Thistle Transfer Targets Gossip, Summer 2014

[Big Dan]

Arguably worse in terms of squad depth but then I think the manager realised the team he assembled last Summer wasn't good enough hence why Baird & Forbes left the club along with bringing in another centre half.

 

So since the end of last season we've lost arguably our most consistent player over past couple of seasons- ATS- & have not replace him despite him indicating he'd be off at the end of his current contract.

 

We've released the player that the management team saw as the answer to our central defensive 'problems' last Summer & in Jan - Lee Mair.

 

We've lost out on a player that we'd like to have kept after his loan spell but not only that, a position that the manager was looking to further strengthen last Summer but couldn't get anyone else in after John Baird.

 

Also from last Summer's squad we've signed Gary Fraser permanently now which is a fantastic signing imo but that's tempered with the fact that Sean Welsh's injury problems seem to be never ending.

 

We were short going into the Autumn last season, the manager & the BoD realised that & rectified it in Jan with Taylor, Baubem, Erskine & Mair. We've replaced them, so far, with Stevenson.

 

Last week it was bad enough that we were t linked with anyone & had trialists like Barr & Magnay but this week we have Jim Paterson.

 

I agree that the quality is better at present but we still need a few permanent or loan signings. We have the young guys from the under 20's who (hopefully) can make the step up. Mukendi, Kerr and Baird last season were proven not to be effective and at least we seem to be having a serious look at players on trial before offering them a contract.

 

It would be fantastic if we could go out and sign and targeted players like Lyle Taylor but we have to accept that if we want to avoid the dire financial consequences of Dundee, Morton, Livingston etc. that we will have to rely on finds like Higgy.

 

Players like ATS and SOD were young guys that we gave the opportunity to and we were rewarded for it and that is probably the future for us.

 

I hope that we can make at least three signings soon (LB, CB and striker), the rest we can cope with from within the squad.

[The Prince of Kadriorg]

On the basis of players we've been linked with rather than signed I'm not going to bother going to games this season.

Don't know if you've come to right place applying sarcasm and implying logic in the same post. Man the lifeboats we're all doomed!!

[Derby Jag]

Personally don't see how you can say we are stronger than the squad that finished the season

 

Assuming everyone fit I think we could have gone for something like this from last seasons squad

 

Gallagher

McMillan

Mair

Balatoni

ATS

Fraser

Osbourne

Bannigan

Higginbotham

Erskine

Taylor

 

Whilst you could also pick from the likes of Welsh, Doolan, O'Donnell, Craigen, Buaben, Elliot

 

Currently we have

 

Gallagher

O'Donnell

Muirhead

Balatoni

McMillan

Fraser

Welsh

Bannigan

Stevenson

Higginbotham

Doolan

 

With craigen, Elliot, Gabriel and host of younger guys as back up.

 

I'm not too worried as I think we will make signings but the lack of news and players we are linked at is concerning.

 

People turning up their noses at signings by rivals is a bit arrogant IMO. Right now the likes of Cairney, McGowan, Harkins, Ferry, McPake and Miller would add a lot to our squad. Most of these guys have experience of doing things greater in the game than any of our team except Gallagher and Stevenson whether that be playing top 6 football, winning cups or playing relatively high levels down south.

 

I think we need to sign a CB, LB and CM that will be starters and amongst the best players in the team. We also need a striker and AM who are at a similar level to what we have to say we have a better squad than last year.

[Alan Murray]

Dundee and Hamilton have a lot of players that look championship standard for me. I would be disappointed if we are below either of them at the end of the season.

 

A few signings at Dundee look not bad. If they can keep Thomson fit then he will be the best of them.

 

I would have been happy if we had signed Lee Miller. Not as good as Taylor though.

Edited July 18, 2014 by Alan Murray

[Derby Jag]

Dundee and Hamilton have a lot of players that look championship standard for me. I would be disappointed if we are below either of them at the end of the season.

 

A few signings at Dundee look not bad. If they can keep Thomson fit then he will be the best of them.

 

I would have been happy if we had signed Lee Miller. Not as good as Taylor though.

 

They will both be able to look at us and think our Championship players, on the whole, made the step up. I'm sure the majority Premiership team's fans would have been confident of finishing ahead of us last year with our largely unheard of team and signings of the calibre of Kerr and Baird.

 

We done well last year but are building from 10th and I think will need to be better than last year to finish in that position again. Right now, I fear, we are weaker than last year.

 

We will make signings in the coming weeks, and hopefully they are of a caliber that will improve our current squad as Archie has indicated he is wanting.

[yoda-jag]

some posters need to stock up on these, think i do

 

[proudjag]

I am sick to death of this nonsense, criticising lack of transfer activity, get a grip!

 

There is just under 4 weeks till our first league match another 6 weeks of transfer window. I am in no doubt Archie will fill the gaps in our squad. Stop with the bloody knicker wetting

[Mr Bunny]

Respect your opinion LIB but Darren Barr had a torrid 3 years at Hearts , released by Kilmarnock after a year hardly inspiring , Jim Paterson is now 35 years old hardly the future, can't really understand why we can't now compete with the teams around about us in terms of finance as we're probably on a level footing with most of them .

 

Are we? I reckon Ross County have a 'sugar daddy' and no residual debt. Killie, St Mirren etc have been in the top league longer than us and have sorted out their finances (to some degree anyway) - and Dundee seem to be in spend, spend mode.

 

We haven't established ourselves yet and we still have debt. We're making an effort to keep our spending - and hence debt - under control and reduce it if possible. (And all these other clubs got 100K to 300K more than us in prize money). That means we'll have the smallest budget in the league (apart maybe from Hamilton) and will be the least attractive club to many players (again maybe except for Hamilton).

 

All that being the case it's not surprising we're a bit slow getting players in - better to wait a bit and get the right player than rush and sign for signing's sake.

 

It doesn't mean we can't have a good team. It just means we have to be careful how we spend - not just in getting decent quality in but in getting players who fit into our team style and with the right attitude.

[Derby Jag]

I don't think it's knicker wetting to point out that right now we are weaker than we were at the end of the season and that our nearest rivals are strengthening with players which would improve our squad.

 

I said I have faith in Archie and know we will make the signings just that we are starting to leave it a bit late and really need 4/5 high quality players to come in and improve us.

[lady-isobel-barnett]

I don't think it's knicker wetting to point out that right now we are weaker than we were at the end of the season and that our nearest rivals are strengthening with players which would improve our squad.

 

I said I have faith in Archie and know we will make the signings just that we are starting to leave it a bit late and really need 4/5 high quality players to come in and improve us.

 

Everyone's levels will be different but I would term Stevenson to be "high quality". There's no way I've ever imagined we would make another 4 or 5 signings anywhere near his level. Maybe a further one, possibly two. The rest if indeed we do bring in a total of five will include a couple of young lads with potential and a couple of experienced players whose best days could well be behind them.

[Derby Jag]

I would agree about Stevenson

 

What I was saying was based on my previous post where we will definitely need to replace Mair, ATS and Osbourne who were arguably our best players in there respective positions. The mair replacement in particular needs replaced with better than we had and the other two we need to match as best we can.

 

I also think we need an AM and striker who are of high enough quality to challenge for positions.

[mhs]

I also think we need an AM

 

I have a feeling Erskine will be back to fill that slot, probably on loan again.

[Tom Hosie]

That's another 20 minutes passed without a new signing and even longer since we've been linked with a player.

[ayrshire jag]

County bring in 3 (2 Dutch guys and one from Leicester), Alan Gow training at ICT, Just saying.

Maybe we should look at the juniors could just be in our budget range.

[dougie247]

The reference to pant wetting is a bit insulting tbh.. Surely on a forum we are allowed to discuss our thoughts?

Im sure Archie had targets lined up.. What im also pretty sure of now is that he only got Stevenson out of his original pick and now we are sifting through whatever else is available.

 

Being an Archie supporter i have confidence that he will get in the faces that we need.. Though i am a bit irked that having known ATS was off he didn't have a solid plan for our LB spot.. and im sure many people feel the same.

[ifu03340]

County bring in 3 (2 Dutch guys and one from Leicester), Alan Gow training at ICT, Just saying.

Maybe we should look at the juniors could just be in our budget range.

Why? Did we bid for these players and lose out because we couldn't afford them. Would Alan Gow be an inspired signing who would propel us into the Top6 ...or... should we hang fire and hopefully get another Higginbottom? Surely that risk is worth it rather than an Alan Gow whos agent whore him about during every transfer window.

[robphil]

The reference to pant wetting is a bit insulting tbh.. Surely on a forum we are allowed to discuss our thoughts?

Im sure Archie had targets lined up.. What im also pretty sure of now is that he only got Stevenson out of his original pick and now we are sifting through whatever else is available.

 

Being an Archie supporter i have confidence that he will get in the faces that we need.. Though i am a bit irked that having known ATS was off he didn't have a solid plan for our LB spot.. and im sure many people feel the same.

too true it's insulting. having renewed my season ticket looking forward to the 'better class of player' scott paterson assured us would be heading up the garscube road if we maintained out premier league status, our dealings (so far!) have been disappointing save the obvious exception of ryan stevenson.

archie may well find another 'higgy' in the weeks ahead but where else but the fans' forum should we voice our concerns/hopes/dreams whatever?

[Norgethistle]

I've flown in from Norway today demanding signings, we need to demonstrate at tomorrow's game

 

Sack the board, Archie out, Gus McPherson for manager

 

 

 

 

Let's chill folks, Dundee have built a whole team.....how often does that gel? Ross C have lost the big loan deals they had, plus still have Adams in charge, Killie have lost Boyd, Caley have Hughes........ We'll be fine and with a few well thought out signings we could be great, but they need to be right and affordable

[proudjag]

I've flown in from Norway today demanding signings, we need to demonstrate at tomorrow's game

 

Sack the board, Archie out, Gus McPherson for manager

 

 

 

 

Let's chill folks, Dundee have built a whole team.....how often does that gel? Ross C have lost the big loan deals they had, plus still have Adams in charge, Killie have lost Boyd, Caley have Hughes........ We'll be fine and with a few well thought out signings we could be great, but they need to be right and affordable

 

Finally some sense and reason

[Bleeding Gums Murphy]

Higginbotham was indeed a very good signing but it took him a while to get up to speed/full fitness because he missed pre season.

 

You see many other players saying they'll be better after a full pre season.

 

We've been told by the club they want signings early. The window opened the beginning of June & we've now completed 3 weeks of pre season.

 

We now are getting more trialists in the door which tends to suggest decisions won't be made on these players for a couple of weeks but at the same time it's unlikely we'd get these boys in if we're going to imminently make a signing in their position.

 

So when does it stop being 'early'?

[twinny]

Apologies for the confusion. Seems the standard of competition in the Conference is better in Mr Magnays opinion. From his quote it is unclear whether he thinks Thistle are a better standard than Conference level or not.

"There were SPL options for me, and I actually went up and trained with Partick Thistle," he added.

 

"But I found when I was up there that the Conference is probably a more competitive league, and there really isn't much between the standards.

 

Competitiveness has nothing to do with the standard.

[Hopeless Unbeliever]

Last year we signed Osbourne on 31st July and Higgy in early August. We'd lost Erskine and Paton and their replacements were Baird, Kerr and Mukendi. Yes I'd like it if we'd signed up more players of the calibre of Stevenson, but Archie is obviously being careful with his budget having learned lessons from last summer. I'm happier in our position than in almost any of our rivals positions, we've made one signing and it's arguably the best of last season's bottom 6 plus newly promoted clubs.

 

Good players become available, players who thought they might get a deal elsewhere fall in to our price range (Osbourne) or clubs are more flexible regarding players under contract (Higgy). It's a 38 game season and I'd much rather have a Higginbotham who was up to speed for 34-35 games than a Baird who was 'up to speed' for all 38.

[jlsarmy]

Last year we signed Osbourne on 31st July and Higgy in early August. We'd lost Erskine and Paton and their replacements were Baird, Kerr and Mukendi. Yes I'd like it if we'd signed up more players of the calibre of Stevenson, but Archie is obviously being careful with his budget having learned lessons from last summer. I'm happier in our position than in almost any of our rivals positions, we've made one signing and it's arguably the best of last season's bottom 6 plus newly promoted clubs.

 

Good players become available, players who thought they might get a deal elsewhere fall in to our price range (Osbourne) or clubs are more flexible regarding players under contract (Higgy). It's a 38 game season and I'd much rather have a Higginbotham who was up to speed for 34-35 games than a Baird who was 'up to speed' for all 38.

That seems like a really dangerous strategy to implement , kind of hoping that maybe some players become available or get the best of what's left out there , we got away with it last year but would Archie have let Steven Craig go in the knowledge that he wouldn't get Lyle Taylor till January , I'm not so sure . Surely it would be better if Archie gave Maxi or David Beattie a list of targets to go after when the season ended, the priority obviously a centre half , left back and another forward , I'm sure we're not party to everything that's going on at Firhill and hopefully there's deals going on which they haven't got over the line yet.

[The Prince of Kadriorg]

Seems James Rodriguez is about to sign for Real Madrid. What sort of ambition are thistle showing if we can't compete with the current European Cup holders? I'd burn my season ticket if I'd been to collect it yet.

[BowenBoys]

Seems James Rodriguez is about to sign for Real Madrid. What sort of ambition are thistle showing if we can't compete with the current European Cup holders? I'd burn my season ticket if I'd been to collect it yet.

 

A panic buy. Rodriguez is yet to prove himself at this level. No doubt it will appease the knicker wetters on the Real forum. He could find himself at Raith Rovers before the end of the season.