UCF2008

As usual, the discussion that follows makes for better reading

I don't think any of the bids (at least none that were taken seriously) completely discounted a CVA. Even Bill Miller was proposing a CVA. I think it's just that some weren't willing or able to deal with Whyte.

You should also factor in sanctions for a newco which would most likely be both financially and competitively crippling. Make no mistake about it, the other SPL clubs have left the option open to and most certainly would throw the book at a newco Rangers.

One thing that does concern me, given the SFA now officially placing the responsibility of 'fit and proper' persons testing on the clubs, who is due to be tested as owner in our case and by who?

The main difference between the Green / Sevco loan and the Ticketus deal is that they're effectively lending themselves the money. In order to make the repayments to themselves, the club will need to be turning a profit as opposed to running it into the ground and proposing a CVA to themselves. The most money that they can make from the deal is if they look after the club and sell it on debt free after said loan has been repaid.

Like I said on another thread Danny, I think Healy did a decent enough job for us when given the opportunity. However he's way past his best and wouldn't be getting anywhere near the amount of game time required to achieve a suitable level of match fitness. Out of the four players, Healy is probably the only one that I think we should be holding off on until our situation regarding the transfer embargo and funding (or lack thereof) becomes clearer. Ideally we'd want to keep all four, but we've got to prioritise. If letting Healy go allows us to make Aluko an acceptable offer for instance...

When Coisty says that he hasn't been given the go-ahead to offer the players new contracts, I just hope that he's actually made the effort to discuss the issue with Green / D&P. Can't understand why we're playing the waiting game. We could have extended the contracts at any time over the course of the administration. Granted, it wouldn't have been the best time to do it when players were on reduced salaries, but now that they've reverted back to normal and we're planning pre-season trips to Germany etc. should this not be a priority? Was it not the playing staff being seen as assets of the business that was given as D&P's excuse for negotiating those wage cuts in the first place? So why are we now risking losing for nothing assets that we need?

...Or left winger who did well on the right like Aluko. Or even a right winger who got played on the left like Weiss.

From what I recall, Fleck didn't do too badly in the games he featured for Blackpool - 8 appearances in total. Only 1 start and 2 sub appearances after we went into admin though. Completely out of the picture through April & May so don't know what happened there. I was surprised we sent him out on loan as he was just starting to get some game time with us again and looking good for it.

Bedoya was pushed up there because Ally was assessing his options imo. Bartley on the other hand (Was that not a last throw of the dice from Walter?) was thrown up there for much the same reason as McCulloch. It just turned out that McCulloch was good at it.

I don't think he should be offered a new contract and have never said otherwise. Easier said than done, but I wouldn't be complaining if you turn out to be right, just so long as we can do so on a budget that won't put the club in jeopardy. Sorry, you lost me there. As far as this discussion is concerned I'm not sure what you're referring to.

OK for the sake of agreeing with you on something in this thread. I'm really excited at the prospect of having Naismith and Aluko tormenting defences next season. Would be a disaster to lose one never mind both of them. I also think Jig will continue to be really useful in a CF role, but not necessarily suited to every game. Either way we will need options and cover up front, both through the centre and in wider areas. If we lose Little and Kerkar, we'll be left with Lafferty (although I doubt it), Bedoya & Fleck - plus Ortiz and Wallace if you want to count defenders in an attacking sense. Assuming we don't have a transfer embargo and the millions promised by CG are pouring in, then I'm all for your preference of strengthening with 'the best' ...I just don't see it (and haven't seen it for a long long time) as being the reality of our situation.

Funnily enough, I thought Healy did reasonably well when given a chance, albeit clearly lacking match fitness. He's obviously not got the strength and aerial prowess of the mighty Jig though. Bedoya was played as a right mid and for most of his games and, much like Little when played there, didn't look too impressive. Given a chance in a striking role at the tail end of the season though and he looked a completely different prospect. I don't see why the comparison is so ridiculous, especially when Aluko and Naismith could similarly be classed as midfielders.

Reckon Healy and Bedoya would beg to differ on that one. Until this season you've got to admit it was going to be difficult to get a game ahead of our other options up front. Maybe that's why Walter struggled to find a position for him and dropped him in at the deep end (or the 'acid test' as you call it) at RB. Have to concede that he did fail miserably on that occasion. As for being shipped out, I'd like to think that we only send players out on loan in the circumstance that they actually have a chance of making it but need the game time.

Fair enough mate. You don't rate him. Personally, I prefer to judge players over the course. Each to their own I guess.

So going by your single game choice of acid test we apparently don't have any real players then?

Strange. I don't seem to recall him being singled out at the time. From what I recall he started brightly and then faded along with the rest of the side when we went behind. Given that practically none of the side merited pass marks for that game, it seems a bit harsh to me to be passing judgement on the player for that performance alone.

I think a lot of fans appreciate McCulloch for his good points. He's not the most skillful of players, but he's experienced, strong, good in the air and has a powerful shot on him. Much like Little, McCulloch managed to win over a lot of his critics when played as a striker towards the end of the season. Personally, I think that's always been the position that's best suited him and possibly Walter and Ally's misguided judgement on his versatility and thus attempts to shoehorn him into the side in a number of other positions has been to his detriment.

Can't really argue with any of that. Not too sure about Dickson's ability in contract negotiations given that he was largely involved in last summers farcical proceedings on that front. That said, the first port of call is to let these players know that we want to keep them. Assuming that all three could be tied down on a wage that fits us working within our means then we should be trying to do so. Agree that Aluko should without a doubt be the priority.

Little made 10 league appearances for us this year (only 6 of those were starts) and scored 5 goals. These included an OF goal and 2 at Tynecastle. That's obviously not good enough for some fans, but with us already being short of options up front, you really would have to question the wisdom in letting him go.

Problem is that in the case of Little, Aluko, etc they're effectively unemployed. In their situation they can ill afford to wait until the last minute to try and find another club. The point is that for out of contract players that we want to keep, CG needs to get in touch with the players & agents now to say so, even if that means arranging for the contract talks to commence in July.

The lad's had his fair share of injury problems and when fit has struggled for a squad place. I agree with Frankie though that he looked good up front over the last couple of months of the season and given our shortage of options there we should really be looking at retaining his services. It's worrying that the club haven't been in touch with our out of contract players. I would assume that Aluko is also still waiting to hear. Granted, the club isn't yet in a position to be offering terms, but you would think that with Green acting as though he's already taken over that some sort of contact could have been made to assure these players that they're still wanted and to arrange further discussion to take place in due course.

Don't have any problem with him marrying a Catholic or where they chose to hold the ceremony. It's really quite sad that some people object to this. However, like I was saying on another thread a couple of days back, I think Lafferty's already burnt his bridges and will be off at the first opportunity.

That's quite a valid point, as the supervision aspect is one which has certainly had an impact... Less youth clubs and less school teachers willing to take on the responsibility of extra curricular activities due to bureaucracy and the surrounding legal issues involved in supervising kids these days.

One frustrating aspect on this front is that in the UK we've never got a shortage of out of work coaches - in a lot of cases some of the best and most experienced - who spend their time on the golf course / writing for rags / appearing on TV & radio / doing ANYTHING BUT coaching. It would appear it's not just the kids that need encouraged to spend more time on football.