is going on tactically in games. So we're not alone.

I renewed my seat in the POD Stand and was issued with a new card, which I picked up in person. Smooth process.

This and also find another 2/3 wingers.

An enigmatic manager who quickly decided he didn't want to stay. The exact opposite of present imcumbent Sir Stephen Robinson in footballing terms. Gannon's footballing philosophy was spot on but the problem was he didn't have the calibre of player to carry it out. Robbo has said that his style of play is dependent on the quality of player he has available.

I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned Vladimir Romanov yet. He was welcomed in a blaze of publicity as cult hero by many Hearts fans but by the end of his reign a substantial number of them had viciously turned against him. Dundee's record with sugar daddies hasn't gone too well either.

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.