Kmcalpin

Presumably the 8 "Elite" academies would have some signing restrictions placed upon them? By that I mean they'd be allowed to sign up say 20 15 year olds, 20 16 years olds and so on. If there was no restriction they could hoover up an unlimited number of promising youngsters, with most of them having no hope of progressing or of getting decent game time. I heard Alan Burrows go on at length about this project at the shareholder's AGM and was impressed. Whatever is eventually proposed I have no doubt whatsoever that he and Jim McMahon will vigorously fight our corner by any means necessary. Much has been made of our position but I can't see the likes of Partick, Dundee, Dundee United and Kilmarnock taking this lying down.

Pretty much my view too Al. A modern day Stewart Rafferty if you like. Always busy, full of energy and running but didn't actually do very much when all was said and done.

This is the first time I've sat through a complete Podcast and I found it very interesting. Sometimes though I found the sound quality a bit difficult and maybe 1 hour 30 minutes is a tad long? However see my comment at the end to put this in perspective. As for the content I'd make 2 points. I think it was Jay who brought up the subject of local authority playing fields in Blantyre. Its a sad fact of life that for most Councils leisure and recreation & sport come bottom of the pile due to financial constraints. They simply aren't on the radar. National land use planning policy too hasn't helped matters much. Politicians of all shades really have to take responsibility here. In short I don't see change any time soon. Secondly Project Brave. I wholeheartedly agree with what was said by the contributors. I'm still unclear what the SFA's objectives actually are. I assume from the roughed up proposals that we've heard that its to boost the performance of the national team and enhance the level of our top clubs in Europe? Thats how it appears to me. However it simply won't work if youngsters at the top clubs aren't given game time. The proposals certainly won't help the quality of our game as a whole. My plea to the SFA - lets not forget clubs in the Championship and lower leagues. A lot of the young lads from the academies might not make the top grade but they are helping to enhance smaller clubs. I 100% agree that the academy system needs overhauled but these proposals won't do that. A fundamental and perhaps fatal flaw was to hand over responsibility to a committee comprised of clubs which were involved in the academy system. That renders the project unsafe in my view and tainted by vested interests. Instead it should have been conducted by a totally independent body or committee. Finally well done to the lads for organising and setting up these podcasts. It gives us an insight into the club that we wouldn't have otherwise and the lads are giving up their time. Despite what many think time, not money, is most the important thing anyone can contribute.

Not strictly true Graeme. Grehan had previously played professionally, although not at a senior level. He played in the Fife juniors for Dundonald Bluebell having started out with East Fife youths.

Not necessarily. If he signs early in the window we have to shell out more in wages. Also, if he puts pen to paper early it gives rival managers more time to see our hand and prepare for it. All that said its by no means guaranteed that he will sign. Mark McGhee said that he'd be talking to him last week - thats the last I heard.

This is a good point that was made at the club AGM. In theory it wouldn't be a closed shop but.....who decides the qualifying criteria? The committee of overseeing clubs, who have vested interests?

Quote from Stewart Regan "And what of Motherwell, who have criticised the plans as threatening their very existence? 'They have the same opportunity as every other club to put themselves forward as one of the leading academies in Scotland. 'There's no reason why Motherwell cannot put in a bid and we would encourage them to do that." Sidestepping the question Stewart?

It is. Burn Broomfield confirmed it on this very thread on the 5th December.

A little bit off topic but you're right. Its part of a quadruple deal involving loan signings. The lad moved to Ibrox for an undisclosed fee with a hint of further monies to come in the future. I'm not saying its a great deal, as I don't know the details, but its not as simple as it seems.

So, what we are saying is that the amateur/professional status of a player is not the overriding criterion rather its whether or not they play for an amateur team (registered with the SAFA). If so, then it has changed somewhat from years gone by.

Ok, I get that. So as long as an amateur player is registered with the SAFA, irrespective of which type of team he plays for, he is eligible for selection by the international amateur team. I'm sure that Hastie Weir represented Scotland at amateur level even although he played for us in the old first division.

Yes, I wonder why he apparently feels so strongly about it?

We're probably talking about slightly different things. Some junior clubs, like for example your Linlithgow Roses, Boness Uniteds etc are large and very professionally run businesses and could easily compete in the senior grades. Players are paid handsome salaries probably better than some senior clubs. At the bottom end of the professional junior game you have smaller clubs who don't pay salaries (and therefore aren't liable for income tax) and play their players as "amateurs". You then have pretty big "amateur" clubs who are run really quite professionally. There are various ways to pay wages, expenses and transfer fees as I'm sure you'll know.

A grey area as there are some small junior clubs and some large amateur outfits. Some, maybe even many, junior clubs register players as amateurs for financial reasons.

Er no. I recall the game at Almondvale that Desp referred to but am fairly certain that Reynolds played left back that day not left midfield. We'll agree to differ about that to avoid boring everyone. I don't recall the Raith game. I found the following quote from the Official website dated 11 January 2011. Stuart McCall said "Young Gavin (Gunning) is a good option, not just to fill the void left by Mark Reynolds but also the fact we had no natural cover for Stevie Hammell. We needed someone who could also fill in at left-back if required; previously, either Reynolds or Marc Fitzpatrick would do that but given both have left, it was important to have someone versatile for that role"

Yes, he started out his career with us at left back and played quite a few games there.

I'd take Mark Reynolds back as a left back in a minute but not as a central defender. Years ago when the club was touting him about down south, as a central defender, most English Championship clubs knocked us back on the basis he was far too small for that position. That was mentioned at a shareholders meeting in 2010.

I tried to gather some evidence but found it virtually impossible; maybe I was looking on the wrong sites. What I did come across though was a vast number of "undisclosed" fees. I thought it was only us who tried to conceal this information from the fans!!

I agree with much of what you say but what really irks me is that if he was playing for the 3 clubs you mention he'd automatically be worth twice as much.

As far as I'm aware, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think its all about making Scotland more successful at international level and by implication make our biggest clubs, which account for probably less than 10% of our senior clubs, more successful on the European stage. Its not about improving the senior game, or even game, per se.

If he isn't deemed to able to make the breakthrough. He has the ability and physique but that, by itself isn't enough. According to Crags he needs to do more/push himself harder to make the breakthrough. He's been on the verge of making a few subs appearances but hasn't quite done it yet. Maybe the summer will be decision time? Hopefully he will step up.

Louis Moult has 18 months left on his contract and the club will not want to see that run out with him exiting for nothing. Ideally, I'd like to see him move on in the summer as he would give us some more months of service (and hopefully goals) and earn us a reasonable fee. I just wonder if there are any predatory clubs watching him just now with an eye to submitting a bid later this month? Interesting that Aberdeen have a dilemma with Niall McGinn just now...we've been there, done and got the t shirt as they say.

Agree with that. When assessing our central midfield options I wouldn't include Cadden in the mix....yet. He may well make it there in time but right now he's more suited to playing wide right. On the plus side I think we can now add young Allan Campbell to the centre mix. I agree that our priority is the left hand side where we're short. IF, Pearo returns, and it is an IF, then he could fill in in the middle or at wide left. Stevie Hammell now seems to be very injury prone and I'm not fully convinced of Joe Chalmers, although he did perk up before his injury. We do need an attacking midfielder in some shape or form and some pace.

I think the issue was trying to keep his head out of the clouds before he moved to Leeds.

It just goes to show though how much a referee can influence games. Its conceivable that he could've issued a yellow card (I do think it was a red), awarded us a penalty and sent Kurtaz off for an early bath. That would have made for an entirely different game.