2026/27 Ins & Outs Discussion

[texanwellfan]

Are all our players (fit to play) available for the HJK game? If We get thru it would be good to have another couple able bodied players available for the play off round. 

[Great Balls of Shire]

21 hours ago, joewarkfanclub said:

Id be happy with 1 CM & a striker. Although some cover for RCC would be nice.

All depends on any outgoings though.

If JT leaves then we need to replace him as I dont think Luca Ross is gonna cut it unfortunately.

Unfortunately I agree re Luca, would be great to produce another good young un but I just haven't seen anything from the boy....hope im wrong.

[well_said]

17 minutes ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

Unfortunately I agree re Luca, would be great to produce another good young un but I just haven't seen anything from the boy....hope im wrong.

I think if he was going to show any progress we would have seen it by now.

[mio]

I get the impression with Ross that he’s a really hard worker and a really good kid to work with. This might be the reason he’s still around the first team and has been tried in about 4 or 5 different positions (none in my view where he has shone) 

from what I’ve seen in Olly Whyte so far, he’s a better option than Ross. Whyte has played in defence and midfield so far and looks to me a more rounded player. I can’t help but think if we punted Ross out on loan 2 years ago he’d have either came back a better player ….. or would now be plying his trade at Albion Rovers. 

[joewarkfanclub]

36 minutes ago, mio said:

I get the impression with Ross that he’s a really hard worker and a really good kid to work with. This might be the reason he’s still around the first team and has been tried in about 4 or 5 different positions (none in my view where he has shone) 

from what I’ve seen in Olly Whyte so far, he’s a better option than Ross. Whyte has played in defence and midfield so far and looks to me a more rounded player. I can’t help but think if we punted Ross out on loan 2 years ago he’d have either came back a better player ….. or would now be plying his trade at Albion Rovers. 

I really want Luca Ross to be a success. He was really good against Elgin in the League Cup, but that was 2 years ago. He hasnt shown much in his cameos since.

Whereas Mikey Booth has shown up pretty well in 2 competitive appearances so far.

Luca may well have benefitted from a longer loan spell.

[mio]

I think Elgin might unfortunately be his level. It’s a sort of Barry Maguire situation. Maguire seemed to also be a great lad and hard worker who hung about for longer than he probably should. Both of them can play but both aren’t at that premier league standard in my view. Love to be proved wrong but that’s nearly 2 years I’ve watched him now.

[Orinoco]

Ross has started 2 games as far as AI suggests. So many other appearances from the bench. It cant be easy for the young lad to be used to plug gaps, ie played everywhere bar goals. He needs to play regular football in his position, what is his position?before any real judgement can be made.

We need to be patient with youngsters and let them develop. 

[joewarkfanclub]

On 8/5/2026 at 5:38 PM, Orinoco said:

Ross has started 2 games as far as AI suggests. So many other appearances from the bench. It cant be easy for the young lad to be used to plug gaps, ie played everywhere bar goals. He needs to play regular football in his position, what is his position?before any real judgement can be made.

We need to be patient with youngsters and let them develop. 

I dont disagree with that.

But Im not judging Luca on that basis.

Im judging him on what I would expect from a young player in his situation.

And that is to take your chance and show me something that tells me you believe you are good enough to play in this team.

Unfortunately, despite numerous cameos, Luca hasnt been able to do that.

Doesnt mean he wont/cant, but time is running out.

Both Whyte and Booth have shown already this season that they believ they belong in this team.

That might be a confidence thing, but unfortunately thats also part of being a footballer.

[grizzlyg]

What is Luca's natural position? I am not sure as played various positions. Hopefully this season he can do something , love to see our homegrown lads do well,  got big hopes for whyte and booth

[MFC-craig]

I feel like Luca has been around for years, I was surprised to hear he’s still just 19. This earns him a bit more rope but as has been said, I dont know where his natural position is, that can’t help his development. 

[Kmcalpin]

The Rancid is reporting that Zander McCallister may go out on loan this season. I'm a wee bit surprised as I thought he could make a few starts for the first 11 this term. 

[steelman1991]

8 hours ago, Kmcalpin said:

The Rancid is reporting that Zander McCallister may go out on loan this season. I'm a wee bit surprised as I thought he could make a few starts for the first 11 this term. 

This is the first his dad has heard about this, so might just be “paper talk” to fill column inches.

[mio]

Ive liked the look of Mcallister every time ive seen him, i see more potential in him than Booth if im honest. Its a difficult one though, especially for the boy, he needs to play adult football to improve and if hes just stuck on our bench that wont happen.

[Kmcalpin]

14 minutes ago, mio said:

Ive liked the look of Mcallister every time ive seen him, i see more potential in him than Booth if im honest. Its a difficult one though, especially for the boy, he needs to play adult football to improve and if hes just stuck on our bench that wont happen.

I'm of the same view. I'm surprised he hasn't had a few minutes this season so far. The little I've seen of him he hasn't looked out of place. 

[Jonesy]

We haven't announced a co-op agreement for this season yet have we?

Something like that might be ideal for him similar to Whyte last season, although we didn't really make full use of it by ever recalling Whyte at any point.

[El Grew]

Is there any news or rumours about us trying to get a striker in?

[stv]

5 minutes ago, El Grew said:

Is there any news or rumours about us trying to get a striker in?

Aye for the last six months but fuk alls happened so far

[weeyin]

3 hours ago, stv said:

Aye for the last six months but fuk alls happened so far

Always the most difficult to find, as every team wants a budget friendly, 15 goals a season, front man. 

[David]

For me, when it comes to players like Ross and Wilson is that we need a squad, not just a team. Especially with European football and cup football playing a part this season.

While I agree that Ross and Wilson maybe aren't of the quality to be first-team starters, we can't expect every single player to be of the quality of a first-team starter. We don't have the budget for that. We need players who, while obviously looking to force their way into the team, are happy enough to play the role of substitute and cover for certain positions. 

It's easy to say "not good enough, ship them out", but then we get to mid-December and we have a fair amount of injuries and need cover, we're left stretched, asking guys to play out of position and so on. 

Maybe the manager is looking at some of these fringe players and thinking they can be useful squad members.

[joewarkfanclub]

6 minutes ago, David said:

For me, when it comes to players like Ross and Wilson is that we need a squad, not just a team. Especially with European football and cup football playing a part this season.

While I agree that Ross and Wilson maybe aren't of the quality to be first-team starters, we can't expect every single player to be of the quality of a first-team starter. We don't have the budget for that. We need players who, while obviously looking to force their way into the team, are happy enough to play the role of substitute and cover for certain positions. 

It's easy to say "not good enough, ship them out", but then we get to mid-December and we have a fair amount of injuries and need cover, we're left stretched, asking guys to play out of position and so on. 

Maybe the manager is looking at some of these fringe players and thinking they can be useful squad members.

They are certainly useful right now when we still havent finished our transfer business and you look at our injury list as it stands.

Whether thats still the case in a month or so is another matter.

[David]

5 minutes ago, joewarkfanclub said:

They are certainly useful right now when we still havent finished our transfer business and you look at our injury list as it stands.

Whether thats still the case in a month or so is another matter.

You're assuming that our injury list, as it stands, will improve and no one else will get injured and replace those players currently on the sidelines? We'll see injuries and suspensions happen throughout the season, so we will need a squad of players. 

I'd like to think that any transfer business we're doing involves players who are of a better quality than the ones we already have and could be considered first eleven worthy. 

I've seen us too often in the past sign players on free transfers (although they aren't really free at all when agent fees etc are taken into consideration) and loans who did absolutely nothing of note except take up a squad number and play the occasional match. 

Jair Tavares, Luke Plange, Will Dickson, Oli Shaw and others in recent years. 

We should be looking to bring in players who will make an impact on the first eleven, and then have a squad outside that consisting of a fair amount of younger players who can be drafted in and do a job when needed. 

Not every player needs to be someone we're priming to sell on for millions. Sometimes it's fine to have a Euan Wilson-type player who can plug gaps and fill in as and when needed.

This idea that if someone hits 21 and hasn't become Lennon Miller means they're not up to doing a job is crazy. 

[texanwellfan]

Although don’t we need a certain amount of home grown talent on our roster? 

[purestate]

33 minutes ago, texanwellfan said:

Although don’t we need a certain amount of home grown talent on our roster? 

Do you mean for competition rules rather than just development?

I wonder if the recently announced SFA summit ‘Made in Scotland?' will come up with anything radical in this direction.  
Tom English article on BBC doesn’t mention us - maybe us having quite a few on bench and pitch doesn’t fit his article narrative but for every Robbie Ure there are multiple Scots who haven’t made it - could they have if quotas and/or alternative competitions gave them a chance here? 
 

I’d be happy to try unilaterally to have a squad with a lot of (Scots) youngsters getting a chance. 

[smiddy]

Who was the other goalie warming up with connolly on sat ? Any idea ?

[texanwellfan]

22 minutes ago, purestate said:

Do you mean for competition rules rather than just development?

I wonder if the recently announced SFA summit ‘Made in Scotland?' will come up with anything radical in this direction.  
Tom English article on BBC doesn’t mention us - maybe us having quite a few on bench and pitch doesn’t fit his article narrative but for every Robbie Ure there are multiple Scots who haven’t made it - could they have if quotas and/or alternative competitions gave them a chance here? 
 

I’d be happy to try unilaterally to have a squad with a lot of (Scots) youngsters getting a chance. 

I thought I read someone on here saying it was in competition rules but not sure if it was specific competition or all competitions