2023/24 ins & outs discussion

[Kmcalpin]

On 8/23/2023 at 4:00 PM, texanwellfan said:

Fair comment I think regarding Obika. We do seem to have repeated this same mistake several times over the past few years in signing players with known injury issues.

100%.

There's a real danger here of throwing the baby out with the bathwater with regard to some posters.

To sign one player with a questionable injury record is a fair enough risk but to do it with 2 or perhaps 3 is questionable. Obika should have been a known injury risk with his past hamstring problems but to give him a 2 year contract and then he's sidelined until December with .........his hamstring. Well.  Pape Souare, a player with another worrying injury record  is also out for a few weeks (we've heard nothing about his injury). It happens once you're unlucky, but twice? If you have a huge squad thats less of a problem, but if your reducing squad size then its much more of a risk.  

The next few days will be huge for us and may well define our season. Alarm bells aren't ringing for me but they are tinkling.  

[robsterwood]

Mika had injury last time he was on loan too and sent back.

[wellsince75]

10 hours ago, Kmcalpin said:

100%.

There's a real danger here of throwing the baby out with the bathwater with regard to some posters.

To sign one player with a questionable injury record is a fair enough risk but to do it with 2 or perhaps 3 is questionable. Obika should have been a known injury risk with his past hamstring problems but to give him a 2 year contract and then he's sidelined until December with .........his hamstring. Well.  Pape Souare, a player with another worrying injury record  is also out for a few weeks (we've heard nothing about his injury). It happens once you're unlucky, but twice? If you have a huge squad thats less of a problem, but if your reducing squad size then its much more of a risk.  

The next few days will be huge for us and may well define our season. Alarm bells aren't ringing for me but they are tinkling.  

defo got alarm bells increasing in noise over recent weeks.  Other than Wilkinson all our summer signings have had injury issues - thats one heck of a risk,  particularly when the strategy is to have a small squad. 

Unless we have more youngsters who we can take a risk with then we need to bring in some quality over the next week, which is likely to be more loanees. 

[bobbybingo]

10 hours ago, robsterwood said:

Mika had injury last time he was on loan too and sent back.

I wouldn't put him in the same category as Obika or Souare. No manager can legislate for reckless tackles.

[joewarkfanclub]

Lamie off to Dundee on a seasons loan.

Given that it has pretty much been one out, one in, hopefully that means our mystery striker can be announced now!

[bobbybingo]

4 minutes ago, joewarkfanclub said:

Lamie off to Dundee on a seasons loan.

Given that it has pretty much been one out, one in, hopefully that means our mystery striker can be announced now!

He might have his work cut out winning them over.

[Kmcalpin]

Ricky Lamie season long loan to Dundee on the cards?

[FirParkCornerExile]

The minute Lamie said he was off to Dundee first time round he had his most consistent 6 months. The minute he decided to stay he was shite. I often wonder if it's an attitude problem with him. If he thinks he's secure he is too casual by half. There is a player there but he just does not show it often enough, concentration levels shocking at times.

[FirParkCornerExile]

1 hour ago, bobbybingo said:

He might have his work cut out winning them over.

Football fans are fickle if he plays well they won't care about the past but if he's shite they will be on his back quick.

[wellsince75]

15 minutes ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

The minute Lamie said he was off to Dundee first time round he had his most consistent 6 months. The minute he decided to stay he was shite. I often wonder if it's an attitude problem with him. If he thinks he's secure he is too casual by half. There is a player there but he just does not show it often enough, concentration levels shocking at times.

Yes -his concentration is the issue, far to lax and switches off.  Other than that has good attributes.  We simply can't afford players who switch off.  

Worrying that for now we need to play Mugabi every week, he'll also cost us goals/games. 

[FirParkCornerExile]

23 hours ago, wellfan said:

To be clear:

1. I do not favour a relegation reboot; that's not what I said. I implied relegation could give the Club the reboot it's seemingly required for a while now, however unwanted and damaging that may be. It would be disastrous in terms of being able to return to the Premiership and the employees, but perhaps our future economic model (all we hear is we're skint) suggests we would be no higher than the bottom of the Premiership or a consistent Championship-level team. It was an off-the-cuff remark because this is a football forum. The reset we need should arise as a consequence of having better strategic, long-term direction driven by a permanent CEO, and that's why I ended my late-night rant on the CEO issue.

2. I did not say Weir was unambitious or unintelligent; he's far from it. He's our interim CEO and is rightly tightening the purse strings this summer, yet we still need a permanent CEO with a long-term vision who is also ambitious and intelligent. Chopping and changing to plug short-term gaps and overpromoting from within may steady the ship for now, but it does no good for our long-term stability and Premiership survival, which is what we all want. 

How ambitious can you be with a piss poor support that stubbornly will never rise above 4800

[FirParkCornerExile]

3 minutes ago, wellsince75 said:

Yes -his concentration is the issue, far to lax and switches off.  Other than that has good attributes.  We simply can't afford players who switch off.  

Worrying that for now we need to play Mugabi every week, he'll also cost us goals/games. 

Mugabi would be on the way out the minute we have cover for me,  he is not someone we can secure  our future with.

[bobbybingo]

12 minutes ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

Football fans are fickle if he plays well they won't care about the past but if he's shite they will be on his back quick.

And that'll be his problem. As we've seen, his form's as changeable as fans' opinions.

[wellfan]

Kettlewell giving Bair a 2-year deal is really going to come back and bite him and us. The guy is, unfortunately, utter garbage at every aspect of the game. He has zero redeeming qualities or ability. It’s the most ridiculous decision imaginable to have offered a known dud anything longer than a short-term deal. Thank fuck for our midfielders being pretty decent because we have zero proven or fit strikers. 

[Great Balls of Shire]

Think it was on this thread someone commented on Paton being a" lazy" signing ....even before his goal he looked class...so keep those lazy signings coming 

[Bart Verheul]

14 minutes ago, wellfan said:

Kettlewell giving Bair a 2-year deal is really going to come back and bite him and us. The guy is, unfortunately, utter garbage at every aspect of the game. He has zero redeeming qualities or ability. It’s the most ridiculous decision imaginable to have offered a known dud anything longer than a short-term deal. Thank fuck for our midfielders being pretty decent because we have zero proven or fit strikers. 

In fairness he started off the move for the winning goal with a lovely pass out wide. 

His hold up play definitely improved in the 2nd half too. Not saying he's the answer to all our problems but there's something to work with and I think Kettlewell has shown enough in his time in charge to earn our backing

[wellsince75]

33 minutes ago, wellfan said:

Kettlewell giving Bair a 2-year deal is really going to come back and bite him and us. The guy is, unfortunately, utter garbage at every aspect of the game. He has zero redeeming qualities or ability. It’s the most ridiculous decision imaginable to have offered a known dud anything longer than a short-term deal. Thank fuck for our midfielders being pretty decent because we have zero proven or fit strikers. 

got to agree with you here.  A 6 month contact would have been reasonable to prove he has something. 

Expect/need us to bring in a striker for at least 6 months.  

[wellfan]

20 minutes ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

Think it was on this thread someone commented on Paton being a" lazy" signing ....even before his goal he looked class...so keep those lazy signings coming 

It was me. Hands held up. He was excellent today. 

[MJC]

Lamie joins Dundee on loan for the season.

[Stevie73]

Heard today that Fletcher has signed, any truth, as for hold up and link up play Bair wouldn’t be at the races.

[wellsince75]

1 hour ago, Stevie73 said:

Heard today that Fletcher has signed, any truth, as for hold up and link up play Bair wouldn’t be at the races.

was rumoured back in June but not heard anything. 

As desperate as we are I'm not convinced bringing in a 36 year old is the answer, particularly one with a 1:4 goal record.   Significantly better than the fit ones we have but I'd rather spend the money on a promising loanee 

[Happy Dosser]

1 hour ago, Stevie73 said:

Heard today that Fletcher has signed, any truth, as for hold up and link up play Bair wouldn’t be at the races.

Weren't there supposed to be  rumours on P&B to that effect? He's not an out-and-out  goal scorer but I agree his hold up and  link up play could be useful. Nothing stuck to Bair or Efford today.

Looks like we'll need more goals from midfield or Dead-Eye Casey 🤣.

[joewarkfanclub]

Rumours are that Fletcher has signed and we are looking at Ollie Shaw. Id guess that means Efford will be away? Getting hooked at half time today doesnt bode well. 

Spencer had a good second half today, but he looks more naturally right footed. Wonder if we are in the market for a natural LWB or if we are just patching up until Soare is fit again?

Given our injury woes, we have made a good start to the season. But it will be interesting to see what other business we can get over the line before the weekend.......

[Ya Bezzer!]

10 hours ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

There is a player there but he just does not show it often enough, concentration levels shocking at times.

That's the case with most of the players at our level.

[Ya Bezzer!]

1 hour ago, Happy Dosser said:

Weren't there supposed to be  rumours on P&B to that effect? He's not an out-and-out  goal scorer but I agree his hold up and  link up play could be useful. Nothing stuck to Bair or Efford today.

Looks like we'll need more goals from midfield or Dead-Eye Casey 🤣.

Who is he going to link up with?

If Fletcher signs he'll be our top scoring striker but it might still be single digits.