January Transfer Window

[pezza70]

What do people think we will be looking at bringing in or letting go in the window?

Will be interesting to see what kind of contacts Levein can draw on to bring in a better quality of player for us that we currently have.

Would love for us to find a replacement for Drey if possible.

[Linky]

He says he wants to redress the 'balance' of the squad. Not quite sure what that means, as I'd say we're reasonably well covered.

[RandomGuy]

Wide players, likely ones who are more attacking than defensive, are probably top of the agenda. And strikers who can play up top alone effectively.

Wouldnt be stunned if they try and get Jephcott off the wage bill to try and help fund it.

[Cagey]

1 hour ago, RandomGuy said:

Wide players, likely ones who are more attacking than defensive, are probably top of the agenda. And strikers who can play up top alone effectively.

Wouldnt be stunned if they try and get Jephcott off the wage bill to try and help fund it.

Are you sure he will go for attacking wide men

 He is notoriously defence minded.

We do need wide men though so hopefully he can find a couple. 

[rik2304]

1 hour ago, Linky said:

He says he wants to redress the 'balance' of the squad. Not quite sure what that means, as I'd say we're reasonably well covered.

Get out the shite and get in good players?

[Cagey]

Letting go ,Crawford and Booth although I like Booth a d was glad to seem on the bench against Well but he was missing the following game.

Would hope we would change our mind about McGowan as he has arguably been our best player in last 3 games. The manager says a clean slate makes all the difference . Don't know what went on before but Gowser never said a word and even co-commentated on Saints tv and came back into team as if nothing happened. Respect for that.

Will have to study the squad before deciding who to dump but think Jephcott is worth a chance. 

[dave mc]

2 hours ago, RandomGuy said:

Wide players, likely ones who are more attacking than defensive, are probably top of the agenda. And strikers who can play up top alone effectively.

Wouldnt be stunned if they try and get Jephcott off the wage bill to try and help fund it.

I think Jephcott will get his chance, as he’s never played in his preferred area or got the service needed in any of his games. 

[R.B.B:- Adz]

10 hours ago, Linky said:

He says he wants to redress the 'balance' of the squad. Not quite sure what that means, as I'd say we're reasonably well covered.

Really? You don’t know what he means?

Three left backs, one right back?

EIGHT centre midfield players(all but one over the age of 21)!!

[Papa Jack]

I’ll be amazed if he doesn’t bring in a big striker. 

[Linky]

17 hours ago, R.B.B:- Adz said:

Really? You don’t know what he means?

Three left backs, one right back?

EIGHT centre midfield players(all but one over the age of 21)!!

Not sure about that. Brown, McGowan, Wright and Olufunwa can all play right back. 

Yes, three left backs, but how are you going to get anyone to take Booth when he has been injured for so long?

[R.B.B:- Adz]

2 hours ago, Linky said:

Not sure about that. Brown, McGowan, Wright and Olufunwa can all play right back. 

Yes, three left backs, but how are you going to get anyone to take Booth when he has been injured for so long?

I’ve watched them… and Brown is barely a right back never mind the other three you have named 

[Northern saint]

Central defenders as Considine is not a long-term answer.  Maybe Levein will make Olufunwa and McCelland to first choice level we won't need those.  Pace and skill would be good to see.  

I'm more hoping we see Jepchott and the others who were brought in along with Max, Ballantyne step up.  Less headless chicken running about, more discipline in place.  

A lot can change in six weeks!

[blueheaven]

As others have said I think we're short on wide players for both sides of the pitch, and over-loaded in central midfield.

Costelloe and/or Jaiyesimi basically have until the window opens to make some sort of impact. If one of them stakes a claim and then we get Wright back, we might not be looking too bad in wide areas and could possibly re-assess in the summer. Has any timescale been mentioned for Wright's return?

Imagine we'll keep trying to move Crawford and Booth on, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Ballantyne going back out on loan. Possibly we try to get Gallacher away too? And do we hang on to Turner-Cooke?

I think we could do with another central defender too, but unless we pick up more injuries I reckon that's probably something for the summer transfer window rather than the January one.

There's also still the issue of Chris Kane's contract.

[MySpazz]

With the cost cutting in all areas of the economy, my gut feeling is that there must be some good players out there

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/transfers/vertragslosespieler/statistik?ausrichtung=alle&spielerposition_id=0&land_id=189&wettbewerb_id=alle&seit=2023&altersklasse=23-30&plus=1

[saintgscot]

2 hours ago, MySpazz said:

With the cost cutting in all areas of the economy, my gut feeling is that there must be some good players out there

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/transfers/vertragslosespieler/statistik?ausrichtung=alle&spielerposition_id=0&land_id=189&wettbewerb_id=alle&seit=2023&altersklasse=23-30&plus=1

Out of that lot only two I would say worth looking at and one is out of our price range. Out of price range is Lindguard other maybe worth looking at is Connor wickham. 

[blueheaven]

Gwion Edwards has been without a club all season. Could be an option as a wide player? Think he was injured for most of his time at Ross County so not sure what his fitness situation is.

[Linky]

I think the problem might be that, we're carrying some expensive dead weight, and so almost everyone is outside of our price range. Perhaps some might want to come on short-term deals to keep their fitness up before moving onwards to something bigger?

[RandomGuy]

On 11/20/2023 at 8:46 AM, blueheaven said:

Has any timescale been mentioned for Wright's return?

Levein said today that he wont be available until after the winter break.

[PSJ.84]

15 hours ago, saintgscot said:

Out of that lot only two I would say worth looking at and one is out of our price range. Out of price range is Lindguard other maybe worth looking at is Connor wickham. 

So both out of our price range then

[R.B.B:- Adz]

8 hours ago, blueheaven said:

Gwion Edwards has been without a club all season. Could be an option as a wide player? Think he was injured for most of his time at Ross County so not sure what his fitness situation is.

No no no!!! Please no!

We can’t afford any more of these ‘suck it and see’ type signings. We should be backing Levein to bring in one or two Jamie McCart Shaun Rooney Kyle Turner Robbie Deas type signings. Guys playing regularly at a certain standard, who are already fit, raring to go and up to speed. Even a small fee to release them if we can free up some space in the squad(Booth, Crawford, Kucheryavyi or MacPherson out)

Not that he is necessarily of the quality that we need but if Levein in his many trips around Scottish football has seen anything in Jack McMillan at Thistle, it could be the closest thing.

Would Celtic give us Stephen Welsh if guaranteed him 10-15 starts and X number of minutes until end of the season.

Some free agent from England coming in who hasn’t kicked a ball or picked up a club - no thanks!

[blueheaven]

11 hours ago, R.B.B:- Adz said:

No no no!!! Please no!

We can’t afford any more of these ‘suck it and see’ type signings. We should be backing Levein to bring in one or two Jamie McCart Shaun Rooney Kyle Turner Robbie Deas type signings. Guys playing regularly at a certain standard, who are already fit, raring to go and up to speed. Even a small fee to release them if we can free up some space in the squad(Booth, Crawford, Kucheryavyi or MacPherson out)

Not that he is necessarily of the quality that we need but if Levein in his many trips around Scottish football has seen anything in Jack McMillan at Thistle, it could be the closest thing.

Would Celtic give us Stephen Welsh if guaranteed him 10-15 starts and X number of minutes until end of the season.

Some free agent from England coming in who hasn’t kicked a ball or picked up a club - no thanks!

Agree to an extent but I'm not sure it's realistic in the market we're in to reject potentially good players from a good level just because they might not be immediately fit, especially when we're midway through the season so would need to pay fees for most under-contract players. We've made good signings from that market in the past and I'm sure we will again. The thing is the club needs to do its homework and get it right, not just turn its back on an entire area of the market because it's got things wrong in the past (much of which was the fault of a hopeless manager).

I don't really see why bringing in another Old Firm fringe player on loan would be preferable, especially if you're suggesting we should be giving that player guaranteed game time.

 

[pezza70]

I guess us not having a team in the B league doesn’t help our fringe players for match fitness who aren’t out on loan.

Having a team play in the highland or lowland league surely would be of benefit to our club?

We have some good young players coming through the youth system at present, it would be great to see them take the next small step forward.

[SlickDT]

I would prefer we wait until the summer unless the players we are bringing in are a clear improvement in quality, compared to what we have and for positions that we may be light in.

January can be a tough window to bring in good players within a good budget. I think our league and points position should decide how heavily we move into the market.

I think with the current manager and squad we have, we can give ourselves a little bit of a cushion from 12th. Macca has added some quality in Smith, Mitov, Robinson and Sprangler. They are more than good enough for this level.

Would also allow us to rid the wage budget of the likes of Crawford and Booth if they are not in the managers plans.

Edited November 22, 2023 by SlickDT

[Levein on a Jet Plane]

2 hours ago, pezza70 said:

I guess us not having a team in the B league doesn’t help our fringe players for match fitness who aren’t out on loan.

Having a team play in the highland or lowland league surely would be of benefit to our club?

We have some good young players coming through the youth system at present, it would be great to see them take the next small step forward.

We need to look at realistically who can make the step up from the players out on loan. There might be a gem or two amongst them who would be as good as a new signing. Sometimes a new manager can see something in these players that brings them into the first team squad and develops them in house. I'd rather see us get rid of some of the dead weight (players mentioned above) and bring the youngsters into the squads for the 2nd half of the season.  

[R.B.B:- Adz]

6 hours ago, blueheaven said:

The thing is the club needs to do its homework and get it right, not just turn its back on an entire area of the market because it's got things wrong in the past (much of which was the fault of a hopeless manager).

I don't really see why bringing in another Old Firm fringe player on loan would be preferable, especially if you're suggesting we should be giving that player guaranteed game time.

 

Not saying we should turn our back on that market. We just don’t need players like Gwion Edwards at this juncture. High risk, low yield! We really don’t need any more mibbes aye mibbes naw type signings when we have guys like Ali Crawford, Tony Gallagher, Jay Turner-Cooke, Cammy Ballantyne, Diallang Jaiyesmi rattling around the place contributing nothing.

You don’t think Stephen Welsh at centre half improves our chances of staying up this season while we spend time identify a target to replace Considine and or Gordon?

We’ve got the basis of a strong 11-16 players and plenty of back up who can cover a game or two if needed. What we need to do is strengthen a couple of key players by bringing in quality that can improve the team straight away. That starts with a right back and a centre back straight off the bat.

Edited November 22, 2023 by R.B.B:- Adz