Kmcalpin

You can't beat an East Neuk dressed crab. No whitefish landed here now as it all comes from Peterheid. Anyways, I see St Mirren have signed Eseola Sole.

How can you possibly be fed up with sea food?

Seems to be agile and a very good shot stopper. Apparently played outfield early in his career and looks to be comfortable with the ball at his feet. Likes to save penalties as well. Should be a good fit for our system. At first sight similar to Callum Ward, even down to the transfer fee. Not the biggest keeper in the world and I doubt he'll make it in the Premier League but good enough to help us out in our hour or season of need. There's bucketloads of very good keepers in England so he'll have plenty of competition if he returns down there. I always think that loans can be risky but in our situation, we probably didn't have much choice. I suspect he'll be our no 1 and therefore I feel sorry for Matty Connelly but I can't ever see him being anything more than back up at best for us.

His official height is 6-0. Presumaby then, Matty is 5-10.

I get that Stu and agree there's no need to panic. However we already know that we're short of a keeper after Ward departed and there's a big hole in central defence due to departures and injuries.

Yes our pre season does seem a bit chaotic doesn't it, despite being told previously everything was in hand, or words to that effect. Certainly no-one could predict our most recent and disruptive injuries. I just wonder what has happened to our recruitment. As I've written before you'd think that we'd have have identified our targets at least 6 months ago and been working on them. They may have been reshaped a little by long term injuries to McGinn and Hendry, but again they would have been known quite some time ago. The usual caveat, of course, applies. New signings do take time and not all targets come to fruition. No doubt we have had to work our way down lists as some opt for better offers elsewhere. The only conclusion I can come to though, is that AJ has either changed that list and has asked ND to rework it or has put a hold on it until he's fully assessed the current squad, such as he has been able to do given the recent spate of injuries. Our pre season friendlies don't seem to have gone well in terms of injuries, getting a settled team, results and possibly morale. Game time in some legs, many young, though. I agree about Matty Connelly. A decent guy by all accounts and home grown but I don't see him as being anything other than emergency cover or back up. I'm a bit more relaxed about Europe than some but we can't take the HB games for granted and they won't be a walkover. I'd be looking for a 3-0 lead from Fir Park as the away tie could be tricky. As Handsome Devil wrote on P & B the ties could be season defining like Sligo if things go belly up. As it turns out, the Faroese football league is on a 4 week break just now so that might just work in our favour. However if we can't progress against the Harbour Football Club then serious questions will have to be asked about our preparation.

Yes, I like it.

So, from our limited squad, it seems that McGinn, Hendry, TJ, SOD, McGhee and possibly Stam have picked up knocks of varying severity. Thats the ones we know about.

I think its too early to say. The Genk friendly next week should give us a better idea. Will our better players have moved on by the first HB game? Will we see more arrivals by then? Was Stama taken off injured against Aarhus? Little mention so far of Longelo or Thor in pre season games. So many unknowns at the moment.

Yes and no. Player "trading" suggests not just comings but also goings.

Its not been said, but I assume a broken jaw will sideline him for a wee while. He certainly won't be able to eat at the moment. Its a bit concerning though that we're playing so many young lads in games we should be using to prepare for the impending Conference League ties. Giving the development squad some gametime is no bad thing though, just not quite so much of it just now.

That was a bit concerning, especially as we have a small squad at the moment. Certainly, we know about TJ, who will be out for several weeks, and McGinn and Hendry, who are out for months. Hopefully, not much more than that.

RIP Mike.

Our development squad had a bounce game against Queen of the South's Under 19s yesterday at Dalziel Park. Game ended in a 1-1 draw. https://www.qosfc.com/news-7029

Just had a look at the Carlisle United website and see they have a number of our ex players on their books: Archie Mair, Bevis Mugabi, and Luke Armstrong.

Thanks for the update Denny. That can only mean we are assessing trialists, which is a positive sign. However it also suggests we aren't yet in a position to give our strongest starting 11, whoever they might be, 90 minutes in their legs which is concerning as the Euro clock is ticking. It would seem our pre season preparation is a bit behind where it should be.

Thats true to a certain extent. As Weeyin says, I'd categorise the likes of Just as being an attacking midfielder. I think Jens brought in that specific style of play as he didn't consider that we had any suitable strikers available. If we had had then I assume he'd have selected one week in week out. Although we amassed a healthy goals for tally, on quite a few occasions, we failed to convert good leading up work into actual goals due to being toothless in the box and having no focal point there.

Yes, I get that, but how many are out and out strikers? Stama, Hendry and Thor. Of those, Stama has been a permacrock and failed to impress; Hendry has been disappointing, and is now out injured again long term. I don't want to go into this season with one of these 3 up front, for different reasons. In fairness, I like what I've seen of Thor but he's a specific type of striker and not really had a chance to settle in. He deserves time. Last season striker was definitely a weak spot in our team and surely would be on Nick Daws' hit list for strengthening. I wouldn't class the others eg TJ and RCC as as out and strikers. I assume Vogt has been brought in as a likely replacement for TJ. RCC has also failed to impress.

As things stand, I'd say we need another keeper, 2 CBs, 2 midfielders (to replace Slattery and Nicolson/Halliday) and a striker. Thats before anyone else leaves. I'd like to bring in another 2 CBs to replace Welsh, Gordon and Balmer. Paul McGinn is out for several months and we don't know how he'll recover at his age. I feel we're short in midfield. As its stands, we have Watt, Fadinger, Priestman and Sparrow, with the untried Whyte as back up. I'd be looking for a first pick striker.

We've all had our tup..pence worth.

Just a brief mention in the Rancid Allan. No more details.

I quite get that and have seen more than most good players depart Fir Park. That will always be the case and I can live quite contentedly with that. Blocking moves is a fine balancing act and, like it or not, contracts mean little to better players who can simply throw a hissy fit to get their move. After last season, there was always going to be interest in a slew of our players, so thats no surprise. However, a balance has to be struck. It was known by the club months ago and before the split, that JBA was leaving. So none of these factors should have been a surprise. Everyone connected with the club also knew that we'd be playing our first Conference League tie in late July. My only potential gripe is that our Chairman said that our best players would not all be sold at the same time, and that might still be the case; hopefully it is. However, I am getting a little nervous at the state of the squad for our first Havnar tie. Its unlikely that new players arriving are 100% match fit and gel instantly. The clock is ticking.

Taking nothing for granted but we are good enough to beat Havnar, and in the unlikely event we can't, serious questions would need to be asked of the directors and to a lesser extent Nick Daws. The next round is a slightly different matter.

He has one year to go and we have year's option in addition.

According to the Rancid, we have lined up a friendly against Carlisle United.