weeyin

I must have missed that day

I'm not even sure O'Neill wanted him back. From his comments, it sounded like the higher-ups wanted him back so they could assess their options.

I think Slats might be the one to leave. He'll have been with us for 5 years in the summer and if he is looking to play elsewhere, he's at the right age for a move. Be delighted if he stayed, though.

Agreed. I was never in doubt that SOD has some football in him, but I did have some doubts about a few of his managers letting him show it. He seems like a great leader off the pitch, too.

Very much this. The point of a loan is to get a player some game time and improve their prospects of a starting slot at the parent club, or garner some interest in the transfer market. We got the benefit in the first half of the season, but any time a loan player succeeds the chance of them being recalled significantly increases.

As much as I like Welsh, I'd rather see news of us signing a CB soon, otherwise we'll have to do it all again in a few months.

Not if they're selling him. If they punt him back out on loan, maybe.

That's a strange show reel for a striker. First two and half minutes showing goals scored. The next 15 minutes showing no goals scored.

Or he's trying to get sacked so Aberdeen can get him for free. Losing a team that played with 10 men for 75 minutes definitely feels like a relegation battle looming.

The cup tie rule is ridiculous in this day and age. Watching the English FA Cup games at the weekend (and tonight's League Cup semi) they were saying it has been scrapped down south. It made a little more sense in the days before transfer windows, but only a little.

And Gallagher wasn't in the squad against Partick last week.

Keeper aside, they seemed to have started much the same defence as they started against Thistle.

I think I'd start Sparrow or Said too, to pull them out wide.

I anticipate a long day of bus parking low blocking.

From O'Neill's comments it sounded like he didn't really know the current rules and was instructed from above to do "just in case". 100% agree we shouldn't wait around though, and be moving forward on the basis he isn't coming back.

If they're going to go into administration again, they might as well do it splashing out big wages on good players.

Unless they truly do want him to be a starter, it feels like Celtic might just be testing the waters in Jan.

I'm not really talking about "No thanks". More a case of saying "I'll sign in the summer".

Transforming is great, but it's January and we need someone who can be an instant starter. Players we need to develop and integrate are projects for the summer. I know it's not easy, but I"d be more interested in signing someone on a permanent basis.

And as I keep saying, why do we think players like Watt want to leave? I know it's a short career and you need to take care of it as best you can, but the flip side for any of our players is that if they continue to succeed for the second half of the season, their personal value rises too.

I said at the time I wasn't a big fan of loans - especially from clubs in the same league. He did fill an urgent gap, however, and there's no doubt he has performed well and played his part in our development. Now it's time to bring in a permanent replacement.

You might have to, as word on the street is he's not going to Aberdeen.

100% JBA has contingency plans for January. Whether or not they can be implemented depends on the market, but I imagine he has plans in place for the defence even if we don't sign any additions.

I did a quick google search on racing colours once before and the Lord Hamilton colours I found from around that time were either Red & White or Blue. Hardly definitive, so will be interesting to hear the definitive answer from the Jockey Club.

Did we not get through our League Cup group unbeaten and make it all the way to the semi-final? That's not bad for a string of worst performances. Inevitably every team gets beat in a cup competition (except the winner), but I don't see a Macclesfield on the cards here.