Big Guns Stay

[eskbankloyal 19,446]

8 minutes ago, Gman36 said:

How many years have we been saying this though? So basically we need to win at least 2 iar or we're fucked? Again we're thinking unsustainably and putting immense pressure on the players. 

There was a fair bit of luck last season too / scum meltdown. We might not be so lucky this season. 

I reckon if we'd received good enough bids players would've been off. 

They would have been, aye. But we’ve received good offers in previous windows and turned them down. Even £8m for Patterson this window is a good offer give games played etc but can understand that they think his potential is much higher. 

[GersInCanada 7,775]

1 minute ago, graeme_4 said:

The impact of Covid on anyone’s business plan cannot be underestimated. 

Other side of that coin is that we had covid insurance.

[STEPPS BOY 73,790]

The biggest shock for me is lack of concrete interest in Kamara.

He’d walk into any English team outwith Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man U and even at that, is Fred better than him?

[graeme_4 34,350]

6 minutes ago, GersInCanada said:

Other side of that coin is that we had covid insurance.

But that’ll not cover everything.

[BillyG91 5,510]

i'm happy we've not sold. gotta put my trust in the board that they know what they are doing.

[southcoastbear 1,639]

Just now, BillyG91 said:

i'm happy we've not sold. gotta put my trust in the board that they know what they are doing.

Brings back distant echoes of the "in craigy boy we trust" crowd.

[graeme_4 34,350]

Thought this was interesting.

[The Blues 375]

I’m glad we are keeping our best players. It’s a bit strange the way our rivals on the other side of Glasgow are able to move players on to England/Germany etc. for bumper fees. They have already received around £50m in transfer fees in 2021. This has allowed them to recruit heavily in the transfer market. In previous years they have also received some large fees compared to us. 
Not sure why this is but it’s also got to be part of our business model and not to hold players too long as contracts run down etc.

[mitre_mouldmaster 21,509]

5 minutes ago, southcoastbear said:

Brings back distant echoes of the "in craigy boy we trust" crowd.

Difference is that White never put a penny of his own money in.

This board have backed us to the hilt. Only issue is where they draw the line and stop putting the money in.

Thankfully they are 'invested' in us, so if we were to go to the wall, they would be losing out on allot of cash themselves as the security is unlikely to cover anywhere close to their input.

[BridgeIsBlue 66,595]

31 minutes ago, graeme_4 said:

I think the gap will be less than 25 points, based on what I’ve seen so far from both sides. 

I don't think anyone on here was realistically expecting us to go another season unbeaten and clinch over 100 points, they were always going to improve on last season as well, how much remains to be seen obviously. 

[esquire8 42,336]

44 minutes ago, eskbankloyal said:

They would have been, aye. But we’ve received good offers in previous windows and turned them down. Even £8m for Patterson this window is a good offer give games played etc but can understand that they think his potential is much higher. 

A potential he can only reach if he plays games. Sitting on the bench because of a loyalty to a captain even when out of form is no use to us.

[GWR1979 1,964]

1 hour ago, BridgeIsBlue said:

Someone made a good point on Twitter, maybe they've been able to offload players because they wanted to leave whilst we have a settled squad here. 

Harder for agents to push for deals if players are happy where they are whereas it's been well documented that Edouard and the likes have been wanting away from that midden for a good long while now. 

We have a settled squad who play well as a team and have just won the League that mob have a team of individuals who no matter the media hype struggle to defend and have a unproven manager.

[esquire8 42,336]

39 minutes ago, STEPPS BOY said:

The biggest shock for me is lack of concrete interest in Kamara.

He’d walk into any English team outwith Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man U and even at that, is Fred better than him?

Think he could play a part in any midfield bar Citys. Only thing I can think would put off suitors is us telling his agent what our price is therefor clubs being put off before even talking to us.

I understand the club setting their prices for players but if they prices are higher than the going rate then they'll never be able to sell anyone for profit. 

[The Blues 375]

We need to start moving players on. 97% player retention is far too high. 

[BridgeIsBlue 66,595]

4 minutes ago, The Blues said:

We need to start moving players on. 97% player retention is far too high. 

What if they're happy here and don't want to leave? 

[Bluekev 43,671]

1 hour ago, graeme_4 said:

I think the key questions are, 

- has our ‘best’ 11 got better?

- has our squad got better?

- have we offloaded those not involved / not wanted? 

- have our rivals closed the gap from last season?

No, Yes, Sort of, Yes - IMO. 

Still screaming out for a Davis succession plan. 

I don't think they've actually improved. They've got rid of Edouard and Christie, who I don't think are great but they're definitely better than most players in our league outside our squad. The players they've brought in are unknown. If that lad from the Dutch league is genuinely that good then I would have thought one of the top Dutch teams would have been in for him at that price. If they get a couple of injuries (which they will throughout the season) then they have no real squad depth unlike us.

[esquire8 42,336]

10 minutes ago, BridgeIsBlue said:

What if they're happy here and don't want to leave? 

If they are happy here and don't want to leave then sign new contracts that some have in front of them. 

We are a business at the end of the day.

[Smile 26,600]

28 minutes ago, The Blues said:

We need to start moving players on. 97% player retention is far too high. 

Players are not keen to leave winning teams and you cannot move players on if teams do not meet our valuations on players.

[docspiderman 1,220]

It is a long standing problem with us trying to offload players who are not good enough because no one in Scotland and the English lower leagues will pay any transfer fee or offer anywhere near our wages.

How many players have we paid off their contracts over the years just to move them out, even paying teams to take over contracts?

[BridgeIsBlue 66,595]

30 minutes ago, esquire8 said:

If they are happy here and don't want to leave then sign new contracts that some have in front of them. 

We are a business at the end of the day.

Goldson and Kamara have contracts on the table, so we're told anyway. 

[esquire8 42,336]

4 minutes ago, BridgeIsBlue said:

Goldson and Kamara have contracts on the table, so we're told anyway. 

That's what I meant.

[BridgeIsBlue 66,595]

Just now, esquire8 said:

That's what I meant.

Sometimes they take a while for a whole manner of reasons. 

Goldson has until December to sign a new deal or he can freely talk to other clubs after then, Kamara will be in the same situation next Xmas. 

[Heshootshescores 1,904]

It will be interesting to see what happens with both Goldson and Kamara now that the window has closed. Kamara especially so, as I would imagine the contract on the table will include substantially improved terms, over his current deal.

[The Specky Forum Organiser 64,428]

Not buying that nobody wanted our players.

If we were actively trying to move people on we could have got money for Goldson, Tav, Barisic, Helander, Patterson, Kamara, Hagi, Aribo, Morelos, Kent and Roofe.

Board have clearly taken a gamble on us winning the league again.

[BlueKnight87 17,280]

11 minutes ago, The Specky Liar said:

Not buying that nobody wanted our players.

If we were actively trying to move people on we could have got money for Goldson, Tav, Barisic, Helander, Patterson, Kamara, Hagi, Aribo, Morelos, Kent and Roofe.

Board have clearly taken a gamble on us winning the league again.

I expect there would have been offers on the table but they didn't match the valuations our board have set. 

I honestly expected at least 1 or 2 to be sold after the CL exit. 

The board are definitely going for league and automatic Champions league. They surely however must have a plan in case it doesn't come off.