craig

Wheat you on about ?

Scottish clubs will never be able to do this. The revenues don't support such a wage structure and there is the little thing known as Financial Fair Play. The revenue distribution of football is skewed towards the 5 big leagues - until and unless that changes there will be no "increase in the salary cap" as there can't be.

Borna hasn't deserved to be dropped as of late though, probably been best of a bad bunch

Zonal marking - and deserves to be in the bin.

Agreed. It isnt about spending money. I think we ALL could accept getting beat 4-0 by a more than decent Ajax team..... but to do so when they out-worked us should be a no-no. Effort, desire and application have nothing to do with finance and everything to do with mentality and determination.

Yes, he will. He wasnt at fault tonight. Poor defending, bad luck, poor physicality (from an obviously injured Tav) and awful passing cost the goals.

I had hopes of finishing 3rd in this group. That Napoli score, along with our own inept showing, shows that it was nothing more than a pipe dream

Bermuda brownies.....

It's brutal mate. Astounding how far we have fallen in such a short space of time.

Thought we played quite well

Munn had a cracker of a game against the Tims last week seemingly

Keeping scoreline, changing FGS to Sakala

Social media rumours that Evander has said he wants to come to us and not Galatasaray. Barkley also (obviously) now being rumoured to be coming to the SPFL, which means us or them clearly....

I didnt say the end of the window was the appropriate time to assess though. Tomorrow at midnight and all our business will have been done, which is why it is the appropriate time....... Aye, I am going to die on that hill......

Just wish we would hurry up and sign Barkley so we all can speak about a signing instead of me rambling about squad strength and finances etc

The time to appropriately assess is after midnight tomorrow

They did, that is correct. But we also lost our way when Gio arrived as he was trying to work out the players and style. Celtic are a strong team, no doubt. But so too are we. This is the way that the league, historically, was - two strong teams at battle. Our demotion put paid to competition. Our invincible season put paid to competition. But those years were outliers. There is huge risk to BOTH teams. Have they strengthened ? Probably. CCV and Jota were there last season anyway. At CB Jenz seems to have strengthened them but hasnt been tested yet. That new signing is a striker or a winger, right ? Which means Kyogo or Abada will get dropped/replaced/subbed. At the end of the day, football is 11 v 11. We only need Colak to remain fit all season if Morelos stays in the huff - but listening to GvB it would seem that Morelos has already knuckled down. We certainly don't have an established RW, but I am not one to get on the back of Wright - I actually think he is a decent player who gets a bad rap. And we also have Matondo there - we don't have the finance to have 3 players for a position. I would agree Re the #8 - but we have a TON of midfielders - we would, IMHO, need to see someone leave before we bring someone in for that position or we have too many midfielders. Personally, and I hate even saying it, Kamara would be the natural one to go as he and Lundstram together doesnt seem to regularly fit that well. That said, do we have the finance to bring someone in for that position AND retain Kamara ? Yeah, we do.

Justin Kluivert would have been interesting - off to Fulham for 5 mill euros and 4 mill add ons.

I remain unconvinced about the whole "we have to catch them up". Yes, they have started the season well, as have we given our numerous changes to playing staff, most of whom are starters. They won the league, yes, but even you yourself agreed that wouldnt have been the case but for poor officiating in the last OF at Ibrox where we lost 2-1 but were denied two stonewall penalties - if they were given we would have won the league. That ignores the many other instances. So, again, yes, they won the league but I don't see it as us needing to catch them up. I see it as us needing to be comfortable with the personnel we have, and the style in which we play. The signs are there and, much like them last season, it will take time to see just how good this squad will be. What I WILL say, at this point, is that we seem to be far more creative than we were last season. Can we strengthen ? Absolutely. Do we NEED to ? Depends on who is available - a RW would be great... but that also does a disservice to Matondo who has barely got his feet under the table. Another striker would be great - but why would we if Alfredo screws the nut ? Roofe reckons he is almost back (though we know he can't be relied upon consistently. A creative midfielder would be great, but Tillman and Lawrence can both play that role. I guess what we need to ask ourselves is what position really does need strengthening and who would actually be available within our budget, without breaking wage structure, in that position and would they be a significant upgrade ?

4-0 Rangers FGS Lawrence

Indeed we will. But regardless of result, I will still maintain that the best time for us to play them will be this first game. The only way it could have been better for us would have been if it was at Ibrox.

I dont see ANYONE ignoring how much we have brought in. Our better players we have sold are Aribo and Bassey. Aribo has, IMHO, been replaced, with Tillman. Indeed, one could argue that Tillman has had more of an effect already this season thab would have been expected from Aribo (I am NOT downplaying Aribo, big man was quality when he was on his game - but Tillman is a genuine replacement). And Bassey... we have spent over 3 million replacing him with Davies. The only other significant departure, though not one of our better players, is Itten - and he has definitely been replaced by a more prolific striker in Colak. So, yes, we sold our "better" players - but have we actually been weakened by their leaving ? At this point Tillman is showing he is more than an adequate replacement for Aribo (remembering he is only a handful of games in), and Davies obviously hasnt, as yet - but Sands has done a commendable job in their which doesnt really leave us short - and once Davies is fit and up to speed, should be more than an adequate replacement for Bassey. Lest we forget that many wanted Bassey to replace Borna rather than play CB - and if we were to consider Bassey a LB then we have also replaced him with Ridvan. Income far outweighing outlay is no reason to spend. Spend when you think you NEED to spend, not just because you have the funds to do so. I think our squad is in a strong position. That said, I think we could do with another striker and a creative mid - and if being greedy a RW. But I think our squad is strong. IMHO, we are stronger in the front positions given the additions of Colak, Tillman, Lawrence (who is a quality player), and that isnt including Matondo. Why do we need to spend money on our midfield when we have Lundstram and Kamara there ? We should only need 2 holding mids domestically (and away to the Tims) so why do we need more ? We also have Davis there - wee man is hardly ever injured. And Jack when not injured. RW, I would agree, but we have already spent decent money on a RW this pre-season - so now we want another and we will then have THREE RW in Matondo, Wright and AN Other ? How do you know that the manager hasnt said that he is happy with what he has ? Are you saying that the club havent backed Gio ? Are you saying we havent signed Colak, Matondo, Ridvan, Tillman, Lawrence, Davies this summer ? Surely Glen Kamara is the only example we need to know that you don't have to spend a ton of money to get a signing right ? Ridvan has, I believe, also got add-ons to the initial 4 million Euros.

Berghuis isnt as good as Antony, so even though he is adequate, he isnt Antony. The point, again, is that Antony leaves them weaker - and they dont have the time to integrate any replacements before we play them - which means they are at their weakest. I am not saying they won't be tough, I am saying that the first game is the best game to get them. Always respect your opponents, other than the Tims.

Point being, if they receive 90 million Euros they WILL be spending some of it. Whoever they spend it on would be expected to be a starter - but won't have the time to be up to speed before they play us next week. They also lost 5-3 to PSV recently - nothing to fear, even less so when their best player has just left.

Completely agree Re Simons. Boy was very good in his cameo and very dangerous. Having seen him now I am very glad he didnt get more game time. I have followed him for about a decade, since he was at La Masia - he used to come to Bermuda every summer and participate in a camp here for one of the local coaches who got to know him and his Dad - so I was always interested in his progress. Boy will be a star