ascender

Its a great idea and I think we should be doing all we can to get guys like that involved somewhere. Also, I think there's a place at Ibrox for Souness in some sort of role, not quite sure what, but I sometimes think we need his no-nonsense attitude around the place. Bain's track record as far as DM goes is superb. His main job was to sort out the wage budget and he did it in record time which I think got him promoted. All he's doing is carrying out DM's orders, so while I don't like the way he does business, the problem isn't really with him.

Thing is though, spending maybe over the odds, or the market rate as it is known in the football world, isn't a problem if you minimise the risk. The problem is that DM seems to have gone from one extreme to the other. None of us want to go back to the days where he risks the future of the club by overspending on transfer fees and wages, but we now seem to be in an era where he wants to spend as little as possible on fees. Which just isn't possible. Especially when you're competing with a club who do seem willing to pay the going rate for players at the moment. Celtic seem keen to use their CL revenue to strengthen their squad while also strengthening their brand image abroad. Like it or not, they seem to be way ahead of us off the park and if they continue to add to their squad, I fear the title will be written off again. There's no point matching Celtic 4 times a season if we don't have a strong enough squad to get results against the other teams across the year. DM could prove me wrong, but I'm really worried for the immediate future of the club. This downsizing has lasted much longer than anyone thought and without a serious cash investment, we are in danger of finishing second in the SPL for the foreseeable future. How can there be so little money to spend on fees for players given how much has been cut from the wage bill and recouped in transfers? If DM really does care about the club as much as he says, he'll spend the summer making serious funds available to WS, or actively try to sell the club to people who want to see us doing well on and off the pitch. A few of us have been saying that the next few months are maybe the most important for our club in the last 25 years or so, but I'm starting to think that even that was an underestimation of just how grim things are for us, both on and off the pitch.

The Beeb reported the same thing. I wonder if this summer will be a watershed with the majority of the support. Suppose we miss out on Naismith, make no "significant" signings which involve cash investment while Celtic continue to strengthen their squad... Surely fans will wake up and realise that DM is running our club in to the ground?

In today's market, the guy probably is worth 1.5M easily and I think he'd be a fairly low risk signing if we had to pay that. You get a player who is young, won't break the bank in wages and we could get some money back on, if not make money on him, over time. Who knows what's actually happening behind the scenes. The only thing I am positive about is that the way we're dealing with Scottish clubs is only going to make things much more difficult for us in the future which really isn't in our best interests.

Another great article.

I don't think we can afford to bring in a keeper who is significantly better than McGregor. i.e. an established international number 1. So having a younger number 2 makes sense IMO. Although we do seem to have a few young keepers on the books now.

You think the amount was bad? Wait until you hear how it was structured....

I hope we don't miss out on Naismith, but if we continue to put in derisory offers for him, I can see Killie selling him to someone else. Someone just posted on FF that they've heard two other clubs are ready to pay over 1M for the lad. Now this could just be a typical rumour which will go nowhere, but I think its worrying. Of course we have to get the best deal for Gers, but we are in a buyer's market where we're not the only club interested in players. I also think that all this seemed to start when we missed out on Riordan and since then we've been taking the piss with player valuations and as such, I'm sure we're not making any friends in the process. This will just make our lives even harder in the transfer market and easier for other clubs. Also, the kind of players we're now quibbling over money for are fairly low risk signings. They're not over the hill or unpaid foreigners. We're now talking about typically, young Scottish players who have a lot of potential. Their stock is rising and their wage demands won't be silly. So surely in the scheme of things, these are the players we should be making an effort to sign and making sure there's money available so that we get these players before our opponents do.

The only stories which seem to have weight behind them at the moment are Naismith and McCulloch. They won't be the only ones, but they seem to be the only persistent ones at the moment. As for the fees, we do seem to be taking the piss these days. Have we not learned anything from the past?

I was reading about this yesterday Frankie. On one hand I couldn't believe what I was reading, but on the other, I among others, said this would happen. Lets see how smug fans of other clubs are now that the boot is on the other foot. I know that Gordon Smith has said in the past that he would like clarification of exactly what can and can't be sung, so hopefully we will see some common sense coming from him.

The DM/Bain PR bandwagon is now in full swing.... Linked with Mido & Torino's attacking midfielder Alessandro Rossina. Much more likely given our current signing strategy of offering about 25% of what a club is looking for, is the rumour that Barry Robson is someone on our list. While this rumour is probably bollocks, it does seem to be at least 200% more realistic than the Pizarro signing.

Also, I see the papers are claiming we've had a bid of 450,000 knocked back for Naismith. If that's true, then these derisory bids we're constantly putting in have gone beyond an embarrassment.

Roy Carroll has been released by West Ham so is available on a free.... Quashie has had a rotten time this season, but I think he would be a decent player for us to sign. I don't think he would be a popular signing though.

Jim Jeffries said today there's been no contact from any club about Naismith.

McLaren just seems to lack all imagination & balls. I just don't understand why he continues to play Lampard and Gerrard together when it just doesn't suit either of them. Like you say Gribz, there's other midfielders playing well at the moment. As for Beckham, I'd always have him in my squad as he's worth it for his dead-ball ability alone IMO. Sounds like he was dropped in the first place to make a statement about who was boss, when all that was needed was maybe to take the captaincy from him and drop him to the bench for a couple of games. Very strange decision and even moreso when he backtracks and just doesn't admit he was wrong in the first place.

Watching on the Beeb's HD channel, I forgot this was on. How annoying is Mark Lawrenson? Anyway, a great delivery from Beckham for a Terry header and its 1-0 to England.

Smith has said he's looking to bring in another 6 players as the squad is "very thing". I can't believe anyone fell for the Pizarro thing. By the sound of things in the Evening News piece today, he's either playing his cards very close to his chest, or we're not close to signing anyone yet. Says that he's declared his interest in a couple, but that's all. He would like the new faces to be in before pre-season starts, so we might have a bit of a wait yet.

Exactly. As for Burkey, if he doesn't pull his finger out this season, he'll be lucky to end up at Hearts.

O'Connor goal with a Boyd knock-down. Don't understand why Hutton wasn't on from the start though. Did McGregor get the full 90 minutes?

That's some set of rumours to mull over! I'd be a very happy man too if we got that lot in, but I just can't see it unfortunately. Especially Alan Smith and Robbie Fowler. A guy on FF who has been reliable in the past has said that Naismith is definitely a Bluenose and that a fee should be sorted soon as he wants it done before he goes on his holly-bobs.

One of the annoying things just now is the amount of rival fans who complain about: 1. Scottish players moving here, never playing and moving on. That's obviously bollocks these days. 2. All the "sectarian" songs we sing. i.e. every bloody song in their opinion.

I've lost track of how many promising young players we sign who never go on to make a first team appearance. Its not just WS either, we signed enough of them during Eck's time here too.

I might as well be the one to say what I'm sure a number of us are thinking.... "what's the point?"

McCulloch's agent is back today and is expected in Glasgow, so I'm assuming the clubs have agreed a fee. Noticed last week that his best mate in football is BF. As for Naismith, the Jambos have been linked with him for weeks now and quite a few fans have been confident of signing him. I'm sure Celtic will try to mess up our bid for him, but surely he stands a much better chance of regular footy with us?

Class is permanent and let's face it, he's much better than any striker we have. There's absolutely no need for it to be an expensive signing and he's a lot less risky than many others we've signed recently. Still can't see it happening, but we could do a lot worse. I really hope we get a box-to-box attacking midfielder, a decent winger (or two) and someone with a bit of skill to play up front alongside a poacher like Boyd. Don't ask for much, do I?!