ascender

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...

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?

Did Man Yoo not take him on a short trial last season?

Who knows. I'm just saying that looking at the number of midfielders we now have and how we've generally treated younger players, he'd probably be a reserve player for the foreseeable future. I mean, we've signed a few young promising midfielders, but are they anywhere near the first team?

Sorry Gis.... Papers are saying that we're still interested, are the only club to have made an offer and that we're meeting today to try and thrash out a deal as Killie are off to Italy tomorrow for pre-season.

The fact we're playing in the SPL means that even the best players will not be worth as much as they could be if they were plying their trade in England. There seems to be an upper ceiling of 4.5 - 5M or so for buying players from up here, apart from the very odd exception. So its a difficult one. I guess its why the Scott Brown deal would have made sense at 2-3M, but not at 4M+. Even if the lad plays very well and moves on, I can't see a side paying more than 4-5M for him. The only way to make money up here would be to sell on youth that we've produced or bought cheaply, or of course, unearthing a genuine talent from Europe before anyone else cottons on.

Sebo only started 7 times last season in a total of 33 appearances. FWIW I'm impressed by his attitude. He's obviously lost some weight which he puts down to hill running. He's also quick to thank the fans and hasn't thrown his toys out of the pram. I think all of us would like him to come good, but unfortunately being at Ibrox there might not be many opportunities for the guy to get a run in the team. He can obviously bring something to the team as he's strong, fast and can run with the ball. On the other hand, he's looked like he has no basic skills at all at times. Maybe he just needs a lucky break in a game and things will start going right for him.

Ah, good old Freddy Adu, the American superstar of FM games. As for that other midfielder, at that age, he's going to be a reserve player.

Whatever you say. Now, lets just find one of the Alan Smith threads instead....

Looks like this will be resolved shortly as Jim Jefferies has revealed there's been further talks between the clubs.

If he is going to leave, there will be a host of Premiership clubs in for him. As for the Gers link, was it not just that he'd worn one of our strips on holiday a couple of times or something equally tenuous?

Can't see it really, not least because the value on him seems to be 6M.

His agent is coming across this week to hopefully tie up a deal with the mhanks. Even if they get rid of a few players, they're looking like having a very strong squad.

So now they're saying we've offered another derisory amount and that'll be our last. Does this mean Robbie Fowler will be linked with us again?

That's him officially signed for West Ham.

That's pretty much summed up how I feel just now. If we did have a double figures budget, surely Naismith would have been signed up weeks ago? In fact, we could probably have made up the shortfall by the wages we've saved since Klos left. At the moment our reported dealings and failures just aren't making much sense. I'm still thinking there's a lot of smoke and mirrors going on.

Cammy, I don't think the money will all be spent elsewhere and no, this won't be the final straw for the vast majority of DM supporters who seem happy for us to continue the slide in to mediocrity. I despair.

Quote from his club this morning saying that we haven't bid for him.

We just don't know what's happened, but its hard not to think that this is another case where we've not been willing to offer enough money quickly enough in the negotiation process and have pi$$ed off the selling club. Maybe I'm wrong, but the guy wanted to come here and would have been a good investment. Why couldn't we afford the extra 1.5M or so? I've also seen places reporting that we're still dicking around with Kilmarnock with pathetic offers for Naismith. Pretty depressing all in.

According to the official site there are bids in for a few players. We've been in for Naismith, linked with Fowler and now this guy. Maybe this guy is our backup plan after not willing to pay for Naismith?

I think he's a dreamboat Fraser. Have you got this pic on your bedroom wall? I take it that's what you were asking....

But its depressing that Burke struggles to beat players a lot of the time. A winger as far as I'm concerned needs to have the speed, skill and trickery to just ghost past players on the wing and then deliver a telling cross in to the box.

But Burke has only shown in a handful of games each season what he can really do. He then either goes off the boil or gets injured. Unless he improves his final ball, composure and actually brings some sort of end product to his game, I can see him leaving and ending up with a Championship side before coming back up to one of the other SPL teams. Needs a kick up the backside and to wake up.

Letizi made a couple of clangers, but probably no more than McGregor in the early part of the season. His problem was when PLG brought him back in for AM after AM had played well. That then got the crowd on his back and I seem to remember there was some pretty shameful booing of him at Ibrox. I thought that was all PLG's doing to be honest, he made a few very poor decisions during his tenure here. I think it was also harsh on LL as our central defence was shocking at the start of the season, leaking really weak goals. He's another player who I don't think we ever saw the best of and it was best for all concerned if he moved on. Having said that, I think he conducted himself very professionally. As for FF, there's some amazing posts on there. People with very, very short memories and guys who'll argue black is white.