Player contracts and transfers


David123
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I agree with you, we're unlikely to unearth a 20 goal a season player. I just think someone who can weigh in with 12 or so, to add to Maclean getting similar.  Also someone who brings pace or trickery, just to add a different dimension to our attack. I don't think it's just about the goal return.

Personally I still think we should have hung on to Nigel Hasselbaink. He ticked a lot of those boxes and was a young player who had scope to develop into something better.

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Personally I still think we should have hung on to Nigel Hasselbaink. He ticked a lot of those boxes and was a young player who had scope to develop into something better.

I recall speaking to Nigel at the POTY dinner as he was at our table.  He gave the impression that Saints wanted to discuss new deal on the Monday with him however the more he spoke the greater the impression was his agent was flogging him around looking for the highest bidder.

Think that is how he had landed at Saints originally.

He never attended a meeting with Saints to discuss new contract.

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We're no doubt going to be chasing some targets this week, budget will depend on who of course... Usually theres some discussion around who is avaliable, other than MOH we've been linked with absolutely no one.

Some have suggested we'd go for Sammon but nothing from the media on that front.

Any other names been suggested we'd be interestd in/are interested in?

Edited by Perth Guy
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We're no doubt going to be chasing some targets this week, budget will depend on who of course... Usually theres some discussion around who is avaliable, other than MOH we've been linked with absolutely no one.

Some have suggested we'd go for Sammon but nothing from the media on that front.

Any other names been suggested we'd be interestd in/are interested in?

We made a move for Chris Maguire last season, in the January (along with Swanson, Scougall and Cammy Smith), and he's still a free agent. 

Absolutely no idea if TW still has an interest in him or if he's available but thats the only rumour I can think of with any real substance apart from MOH. 

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Personally I still think we should have hung on to Nigel Hasselbaink. He ticked a lot of those boxes and was a young player who had scope to develop into something better.

Funny you mention Nigel, I was thinking about him as I was typing as well. I think he'd dropped out the picture a wee bit by the end of the Cup winning season, and was probably deemed too big a wage to be on the bench.  Then at the start of the following season May decided to leave and Maclean picked up a serious injury, so he probably would have been playing regularly if we'd kept him.

Someone like him to make things happen, create openings for others and weigh in with a few goals would be decent.

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On the subject of us never having found a replacement for Stevie May... I think I'm right in saying that at one point (under Lomas in season 12/13) we had Hasselbaink, MacLean, Rowan Vine, Gregory Tade and May (albeit out on loan) all on our books at the same time? So May's not the only forward to have left who we've never really managed to replace.

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I see Killie are interested in Chris Burke. He ripped us apart at McDiarmid whilst playing for County. Never heard much about him after that but think he had an injury or illness.

He missed most of the season with an illness which was never actually disclosed yeah. 

 

On the subject of us never having found a replacement for Stevie May... I think I'm right in saying that at one point (under Lomas in season 12/13) we had Hasselbaink, MacLean, Rowan Vine, Gregory Tade and May (albeit out on loan) all on our books at the same time? So May's not the only forward to have left who we've never really managed to replace.

Did we not have a couple of other strikers aswell? I'm sure we also had Sean Higgins and some loanees, although I get my timeliness of transfers all mucked up during the Lomas era. 

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Our striking options are poor at the moment. Apart from being one striker short for well over a year now you have to say that Cummins form and Kane's failure to land a regular starting spot leaves us in a precarious position should Macca spend any sustained time injured. 

Im a firm believer that players coming to the club should be better than those already here. There's not been a lot of evidence of that policy lately.

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Im a firm believer that players coming to the club should be better than those already here. 

I'm not sure that's actually viable, as sometimes you do just need someone to come in to provide cover. I wouldn't say Craig or Paton are better than Muzz or Millar, but both have been good signings. 

I do think that's the way we're going this season, and that's also why it's taking so long to get signings. 

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He missed most of the season with an illness which was never actually disclosed yeah. 

Did we not have a couple of other strikers aswell? I'm sure we also had Sean Higgins and some loanees, although I get my timeliness of transfers all mucked up during the Lomas era. 

Carl Finnegan too? 

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Guest ScottMann
 

I see Killie are interested in Chris Burke. He ripped us apart at McDiarmid whilst playing for County. Never heard much about him after that but think he had an injury or illness.

He's been linked with the Rangers old boys club at Kilmarnock.

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On the subject of us never having found a replacement for Stevie May... I think I'm right in saying that at one point (under Lomas in season 12/13) we had Hasselbaink, MacLean, Rowan Vine, Gregory Tade and May (albeit out on loan) all on our books at the same time? So May's not the only forward to have left who we've never really managed to replace.

I was going to add Beattie to your list but see that it's been done in the post above this one. I don't think the budget has ever recovered to the level it was at when McInnes left. It's a different chairman now but you can see why Wright has a grievance as having come in when McInnes headed south, he'll be aware of what we were paying back then.

I thought I'd look at the numbers and see how many senior players we've had making up the squad each season since promotion. With what seems like the most number of younger players now involved, the trend was pretty much as expected and shows what TW is having to work with. I used players aged 22 or over to define senior and stuck to it but it when you compare the ones at 21/22 now (Gordon, Gilchrist etc...) to guys like May, Davidson and Hasselbaink (who along with Fisher are only really notable players under 23 to make an impact) then the actual squad size in some of the previous seasons would be one or two higher maybe. I took the number as being in the autumn of each season (i.e. before January transfer business).

Couple of other things worth noting are there would be players on First Division contracts in 09/10 especially and Wright is currently trying to lose Watson from this season's squad.

  • 2009/10: 23 senior players
  • 2010/11: 21 senior players
  • 2011/12: 22 senior players
  • 2012/13: 20 senior players
  • 2013/14: 19 senior players
  • 2014/15: 18 senior players
  • 2015/16: 17 senior players
  • 2016/17: 20 senior players
  • 2017/18: 18 senior players

I think that represents what we already know about the movement of the budget since promotion. It was at its highest in 2011/12 (we signed five strikers alone in the summer),  Lomas took a hit then jumped ship when it was going down again. Wright enjoyed a slight increase last season (confirmed by chairman) but what happens now? Steve Brown says he's prepared to back the manager so surely we should expect another two or three established arrivals?

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Heard from a couple of folk in Vilnius of a surprise signing coming in,but no names mentioned 

Heard the same when I got home on Saturday that discussion with a player happened on Friday but they didn't know a name...

So could well be nonsense or the worlds best kept secret as to who it is?

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