Kmcalpin

More good news that Craig Reid has signed on for 2 years. Since coming in he has done a sterling job at right back and in midfield. He deserves a contract. Its good to see the Stuart McCall getting contracts fixed up so early. Now for Keith Lalsey, Jack Leitch and Lionel Ainsworth and maybe a replacement for Hutchy, if as seems likely, he moves on.

There are 2 public meetings taking place to discuss this, one on Thursday evening, and one next week I think. They are part of a formal planning application process know as a Pre Application Consultation. The information is listed on the North Lanarkshire Council website under planning applications. Reference is 14/00986/PAN. The next stage will be the submission of a formal planning application.

A team we haven't seen at Fir Park before please.

Agreed Steve. There is a knack to identifying young talent coming through the ranks and more often than not we get it right.

Not so straightforward as you might think. Possible scenario - until a month or two back he didn't look anything special - and we can't sign all of young lads on long contracts. He then breaks into the first team and we offer him a longer deal and he then stalls...... As Weeyin says we can't force them to sign. Maybe that's not the case at all but these decisions aren't easy.

We've made big mistakes in the past and got lucky when Falkirk made a mess of their new stadium plans but we learned and moved on. Although our finances aren't great (which clubs are?) we should consider ourselves fortunate we have the Board we have when you look at the likes of Sevco, Hearts and Hibs.

Interesting article Jim. In terms of individual players it singles out Stephen McManus. However my take on it is that it identifies the 4-4-2 system we play and the unbalanced mix of players as being the underlying reason for our poor defensive record.

These Boards should encourage reasoned debate and discussion whether or not you agree with individual posts or posters. We've lost more than enough active members in the past few years. The Mods cannot and should not ban posters simply because they disagree with you more often than not. Too many members have been hounded out in the past. We need all views on here from optimists to pessimists and all shades in between. We don't live in Russia or China or a dictatorship, so censorship is totally out. In my opinion, a member's view should not be a cause for banning them unless its totally unacceptable but lack of respect / personal attacks should be. So come on, cut out the petty name calling and bullying and stick to sensible debate. You're more than capable of doing it.

In terms of our budget and the playing squad. Goalkeeper: Presumably Lee Hollis is leaving and Dan Twardzik is coming in. Twardzik isn't great in the air. One out and one in. Defenders: Steve Hammell and Stephen McManus have re-signed. No change at left back or in one of the central defensive berths. Craig Reid to re-sign? Hutchy - will he be replaced and if so by whom? Midfield: Lionel Ainsworth (not the best defender in the world) to re-sign or more likely leave? Keith Lasley likely to re-sign? Josh Law an attacking midfielder comes in. Given that a few players have re-signed or are likely to re-sign there will be limited scope to bring more players in. I'm simply curious as to how we are going to address our defensive weaknesses which were undoubtedly our Achilles heel last season. Now it may be that Stuart McCall is going to sign a defensive midfielder or that no personnel changes are required - simply that the same players will play better as a defensive unit next season but that isn't an obvious outcome at this point. To put things in perspective we did finish second last year and so you could argue that replacements for leavers aside, no change at all is required, but I would hope that we'd try to tighten up our defence as that was our obvious weakness. Overall I think our offensive players did the business and therefore little change there is warranted on our tight budget.

Although he isn't my choice of keeper I do think he's better than either Neilsen or Hollis. So, from that point of view I'm slightly happier than I was. Irrespective, he'll get my backing. I'm a bit puzzled and concerned however as to how we're going to improve our very poor defensive record. Early days in the close season of course and Stuart McCall may yet sign a very competent centre back to replace Hutchy and/or a defensive midfielder but we seem to running out of potential options to tighten things up at the back.

I think most of us accepted Iain that we weren't going to replace Darren Randolph with a keeper of a similar calibre. However we seemed to go from one extreme to the other. We lost far far too many goals last season from aerial balls and that was not lost on posters here. Now of course not all of those goals can be attributed to the goalies, but a fair proportion could be. Our two centre backs lacked confidence in the guys between the sticks and had to adapt their natural game to provide additional cover. I'm sure we could pick up a keeper who isn't necessarily world class but who could come out for aerial balls with a modicum of competency.

Like you I'd be happy with Twardzik as back up but surely we couldn't afford to retain Hollis & Neilsen?

Firstly, its almost certain that Lee Hollis will be leaving. We simply cannot afford to keep 3 senior keepers on our books and Gunnar has one more year left on his contract. I'm a wee bit disappointed with this signing. Dan Twardzik did well for us in his loan spell but he is still weak in the air and won't solve our problem in that respect. We're seem to be fast running out of options to address our defensive frailties. With the exception of Hutchy it seems as though the other defenders will be much the same as last season. Twardzik is not the answer to our aerial weaknesses. We can then only look to midfield to improve defensively and we've just signed an attacking midfielder. Maybe SM is going to be even more gung ho next year. "Happy to lose 2 goals every game we'll just go out and score 3" Confused.dot.com

I don't care where we sign players from as long as they do the business. Championship and EPL players are way out of our league as they are of almost all Scots clubs. We have to be realistic.

How much are we short of sponsoring a third player Iain?

Come on folks - this Board has several thousand members. I know the vast majority of you are lurkers but surely a few of you could donate £5.00?

There is also the raffle, which I forgot to mention. This is due to be drawn in August........which reminds me I'd better start selling tickets.

They have. There was a bucket collection at the St Johnstone game and a quiz night was held on 9 May. In terms of overall fund raising, Welldaft has hit the nail on the head, as he often does. To quote him " Hearts got 8000 fans to sign up for their appeal. But that was because their club was going bust. We sign up less than 1000 because we did not appear under any real financial threat or pressure." I'm confident that if we are in real trouble our fans will respond.

Good to see us sign an attacking central midfielder. Welcome on board Josh. My only question is how he will fit in with the existing central midfielders. Encouraging though.

Think the sell on figure was about 15% Jim. Don't know that the situation was purely about money, as some sections of the media have suggested. Of course money comes in to it and had Stuart McCall wanted to keep him as a priority I'm sure we would have done so. However probably his injury situation and performances were also important factors.

In June / July you could be looking at 42 degrees C in somewhere like Mostar. That's hot.

Sad of course but I'm with others in that its the right decision. Good luck to him wherever he ends up. Stuart McCall has a limited budget and he obviously feels the money can be put to better effect in another part of the team. He will know what personnel changes he wishes to make for the coming campaign.

£20 from me Iain.

A good idea and one which I back. The devil is in the detail however. How would the £75 be split, given that some clubs charge more than others for entry? MFC raised this idea several years ago and discussed it with other SPL clubs. One or two agreed (Kilmarnock and Dunfermline come to mind) but many opposed it - mainly the city clubs. The issue would be trying to get agreement between club representatives. In the SPL that was virtually impossible, with bickering, squabbling and the usual horse trading going on.

Ditto. An intriguing encounter. Hopefully both clubs will have gained financially from the play off games. Of course we can't just sit and wait for the English bubble to burst. I think that will happen anyway but the Scottish game has to be proactive and come up with progressive initiatives to boost the game north of the border. Pricing, media coverage and facilities all need to be looked at.