Al B

Obviously it's just folk messin about, but 18 goals in 54 games? A-league is fairly pish obviously...but thats decent! Given we played 53 games last season and 17 goals got Sutty a helluva pay rise.

Get McGarry involved...he knows him well.

In what way?

I didn't say we were a stronger side or a stronger team, I said we're in a stronger position. Weaker in the immediate short term...but it's very much a one step back to take two steps forward. In my opinion Hutchinson, Saunders and Gunning will all be better players than Mark Reynolds when they are his age. Page has also shown potential. Bringing Reynolds back might save us conceding a few more goals in the coming season, but where do we go from there? He's as good as he's going to get at Motherwell. In 2/3/4 seasons however...those 3 guys I mentioned will all eclipse him (barring any freak occurrence), but only if we play them. If we have any money to spend (which I doubt we do, but for the sake of discussion...), a 19 year old, left-footed, bursting with potential Gavin Gunning is a hugely better way to spend it than a 24 year old, left footed, fully developed (as far as he can at Motherwell), comfort-zone player in Mark Reynolds.

I know you have a wee hard-on for picking people up on things and contradicting wherever possible so apologies for not just letting you get on with it, but I think we all know that if we brought him back it wouldn't be Craigan sitting on the bench next season...and Reynolds certainly wouldn't be back to try out the subs tracksuit. The difference we'd be left with is playing Reynolds who was about as finished an article as he would ever be at Motherwell, versus playing Hutchinson who is very much still developing. Of course choosing the latter comes with the possibility of conceding a higher amount of goals at this stage...but as long as it's not too disastrous in the short term then the longer term benefits of playing Hutchinson far outweigh the quick fix of choosing Reynolds. As long as the short term drawbacks are manageable and don't harm us too badly, then a club like ours has to look longer term than bringing back someone like Mark Reynolds.

Personally, I don't think there's a chance we'll be re-signing him. I hope not...he had his time and place at Motherwell which is now past, and I believe we are in a stronger position moving forward.

Forget my previous opinions on "retro" (which in the main still stand...), but THAT is cool as fuck.

To be honest, I think you're completely missing my point...seems you think i'm suggesting we be like and play like those teams, and i'm not at all. Im just saying that skill and ability are of no use if you're lying on your arse cos a bigger guy knocked you down. You can't beat a man from there, you can't pass from there, and you sure as hell can't shoot from there. Im not at all saying we should change the way that we play, im saying it's refreshing to finally have someone that isn't going to get knocked down, and therefore will still be in a situation to shoot or play because they A - will still be upright, and B - will have a fair chance of still having the ball.

Can't agree. We have continually struggled against Falkirk, St Mirren and Accies. I don't think im the only 'well fan that is immeasurably more confident of being able to get a result ahead of a game against Hibs/Aberdeen/Hearts than I am against Accies or St Mirren, and it's no surprise those two have zero footballing ability at all. Against the first three teams, they play football, which means we play football....and in any given match we have a reasonable chance of doing it better than them. Against the bottom-dwellers, they don't play football, they bully teams...and physically we're a soft touch and have been for a long time.

Im not talking about trying to emulate them...im talking about having it in our Arsenal to be able to beat them. We have a team full of players who can play so it's not like im saying we should stoop to their level, im talking about the difference between Murphy getting the ball 20 yards from goal with Martin Canning in front of him, and shitting the bed......and Michael Higdon getting the ball in the same position. With regard to the second part in bold, it couldn't be less important to score goals against Rangers and Celtic. We could quite feasibly and realistically score 2 goals in every game against the Old Firm and still lose them all. Our season is defined by how we do against the other teams, and if we have no physical presence in our front line, we're writing off 2 or 3 teams from that remaining 10.

We struggle and lose points against the Hamiltons and St Mirrens of the league because we don't have the physicality to go toe to toe with them. We sit and watch Murphy and Humphrey, and even Sutton, get barged off the ball in and around the box because when we go shoulder to shoulder with physical players, we're as well just handing them the ball. On the other hand, is Michael Higdon going to fall on his hoop every time he tries to get round Ross Tokely? No, he's going to play with a "move, you big bald cunt" attitude...and we badly lack that, and it costs us points. You're right, St Mirren maybe did only survive due to the shiteness of Hamilton, but the points they did win sure as hell weren't against the Rangers/Celtics/Hearts of the league. The ones they did win (and consequently where Higdon got his goals) were against those very types of teams that we struggle against because they are shite, but big and powerful...and we're built like a high school team.

Exactly, and we get bullied to fuck for it. Our attitude may win us a healthy disciplinary record, but it loses us about 9 - 12 points a season. If, at various points of the season Michael Higdon picks up bookings for battering into Gary Kenneth and Martin Canning and putting them on their arse, I will be a happy, happy man.

That should be fine, 95% of the time when Humphrey hits a cross, the only place it's not going, is right onto someones forehead. Dislaimer - I do really like The Hump.

Funny you should mention him, I think we miss Giles Coke more than we realise. *to clarify - I mean the Giles Coke when he applied himself. He did tend to drift away for periods of the season.

Maybe he should think about looking at Michael Higdon or someone like that?

Fuckin dancer!!!! Obviously gonna sound like sour grapes, but better than Sutty in my opinion. Welcome aboard Higgy!!!! Oh...and i believe I was the first one to mention him...so I want my points on the thread

Think we'll make a LOT of money on that boy come the right time. I know that has been the clubs view for a couple of years now...he's been seen as their cash-cow from the current crop.

John Boyles lawyer in the Broon-gate saga?

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but it gets dark at the end of the day.

I reckon we NEEDED to offer Craigan another deal. Our other centre halves need one more season of experience beside them. Fair enough Craigan's execution of certain things is getting pretty patchy these days, but that doesn't change the fact that he knows what to do, how it should be done, and when. The younger guys need that coaching for another year.

Just checked out a few things there age-wise, and Jonathan Page, Shaun Hutchinson, Steven Meechan, Jordan Halsman and Gary Smith are all older than Gavin Gunning. Rather than lacking anything, I think for Gunning to be at the standard he is right now, we should be throwing high class hookers through his bedroom window to encourage him to sign with us!!

Im giving a LOT of people slating the flaws of Gavin Gunning, the benefit of the doubt that they are forgetting/don't realise that he is only 19....

I'd imagine he'll be hugely more effective for Hearts than he was in the cup final. After all....the Hearts players will be vaguely capable of giving him the ball.

I am sorry to lose big Sutty, personally i'd have kept him on...and strangely the best game i've seen him play, he didn't even score. In the 8-1 game against Flamurtari he was basically responsible for nearly all our goals. I do think however, that this deal will be beneficial for all parties involved. Strangely, I actually think we'll benefit more from it than Hearts, as it might unlock the way we're able to play slightly and give us a few more options.

MJ that HAS to be a regular feature!