lady-isobel-barnett

Is he as desperate to come back as he was to leave?

Actually I was thinking it the other way round. Thistle & Airdrie would've made for much more intense derby rivalry than games with QP will.

Aye, you're probably right. The play offs in leagues where clubs already play each other four times before playing matches number five & six are about as inane as a split where some clubs don't play the same amount of home and away fixtures. Just witnessed today a club that won only 4 more games than they lost gaining promotion. The premier league split was introduced for one reason and one reason only. **** all to do with spicing up our game.

Don't disagree but in what capacity do you think we should sign McMillan? Maybe I'm mistaken but I thought he played right side of three centrebacks on occasion. He is a right back who can play centreback or vice versa (an upgrade on McKenna if you like). So is he also an attacking fullback/wingback to compliment Milne? Or is his main attribute his versatility in defence? Maybe I overstate it but I believe a major failing of this season was an inability to put out a balanced team (mainly no one down the right flank to take pressure off Tiffoney). If McMillan (or whoever) offers little going forward that situation could be even more exacerbated with Milne & Tiffoney on the other flank. Even signing a proper replacement for Hastie/McAllister would still mean imbalance at fullback. I doubt McCall is planning to play Milne at right mid. Of course if McMillan can play that attacking role then I'd probably welcome his signing. On that subject does anyone know if Tumility is available? Ticks a few boxes for me.

Nobody, just nobody, should fall into marketing traps. There's no such thing as "craft" beer. Sorry. Carry on, everyone!

OK, So say we were lucky enough to sign the likes of Tumility. And say we don't have a youth player stepping up to cover the attacking fullback/wingback role. If our No 1 fullback/wingback gets injured we'll need someone with a bit of pace and stamina to get up and down the right flank (maybe even left flank if called upon). Either that or revert to a change of formation. Now at our level I wouldn't be expecting a squad player to have these attributes and have a high rate of crossing accuracy. Otherwise he wouldn't be a squad player. I reckon if his fitness levels are still as high then Christie would make a fine member of the squad. Of course ideally we should be looking for younger players with potential, and I certainly hope that Milne's right sided counterpart is not some trusted veteran, but assuming that's not the case then Elliott stepping down a division would be decent enough cover for a couple of positions.

The plus side re Elliott is we know roughly what he can do and that we'll get 100% out of him. I'm hoping we sign an attacking right fullback/wingback to compliment Milne on the other flank. Christie would be good cover for that position as he gets up and down the pitch with ease. Think tho' it would be a bit like Sena insomuch as we probably couldn't guarantee Elliott getting a game. He may want to go to a club where he'd be a first choice. If I mind he's got academic qualifications (surveying?) so he may prefer going to a part time club.

Why is there nothing about the election on the JF website news page about the election?

You're opinion of course, Jaggernaut, but I disagree entirely with that. I think Welsh was absolutely integral to our promotion. He then performed well at the higher level (when fit). He was regularily a standout for us in the 15/16 season.

Hardest thing was selecting just the nine. Standard of the candidates looks very high.

Agree entirely. I was going to mention the 12/13 squad as being the template but even then I feel we may just have missed out under McNamara. Most of the key players in that squad handled the step up well. We only lost Paton and Erskine (temporarily) from that group. Others like Steven Craig, Thug Murray, Archie (player), Andy Dowie, maybe even David Rowson all steadied the ship on and/or off the park. By and large it's that sort of blend of premiership potential, championship nous and overall experience I feel we should be aiming at.

I don't really know but I strongly imagine McInnes will be able to gauge who has premiership quality and who doesn't. I always have this fear that McCall will build a squad built on 2nd tier sustainability as opposed to premiership potential. Or put another way, over emphasis on the former. In his two spells with us I feel that's been fairly obvious. Players with top tier quality like Doolan, Harkins & Erskine have been too few and far between. Not saying that we don't require division experience and I'm sure there'll be players released from Killie that will provide that quality. Just with me it's a question of emphasis.

That's basically my recollections. Devine's disciplinary record with us poor. Probably not a coincidence it's a lot better since he dropped down a division. James Craigen was a credit to himself when we were in the top tier. He did lack premiership quality but he always gave 100% and with his fitness levels he just about compensated for any ability shortcomings.

Certainly wish we had Sean Welsh. An intelligent player who sees a lot of the ball and distributes it well. Don't think he's been too hampered with injuries since he left us.

Good points. You can still have width to accommodate Tiffoney, perhaps in a sort of 3-4-3 but we're back to the same problem of fitting in all these central midfielders. Smith, Crawford, Turner, Bannigan & Docherty. I just don't think Banzo & Doc give adequate midfield cover to a back four. One doesn't tackle and the other loses the ball a bit too often. But they are imo our best midfielders. Guess in that 3-4-3 I'd have one striker (Graham/Dowds) supported by Turner & Tiffoney.