weeyin

And from a risk perspective, the team doesn't have to pay the money up front, so a team like Sevco could stiff us for even a small fee.

Adding to the above, there are different rules when player's contracts have expired and the player is moving to a club in the same association, so it's quite possible if Hastie does move to Rangers after his contract is up, we might end up with the bare minimum payment. It seems that calculation is specific to each assocation, so I presume SFA rules apply. Lee Erwin was changing associations and moving to a higher tier club, so the calcuation applied there was more benficial to us.

There's a FIFA formula, and some associations (like the English FA) have their own formula. The English FA allows for payments for things like sell-on fees and promotions, but I believe the FIFA one is just a single payment. Interestingly, when I was googling for the formula, one example from the English FA is a certain Anthony Straker:

In general, it's just bad business to discuss deals, prospective deals or general speculation. Nothing is done until a contract is signed. (And in the case of pre-contracts being signed, even those aren't binding until the real contract is signed in the summer).

If he signs a pre-contract with anybody I'd still be putting him in the team every week until he has a bad game. That's what the "pre" in pre-contract entails. While we're paying your wages, you need to keep working for us.

You're on a roll. Can you give us your prediction for last week's lottery numbers too?

Very noticable that Turnbull has stepped up his game off the ball, turning him into an even more effective player.

Nah, just old age. The last time I got upset about losing a player was when Pettigrew moved to Dundee Utd.

I lost it for a couple of mins the first half (just after the pen), but was good to the end after that. Great result today. Solid performances all round and and very comfortable win. Good day at the office.

Keating made a difference to Accies in the 2nd half, but we've never looked less than comfortable.

6 yard miss that time. He's a machine

If Ariyibi could shoot he'd be playing in the Premiership. For a player with so much footballing skill, he's apparent lack of ability to find the target is quite impressive. Great fun to watch though.

Been great to watch so far. Dominating from front to back with Ariyibi putting the fear in Gordon every time he gets the ball.

Still not seeing anybody provide a solution to the problem of players being offered contracts, but not signing. Genuinely interested to hear how we (or any club) can make that happen. Some kind of indentured servitude maybe? Maybe we should adopt the Dundee Utd model all the experts on here were telling us was so good 2 or 3 years ago.

You'd play Frear and Aryibi together on the left wing?

TBF, I don't see any vitriol on here. Mostly just folk who have seen promising youngsters disappear off the radar through lack of opportunity or lack talent their early showings promised. In recent times, Craig Moore, Bob McHugh, Lee Erwin, Dylan Mackin and Dom Thomas were the "ones for the future" - most of whom ended up as sold lower league players. When wee Tommy was the gaffer, Paul Tracey was the next big thing, making his debut as teenager. The reality is, almost none of the promising youngsters ever make it, so it's a risk for everyone involved, and tough decisions have to be made by the clubs in investing in the players and by the players trying to make the most of their careers.

I think he'd be better off staying with us to continue his development, but aye - if he is moving - that would likely be a better choice. I still think if Murphy gets fit over the summer he's much more likely to be a starter than Hastie. He was one of their best players until he got injured and able to play on either wing. If the stories are to be believed, Celtic were after him too. Given that Lewis Morgan is a better player right now than Hastie is - and he can't get a game for them - it shows exactly how youngsters are treated by the OF.

When you're as old as me, seeing our good players move to the OF is pretty standard. If he goes, he goes - and we move onto the next youngster. We've secured Scott, Turnbull, Campbell, Maguire and Cadden over the past few years, so our track record isn't terrible in that regard. We've also "acquired" youngsters from other teams (like Ben Hall) who we sold on for a nice fee. So we've the used the same system to our benefit in the past.

When did we make our first offer to extend? Still have no idea how you make them sign, but if anyone knows they should let the board know. (We've also acquired youngsters from other clubs in the past, so hasn't been all one way).

What about Jamie Murphy?

I've heard from a few different people that length of contract for all the youngsters has been the most difficult part of the negotiation (with the the club wanting longer deals and the players wanting shorter ones).

Or spending more time playing in the first team and gaining experience on how to deal with defenders doubling up on him.

I'm sure the club would be delighted to hear how you make players sign contracts. There isn't a club on the planet that keeps 100% of their prospects, and given all we can really do is offer the chance to play first team football (sometimes), we are always at risk of losing out to teams with wads of cash to wave around.

If we had winters like Moscow there might be an argument for them. But we don't. And I don't care how much skill you have, nobody can control a ball that drops from waist height and bounces over your head. Or a pass that gets stuck and never reaches you. (And people did complain about the Champions League pitch - but didn't get as many column inches). Hybrid is the way to go if you want plastic under your feet.

0 - 0 pretty accurate reflection of the game. Not too bad considering our recent form against Killie.