2025/26 Ins & Outs Discussion

[dennyc]

36 minutes ago, bobbybingo said:

O'Neill recalling Welsh purely to show up the board's lack of signings isn't much of a conspiracy theory, given he basically said that was the reason he did it. 

How about playing him tonight just to make sure he cannot play for us in the cup if he returns? That was also a suggestion. Or the Board recalling him to spite O'Neill ....or was it the other way round? Or did the Board recall him to spite the fans? I've lost track. 

[texanwellfan]

15 minutes ago, dennyc said:

So other than the knickers in a twist comment we more or less agree?

Nothing to do with the goodness of their hearts though. If having had a look at Welsh in light of his form with us, Celtic decide he still does not cut it then why not offload him to the only place he can go. If Motherwell agree. Surely that is best for all parties?

I’m not quite sure why Celtic played him. They just locked him into Celtic or Motherwell. Do Celtic plan on playing him? To me, it looks like they really don’t want to play him, so are they going to be out 10 grand a week for nothing? 
Seems like it is to everyone’s advantage, Celtic, Welsh, Motherwell, for him to complete the season at Fir Park. 
  From our point of view it’s good that he can’t join another Scottish club and play against us this season. I really would like to see him come back here for the rest of the season. 

[bobbybingo]

7 minutes ago, dennyc said:

How about playing him tonight just to make sure he cannot play for us in the cup if he returns? That was also a suggestion. Or the Board recalling him to spite O'Neill ....or was it the other way round? Or did the Board recall him to spite the fans? I've lost track. 

I don't believe he brought him back and played him just to cup tie him. Given he couldn't have played against them even if he'd stayed with us, that makes no sense. 

If you read O'Neill's reasoning behind the recall, it's all about being down to the bare bones due to a lack of signings. He spoke about one of the young defenders being a great prospect - there was absolutely no suggestion Welsh has a future at Celtic. 10 changes tonight doesn't suggest a lack of players, but their performance did scream a lack of quality. 

O'Neill plays the bewildered pensioner, but he knows exactly what he's doing, and reading the Celtic fans reaction to the recall shows they got the message, loud and clear.

[weeyin]

The cup tie thing is obviously nonsense, because they can just make not playing in the cup a condition of any loan.

For all we know Welsh might have agreed to play tonight so Motherwell would be the only option for his next loan and the Board can't entertain any other offers now.

It doesn't really matter, though. Celtic need to take care of their business and we need to take care of ours. If there is a beneficial overlap - great; If not, then we move in another direction.

[joewarkfanclub]

40 minutes ago, dennyc said:

So other than the knickers in a twist comment we more or less agree?

Nothing to do with the goodness of their hearts though. If having had a look at Welsh in light of his form with us, Celtic decide he still does not cut it then why not offload him to the only place he can go. If Motherwell agree. Surely that is best for all parties?

I think that depends on the terms.

It cant have anything to do with Maswanhise as that just muddys the waters.

Meanwhile if we can identify a suitable replacement, preferably on a permanent deal, then we should do so......

 

 

[dennyc]

4 minutes ago, joewarkfanclub said:

I think that depends on the terms.

It cant have anything to do with Maswanhise as that just muddys the waters.

Meanwhile if we can identify a suitable replacement, preferably on a permanent deal, then we should do so......

 

 

Agree 100%. 
I would prefer both solutions. Welsh and another CB asap that Askou feels fits our style. Rangers fans seem to think discussions have taken place regards Nsiala. I hope not as it would be another loan and from what little I have seen he is also a bomb scare. 

[thewelllfan]

1 hour ago, dennyc said:

Agree 100%. 
I would prefer both solutions. Welsh and another CB asap that Askou feels fits our style. Rangers fans seem to think discussions have taken place regards Nsiala. I hope not as it would be another loan and from what little I have seen he is also a bomb scare. 

I don't think we need 2 Cbs if Mcghee is back fit he's a solid player and replaces Balmer. I wouldn't say no to Welsh coming back but now he's cup tied it restricts the games he can be used in even further. We have minimum 17 games left and he's unavailable for selection for 3 (providing we finish T6) before returning and any cup games should we progress. 

Our priorities rest of the window should be:-

- Sign a ST (Bjorgolfsson is basically a done deal assuming we're waiting on a work permit before announcing)

- Sign a CB (Wither that be a Welsh return or a New CB)

- Sign a LB (Longelo needs competition he's been poor since Aberdeen (A) in the QF of the premier IMO needs someone to push him)

- Sign a 10 we need an attacking midfielder to open up the low blocks ideally someone of the Spittal mould who can play a pass and shoot from range.

- Line up a Maswanhise replacement if the bid we can't refuse comes we need to be prepared and have his replacement lined up.

- If we're being greedy we could do with another CM (Halliday and Watt both being out is going to put strain on Slattery, Preistman and Fadinger) so another player in that area wouldn't go a miss unless he has enough trust in Mcallister to play minutes over the run where we have 5 games in 2 weeks or chucks Sparrow in midfield which he's not done all season.

- Loan out Luca Ross sitting on our bench most weeks probably isn't helping his development maybe use the co-op agreement with Stenhousemuir and get him some game time that way he can still be used if needed.

- Make a decision on Nicholson, Stuperavic and Robinson and Halliday if they're going to play a role keep them if not loan them out/mutual agreement.

- Finally once the big Norweigan is announced send Osong back up the road no point him being sat on our bench when he's having little to no impact.

[texanwellfan]

35 minutes ago, thewelllfan said:

I don't think we need 2 Cbs if Mcghee is back fit he's a solid player and replaces Balmer. I wouldn't say no to Welsh coming back but now he's cup tied it restricts the games he can be used in even further. We have minimum 17 games left and he's unavailable for selection for 3 (providing we finish T6) before returning and any cup games should we progress. 

Our priorities rest of the window should be:-

- Sign a ST (Bjorgolfsson is basically a done deal assuming we're waiting on a work permit before announcing)

- Sign a CB (Wither that be a Welsh return or a New CB)

- Sign a LB (Longelo needs competition he's been poor since Aberdeen (A) in the QF of the premier IMO needs someone to push him)

- Sign a 10 we need an attacking midfielder to open up the low blocks ideally someone of the Spittal mould who can play a pass and shoot from range.

- Line up a Maswanhise replacement if the bid we can't refuse comes we need to be prepared and have his replacement lined up.

- If we're being greedy we could do with another CM (Halliday and Watt both being out is going to put strain on Slattery, Preistman and Fadinger) so another player in that area wouldn't go a miss unless he has enough trust in Mcallister to play minutes over the run where we have 5 games in 2 weeks or chucks Sparrow in midfield which he's not done all season.

- Loan out Luca Ross sitting on our bench most weeks probably isn't helping his development maybe use the co-op agreement with Stenhousemuir and get him some game time that way he can still be used if needed.

- Make a decision on Nicholson, Stuperavic and Robinson and Halliday if they're going to play a role keep them if not loan them out/mutual agreement.

- Finally once the big Norweigan is announced send Osong back up the road no point him being sat on our bench when he's having little to no impact.

We have 16 league games left and he can’t play in two of them. Played 22 from total of 38. We have 2 already played Celtic twice so only 2’gamws against them if we are top 6. 

[thewelllfan]

11 hours ago, texanwellfan said:

We have 16 league games left and he can’t play in two of them. Played 22 from total of 38. We have 2 already played Celtic twice so only 2’games against them if we are top 6. 

As I said above I'm fine with him coming back he's been really good for us I just think given the fact we won't get him permanent and he can't play in the cup surely we try and sign a CB that will be our player permanently and be here next season.

[texanwellfan]

11 minutes ago, thewelllfan said:

As I said above I'm fine with him coming back he's been really good for us I just think given the fact we won't get him permanent and he can't play in the cup surely we try and sign a CB that will be our player permanently and be here next season.

Definitely agree with your statement about trying to sign a permanent CB. We should be trying for both, plus if there is a reasonable way to get Welsh permanent I’d be all for that as well. 

[AllyMax]

12 hours ago, texanwellfan said:

We have 16 league games left and he can’t play in two of them. Played 22 from total of 38. We have 2 already played Celtic twice so only 2’gamws against them if we are top 6. 

He also, more importantly can't play in any cup ties. Imagine we ended up with the h**s or St Mirren in a cup final and we had to change our defence just for that. I'm not saying I wouldn't welcome him back cause I absolutely would, but that 72 min appearance for Celtic has diminished his value to us and any deal to take him back would need to reflect that.

[texanwellfan]

Keep Looking for confirmation on the striker but not yet. 
all very quiet but that’s ok. I think JBA is pleased with the squad he has and any additions will be a strengthening of the squad and not like previous years where we get bodies in the door but no better than what we had. From a financial perspective it would be good to move players on that are not in JBA’s plans but easier said than done. 

[fizoxy]

International signings take time. It was rumored a few weeks ago, which makes the timeline seem longer that it is, but all we actually know is that he was at the game on Saturday, everything else has been rumour and paper talk.  On top of that, there's always the slight chance that our due diligence, such as the medical, flags something up.

I'm not convinced hes that good either, but time will tell. 

[weeyin]

20 minutes ago, fizoxy said:

International signings take time. It was rumored a few weeks ago, which makes the timeline seem longer that it is, but all we actually know is that he was at the game on Saturday, everything else has been rumour and paper talk.  On top of that, there's always the slight chance that our due diligence, such as the medical, flags something up.

I'm not convinced hes that good either, but time will tell. 

I trust Jens to make the right call, but I wasn't joking about his show reel. Two and a half minutes of him scoring, and 15 minutes of him not scoring. A little strange for a striker.

Also, if you watch the section on "Shooting" it's not overly impressive.

If he can stick the ball in the back of the net for us, then that's all that matters.

[bobbybingo]

Osong's gone back to Nottingham Forest.

[mfc]

That's definitely best for all parties,good luck to the lad.

[wellwell91]

2 hours ago, thewelllfan said:

As I said above I'm fine with him coming back he's been really good for us I just think given the fact we won't get him permanent and he can't play in the cup surely we try and sign a CB that will be our player permanently and be here next season.

If Welsh comes back fine if not we still have SODs McGinn Gordon and McGee so why do we need to sign another centre half 

[weeyin]

6 minutes ago, bobbybingo said:

Osong's gone back to Nottingham Forest.

Reading the announcement I also learned that Owen Coyle is working at Nottingham Forest.

[mio]

Tawanda Maswanhise named among the Most Promising Talents at AFCON 2025! 
 

we can just add an extra £2m at the end of the season for this. Thank you AFCON 

[dennyc]

1 minute ago, wellwell91 said:

If Welsh comes back fine if not we still have SODs McGinn Gordon and McGee so why do we need to sign another centre half 

Fair comment. But for me another quality CB gives us scope for SODs McGinn and McGhee to cover injuries and rotation elsewhere. Once this window slams shut we need the squad depth to cover all eventualities. Doubts already exist as to when Watt will return and I believe Ross picked up an injury on Saturday. We are just not going to go injury free during the second half of the season.

I agree other positions require more urgent attention but I am greedy.

[fizoxy]

20 minutes ago, weeyin said:

I trust Jens to make the right call, but I wasn't joking about his show reel. Two and a half minutes of him scoring, and 15 minutes of him not scoring. A little strange for a striker.

Also, if you watch the section on "Shooting" it's not overly impressive.

If he can stick the ball in the back of the net for us, then that's all that matters.

The headers section was what got me. Yep, those were headers 😄

He might turn out just fine, or amazing, but that video just needed to be 2 mins. 

[Orinoco]

14 minutes ago, weeyin said:

Reading the announcement I also learned that Owen Coyle is working at Nottingham Forest.

Its Owen Coyle jnr. Seems he looks after player loans.

[wellwell91]

9 minutes ago, dennyc said:

Fair comment. But for me another quality CB gives us scope for SODs McGinn and McGhee to cover injuries and rotation elsewhere. Once this window slams shut we need the squad depth to cover all eventualities. Doubts already exist as to when Watt will return and I believe Ross picked up an injury on Saturday. We are just not going to go injury free during the second half of the season.

I agree other positions require more urgent attention but I am greedy.

Ross was physically sick (2) just in front of me in POd on Saturday so not injured 

[weeyin]

3 minutes ago, Orinoco said:

Its Owen Coyle jnr. Seems he looks after player loans.

Another thing I learned!

[Orinoco]

56 minutes ago, fizoxy said:

International signings take time. It was rumored a few weeks ago, which makes the timeline seem longer that it is, but all we actually know is that he was at the game on Saturday, everything else has been rumour and paper talk.  On top of that, there's always the slight chance that our due diligence, such as the medical, flags something up.

I'm not convinced hes that good either, but time will tell. 

Many an apparent poor striker has rocked up and delivered. As you say time will tell. 

What needs to happen for a striker to really flourish is decent service and for said striker having good movement.