Hamdi Salihi - The guy we all want Ally to buy...

[Creampuff 22,628]

Thought we offered more money than Mallorca for Hemed?

We did .

[SirWalterSmithLegend 206]

We did .

[SirWalterSmithLegend 206]

We did!

Certainly could see Hooper going to a club like Southampton, sitting top of the championship and looking likely to be in the EPL next season. Playing at a higher level would give him a better chance of playing for England(even-though he's not good enough) and he's not looked half interested this season, might want go back to England.

Thought so.

Aye, would be a good move for him imo.

[LegendofCoop 17,386]

OK, potential climb down of the year! I thought we offered £12k and Mallorca offered him £15k?

[BlueSuedeSambas 53,880]

I don't think we can afford him. It's as simple as that really.

[SirWalterSmithLegend 206]

I don't think we can afford him. It's as simple as that really.

Right now, we cannot afford anyone.

[BlueSuedeSambas 53,880]

Right now, we cannot afford anyone.

It's a worrying situation when we are reduced to being linked with bargain basement moves for Sandaza and O'Connor, but with the tax case hanging over the club it's one that I completely undertsand.

Hopefully it's resolved soon because the quality of the squad is slowly being diluted and reduced every season.

[NorthernLights 2,526]

I'd have thought that O'Connor would have cost more than Salihi.

[SirWalterSmithLegend 206]

It's a worrying situation when we are reduced to being linked with bargain basement moves for Sandaza and O'Connor, but with the tax case hanging over the club it's one that I completely undertsand.

Hopefully it's resolved soon because the quality of the squad is slowly being diluted and reduced every season.

There has been stone wall denials of the O'Connor link thankfully, from both camps. Sandaza, i am not too bothered about, for the standard we play, we know he can score goals and its obvious we dont have spare funds lying arond to give to better players.

Even withouth the tax case, its common sense, when we dont have European income, we dont have money. We seem to always have so much deadwood hanging onto the club.

DBBTB, before TKB left we had 34 players on our books which could be considered for the first team squad, 34. That is ridiculous for any team only going for 2 domestic trophies. We simply cannot afford it. Right now, more than anything, we need bodies out and not on loan, we need bodies out permanently. Too many fans are forgetting this when demanding the club spend more money.

[G.E.C. 18,821]

We did!

Certainly could see Hooper going to a club like Southampton, sitting top of the championship and looking likely to be in the EPL next season. Playing at a higher level would give him a better chance of playing for England(even-though he's not good enough) and he's not looked half interested this season, might want go back to England.

His old manager as well.

[Creampuff 22,628]

Hope Hooper does leave them, scores bucketloads.

[SirWalterSmithLegend 206]

Hope Hooper does leave them, scores bucketloads.

Would rather Stokes left tbh, better player imo.

[NorthernLights 2,526]

Hooper contributes more all round than Stokes does.

[SirWalterSmithLegend 206]

Hooper contributes more all round than Stokes does.

Stokes seems to dig them out of holes when they need it.

[wearethemighty 186]

Someone send Gordon Smith an email saying Sahili is on a free come the summer.

[Ibrox_Nights 429]

DBBTB, before TKB left we had 34 players on our books which could be considered for the first team squad, 34. That is ridiculous for any team only going for 2 domestic trophies. We simply cannot afford it. Right now, more than anything, we need bodies out and not on loan, we need bodies out permanently. Too many fans are forgetting this when demanding the club spend more money.

34 players, Christ, it's no wonder Whyte is on about reducing the wage bill.

I take it though this includes the likes of the young Naismith?

[WilliamFyfe 1,438]

Chuck the dead wood!

[SirWalterSmithLegend 206]

34 players, Christ, it's no wonder Whyte is on about reducing the wage bill.

I take it though this includes the likes of the young Naismith?

Yeah, he is about the youngest and/or least experienced one though. Every one of those 34 could be picked for the first team squad at any time. The manager can only pick 11 guys and 7 subs, some of them need to be kids, thats leaving more than a full team sitting at home or in the stands doing nothing, yet he wants more money. I mean wtf!

This is the list of guys who have done basically nothing this year but would have earned a fair whack, the Deadwood -

Ortiz

McKay

Bedoya

Healy

McMillan

Weir

Ness

Kerkar

Gallacher

Perry

Hemmings

McCabe

Cole

K Naismith

B Currie

K Hutton

16 players there, i may have missed one or two guys out, how many would you keep from that and how many do we really need? I would possibly only keep 2 or 3 and think we only need the same again, 2 or 3. Any ideas how much these players are costing us every week? And Ally wants more? Incredible, he should know better.

That leaves a squad of -

McCulloch

Whittaker

Broadfoot

McGregor

Goian

Alexander

Papac

S Naismith

Bocanegra

Edu

Davis

Jelavic

Fleck

Lafferty

Wallace

Aluko

Bartley

Wylde

A full match squad of 18 players. Of which i would love to get rid of a few and replace them with a few from the above list.

Thats 34 players, 34 and Ally needs more? Who is he kidding? As you say, no wonder Mr Whyte is saying, get rid first!

It may sound harsh calling the top list the deadwood but lets be honest, we are in no financial position to carry passengers, we cannot afford to have bodies sitting doing absolutely nothing.

If we could get the bigger earners off the wage bill who are costing us money, and points might i add, money would not be an issue here. We could afford better than Sandaza and O'Connor, Boyd would probably already be back home and Salihi and Stilic would be realistic targets.

The squad is a shambles right now, an absolute shambles and is costing us a fortune.

[Ibrox_Nights 429]

There are two or three names on your second list there that I would move to the first one, however, that is another argument, anyway...

Some young guys on the first list who obviously need to be kept as they have either looked good when they have played and haven't let us down, or haven't even had any sort of first team opportunity yet.

Ness, albeit seemingly made of glass obviously has to be given time to try and shake his injury jinx off because a blind man could see that he's got natural talent and technique in abundance when fit and on form.

I sometimes wonder where we would be now if it hadn't been for the likes of Davie and I'd also be loathed to call him dead wood after all he has done for our club, however, when you analyze who has been ahead of him this Season then it's very unlikely he'll be a First Team pick again.

Also think McMillan should be getting a chance, though that is more a personal opinion as I think he is twice the player Broadfoot is with the ball and when going forward.

[SirWalterSmithLegend 206]

There are two or three names on your second list there that I would move to the first one, however, that is another argument, anyway...

Some young guys on the first list who obviously need to be kept as they have either looked good when they have played and haven't let us down, or haven't even had any sort of first team opportunity yet.

Ness, albeit seemingly made of glass obviously has to be given time to try and shake his injury jinx off because a blind man could see that he's got natural talent and technique in abundance when fit and on form.

I sometimes wonder where we would be now if it hadn't been for the likes of Davie and I'd also be loathed to call him dead wood after all he has done for our club, however, when you analyze who has been ahead of him this Season then it's very unlikely he'll be a First Team pick again.

Also think McMillan should be getting a chance, though that is more a personal opinion as I think he is twice the player Broadfoot is with the ball and when going forward.

As would i mate, but i put them in the second list because they had at least played several games.

The kids from the first list are the 2 or 3 i would keep.

Ness is one of them

Totally agree with Weir, i was also hesitant to call him deadwood, but we cant really afford him right now. His new deal was a huge mistake.

Again, i agree 100% about McMillan, he is one i would keep, Broadfoot and Whitts should be gone.

[Ibrox_Nights 429]

The main thing that baffles me is that in a squad off that size, and I didn't even think it was that big until you pointed it out, is that with all those players we recently had David Healy as our only fit striker. Sometimes a club has a massive injury crisis and things like this can happen, but that isn't the case with us.

We had Jelavic and Lafferty unavailable and young Hemmings injured. That is two injuries, I don't include Naismith because he's not an out and out striker even though he was constantly saving our arse early in the Season, and we were fortunate Fleck stepped up to the plate and Davis had his best game in months.

Two main recognized strikers and a young lad we acquired from the dizzy heights of Tamworth who anytime I see him feature I wonder what the fuss is about.

When the summer window shut, I said at the time that I couldn't believe we hadn't brought in another striker, coupled to the fact we brought in Ortiz, Bedoya, McKay and the like. We have been very fortunate that Jelavic, even though not looking at his best this Season, has remained fit because even a half interested Jelavic is miles ahead of what else we have upfront. (Again I don't include Naismith in that)

The fact we had so few recognized strikers and nobody bar Hemmings in the youths to step up should have meant we got at least someone in, even a proven SPL goal scorer, the likes of which we seem to be going after now would have been preferable to nobody.

[SirWalterSmithLegend 206]

The main thing that baffles me is that in a squad off that size, and I didn't even think it was that big until you pointed it out, is that with all those players we recently had David Healy as our only fit striker. Sometimes a club has a massive injury crisis and things like this can happen, but that isn't the case with us.

We had Jelavic and Lafferty unavailable and young Hemmings injured. That is two injuries, I don't include Naismith because he's not an out and out striker even though he was constantly saving our arse early in the Season, and we were fortunate Fleck stepped up to the plate and Davis had his best game in months.

Two main recognized strikers and a young lad we acquired from the dizzy heights of Tamworth who anytime I see him feature I wonder what the fuss is about.

When the summer window shut, I said at the time that I couldn't believe we hadn't brought in another striker, coupled to the fact we brought in Ortiz, Bedoya, McKay and the like. We have been very fortunate that Jelavic, even though not looking at his best this Season, has remained fit because even a half interested Jelavic is miles ahead of what else we have upfront. (Again I don't include Naismith in that)

The fact we had so few recognized strikers and nobody bar Hemmings in the youths to step up should have meant we got at least someone in, even a proven SPL goal scorer, the likes of which we seem to be going after now would have been preferable to nobody.

I have started a thread on the squad in the Bears Den. I think more than a few will be surprised just how big the squad is.

Completely agree, i count our reliable strikers at 1 and he wants to leave. Imo we badly need at least 2 new strikers in this month.

Even last season it was clear we were going to need more attackers going into this season, i cannot believe we only tried to sign 2 strikers, and did not bother trying or anyone else. Goodwillie and Hemed that was it, after Ally telling us he had 5 names for every position on the park. Some may say we went for Miller but in reality, that was never on. He doesnt count, it was too late to get him when our interest was known and we were never going to pay for him anyway.

[Ibrox_Nights 429]

I agree.

Goodwillie was a farce and the other dude clearly fancied Spain more than Govan.

I've heard people say, quite rightly so perhaps, we might though have had additional targets identified. To my mind though, the more salient point is, then why the hell didn't we bring even a lower target on the list into a squad as short up front as I can remember us having.

[SirWalterSmithLegend 206]

I agree.

Goodwillie was a farce and the other dude clearly fancied Spain more than Govan.

I've heard people say, quite rightly so perhaps, we might though have had additional targets identified. To my mind though, the more salient point is, then why the hell didn't we bring even a lower target on the list into a squad as short up front as I can remember us having.

I agree.

[Blue Forever 179]

DR says that Celtic have been offered him for £500,000.