Kmcalpin

We're on the same page. I don't think Elliot will be be on a huge wage, but I don't really understand his signing. Given that he hasn't played for months, he'll be no quick fix, which is what I think we need right now. An undiscovered gem? Maybe. My fear is that if he turns out to be a real find in say 2 or 3 months time, then a St Mirren or Kilmarnock will come along and hoover him up in the summer.

I get what you're saying. Whatever SK's weaknesses, and we all have them, are, I don't think lack of work ethic is one of them. However I quickly learned when younger, that despite what elders told me, hard work alone doesn't guarantee success. I agree that we needed to strengthen the wing back areas, but I think he's slightly overdone that, say by one wage? Now, I've no idea what wages/contributions we forked out to land them but surely if we had repurposed one wage to add to offers for strikers, that might have helped in attracting one.

No, failing to bring in KVV isn't a problem for me. Killie and to a very slightly lesser extent St Mirren offered silly money, if rumours are to be believed. We shouldn't even have contemplated matching that. FWIW, I never, at any time, thought it was realistic to land him.

Yes, the next 3 games are huge. The Directors gave SK time; has he used it to good effect? If we haven't boosted the strikeforce (we've still to see Vale in action of course) then we have to have strengthened the defence to the extent we stop conceding soft goals. He has to convert draws into wins. If we haven't improved our potency up front and still soft concede gift goals, then both he and the team are in big trouble.

I seem to recall that part of the problem was that he was one of our first Bosmans and walked away for nothing at the end of his contract; no fee. That irked quite a few fans.

Purestate's assessment of our wing backs is pretty much spot on but did we need to sign so many? Could the wages being expended on one maybe have been used to up the offer to a striker?

"I'm sure we'll get a 30 minute video in September explaining this whole shambles of a day." "Yep - there is no spin that can take away from the fact that we didn't manage to get a main striker in" "As others have said, I'm happy with the incomings, but not shoring up the forwards is piss poor. I'm not buying any hard luck stories either, this is an issue of competence, and we fucked it." "If Spittal gets injured then we might not score again this season" "Strap yourself in for a play-off defeat to Raith Rovers." "Looks like we’ve absolutely fucked it unless this Vale guy turns out to be decent." "I'm quite happy with all our incomings but the lack of a striker is absolutely shambolic when Mika left on the 18th of January." "Looks like we’ve fucked it. " "Looks like there's a lot of weight on Theo's shoulders now. If he gets us through the season without a relegation, I reckon we ought to get a statue up of him." These are quotes not from these boards but from the venerable patrons of P & B tonight. Their concerns, as are many of those on here, may be misplaced or premature, but they do demonstrate widespread concern. I know sourcing a striker is far, far from easy, but hopefully we'll hear something in the next day or two.

He should never have been signed. Thats no reflection on him as there is a player in there. However he just didn't suit our style of play. That should have been known before he was invited to put pen to paper. Obika? We knew full well that he had serious injury problems. Why then give him a 2 year deal? Biereth? A year long loan with a club like Arsenal who have previous for recalling players - a bit risky. Bair - a long term project, who performed better than expected. Shaw - a panic signing. We are where we are with strikers, but I hope we have someone lined up to come in over the next few days. If we don't, thats a serious failure.

Probably 0.

From a rumour I heard our interest in him was rebuffed a day or two ago. Not really gazumped at the last minute.

Squad composition does seem a bit odd now. Definitely a bit short in central defence and up front and awash with wing backs.

I'll be extremely disappointed if we don't sign another striker tonight or in the next day or two but am keeping my powder dry for now.

Yes, we badly need another striker folks but be patient.

The difference in gate mmoney is chickfeed. Not a factor here.

Thanks. That makes perfect sense.

Why nothing of course. I don't need to know anything, but this is a discussion forum and I'm interested in all things MFC. if you take a hard line, then I suppose you could say, with a modicum of justifcation, its none of our business. From the tone of announcements, if he's expected to be out for 2 or 3 months, then I agree its quite possible / likely that he won't feature for us again. If he does play again, then it might only be for a game or two. Given that, what is the purpose of keeping him on loan, if we have a choice? I'm not asking for detailed medical update - only the clubs and player will and should know that, and that might, with the best will in the world, be overly pessimistic. Yes, this is the last day of the window and other things are going on.

Very vague statement by the club. Celtic will be treating him, yes, but has his loan been cancelled? If he's out for 2 months say he'll return sometime in April; if out for 3 months it'll be May. When he returns he'll be far from match fit. Stevie Frail has just clarified that Monty is still on loan with us. Situation seems odd. Are we still contributing to his wages? Unless recovery time is overestimated, how much more game time will he get with us?

Very vague and it tells us virtually nothing.

Aye, its time to lay off MJC and Steelboy. Everyone is different and there are extreme pessimists and extreme optimists in our support, and all shades of opinion in between. I often disagree with them both but at times they both write a lot of sense. Please don't throw the baby out with the bathwater folks. Lets get back on topic - by all accounts theres plenty of activity due later to occupy us.

Welcome Jack. Now we need an experienced striker a LWB and a central defender. A very tall order.

Eh? How many do they need? According to their offiicial site, they already have 8 (first team squad 27 players in total). As far as Brophy goes, does Derek Adams just want shot of him or will he rail at the player signing for a very close rival?

I'm very wary of anything the Scotsman writes about Hertz or Hibs. I recall a few years ago when Hearts were about £22m in debt and an article in said publication painted a very rosy picture of this debt situation. On reading it, I was almost going to ring Fir Park to plead with the powers that be to also run a £20m+ debt. What a great idea! If Hearts could do it why couldn't we? Then reality kicked in and I never did ring.

Absolutely. It smacks of the Dundee United situation some years ago, when some "philanthropic" fans gave United several million pounds out of the goodness of their hearts with no strings attached. Their fans vigourously, no in fact aggressively, rebutted criticism or scepticism from others, who were making the very points you're making now. We all know that the s**t hit the fan when the truth came out later......these so called philanthropists took a hefty cut of some big transfer fees that came in. Guess what? The United fans went ballistic when the truth came out.

That's my understanding. It doesn't matter how good he is, he's no use to us sitting in the stands. Any signing is a risk of course, but we need to minimise that.

Almost but not quite as bad as us for sacking managers. At least they showed Robson some patience.