January 2021 Transfer Window.

[RicoS321]

Who were the eight? Ball and Leigh (Ball a successful gap plugger) plus the above four. Who else? Does Hoban count? If so, success. Christie? Also success.

[RedStarTorphins]

18 hours ago, tup1 said:

Good signing for St Mirren.

Maybe for St Mirren... not for the Dons.

We should be aiming higher than thon 

[manc_don]

5 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

Who were the eight? Ball and Leigh (Ball a successful gap plugger) plus the above four. Who else? Does Hoban count? If so, success. Christie? Also success.

Ball - As you say, did a job, albeit wasn't going to take us to the next level, which is what we required at the time
Leigh - Did Ok first time round, not so much now
Taylor - Doing a job at the moment, but again, I'd argue that he's not the calibre of player we need to progress 
McGinn - Success, but now feels like we need to change his game to play to his strengths 
Hayes - Success
Stewart - Failure 
Christie - Definitely a success.  Was shite for a good period, but i'll put that down to uncertainty
Wilson - Failure 
Hoban - Success (so far)

I think they'd forgotten about Christie as that's nine. If GMS came back, that would make 10.  I guess the other way of viewing it is that very rarely do players go on to better things, post dons. Of that list, Christie and Hayes are the only ones who achieved anything.

[tup1]

4 hours ago, RedStarTorphins said:

Maybe for St Mirren... not for the Dons.

We should be aiming higher than thon 

He’s a good striker as I said. He can hit the ball. He would have been a good signing for us.

I’m a fan of us signing proven players from our own league, it usually works out well. I’d like to see us go for Findlay from Kilmarnock too, him and Brophy were their two best players.

[RicoS321]

7 hours ago, manc_don said:

Ball - As you say, did a job, albeit wasn't going to take us to the next level, which is what we required at the time
Leigh - Did Ok first time round, not so much now
Taylor - Doing a job at the moment, but again, I'd argue that he's not the calibre of player we need to progress 
McGinn - Success, but now feels like we need to change his game to play to his strengths 
Hayes - Success
Stewart - Failure 
Christie - Definitely a success.  Was shite for a good period, but i'll put that down to uncertainty
Wilson - Failure 
Hoban - Success (so far)

I think they'd forgotten about Christie as that's nine. If GMS came back, that would make 10.  I guess the other way of viewing it is that very rarely do players go on to better things, post dons. Of that list, Christie and Hayes are the only ones who achieved anything.

Ball was exactly the player we needed when we re-signed him, he was proven backup. It was very low risk. McInnes (the club) just failed miserably in his scouted midfield options that were supposed to take us to the next level, there was no room for another Gleeson or Forrester that late in the window. There are times where you have to be pragmatic.

All the players that we sign are guys who have not gone on to better things. What difference does it make if they were previously our players or Motherwell's etc? Guys like Reynolds, McGinn, McGeouch, GMS, May, Hayes, Rooney, Watkins etc etc are our market. They were proven successful SPFL players who didn't fit in a different style of league. The success rate of these guys is far higher than the punts we take on Ojo and the like. We should still continue with those punts of course, but the backbone/majority has to be guys that have proven to be good in this league or guys that we think show potential within our league, like Brophy (I don't think he's good enough, he reminds me of May without the effort), McLean, Ferguson, Kennedy etc.

[ayrshire_don74]

If GMS provides competition etc for Kennedy et al etc then fair enough technically he would be best player in team, not sure how effective he would be as a wing back but lets see

[BigAl]

Euan Murray of Dunfermline

Who I hear you say ?

Exactly my reaction. Not going to pre judge as genuinely know sweet fuck all about the lad.

Central defender, aged 26, nomadic career, seems to like a goal or two though.

Source (apologies) The Scottish Sun

[ayrshire_don74]

Bizarrely might be reasonable signing club cpt scores a few big lad 

[RicoS321]

1 hour ago, BigAl said:

Euan Murray of Dunfermline

Who I hear you say ?

Exactly my reaction. Not going to pre judge as genuinely know sweet fuck all about the lad.

Central defender, aged 26, nomadic career, seems to like a goal or two though.

Source (apologies) The Scottish Sun

Looked pretty good the couple of times they were on the telly. Aggressive, and good in the air. Easily replace Devlin. Didn't notice how good he was with the ball at his feet, so should be able to replace Taylor on that basis.

[RicoS321]

4 hours ago, ayrshire_don74 said:

If GMS provides competition etc for Kennedy et al etc then fair enough technically he would be best player in team, not sure how effective he would be as a wing back but lets see

I'm guessing he'd be one of the three in a 3-4-3. We could go wild and have a front three of GMS, Hedges and Wright. That'd be the most skillful, creative and pacey front line ever to not score a goal or win a header.

[ayrshire_don74]

1 hour ago, RicoS321 said:

I'm guessing he'd be one of the three in a 3-4-3. We could go wild and have a front three of GMS, Hedges and Wright. That'd be the most skillful, creative and pacey front line ever to not score a goal or win a header.

same as current three minus heading and skill

[tup1]

As long as he’s no relation of Sir David.

[BigAl]

1 hour ago, tup1 said:

As long as he’s no relation of Sir David.

That's pretty limp Tup  and much as I'd like to defend you, I wouldn't have a leg to stand on 

[Stewart]

https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/sport/football/aberdeen-fc/donsnews/exclusive-scott-wright-looks-set-to-leave-aberdeen-for-england-after-contract-talks-stall/

 

Quote

McInnes said: “It looks as if Scott is looking at trying something different, maybe looking down South unfortunately.

“From our point of view, we are really keen for Scott to stay, but he just wants to keep his options open at the minute.

“We have done all we can to try and get Scott to stay.

“But we are now four months in and are not any further forward.

“We have not been able to reach an agreement.

“Scott and his agent have indicated they want to look at options and are not in a position to commit.”

 

 

[RicoS321]

Not surprised. He's an intelligent lad, who probably realises the finite opportunities he'll get in the game. I'd have given him another year when he was injured last season, but I've always been a fan. Somebody will get a good player there. I don't think McInnes has been particularly useful for his career, I'm not sure creative players like him are McInnes' forte. It's difficult to be too critical given the amount of time he's spent injured, but he should have been a player we got a considerable fee for. 

[tup1]

He's the only creative player we've got at the moment, maybe Hedges at times, so that's a disappointment that he wants to leave.

We started contract talks with him too late. It was obvious at the start of the season that he was one of our best players.

[RicoS321]

7 minutes ago, tup1 said:

He's the only creative player we've got at the moment, maybe Hedges at times, so that's a disappointment that he wants to leave.

We started contract talks with him too late. It was obvious at the start of the season that he was one of our best players.

I see it a bit like the Fraser situation. We see these guys in training every week, we should have far more confidence in/awareness of their ability. We have to take the punt before they come in and perform. We should be ahead of the game. I've heard a few suggestions regarding loyalty or some pish, which really grates. If he turned out to be pish, we'd have ditched him in a heartbeat. 

I have to admit though, I don't know where he'll head to that'll be better for him in the short term than here. I'm guessing that McInnes is going public just now in the hope we get a bid. As good as I think he is, I just don't think he'll be on many teams' radars and he'd really need to play in a good championship team if he wants to avoid being hoofed all over England. Maybe abroad somewhere would suit. As I say, seems an intelligent lad, the type who'd want to experience new things.

[manc_don]

Will be thoroughly disappointed if Wright leaves and as you say, Rico, amazed they left it until the last year of the contract. Thought we’d moved on from this shite. 

Much to Jute’s joy, Greg Leigh has signed on until the end of the season 

[RicoS321]

4 minutes ago, manc_don said:

Will be thoroughly disappointed if Wright leaves and as you say, Rico, amazed they left it until the last year of the contract. Thought we’d moved on from this shite. 

Much to Jute’s joy, Greg Leigh has signed on until the end of the season 

It's not the same as other players though, he has had a fair amount of time on the sick, so I have a bit of sympathy for the club and McInnes here. The difficulty is that he is a specific type of player. One that does something that others can't or don't, in the mould of Christie or Maddison. He's a player that can turn us from a laboured, predictable side to an exciting one. In my mind, that is worth the risk, and adding another year at the start this season would have been an easy thing to do, with a view to selling in may after lifting the cup. 

We should be aiming to get GMS in soon then, as he could potentially play a similar role assuming he hasn't lost it. Another guy who can drop a shoulder and leave two players for dead. Given there are no fans too harrass him, I'd like to see us hold onto Wright until summer. 

 

Oh, aye, Leigh. Meh. I don't see a role for him. I'd rather the young loon covered for Hayes.

[Elgindon]

Disappointing to hear about Wright,Seems a bit premature after coming back from injury,after only playing a handful of games.Did he do enough to get noticed down south,...or has he been sounded out already to be confident enough not to take a new deal?

   Seems a bit of a slap in the face after his injuries,though possibly doesnt see eye to eye with Deek after previous seasons

Edited January 7, 2021 by Elgindon

[LA-Don]

Wait a minute here, how many good games has Wright played for us? He's been inconsistent at best, or injured, almost his entire career. The team clicked with him in it this season, but then he got injured again, and that is unfortunate of course. But in all honesty, will he ever be healthy? Do other teams even know who he is? I'd say he's a major risk and it's to his benefit to stay another year at least to try and find health and consistency. I'm a little surprised by Wright to be honest.

Edited January 7, 2021 by LA-Don

[Jute]

1 hour ago, manc_don said:

Will be thoroughly disappointed if Wright leaves and as you say, Rico, amazed they left it until the last year of the contract. Thought we’d moved on from this shite. 

Much to Jute’s joy, Greg Leigh has signed on until the end of the season 

I genuinely don’t know what’s more depressing Wright moving it on or the fact we extend the contract of a very limited player like Leigh. I know he is a bench filler but with system we playing he will get game time. 

[tup1]

2 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

I see it a bit like the Fraser situation. We see these guys in training every week, we should have far more confidence in/awareness of their ability. We have to take the punt before they come in and perform. We should be ahead of the game. I've heard a few suggestions regarding loyalty or some pish, which really grates. If he turned out to be pish, we'd have ditched him in a heartbeat. 

I have to admit though, I don't know where he'll head to that'll be better for him in the short term than here. I'm guessing that McInnes is going public just now in the hope we get a bid. As good as I think he is, I just don't think he'll be on many teams' radars and he'd really need to play in a good championship team if he wants to avoid being hoofed all over England. Maybe abroad somewhere would suit. As I say, seems an intelligent lad, the type who'd want to experience new things.

I've had a suspicion since the start of the season that the huns were tapping him up. Hopefully not.

[BigAl]

37 minutes ago, LA-Don said:

Wait a minute here, how many good games has Wright played for us? He's been inconsistent at best, or injured, almost his entire career. The team clicked with him in it this season, but then he got injured again, and that is unfortunate of course. But in all honesty, will he ever be healthy? Do other teams even know who he is? I'd say he's a major risk and it's to his benefit to stay another year at least to try and find health and consistency. I'm a little surprised by Wright to be honest.

Lucky if he has performed to a high standard in fifteen games for us.

Disappointed to see him leave as he had potential buy let's not kid ourselves, the finished article he certainly isn't.

 

If he wants to leave, off you go Scott.

Enjoy limping back across the border in the summer of 2022 with your tail between your legs and your contract with the likes of St Johnstone  or Killie.

[wee toon red]

If Scott Wright thinks he can do better than whatever we're offering him, fair enough. He might get more money but it won't be at as big a club or with any prospect whatsoever of European football so if it's money he's after then he can go get it and enjoy whatever level of shite he finds himself at.