MelvinBragg

At last, a manager who listens...

Interesting interview with Humphrey, although the bit that caught my eye was the quote from Gannon at the end Well, if they're good enough, and we can afford them, get them in sharpish, Mr Gannon...

Tomorrow's Sun mentions a couple of trialists. Kanyuka, the guy from Swindon, we had heard about. The other name being mentioned was Jonathon Tahoe, a midfielder. I'm asssuming that it's a misprint as I can find no record of such a footballer anywhere on the net. Anyone any wiser as to who the midfielder is that we have on trial...?

A few pages back it was suggested that the defender from Swindon and the striker from Aston Villa (Williams??) would be coming in on a week's trial this week. No quotes supporting it but whoever posted it seemed to be stating it as fact rather than rumour... EDIT Well-made said it on page 73 of this thread...

Just a thought, people. Should we get past the Albanians, will the second leg of the third round be at Fir Park? Just wondering given that we were planning to play on it a couple of days later?

What he said...

Answering my own question, it appears to be next Friday night...

When is the signing deadline for the next round? Wouldn't want to facing some of those teams with the squad we have at the moment, but having avoided some of the real big guns, with a couple of new faces we could maybe go a wee bit further. Assuming all goes well next week of course...

Having seen the game on t'internet, I thought Keith Lasley looked quite assured. No one was a real stand-out. Everyone seemed to do their job reasonably well...

I'm not overly confident for next week. I think we were probably the better team yesterday but even prior to losing the likes of Porter and Clarkson, as a team we have found it difficult to break down teams intent of defending in depth. We are certainly capable of beating Flamurtari but I think an early goal is key. To be honest, I don't see the reason for over-confidence on the part of ourselves or on the part of the Albanians who have posted on here. I think it's too close to call and could go either way. Can/should we be able to win by two clear goals? Yes. Having watched Motherwell for a while now, do I think we will? Hmmmm...

Is it just me that thought there was a major deflection for their goal?

For the techically inept who have a Wii in the house, but don't know how to use it to watch streaming from the internet, can anyone give me a quick idiot's guide. PM if you like or post in the thread if there are idiots similar to me...

I think it's impossible to say how the game will go given we know so little about our opponents. Given we're the seeded team, you would hope that we might be a slightly stronger team than them but it's all guesswork. I know that the fact we've had two games against Llanelli has given them a chance to see us in action which could be perceived as giving them an advantage. But it also means we've had two competitive games under our belt. I'll settle for the tie still being alive for the home leg. Unless of course it's deid cos we've won 4-0 over there As an aside, I share the disbelief that some have expressed that the club weren't fully aware of the UEFA signing deadlines...

While I'm not his biggest fan, at a time when people are saying we simply don't have enough goals in our team, I'm surprised at how many people are ready to dismiss Darren Smith, second top goalscorer behind John Sutton. With eight goals. Which isn't a lot but is probably as many as McGarry, Murphy and O'Brien combined...

Good job it happened now rather than 3 weeks ago. Can you imagine the local Samaritans switchboard if we had no new players, no kit manufacturer and no manager...?

Thing is, though, unlike Calum Elliot, I'm pretty sure Stephen Hughes wouldn't be daunted by a wee drive to and from Edinburgh every day. Earlier in the summer, there was a short period of time when I thought Hughes might stay. Now I'm certain he's offski...

Thing is, we have to give the team time to gel together. Signing players before the St Johnstone game is all fair and well, but not much use if they don't know the names of half their team mates. So I reckon you're right to be worried at the pace of things. It's ealry yet, but if in another week to ten days we haven't seen at least 4 new faces in the door, I'll be very concerned...

If you listen to MearnsWell, he probably could. Just kidding MW, you know I was a fan of the big man as well...

I remember the link you're talking about, Andy, but it's better PR to say that when bringing a guy in than say "We're bringing him in for a year til Forbes is ready for regular football...". Don't get me wrong, I think it's a sound strategy to bring guys in short term til our young players are ready. Just struck me yesterday when I read Gannon's comments that it might explain why the only guy we've signed so far is on a one year deal...

So what you're saying is that Hughes is no Kristian Vadocz??

I didn't say that we'd be in a relegation dogfight, but with a new manager and 4 or 5 new players needing time to get used to playing with each other, I think we might be in the bottom half this season. And in that situation, you want players who are roll up their sleeves in the trenches types. And Hughes, for all he brings to the table, is not that type of player...

I think the fact that there seems to be a wee bit more stability in the manager's chair there might mean it's not the place to avoid that it was two years ago...

I tend to agree with you on this one. And because we're in a bit of a transitional phase this year, we may find ourselves battling at the bottom (don't think we'll go down but could be in amongst it for a bit) and he's not really the man you want next to you if it's sleeves rolled up time...

Anyone heard anything new about the possibility of a new face before Wednesday? Given we have the possibility of adding someone to the European squad on Wednesday night, I'd have thought we'd have been looking to do at least one deal before then...

Point taken but would you believe a word that comes out of a football agent's mouth?? His public hints that he wasn't keen to move all the way up to Aberdeen won't have done any harm...