January 2025 Transfer Window

[BigAl]

55 minutes ago, Donald-Stalk said:

Ramadani is a quality player, we got a season from him and then sold him presumably at a profit (can't find the actual fees involved). That's a successful signing - it made the team better, made the finances better, brought up standards, etc. It doesn't seem relevant to me how settled he was.

It's also not really about the total number of players in any case. Getting substantial fees from Miovski and Ramadani will easily outweigh the negative impact of several mediocre signings.

Also, you have to ask if another strategy is ever going to have us winning titles. We're at a financial disadvantage to Celtic/Rangers so our only option is to be smarter than they are. It seems pretty implausible that we're going to consistently identify Scottish players those two have overlooked and outperform them on that basis. It's at least theoretically possible you could do it with foreign players if you have better information.

Welcome to the board mate, loving the user name.

To answer your point re Ramadani, we paid £100k for him and sold him for ten times that plus a 10% sell on after only twelve months. I would respectfully suggest we've never replaced him though.

[RicoS321]

3 hours ago, wokinginashearerwonderland said:

Most of these boys were signed over 3 years ago.  There has been a real move to foreign signings since then.

If you look at the true "foreign" players we have brought in over the last 3 years, I would argue the only one who has truly made the team better and become properly settled and stayed for a decent spell, is Miovski.  

I don't actually know what point you're making, that's the issue here. Originally you said that you'd like to see us sign more Scottish players as they tended to stay longer, and you mentioned the national team. I assumed that you meant actual Scottish players and I suggested that there was no evidence that players signed that were Scottish stayed longer than those that weren't. 

You then moved to include British or English speaking foreign players, and I suggested that there still probably wasn't any evidence of them staying longer, given we've had a million English players who've come and gone this century. 

You're now talking about "true" foreign players, and I've no idea what that means. 

If it helps, I'll clarify what I'm saying. I would like us to sign more Scottish players as we are a Scottish team playing in Scotland and I believe that should carry some identity (for no real reason if I was being honest with myself). 

I believe that a portion of our signings should come from teams in the SPFL (Premier), whether Scottish or otherwise, as I believe that they have the best chance of success as they are the lowest risk of signing (we know they can perform in our league). I think that the manager should be able to identify those particular targets. 

I also believe that you are significantly more likely to make a mark up on a player out with the SPFL, but the risk that they cannot perform in this league, is greater. A proportion of our signings should go down this route with a view to it being the quickest way to increase player budget via player trading. 

The proportion of the above should vary from season to season depending on availability of good players in our league, but I'd like to see us picking up at least 2 low risk signings from other teams each season. I'm not concerned by Thelin not having that knowledge for a season, and would count guys like Nilsen as equivalent to Devlin, but with slightly more risk attached. 

In response to your last three years point, foreign players were in the minority until Robson really. You mentioned Glass, which is why I brought up Gallagher etc. Goodwin was majority British (Stewart, Richardson, Morris, Clarkson etc), Robson signed Pollock, MacDonald, McGrath etc, before the move to foreign based the following window. We didn't sign anyone in the January (Hoillet) and this summer we've gone foreign again. Basically two windows of majority foreign imports, with a similar success rate to previous. 

I don't think any of what I've said has any bearing on length of time a player stays at the club. As I said previously, I think that has everything to do with family arrangements and if they've found a level that suits both us and the player. 

[BigAl]

Aye, fucking right 

[BigAl]

On 08/01/2025 at 00:19, OrlandoDon said:

Work permit needed I believe, no clue how long that takes these days.

All sorted and available for the Hearts game 

[Jute]

16 hours ago, BigAl said:

Aye, fucking right 

Clearly bullshit but can you imagine him and Rubi as your centre back pairing. 

[RicoS321]

8 minutes ago, Jute said:

Clearly bullshit but can you imagine him and Rubi as your centre back pairing. 

Probably. We've had some fairly honking defenders over the years. That said, there's nearly always been one of the two that would have some redeeming features. It's an interesting one, I wonder what the worst partnership we've had over the years was? Obviously we had Brown and Campbell, Duff and Young (think one of them might have played right back), but I mean a partnership that lasted a few games at least.

[wokinginashearerwonderland]

19 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

I don't actually know what point you're making, that's the issue here.

I think you probably do really.  Anyway, the basic issue is that if we end up by next season having a squad where 95% of them are foreign what the hell is the point in supporting your local team?  May as well just start watching Liverpool or Man Utd if I want to see 11 foreigners running about in red shirts.

[Reekie_Red]

50 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

I wonder what the worst partnership we've had over the years was?

Pretty sure David Lilley and John Inglis played together for a few. 

Didn't we also try Haraldur Ingolfsson in defence once too, and he was absolutely abysmal 

[BigAl]

1 hour ago, RicoS321 said:

Probably. We've had some fairly honking defenders over the years. That said, there's nearly always been one of the two that would have some redeeming features. It's an interesting one, I wonder what the worst partnership we've had over the years was? Obviously we had Brown and Campbell, Duff and Young (think one of them might have played right back), but I mean a partnership that lasted a few games at least.

Fuck sakes Rico

It had taken over fifteen years but had just about forgotten about Sigma Olumouc and then you post that about Duff & Young 

[OrlandoDon]

Other than Alex Jensen, any other names we’re looking at? Any star striker out there packing bags and heading to pittodrie??

[BigAl]

No idea if anything in this or not, to be honest have never heard of journalist Anthony Evans, but writing in the Retard he throws the name of Aune Heggebo, 23 year old Norwegian striker currently @ Brann into the mix. 

Seems to have a decent enough senior scoring record of one in every three games. Ex colleague of Nilsen so could be simple, put two and two together and come up with five 

Further down in same article the guy then speculates on Ambrose going on loan to Ross County 

[Elgindon]

The Retard guy mentions that striker as an example of someone Thelin might look at,rather than having any insight

[RicoS321]

3 hours ago, wokinginashearerwonderland said:

I think you probably do really.  Anyway, the basic issue is that if we end up by next season having a squad where 95% of them are foreign what the hell is the point in supporting your local team?  May as well just start watching Liverpool or Man Utd if I want to see 11 foreigners running about in red shirts.

I don't at all know what your point was, as it's now changed again. Back to something like I thought it was in the first place (that we should have a team of majority Scottish players). Something which I agree with as I've said. 

[tlg1903]

4 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

Probably. We've had some fairly honking defenders over the years. That said, there's nearly always been one of the two that would have some redeeming features. It's an interesting one, I wonder what the worst partnership we've had over the years was? Obviously we had Brown and Campbell, Duff and Young (think one of them might have played right back), but I mean a partnership that lasted a few games at least.

Dave Bus and whoever he was partnered with?  Even Solberg was better than him

[BigAl]

30 minutes ago, Elgindon said:

The Retard guy mentions that striker as an example of someone Thelin might look at,rather than having any insight

Aye that's pretty much fit I meant ED.

Could however be a potentially interesting option and out of contract this year by the looks of it 

[RicoS321]

37 minutes ago, tlg1903 said:

Dave Bus and whoever he was partnered with?  Even Solberg was better than him

I don't think Solberg was in our worst 20 defenders. Guys like Ifil were worse. Solberg was slow and got caught out a lot, but he could actually trap a fitba. 

Bus only started three times for the Dons. He started alongside Diamond once, and I think Considine twice, but it might have been Severin for one. None of those would fit in a worst ever partnership, despite Bus dragging them down. Jimmy C gracefully gave everyone a shot with him too, so partnership couldn't be accused. 

I'm starting to think Gallagher and Bates are in with a shout, even though I think they were unfairly played in the wrong side continuously, like some sick joke. 

Edit: speaking of sick jokes, when Bus played for the Dons, the fullbacks were McNamara and Maybury.

Edited January 10 by RicoS321

[tlg1903]

The Club can today provide the following update on injuries to Gavin Molloy and Ester Sokler.

Gavin has unfortunately sustained a shoulder injury and following advice from a specialist will require surgery before an intensive rehab programme, with a return to action not expected until May.

Meanwhile, Ester has suffered a hamstring injury that will keep him out for a minimum of 8 weeks.

Commenting on the injuries, Dons boss Jimmy Thelin said:

“It’s clearly a big disappointment for us to lose both Gavin and Ester for extended time periods but our medical team will provide excellent guidance and rehabilitation for both players in the next few months to help get them back to fitness as soon as possible.

“We will continue to work to find solutions to help ensure the squad remains competitive and everyone at the Club wishes them both a speedy recovery.”

 

 

Our injury list is pretty grim at the moment all things considered

[OxfordDon]

7 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

It's an interesting one, I wonder what the worst partnership we've had over the years was?

Jerel Ifil and anyone?

*edit: If I'd bothered to read further properly I might have noticed Rico already called Ifil out...

Did Bus & Ifil ever play together, or had Bus left by the time Ifil came in?

Edited January 10 by OxfordDon

[RicoS321]

4 minutes ago, OxfordDon said:

Jerel Ifil and anyone?

*edit: If I'd bothered to read further properly I might have noticed Rico already called Ifil out...

Did Bus & Ifil ever play together, or had Bus left by the time Ifil came in?

It's not possible for them to have operated on the same pitch, without football as we know it ending. 

[manc_don]

Christ, we’ve had some honking CBs

[Reekie_Red]

Solberg was more of a LB, and he played when we had a CB pairing Whyte and Anderson ... a pairing I'd settle for any day 

[Slim]

I don’t think Solberg ever played at LB? He played (terribly) at RB for a bit but was predominantly a CB. If I remember correctly Anderson played RB mostly while Solberg played in the middle and wasn’t until 2002 or so that Anderson moved into the middle.

LB would have been Jamie McAllister or Andy Dow depending if Dow was in midfield or not.

Edited January 10 by Slim

[RicoS321]

24 minutes ago, Slim said:

I don’t think Solberg ever played at LB? He played (terribly) at RB for a bit but was predominantly a CB. If I remember correctly Anderson played RB mostly while Solberg played in the middle and wasn’t until 2002 or so that Anderson moved into the middle.

LB would have been Jamie McAllister or Andy Dow depending if Dow was in midfield or not.

Yep, exactly this.

[dons8321]

21 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

Yep, exactly this.

Every time I see there's been an update on the transfer window thread I'm thinking is it a rumour or is it a new signing...please be a striker, or another CB or a right- or left- back  and then I find out that it's still another posting about previous CBs who were crap.  Come on, mods. sort it out...I'm too old to be excited unnecessarily only to find out sombody arguing about who was worse Ifil or Bus.

[RicoS321]

19 minutes ago, dons8321 said:

Every time I see there's been an update on the transfer window thread I'm thinking is it a rumour or is it a new signing...please be a striker, or another CB or a right- or left- back  and then I find out that it's still another posting about previous CBs who were crap.  Come on, mods. sort it out...I'm too old to be excited unnecessarily only to find out sombody arguing about who was worse Ifil or Bus.

I'll put you down for a Vujadinovic McArdle