Saint Garf

I'll be the grown man in the football top...

Fixed...

Talented young players are going to move onwards and upwards, it's part of supporting a smaller club, learn to live with it. Would you rather see guys like McGinn and McLean walk away for pennies, or would you rather we got the cash we deserve for them? Also, Hamilton had to use the money from the McArthy and McArthur deals to service their debt. We could put the majority of that money back into the playing squad.

Must be a joke...Motherwell are a decent side...

The reason we won't get such big transfer fees for our young players is that we cling to the fantasy that we have the slightest chance of holding on to them if a big club comes in. Hamilton knew that any player with half decent ability would leave eventually, so it's in their best interests to talk them up from day 1 to try and get a huge pay off when they inevitably leave. We talk our players down in the hope that the good ones might slip under the radar of the bigger clubs, it's not going to happen, their scouting networks are far too good. Make no mistake, all the Championship clubs will already be well aware of any decent young footballers in the SPL. But it's the ones with the huge hype in the media that they'll have to pay through the nose for. McHattie and McGowan from Hearts are prime examples, neither are as good as McGinn but Hearts have been making a big fuss about them since they broke into the first team, that fuss will eventually lead to a big transfer fee. I don't want to lose McGinn, but I'd also hate to think that playing in the SPL for St Mirren was the height of his ambitions, I just want us to be fairly compensated when he does go...

If the post about him being offered another youth contract is true, then it seems pretty straight forward. In the last 8 months or so, he's watched as Reilly, McGinn, Yaqub and Brady all sign professional deals, he clearly feels he deserves to sign on full time too and would rather take his chances elsewhere if he's not going to get the chance to do so. I haven't seen him enough to comment properly, but I have to say I've heard nothing but good things about him. Hopefully he, or the club, has a change of heart.

The away top from 09/10, all black with gold has to be my favorite. This years home and away kits were cracking. The blue away kit from 10/11 was terrible, also special mention to the orange away kit 98-99 and the half and half effort a few years before

Of any of the players who have been talked about as potential signings, he was the one I really hoped we got. He's a fantastic footballer. I have to say though, when McGowan signed I thought that would rule out a move for Harkins, in my mind he would have been perfect for that Gowser role behind the striker. Will be interesting to see if he gets pushed wide left or drops deeper into midfield. Either way I'm delighted he's signed up, definitely a player who adds quality to the squad...

Was dissapointed when we spent money on him. I then spent a season and a half hoping he would prove me wrong...never came close unfortunately. Hard working but never SPL standard...

Don't get me wrong, I'd like to have him at the club, just don't see it happening

With Hearts?

Are we going to have yellow names and numbers? (sorry if that's already been covered, didn't have time to read the whole thread)

I don't know how all the contracts and transfer fees etc will play out, all I know is, I've seen Tidser a few times and always been impressed by him. Would like to see him in black and White

Get him signed if he's available...he's better than what we have, so it seems simple enough to me...He may be on a decent pay at Hearts but if they're letting him go, he's going to have to expect to take a wage cut... Get in there first Danny, he's what we need...

If this had showed up in the rumour mill it would have been a case of, "sounds good, won't happen"... I think most clubs in the SPL would have happily taken a punt on a young player like this. At 21 he's already played a fair bit of first team football and gained positive reviews at quite a high level. Looks like we have very little to lose here, and potentially a fair bit to gain! Welcome to the Saints Esmael!

Take him back in a second...great player, seems unlikely because of wages, but you never know, a short term deal could be mutually beneficial.

All sounds good...now if they could go ahead and send us a centre-half and a striker, that would be just lovely...

Shuggie's a tough player, but he's also a great professional. In all the years he was a St Mirren player, I'd never seen him duck out of a 50/50, but I simply don't believe that he would go into a challenge with the intention of hurting anyone. It's a real shame that the guy's suffered a terrible injury but it doesn't make Shuggie a thug. A poor tackle, maybe, an act of thuggery? I don't think so...

That's a brilliant idea. I used to coach kids football and that would have been perfect. There were only about 12 kids in my team, as there are in most teams in the lower age groups. This would mean that at the start of the season we could have contacted the club telling them we were interested in bringing the kids to watch, they send us a smartcard for each kid and one for each coach. A couple of weeks before a game like, say ICT or Ross County at home, the club email us saying that the cards have been charged with tickets for the match and all we have to do is turn up with the kids on the Saturday. Much simpler than the old free tickets from McDonalds scheme, and a lot easier to gauge how many kids will be coming to the game.

Dummett sounds like a good prospect, the source of the information seems pretty reliable too. A loan deal could be a great bit of business for us.

I noticed they've put the squad numbers up and haven't assigned a number 3...maybe a natural left-back in the pipeline?

They've been monitoring the situation with the CIC for 2 years, they therefore must have been aware of the deadlines in place as far as fund raising goes, and they are an organisation who could commit to a meaningful and long term investment. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're interested and I would welcome any support they could give us, but if the we'd known a few weeks ago that the council were considering making a contribution then surely it would have made an already strong bid even stronger. So what's been the hold up?

Muse - Map of the Problematique Got my tickets for October Don't know how to post a video or I would...

Agreed, just what I heard...

Overheard someone at the game on Saturday say the we were in for O'Connor. Apparently he's the mystery SPL based striker, can't see there being any substance to it, but this is the speculation thread so I just wondered if anyone else had heard similar?