MelvinBragg

I said as much yesterday...

Distinct possibility, I s'ppose. Funny when people talk about our saleable assets (and I include myself in this), they talk about Clarkson, Quinn and Reynolds and forget Stevie Hammell. Part of the reason, I would guess, is that he didn't settle in England and in terms of clubs in Scotland, they fall into probably wouldn't want him (the Old Firm) or couldn't afford to buy him (everybody else). If he was to go to another club in the SPL outwith the Old Firm, I reckon you'd be looking at a swap deal which opens up all sorts of questions. Or as weeyin says, maybe the new guy, Boyle, is versatile...

See I'm working on the assumption that Hughes is away (doesn't seem to be much talk about Graeme Smith, so who knows??). If the guy Beevers, who can apparently play anywhere in the back four, signs then for me we'd be sorted for cover at the back and it'd be curtains for Brian McLean. IF it's confirmed that Boyle has signed then I'll welcome the fact we have cover for left back. But Hammell has a good record injury/suspension wise up until now so I don't know how much we'll see of the guy...

Aye, when I read the list of those "on the shortlist and being interviewed", I thought to myself, well, that's them just taken the name of the two guys who've declared an interest publicly and added in the two guys most recently linked with it. I, like you, expect to be surprised but not only by those interviewed (should it ever come to light) but by whoever gets the job...

He can be interested all he likes. Not welcome round these parts...

Eh, we have two centre midfielders on the books. After Lasley and Fitzpatrick, it's either boys who've never kicked a ball in anger for us, Paul Quinn or Steven McGarry. While I like the idea of more defensive cover, it wouldn't have been my priority...

While I welcome the news that we're apparently improving the depth of our squad, left back seems a strange place to start. Especially since, as others on here have pointed out, Stevie Hammell led us for assists by some way last season...

Yet some would accept £300,000 for him. How much would relegation actually cost us...?

Change 'as' to 'of' or add return after the word squad...

My thinking is that of the names mentioned Boyle was either going to go for Luc Nijholt or Gary McAllister. Given the Setanta debacle is rolling on, I think McAllister will have passed on it, and I reckon when it came down to it, Nijholt just seemed an appointment too risky to Boyle...

Altogether now.. "Your hometown, yoooouuuurrrr hooommmetown..." At last a manager with some balls...

Hadn't actually considered that. Distinct possibility...

That's my guess...

OK, who do you think it will be? Not who you want it to be, but who do you think we'll see paraded with the Claret and Amber scarf whenever it happens...? EDIT Open question by the way, not just aimed at Lobey. What are people's gut instincts telling them? Not "I've heard from a reliable HP sauce that...". Given the rumours that have done the rounds, who do you think we'll bring in...?

Either he's trying to throw them off the scent, or the suggestion that there have already been interviews is nonsense. I'd like to believe we're close to appointing someone, because if it's going to take us at least two weeks from today, then we're really dragging our feet. I don't personally think we'll have someone in for Monday, I'd settle for this time next week...

And question is, do you think his name will be Steve Staunton...?

No, I quite fancy dark skinned latin types myself . On a serious note, I think the reason his name hasn't been mentioned in the last 24 hours is the fact that he seems to have distanced himself from the original story which stated he'd be interested...

It strikes me that people are now bored after an initial frenzy of speculation and the appointment of a new manager will be greeted with "Oh, it's him, ho hum". Which is quite sad really...

That thought had occured to me as well. Hence the ...

That's the cynics on here told...

I'd be surprised if Staunton was our new manager. Surpised but not stunned or gobsmacked. McGhee's name came out of nowhere last time as did those of Alex McLeish and Harri Kampman. And those worked out OK . I've been saying for a few days now that I expected an appointment out of leftfield. Ignoring his record for the Republic of Ireland (expectations have been a bit high post-Charlton in that country), appointing someone who's never been a club manager would certainly be out of leftfield. Might stop people questioning Nijholt's level of experience...

While I agree to an extent with yerself and the esteemed Mr Elder, if that part in bold is true, we'll really be dragging our feet. The first game is on the 2nd of July. Sheepy McShovelface left on the 12th June and had been on his way out for about a week before that (some might say for about 18 months before ), so surely having a manager in for the start of July is not too much to ask for...?

Now that's what I call getting ahead of yourself...

I'm assuming it's kind of a token reference to Scottish football "We might not be interested in Mowbray being Celtic manager, but Lee Beevers now will be...". Like you, I was puzzled by the reference but that's the only thing I can come up with...

I'm assuming from Lincoln's official site, Ricky? Nothing definite there but certainly sounds like they think he's coming to Fir Park. Which begs the question, IF this turns out to be true, who is making the decision to sign players at the moment? I mentioned in relation to the Patrick Boyle story as well. It's all very well saying that any manager coming into a club has to work with the players at his disposal, but to bring in new players who will take up a wage whether the new man wants them or not, would seem a very strange decision to me. I'm all for strengthening the squad, we all know it needs it. But I don't want us to find ourselves with a couple of Simon Mensing situations developing...