JohnMc

Lafferty on a free is a great signing for Hearts, likewise Aberdeen signing Greg Stewart on a loan is a good bit of business. I'd have passed on Lafferty but taken Stewart, I'm surprised he didn't make it down south.

Nah Craig, that's not quite right. Kilmarnock released him when he'd just turned 16. The story is they feared he had a long term injury but popular belief is that was just an excuse and they felt he was too small and slight to make it. Certainly he's been largely injury free since then. Rangers then signed him and he spent a season in the under 19s before the club's demotion to Div 3 and subsequent exodus of first team players meant he was suddenly in the first team squad and getting a game. Kilmarnock are certainly due credit for developing him as a child, but as a professional, when no one else wanted to sign him, we've done the developing. We're in agreement about persevering, although sadly it seems we're in the minority these days.

He was inconsistent last season, not uncommon for someone in his position or at his age. Consistency should come with experience though. But even then he was by far our most creative player. I'm not suggesting he should be paid more than anyone else, but he should be on a par with our top earners. If that turns out not to be enough then we shake hands and go our separate ways, but I'm led to believe that's not the case. If nothing else McKay is only 22, signing him to another 3 year contract makes business sense, he'll be approaching the peak of his career in a couple of years time, selling him then makes more sense.

Or maybe the offer he's been made doesn't match what he can get elsewhere and what others at the club are on. Why do people think McKay is lazy or afraid of hard work? Visibly he looks like one of the fittest players at the club and he's certainly one of the fastest. In 2016 Warburton explained that both McKay and Holt were covering over 14km per game in late March, more than anyone else in the team. That doesn't sound like someone who doesn't fancy hard word. Perhaps he just doesn't fancy the new manager of course. Well, exactly. McKay is a match-winner, someone who creates chances in every match he plays and who will continue to improve as he gains more and more experience. That's absolutely worth persevering with, particularly when we've no replacement for him. I see no point in giving Hearts half a million (or more) for Walker when we could give it to McKay to sign a new contract. McKay is better than Walker. It does seem his time at Rangers is coming to an end and I'm certainly not privy to what goes on in the dressing room, perhaps the relationship between him and the manager has broken down. It saddens and concerns me because I believe he could be something quite special and as a player we developed the club should have a better insight into his thinking and his state of mind. I guess I still think PC will be gone by this time next season and so I'd rather McKay stayed.

C'mon Billy, do you think Walker will still want to play for us if we offer him less money than he's on just now? Or the same? These guys are professionals and want paid what they believe, or their agents are telling them, they are worth. I've never read anything that says McKay doesn't want to play for us, he signed a contract extension only 18 months ago. If the club don't think McKay is worth an English Championship salary they should say so and put him up for sale. I think he's definitely worth that and is by far our most creative player. To sell him and replace with someone who has spent most of the last season out injured makes no sense to me. I'm old enough to remember when supporters moaned that Davie Cooper didn't 'try' hard enough, that he didn't influence games as much as he could, that his attitude wasn't all it should be, that he didn't get stuck in, all the criticisms I've started hearing about McKay in recent months. McKay has shown he can play with the best of them, he's still a young player, like most creative players and most young players he can be inconsistent, but he's better than anyone else who is at the club and most in the league.

This is depressing. Hopefully this can be sorted out soon, we should be doing everything in our power to keep McKay at he club. I read reports that Halliday if off on loan for a year, I wonder if he thinks PC might be gone by then and he can return to the club.

I was critical of Caixinha last season and remain sceptical about his ability. I can't get excited or depressed at his signings as out with Jack and Alves I've never heard or seen any of them play. Signing the Aberdeen captain on a free is a good bit of business, he must have something about him in the dressing room in terms of leadership and responsibility too. Alves has great experience and has spent almost his entire career at a pretty high level, on paper he's a step up in quality and arguably our best signing since the day's of Walter Smith. I remain nervous about integrating 'Latin' players into Scottish football, not only is it a big culture shock on the pitch but culturally and linguistically off it too. The young Columbian has already spent time in Finland so Scotland shouldn't be too much of a shock, the rest we'll just have to hope find their feet quickly. It's hardly impossible, Ceuller, Amaruso, Gattuso, Arteta have all fitted in quickly and well so no reason these new guys can't either. All that being said it is exciting when a new season starts, seeing new players for the first time and the slate from last season wiped clean always brings a new hope. I'm not sure we can take much from Thursday's match either positively or negatively. The proof will come in August and September.

I feel sorry for Halliday. He lost form last season but he was hardly the only one, I do wonder how he'd perform with better defence behind him and a better attack in front of him. I still think he's a better player than he gets credit for. Hey ho.

Is St Joseph's a primary school or a secondary school? I'd fancy us in both legs if they're a primary.

There are clubs in the next round I've heard of, that doesn't auger well.

Good luck Joe. I wish him all the best, it didn't work out, no hard feelings.

Is Walker better than McKay? I don't think so. Wouldn't it be better to give the half million we're reported to have offered Hearts for Walker to McKay and ensure he stays at the club?

The goalie signing is a puzzler. What do we need another 18 year old keeper for? With Fod, Alnwick and Kelly this new lad is already fourth choice at best. And what's one of our players doing joining them?!! Fuxake, what's the world coming too.

This Walker saga feels a bit like Scott Allen a couple of seasons ago. Either Cathro has been told Hearts won't sell him less than £1 million or he's making a very big stick for his own back. Hearts can't afford to keep an unhappy player for 12 months and then lose him for nothing. They'll sell him in this window but selling him to us will be unpopular with their support and for that reasons I don't think they will. I could see him at Sunderland or MK Dons next season because I don't think we can, or should, spend £1 million on him.

Forrester has had 'attitude' problems his entire career, in my opinion it comes from having too much too young. Forrester was a child star, capped for England at under 16 and under 17 he was highly gifted and expected by everyone who saw him to become a star. Watford bought him as a 10 year old from his local side Northampton, Aston Villa then paid a quarter of a million for him when he was only 16. Yet his career since then is littered with failed chances and contracts being run down, it's the only reason Rangers were able to sign him. Warburton clearly felt he could be the manager to finally get the best out of him, Pedro thinks differently. For me Forrester is the type of player who infuriates supporters. He is clearly gifted but his attitude and his application simply don't match his skill and so he doesn't make it into the first team often enough. You see wee glimpses of what he could be, then he vanishes for four weeks. There are lots of players who hate training and could be described as 'poor' trainers, but they're easy to manage, they're diligent in other areas and bring more to the team. Forrester is simply not as good as he thinks he is and without the hard work never will be.

There was an interesting interview with Harry Kane in the Times a few weeks back. Kane, who is a similar height and build to Hardie, was sent out on loan by Spurs and did okay but never set the heather on fire. Spurs wanted to send him out again but he refused and told them he wanted to stay and fight for a place in the Spurs side. Half way through that season he got his chance and the rest is history. Now I'm not for one minute suggesting Hardie is the next Harry Kane but he is someone who has consistently scored goals wherever he's played. That's a great strength. Like a few others I've never been that impressed with his overall game on the occasions I've seen him but he clearly has enormous self-belief and knows where the goals are. He's a big skinny lad, but as he gets older he'll start to grow into himself and become physically stronger, adding another dimension to his game. I'd be really disappointed if Hardie didn't get a chance at Rangers. You'd start to question the point of our youth system if someone who has consistently scored goals at every level he's played at isn't given a chance in our first team.

There was no Welsh league when Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham joined but there is one now and was when Merthyr joined. Precedent set. I obviously agree that Rangers aren't on the same level of club but we'd have been joining the same level of league and that was the issue. I actually do think the English would have backed us if it came to it. The clubs at that level would have backed us, the leagues would have backed us, there's a lot of votes in those regional and county leagues in the FA. As for the SFA, we'd just been thrown out of our league and the company that owned us had gone into liquidation, had we pushed it and applied for England and they'd said 'no' we could have challenged that under restraint of trade or threatened to resign. In the end the SFA might not have liked it, indeed they might have said 'no' and forced us out of football for 12 months but a phoenix club could have played for one season in England and then merged with 'Rangers' the following year. We didn't try, we didn't play hard ball with them, we don't know what kind of stomach for a fight they had. Remember Lawwell and his cabal might have fancied us setting a precedent of going to play in England,.

Maybe. We didn't try so it's all moot, but had we tried, with all the 'new club' bullshit going on, and with us having been thrown out of the SPL I think we'd have got into England. Had we been denied we could have challenged it legally and would have won, I think (I'm not a real lawyer, don't take legal advice from me on other matters). You already have Welsh sides in England, and not just the big well known ones either, Merthyr Town, a Welsh side, joined the Western League, part of the English pyramid for example just five years ago. Closer to home Tweedmouth Rangers joined the East of Scotland league just last season after playing in the Northumberland League, they are based in England. Likewise Gretna and Annan both played in Cumbria for years. So there's precedent before you look to Ireland, and further afield where there are countless clubs playing in leagues outside of their country. The SFA might not have liked it but I can't see how they could stop it if we'd forced the issue. Remember this was the level we'd have been looking to join.

Has there ever been a good player emerged from Finish football? Maybe this boy will be the exception. What's the story with Ryan Hardie, is he being released or has he got a chance at the club following a couple of seasons out on loan? He scored 9 goals in the season just passed playing for two of the poorest sides in league and scored twice for Scotland under 21s earlier this week. We're getting excited about a 20 year old from Finish football, but is that a very different standard from Scottish football?

Rugby in Scotland, Ireland and Wales simply by-passed the existing clubs and created new regional sides, these sides are owned by the governing bodies, so it would be like the SFA creating sides and running them. At one time winning the Glasgow Cup was seen as a measure of success. Indeed there was also the Glasgow Merchant's Charity Cup too, something we took seriously for over half a century. But in time these faded in importance and national leagues and cups grew in importance. We're now seeing national cups start to mean less. The League Cup has already started to lose some of it's value and, in time, the Scottish cup will go the same way, it's already happened in England. Like you I wish things didn't change, but the they do. Queens Park and Vale of Leven were once 2 of the greatest club sides in Europe, they're not today. Ajax were once the finest side in the world, today they're little more than a feeder club for Bayern, Barca and PSG. History teaches us that if we don't move with the times they'll leave us behind.

Five years ago, when everyone in Scottish football was trying to kill us, we should have applied to join the Northern Premier League, the semi-pro, level 8 and bottom of the ladder, and begin our journey up the English pyramid. Frankly the standard wouldn't have been that different from Division 3 where we found ourselves and we'd be around League 1 or 2 now just a couple of steps away from the top flight down south. That league is as good as the one we're in, our support would have stuck by as, the interest and potential for sponsorship would be at least the same if not more so and, as an added benefit we wouldn't have been spending any money with clubs who literally tried to kill us. Plus we'd have earned our way through the leagues, not been parachuted in, something that will be very unpopular if it ever happens. Our club playing in England, with all the media exposure that comes with that, would have secured our place in the game and garnered us thousands of fans for years to come. I'd still be in favour of trying it today.

This is yet another strange story among the many, many peculiar happenings around our club in recent years. Who did King give "£20,000" too? Did he give it to the Celtic fan? If he did then some serious questions need to be asked about why he did that. If he gave it to Craig Whyte well the same applies. In case any further evidence was required about the nature of some of 'their' support the 'hacker' is 48 years old, an age where most people have significantly more important things to worry about than the goings on at a football club they don't support. There are times you despair for the country.

I have to agree with this. Pete, I don't recall ever having a problem with anything you've ever written on here, but I was surprised when I read your first post in this thread. Of all the victims Brazil is one of the few who has spoken publicly about it in the past. If he doesn't want to again we should respect that.

He's certainly an interesting signing and brings a lot of experience, something a centre half can't have enough of for me. I'm not sure I'm quite ready to beatify him just yet but he's got a great record and whilst he's in the twilight of his career he's dropping down a level from Serie A so he should still be able to perform at a good level in our league. My only word of caution is the intense season he's had, playing during the Euros last summer then a full season followed by the Confederations Cup means he really could do with a break. Whilst it won't suit us we should give him a month off when that comp is over, let him recharge, we've a long season ahead and it would be better not to lose him to fatigue related injuries during the season. We're pretty certain to lose him to suspensions as it is.

Look there are all sorts of reasons a manager can 'fail' at a club, reasons I've no insight into. He could have had his best players sold from under him, finance issues, dysfunctional boards or just bad luck. I can only see what the record books show and they show an, at best, ordinary series of results. Derek McInnes, often named as the 'obvious' overlooked replacement for Warburton has a similarly ordinary CV, winning promotion with St Johnstone he then steered them to 8th place two seasons in a row before moving to Bristol City and getting them relegated. Since Tommy Wright took over St Johnstone have finished 6th then 4th for three seasons in a row, with one of the smallest playing budgets in the league. Even Thistle manager, Alan Archibald, has a comparable record to McInnes (prior to Aberdeen) with winning Thistle promotion and then a 10th, an 8th, a 9th and a 6th place finish. I didn't hear many suggest either of those two for our manager's position. I get why many say 'give him a chance' and of course we've no option but to do that. He's the manager and he must be allowed to bring in the players he wants. The fact I'm not convinced about his ability and I'm nervous about bringing in players who might struggle to settle in our city and culture not to mention style of football is just messageboard chat. I genuinely hope I'm wrong, I just worry we've employed the Portuguese Bobby Williamson.