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Tuesday 26th November 2024 - kick-off 7.45pm

Scottish Premiership - Hibernian v Aberdeen

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Posted

www.hitc.com/en-gb/2018/05/30/por-aberdeen-line-up-posh-star-forrester/

 

Never heard of him so can not comment on how good he is.

 

Difficult to judge reliability from that source, HITC is a grab-bag of groundless speculation posing as journalism.  They had Wayne Rooney going to Sevco a few weeks ago.

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Posted

So we get shot of one very average League 1 level Irishman and replace him with......a League 1 level Irishman who even looks a bit like the one just departed.

 

Meh

 

Looks like him? How so? From what I gather he's a solid midfield playmaker type, OConnor was a semi athletic slow defender with one leg. Can't we give the guy a chance IF we do indeed sign him?

Posted

Looks like him? How so? From what I gather he's a solid midfield playmaker type, OConnor was a semi athletic slow defender with one leg. Can't we give the guy a chance IF we do indeed sign him?

 

Sorry but I feel if we are to go "to the next level" ie winning a cup every 2 or 3 years then we need better than someone from the middle of League 1. Cynical? Maybe. And of course I could just be being unrealistic and that will be the limit of our recruitment due to financial constraints forever going forward.

 

Just can't see this one proving to be anything other than a bang average recruit,  ok maybe the AOC comparison doesnt stack as their roles would be very different but I suspect in 2 years time...maybe even this time next season....we will be saying that he is the same level as AOC and hasnt improved us one iota.

 

If I'm wrong and he turns out to be a genius then I will of course issue a public apology on the forum....

 

Meh....

Posted

Just throwing it out there

 

Louis Moult was plucked from mid table english conference and the consensus from many folk is last season would have been so much better had he turned up on Pittodrie in a red shirt.

 

Dean Windass was plucked from a Hull City team which had just been relegated to league 2

 

 

Posted

Would you sign Jordan jones? Couldn’t get a game at Middlesbrough, and was on loan at Hartlepool and Cambridge before Killie picked him up. Chris Cadden from a lower level Scottish team? Naismith from a championship team? Moult is a good example too.

 

We can’t compete financially that these are the players we need to look at. Maybe uninspiring but he gets some good feedback that I’m willing to give him a try. I’d never heard of joe Lewis, shay Logan, even McKenna was uninspiring at ayr united and look what happened this year.

Posted

Must admit when Joe Lewis arrived I knew of him from Peterborough United but had said to Dave MacDermid at the club I thought Deek had settled for scraping the barrel a bit.  How wrong was I??  Been one of our best performers last two years and I think given Peterborough United were the only other team to really give him a game before us we've struck Gold with the guy. 

Posted

Wouldnt sign Jones but would certainly take Cadden. FWIW I think the Scottish game is undervalued and I reckon Motherwell operate at a higher level than Peterborough even though finance wise there's no doubt Peterborough are the wealthier.

 

Maybe I'm just spoiled having seen us sign the likes of Nicholas (Peter and Charlie), Gillhaus and Snelders. If we do get the loon on board he will get my full backing. The thing is we know that sevco will be spending and will improve. And thon Hibs Chief Executive wifie stated only 2 days ago that Hibs will have their largest ever footballing budget next season so they will improve also.....Lennon is a c**t but he's better at recruitment that DM in my opinion.

 

 

Posted

Am I only one that actually thought there was a player in O'Connor?  :(

 

Anyway, regarding Forrester, of course he'll get my backing, my slight concern would be that we are paying a fee for him, are there no free transfers available in a similar position who played as many games in League 1, even the Championship, that we could attract? Or are we paying the fee because McInnes really thinks he could do a job? Who knows, suppose we will find out if he does indeed sign.

 

 

Posted

Lennon is a c**t but he's better at recruitment that DM in my opinion.

 

If Lennon loses several key players this summer, and manages to finish in a position higher than their budget should dictate next season, then I'll consider arguments like this.

 

 

Guest kiriakovisthenewstrachan
Posted

Sorry but I feel if we are to go "to the next level" ie winning a cup every 2 or 3 years then we need better than someone from the middle of League 1. Cynical? Maybe. And of course I could just be being unrealistic and that will be the limit of our recruitment due to financial constraints forever going forward.

 

Been pondering this point a bit recently and is league 1 now the equivalent standard of the SPL? 

 

20 years+ ago the top league in England was filled with the top British players but now it is pretty much a whos who of world football.  The English championship is full of a lot of the best British players because they cannot get a game for the ELP teams. 

 

Therefore league is kind of the best of the rest and I would argue that a lot of the league 1 players are SPL standard.

 

Realistically to sign someone like a Snelders or a Gillhaus nowadays who is on the fridges of the national team for a decent country you'd be quoted £20M+.

Posted

Just throwing it out there

 

Louis Moult was plucked from mid table english conference and the consensus from many folk is last season would have been so much better had he turned up on Pittodrie in a red shirt.

 

Dean Windass was plucked from a Hull City team which had just been relegated to league 2

 

Nicky Maynard plucked from a team not long to be relegated to League 2.

 

Josh Parker plucked from fuck knows where.

 

There are success stories from the lower leagues in England and there are those which just don't work out and you wonder why the manager has signed the player and what he has seen in him to believe he would be good enough for us.

 

Each signing should be based on how the individual performs for us and everyone deserves that chance.

 

One thing which does hamper us is the lack of quality in the lower leagues in Scotland which used to be a very successful area for us; the likes of Archibald, McDougall, Weir, Stark, McKimmie,, Grant, McQueen and Irvine all signing from small(er) Scottish sides.  There aren't players coming through the "big" sides of their quality never mind in the lower leagues.

 

However, if we do want to improve, then I think we have to change where we shop, or at the very least, mix it up a bit.

Posted

Am I only one that actually thought there was a player in O'Connor?  :(

 

Yes.

 

O'Connor had some above average games for us and some fairly horrendous ones. What we saw in those good games was a player playing at his peak in my opinion. Given his lack of pace and his massive one-footed-ness - areas that are unlikely to significantly improve with age - there were few areas in which he could develop. His reading of the game was okay, but not to a standard of even Reynolds or McKenna. His main attribute was his strength and aggression and that should suit down south. I think we've seen what we can get from O'Connor and I don't think it's worth pushing the boat out to retain that. His inability to kick with his left foot means that he's not a great utility player for a squad either, as he can really only cover a single position. Things seem to have gone quiet on Naismith from County, but he'd be more aligned with what we should be looking for in a squad player.

 

Anyway, regarding Forrester, of course he'll get my backing, my slight concern would be that we are paying a fee for him, are there no free transfers available in a similar position who played as many games in League 1, even the Championship, that we could attract? Or are we paying the fee because McInnes really thinks he could do a job? Who knows, suppose we will find out if he does indeed sign.

 

There is a lot of shite in that league that really isn't suited to the Scottish game, which we've seen in the past. There are also a lot of players who have the attributes (skill) required to play in Scotland that struggle down South and vice versa. It's not necessarily a case of how many games you've played, it's about the way you play the game. It means that there are a lot of gems to be plucked from the lower tiers of England that can really fit in up here. The reverse of this is known as "Ifil's law", where a player can be fantastic in an English league and be the first name on sheet for a team down South only to come up here for us to find that they've never actually kicked a fitba before. It means that the scouting has to be a bit more than just "good on paper", and that's where we've fallen down under every manager this century. Hopefully this chap will be the start of something different.

Posted

Been pondering this point a bit recently and is league 1 now the equivalent standard of the SPL? 

 

As I've already said...I think we undervalue the quality of the Scottish game. I have absolutely no doubt if the Dhims were to be admitted to the English Premier League today and went with last season's squad they'd finish comfortably top 8 maybe even top 6......for sure they are a better side than Burnley who finished 7th.

 

I also believe ourselves, Hibs, sevco and Killie could comfortably sit in the Championship.....Killie might be fighting off relegation but I reckon that's our level. Fartz and Motherwell would yoyo between the Championship and League 1. The rest would be middle to top end League 1.

 

However given access to the cash available to English sides, I don't think it would be unreasonable to state that us, sevco, Hibs and Hearts could certainly be big enough to get into the Premiership and every other team with the possible exception of Hamilton (I'm going on last seasons league not including the 2 just promoted sides) could survive comfortably in the Championship.

 

 

Guest kiriakovisthenewstrachan
Posted

As I've already said...I think we undervalue the quality of the Scottish game.

 

Going off the point here a bit but bear with me.

 

In the week that we lost Neale Cooper it was mentioned how some folk could hardly believe he was never capped by Scotland (can't comment because I was too young to really remember him playing).  Always makes me wonder, are our modern day players any better or worse than in the past?  I'd be interested to know what any of the older fans think.

 

Every time a Scotland game comes around someone seems to bring up the point that we don't have the players anymore and that in the past we had players playing at Man Utd, Liverpool, Leeds etc.  But is it just the fact that the EPL has killed off the British players and that you have basically got to be world class to get a game for a top six EPL team or one of the big guns in Spain or Germany because they can afford to buy anyone?  Eg. would Charlie Nic really have played for Arsenal if Henry, Bergkamp and Anelka were there at the same time and would Steve Archibald have got in the Barcelona team if Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Rivaldo were there at that point?

 

 

Posted

I dont necessarily think that modern day players are naturally more skilful than those of the mid 70s to around 1990 or so.

 

What definitely has changed in the past 25 years is the application of sports science to training/coaching/general lifestyle of todays players. These guys are infinitely fitter than those of yesteryear and live far more rigid lives in order to be the best they can be. You wouldn't believe how many players were chainsmokers back then.....even Socrates who played for Brazil (and was a surgeon alongside playing football ) was a 60 a day man. Most players in Britain, even if they didn't smoke, would enjoy a regular bevvy. They only laid off it in the 48 hours prior to a game....and there were plenty reported incidents in the press of players getting fined after their boss caught them breaking this curfew.

 

Also the equipment these days is so much better. Lighter boots, lighter balls ( unless you paid top dollar in those days to get a waterproof leather ball if it rained the ball became like a boulder).

 

FWIW I think Dalglish, Keegan and those of their ilk would still be superstars today as nothing can take away the natural talent these guys had.

 

(Apologies admin for continuing the off thread subject...feel free to move it to a new thread if thats what you think necessary)

Guest kiriakovisthenewstrachan
Posted

I dont necessarily think that modern day players are naturally more skilful than those of the mid 70s to around 1990 or so.

 

What definitely has changed in the past 25 years is the application of sports science to training/coaching/general lifestyle of todays players. These guys are infinitely fitter than those of yesteryear and live far more rigid lives in order to be the best they can be. You wouldn't believe how many players were chainsmokers back then.....even Socrates who played for Brazil (and was a surgeon alongside playing football ) was a 60 a day man. Most players in Britain, even if they didn't smoke, would enjoy a regular bevvy. They only laid off it in the 48 hours prior to a game....and there were plenty reported incidents in the press of players getting fined after their boss caught them breaking this curfew.

 

Also the equipment these days is so much better. Lighter boots, lighter balls ( unless you paid top dollar in those days to get a waterproof leather ball if it rained the ball became like a boulder).

 

FWIW I think Dalglish, Keegan and those of their ilk would still be superstars today as nothing can take away the natural talent these guys had.

 

(Apologies admin for continuing the off thread subject...feel free to move it to a new thread if thats what you think necessary)

 

I get all that, I suppose what I was getting at is are we shopping in the same market as we were before but that there is now another tier of elite players at the very top that weren't there pre the Sky days because there were virtually no foreigners around?

 

30 years ago after a couple of sparkling seasons with the Dons would someone like Scott McKenna not have been snapped up by a Man Utd or Liverpool?  But now they can splash out £90M for a centre half so he ends up in the championship in England instead?  Because of that we end up with a league one player because the British players have all been pushed down a level.

 

But in reality is today's Scott McKenna any worse a player than a Gordon McQueen type that played a lot of games for Man U?

 

     

 

 

Posted

And what I'm saying is that it is almost impossible to tell for the run of the mill players of then and today because you are not comparing like for like.

 

The game then was so much more physical....as seen on the video of Cooper's tackle on Nicholas.....transposing some of todays defenders into that era where there was such a premium on being hard as nails, would they even have been signed at all. Conversely taking McQueen as an example.......he was a smoker and drinker who would be seen as far too slow and immobile to ever get anywhere near a top side/international recognition.

 

Again as I've said...the Dalglishes and Keegans would still thrive today and would perhaps be even more effective as they'd get better protection. Ronaldo, Messi etc might find the reverse move more challenging as they would have been booted black and blue, perhaps suffering the odd leg break for their trouble. No guarantee they'd come back the same player if at all.

 

What you are saying is correct though. We are now in a different financial league to those clubs in England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France. Whether things will ever return to a fairer situation is doubtful unless the TV companies pouring billions into these leagues start going bust.  UEFA have even changed rules in their competitions to make things even harder for clubs from smaller countries to succeed on a European level. All this explains why we are snapping up free transfers these days as opposed to 25-30 years ago when we would cough up £500k to £1million fairly regularly.

 

Dave McCormack is supposedly worth over £650 million, making Wiggy look like a pauper with his £150million. How much wealth do you need? Would McCormack's life be any different if he only had £600million? Of course it wouldn't. If he sunk that £50million into us we would certainly be challenging the Dhims for the title PDQ.

 

As it stands I can see the Dhims in 2-3 years looking to try to join the English league system and the English FA changing their rules to allow this. Sevco would also try if they are still in business. There was talk of an Atlantic league being set up a few years back with the top clubs from Scotland, Holland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden being involved. If the Dhims and sevco do jump ship I can see this idea being revived.

Posted

Personal opinion of course but I don't want someone to drop £50m in our lap so we can buy a bunch of players and pay them top whack for a few years to take on the dhims.  To be frank, there's nobody in their team worth getting skint for.  They would all walk in to our team of course but their nae exactly galacticos are they?  The financial inequality that you quite rightly acknowledge is far worse than £50m.  Unless we can trouser £100 plus million a year as per, for example Bournemouth whose turnover is £121m and are subsequently the 28th richest, by turnover, in the world with a ground capacity of 12,400, we'd still be third or fourth tier. Life is a bitch.  We're not in Glasgow never mind the EPL and I'm generally pretty happy about that, we'll just have to get on with it.

 

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