ascender

This story seems to be gathering pace now, so I'm assuming he's one of the 3 players along with Carroll who WS was still wanting to sign.

No, I don't think he is the solution. We badly need a central midfielder who can play like Fergie did before he went to Blackburn. I'm still pretty down about how defensive our central midfield is, especially when Hemdani, Fergie and Thomson are all in there.

I think Hutton is actually giving us more attacking options since he started to come on to a game. As well as getting forward, he's actually improved his final ball in to the box. So maybe the thinking with Whittaker is that it will allow him and Hutton to both get forward with one covering the other.

I also think Scott Brown could have been the ideal signing, but I guess only time will tell how that decision pans out.

I think Whittaker has played both positions for Hibs.

McCoist at his peak and playing in England? 15M or so probably. Depends on who he was playing for and stuff, but someone who can score goals is priceless.

Maybe the Naismith deal isn't dead after all. A few people have posted online this afternoon a version of events which I heard last night. Apparently on Wednesday morning we faxed through an offer to Killie which was exactly as they wanted in terms of money (1M + add-ons) and structure. Later that day they came back and said they wanted 1.5M + add-ons at which point we told them to get stuffed.

Apparently Naismith isn't happy at all, which has then led to the stories/rumours coming out about how he really wants to come here.

Fook, that was quick. We've actually signed him?!

Welcome to Rangers Roy Carroll.

Its a one year deal, so i guess its being seen as a chance to prove himself and see if he can get the number 1 jersey from McGregor. I'm not quite sure how that'll happen actually as I can't see him getting much of a chance. I hope he proves his doubters wrong about his ability.

what do you say boyd is worth? just a question

That's an interesting one considering how little he's rated by some fans. No doubting we got him on the cheap in the first place as Scottish football's reputation was at an all time low and we were just coming out the other end with young talent starting to come through and the end of Berti Vogts.

I think this is his big season. He's making the right noises about trying to improve his fitness and he played well against the Faroes by putting in a decent shift which was practically unheard of before. I would have 2.5 - 3M in today's market, maybe 4 if he improves this season and continues to bang them in. But only because he's playing in the SPL. If he was scoring that amount in the Championship, he'd be going for double that probably.

Not sure if there's anything in this. WS has said (I think) that he's on the lookout for another keeper now that Robinson is away on loan, so it might be papers doing guess work here as Carroll is on a free.

No, if he doesn't want to go to a certain club, then he can just sit and wait. So if he does really only want to play for us, then its in Killie's interest to sort a deal out to sell him. Otherwise he could wait out his contract and leave on a free, he might have a bad season and his value could drop etc.

1.8 million

 

Id rather go for someone out of the SPL. Players like this wont improve us. We should have a better set of players than Hibs. If a Hibs player is coming to us and getting in the first team than says we are average.

Do you not think though that's part of the problem, that we have been very average over the last few years? Whittaker seems to have been a better right sided player than Burke, Novo or Sionko for example.

Was this not how the transfer market used to work in Scotland before the influx of foreigners, where we'd often sign up the better players from other Scottish clubs?

As for the guy himself, he is very highly rated and can go forward as well as covering back, so that combination might work well with him and Hutton.

Our offer has now been withdrawn and Smith has a dig at Killie.

"Kilmarnock have been good enough to make public every aspect of the negotiations and we have withdrawn our offer," said Smith, who has watched in frustration as Rangers increased an initial bid of £440,000, plus add-ons, to an offer of £1.5 m, to meet Kilmarnock's initial valuation.

According to the ET, Naismith really wants to join us (which has been consistent in all the rumours and news stories) and will give up his cut of the deal, £75,000, if it would help swing things. Still no news on this other mystery club who have made a higher bid than us, but from some of the comments from Jefferies, it looks like our offers have been as poor as rumoured.

I've just heard reports from spain, that the Cuellar deal has went through...

Lol, wee bit of sneaky editing going on there?!

Would improve our squad and give us more options. But then if we're going for him, surely we'd be able to sort out some dough for Naismith too?

Apparently he's going to be on about 15K a week with us.

Some of the Spanish press are now reporting this as a done deal. Here's hoping....

Tonight's rumours from FF and a couple of the papers are that he will sign tomorrow after a deal has finally been sorted between the clubs.

Latest according to the Evening News. I'm saying nothing about how the latest offer has allegedly been structured.

Good news about Fleck with a deal on the table ready for when he turns 16.

Clicky

For a fee of around 20M. They'll have some squad next season, it'll be interesting to see how they line up, but going by the lack of players leaving, they'll be able to field a pretty amazing starting XI and a very strong bench. They were amazing to watch at times last season with their pace and movement, particularly on the break. Looks like they're going to be even better this season.

Like you say Frankie, its a big few months for DM as he has to deliver on some of these statements. I might be getting way ahead of myself, but have the Trust discussed what stance they're going to take if things don't improve this season, be it on or off the pitch?

The only other thing I'd say from the minutes is that DM believes Mediahouse and staff have done a good job "firefighting" media stories about our club and fans. I'd say they've done a pretty poor job again and would have to questions why they're still being employed by the club.

So it looks like after weeks of putting in derisory offers before finally getting close to what Killie are after, we've pissed them off to the point where they're now either wanting more money or just don't want to sell him to us.

As usual we probably won't know what's really gone on for a while yet, but we do know that we were the only club to have made an offer until recently, so this deal should have been tied up weeks ago.

If we do miss out on him, it won't be the end of the world from a playing perspective. But I'd suggest that the way this deal has been handled is symptomatic of the way our club has been run for the last 3 or 4 years and is another damning indictment about DM. If this summer's dealings (or lack of) don't show the majority of his supporters that it really is time for him to go, I don't know what will.

Who knows what's going on. Its difficult not to get caught up in all the rumours and news stories though.

Also, the latest rumour on a number of forums is that Hibs have outbid us for him. I'm sure this is nonsense, but I guess it shows just how much of a laughing stock we've become where this sort of thing is even credible.

Depressing if true. From tomorrow's Herald...

Kilmarnock last night rejected a fourth bid from Rangers for the services of Steven Naismith and also knocked back a more attractive offer from another major club.

 

The Ibrox club submitted the same offer totalling £1.5m which was rejected at the weekend, but structured it differently.

 

This time, they offered £1m in two instalments and lowered the appearances threshold at which the further £500,000 would be due. Kilmarnock value the SPFA young player of the year at £2m and are unwilling to compromise.

 

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"We have informed them that it is still not acceptable," said Michael Johnston, the Kilmarnock chairman. "As far as we are concerned, Steven is getting on the plane to Italy for their pre-season training camp today and we will see what happens over the summer."

 

The club confirmed another offer had also been received. "It is a more attractive offer than the Rangers one and might be the subject of future discussions," added Johnston.

 

There also appears to be no movement in negotiations with Osasuna over defender Carlos Cuellar. Juanjo Lorenzo, the club's sporting director, said: "Glasgow's Rangers' interest in Cuellar is still there and we have to continue to analyse the situation

Apparently Boyd has been working hard on his fitness over the summer, so maybe he's thrown in his boxes of Monster Munch to help out?