weeyin

Are you suggesting they apply for Community Trust funding?

That also makes sense. Robinson obviously has a vision on how he wants to play with Moult and/or without Moult and knows who he wants to bring in.

The abuse that guys like Heneghan took last season (and this) suggests our fan base loves to talk-the-talk when it comes to youngsters, but are a bit less willing to accommodate their learning and mistakes. I know he didn't come through the ranks, but he is in the same boat as far as being inexperienced and learning his trade. I'd love to see more youngsters come through too, but the structure of our league (and game in general) doesn't reward that risk. Can you imagine the outcry if a mistake like Jules' against Ross County had cost us our league status? Again, I know he wasn't a U20 product, but that's exactly the kind of mistake youngsters make. Hopefully, we can bring on a few more, but I understand how delicate that balance is between developing players and losing games.

Or Erwin didn't fancy coming back to Fir Park.

The thing about our U20s is that the guys we release never go on to prove us wrong. That's pretty standard for any club, of course, not just ours. And then we've seen guys like Moore, McHugh, Thomas etc. who get a shot, but never quite manage it. I can understand why some youngsters get impatient, but it's a brutal career where you are harshly judged and the vast majority are going to fail. If they can't handle that, then better they find out now.

I know. It's horrible how our opponents have players that want to play. Neither Thomas or Erwin wanted to play for us. They both had their chance, and they both left. Good luck to them, but I'm not worried about them. When a team beats us, I really don't care if it's ex-players that are involved any more than I care if it's our opponents ex-players that score for us when we win. Like I said in an earlier post, my bigger concern is for the Scottish game where Erwin joins a long list of players with potential who couldn't cut it with a lower league English Team.

If he does end up back in Scotland, we can add him to the ever-growing list of players that couldn't cut it in the English Lower Leagues. A lot of water under the bridge since teams like Ayr Utd and Partick Thistle were providing players for successful Liverpool teams.

I doubt he's foreign enough to interest Rangers. Aberdeen might fancy a punt. Robinson will certainly know all about him and if he's remotely interested in bringing him back. I wouldn't be against it, but I'll need to be convinced his success at the end of his last season wasn't mostly down to Skippy's mentoring. His most successful period was when he was loaned to Arborath.

Transfer window closes August 31st I believe. Then it's Free Agent time.

To quote Bob Paisley (I think) - He's not fast. But he's nippy.

Unless it's one of the youngsters, of course.

It never even crossed my mind until a couple of years ago when someone on here mentioned it seemed like an offensive nickname.

When we were dossing around in the old First Division, the Berwick Rangers games at Fir Park were typically the worst of the season. Dave (baldy) Smith was the player-manager and brought am entire new level of park-the-bus and time wasting to the game. Brutal. Hopefully, this one will be a bit more entertaining.

I always assumed "Big Mick" nickname was as a nod to this guy rather than his religious affiliation.

Agree with most of the Skippy comments. Never seemed to give less than 100% when he was playing, and made a significant contribution. Like Pearson (and McFadden), his time came to a natural end. I think he has his ideal gig now for this stage in his career - decent Championship team + media work.

In his interview earlier in the week he mentioned he was still looking to bring in more pace up front.

The rage that badge kissing seems to inflame will always remain a mystery to me.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but it's a bit early to write-off Big Mick. He was out injured for months, and not close to being match fit. He also hates playing on plastic.

Ah, right. I missed them as they have only played twice so far. Maybe Cowdenbeath will do them tomorrow.

McDonald will be struggling to get fit for the first Scottish Cup game.

We're the only Premiership team to have won all our games so far, are we not? That must count for something.

We have been pretty good at bringing in strikers in recent times. Sutton, Higdon and Moult have all done well. I'm sure part of that has been down to our style of play, but hopefully our Plan A and Plan B targets are in a similar mould. I think it's actually been fortunate that Moult has been injured so far, because it's forced us to get used to the idea of playing without him.

I'm sure he will, although that's the standard spiel managers use just before they play a bunch of second stringers. But even against a supposedly "wee" team, fielding significant changes is always a risk. Probably moreso at this stage of the season. Like I said before, however, I'll take any win in a cup tie. Hopefully learn a few lessons. Move on to the next one.

Any win in a Cup game is fine by me. I'd rather be complaining about a poor performance in a victory than a applauding brave defeat.

Wikipedia says he signed a 3 year contract in April 2016. I would have thought that - plus the fact he made a first team debut in 2011, would mean a decent transfer/development fee would be required.