capt_oats Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 Given we were very public about our interest in him on deadline day in January as an option then I'm quite surprised there hasn't been more 2+2 being done given that Ciftci's effectively been told to do one by Celtic. It's clear that we haven't, as yet, replaced McDonald and from the sound of things we were looking to bring him in in the event of McDonald leaving, in fact there was talk that we'd have taken him regardless of the McDonald outcome. How much of that was just bluster IDK. Obviously there's been a change in management since then but there seemed to be comment at the time that the player/agent was keen. Clearly the deal fell through and the player ended up being shipped out to Poland but it wouldn't seem a huge stretch to think we might still be interested as options for that "second striker" role were going to be pretty thin on the ground in the first place and players we're reported to have shown an interest in who may have fitted the bill (Stewart, Scougall et al) have moved elsewhere and I'd imagine St Johnstone would be a much more obvious destination for O'Halloran and to be honest given the sort of qualities I'd think we'd be looking for as a replacement for Skippy; drop off the striker, hold the ball up, bring others into play etc I'm not sure that's O'Halloran anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haggischomper Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 Maybe Ciftci simply doesn't fit the bill for Robinson whereas he fit the bill for McGhee 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobey_Dosser Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 Given we were very public about our interest in him on deadline day in January as an option then I'm quite surprised there hasn't been more 2+2 being done given that Ciftci's effectively been told to do one by Celtic. It's clear that we haven't, as yet, replaced McDonald and from the sound of things we were looking to bring him in in the event of McDonald leaving, in fact there was talk that we'd have taken him regardless of the McDonald outcome. How much of that was just bluster IDK. Obviously there's been a change in management since then but there seemed to be comment at the time that the player/agent was keen. Clearly the deal fell through and the player ended up being shipped out to Poland but it wouldn't seem a huge stretch to think we might still be interested as options for that "second striker" role were going to be pretty thin on the ground in the first place and players we're reported to have shown an interest in who may have fitted the bill (Stewart, Scougall et al) have moved elsewhere and I'd imagine St Johnstone would be a much more obvious destination for O'Halloran and to be honest given the sort of qualities I'd think we'd be looking for as a replacement for Skippy; drop off the striker, hold the ball up, bring others into play etc I'm not sure that's O'Halloran anyway. Are we in the market for a direct McDonald replacement?I hope we are but all the chat has been about a pacey striker. I like Ciftci a lot but he clearly has his issues and with an agent like Van Hooijdonk, he'll probably be looking further afield. Regarding O'Halloran, if we have a Skippy type wage available, I imagine we'll do all we can to tempt a proven scorer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 The key factor in the striker equation is will Moult stay. If he does, then we need to make sure we have options that play well with his style. If not, then we need to be thinking partnerships when we bring in fresh blood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 Are we in the market for a direct McDonald replacement?I hope we are but all the chat has been about a pacey striker. I like Ciftci a lot but he clearly has his issues and with an agent like Van Hooijdonk, he'll probably be looking further afield. Regarding O'Halloran, if we have a Skippy type wage available, I imagine we'll do all we can to tempt a proven scorer. No idea what we're looking for specifically it's just that the names that we've been linked with eg: Stewart via 'Arry and apparently Scougall along with every other Premiership side etc it suggests to me that we're looking for someone in that area who's capable of playing a creative role which to me, for better or worse, is a role that McDonald was being asked to do. In truth I'm probably skewing things by making assumptions based on what I *think* we need in the team more than anything. McDonald chipped in with goals as well and was our 2nd top scorer the past 2 seasons a player like O'Halloran scored 2 in 19 in his first season at Saints, 10 in 46 in 14/15 and 4 in 25 in 15/16 granted most of that time he was playing as a winger but it's not exactly the mark of a proven striker. I concede that he's absolutely rapid though and I've no real doubt that he'd probably improve us as a side, I just see him more as a winger with pace than someone who'll play centrally and hold the ball in and link the play which again is me making assumptions. I'm not necessarily banging a drum for us to sign Ciftci it's just curious to me that more hasn't been made of the fact that he was a player who's since been bombed out Celtic's squad that we confirmed definite interest in to replace a player who's subsequently left the Fir Park. I don't necessarily mean on here, just on your Twitter and the like with people who spend a lot of time speculating on that sort of stuff. I totally take on board that there's been a change in management since our interest in January, that's why I mentioned it in my post, but I'd have thought it's probably going to be a pretty limited pool of players that we'll be able to recruit from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 I think with Ciftci that finance would be the main barrier to any movement. In January Celtic may have been willing to take less just to get rid of him short term, with a view to make it easier to punt him after a good six months, as opposed to now, where they'll be wanting rid altogether? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 Unfortunately with our very small wages, decent players with decent CVs won't come anywhere near us. I think you're being a little unkind to the club. if we're paying "very small" wages as you put it what would you class as a being a "reasonable" wage. I reckon our average first team member will be earning about £45k-55k per year. Not bad in my book. We'll be paying the going rate for top provincial teams in Scotland. I assume that you're comparing our wage levels to English rates which are extortionate even at lower levels, and at the highest level simply obscene in my view. Yes we can't compete with most English clubs but neither can most of Scottish football. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobey_Dosser Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 No idea what we're looking for specifically it's just that the names that we've been linked with eg: Stewart via 'Arry and apparently Scougall along with every other Premiership side etc it suggests to me that we're looking for someone in that area who's capable of playing a creative role which to me, for better or worse, is a role that McDonald was being asked to do. In truth I'm probably skewing things by making assumptions based on what I *think* we need in the team more than anything. McDonald chipped in with goals as well and was our 2nd top scorer the past 2 seasons a player like O'Halloran scored 2 in 19 in his first season at Saints, 10 in 46 in 14/15 and 4 in 25 in 15/16 granted most of that time he was playing as a winger but it's not exactly the mark of a proven striker. I concede that he's absolutely rapid though and I've no real doubt that he'd probably improve us as a side, I just see him more as a winger with pace than someone who'll play centrally and hold the ball in and link the play which again is me making assumptions. I'm not necessarily banging a drum for us to sign Ciftci it's just curious to me that more hasn't been made of the fact that he was a player who's since been bombed out Celtic's squad that we confirmed definite interest in to replace a player who's subsequently left the Fir Park. I don't necessarily mean on here, just on your Twitter and the like with people who spend a lot of time speculating on that sort of stuff. I totally take on board that there's been a change in management since our interest in January, that's why I mentioned it in my post, but I'd have thought it's probably going to be a pretty limited pool of players that we'll be able to recruit from. Sorry, I had it in my head that O'Halloran was scoring every week at one point. Obviously not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 I think with Ciftci that finance would be the main barrier to any movement. In January Celtic may have been willing to take less just to get rid of him short term, with a view to make it easier to punt him after a good six months, as opposed to now, where they'll be wanting rid altogether? Yeah, I found the whole "told to find a new club", "free to leave" thing interesting in the sense of what they're realistically thinking about him. They're supposed to have paid £1.5m for him and he's got 2 years left on his deal. You'd think they'd want to claw at least some of that back but he seems to be in a situation similar to O'Halloran in that he'll be on a wage that he's unlikely to match elsewhere so it's a case of them either writing him off and reaching a settlement (which I'd imagine Celtic are better placed to do than Sevco) to get him off the books or he just bleeds them for another couple of years. By all accounts his loan in Poland won't have made him any easier to punt for cash money either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 Sorry, I had it in my head that O'Halloran was scoring every week at one point. Obviously not. Ha! He definitely had a very rich vein of form for a while. No doubt about that, it was pretty much that form that got him his move to Ibrox IIRC. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 Ha! He definitely had a very rich vein of form for a while. No doubt about that, it was pretty much that form that got him his move to Ibrox IIRC. I thought that too, but looking at his stats, that doesn't seem to be the case. According to Wikipedia, he has scored a grand total of 18 league goals since 2011; twelve of which came in his stint at St Jonstone from 2014 - 2016. If that makes him worth half a million, Moult's last two season's tally must put him past the 1 million value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobey_Dosser Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 I thought that too, but looking at his stats, that doesn't seem to be the case. According to Wikipedia, he has scored a grand total of 18 league goals since 2011; twelve of which came in his stint at St Jonstone from 2014 - 2016. If that makes him worth half a million, Moult's last two season's tally must put him past the 1 million value. 4 goals in 25 games before signing for Rangers in the January. Amazing what a wee bit of media hype can do. There was talk of him being on the brink of a Scotland call-up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 Craig Tanner is McDonald's replacement. Well I am guessing that but I think he will be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supermarv Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 May be the wrong thread but watching rangers tonight they are defos there for the taking especially at Fir Park Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dinnae-punt-it Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 Probably not the right place to put this, but some goal by the new lad Fisher in training. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dinnae-punt-it Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 https://twitter.com/motherwellfc/status/880342108464439296 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onthefringes Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 Craig Tanner is McDonald's replacement. Well I am guessing that but I think he will be I don't think you'll be too far off in that shout... Our style of play will differ slightly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supermarv Posted June 30, 2017 Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 I don't think you'll be too far off in that shout... Our style of play will differ slightly. He has been doing extra after training working on his shooting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
middleeastdave Posted June 30, 2017 Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 I don't know if it just me but I do feel very optimistic for the season ahead, after listening to all the interviews in Dublin, I just hope I am not too disappointed with some of the performances of the new players, appears they have one thing in common they are all looking forward to the Rangers game which cannot be bad!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted June 30, 2017 Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 I don't know if it just me but I do feel very optimistic for the season ahead, after listening to all the interviews in Dublin, I just hope I am not too disappointed with some of the performances of the new players, appears they have one thing in common they are all looking forward to the Rangers game which cannot be bad!! Its always hard to judge before the season starts but so far so good. However we really do need to strengthen the outfield defence. I don't care how good our new goalie is I want him to be largely redundant. It would be nice for a change to see our keeper stroll through games without having much to do. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbcmfc Posted June 30, 2017 Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 I'd imagine Ciftci will be quite happy to sit it out at Celtic. He'd be lucky to get a month what they're paying him a week. If his agent is Pierre van Hooijdonk, I'd think he'd be advising him to do just that given his fall outs at Celtic and Forrest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewarkfanclub Posted June 30, 2017 Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 Having listened to all the pre season interviews the thing that jumps out at me is that its all about the group and getting the right characters in to take that philosophy forward. I get the feeling that maybe that hasnt been the case in the last couple of seasons and some negative influences have been moved on. That being the case Im not sure Ciftci would be the kind of player we would be interested in. Talented, yes. Team player? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neilwell86 Posted June 30, 2017 Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 I don't know if it just me but I do feel very optimistic for the season ahead, after listening to all the interviews in Dublin, I just hope I am not too disappointed with some of the performances of the new players, appears they have one thing in common they are all looking forward to the Rangers game which cannot be bad!! i seem to recall last season a few moans and groans with regards to players saying how excited they are to play the old firm and visit the stadiums, that said the interviews over in dublin seem to be more geared towards getting the season under way against rangers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobey_Dosser Posted June 30, 2017 Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 It's all about 'character' in these interviews. Hopefully they have the quality to match. Still think we are 2/3 good signings away for me to be optimistic about the season ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted June 30, 2017 Report Share Posted June 30, 2017 It's all about 'character' in these interviews. Hopefully they have the quality to match. Still think we are 2/3 good signings away for me to be optimistic about the season ahead. I think you're right about 2/3 signings. The good news is the transfer window doesn't close for almost 9 weeks. The bad news is by the time the transfer window closes in almost 9 weeks it could be 4/5 signings we need. Although I'm sure we have targets to replace our most likely leavers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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