weeyin

Also, Robinson is not an idiot. First of all, he's quoted yesterday as saying he has a replacement for Kipre lined up and hopes to do a deal soon (which implies the Board released some of the transfer fee) Secondly, he'd be the biggest eejit on the planet if he flapped his gums to the media saying "we've got a ton of spare cash to spend on a new player - who can you sell us?" Even under the new business model, we've always tried to replace players we sell. But just as our starting point for selling players should be "we don't need to sell, so you need to meet our valuation", our starting point for negotiation when buying players should be "we're skint". Pretty standard stuff whether you are wheeling and dealing in the transfer market or buying a car.

Tait is certainly comfortable at full back, and Taylor-Sinclair might be. For the purposes of tomorrow, a defensive sweeper would be fine - no need to try and create a libero for one game. But I agree - never something Robinson is going to attempt.

Wonder if we have a "first team appearances" clause in either of their contracts.

With Dunne out short term, and Cedric gone, I'd like to see someone with a bit of pace brought in. As excellent as Aldred was, I see him as a more natural replacement for Hartley. I'd also be happy to see Maguire get some more game time after his suspension.

Nice gesture by the club to exchange fans' new 2018 Kipré printed shirts, and have the big man sign the old one for them.

FWIW, Wikipedia says he was released by Leicester.

But he left us to go and play for ICT while Ainsworth was still playing at Fir Park.

If anyone reads my posts from last season, it's obvious I'm in the "want to play more football camp". I'm also a realist, however, and understand it takes a few seasons to build a team. When Robinson took over, he had a mandate that included: - do not get relegated - get rid of the high earners - fix a defence that was leaking like Donald Trump's Whitehouse There's no doubt that he achieved all 3 of those. He also said he wanted to add pace and bulk to the defence. Again, something he achieved. The 2 Cup Finals were a bonus, and it was a smart piece of business to bring in transfer fee for Moult when he was available on a pre-contract for zilch. On top of all that, Alan Campbell became a first team regular, as did Kipré (who went on to make us a small wad of cash), and Cadden picked up a couple of international caps. The pitch contines to be the best in the league, and we have even replaced the old scoreboard. All of this being achieved while the club transitioned to full ownership by the Well Society. We definitely lacked depth last season. (I was at the Accies and Dundee games in December, so had first hand experience of how dire we were). For a club our size, that lack of depth could just as easily have put us in relegation trouble as miss out on a top 6 spot. Fortunately, it was the latter. So I completely understand the desire to add numbers. None of this prevents us from blooding youngsters this season - although, it's easy to forget just how young our squad is already. For me, it's far too soon to be making a final judegement on the quality of the players we have brought in. As I endlessly point out to the moaners, Dunne was a target of the experts this time last season and now they are all miserable because he is out for a few weeks. Johnson might be the natural finisher we need, and Rodriguez-Gorrin might be the first step towards having someone who can put their foot on the ball. I'm certainly prepared to wait and see. I still want us to be moving towards playing a more attractive style of football. That isn't an overnight process, though. When Wee Tommy was in charge we spent a few seasons parking the bus to make sure we avoioded relegation, before he was able to start bringing in better footballers and create a style that was winning us a Cup (and bulidng a team that wasn't too far away from a league title). Thistle and Dundee were the poster boys for bottom 6 "footballing" sides last season. One was relegated and one was nearly relegated. It's a difficult balance. And Dundee Utd were the poster boys for a recruitment model that many said we should follow. So I'm quite prepared to see how the first half of the season unfolds and re-assess the team and their progress after that. It's easy to forget that if Les hadn't stepped in and, not only provided a loan, but implemented a complete restructuring of the club, we might be talking about how we manage to avoid League One this season, and where we should play games after Fir Park was sold off. Are we where I'd like us to be? No. Are we better off than when Robinson took over? Undoubtedly. Are we heading in the right direction this season? Bring it on, and let's find out.

Aye, scored and set up. Maybe just coincidence, but I was watching some highlights and Vigurs always seemed to be the guy being skinned by Ainsworth or Humphrey. I remember at the time he joined us thinking it was mainly to avoid having to play against Lionel again.

I wasn't joking about playing a sweeper. That's one way to help address a lack of pace.

I see the full replay of the game is being shown on Alba at 6pm.

It does, actually - according to the Board. It doesn't, however, have a contingency for failing to pay our debts and lose money by overpaying salaries and win bonuses (like we did the season we were finishing best of the rest). We could follow the Dundee Utd model people kept suggesting we adopt - that's working out well. Or maybe just get a rich investor like Ross County, and hope they keep pumping in money - that worked out well for us with Boyle. Or we could spend within our means while we pay off our debt and see where that takes us over the next couple of seasons. And again, I'd still be interested to hear who all these players are that are an upgrade on what we have and would play for the wages we can afford.

We are trying to run at break-even while paying off a chunk of debt and with a fairly modest revenue. If we want to get "better than what we have" it's going to be by taking a gamble - unless anyone knows of a player better than Campbell, Dunne, Kipre´ or Cadden that we can sign cheap.

Again, the lack of patience. I don't remember people being overwhelmed with Kipré, Dunne or even Moult when they played their first few games for us in pre-season. The number one priority this window was to give the squad more depth. Given that our lack of suitable replacements last December probably cost us top 6, and the lack of replacements to freshen out squad during cup campaigns likely cost us a league spot or two, depth seems like a good idea. With Rodriguez, Taylor-Sinclair and Johnson still to hit full fitness, I think a wee bit of "wait and see" is in order.

From the Evening Times. Robinson quoted as saying plans to bring in Kipré's replacement are well advanced - “We have been working on a potential replacement and hope to have something completed on that front as soon as possible.”

If we had Hibs league record over the last decade we might be out of business by now. No way we can compete financially with a club of their size.

We have enough to play 4 at the back and a libero if we need to.

Campbell's going to be the biggest miss I suspect. It's the midfield battle that will decide this, I think.

Extending his contract when we did was also good business.

So you want us to buy Championship level players and pay them Championship level wages? We can't even afford development fees to sign players from the Scottish lower leagues.

Like for Like for Kipré would mean bringing in an out of work player who has never made a first team start.

You are missing something.

Pretty sure Dunne will be the same size after he recovers and Hartley is still the same size now. And while I'm a fan of both Dunne and Kipre - ball retention is not their forté. If we want to find another big central defender, I'm sure there will be a few available down south.

You only need to go back as recently as this time last season, when folks were telling us how raw and naive Cedric was and how useless Dunne was, to see why the argument that new signings are "not a step up in quality" is pointless. We need to give ATS, Donnelly (and McGuire ) time to get up to speed and settle in. I guarantee that everyone who complained about Dunne last August is gutted he is not playing this August.

I liked Vigurs - but pace and tackling were never his strength.