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Posts posted by ascender
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I think Weir's the best CB we have if we're looking for the "safe" option of someone who is fit & reliable, not to mention the fact he has vast experience and seems to be a calming influence on those around him. Its a sad indictment of some of our defenders, but I think he'd still be the first name on the teamsheet, albeit alongside someone younger like Berra or Webster.
I don't think his fitness is a problem as such, but he is slowing down obviously. His selection (for us as well) is a trade-off, looking at his other abilities and accepting that he's not the quickest and has poor distribution. But it looks like Levein would rather have that than some of the other car-crash defenders who've played for national side recently.
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Their respective styles of play and attributes are too different which is why I thought they complimented each other very well. However, I thought Miller improved a lot last season, so if he continues like that, then its a no-brainer for me.
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I agree Craig. Weiss may only have been on the pitch for 25 minutes or so, but during that time, it was the most exciting Gers debut I can remember in a very long time. And certainly the first time in years where I've seen a player in the blue jersey who can actually take players on and beat them. Can't wait to see more of the lad and that's given me some real hope for the season ahead tbh.
Watching on tv, I thought Edu had a stinker btw. He seemed off the pace and mis-placed loads of passes, many of which looked like really simple and routine ones.
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Miller for me with Naismith a close runner up.
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I don't envy his job when it comes to transfers, he's damned if he does (speak to the press) and damned if he doesn't. There was clear frustration amongst fans at the silence surrounding our potential targets this close season, but when details do start to get released about something like the Jelavic deal you then get some complaining that we shouldn't be doing our business in public.
I think Jelavic apart, we've gone about things in a much more dignified (not the right word but I'm having a blonde moment) way than the past, keeping things close to our chest almost until signings are announced which is how it used to be years ago.
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Don't think I did a single one last season Frankie, am happy to try one again if you want.
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Really must learn about those player pics.....
Hopefully Davis can stay central alongside one of McCulloch or Edu, with Weiss on one side and maybe Whittaker on the other? Problem is I can't see WS dropping his two holding midfielders.
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Did all 4 trialists not play against Partick Thistle at Murray Park and apparently Walter came out and said it was unlikley any would be given contracts?
Not sure if this was just paper talk though..
That was an article in the Evening Times and said as much without a single quote from WS.
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Interesting article on Bellamy in the Guardian online today, just saying that regardless of your opinion of him and the way he does it, he stands up for what he believes in and says what he thinks which is refreshing in this day and age. It also mentions the work he's been doing in Sierra Leone where he's got a football academy project going and isn't afraid to spend time or money on the thing to make sure it runs properly.
As the interview drew to a close and the tape recorder was turned off, the Premier League "enforcer" sitting on the other side of a canteen table reiterated an important point. "You'll make it clear I don't aim to hurt people," he said. "Except Craig Bellamy ââ?¬â?? of course." The coldness in his eyes suggested it was not even a half-joke.In these boringly discreet days such candour is extremely unusual but pantomime villains are rarely painted in more stereotypical colours than Cardiff City's latest signing. With the possible exception of David Beckham, few British footballers arouse more powerful emotions. Were CS Lewis still around to redraft the Chronicles of Narnia as a 21st‑century football fantasy, Becks and Bellers would surely serve as evocative symbols of good and evil.
Or perhaps not. Beckham may have Princes William and Harry as well as politicians of all persuasions crowding in his corner, he may have helped win us the Olympics and look like helping secure the 2018 World Cup, yet Bellamy is a wonderful role model too.
True he has a few more character blemishes ââ?¬â?? if not tattoos ââ?¬â?? than Beckham but throwing a chair at the former Newcastle United coach John Carver, attacking John Arne Riise with a golf club, giving Roberto Mancini persistent headaches and sending Alan Shearer abusive text messages do not necessarily make the Wales striker a wrong 'un.
Instead they reflect admittedly immature manifestations of an intense hatred of hypocrisy, passionate, if sometimes brutal, honesty and an essentially healthy willingness to question authority.
On planet football such traits serve as shorthand for subversion but in Sierra Leone they are regarded as heroic. Amid the shanty towns of one of the world's poorest countries idols do not come bigger than the striker Sir Bobby Robson dubbed "the gobbiest footballer I've ever met".
It all started when Bellamy blithely ignored Liverpool's warning that a summer holiday in Freetown was really not a good idea and, out of glorious curiosity, boarded a west Africa-bound flight. Since then scores of children have seen their lives transformed beyond all measure by the hundreds of thousands of pounds the Welshman keeps pouring into his self‑founded Freetown football foundation. Much more than a mere glory factory, it makes stringent academic and social demands of those it rescues from poverty with standards maintained by annual fortnight-long visits from Bellamy.
"Sierra Leone's infra-structure is so weak everyone said Craig was crazy," recalls Tom Vernon, the inspirational founder of Ghana's famous Right to Dream academy and the man Bellamy chose to kick-start his project. "Fortunately he didn't listen ââ?¬â?? and I have to say Craig is one of the most businesslike people I've ever met."
Such rigour extends to an insistence that potential new African employees are flown to the UK for personal interview by Bellamy. Such diligence does not surprise Eddie Niedzwiecki. "Craig's a perfectionist ââ?¬â?? and he gets frustrated when others don't meet his standards," the former Manchester City coach says. "But the thing people often don't understand is that he's a team player. It's not all about him."
England's former captain is also a perfectionist, but the difference is that, all too often, "Mr Posh" revels in seeing assorted worlds revolve around Brand Beckham.
I'll never forget being in Beijing's Workers' Stadium ââ?¬â?? supposedly a citadel to communism ââ?¬â?? alongside thousands of adoring Chinese wearing identical Beckham T-shirts as he made his Real Madrid debut on a pre-season tour. Or, a few days later, standing in the lobby of Tokyo's Four Seasons Hotel as security guards strained to prevent hundreds of hysterical women from literally getting their hands on him. One girl had even brought her tiny baby along, in the hope Beckham might perform a "blessing".
Later that evening LuÃ?Âs Figo and company looked on askance as their new team-mate permitted a Japanese flunkey to protect his head from teeming rain by dashing on to the pitch with an umbrella at the final whistle.
Bellamy would have told "umbrella man" where to go ââ?¬â?? which probably explains why he lives in south Wales rather than southern California. Joining Cardiff may waste a very real, very precious, talent in much the same way that representing LA Galaxy has hardly enhanced Beckham's twilight years. Yet at least it is a loan move informed by the romantic idealism implicit in fulfilling a lifelong desire to play for his hometown club.
There are far worse role models.
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The one day I get up early and bugger off up a hill, I'm not on here hitting refresh every 5 minutes to see if something's changed.... come back and we've nearly signed two players. Well done everyone!
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No quotes so bold statement from ET...
Was about to say that Frankie, not one actual quote from Walter.
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I think what happens a lot just now is that someone reads a rumour on a forum and then mentions it to a mate without saying where it came from. Rumour then spreads further and can end up back on the internet via someone completely different, therefore increasing strength of original rumour and/or even makes it as far as one of the papers.
I thought Miller had a great season last year, one of our most important players, so we should be doing all we can to keep him. I'm very impressed with how he has dealt with the return to us tbh as there was a lot of ill feeling towards him for the obvious reasons.
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Another positive piece of news isn't it? Making sure our first team regulars are tied down on longer term contracts so we don't have another Boyd situation.
Playing for the Gers still has a lot of things going for it as does living in Scotland. We might not be able to compete financially with England now, but I don't think we should underestimate how happy a lot of our team appear to be at the moment. Seems to be a real sense of team spirit about the place.
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Do we know what the wages cap means? I don't think anyone can doubt there's one in place, as that was one of Bain's first jobs was to get the wage budget under control and then cut it down further to sensible levels. So we clearly have a strict wage structure just now which means, for example, that 15K per week is the max wage we'll pay.
But I'm assuming the details of Boyd's contract just confirmed that player bonuses - appearance and goal ones for example - come from a separate pot of money so to speak. I think that's why we have to take things with a pinch of salt when it comes to how much a player's wage actually is.
Boyd obviously didn't want to stay and I think regardless of the player, we don't want to set a precedent by breaking the wage structure for anyone. I think we need to realign our expectations of the sort of players we may sign, but as WS has shown over the last couple of years, that's doesn't necessarily mean we can't continue to enjoy domestic success. The thing that makes me a bit more nervous than anything just now is that WS is going to step down. If we are going to continue with a smaller core team supplemented by younger players, I'd rather we keep WS in place as he has that special something which means he gets the best from players, particularly when it comes to the SPL.
I agree with Bmck, all this is interesting stuff to chat and speculate about, but there's so little actual facts known, that its just that, speculation, at the end of the day.
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Hooray!
Been a while since we've seen pics like that. Sounds like he has a point to prove and by taking a big wage cut has some ambition.... hope he proves me right.
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He played well last season and given he can do a job in a few positions will always be someone handy to have in the squad. Is FF going in to meltdown I take it?
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We've had a very strict wage structure in place for years now apart from a few exceptions who are now gone, so I don't think his wages will be what he's used to!
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Miller seems very happy and is playing the best football of his career at the moment. Normally that would set the alarm bells ringing, but he's not done well in England by comparison and now there's also concerns about shin splints. Besides, Strachan doesn't have room for any more strikers.
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I've said it before, but as far as the SPL goes, I think any half decent striker can score a lot of goals for us. However, that's more dependent on the number and quality of chances being created for him and that's where I think we've struggled a bit in recent years.
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So we're officially in for Beattie & Smith now.
Flying Hippo - I think it would mean the writing is on the wall for Lafferty before Miller. Especially if Smith is being signed to play wide.
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32 isn't that old you know. Besides, we're going into a season where it looks like we'll be using more young players than every before in some role, so I don't think its worth worrying about having the odd older player in the squad.
As far as the finances go, do we really know any more than we did 12 months ago? From what I can see its the same rumours from the same sources, while what's being said in public by various people from the club continues to muddy the waters further.
Of course the current situation doesn't inspire me with confidence, but we still have WS in charge and the spine of a team more than capable of winning the SPL. We just have to put some trust in WS now to bring in the players to strengthen as he sees fit. There's been some times where I've not been his biggest fan, but he's earned faith in him by his achievements since he got back.
There's so many things to talk about at the club just now as regards finances, scottish football, transfer fees, wage budget etc but its almost worth separating those from the chat about individual players as we're basing so much on stuff which isn't fact or which we choose to believe from papers.
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One positive aspect to look at is that if he does sign, he'll be taking a massive pay cut to do so which at least shows he has some sort of urge to keep playing football, win trophies etc as he could probably get more money with any other Championship side. A bit more of a physical presence up front wouldn't do us any harm.
There you go, glass half full I am.
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Why has this guy's value jumped so much over the last week or so? Are there now other clubs interested so the price is being bumped up?
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So according to a few papers this morning we're looking to sign James Beattie and he'll be in Glasgow today.
If only I'd noticed the 3 page thread below.....
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Utrecht v Celtic
in General Football Chat
Posted
Hilarious stuff and it couldn't have happened to a nicer man.
So many questions.... Will this mean they're going to be more of a challenge in the league with less games to play? I see they're being linked with another couple of players this morning, will that still happen? How are they going to be able to afford all these players, let alone keep them happy?
I still can't believe what Mowbray and Lennon have done in terms of dismantling the spine of a team and replacing it (twice). The one big positive for us is that we still have the core of a team who've been together (and been winning together) for a few years now, regardless of others who've left or come in.
On the flip side of gloating, its been another miserable night for Scottish clubs and our coefficient, which really is worrying given the state of the SPL. I only hope that the end result of all this down-sizing is that our new business model is based on us not qualifying for the CL each year.