buster.

It is still a work in progress with the CL qualifiers only 3 weeks away. It'll work it's way out, but it might take until the autumn. Pertinent example being our only rival. They recruited well last summer,... but didn't get going until after an awful start to their campaign.

About 3 weeks until our first qualifier. Several injuries to get over and players to bed in. Some of our most important games (financially) come up very quickly and is why sorting out the squad has to be done ... About 2 weeks ago. Not getting direct entry to CLGS has you on the back foot before you start. We can obviously still do it and it would be a fantastic start to season if we could.

Last 5 minutes, kind of make the 9 hours 25 minutes before it more difficult. Might be able to in a year or two.

I would agree with your first point. We are not in the best negotiating position. Even worse when you allow contracts to run down. What gets me is the apparent lack of firm interest in some of our better players in the last couple of years. Other than a generally depressed market, I don't really understand it. We appear to have been limited as to what we could ask for Aribo. Although, the reported 60/40 split between fee/add-ons is disappointing, 80/20 would have been more just IMO.

No, both clubs are not going to have the same player. However, there is plenty to back up what I said. It might be unpalatable but to think otherwise is to live a lie. Look through the fees both clubs have taken in for players in the last few years. Look through the player trading figures in the balance sheets. Listen to our own club repeatedly talking about the need to develop the player trading model when over the city it has been up and running for years. Their 'brand' as a selling club is established, they ask for and get relatively premium prices. We aren't there yet. We have brought players to the club and increased their value. We have tended to keep them, rather than sell them at an optimal time from a financial POV. Here there is a debate to be had regards what can be earned on the pitch through the players efforts compared to outgoing transfers. The emphasis with how the club have continually talked about the player trading model shows IMO its importance and the new UEFA financial rules will make that all the more important. But we need to act on it and not only talk about it. Bassey's value is high at the moment and if possible, we need to cash in. The profile of players joining the club is important. What we have seen so far this summer, is a clutch of talented youngsters for the B team, an injury prone 25 year old and two 28 year olds. Look at the age profile of the players joining our rivals,...24, 24, 21, 23, 30 (backup keeper). Over the years we have often brought in experience and it sometimes works for us on the pitch. However, our business model hasn't worked and we typically rack up an important financial loss. It has been the same for as long as I can remember, since balance sheets were talked about as much as the football. That needs to change.

Injuries are part of football and why it is about a squad. However, if a club puts together a squad that contains too many players who 'need managed', either because of chronic injury or age then they are increasing risk. We are no stranger to this policy as a relatively cheap alternative to bring in quality....but risky and almost rules out sell on value.

Used to love the chocolate and AB biscuits together. Better than a Chocolate digestive.

Not official but it was fairly widely discussed at the time. As you said yourself, signing-on fee plus agents fee, etc The outlay isn't just the development fee. A Bosman doesn't usually come free either Lundstram will have got a fair wedge at the outset.

Yes, they come up here for a reason. Aribo is a case in point. The development fee paid to Charlton was somewhere around 300K and that is being used in conjunction with a 10M incoming fee. The actual truth is somewhat different. There was a package put together (including buy out price) that went into seven figures to attract Joe to come up here and the initial fee we are receiving is 6M (with potential add-ons which could take the fee way to 10M or apparently even beyond). We need to establish a reputation for providing players who can flourish in the EPL or we won't get the value we should. It's almost brand like, that clubs are prepared to pay extra for. unfortunately, the same player would be sold by Celtic for more than we could because they have a proven track record. Van Dyyk put them on the map and this week we employed the scout who informed Celtic about the Dutch defender. Another important factor is the average age of signings.

We talk about a player trading model and are now taking baby steps towards it. Our direct rivals actually have one that has functioned fairly well for some years.

We aren't going to be able to get a 10M+ valued player to replace Aribo. However, give Lowry a chance and he MAY be worth more than 10M by the end of the year.

It is what it is. It would seem obvious that like many clubs, we are working within tight financial constraints. Moreso now that the soft loans to be converted to shares has changed to interest bearing loans. (And that UEFA financial rules are getting tighter) We won't know for a while, if the new lads are going to be a success. Although, given availability, they may have to hit the proverbial ground running in the CL qualifiers. Score the important goals there and they will resemble a 10/1 punt that came in !

Good advice. Queuing for the privilege of paying well over the odds for processed crap has never appealed to me. The talk about FF yesterday alongside this thread made me think of an old thread on FF. The poster asks if anyone else takes a takeaway curry into the cinema with them 😄

I spent my youth on FF and was later sent out to grass to the once peaceful fields of Gersnet 😄 Btw, your transfer thread re. squad details/contracts, etc. is excellent.

Traffic wise, Gersnet is like a wee village, compared to the big city (FF). They would love you on there, really ! Thinking about it, prior to your arrival I'd say Gersnet was Haddington like and now it is a bit more Lochgellyish 😉😄

Doubt it. Most tend to pass through FF on their way to nowhere.

Probably too expensive for what would really be a fairly speculative investment. If we were awash with dosh, maybe try but we ain't.

Saw this on FF, apparently Alfredo has ignored the fitness instructions for the close season. https://imgur.com/a/Qbg71gU#0aLc1sv

Sportsound: Kenny Macintyre replaces Richard Gordon as Saturday host Sports broadcaster Kenny Macintyre is the new presenter of BBC Radio Scotland's Saturday Sportsound. He will begin the role on 30 July when the Scottish Premiership returns. He follows Richard Gordon who stepped aside as host of the Saturday edition after 30 years at the helm. An experienced and well-known voice, Kenny is a regular sports presenter on BBC Radio Scotland, leading previous editions of Sportsound as well as providing interviews and reports. "I'm delighted Kenny is stepping into Richard's shoes as presenter of Saturday Sportsound," said Gareth Hydes, commissioning editor for BBC Radio Scotland. "The programme is so important to our audience and Kenny brings huge passion and a wealth of experience to the role. Commenting on his appointment, Kenny said: "It's an honour and a privilege to be the presenter of Sportsound - a programme I have a long-standing connection with. "Anyone who knows me knows how passionate and committed I am to providing excellent sports journalism that connects with Radio Scotland's audiences. I look forward to developing exciting plans for the future alongside an excellent team of colleagues and commentators." https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/62067109 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Interesting choice

I was relieved to see Morelos in a training video, then realised that it was Gerrard standing at the side of the pitch, in Spain. 😄

Improving EPL clubs perception of our players (Aribo doing well) might well be worth more to us, than the contractual add-ons.

I take your point regards the 2006 age group and thank you for pointing this out, I didn't know. However, I do think there is a significant change in emphasis regards to building squads going on. The rough outline being to recruit better quality, earlier, at relatively low cost. Looking to bring down average age, transfer fees paid and wages,.... whilst increasing incoming transfer fees. As a club we have to be proactive and the new UEFA financial guidelines doesn't make the status quo for us a viable option.

Difficult to know exactly where the truth is as if the deal goes through, it'll remain undisclosed with various headline figures / focus on 'ITK' detail of the deal reported. Generally speaking, we have struggled to get top dollar for our players and in this case, we were not in a strong negotiating position. Indeed, it is a mystery to me why there isn't more firm interest in some of our players who have shown their ability consistently, at a high level in European football. We know for sure that Morelos was subject to a 16M bid from Lille that we rejected, apparently because we valued him higher. I thought we should have accepted it but that point is moot. The issue we have with our direct competition over the city, is that they do get paid top dollar for their players and over say a 3 year period. that amounts to a significant financial difference. Add it to ground capacity/10 year coefficent (income generated) and the difference (before a ball is kicked) will be sizable. We need the likes of Patterson and Aribo (if he goes) to rip it up down there and improve the perception of our club for producing/improving players to a level that can flourish in the EPL.

To get Aribo to choose Scottish football and sign for us in the first place, we would have almost certainly had to allow his agent/lawyer to have a significant say in what clauses were in his contract. That, on top of more direct financial inducements, on top of the reported 250-300,000 pound fee In other words, they would have made sure that player had a big say in how his time at Rangers would end. If we do get somewhere close to 10M when he has one year left on his deal, then I'd say those initial negotiations were reasonably fair to both sides and on the pitch, he has done more or less what we would have hoped for. We could have insisted to him and his advsors that you have to do it strictly our way, he might well have stayed in England.

Good to see movement and a decent incomng fee if a deal can be finalised. I'd promote Lowry and look at other positions if any available funds from deal become available. He'll have been on a fair wage that can go elsewhere.