MelvinBragg

Mbappe and Shaw sounds even better but, much like Fletcher, Mbappe was unwilling to come to Fir Park so there's no point dwelling on it...

If we were interested in Fletcher (and no one knows if we were), clearly we couldn't agree terms. And I'm fine with that. Because frankly I don't know how much we should be pushing the boat out for a 36 year old that hasn't had a preseason. Have we not gambled enough this summer..?

Scott Burns says no Fletcher but another striker coming in. Can't say I'm upset that Fletcher isn't coming. Obviously not to say that I'll be happy with the other name...

Talking perceptions. Last summer we brought in two established SPL level players without such substantial departures. I agree that belts need to ge tightened. Gravy train? Well, our captain certainly isn't worth what he allegedly takes home. Beyond that, don't pretend to know what other players are earning. And don't really care too much as long as the club can afford it. And that's what we're talking about. Club cutting it's cloth better than before...

I'm aware that previous managers have mentioned that our budget isn't the largest in the league. Something feels very different this summer though. The comment that "we won't be paying any transfer fees" in a summer when we have taken a sizeable transfer fee in and two decent amounts in training compensation is new. Previously we've spent smallish fees on players where we think there's a chance to make a profit. Seems the pursestrings are tighter this summer than before. Given the money wasted before, that may be a good thing...

Have you seen any of Kettlewell's press conferences at all? Heard any chat of a tight budget? "One in, one out" ring any bells? I think 3-4 signings is ambitious to say the least... At this point, I"d settle for a striker with some pace (a commodity we have little of) and possibly a left wing back if Souare is going to be out for more than a month...

What has Blaney done to be selected ahead of Mugabi? I'm not suggesting Mugabi is Franco Baresi but frankly neither is Blaney...

Nope. I'm vetoing this one. No fucking way are we having a guy who thinks it's alright and cool to have JET on the back of his shirt. It's his initials? You trying to tell me if his first name had been Paul, he'd have had PET on the back of his shirt? On good taste grounds, this one is a hard no from me...

He's a basic player who has a mistake in him but who can, when he keeps it simple, do a job. So basically the same as many Motherwell players over the years...

I'd be surprised. Pleasantly surprised but don't think it'll be him...

Everybody searching for Irish wing backs based in England?

I know this is never going to be a popular view around here but watching the Crystal Palace match and it's convinced me that I'm right when I say the jester top would have been fine with shorts of one colour...

The main problem with our business this summer is that pretty much every signing was a gamble. Before anyone jumps down my throat here, I know we tend not to sign "sure things" but last summer among other signings that were gambles we signed Paul McGinn and Blair Spittal, two players with track record at our level. This summer? Obika: Gambling on his injury record. Wilkinson: Just returning from a serious injury. Bair: Unproven at SPL level. Souare: See Obika. Casey: Missed preseason. Loose cannon without Butcher alongside him. Biereth: Unproven and just returning from injury. Zdravkovski: Coming from abroad, always a gamble. Paton: Injured again.. If we had signed a couple of players of a similar level to Spittal and McGinn without horrendous injury records, I'd be a lot more confident in the business we had done... EDIT Oh, and the chat about Van Veen is absolute nonsense. He had no intention of staying here...

I have no real issue on gambling on a quality player with a patchy injury record if it means we get a player of a quality we wouldn't otherwise be able to. But you can maybe afford to do that with one signing and have more durable if slightly lower quality backup. But (and we should have learned this last season with Moult and Aarons) you can't have too many risks in the one squad.. Souare's backup is a guy who hasn't played in a year so he didn't feel confident starting him. I'm not saying that they'll all miss loads of games but it is a huge gamble...

Recovering from an injury. Which is fine if his recovery is straightforward. But there's no guarantee that's the case. Obika will miss more games than he plays, Wilkinson and Efford both coming back from long term injury, Bair apparently wasn't able to train properly between Dundee and Hibs, Souare has barely kicked a ball for the last four seasons. Taking a lot of risks for a guy that wants to run with a smaller squad..

I make that three this summer alone...

Because that guy doesn't have 90 minutes in him yet...

Irrespective of your opinion of Barry Maguire, with his leaving we're a bit light in midfield. I know Kettlewell wants to run with a smaller squad but we have five midfielders, one of whom is just about to turn 17. With Slattery's habit of picking up a suspension and the chance of injuries, should we expect a midfielder to come in this window..?

I've seen nothing confirmed but a lot of strong rumours suggesting November...

Hearing some unconfirmed young Irish wing back rumours. Person who told me couldn't remember the name but said it wasn't Furlong. Anyone heard anything...?

Not sure, but I suspect extra time. Need to give the big teams every opportunity to get the job done...

I went for Bevis. Biereth certainly made a huge impact but given how much we had heard about Hibs attackers, the back three never really gave them a chance. And Mugabi is easily the most maligned of said back three so I went for him...

He had an injury with ourselves last season. But he seems to have featured more consistently than Obika over the last few seasons...

If Mandron scores more than 15 goals this season, I'm sure there will be those on this forum who will claim they said we should have kept him rather than Obika. Frankly I wasn't hugely keen on us signing either but I do remember thinking Obika would be the better of the two if we could keep him fit. I remember having this conversation with someone and saying it was a huge 'if'. Right now, sadly that 'if' looks to have been too big. Maybe it's a blip and Obika will be available for 95% of games this season, time will tell...

It says something about the league that you could probably say the same of every team. Including the Old Firm...