Oleg_Mcnoleg

Whether Adebayor's any good or not is a different matter entirely. Real Madrid are merely one of the many 'small clubs' that have thought it OK to use the loan system to bolster the squad. We've used it in the past so doing it now is hardly some massive statement of downsizing. The issue is not whether to make use of loans--not doing so would make us pretty much unique in European football--but whether we make good use of it (both players coming in and going out).

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2011/jan/25/emmanuel-adebayor-real-madrid-loan

Who knows what goes on in training but I thought he looked worth a few runs off the decent bench at the very least.

Apparently Cantona would regularly just wander off doing keepy-uppies for an hour or two after training.

It's nice to be back to being linked with mostly promising, youngish players (Eustace notwithstanding). But are also back to the days when every agent would link their player to us (frequently to Them as well), in an effort to boost their terms elsewhere? Either that, or are journos are just pulling the names of young, promising Scots out of their archies and linking us? Or are we genuinely going to get some of these players?

I stopped reading after he had ice with his malt, I'm afraid. I'm a tolerant man but even I have my limits. [edit. After composing myself, I tried again. Absofuckinglutely]

Eustace looks a risk after those knee ops. But the lack of leadership on the pitch has been absolutely dreadful. Jig had his limitations as a player but I did think he'd have the character to provide a bit of leadership. it makes some sense to have an old head in what's likely to be a fairly young squad, and there's off-the-pitch influence as well: sounds like he might instill a bit of professionalism (evidently pretty thin on the ground). Overall, with a bit of luck with injuries, he might be a canny acquisition. Wilson, assuming it gets done, seems a no-brainier. The other lad, I have no knowledge of but sounds solid and ok on the ball. The discussion of Allan is just getting daft: either he's Platini in his heyday or pub football clogger. On what I've seen, he looks ok. I like the drive he gives. When he gets the ball, he always seems to try to pass forward or to run at the opponent's midfield and defence. He takes responsibility--no hiding--and tries to make stuff happen. Again, this has been absent far too often. On the flip side, it means he can give the ball away cheaply and he also looks a bit petulant and reckless. He's looked decent against us though I've not seen enough of him to make a definitive judgement. On balance, I reckon he'd do ok(clearly wants to play for us too, which shouldn't be ignored--can't be tolerating players who think they're doing us a favour by pulling on the jersey).

Is it possible for me to work out why I checked this thread to find out he's signed and, if so, whether he's any good yet find myself looking at a pretty inane series of thread about the bloated horror of the EPL without reading all 17 previous pages?

Tough start given we'll probably still be recruiting and any team that takes to the park will have barely met.

It will be some consolation to you that Forest are being heavily linked with him

He speaks well, doesn't he? Certainly made the right noises: passing football, building the club and not just the first team, etc. Enjoyed the knowing smirk in response to the McLeod question: looks like it might be a possibility.

Supposed to be here@2.00 http://sport.stv.tv

And they stayed there once he went. The club was a total mess and slashing the playing budget. Nobody's pretending he's the reincarnation of Brian Clough but he's proved himself to be ok (SBS's next post will no doubt be on how Brian Clough was a hopeless manager who played terrible football...)

And they did not improve once he went. The club was a mess and, in the midst of that, he had kept them up.

Hard to judge McInnes on his time at Bristol City who were a fucking shambles. He kept them up, which is more than his successor did and I can remember his St Johnstone side giving a footballing lesson on occasion too. That said, I'd still rather have Warburton.

Young Brenford defender Alfie Mawson being linked. Was player of the season on loan at Wycombe last season.

All appointments carry a degree of risk but he looks exactly the sort of manager we should be making. I'm still pretty surprised we're getting him (and won't really believe it until he's actually signed).

No idea. I've naively accepted King's figure without further investigation. I'm very, very sorry. But, after further research, I think I can now confidently assert that sales have gone from 'lots' making us decent money, to 'fuck all' and making us fuck all. Of course the difference is that if we sell lots, we still make fuck all. I'll be saving my money and it looks like there's a fair few bears who think the same.

Desperate stuff. Oh aye, the RF statement is a ringing endorsement of the current deal and clearly urges everyone to buy as much from SD as possible. The RST may not be speaking for all Rangers fans on this but seeing as we're 450,000 downs shirt sales, it would seem there's a few who share their broad view.

Seem to just be reacting to money being placed. Scotland's a village: you'd think that the bush telegraph I would have been a bit more active if something had actually been settled.

It just seems to confirm our suspicions that the deal is bent. It's not like that, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, we'll all assume everything's fine and rush out to buy shirts. Quite the opposite: most of us will be buying bugger all until there's some proof that we're not being commercially spit-roasted.

Doesn't sound like he's on his way to us.

It'll be an easier sell once the manager is in and players start being signed (at least I hope it will. Depends on the manager and players!). There doesn't feel like there's much sense of anticipation or eagerness at the moment. I'm lucky if I get up for more than a couple of games a season but will buy one if sales remain poor. I was happy enough with the regime change so it seems fair enough to give them some backing.

In addition to some of Calscot's very sensible reservations, I'd add a couple of others. Firstly, if every other fecker's using the same statistical analysis too, the advantage for any one club of doing so is lost. And secondly, there's some suggestion of players not attempting risky passes etc because they're worried about the impact on their personal stats if they don't come off. They're clearly potentially useful for analysing team performances (is there a pattern to the goals we concede, etc) but I'm less sure about them at an individual level. Individual-level stats wouldn't accommodate opponents making adjustments to their play to counter your strengths: you're a dominant, tough-tackling central midfielder but your stats aren't as good as others' because opponents try to play down the flanks or go long to avoid you, for eg. All about what you do with them but I always worry that folk lose the context etc when there's numbers involved.