weeyin

Well he won't be playing against St Mirren, but he will develop from playing first team football as opposed to sitting on the bench or playing-non competitive reserve matches. That's why we'd rather have our youngsters play competitive games for Alloa than U20 games.

I think it's far too soon for the boy to be moving on. He's still very raw and needed the old head of a Skippy to keep him on the right track. He'd have been much better off with first team football for another season at least. Add to that that the current Leeds ownership is pretty sketchy and there will likely be a new manager in there 6 months from now who might not take a shine to Erwin, and it's a big risk. Also, as I mentioned in other threads, disappointed he bolts at the first opportunity after we stood by him through 2 long term injuries. But, we'll take the money, move on and see if he's one of those rare early transfers that makes a name for themselves.

Would be good for us if Big Lee keeps moving as the development formula means we get a cut of future transfers too.

To be honest, I wouldn't want to give a penny to the current bunch of crooks in charge at Leeds.

That's an interesting point. Does the development fee include VAT or would someone like Leeds have to pay VAT over and above the formula so we don't get penalised?

The half million from Big Lee will be a nice down payment.

For anyone that only wants confirmed signings MFC Twitter (which also posts to Shoutbox) is the best resource. This thread was always about speculation and discussion, and often best left unread until August each season.

We supposedly have 50 - 60 targets on the radar as part of our new scouting system. Hopefully, that covers this market, but it will be interesting to see what where our signings com from (and more interesting to see if any of them involve transfer fees).

It certainly was a classic case of a Rangers side we should be able to beat. That was also true, however, in the Cup game where we just didn't show up (and a few other times in the previous 18 seasons). If we had been facing a Raith Rovers or Falkirk with the same quality of players, we'd have expected to win over the 2 legs. It was just great to see us adopt the same attitude against a team from Ibrox.

It's still a buyers' market and I'm sure there will be a sufficient number of players available (and fall within our budget) that can do a job for us. Who knew about Marvin Johnson before he showed up?

If it costs the club money, it's not worth it. Think of any potential fines as Well Society memberships and suddenly it might feel expensive.

I liked that one too. Although in 1976 I think it was our change strip rather than away strip thanks to Scotland, at that time, being one of the few (or only) leagues where home team changed if there was a clash.

Same here. The sash will always have that association for me, which makes it pretty special.

Agreed.

Actually, just discovered Wikipedia has a list of MLS stadia, and they are almost all grass: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Soccer_stadiums#Stadiums

I don't watch much MLS, but in general, American Football and Baseball pitches that aren't in a dome all use grass. A few tried artificial turf, but gave up on it. New York FC, for example, plays at Yankee Stadium and that is 100% grass.

According to one report I read somewhere (The Scotsman, I think) the feeling is that the SPFL tend not to be too harsh on clubs if they can show they took reasonable measures to prevent any incident. Given the additional number of stewards and police the club used that day, I think we must have a decent case.

On TV, at least, NDP surface actually looked brown in places. And like you say, the bounce was erratic to say the least. I understand the usefulness of them when it comes to renting them out every day of the week, but yet to be convinced of their place in the professional game.

Cheers - that's how I would imagine they should look, but I don't think we have been that close in recent times.

I wonder if we have a bonus linked to number of appearances? I just noticed on soccerbase he had 58(!) first team outings last season.

Would be interested to see what they are - even if the kit manufacturers seem to ignore them.

"I think it was just down to wear and tear after training on Astroturf since I was young but it's all sorted now and I feel fine now." Another argument against artificial pitches?

I don't think we have sold a player in the last 15 years that didn't have a sell-on clause. Of course, if someone we sold later moves on a Bosman, I doubt we get anything, but that's just one more way Bosman stuck the knife into the smaller clubs.

I'm not sure we have an "official" shade of amber - if we do, we certainly miss the mark on a regular basis. I remember the 91 kit being a darker shade, but it has been pretty variable over the years.

To be fair, there is about a 50% probability either one's name is correctly spelled in any given post. So there is that similarity.