Joeboy

He was injured in pre-season, which ruled him out until October, after which he was virtually an ever present until he joined us in January, for £110k (not a free). So you're not even half right.

My guess is that we were paying 50% of his wages and they recalled him to either let him go permanently, or loan him to a club willing to cover his entire wage.

He's only recently started back running on the treadmill after a long term injury. Robinson said the reason we signed Mugabi was that due to long-term injuries to Dunne and Devine we lacked cover to see us through to Christmas at centre-back. He's obviously impressed enough since then to get his deal extended.

I actually think our squad is a bit on the heavy side, numbers wise. I'm not convinced that the O'Hara or Mugabi signings were particularly necessary. I'd like to have seen us have a bit of faith in Maguire, Devine and Semple to cover those positions through injury. As much as I'm saying this having not seen them much, I'd be surprised if Ilic, Sloth or Mazinga make much of an impact. Ilic and Mazinga I reckon will see out their one year deals then float off into obscurity. Sloth is a weird one as he has a decent pedigree and a two year deal, but I think the fact we've signed O'Hara says it all. I don't know whether a target for a top number 9 fell through, but it seems we have several of similar levels of ability. I am going to guess that Robinson had a few "top" strikers in mind that didn't come off or that he feared another McCormack by putting all of his eggs in one basket. With any big rebuilding job we've had in the short to medium term past, there has never been a 100% success rate and I guess that will only be the case. I think our squad, perhaps without a proper quality, proven goalscorer, is well covered for most eventualities, even if carrying a wee bit of deadwood.

Wasn't Hartley fit when he signed permanently (albeit facing a suspension for the Dougie Imrie incident) but got injured in training a few days later? That's certainly how I remember it, I may be wrong.

We have three first team centre backs in Gallagher, Dunne and Hartley and we have Devine and although he's being used in midfield, Maguire to step in. No need to sign Hall, waste of funds.

I think McCall's approach to recruitment that summer was mental. He signed Lawson and Vigurs, who excelled in a midfield three and then signed Sutton, who could only play in a front two. I think McCall just went out and signed the best players available to him, without a shape or a plan. I still think it's a mystery we finished second with that squad and that told with the way things went the following year.

The biggest one I think I got wrong was Bigi. As a part time Coventry fan, every time I watched him down there he was brilliant. Great passer of the ball, made the team tick and was central to every piece of good play. That just didn't happen for him up here. Whilst I don't remember him being overly physical down there, I didn't think that side of the game would affect him quite as badly as it did. I also thought Louis Laing had potential to be a really decent signing when we got him in permanently. But in hindsight, anyone who followed Mark O'Brien could have looked like Franco Baresi and Laing's well career was destroyed by an East Fife striker within a month of the season starting.

I was appreciative of the job Main done as a lone striker in the second half of the season, but as noted above, that was massively helped by the fact that we had a midfielder in Turnbull and a winger in Hastie regularly contributing goals in this period, where Main scored once. The thing for me is that if Turnbull goes this summer, I don't know how likely that is personally, then I'm guessing it gives us a midfield three of Sloth/Campbell/Polworth. While Polworth's numbers stack up well for assists, he's never been prolific in terms of goals. I think the closest I've ever seen to a central midfielder getting 15 was Stephen Pearson getting 9 in 2015/16, but this was in a season where both Moult and McDonald hit double figures. Again, I don't know how likely Turnbull is to leave in the summer (he may even get loaned back if he does go), but if he does, I think it's much less of a long shot trying to replace those goals in a centre forward, rather than a like-for-like midfielder. Considering that, I think it's probably best that Main's no longer on the wage bill.

Yeah, I reckon it will be a pretty massive job. There's probably a reasonable chance that every single out of contract player will depart. I think the slight stagnation/injury/compensation fee pronged trio might put a lot of teams off Cadden, but he could still have offers. Other than him, the players who have been in the side since our upsurge in form now seem to have suitors, which in turn has proved those who have fallen out of the team since then are, bottom line, not good enough. Looks like it's a balance between those hoping for a move to further themselves and those hoping for a move for first team football. A long with those out of contract, I wouldn't be surprised to see Donnelly, Hartley and Johnson also go. Since that Ross County cup game, they've played 41 minutes between them, which would tell you their future doesn't lie here. If I'm thinking right, that leaves us on 9 contracted outfield players (Tait, Campbell, Grimshaw, Dunne, Turnbull, Livingstone, Scott, Maguire, Gallagher) and 3 goalkeepers (Carson, Gillespie, Ferguson). A big job ahead, indeed.

It's a tricky one with Main. Up until the semi-final v Aberdeen last season, he hit 8 in 16 games and has scored 6 in 39 games in the time since. I didn't get to many games in the first half of the season, but when I did he looked a shadow of the player from last season. I think you could be looking at someone who was a player who went through a goalscoring patch, rather than a goalscorer now suffering a drought. I've been to a lot of games since Christmas and since then he certainly has done an effective job at the task in hand. We've obviously turned things around in this time and Main has been great foil for the three behind him. When you look at the goals we've scored in this time from central areas. Turnbull has scored three from coming from deep positions (v Accies, Hibs and St. Johnstone) as did Campbell against St. Mirren. Then we've had Hastie's goals which have been quite similar. If you look at his goal against Hearts, Main sets him on his way and is looking for the return ball, which had it been any of our other wingers, he'd probably have got, but Hastie obviously steps in and smashes it in the top corner. I guess given just how good he was initially, we'll always see this season as disappointing, but I think if he had a full season, playing with this team and this formation, he might have been a 10 goal striker, maybe not much more than that but still. There's arguments for and against giving him a new deal and I'm still torn myself. It all depends on which players would be around him next season, but I could see us letting him go and not replacing him with someone as effective.

The chat I had heard last summer was that he was on £3k a week at Bury, but had a 25% relegation wage drop clause, meaning he would now be on £2.25k a week, so he'd have to take a further pay cut to stay here you'd think.

I thought the question was who has won a World Cup and played at Fir Park, not who had played at Fir Park as a World Cup Winner.

Gattuso with Rangers?

I think Grimshaw has been excellent since he went in at full back, I have no qualms about him there with Tait at left back. I think people overplay the importance of having full-backs playing on their natural sides, I think it's perfectly fine as long as they are comfortable using their weaker foot, which Tait clearly is. For someone who has only been connected with us for a few years, the way Grimshaw conducts himself comes across as someone who loves the club, he seems to get it. A definite new contract for him if you ask me.