kni

^ An excellent (re-)signing and, to be honest, unexpected surprise!

Hearts have signed a Dutch midfielder from RKC Waalwijk, Kenny Anderson, who has a Scottish father.

The BBC has reported that "Fraser Fyvie has become the latest player to leave Wigan Athletic. "The midfielder has been released from his contract after making just one appearance for the Championship side this season in the 2-1 Capital One Cup defeat at Burton. "Fyvie was signed by Roberto Martinez in 2012 from Aberdeen and spent two loan spells at Yeovil and Shrewsbury during his time at the DW Stadium." ATS next to leave in the clear out, possibly on loan?

Finnie was at Accies with Fraser who may have influenced his decision to sign for us. Given Accies recent very good offers for Gordon and Hendrie, promising is the right word. Let's hope that he delivers that promise and we can keep him.

I have just received my weekly "Friday Fix" email from BT Sport. There is no mention of tonight's game but it plugs forthcoming Bundesliga and Serie A matches. Unbelievable!!

Whilst we have not received any fees for top players who have moved to other clubs, we did not have to pay much (if anything) for key players who have done well for us. And we got Erskine back for a few months too. We may lose O'Donnell in May for nothing but few would have thought that we would get a six figure offer for him at the start season. We signed Frans and Seaborne for nothing too and they will be with us next season too. There are several obvious and similar examples too. McMillan signed for us when the Pars were in admin and forced to let him go. Similarly, Scott Fox was made redundant by Dundee and then signed for us when he was only 23. Morton fans were not pleased when we somehow picked up McDaid for free. Overall, even with loss of players on frees, the transfer market has probably worked in our favour over the last few seasons.

And this is THE key benefit of signing a player, especially at 23/24, who will be out of contract in May. If Booth proves himself, the club can offer him a pre-contract agreement. It's better to have the opportunity to sign a loan player permanently. The club can get the long-term benefit of the management team's coaching and experience whilst he is on loan. It good to see ex-loanees do well (e.g. Wilkinson, Dorrans etc) but it's better if we can keep them.

I was pleased to see 41,000 fans support Fernando Ricksen, his daughter and the MND charity. A significant number, no doubt, were former season ticket holders and ex-regulars attending their first home game this season. They would have used the game as an opportunity to "make a point' about the continuing financial crises at Sevco. The key question is how many of those the "fans" who were there yesterday would have turned up to support a former Celtic player who had been struck down with a debilitating terminal illness. Remember the awful Johnny Doyle song that the hypocrites still sing. Equally, it's unlikely that there were many Celtic fans there yesterday, despite the club's £10k donation. And that sums up the mentality of the Ugly Sisters' support perfectly.

Your memory must be short as there was a lot of "fuss", especially sympathy for Bankies fans, at the time. Compare the new Airdrieonians and the Sevconians with Gretna 2008 (more appropriately named) who play at Raydale Park and are stuck in the new Lowland League.

The BBC says that Graeme Shinnie has signed a PCA with Aberdeen who were linked with ATS.

Yes - Injured in the warm-up on Wednesday.

The FIFA ruling in Hatem Ben Arfa's case is ridiculous. To count an U21 game as a full appearance is unfair. Does that rule prohibit loan deals in this transfer window for young players in development squads who have been out on loan already this season?

You spoke too soon! The topless pics returned on Page 3 yesterday.

Scott Paterson.

You left Eccleston off that list.

Our board will be very happy if we can stay up in the Premiership. David Beattie has stated previously that the management team is safe even if we get relegated. They would only be under threat if we were struggling badly in the Championship. Our management team is learning and progressing so let's enjoy our time in the top tier rather than worry unnecessarily about future seasons. ETA - I'd be more worried about losing the management team to another club if we become a "mainstay" in the Premiership.

If the club offers McDaid a new contract in writing, on similar or slightly better terms, another team would have to pay us compensation to sign him. The compensation rules apply to players who are under 23 at the end of the season.

The BBC is reporting that Canning has got the Accies job. "Martin Canning will be officially named as the new manager of Hamilton Academical on Friday. The 33-year-old defender was made interim player-coach following Alex Neil's departure to Norwich City. And he has overseen three consecutive defeats, with Accies losing 5-0 at Partick Thistle on Wednesday. Dumbarton assistant manager Guillaume Beuzelin, a former midfielder with Hibernian, is being brought in as part of the new coaching team."

There's no doubt that the absence of Hearts and Hibs has affected attendances. I thought that, wrongly, that we might pick up some of the disaffected Rangers fans from the north and west of the city. Your point about the relegation battle last season is a good one. If we could get into the top 6, perhaps challenge for a Europa Cup place and have a good Cup run, it would be reasonable to expect bigger gates. Like it or not, there is a large proportion of our support that only turns out when we are doing well. If we were top 6 and got more television coverage, we could attract a big kit sponsor like Nike or Adidas for a season or two at least. Nike sponsor Celtic, Dundee United, Accies(!) and Hibs. Adidas sponsors the Dons and Hearts. Puma sponsor Motherwell, Dundee and Sevco. With the possible exception of Accies, there's a clear pattern - top 6 brings in kit deals with the big suppliers. More television coverage, especially internationally, delivers bigger sponsors who want their global brands to be associated with success and reach audiences in their millions.

Hendrie may, understandably, have been distracted by the collapse of his big move. The article says that the deal was dead before last night. "They said they would come up and do it in person on 1 January. They said they couldn't make it and they'd be up on 4 January and after that [we] said enough's enough, so the deal was dead then." The fee must have been similar to, or bigger than, Robertson's. "Asked about the accuracy of the reported fee of £2m sought from West Ham for Hendrie, a player who is out of contract in the summer, MacDonald replied: "I can tell you I'll not be selling a player like Stephen Hendrie, with add-ons, for £2m. It was well in excess of that." No wonder Accies are miffed!

Spot on. We need cover for both full-back positions, especially with McMillan suspended and Carroll returning to Yorkshire. Has Joe Chalmers recovered from his injury? He did well at Falkirk last season and could be an option. ETA - Chalmers appear to be out of contract in the summer. We were linked with him last year but I can't recall where. It's encouraging that the team could thump the Accies without Bannigan and Fraser. With them and Welsh back, there will be competition for places in midfield. The manager can also rest players who pick up the odd knock. What a difference to a few weeks ago!

^ There are few youth players and reserves on that list who never got near the first team. Kalen Damessi was only a trialist in the summer. Were Kane Hemmings and Rory Boulding trialists too? To me, those who never played a competitive first-team match don't count as "fellow strikers". It's also questionable to suggest that Doolan "saw off" Lyle Taylor as the club tried very hard to re-sign him. ETA - Your amazing stats knowledge is very entertaining. Your records must be very comprehensive.

About time! Our opponents normally have 14 on their side - 11 players, the ref and the two assistants.

Yes and he'll pocket a few more quid too. The Hammers may not baulk at putting £2m up front. They'll put a good deal on the table to cushion the blow of losing a key player.

Any live streams for the Nomads tonight?