BrahimHemdani

Dyche, the Burnley manager had a long chat with him on the pitch after the friendly.

Not in the same league as Vuckic.

We could chat for hours about your favourite Newcastle player.

Is that you agreeing with me again?

Got the following from an astute Arsenal fan Zelalem is 18. He was born in Germany of Ethiopian parents. He emigrated to the USA in 2006 when he was eight with his father who had entered the USA immigrant visa lottery after the death of his mother of a heart condition two years earlier. He has elected to play for the USA having played for the German U15 and U17 sides. He has been capped six times by the USA U20 side. He made his first team debut for Arsenal in January 2014 as a substitute in the FA Cup at home against Coventry City. He's also appeared in the Champions League as a substitute in Istanbul against Galatasary, and started in a number of friendlies. I saw him in the Coventry City game, on the box in Istanbul against Galatasary and in a friendly in Hanoi against the Vietnam national side. I've also seen him play for the Asenal U21 team. He's a decent, neat and hard worker who can pass the ball, tackle and reads the game well. He's not the quickest in the world, but isn't a slowcoach either. I like his attitude as a teamplayer. I'm not sure he'll make it at the very, very top level but he's certainly got the ability and attitude to be a really good pro.

I know we need to go up first but how do all these loan signings help us prepare for life back in the SPL?

Doesn't Eustace spell the end for Law anyway?

It's no big deal, LG, happy to have some company down the road so long as it's not the

I will be driving down to Ayr tomorrow night, leaving the Charing Cross area about 6.00pm and coming straight back after the match. I can drop off anywhere along the way back, in the city centre or anywhere in the north west of the city e.g. Springburn, Bishopbriggs, Kirkintilloch etc. Anyone interested in sharing the journey, please PM or text if you have my number. We should arrive early enough for a refreshment for those so inclined but no drink in the car please.

This boy on the right and Oduwa on the left with a half decent striker i.e. not Waghorn, would be devastating.

Not sure what that has to do with Scott Allan unless Zaliukas was part of the deal. I will be sorry to see him go; a cultured international defender, albeit prone to the odd rash tackle and loss of concentration but far superior IMHO to Kiernan. Surely we're not going back to paying players off?

GS will be apoplectic.

Some step over!

Whilst they have all started well, there is something in the background of these two players in particular (and to a lesser extent Waghorn who has a decent record at English Championsip level) that doesn't quite add up; no less than 20 different clubs between them in the past 5 seasons.

As I said, Craig "Why is Gough advertising our players for sale when we're only two games into the season? "

Why is Gough advertising our players for sale when we're only two games into the season? In any event we can all see that Tavernier has a great engine and quality going forward but so did Foster, the question about defenders is, can they defend? There has to be a reason why Tavernier had 7 loans in 4 seasons (the last 6 in League One) before coming to us during which period he played less than 100 league games and I don't think it was all down to a learning curve for a young player. Similarly whilst Kiernan has shown he can pass out of defence I am not yet convinved he is a better overall defender than McGregor (or Zaliukas for that matter). He had no less than 9 loans in 5 seasons before coming to us and played most of his football in League Two for the likes of Accrington Stanley, Burton Albion and Southend. In those 5 years he didn't play more than 17 games of first team football for any one club in a season and 116 league games overall. So he averages about 23 league games a season. They may well develop into a commanding defence (and I did like Wallace's interview and it's clear he has stepped up his game) but I think talk of a new "iron curtain" or speaking about these players (and Foderingham) in the same breath as Woods, Stevens, Butcher, and Gough himself, not to mention Graham Roberts, is more than a little premature.

It's not all about who wins the League, TB. It's about Hibs getting promotion and the money that brings with it. Leaving aside the not selling to a contender argument, they will want to give themsleves the best chance of going up via the play-offs if they don't win the league; and if they see Scott Allan as important from that perspective then they will want to keep him. The numbers are fairly straightforward. If they keep him and go up then they will not look stupid but I agree with the first two sentences of your last paragraph except that, I don't see the need to offer them anything if we get him on a pre contract and we are out in front , surely we just wait to sign him at the end of the season?

On a side note it's going to be a very, very long road back for us in Europe. Currently we are still 113th in the rankings because of our 12.7200 points in 2010/11 but the meagre 2.0500 in 2011/12 and 0.8600, 0.6500, 0.8000 from our share of the other Scottish Club's points in succeeding years is only going to get worse because 2010/11 and 2011/12 will have dropped out by the time we get back in 2017/18 at the earliest. By then our current total of 17.08 will be down to around 3 or 4 ranking us in then 300's alongside such European stalwarts as Metalurgs Liepaja, Irtysh Pavlodar, Bangor City and our 2007 foes Zeta Golubovci of Macedonia. The only good thing is that we should be a much better team by then than our ranking and seedings will suggest so we might just make some progress but it will be tough reaching the group stages of anything from Q1 and Q2 in the first few years.

Worse still when you look at the fact that Ajax were 95 places above them in the rankings.

Shiels also had a more than respectable game last Sunday, Walsh can't get a game and IMO McKay and Templeton are both much better in the no.10 role than on the wing though they're doing decent jobs right now.

Hibs will not sell him to us for that kind of money. If they think he is the man who will make the difference between going up or not, then it would be really bad business because the difference between finishing 1st or 2nd in the Championship and even 12th in the SPL if they went up is about £400,000 - £470,000 in prize money alone never mind extra at the gate including 2 home derbies with Hearts and if they were to go up and finish say 6th in the SPL then the difference is around £720,000 - £780,000. I don't think we need him right now either and he's on a free next summer isn't he?

But it's alright if Chris Graham does the same thing for current directors?

Agreed. I missed 2 last season before you introduced the standby system and a couple more correct forecasts could have put me up another place or two. I just find it very hard to put in a prediction of a defeat but I am determined not to let my heart rule my head. My head tells me that Hibs are better prepared for this one so that's ruled my prediction.

Been on a bit of a Gersnet sabbatical but yes sign me up Zappa, though doubt I can maintain my first year top 6 finish.

I belive you're referring to the two tone purple strip we wore against Partick Thistle at Firhill that season. At the AGM in the Autumn I said that it was embarassing to watch our team run out in it and that it must have doubly embarassing for the players to have to wear it. (Why we needed to change colours v Partick Thistle was a mystery itself.) I concluded by saying that the Glasgow Rangers should always play in some combination of red, white and blue. This drew thunderous applause, if I say so myself. Mr Murray replied by saying that if that was the view of the "body of the kirk" then he would abide by it. I don't think we wore it again. Unless we plan on fielding 11 goalkeepers, this monstrosity should be consigned to the same dustbin.