David

That's fucking terrible if Leitch has been dropped after he seemingly did so well recently. What kind of message does that send out to the younger players? You can come in, play well but still get dropped?

My thoughts as well. The two lads will still feature quite prominently I hope, but it means they won't be relied upon to provide the goods week in & week out at this stage.

Nope, seems legit. The Well society posted it on Facebook.

Adam Cummins is out as well, isn't he?

Yeah, I can't be doing with all the will he stay/will he go in January. Season loan would suit better.

I think we can get a point from this, but I wouldn't be surprised if we lose considering our personnel issues at the moment. 1-1 would work for me.

That's what I'm talking about though. The cycle we're in has to be broken at some point, where we use some of the money of we have to try and improve the scouting and youth set-up, even if it is to the detriment of new players coming in to the first team for a bit. I also think we'll be more likely to attract younger players if they see us as a club who give youth a chance. Dundee United have created an environment where the best youth players want to play. When a young lad is set to leave his local youth side for a pro club he's always going to have his head turned by United these days because of their track record of playing youngsters. We have to try and create the same kind of environment here. God knows it shouldn't be too difficult, as we're hardly a spending club as it is.

Nice of you to clear that up for us. Someone give McCall a ring tomorrow and let him know, eh?

The thing for me is that whilst it's always good to have a number of experienced heads in the squad, we simply can't go on doing what we've been doing of late. I feel we've done very well in the transfer market over the past number of years, managing to find the likes of Randolph, Higdon, Law, Ojamaa, Sutton, McManus & Anier. But how many players are we moving on for decent fees? Hardly any really. I'm not sure about anyone else, but I'd happily sacrifice a few years of finishing 4th-6th if it meant we could cut down on the one year deals and loans that we bring in and try to bring some of our youth players through. A club on our budget should really have a few experienced heads surrounded by homegrown talent on decent length contracts, who will either serve the club well for a number of years or be moved on at a profit if they attract worthwhile interest elsewhere. All of these young guys who have been knocking about in the youth set-up for a while now really need a chance. And if they aren't good enough, then the lads coming up behind them need drafted in. We need to change the perception of the club to somewhere that a talented young player will be given his shot, not somewhere where a half-decent journeyman from down south can resurrect his career on a year long deal before fucking off again. We need to try and establish a decent, homegrown for the most part nucleus of a side that will include some talent brought in from elsewhere, enabling us to build from there. I've enjoyed the success of recent years, but at the end of every season there's a feeling of dread when one year contracts expire and we always seem to go into a new season somewhat disjointed I think. Maybe a few years to step back, re-assess and build from ground zero is what's needed?

Just having a quick look at the actual first team squad on the official site makes me think that unless some last-minute signings are coming our way those who want to see youth given a chance will be happy enough this season. Me? I'd like to think that the lack of signings of late has something to do with the management team deeming a few of our younger guys worthy of a chance. After all, we were quite quick off the mark in getting our business done early in pre-season. There's no real reason why that would grind to a halt if business was still to be done. I hope.

Well, it all begins again this weekend... Anyone know who of the injured bunch of Reid, Hammell, Ramsden, Kerr and Angol will be back for this game? I'm assuming we'll have McManus back after his personal time away? Aside from that, it'll be business as usual I'd imagine? Not much change from the side that lost the European ties. Hopefully fitness has improved since then.

I notice there's been nothing added to the Youtube page since we lost in Europe. No post-match interviews, nothing.

Del Piero still hasn't got a club. And I hear Zanetti is thinking of coming out of retirement for one last season...

Not at all, I'd love to see us win a cup, just not at the possible expense of us losing our top flight status. If we finished 5th or 6th and won a cup I'd be happy enough with that.

The chance that we could be relegated (which could pose some serious financial problems for us down the line) as long as we win a cup? Nah, not for me.

My expectations rarely change. Top six finish and hopefully we get somewhere in a cup.

You know how I roll! But yeah, I imagine the players have been told in no uncertain terms that they weren't good enough, and I'm fairly sure that the management team will be looking at all available options for the coming season as well. We'll just have to wait & see.

You think that would be the case? I don't. If there has been something planned it'll go ahead and will be announced as planned in my opinion.

It's not quite the same to be honest. It's more akin to paying money to watch a movie at the cinema. If the movie turns out to be shite, do you complain to the cinema? Or do you go after the actors and director? Or do you just put it down to a bad experience and hope that next time you visit the movie will be better? What "the client" does have the option of doing is not spending more of their money with the club.

I think that's a risky way to go about things.

Under McCall's "watch" over three seasons we've finished 2nd twice, and 3rd once in the league, we've reached the league cup quarter-final, and the Scottish cup quarter-final as well. We've saw one of our players crowned players player of the year, finish top scorer in the league, and our manager has won a manager of the year award. On top of that we've played in Europe every complete season McCall has been in charge. All of that pretty much overshadows three bad cup results in my book. Is he perfect? No. if he was he most likely wouldn't be with us. I may be a bit mental, but i've got faith in him that he can lead us to another stellar season.

And you've missed my point. I'm simply saying that no football club worth its salt will plan their finances on the basis that they will reach a certain level of European football, especially when that club is operating with the playing staff we have, who notoriously blow hot & cold. If our directors went into this tie thinking "aye, we'll get through no bother. How much are we making in the next round? stick that on the accounts already" then they're fucking mental.

Of course we're forgetting it. That's how this forum works, remember? We've went from the high of beating Aberdeen and finishing 2nd to the team suddenly having a losers mentality, a yellow streak, and a manager who is poor.

How did we do against Inverness that season? Oh aye, that's right, we thumped them 4-1, 5-1 & 3-0 that season. The whole "well, look what so & so did to them after they beat us" chat is ridiculous.

Aye, the Rovers game was a disaster, I'll give you that! The Rangers game I've already discussed, and the Aberdeen game was unfortunate, but again, it happens. We were playing a team who have been pretty even with us over recent seasons. Shit happens. It wasn't good, it felt shit but you move on. That's the way cup games go, right? As for the league games, I'm more than happy with how things have turned out in that respect. Would you trade those United results for their league position?