David

No, my main point in this thread is that rather than relying on the younger players we already have under contract we're finding money from somewhere to finance a loan deal for a Welsh international who plays for Reading. Don't get me wrong, if Les is happily footing the bill for these types of signings then fine, I've not got a problem with it, but if this money he's spending is being tallied up and is going to be added to what we have to pay him at the back-end of this deal we have with him then it's an issue, isn't it? I'm not questioning the ability of the players we're bringing in, because obviously they seem to have the pedigree, but what I'm questioning is the fact that we seem to have completely deviated from the "self-sufficient, cut our cloth to fit with what we bring in" motto that I'm sure I heard mentioned when Les first arrived. I may be losing the plot, but I thought the idea was to dump a lot of the relatively high earners during the close season and try to bring in a few well thought-out signings with sell-on potential and start giving our academy players a shot? Isn't that how a club our size manages to operate in a self-sufficient manner? We've brought in almost as many players as we let go, including David Clarkson and Scott McDonald, who won't be cheap I'd guess.

Who are you talking to here? I didn't mention anything about McDonald's fitness?

That's a one-off though, isn't it? I'm talking more about us looking at the money we actually bring in and cutting our cloth to reflect it. As I said, I could be wrong, but I don't see that happening.

This is kind of my point. Whilst it's great seeing fringe England under 21 goalkeepers coming in on loan, and exciting young talent from down south being signed up, I'm a bit worried about who is going to end up paying for all this? It certainly appears that we're spending way more than we're bringing in. Wasn't the idea supposed to be to get a lot of high earners off the wage bill during the summer, tighten down on the squad and cut our cloth accordingly? So that when the time comes where Les decides he's had enough we actually have a squad that we can afford to pay without banking on a cup run or a 2nd place finish? That's why I'm wondering why we're signing Welsh internationals on loan from Reading when we should be pushing our own affordable players into the team. Unless of course these players are playing for next to fuck all, in which case my worries are unfounded.

The thing is, at the end of the season we let go of 11 players, and we've now brought in 9 replacements if my math is correct, along with re-signing 2 key players. I could be wrong, but I can't see the guys we've brought in being on less money than the players we've let go, not to mention the seven new guys we brought in last January, so my question is, where is the money for all of this coming from? I know Les has cash to burn, but is he basically throwing this cash into the club and not worrying about any return? Or is this all part of the loan we're getting and are expected to pay back via the society eventually?

Before I go any further this isn't a thread about our results thus far this season, there'll no doubt be enough chat about that elsewhere. What I was wanting to talk about is the transfer policy of the club moving forward. In the run up to the end of last season we knew that a whole load of players contracts were up, and that a lot of them wouldn't be coming back. This was going to open the door for the manager to bring in some new players under the new ownership blueprint of bringing in players we can eventually move on at a profit, which I think is great. We've brought in some good prospects, most of whom are in their early 20's, such as Moult, Chalmers, Fletcher, Laing & Kennedy. We've also added Scott McDonald to the side, bringing experience and a bit of class. What I'm wondering is where the idea of us bringing through our own youngsters is going to fit in with this? I know it's early doors, but it seems to me that the young guys who are knocking on the door of the first team have been pushed to the back of the line again. I don't expect them to walk right in and take a starting position away from an established player, but I thought the idea was to bring them in when we suffer injuries and suchlike? Pearson is out for a good few weeks, and after his injury against Inverness young Leitch got his opportunity, replacing Pearson for the entire second half virtually, and then also playing for 80 odd minutes against United the following weekend. Then on the day before the Hearts game the club sign Jake Taylor on loan, and despite only being here for a day he immediately goes into the starting line up against Hearts and young Leitch is back on the bench. The same thing happened to Twardzik, where he played all of our pre-season games (and did quite well by all accounts) only to see a keeper come in on loan the day before we play our first league game and replace him immediately. Now, I know there'll be people who say "fuck him, he's pish" and all that jazz, but that's not going to do his confidence any good, is it? Which isn't ideal if Ripley picks up a knock or decides he wants to fuck off home in January. And what about the signing of Clarkson? He didn't look great for the most part at Dundee, he has virtually no real sell-on potential but yet we're playing with him on our bench, coming on for the last 10-15 minutes in matches whilst Craig Moore has been fucked off to Ayr United. The truth is, apart from Leitch getting that game against United before he got bumped for Taylor I've seen fuck all by way of progress in bringing through some of our younger guys, such as Dom Thomas, Leitch, Moore, Ferguson or Cadden. I dunno, it just seems like the same shite when it comes to our younger players, only this time they're being kept out of the side by different names, some of whom don't look all that special if I'm being honest.

Along the lines of what I was coming into the thread to say. We most likely won't be competing with the likes of Hearts, Dundee United & Aberdeen this season, so although I'd love for us to be taking points off them I'm not going to lose the plot if we don't. Our bread & butter this season is the teams you mentioned, Kilmarnock, Partick, Hamilton and St Johnstone possibly.

After seeing Hearts promoted last season, if you'd told me that we'd win the play-off tie with Rangers and would still be an SPFL team this season I'd likely not have been confident of us getting anything from Tynecastle, but I'm actually feeling optimistic. I'll go for a narrow win, or a draw at worst.

I wonder why they don't simply get the guy who draws up the posters to allow them to use the same images on the programme? Those posters are excellent for the most part.

Isn't the idea supposed to be a smaller 1st team squad with a view to bringing through more homegrown young players? If that's the case, surely one of those young players will step up in Pearson's absence? It kind of negates the whole ethos of what we're trying to do if every time a key part of our first team squad gets injured we simply bypass the young lads and head right for a loan deal from down south or something similar.

Fucking hell Skippy

Aye, so it seems. I was just hoping that someone had a link to one of those obscure radio channels that covers the odd game here & there.

Anywhere doing actual match coverage of this? Or are we stuck with Twitter and OAM?

I'm pretty confident that team can get us a result today.

20 minutes tops.

Why would he be better leaving? Because of what some fans on a message board say?

Dan is a backup keeper really, isn't he? If he's happy to play that role then I'm happy enough to see him stay at the club.

How long was that new deal he signed at the end of the season before last?

It says;

With the new season not too long away and some signings made, what are the general expectations going into the new season? Looking back on a similar thread this time last year the general consensus was that we should be looking at top six minimum with a top four finish a real possibility as well as a decent cup run. Personally I was looking for top six with a cup run being a bonus. This season anything above 11th will do me, and i'm not really fussed by the cups.

This is fair dragging on, no? Other clubs have had their new kits unveiled, pre-ordered, in shops and on the streets for a while now. Didn't this happen with us last time as well?

If we make the number of signings that seems to have been suggested then it only stands to reason that one or two of them will flop, it's only natural. Let's just hope that we see more wins than losses in that regard.

Nice one Donaldo, i've updated the OP as well.

It could, and maybe I'm just being cynical when I believe it's more about seeing what kind of cash is on offer.

When McDonald says he has "unfinished business" down south I'm guessing that he means the business of earning more money, because it's not as if he's going to be joining a side looking to win trophies. He's simply assessing his options before making his decision, which he's perfectly entitled to do. Saying that, I hope the club have said to him that the offer made has a finite lifespan, because if he's not interested we need to move on and look at other targets.