fizoxy

Well 4 Europe's summary is pretty good. Erwin, Moore and Murray are in the 1st team squad, so are part of the depth for their respective positions. I think there's a tendency to forget these guys because they aren't new signings. Three of our most experienced players came through the same system, then there is Hutchy, Cummins and McHugh. If we are going to make money from selling players we need to see a good few new youngsters get first team exposure each year.

Did Lawson\Vigurs not create quite a few for County? My guess is that Faddy will have a fair few assists as well, so I don't think the drop in creativity from losing law, Ojaama and Humphrey will be massive (big drop in pace though). A lot will depend on what ZFA or mystery winger produces.

I agree that the squad is thin, but this is always the case with our resources. Our backups will all be young players, and our success will depend on the fitness of the top eleven. I think the only position where we have no clear options is wide midfield. I don't know if faddy will fill his position or if he will play as a forward, but either way we still need a replacement for Humphrey, ie someone with decent pace who can play on the right. if we sign McFadden and the imaginary winger, I think we have a decent squad. If I was being greedy, another forward would be nice too.

Most signings are announced after the negotiations are complete. This only appears to be dragging on because we've been anticipating it since last season. I think the dicking around is being exaggerated. on another note, I mind when there were folk on here that actually had some decent 'sources' and didn't just post what they heard on twitter, which in turn has probably been taken from here.

He played the first half.

This is one of those standard "I'm out of contract this year, in case you didn't know" stories.

With him having his contract renewed in 2010 I'm sure it would have cost a fair bit to renew it this time. Regardless of the injury I doubt that Saunders would have taken a drop in wages, and has decided to move on. The management clearly think that we either have the internal options to cover this, or that they can replace him cheaply, freeing up funds for areas of greater need. I always thought he was a good player, and it will be interesting to see where he ends up.

Kyle spends too much time being injured or shite, so don't think he's an option. We have Sutton anyway. I'm guessing Quinn is out of our price range. We're also tempting fate with all these returning players, we're due a McClair soon.

Are Erwin and Moore legitimate 1st team prospects, and are they both forwards? What's the consensus on McHugh? Is he going to be a bench player until he leaves?

Sutton is a decent signing. Scored at an excellent rate for us (without taking penalties I'm sure) and is still under 30, so hardly past it. He's not going to score as many as Higdon did in his last season, but neither will Higdon. so what if he left for money? most players leave clubs for money. They can't all move on to being pundits or managers after the age of 35 so I'll forgive them for trying to save a few quid. I'm curious to see who we bring in who fits the pace requirement. Humphrey thrived under McCall, so it will be interesting to see what he can bring out of a similarly raw player. not holding my breath for McFadden.

It would take a leap of faith for a manager to guarantee hateley a midfield job, especially when there are plenty of out of contract midfielders who have actually played the position more than a handful of times in the last few years. Multiple managers have seen him as a right back, and we've signed other midfielders rather than play him there, so maybe right back is where he belongs. My guess is the same as those above, he probably hasn't had the offers he expected. Hibs or Aberdeen is my guess if he doesn't end up at newco. His dad is also a wank. if Gordon is fit there is no way he will be a back up, and if he's not fit there is no way anyone is signing him.

I would think the freed up wages will be significant, since Hately and Humphrey were on their second deals, which probably had annual increases, and law must have been on a decent amount. Don't know much about Daley. I'm sure keeping Higdon and faddy would eat into most of those savings, but I don't see either hanging around. Either way, I don't think we'll see a large number of new faces, maybe 3 or 4, and the rest will be promoted youngsters. If we're going to be a selling club the youth players are the key.

My guess is that the lure of some games in Europe isn't as strong as the lure of actual money.

Do we have a big enough tractor for the photo op with the kampman-esque number of new players we'll need? Happy that henrik got his move, good luck to him. Is he the first of the 'sign to sell' players that we've actually sold?

Luis Amor Rodriguez

Probably a rumour on fpc started by a rumour on here. These names have been getting thrown around for a couple of weeks.

Given will sign with an English club for a whole lot more than we could offer. We sign unknowns for a reason, cos they are in our price range.

The fact is that rangers will be in the spl soon enough and he is still young. He'll be a first team regular on a far higher wage and playing in front of big crowds half of the time. A footballer's career is short and they should absolutely be looking to make as much money as possible. I'm sure many of these English players who come up here to make a name for themselves have the old firm in mind. But really, he was leaving anyway, so where he ended up should be irrelevant. It's also cringeworthy watching the bangers give the guy abuse on twitter. Will anyone be going on about ambition if Mcfadden chose to stay on with us?

Could it be that the club are treating this like an approach for a player, and are hoping for some compensation? As far as replacements go, I agree with the above, that it will be someone out of nowhere. Who was the favourite last time? Was McCallister not close?

I've heard some dude is just a phonecall away.

I'd agree that we could be more agressive in promoting our players, but we as fans would counteract that pretty quickly after a bad game or two. I think the clubs of the players mentioned above prob pay higher wages and spend more on the players overall development, but I'm sure the perception of them being a bigger club adds a premium to the price.

I guess you could also look at it from the point of view of what a player is worth to a selling club. If a premiership club sells a player they can lose marketing revenue, and possibly ticketing revenue, which could be significant due to large supports. There is also the potential loss in prize money from losing a key player, which is significantly higher in the English leagues. Since a relatively small number of players posess the skill set to play at that level, I would imagine the cost of replacing him would also be high. Then there is the fact that at the higher levels, should a player be made available there would be more than one club bidding, driving up the price. I know the above is an extreme case, but in Scotland the maximum potential value a player can have to a non old firm club is the difference between an average attendance and a full house, the prize money for 2nd place, and the money generated by an early round European run. I don't think merchandising would be a significant factor, and this would only be for the better players. Then there is the fact that there are very few players in Scotland with a level of skill that couldn't be acquired from elsewhere. Factor in the Scottish football economy (low attendances, poor tv deal, many clubs in debt) and you can see why transfer fees are low, because there is no way teams are going to pay silly prices just because. Finally, the market usually determines the price, and when it comes to Scottish football it is a buyers market.

I'd be interested to see how these transfer fees are ironed out. I assume things like the cost of developmment, time at the club, players current wage, age/experience, cost of replacement, etc, are factors. I'm sure these aren't arbitrary amounts, and there must be some sort of accounting practices for it considering the size of the industry. Based on this it may be that we as a club aren't getting ripped of as much as we think.

We won't see many better years as well fans! The champs league is the highlight.

Easy. You go the manager of the other team and buy him for 5mill. Seriously though, I think the players wages and the time remaining on the contract are major factors in the transfer fee. We shouldn't be gambling on one player over the course of 6 months to get us the prize money to cancel out the small fee, we need the guaranteed money. I hope it works out for Jamie, he has done great for us and deserves the move.