Derby Jag

Right now I think I would go with Gallagher O'Donnell Muirhead Balatoni McMillan Fraser Osman Stevenson Lawless Higginbotham Doolan Not sure how fit Bannigan will be to start the season and think we are better with someone direct in the centre of the 3 attacking midfielders, not sure if Bannigan or Fraser would really suit that position.

Wow

Who has suggested this to be a good idea exactly? It's these types or posts which are causing a bit of ugliness in this thread. Most of the 'pant wetters' are merely pointing out where we are lacking in the squad and are worried that we have left it late to replace these. Anyway good news and fingers crossed it progresses well over the coming days.

That is in agreement with what most 'pant wetters' have been saying in this thread. His numbers are in agreement with what most have been saying as is wanting to only bring in players who will improve on what we have also. Fingers crossed he has some further targets up his sleeve for the coming weeks. Did he say he missed out on the remaining four or not go into that detail? Hopefully could mean they are still targets and negotiations are on going

Was Watmore the red haired boy? If so he looked a good we player. Is the Graham you refer to Danny Graham? I had no idea he was playing.

The proportion is surely Out Mair ATS Buaben Osbourne Erskine Taylor In Stevenson Osman If you take Stevenson as a replacement for Erskine and Osman for Osbourne (Buaben didn't really play similar position to them) then we are lacking a left back, centre back, striker and arguably an attacking midfielder unless Archie has faith in some U20's to make the step up. I've not seen any comments on this forum which say anything more 'pant wetting'-ish than highlighting this fact; we need to replace the players we have lost if we want to kick on as a club and give us the best possible opportunity of avoiding an ugly scrap for 10th place again. We were told by Beattie that we had the money to do this and by Shaggy they had plans to do this early. The fact pre-season is over and we have two new players is very disappointing to many amongst us. I'm also not saying we will go down with our current squad, we may very well stay up but I would fancy our chances much more if we addressed the problems in the squad. And just to clarigy I think we will make some signings before end of the window but I worry whether it will be of the quantity or the quality that many of us hope.

Thought we were much improved in the second half following the half time subs. Some thoughts: Lawless played very well when he was on. Osman looks a player. Balatoni was the best defender on show. Stevenson up top is hopefully going to be a rare occurance. He's not the most mobile and seems to make the rest of the team go for the long ball. Our attacking threat second half was much better which to me was down to Doolan and Lawless' superior movement. Would like to have seen him in one of the attacking midfield positions. Both centre back trialists had some decent, but also some dodgy, moments. Not sure how great a game that was to judge them but wasn't overally impressed by either; certainly didn't look a step up from what we have. Keenan looks like he'll be the left back. Looked OK tonight and decent cross for the goal but would be a massive risk going with him and McMillan as our left backs. Sunderland XI weren't very good

But Erskine, Taylor and Buaben were in team no?

I'm sure every single team will have similar stories... Unfortunately league table is the only metric we have for assessing quality of squads

No one is disputing this but it is not the only way to get quality signings in. If Archie has a group of players waiting in the wings to join up after some dominos fall in to place then fair enough. People are being very arrogant IMO about the quality of our opponents. We were 10th last season and so Killie, St Mirren and County are starting from a stronger position. They have all made changes to their squads that from reading their forums and pieandbovril have them believe they are in a stronger position than before. Dundee are also being talked up by their fans. Right now I can't see how we could expect to finish above any one except for Hamilton.

This. I'm not sure if any of the current u20s will make it with us, or at this level, but I'm certain a number of them will make something in the game in the senior ranks. Even that is a big step up from previous years. The boys below them though seem potentially to be very talented. If we can get a steady stream making first team squads in future years it will be a huge benefit to our club. How great would it be if one of our youth players went on to represent Scotland and make a career in one of the big leagues at some stage?

If we get the Summer dealings right then there will be no need for panic temporary signigns in January to save us as happened for ourselves and County last year. Right now our squad is about on par with what we had in Decemeber which would have, in all likelihood, finished in playoffs if not for the loan signings. Our squad should be compared to that which ended the seaon. Unfortunately right now we are unquestionably weaker, both in quality and quantity, when really we need to be stronger if we want to grow as a team. We have just over 3 weeks to make that happen; not impossible but certainly risky and I'm sure Archie will agree not ideal.

The bottom line is we had one of the weakest defences in the league last season, which at present is considerably worse off. We have also lost the guy who would probably have been our starting striker. I'm sure we will get them in but it's very late and is a major risk. Ross County's signing of Kiss is probably the signing of the bottom 6. Looked a class apart in the three games I saw him. Of the other teams St Mirren keeping hold of McLean and McGinn was great bits of business whilst Ball should provide cover for Thompson, Dundee have built a whole new squad which their fans are so far impressed by and Killie have strengthened throughout the team since Boyd's departure. Not saying I would rather be in any of their positions but I bet their fans see their current squads as an improvement on last years.

Is he playing centre back this evening?

And had we lost to Hearts we would have been in playoffs. We were one position and three points above the playoff place and we were in that playoff position for a sizeable period of time throughout the season. All people are saying is we need to push on and improve this year, which as of yet we haven't done. Last season was excellent, we deserved to stay up but but this year will have no Hearts and it looks like an improved St Mirren, Kilmarnock and Ross County. I trust Archie, and think we will come good but I fear we will rely on some big January signings once more to do that.

Completely agree with these sentiments. We are weaker than the team which finished the season which just about scraped 10th but to me, more worryingly, we are also potentially weaker than the team from earlier in the season which would have almost certainly finished in playoff positions had reinforcements not arrived. I know we will make signings, whether they are the quality or quantity we need is another matter. I really expected us to push on this preseason with all the chat coming from Beattie and Paterson so to be where we are now is underwhelming and worrying

Completely agree, the only difference between this and Baird, Forbes, Murray and Kerr from last year is the chairman mentioning to some fans about a potential loan. Still don't see what was so wrong about this tbh. Good luck to the guy, spoke to him once and he was a very pleasant guy but he isn't good enough to play at this level .

You are quite full of yourself aren't you?

It's a shame that people, myself included, will have avoided this thread due to that pish. Thanks Bilko for keeping it on track and well done and good luck to all the young Jags on their games this summer. As said above it is great to see south activity in this area after years of neglect. If we can start to get a player or two able to challenge for a role in the top team every couple of years that would be a great achievement.

Have to say, without ever recall noticing him play, that is a rather exciting target Multiple caps for Honduras including at the World Cup suggests there is talent there Not sure what's happened to him at Wigan, signed a three year contract last summer but doesn't appear to have featured for him.

Ah well, I had just assumed it was him. Still pretty impressed with whoever he is

Pretty standard friendly this. Thistle controlled most of game without creating anything until right before half time when Higginbotham fired over after nice move. Dumbarton produced two good fox saves with nice moves on the counter Darren Barr has looked fine although not done much and Mustoe is eager to go forward and seems to have a decent relationship with higginbotham already. The other two in the middle have done ok, both tidy enough on the ball and happy to sit in front of centre backs. Higgy is head and shoulders above everyone on park. Elliot and Craigen struggling to make an impact

This is all very sad.

I would agree about Stevenson What I was saying was based on my previous post where we will definitely need to replace Mair, ATS and Osbourne who were arguably our best players in there respective positions. The mair replacement in particular needs replaced with better than we had and the other two we need to match as best we can. I also think we need an AM and striker who are of high enough quality to challenge for positions.

I don't think it's knicker wetting to point out that right now we are weaker than we were at the end of the season and that our nearest rivals are strengthening with players which would improve our squad. I said I have faith in Archie and know we will make the signings just that we are starting to leave it a bit late and really need 4/5 high quality players to come in and improve us.