Ten Caat

But he hasn't even managed 6 games for Dundee.....Don't you think that speaks volumes?

As far as I'm aware Frank Ross is still with us but unlikely to get a contract extension and his back injury isn't responding to treatment. It was absolutely the correct decision to send Wright to Dundee. He wasn't going to get much game time ahead of GMS, McGinn and Stewart. And would possibly have hindered the progress of McLennan (who has without doubt benefitted most from GMS long periods of absence). As it happens, he's only played 5 times for Dundee. Had a very good start, I'm not sure if he's injured (if he is there hasn't been any news of it though) but suspect what I've always thought...…...he just isn't good enough consistently to play in the top level of Scottish football. He will return to us in the summer with 2 years left on his contract and I suspect we will allow him to move on if he can fix himself up with another club. Not even convinced he has the physique that will allow him to succeed at a Championship club. EDIT.... this is the wrong thread for this discussion mods feel free to move it

There's not a hope in hell McInnes will leave to take up the Scotland job even if they did indeed double McLeish's salary.....

Honestly can't see Halford featuring at all unless Ball or one of our other defenders suffer an injury pre-match (and even then Devlin would probably be ahead of him to start). I've got big enough doubts that Ball can handle the pace of Jordan Jones.....I'd have even bigger doubts about a guy who's even bigger than Ball (and far less mobile) having to face him. I think I'd be putting Gleeson in alongside Shinnie for this one. Campbell has done well so far but this is a game we need experience in. We can't afford to lose it as with the arse cheeks to follow in the next 2 games there is a high possibility of nul points.....by the time we face the Edinburgh clubs Killie could be out of sight for 3rd place. Hoping to be a late in for this one 1-1 (McKenna)

Clarke is supposedly Fulham's first choice to take over the hotseat in the summer. Just relegated but will pay an exponentially higher wage than the Scotland gig. Can't see him refusing it as it's probably the best job as a manager outright that he could expect, plus it would allow him to be back with his family down south. Hughes no doubt would bring a passion to the post but on the flipside, he's barely literate and as the front face of the SFA, is likely at some point to cause an embarrassing gaffe or five along the way. I've honestly no idea who to appoint...…..even if the SFA doubled the pay McLeish was on to £500k/year, it would still be a wage that most clubs in the English Championship could comfortably top so I would expect it will only attract guys who haven't had a gig in years (Hughes ) or guys looking to top up their pension (Hiddink?).

You know this for certain? As far as I'm aware, he (and probably more importantly, his family) absolutely love the lifestyle in the city. What we should be doing is immediately taking the Shinnie deal off the table and offering it to Lewis. I'm certain if we wait he will get better paid offers from the English Championship so we need to ask the question now. If he rejects it then fair enough, we move on and start the process of sourcing his eventual successor but if he signs it then we get him tied up pretty much for the best years of his career.

That utter bellend Mark Guidi (this was the prick who, when sevco were in their first year of existence down in the third division, stated they were "the second best team in Scotland") just said that Stewart to sevco was "a dead cert to happen". We're fucked then. He will be with us on a 4 year contract before you can say "useless, slow, one footed wage thief"...……...

Yes he was. But since his preferred move to sevco fell through and he joined Wigan...…...I've honestly no idea what he is like now as he has made 8 appearances for them (17 on loan at Peterborough). But probably worth a punt on loan as I said.

After my absolutely theoretical explanation of how we might be able to bag Jamie Walker for next season...…….lo and behold a post appears on the Hat within the last hour saying we have made an enquiry for him Later on tonight I will be posting some more revelations on how we can get Harry Kane in on a 4 year contract by doing a swap for May and luring Mourinho in as manager by offering the incentive of a crate of Lidl tinned sardines per point gained.

Devlin has been utter pants since his return from injury. I have grave reservations about his long term fitness but the fact remains that he is being kept out the side by Considine at present. And rightly so... Surely keep young Campbell who will see a lot more game time next season? McLennan also. And Cosgrove. But everyone else (i'm not counting the loan signings) yep I agree can go either for free or relatively small fees. May as well do a total rebuild as what we are facing is pretty major anyway.

Well we know that McGeouch is on £8k/week at Sunderland.....a far bigger club than Wigan but in a league below. They were forced to go to that level as his agent knew our offer was to make him the highest paid player at Pittodrie (£6k/week). Walker's wage at Hearts wouldn't have been huge given their previous financial problems, hence why he was keen to leave. I suspect if Wigan gave him £4k/week it would have been a significant pay rise (at least £2k/week maybe a bit more) from what he earned at Tynecastle. At that kind of wage we could certainly compete with them. If he's on more than that ( I doubt it but there is a small chance) then he would really be in a very similar position to Stewart in that his club would be happy to free him to anyone but his wages would prove prohibitive to anyone that might be interested (SPFL or EFL1 clubs). We would no doubt just go for a year long loan if we were really interested......coughing up maybe a third of his contract. Of course if he did well it might interest other clubs but that's just the risk we would have to take. Of course this is all purely hypothetical as there is no evidence at all that we, or anyone else, are even vaguely interested at this juncture

Just read elsewhere that Richard Gordon is absolutely adamant that the Fraser sell on fee is 25%. I suppose if anyone might know outwith the club then he would be it. Arsenal get your finger out and get the loon snapped up!

I definitely believe the £6.5 million figure but remember that Villa wanted him on loan till January first before the fee kicked in IF they chose to make the transfer permanent. It would have left us short of a key player with only days to go till the end of the transfer window which is why IIRC we refused the deal. His form all season has been up and down.....but has still collected Scotland caps despite making a few howlers for both club and country. Some folk are saying he is still young and errors can be expected whilst he is still learning. Possibly fair comment but I really do think that whilst there may be interest from clubs down south in summer, I cant see them wanting to pay more than £4-5 million. With Boyata likely offski, can see Celtic returning with a bid in that region.

We offered to make McGeouch our highest paid player last summer but he chose an even bigger wage to go play in EFL1 (granted at a team who really shouldn't be there). Can't seem to stay fit for any length of time. It's a no for me, especially as he would want his wages down there at least matched....topping what we have offered Shinnie to stay. Walker might be worth taking a punt on but as far as I'm aware has hardly featured at all in 2 years. Was excellent for Hearts but his form seemed to desert him after the proposed sevco move fell through. Maybe take him on loan for 6 months to see if he clicks and take it from there?

Tbh even if we had kept 11 men on the park, it's still very likely the result would have been much the same. Celtic could easily have been 2 up in the first 5 minutes and we were struggling to keep possession for any length of time far less create any chances. Our only hope was to score first and hold on for grim death. Celtic scoring first would have meant us having to open up in chase of an equaliser and as they usually do in such circumstances, would have picked us off at will. All totally irrelevant because we didn't. Sad fact is the financial gap between us and them continues to widen each and every season and means that under present circumstances we might never win a trophy ever again. They are beatable now and again but their squad is such that they could field their second choice players in every position and be fairly comfortable that they'd still beat us. We have nobody but ourselves to blame either. Milne had the chance to change the set up when oldco went tits up but chose, utterly bizarrely, to keep the 11-1 voting system in place. Coupled with the "Scottish football needs a strong sevco" shite, he should have been chased out of the North East there and then down to where he sells his shitty quality houses for extraordinary high prices to suppporters of either arse cheek where he would be amongst his own.

I'd have no problem with him getting bulleted. But you and I both know that ain't happening under the Wigmeister. As for Broon....no idea why he's still hanging around. Aberdeen quines a better shag than West coast eens?

Switched to watching the golf the minute Celtic got their opener. Molinari scrambled well first 7 or 8 holes and with everyone else pretty much bogeying or worse after birdieing and getting close momentarily, looked like Molinari would stroll to a comfortable win. But it's all gone tits up for him in the last hour and after a double bogey on the short 12th, is no longer in the lead....Cantlay just birdied 15 to lead by 1. Oh and now joined there by Schauffele. Woods and Molinari 1 back. Glad I chose the golf looks like it could be an epic finish with the weather starting to worsen as I write.

Hopefully McInnes will take stock over the next few days and decide to resign whilst he still has the respect of the fans for his service. Really don't trust him in his recruitment....and if McKenna goes for a fair chunk of cash in the summer, although we know most of it would go on Kingsford, I dread to think what shyte DM would spend the million or so he will get on. Our season has been blighted by injuries and suspensions, of that there is no doubt. Not sure when Ball and Ferguson's suspensions kick in, have a feeling Ferguson will be against Killie as it was a straight red followed later by Ball in the sevco game as his was 2 yellows. But coupled with McGinn out for what's left of the season, GMS probably in the same boat with Logan, we are down to the bare bones for the run in. Can envisage us picking up less than 6 points which might well cost us Europe. I fucking hate Sundays

Ah well that's that. Ball paying the price for an absolutely unnecessary first booking. Needed to hold out to half time and regroup but failed to do so miserably. Away to watch the Masters can't be arsed watching us concede another 2 or 3 in the second half

He only won European Cups, League titles and FA Cups...……...nothing really to write home about.

Just find it strange why if it were true, sevco haven't already got him on a pre-contract to stop us (who I believe are his only serious pursuers) signing him up. And £10k/week is just ridiculous. He was on £6k/week at Birmingham who would have let him sign for anyone for free the past 2 years if they would cover his wages. No one was interested..... yet sevco are now not only going to match those wages but actually increase them by 66%??? I can see why sevco might have been interested in Shinnie, purely to deprive us of his services even if he wouldn't have played particularly often due to their surfeit of midfielders competing for a place. Stewart I'd presume would be used as a number 10 which they do have a need for.....but only if they completely abandon their 4/3/3 system that they've used pretty much exclusively since Gerrard was appointed. As I've said before.....I'll believe it when I see it. I really hope it is true as it will prevent McInnes handing him a 3 or 4 year contract on money close to or matching his Birmingham wages.

had a bit of time on my hands so did some research after Shinnie was photographed at Pride Park yesterday, Found 3 Derby fan boards, none of which are particularly busy. Only one had a thread on Shinnie…..with less than 10 comments. General consensus is they haven't a clue who the hell he is or anything about what position he plays. Shows how much Gufflanders pay attention to Scottish football. Anyway as they don't know anything about him, they weren't particularly fussed as to whether he signs or not. Following on from this, had a look to see if they had anything to say about Lowe. He got a (very) brief mention on 2 of their boards. Difficult to extrapolate their opinion on such little input but one did say "not good enough" and that he should be sold. There was a fair bit on 2 of his competitors for the left back spot. They bought Scott Malone last summer for almost £3million and opinion is divided. They seem to think he's better as a left midfielder than a left back ( their other LB Forsyth was the regular starting player until he did his knee in just before Xmas) and indeed Lampard went out and signed Ashley Cole to cover LB once they sent Lowe back to us after playing a couple of games where he was out of his depth by all accounts. They're unsure about Forsyth's future given his injury history (3rd time he's done his knee apparently) but in view of the money they paid, reckon they should stick with the boy Malone as first choice going forward ( Cole has been poor apparently). Maybe there might be a chance of getting Lowe in for a smallish (in English terms) fee long term then??

Not even convinced Logan will be an automatic choice next season.....we tried to sign Naismith to replace him last summer. The obvious candidate would be McKenna but he might not be around much longer either so....presuming he's fit...I think we will go with Devlin.

Honestly think if we were in the English Championship we would be pretty much neck and neck with Derby. Guffball is vastly overrated despite the cash. Obviously if he does sign with them it will secure him financially for life. He's given us the best years of his career and should leave with everyone's best wishes.

If I could be sure that Devlin was 100% fit (not even 90% or 95%) then I'd go with the team Rico has, save for May in place of Stewart. However I suspect that Devlin is struggling for fitness and won't be risked from the start. In that instance, I think we might see a surprise formation with Ball in a back 3 alongside Consi and McKenna with both Campbell and Gleeson coming into the midfield with Lowe and McLennan as wing backs and Ferguson pushing up when he can supporting the front 2. Can't see Halford being anything other than a bench option. He would surely have played some time against both 'Well and Dundee if we were intending to start him against Celtic. My views on Stewart are well documented. He was dreadful at the weekend and his attitude stunk. Looked like he wanted to be anywhere else rather than on the pitch. We need energetic players able to chase and harry Celtic all over the field, sitting back and encouraging them on to us will only lead to disaster. ( Btw why has he still not signed this pre-contract with sevco that the mainstream media all assured us was happening last week??)….