C&A not the shop

Thats a cheap way to try and generate outrage from the Arsenal support. Not quite believable enough though to really get the impact they hope for. Though it's got me thinking if O'Donnell could do a budget version of the underlapping centre back that Tierney does on the left of Arsenal and Scotlands back three? Probably not but it's a fun idea.

https://www.nottheoldfirm.com/news/motherwell-register-interest-in-leeds-united-midfielder-robbie-gotts/ Similar to Slattery in that he's an English big club academy guy that's not been able to break through but has been in and around the first team a few times. Did Alexander have him at Salford or did their paths not cross?

Yeah the level 0 rule was 2000 capacity outdoors but you could apply to the council for more. Now there's no capacity limit but if you want more than 5000 you have to apply to the council for more. It's an interesting change to the wording.

Different sponsors for different kits is wild, though I suppose they could be different trading names of the same parent company.

With Ojala having trained with the squad for months and played some previous friendlies (i assume) I thought he would start, especially with Mugabi not featuring in the league Cup games. Other than that not a lot surprises there.

Well that's fair. We need to be well run, our average position is possibly above Hearts who have far bigger support than we do. Probably Dundee United as well. Our being well run has us closer to the teams with bigger supports than others with similar supports (killie etc) but still the biggest factor in success is over the long term is money and the best way to get money is from the fan base.

We are at the level we deserve to be at, we're the 7th or 8th best supported team so we should be there. The issue is when folk lose their shit when we finish 10th as of its a disgrace and not just part of our natural cycle. Over the past 20 years our average league position will be 7th and our cup performance will be probably around 7th best. We've never had the lows of relegation like so many of our peers but also not had the highs of a cup win (though or 2nd place finishes in the league are unmatched by any of the smaller clubs, these aren't as good as cup wins).

There was a wild statement on twitter about us paying a quarter million for Kelly which I can't possibly see. Never seen any mention of a fee for Slattery. Possibly none involved as Southampton clearly don't see him as a player that will make it for them or be attracting significant offers so just happy to get him off the books.

I can see Aberdeen struggling, not convinced by Glass but they still have enough in the squad to be finished 4th. I can see it being a bit of a mini league between 4th and 8th, with Aberdeen, Hearts, St Johnstone and hopefully us in and about there. Can see the gap between Rangers and Celtic being bigger than the gap between Celtic and Hibs but still Hibs nowhere near Celtic.

Wikipedia has him signing a 2 year deal in 2020, wouldn't imagine us paying a fee for what would be a punt. Though maybe we will if its reasonable. If O'Donnell goes we need a first choice RB coming in sharp as Grimshaw isn't going to be back from his illness anytime soon and Max Johnson is only 17, he shouldn't be expected to be playing first team football every week at that age.

Quiet on here, thought there would be more clamour for signings ahead of the league starting. Anything imminent? I don't expect names but a hint at bodies being in the door would be nice. Looking at the wording of the article about the Finnish defender. It says "currently with Danish side Vejle Boldklub, where his contract is coming to an end" which makes me think he will sign the day after his contract expires with the Danish side (possibly August 1st?) And if he's impressed on trial he's trained a lot with the squad and played some pre season games as a trialist so will be ready to go. Though this could be wishful thinking. I imagine anyone else will be coming in towards the end of the window when the English clubs squads are settled.

I can see us having a similar season to last year, few runs of good results few runs of bad results, a late push for top 6 that doesn't make it and ending up best of the bottom 6. I think St Johnstone will have enough momentum to edge top 6 with the 5 bigger clubs who I all expect to be pretty decent this season.

Yeah unless someone else comes in then I think the one person that matters will select him to start.

GA said in the Annan post match that he hadn't trained with the team yet.

I have it in my head that draws are really common on opening day so I'll go with that. 1-1 in a fairly drab affair. If the Finnish CB comes in today then I could see him starting besides Lamie, Maguire, Donnelly and Slattery in the middle and the standard front three we've seen a lot so far this year.

Well done finding this thread, I was planning to bump it when the group stage started but couldn't see it. Probably the best draw we could have got. Next signing Craig Tanner on a short term deal.

From the Sun originally, apparently a fee involved as well.

He's clearly a player that has something about him. Unfortunately he's made of glass. He'd be a huge gamble, and plenty of teams (well Wigan and Plymouth) have ignored his injury record and brought him in so the worry is any short term deal to prove his fitness would either be a waste as he wasn't fit or result in him being picked up by a bigger club as soon as he's shown he can play 10 games without his knee or hamstring exploding

Not there today. How have we lined up shape wise. Usual 4-3-3 with Carroll in the middle?

I'd have said Tshibola despite him not having a great second half of last season, and after looking up seeing that he's went to a Turkish side.

I can see a lot of people moaning all season that we don't have a "creative midfielder" as I don't think that's the sort of player Alexander is going to use in his system. I think OTF is spot on with what he says about the front players being asked to hold the ball up and the midfield covering a lot of the park moving from their shielding positions to being involved in the attack. So you need players with an engine in the middle and your front players to hold the ball up. So I worry when Watt is off his game we're going to have some big problems.

Well from a quick read he seems like a player that would be starting most weeks. Decent amount of experience at a decent level. Danish top flight not miles better or worse than the SPL, same with the Swedish league but got decent experience in those leagues and some better leagues as well. On the face of it someone that would come in and improve us. See how that plays out.

The Academy structure at big clubs down south really does just hoover up young players. There must be thousands of lads about 20-23 who've been with these big clubs academies and never even been near the first team in training never mind near a match day squad.

Unlike the SNP to allow councils that level of autonomy. Ive been doing regular lat flow testing just to be a but safe and I took a lat flow 2 Fridays ago, negative, again on the Monday negative, missus developed symptoms (lack of taste) on the Tuesday so did a PCR on the Tuesday, positive. Tested again with lat flow on the Friday to see what it said, also negative. Missus is a chemist and explained that the PCR amplifies the protein when it's detected so it will show a result whereas a lat flow requires a threshold value to be reached before the indicator line discolours. So PCR will pick up a far smaller virus amount. Either that or the lat flow are all as useful as Kasper Sloth.

It can be, it's all about how they decide to approach it. I'm not going to get to exited by it either way doesn't matter if we're pumping them 5-0 or end up losing as so much of these games depends on how the teams decide to approach them.