Saint Garf

Some folk on here would love that...The window doesn't shut for a while yet, even then, it's likely that any players we sign will be free agents, meaning the closure of the transfer window is irrelevant. Yes, I would like us to have done the business by now, but we haven't, the worst thing we could possibly do is waste what little cash we have signing someone just for the sake of it...I'd much rather we waited a week or 2 and got the right man for the job...

Good stuff, hope it comes off

I think that could probably be put down to lazy journalists trawling fans forums looking for something to fill their rumour columns. But time will tell I suppose. Don't get me wrong, he's a good player, just seems like he'll be a big player in their first team this season and I don't see why they'd loan him out to anyone

Most of them would probably be too expensive for us. Of the ones we could afford, none would be fantastic signings. I suppose there are worse players in the world than Colin Nish...Andy Barrowman, for example...

When i hear a rumour like this I'd usually say something along the lines of "love to see it happen, but it seems unlikely"...but this one's a total fantasy, the fact that it's had 8 pages of discussion is baffling...

I suppose he'll just need to be. We've tried McAusland there before and it didn't work. Other than that you're looking at playing one of the youngsters from the start, may not be the worst thing, but it would really be a baptism of fire for any of them.

...while I'm at it, will people wrap it with this "we need to sign a centre half" pish...we have Mair, McAusland, Goodwin, McGregor, Barron, Naismith, Kelly and Van Zanten, who have all, at one time or another, played at centre half, throw in Grainger and that's 9 options. Now, you can argue 'til you're blue in the face about the quality of these players, but the fact is, they're here, they're all getting paid, and with our budget, there's no way in hell we would use up a wage on another centre half, it's not going to happen, get over it...

I think people need to calm down a bit. Let's face it...McGowan re-signing is better than any player we could have dreamed of bringing in, Grainger is by far the best available left back within our price range, I also think Harkins is a class act and I don't think we'll miss any of the players who were allowed to leave. So, with that said, if we get a striker and maybe a natural left mid, or an attacking mid to let Harkins play wide left, we'll have a strong squad and I'd be pretty chuffed with our business in the transfer market...

It's 1 goal against a non-league side...I wouldn't think that in itself would change our chances of getting them

I don't get the people who say they don't rate him, how can you judge him on what we saw the other night? He wasn't on for a very long time and, for what it's worth, I was actually quite impressed, didn't have a lot of the ball, but didn't put a foot wrong when he did. Some people are just determined to moan about things.

It was a good battle between the 2 tonight,

Yeah, I was sitting just across the tunnel from the boy, it was a nice touch to give him his top, and the whole Newcastle bench looked genuinely concerned, one of the coaches went up to see him before half time and Connor Newton also spoke to the kid from the tunnel. I think Tiote felt like a bit of a shit to be honest, it seemed to me like he'd smashed the ball out of the park in a bit of a huff after not getting a free kick shortly before, but, obviously, hadn't thought it through and didn't mean to hurt anyone. Did the right thing, and the boy seemed ok in the end.

I have to say it crossed my mind that the Newcastle staff couldn't have helped being impressed with Reilly tonight. Not just with the performance he put in, but with his confidence and composure. He was assured enough to take on these top class players. He really didn't look out of his depth, and that's after just a handful of appearances for the first team. Had high hopes for him last season and he was very unlucky with his injury. Could be a very important player for us this time around.

Well I'm going with my Uncle and 3 of my friends. None of the 5 of us were going to go until it was announced the first team were coming up. 1 of my pals isn't even a Saints fans, just wants to see the Newcastle players, and I'm sure he's not the only one. Could be a decent turn out.

They just paid £200,000 for a player, if they've got the funds to make any similar sort if bid for McAusland then they'll get to at least talk to him. Whether he decides to go or not is a different thing.

We already know about Newton, and Campbell sounds promising, would be delighted to see this happen.

Harkins looks like a class act. Was delighted when he signed and it doesn't look like he's going to disappoint. I think we're now just a left winger and a striker away from a pretty strong squad.

I had decided not to go, but, as always, I'm now considering it. I'm sure by Friday night I'll have fully talked myself into it.

I heard this the other day, someone told me he would be playing against Q.O.S. as a trialist, but it doesn't seem to make much sense having just signed Grainger. I assumed he was on stand by if the deal for Grainger didn't happen.

He's a far better left back than I thought we would get, in fact, from all the SPL free agents this season, the 2 guys I really thought would improve the squad were Harkins and Grainger, so all good on that front. Now we need a striker and a natural left winger to complete the squad. Although the defence has been poor so far, I actually have faith that it will sort itself out, the addition of Grainger is a huge plus, and the guys who are already there know each other well, so should be able to get it together

Would be a great signing

I have to say I was just using Dundee as an example of the smaller teams we face, if he played a blinder against them I apologise. I agree about the Andy Millen character in the coaching team. I think bringing in Tommy Craig was a good move, and has gone some of the way to addressing it. Some players will take note, some will refuse to be helped unfortunately

Carey has talent but, sadly, not as much as he thinks he does. He gave the impression of being a big game player, usually saving his best performances for the toughest matches, but in my opinion the only thing that changed for him in these games was his attitudes towards the opposition. For me, his best game for us was the semi-final against Celtic, why? Because he knew he was up against a good winger and that meant he stayed focused and kept things simple for the full match. He put in a solid defensive display and looked very comfortable. However, when it came to playing against Dundee, Kilmarnock, Ross County etc, he fancied himself a little too much. He got caught on the ball trying to repeatedly skin his man and wasted possession constantly attempting 40 yard Hollywood passes. If he could play every match with the approach he took when facing a top winger then he would be an asset at left back, unfortunately, when we play a smaller team he seems determined to prove he's the next Dani Alves... I was disappointed to see him leave, because he has potential, but he also had a lot to learn about defending, and required a serious attitude adjustment...

No it's a different League. Haven't played any if those teams before

I would play depending on when the games where, would probably have to be mid-week for me to make it.