Kmcalpin

I think thats it. This decision is overly harsh and totally inconsistent. We'll see if this level of punishment is applied again in future for similar situations. In short, we are an easy target. Being pedantic, Watt's comment was an opinion, based on some factual basis. Presumably the SFA thought that there were worse VAR decisions than that one. If so, what were they? Come on tell us. As for the club's fine, that is also nonsense. According to Graeme McGarry, the fine isn't for the club's comments, but because it posted a picture of a Celtic player with the referee? Really? is that the level they've stooped to? Its interesting that the club might challenge the fine, and I hope it does, but also that it has asked for the reasons in writing. Now thats interesting in its own right. They've either only been given them by word of mouth or they haven't been given them at all. The whole thing stinks. Just as with society in general, free speech is being clamped down on. You are free to express an opinion as long as it is consistent with that of the establishment.

Arguably, the most interesting aspect of tonight's bounce game, apart from the new players, are the starting and finishing line ups. They should give us an insight into our new manager's thinking and the health of our squad.

Signing on fee for the player?

Usually, but not always, at the behest of the buying club.

We should be in no rush to sell. Our finances are healthy. The directors promised us we wouldn't sell our best assets at the same time.

Girdwood Reich seems to be the kind of signing we should be aiming for. As for Watt, I think we should hold out for more than £1.5m.

Johnny Koutroumbis out for several weeks. No word of Stama, McGhee or Longelo.

Rumours on P & B that we're interested in Jake Girdwood-Reich. He's a defensive midfielder who can play in defence if needs be.

You can't beat an East Neuk dressed crab. No whitefish landed here now as it all comes from Peterheid. Anyways, I see St Mirren have signed Eseola Sole.

How can you possibly be fed up with sea food?

Seems to be agile and a very good shot stopper. Apparently played outfield early in his career and looks to be comfortable with the ball at his feet. Likes to save penalties as well. Should be a good fit for our system. At first sight similar to Callum Ward, even down to the transfer fee. Not the biggest keeper in the world and I doubt he'll make it in the Premier League but good enough to help us out in our hour or season of need. There's bucketloads of very good keepers in England so he'll have plenty of competition if he returns down there. I always think that loans can be risky but in our situation, we probably didn't have much choice. I suspect he'll be our no 1 and therefore I feel sorry for Matty Connelly but I can't ever see him being anything more than back up at best for us.

His official height is 6-0. Presumaby then, Matty is 5-10.

I get that Stu and agree there's no need to panic. However we already know that we're short of a keeper after Ward departed and there's a big hole in central defence due to departures and injuries.

Yes our pre season does seem a bit chaotic doesn't it, despite being told previously everything was in hand, or words to that effect. Certainly no-one could predict our most recent and disruptive injuries. I just wonder what has happened to our recruitment. As I've written before you'd think that we'd have have identified our targets at least 6 months ago and been working on them. They may have been reshaped a little by long term injuries to McGinn and Hendry, but again they would have been known quite some time ago. The usual caveat, of course, applies. New signings do take time and not all targets come to fruition. No doubt we have had to work our way down lists as some opt for better offers elsewhere. The only conclusion I can come to though, is that AJ has either changed that list and has asked ND to rework it or has put a hold on it until he's fully assessed the current squad, such as he has been able to do given the recent spate of injuries. Our pre season friendlies don't seem to have gone well in terms of injuries, getting a settled team, results and possibly morale. Game time in some legs, many young, though. I agree about Matty Connelly. A decent guy by all accounts and home grown but I don't see him as being anything other than emergency cover or back up. I'm a bit more relaxed about Europe than some but we can't take the HB games for granted and they won't be a walkover. I'd be looking for a 3-0 lead from Fir Park as the away tie could be tricky. As Handsome Devil wrote on P & B the ties could be season defining like Sligo if things go belly up. As it turns out, the Faroese football league is on a 4 week break just now so that might just work in our favour. However if we can't progress against the Harbour Football Club then serious questions will have to be asked about our preparation.

Yes, I like it.

So, from our limited squad, it seems that McGinn, Hendry, TJ, SOD, McGhee and possibly Stam have picked up knocks of varying severity. Thats the ones we know about.

I think its too early to say. The Genk friendly next week should give us a better idea. Will our better players have moved on by the first HB game? Will we see more arrivals by then? Was Stama taken off injured against Aarhus? Little mention so far of Longelo or Thor in pre season games. So many unknowns at the moment.

Yes and no. Player "trading" suggests not just comings but also goings.

Its not been said, but I assume a broken jaw will sideline him for a wee while. He certainly won't be able to eat at the moment. Its a bit concerning though that we're playing so many young lads in games we should be using to prepare for the impending Conference League ties. Giving the development squad some gametime is no bad thing though, just not quite so much of it just now.

That was a bit concerning, especially as we have a small squad at the moment. Certainly, we know about TJ, who will be out for several weeks, and McGinn and Hendry, who are out for months. Hopefully, not much more than that.

RIP Mike.

Our development squad had a bounce game against Queen of the South's Under 19s yesterday at Dalziel Park. Game ended in a 1-1 draw. https://www.qosfc.com/news-7029

Just had a look at the Carlisle United website and see they have a number of our ex players on their books: Archie Mair, Bevis Mugabi, and Luke Armstrong.

Thanks for the update Denny. That can only mean we are assessing trialists, which is a positive sign. However it also suggests we aren't yet in a position to give our strongest starting 11, whoever they might be, 90 minutes in their legs which is concerning as the Euro clock is ticking. It would seem our pre season preparation is a bit behind where it should be.

Thats true to a certain extent. As Weeyin says, I'd categorise the likes of Just as being an attacking midfielder. I think Jens brought in that specific style of play as he didn't consider that we had any suitable strikers available. If we had had then I assume he'd have selected one week in week out. Although we amassed a healthy goals for tally, on quite a few occasions, we failed to convert good leading up work into actual goals due to being toothless in the box and having no focal point there.