one m in motherwell

Conclusions being...? I wouldn't have thought Leanne Dempster was much of a factor in his decision. She was here for what, five years? Pretty sure Hibs would have been able to put together a financial offer that would smooth over any concerns about leaving a club he'd been at for a fairly lengthy period. EDIT: Tits, double post. Can someone delete the first one?

As long as we don't concede, even one goal would obviously be good to go over there with. I wouldn't like to necessarily see us go gung-ho, but then again I don't think an ultra-defensive approach would be particularly worthwhile. As other posters have said, keep it as tight as possible and take the chances when they come. When you look at how our team towards the end of last season ground out wins, the only players really missing from then are Hutch and Faddy. Nothing there to really suggest that we'll be vastly different on Thursday.

Haha, no probs! It is pretty misleading though, right enough...

Yes, because I'm sure a good proportion of our fanbase were familiar with Ojamaa, Anier, Twardzik or any of Gannon's signings prior to them joining us. Perhaps not random in the strict sense of the word, but we do have a habit of finding gems from left field.

Fairly uneventful game today. As a few other folk have mentioned, neither side seemed particularly keen to commit themselves, which is no bad thing considering our game on Thursday. Fulham were never really threatened, although we did have a few moments through the centre where we managed to look a little bit creative. Vigurs looks to have got a wee bit faster over the close season, but the first half really showed how much a genuine left winger would strengthen us. The younger guys looked good when they came on, Dom Thomas and Jack Leitch in particular. I was surprised by how big Erwin looked, seemed to have a bit of a touch as well so interesting to see how he'll develop over the season, could be a big one for him. I actually forgot McHugh was playing - we could really do with a bit of a creative spark to compliment Sutton. Although Faddy didn't really offer a huge amount last season, at least there was someone who could potentially kickstart something, don't see a great many players in that mould at the club just now other than Vigurs. The Clarkson chat is baffling. He was a great player with us the first time round, but I think our experience with Faddy has perhaps made us a wee bit wiser in terms of taking old players back. I would have taken the Clarkson that left us, but not now. Sadly, whether he wants to come back or not, we can't really use up a wage on someone that won't really improve us at all. As per usual, it'll be someone totally random that we've never heard of. EDIT: Apologies to anyone who had a near miss from a dummy or children's book - 2 year old's first time today!

Had a wee look there. Surely the Robertson mentioned is the boy from Dundee Utd? As for a midfielder from us, only one I can think of is Jack Leitch. Arguably our biggest talent in that area but not worth 750k quite yet...

That's my concern too. If he could recapture some of the form he showed the last time he was in the SPFL, then it would be an ideal signing. However, if it's the opposite, then it's a complete waste of a wage. As a club we're not really in a position to wait and see what one we get.

He would probably do us a turn, but the question is whether he would be worth the not-insignificant wage outlay over someone like Erwin, or Moore. To be honest I've not seen enough of those two to really judge them. Shiels has always struck me as a fairly busy, industrious player, certainly in the Ojamaa mould. Whether or not he still 'has it' after a couple of seasons playing at that level (and hardly setting the heather alight) remains to be seen...

That'll do! Stjarnan are the team who've done all those elaborate goal celebrations on youtube. Belter!

Admittedly he wasn't what I'd call 'slow' but he was certainly more of a standard no. 9 (to my mind anyway).

Anier wasn't exactly pacy though, but you're right. If we could find someone in the Ojamaa/Arnott mould, it would be ideal with someone like Sutton.

Absolute shite! He's woefully inconsistent, but he's not fundamentally shite, and he's far from the worst player I've seen for us. May I refer you to Messrs. Danny Murphy (and the rest of the Malpas Three), Alan Gow, Esteban Casagolda...all significantly poorer players.

Was he not on trial with Partick Thistle last season? Clearly didn't quite make it there...

Not that I'm happy to see Faddy go, but I'm pretty happy with McCall's policies thus far. Should hopefully be in a good position to wheel and deal a good bit earlier and have a reasonably settled squad for the Europa campaign.

Cummins will be away I think. With Kerr and Euan Murray (and Ramsden, and Reid...) all potentially offering more in the centre, can't see why we'd need him. Still think we'll sign another centre half if Hutch goes though.

I wouldn't be overly fussed if McFadden didn't sign on again. On his day he's obviously got the ability to turn a game on its head, but for a number of reasons this season just hasn't worked out. That said, we'd need to replace him with a similar type of player - someone else had mentioned a Murphy type, and I think they're both in a similar vein. All that considered though, I think Faddy will still be here, even if only on a pay-as-you-play type arrangement. I'm not sure if it's worth tying him down to a contract of any length given his injury issues. Love the guy though so would be perfectly happy for him to stay for the rest of his career, but I've got my rational hat on today. As for the others, I'd agree that Hammell, Las and McManus will all re-sign. Hutch will go down south and will probably end up at a low Championship or high-end League 1 team. No chance of him going to Celtic. Again, I really like him, and I'd love him to stay, but he's probably at a stage in his career where it's almost make or break time. As much as he loves the place, he's getting to an age where he'll want to test himself at a higher level - I don't think he's really developed much over the past season. Ainsworth is a stick-on to stay, I think. Again, he seems to be one of these nomadic players who, for whatever reason, just finds a club that fits. That certainly seems to be the vibe that he's given off at various point this season. That said, I'm sure his form will have alerted teams with bigger budgets than us. All in all I'm feeling fairly confident - a couple of fresh faces won't go amiss, but clearly this will be entirely down to the available budget (and an extra £250k for a second floor finish will certainly help on that front). What we need to try and do however is start the succession process earlier - there have been too many occasions when we've had to totally rebuild when we come to the end of a two year contract cycle. A bit of future planning wouldn't go amiss.

Get out.

Is it? I've never been convinced by Fraser Kerr. Reid has looked solid and a much safer bet than Kerr (so far).

Your last point fits in with what I've heard. I was sitting with his folks in hospitality before the Ross County game (end of last season), and the feeling then was that he'd only leave if the club received an offer they couldn't turn down. He seems to really like it up here and his folks were quite open about it. Obviously being out of contract puts a slightly different spin on things but hopefully something can be done.

TBH Hibs is nothing more (potentially) than a financial draw, and even then this won't really be an issue if they get relegated. I've always thought that our current team are, by and large, of the head-screwed-on variety, so I really can't see too many of their heads being turned by a couple more quid instead of European football - not to mention the absolute car crash that the Hibs team seem to be. Might just be being naive/optimistic but we'll see!

x2

Not liking that at all I'm afraid. Something about the vertical claret strip just sits wrong. Reminds me of that white away top we had during the Untouchable era… FWIW I'd be happy with something similar to this year's kit. Our strips have been getting a wee bit 'busier' over the years, so something a bit more minimal would be ideal, but I'm not really au fait with what Macron's range is like.

Goram touting Craig Gordon in his column today.

McKay will be way out of our leave, price wise. Could certainly do a turn though, his non-performance since Christmas seems more down to Hughes' style of play rather than anything else. Would like to see Moore getting more of a chance next season however. What about goalies...Gordon worth a punt? If not, how about this Bain chap at Alloa? Gets a good write up...

The BBC text feed describing a 'comfortable stop for Nielsen'…bit of a paradox, surely?