calscot

You know we've signed about 11 players - a whole team but somehow the close season has really dragged. I don't think any of us are sated yet, but could that be to do with the signings being mere snacks rather than gourmet meals...? And we were pretty much starving to start with! However size of the squad has a less starved look to it; it was verging on anorexic under Le Guen. I think we need two good players for each position and an extra understudy just in case. The latter can be a decent youngster, oldster, squad player, utility player or a player that has a few good positions. Under Le Guen most of our team fell into those categories. However it's been the making of a few, with MacGregor, Hutton, Smith, Burke and Adam all holding down a place at some point. Hemdani has also come out of his squad/utility player persona to grab a first pick spot. We have a new fitness coach so it will be interesting in the new season to see if the squad get more fit or less than under le Guen. He may have some good methods but I reckon he needs to learn more about motivation which is also a huge factor. It seems to be something that Walter excells at.

PS Rangers may be getting slagged off for their offers but in my less than knowledgable opinion, McCulloch seemed worth no more than 1.5M, Naismith is not worth more than 1.5M at this time, and the structure of the last offer seemed reasonable for a young Kilmarnock player, a young 23 year old French man who hasn't done that much is surely not worth more than 5M and Brown to me was probably worth 3.5M tops. Cueller, who was on 7K a week in the last year of his contract was definitely not worth more than 2M. So while Murray and Bain are taking the flak, I can't help but agree with their valuations. A player may ultimately be worth as much as what someone is prepared to pay for him, but just because someone else is willing to pay over the top does not mean that is his intrinsic value.

I don't think he's worth 2.25M either and I don't think he'll make a big difference; however, at least on paper, he's not the worst signing we've ever made.

It may be down to Rangers not allowing them to show it to try and get a sell out crowd... Or they could be asking too much money... There's many speculative reasons why they are not showing the games, but without knowing the true one, we can't really just blame Setanta. The good thing is that with people paying 10 quid a month and able to quit any time, Setanta have to keep us interested, especially in the close season. I haven't watched it for about a month but I paid yearly last time. I'm very disappointed with Rangers TV which could have given news on signings and perhaps video footage of those we have signed. But instead there was repeats of last seasons games including reserve games etc. Really boring. They are really missing a trick or two.

The Hannover game is definitely on Setanta. It's a shame that the Ajax and Chelsea games aren't. I was going to go to one of them but haven't time to go to both so the two game ticket scuppered that. I didn't realise that Celtic's last two games were on and on hindsight it could have been fun to watch them get stuffed by Young Boys (I can see some crude jokes being made of that). For English football fans (what's wrong with you? ) there is some Reading and Bolton games coming up in Korea on Setanta. St Patrick play Spurs live tonight. Then there's Everton, Middlesburgh, Liverpool and Blackburn games. PS Setanta is now reduced to 9.99 per month with no yearly tie in and will have 60 SPL games as well as 46 EPL games. I'm not they're biggest fan despite being an ever present subscriber but a tenner a month seems pretty reasonable - and they even broadcast in widescreen now! So there's no excuse to have Sky Sports, who don't pay a penny to the SPL, instead of Setanta.

What about a chicken counting midfield of: Whitaker Ferguson Hemdani/Thomson Beasley/McCulloch Doesn't look that bad. With Novo and Buke and Adam as backup, we're reasonably well covered on the wings at least domestically. It's centrally we look a bit thin. Finding a consistent front two may be difficult even though we have about 7 or 8 strikers. The first picks must be Darcheville and Boyd. Buffel may get a chance if he gets his finger out and shows some form and Gow looks like he may be worth a sub role. Sebo still has to show he is a player and Novo is still working hard but maybe just lacking in accomplished finishing. Lennon is still knocking on the door but will probably be used sparingly. And of course McCulloch can also play there. So even though we have have loads of strikers, ironically I'm not surprised we're after another one of a higher standard than most of them. I can easily see Buffel and/or Sebo moved on to make room.

PS I find it very ironic when people get the pronunciation of "pronunciation" wrong... Perhaps some "prods" don't like saying, "nun".

From my limited knowledge of Spanish I would say the pronunciation is: Coo-AI-yer With emphasis on the middle syllable. Of course a lazy Spaniard may pronounce it: QuAI-yer

I think WS's emphasis has been on squad building as well as team building.

No, Robert Fleck is definitely not his dad. Sorry to disappoint you. He's his uncle. :fish:

I think it's much bigger and better than the beginning of last season but not spectacular at all. I can imagine our total layout will be about 6.5M. Not bad, not great. I think it would be good to get rid of Ponroy and Sionko and sell Buffel for 1M to bring costs down as they seem superfluous. Central Midfield lacks depth if Fergie and Hemdani both get injured/suspended.

So the squad for next season may be: MacGregor/Carol/Smith Whittaker/Hutton/Lowing Wier/Ehiogu/Broadfoot Cueller/Webster Smith/Papac/Murray Novo/Burke/Sionko Ferguson/Furman Hemdani/Thomson Beasley/McCulloch/Adam Boyd/Gow/Sebo Darcheville/A.N.Other - Naismith?/Buffel/Lennon You've got to wonder whether MacGregor is toasting the new goalkeeping arrivals and whether Hutton has his fingers crossed we get Whitaker, and Adam will be well chuffed with Beasley and McCulloch. With Gow and Darcheville now here, Buffel getting fit and Lennon knocking on the door, Boyd will be praying we get another striker in. Yes, the team will soon be out celebrating the strengthening of the squad. Well, maybe Barry and Hendami... Sorry couldn't resist that. Anyway, do you think this squad is strong enough?

Am I the only one who gets a cold feeling when we're signing someone from Wigan for 2M because they've signed a replacement for 5.3M? Come on, Wigan are bigger than us now! UEFA and Scottish football chiefs have let us down. We should have at least had an Atlantic league by now, but instead we're allowing irreparable damage to our fianancial health and might never be able to compete again. I don't understand how we can be in the same "country" as Wigan, have a huge history while they have none, have far more fans, yet be the poor relation. How can England have 10 times the population yet have about 30 times more TV money? To be honest, I think any Scot who has Sky Sports instead of Setanta Sports is now a traitor of the highest order. I think Scotland is let down by Scots who watch English football, there is so much Scottish money going into the EPL and no reason at all for Sky to bid for Scottish football when so many Scots pay for Sky Sports anyway. Whereas bugger all money from England comes into Scottish football. Even less will probably come from Setanta now they are showing English games too. Sorry for the off topic rant but the income gap between us and very average English teams is getting frightening.

I heard Rangers bought Fleck's family a 90 grand house a while back that will now be transferred to their name, now that he has signed.

I think there is a need for tackling in training, but don't think it needs to be the same intensity as a real match. I think you can definitely hold back a tad with your own team-mates - and there is certainly no need to be dirty with them. Besides, it's pretty obvious that most friendly games are indeed more friendly. However now and again you do need to practice being very physical, otherwise you can get caught out in a real game. When I play a competitive game, I sometimes need reminding from a kick or shove from a forward, that I need to be highly aggressive to be an effective defender.

I don't know, I see it like American TV. If you go over there and watch it, then it's mostly drivel, but on British TV get only get the cream which means we get some really good stuff... Scrubs South Park Family Guy My Name is Earl Simpsons Malcolm in the Middle Pretty much the best comedy on TV - not bad from a country full of people with a sense of humour bypass. FF is also awash with drivel, but if someone wants to pan for gold nuggets let them do so. However I'm not saying this thread has struck gold!

I'm hoping that SDM will start to remember that if you find really good young talent that cost a few million, it may sound like a lot of money but if you sell them on they are effectively cheap, free, or we get paid to have them... I think Arteta burnt the chairman's fingers, but we paid too much to start with and then sold him too early for too little. How much is he worth now? Boumsong was a great deal for us but could mean that EPL teams are more wary of spending millions on someone doing well in the SPL. In fact the only managers that do so seem to have had some time in Scotland - Souness, MON, Mowbray, Davies, and to some extent but not so recently Ferguson and Moyes.

He's not the kind of 5M signing we're looking at. In 4 years he won't be worth much whereas we could have sold Faubert in 2 years for a bit of a profit.

Would still like to move Sionko, Ponroy and Buffel on...

Still can't fathom Buffel at number 4. Unless it's in his contract due to being his lucky number or something... If you don't think of him as a first choice and put in 12 as the true number 4, it looks like our "preferred" starting line up using traditional positions for 4-4-2 is: .................MacGregor ......Hutton Ehiogu Papac Wier Hemdani Ferguson Thomson Adam .............. Boyd Novo or using 2-3-5 formation: ...............MacGregor ..............Hutton Wier ..........Ehiogu Papac Ferguson Hemdani Thomson Boyd Novo Adam

I'm starting to wonder whether ticket prices to anything is worth it these days. £30 for one football match when it's £15 a month to watch many games in the comfort of your living room, or £5.50 to watch the game in the pub with a couple of free pints... £30-50 for the theatre/opera when the telly can be just as entertaining if not more. £40 for a live concert when about £10 gets you the album or £15 gets the DVD. And you can hardly see anything at a big concert. £7 per person for the cinema, when you can watch a DVD for about £2 between a bunch of you - and no annoying people either, choose your start time, and stop it for the toilet and rewind if you missed a bit of dialogue. I've got a projector with 2m screen and surround sound and much prefer it to the cinema. And then you've got travelling cost and time, parking charges and hassle, extortionate food and drink prices for rubbish quality, and some times you're not even allowed to drink alcohol. I might sound tight but I'm doing a lot more at home these days. People go on about the atmosphere etc, but is it really, really worth it? I went to a Deep Purple concert locally and the whole thing cost me about 80 quid. It was enjoyable but not 80 quid enjoyable. It used to be every-one's dream to have their own private cinema but only the super rich could afford it, now it's within most people's reach but instead many prefer to go to the cinema as for some reason they think the shared experience is better. It's funny that these disposable evenings have gone up way over inflation while the alternatives have become cheaper and cheaper.

I think the thing with Burke is, he's had a some exceptional games which make him look like he could become total class, so we remember that and keep expecting him to play like that. Then he comes on and after five minutes you forget he's on the pitch. However he does seem to improve the more he plays, but just as he's coming into his game he gets ill or injured, and every time he comes back he's lost all his form.

PS Maybe he wants us to think he's a new player so he can start with clean slate - although his scoring slate from last season is pretty clean...

When I was in Slovakia most of the men seemed to have badly cut, thuggish looking hair-dos, I wonder if he'll stick to type...

He'll have a lot more competition with McCulloch and Beasley in the squad...