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January Window


ayrshire jag
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As were Prince Buaben, Lyle Taylor and Chris Erskine last season.

 

A loan is still a signing and Carroll was signed to be the first choice left-back. Are you suggesting that the manager should not seek to extend Carroll's loan?

 

Not sure what point you're making with your first sentence.

 

Carroll may have been brought in as first choice left back but subsequently McMillan played in that position by sheer merit. And by that I mean he's been more than good enough to hold his own in many top sides.

i differ slightly from DP in that I'm not too concerned if Carroll's loan is extended but only because I doubt there's a plethora of left backs available mid season. I would tho' presume Jake would be considered only as cover for Jordan. He'd also be decent enough coming off the bench to replace a tiring attacking wide player. If of course we were holding a lead.

Edited by lady-isobel-barnett
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^ I got the impression that Dark Passenger thinks that a ("only ever on") loan is not an important signing.

 

I hope that our management team is trying to get AT-S back on loan. Sadly for him, he seems to be surplus to requirements at Wigan and has not even made the bench in the Championship.

 

Another possibility at LB could be Joe Chalmers, who did well on loan at Falkirk, if he is fully fit again.

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Liam Lindsay and Bannigan can both play left back, with McMillan as first choice. Worst case scenario, O'Donnell LB with Elliot RB - Keenan will also be back soon and I'm sure he is capable enough (better than Caroll probably). So really don't think we need another LB or to extend Caroll's loan.

 

If Sinclair was available then obviously that's a different story, would be great but doubt it will happen as he'd see it as a step back. Would more likely go to an English League 1 team.

 

 

We desperately need a Taylor-esque striker and a wide player who wants to hit the bye line. If we got those two players in January I'd be happy - anything else a bonus. Frans on longer deal as well.

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I'm not sure that I'd be going all out in January to bring in an influx of new signings; I think the squad we have at the moment is capable of improving on last year's finishing position. A little bit of squad trimming, much like the last winter transfer window but I'd be more inclined to keep the majority of funds back to finance new offers to Higginbotham, McMillan and (going on other people's opinions as I've yet to see him in the flesh) Frans.

 

I imagine Carroll will return to Huddersfield at the first opportunity; he's out of his depth at this level. Should Frans prolong his stay beyond this season, I think that will spell the end for either Balatoni or Muirhead, most likely the latter which would be a shame as I don't doubt he's capable at this level but he's already making noises about wanting more playing time plus Richards-Everton will be returning from Airdrie. The Eccleston deal hasn't worked out and I suspect we'll bid him farewell.

 

Left-back isn't as much of a priority as it was in the summer due to McMillan's excellence and given Bannigan and Seaborne can deputise, if required; however, due to McMillan's performances on the other side, cover at right-back would be welcome. As Stevenson is being utilised purely as a forward and given the recent ineffectiveness of Craigen in that position, a genuine attacking option from midfield would be a good addition; someone mentioned Nicky Henderson's boy and he'd probably fit the bill. And finally, someone with the hustle of Taylor would be perfect but everyone is in the market for someone like that and they don't come cheap so would imagine any deal for a striker would be temporary.

Edited by Armand2
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Aye, plenty of on-form strikers and "Martin Hardie-esque" midfielders just kicking about right now ... *eyes roll right of head*

 

 

Don't think anybody mentioned that there was plenty available, just that they are the TYPE of players we are lacking. We got Hardie from Queens Park so who is to say there isn't another Hardie-esque player down the divisions? Maybe better rolling your R's than your eyes!!

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We’ve always been good at picking up quality signings from a little further down the leagues. Surely there must be another Barry Douglas kicking around there somewhere. I’d much rather see us invest in players for the future that we can develop than use the loan system that has been a little hit and miss.

I remember us being linked with a Northern Irish guy a few months ago on the SkySports website, but for the life of me I cannot remember who.

I don’t think another striker is essential at the moment as Archie has an aversion to playing more than one striker at any given time, and we do have Stevenson, Doolan, Lawless and Higgy who can all theoretically play up the front of the park.

The essentials are a LB (ATS back on loan perhaps?), Frans signed up on a deal to the end of the season, and maybe another CM. It would also be wise to perhaps start looking at Goalkeepers over the next 6months to a year as Fox has declined since Hinchy left, and I don’t know how many years Galls has left in him.

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We’ve always been good at picking up quality signings from a little further down the leagues. Surely there must be another Barry Douglas kicking around there somewhere. I’d much rather see us invest in players for the future that we can develop than use the loan system that has been a little hit and miss.

I remember us being linked with a Northern Irish guy a few months ago on the SkySports website, but for the life of me I cannot remember who.

I don’t think another striker is essential at the moment as Archie has an aversion to playing more than one striker at any given time, and we do have Stevenson, Doolan, Lawless and Higgy who can all theoretically play up the front of the park.

The essentials are a LB (ATS back on loan perhaps?), Frans signed up on a deal to the end of the season, and maybe another CM. It would also be wise to perhaps start looking at Goalkeepers over the next 6months to a year as Fox has declined since Hinchy left, and I don’t know how many years Galls has left in him.

 

 

I would imagine Scully will be back next season

 

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Don't think anybody mentioned that there was plenty available, just that they are the TYPE of players we are lacking. We got Hardie from Queens Park so who is to say there isn't another Hardie-esque player down the divisions? Maybe better rolling your R's than your eyes!!

 

Like Ryan Stevenson?!

 

Why Archie persisits with him up front is beyond me. Craigen on bench, Dools up top and Stevenson in that role for me.

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I would expect that any arrivals in January will be loan deals or a short-term deals for a free agent (not many available at our level). English teams, especially those that have been knocked out of the League Cup, might make their development players available. One problem could be that George Moncur got very little game time at Firhill last season and English managers expect their loanees to play a reasonable number of games.

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I would expect that any arrivals in January will be loan deals or a short-term deals for a free agent (not many available at our level). English teams, especially those that have been knocked out of the League Cup, might make their development players available. One problem could be that George Moncur got very little game time at Firhill last season and English managers expect their loanees to play a reasonable number of games.

 

Sometimes I think there has to be something subliminal about your posts. I would expect ANY manager that sends a player out on loan does so with the expectation the player will get regular game time. Of course for every rule there's an exception and you somehow by magic have managed to stumble upon that exception.

George Moncur turned up in shape that would've made Stevie Fulton blush. Months later he still looked knackered after 10 minutes up in Inverness. I doubt he'd have been considered truly match fit till well into April. Had we an injury crisis late in the season then just maybe the lad could've done a job for us.

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Don't think anybody mentioned that there was plenty available, just that they are the TYPE of players we are lacking. We got Hardie from Queens Park so who is to say there isn't another Hardie-esque player down the divisions? Maybe better rolling your R's than your eyes!!

 

We didn't - we got him from East Stirling.

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Sometimes I think there has to be something subliminal about your posts. I would expect ANY manager that sends a player out on loan does so with the expectation the player will get regular game time. Of course for every rule there's an exception and you somehow by magic have managed to stumble upon that exception.

George Moncur turned up in shape that would've made Stevie Fulton blush. Months later he still looked knackered after 10 minutes up in Inverness. I doubt he'd have been considered truly match fit till well into April. Had we an injury crisis late in the season then just maybe the lad could've done a job for us.

 

George Moncur suffered because we did not secure safety until the second last day of the season. In saying that, I appreciate why Archie may not have wanted to take a risk with him.

 

However, his 25 minute appearance v Dross Cunty on the last day of the season showed that he is class at our level.

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We didn't - we got him from East Stirling.

 

Aye yer right Bazza, they got him from QP? There are players at that level that can do jobs, the young guys that moved on from QP have proved that. As for Moncur, I reckon he would have been an excellent signing, but it's beyond me as to why he turned up so out of condition, in the middle of the season

Edited by Lindau
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Aye yer right Bazza, they got him from QP? There are players at that level that can do jobs, the young guys that moved on from QP have proved that. As for Moncur, I reckon he would have been an excellent signing, but it's beyond me as to why he turned up so out of condition, in the middle of the season

Unfortunately the problem is that the young lads from Queens Park are being snapped by teams like Dundee United before us - finance may be part of the reason. We seemed to have a good relationship with Queens Park under McCall when we were able to get Paton and Cairney. I wonder if Archie loaning Chris Duggan to them is an effort to get the this good relationship back on track could be very useful.

 

On another side I quite like to see Queens Park do well anyway so if it experiences some of our young lads by loaning them to the Spiders while also helping them get promotion then all the better

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Jake Heskeith 17 year old on as a Southhampton sub against Man Utd, that's what being a manager is all about. As Fergie said "what's the point of a scouting system, a youth academy and a reserve side if you don't play them". the manager's job is all consuming, if there is no talent worth coming through it Archie's job, yes his job to make sure the system works, he must take a real hands on responsibility for the whole Club, coordinate with those running teams from the bottom to the top, let them know what he expects. Take a leaf out of how real managers work. All this keech about who to sign is total crap, the academy and under 19s is all about progressing on to the first team, the lack of younger players coming through is an indictment on Arch as a manager. Play them and we will win.

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Really? Archie is responsible for an apparent lack of youth coming through now! At this stage I doubt that Archie is taking any credit never mind blame. I'd suspect (hope) that he is taking a real interest in what's happening with a longer term view tho. And anyway, we do have some very promising young players in Thistle Weir. (As our misguided friend Billko often reports) and a few others who are already on the fringes of our 1st team or out on loan.

 

We have a relatively new system that will hopefully reap real long term benefits for the club, both playing for us and moving on to further their careers, what it needs is a bit more time. Archies barely in the job 5 minutes compared to the development required for grassroots and youth!

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