oneteaminglasgow

Swindon seems highly unlikely, although he could probably do with a loan spell at second tier dross like hibs or hearts. Won't be happening though.

Would be an utterly pointless signing. Probably utter shite though in fairness.

For what it's worth, I agree that gabby improved over the course of the season and actually had a few games where he looked very good (Celtic away I thought he was excellent in particular). However, if Archie doesn't fancy him then fair enough, he's paid to make these decisions and if that's his opinion then so be it. However, the whole thing has been handled poorly it would seem, david Beattie talking to fans regarding what a player is doing without consulting the player before hand is highly unprofessional and shows a lack of respect towards picollo. Whether or not you'll be glad to see the back of him or think he's good enough or whatever, he shouldn't have to hear about his career trajectory after the fans have. I think this is the main thing which is objectionable in this, the way he's been treated by certain members of the back room staff rather than how good he is.

We don't need 2 new centre backs IMO. If we lined up with balatoni and new centre back, then that would leave us with muirhead, McMillan and Lindsay in reserve, even if we are punting picolo. Keenan seems to have played centre back today as well so I guess in a proper emergency we could use him. I think that's more than enough cover and would rather see the wages spent on another striker

Obviously I don't know Ryan Stevenson and haven't asked him personally why he signed for us, but i would imagine it has far more to do with the wages on offer from the various clubs being largely similar but the other clubs being unwilling to offer him the length of deal that we did than it does with him having a driving ban for a couple of months of the deal.

McPake's age is irrelevant, he's ******* shite.

I'm not sure if we will either, but we have to hope so. As I've said I'd be amazed if we don't sign mustoe, and I'll be surprised although less so if we don't get Barr in as well. I don't think leaving it till the last minute is a deliberate ploy, rather more a combination of poor fortune in the right players not being available, missing out on a few players we almost got, and probably a bit of naivity on the part of our management team, although they are still relatively new to the game and continue to learn lessons as they go. I'm sure this experience will be invaluable in his learning curve as a manager, and will help if and when we are the position that Motherwell/st Johnstone etc are in.

I suppose you would consider higginbotham or Osborne as being the dregs of the transfer market then? I would tend to agree that it would be better to have the right players in right at the start of the window to have plenty of time to settle into the squad, but it simply doesn't work like that. We can identify all the targets we want, we simply won't get them all. I think at this stage it's almost a certainty that we'll be signing mustoe, and probably Barr as well. If we get this I'd personally say we'd only be on the lookout for another striker really, although I know others would argue we need another centre back. There's two ways of looking at it with regards to the tail end of the transfer window, you could either say it's the dregs that noone else wanted, which undoubtedly some of the players kicking about clubless will be, or you could see that some players who previously would have no interest in signing for us will now become available as they've been unable to get a club at the level they wanted, like higgy or Osborne. I'm not saying Archie etc can't be criticised for anything, far from it I think where there are valid reasons for criticism then it is more than warranted, but a lot of this seems to be unfounded nonsense.

Again, how do you know?

How do you know?

Looks a good player and will probably be a direct replacement for ozzy. We needed another centre midfielder so pleased with this. Hopefully the next announcement is for a left back.

I'd hope that he sees an opportunity to get a season of playing regularly as a boost to his career. Could be wrong but I'd think he'd rather play every week for us than not get a game all season for Wigan. maybe see it as an opportunity to show what he can do and go back and force his way into their team?

They also go through a far easier qualifying route than a nation closer to home but I guess we can ignore that.

Without having seen them play, I'm lead to believe that Dundee were far from impressive and did the bare minimum required to limp over the line in a lot of games last season. If true, then it stands to reason that they'd need a massive overhaul whereas for us, we looked the part in winning the league, and let's not forget that a sizeable chunk of our title winning squad have made the step up fairly well in the end. Two very different circumstances IMO. Regarding Juan Carlos Garcia, sounds very promising. I know Honduras isn't the biggest or best footballing nation in the world, but they do have some very good players and having 38 caps suggests that he's no shite. Also, some stories seem to suggest that he can also play as a centre half, could be ideal if that is the case.

Wasn't at the game but from what I've seen in the past, darren Barr is a better player than lee mair is. No idea about any of the other trialists, will have to trust Archie on them.

Good luck to him, came in and did what was required of him well. Wouldn't have minded signing him permanently but not too bothered that he's left.

Having never played against a side of spl standard it does seen weird to me that carl magnay now knows what it's like, but it must be similar to the conference. Or alternatively he's pish and we told him as such.

It's far more important to get the right players in. There's no point signing a sub standard player just for the sake of getting him in early so he can settle into the team.

Only they can though. The Czech Republic national team is recognised by FIFA as being the successor to the Czechoslovakia national team, so in their eyes it's basically the same team. Likewise, The Yugoslavia national team became Serbia and Montenegro, which then became Serbia so the team is, in fifas eyes, a continuation of that same team. It's important to differentiate between the nation and the national team here. Obviously the nation of the Czech Republic have never been runners up the World Cup, but what has now become the Czech national team has done so if that makes sense.

Just a few points. 1. Yes, lee mair should have been released. Just because we don't immediately have someone lined up to replace him doesn't mean that we should have kept him, he did his job but is plainly not good enough for another season. The fact that he's gone part time with Dumbarton now says it all. 2. Dundee are a bigger club than ourselves so can plainly afford to spend more and it's only natural that a newly promoted team who, like them, rather scraped over the line would be bringing in players in large numbers. They also had a bit of a clear out I'm lead to believe. 3. None of us know what's happening behind the scenes, and as far as we know we could have a couple of guys who've all but signed. 4. Why do people seem to think trailing a player is a bad thing? I've said before but if a player is available, then why not get a first hand look at what he can do and how he fits in with the squad and system. 5. I'd rather be waiting all summer for a decent signing than finding out now that we've signed some utter pish like Ross Caldwell.

Aye, that's what I'm trying to say, FIFA consider it to be the same team playing under a different name, hence the team has won 4 world cups.

I could be wrong in this, but I believe it's because united Germany is considered to be a continuation of west Germany rather than being a brand new country. Therefore, the national team is, in FIFA's view, the same one just playing under a new name and as such keeps the records of the west Germany team. It's the same as Serbia being considered the successor nation to Yugoslavia, or that England would be the successor nation to the UK in the case of Scottish independence.

Didn't watch the game so don't really know what happened for the goals, but on the face of it we were beaten comfortably by a team who are far superior to anything we'll face this season outwith Celtic, when we were playing a weakened side and quite a few youngsters. On the face of it there's nothing to worry about here as I have no doubts our team will be better come august 13th, and well be playing teams a lot worse than we have just played.

Germany didn't really need to do anything special last night. There wasn't a single goal in there that couldn't have been avoided had Brazil been remotely competent. Not saying Germany weren't good, they were, but it's not like they were just playing out their skin. Been waiting all tournament for Brazil to get shown up, thank **** it's happened.

I'm not sure how to phrase this, but I'm actually completely fine that Osborne hasn't re-signed. He's undoubtedly a very good ball winning midfielder, and would walk into most premiership teams based on individual ability. However, it's not about who has the best individuals in the team, it's about who has the best team, and I would argue that the team works far more effectively as a unit without him in it. Our style of play requires the two centre mids to be very energetic in linking play, and that simply isn't osbounes game.