DMAA

19 minutes ago, Frankie said:

Yes, the big R from STV (and also from one or two other trusted sources).

 

Windass and Alnwick not on team bus to pre-match hotel.  Tav was.

Providing we get decent fees I'm very pleased Windass, John and Alnwick are away. All part of decluttering the squad and replacing them with quality. Time to bring in a player who brings goals, either created or scored.

9 minutes ago, Frankie said:

Yes, the big R from STV (and also from one or two other trusted sources).

 

Windass and Alnwick not on team bus to pre-match hotel.  Tav was.

Sackcloth and ashes time for @Rousseau

It's essential Middleton makes the bench at least for me too. We need his pace and dribbling if Maribor prove difficult to break down.

Wales Online has said the fee would be "less than 500k" for John. That would be very disappointing and terrible business again from our us as a selling club. He's a Wales international and just turned 23.

Blackburn possibly in for Foderingham but they won't have much money to offer.

Celtic's defence has been lambasted yet again by their fans after last night. I think for the first time in a long time a number of our starting 11 would get into theirs. The only problem is that it's all in the same position!

Just my opinion but it looks to me that almost our back 5 is better than theirs, I think Barisic will be fantastic but you'd have to give Tierney the nod. I think Jack can be better than Brown from now on. But the rest of the attacking positions go to Celtic, and it's not even close. They are still head and shoulders above us in all those positions and our guys would seriously struggle to make their bench. I think this is a worry and we need to address it before the window closes, otherwise we could have another season of frustrating home games where we lack the quality and creativity to break teams down.           

                            McGregor

Tavernier      Katic     Goldson       Barisic

                    Jack      Coulibaly/Arfield

Candeias/Windass    Arfield/Dorrans       Murphy/Kent

                           Morelos/Sadiq

                           Gordon

Lustig            Ajer      Hendry           Tierney

                     Brown     Ntcham

Forrest/Hayes/Christie    Rogic/Arzani/Allan   McGregor/Sinclair   

                  Griffiths/Dembele/Edouard 

50 minutes ago, pete said:

I doubt we would get clearance until he pays his fine. +1.4 mill dollar is quite a large amount for a player that has never had his roots planted for long. I don't see many clubs willing to pay that.

I think this must be why nobody has gone in for him. I'd consider him for that sum though given his age and potential, but I suppose we'll see if anyone takes him.

46 minutes ago, der Berliner said:

Solely pragmatically, John is young, has a long contract and is a Welsh international. up to 2m and a sell-on clause should be possible, IMHO.

Unless John wanting away is true and known by Swansea. This does his value no favours at all.

8 minutes ago, Dave M609 said:

With John looking like he is out the door, does it look like Wallace is being given another chance, how long is he injured for, when is the disciplinary with the club

I think Wallace is a top quality left back. If it wasn't for injury and this disciplinary issue he'd easily be worth £2m in today's market so it's a bit of a disaster the way things have gone. Having said that with Barisic in it makes no sense to have wages like his on the bench, I just wish we could get a transfer fee for him. 

7 minutes ago, der Berliner said:

Snatched from FF ergarding John ... who seemingly negotiates a permanent deal.

 

I've heard from a few people that he wants to go back to Wales because of a personal issue after his papa died, I don't know how much weight it holds TBH but surely nobody would make that up!?
I think he's a gent and a smashing football player.

https://www.followfollow.com/forum/threads/swansea-in-talks-with-rangers-over-permanent-john-deal.40544/

Would be great to get a fee for him. Should make a decent profit on him too because we've brought him on signficantly and he's featured several times for Wales in that time so would be a popular signing at Swansea.

12 minutes ago, der Berliner said:

No bids or interest for Foderingham, Alnwick or Windass (or anyone else) as yet
This could change over next 24hrs as English window closes.

We've still got a number of players who we need off the wage bill. It's a bit of disaster if they're all still here in 24 hours because England is the most obvious destination for most of them. 

A bit of a pointless post maybe, but I'm surprised the club haven't been linked with Souleymane Coulibaly at all. He was brilliant at Kilmarnock, moved to Egypt for 800k and hit the ground running there before quitting the club. He's now a free agent but only 23.

He responded to an Aberdeen fan's tweet a couple of weeks ago with thinking faces after the fan had said announce Souleymane Coulibaly.

33 minutes ago, der Berliner said:

BTW ... what a mess the English window timeing is. Just imagine someone throws in a valuation-meeting offer for Windass and Taverniern and both have to sign by 5 pm ... with us playing but 3 hours later.

I hadn't thought of that! Looks very unlikely at this stage however as valuations of both Winass and Tavernier appear to be miles apart. I'd bite their hand off if they offered anything like £5m for Tav but £2m is easy to turn down.

In the unlikely scenario a club really want Windass or Tav today, the fact we're playing is a great negotiating tool and would push up their values.

43 minutes ago, Frankie said:

As for tonight, I suspect a team along the following lines with Arfield dropping into the Jack role and Ejaria tasked with linking the midfield to Morelos.

 

For a change there are actually a lot of questions over what the team will be. 

Ejaria vs McCrorie

Kent vs Murphy

Candeias vs Windass

Ejaria over McCrorie would be an attacking move because Arfield isn’t a defensive player. However it’s probably the right move because we need to be able to retain possession tonight and Coulibaly and McCrorie in the middle wouldn’t do that. That’s a pairing for an away day. 

11 minutes ago, Frankie said:

Yip, Gerrard in his presser yesterday said there was no interest in the Bosnian players.

 

That might be true or just playing games but I think we'll find out over the next day or two.

My take on it is that enquiries/bids were probably made on one or both but we’ve walked away. I think that’s why he stressed “currently”. No reason to disbelieve the president of the Koljic’s club that we made a bid. Of course as the window goes on maybe we’d decide the high price we were quoted might after all be our best option so it’s not necessarily done. 

1 hour ago, JFK-1 said:

Absolutely love the way he deals with the press cretins. When asked about conceding late goals in the last 2 games he responds with.

 

"well I think if we have 11 men on the pitch we might try and stop them late goals going in"

I actually thought that was a fair question. If we’d meant any attempt to hold onto the ball against Aberdeen we’d have seen the game out. 

Gerrard denied interest in any Bosnians unfortunately 

2 hours ago, Stevie - 4lads Blog said:

Significantly less than that mate

That’s disappointing 

3 hours ago, Gonzo79 said:

Liverpool beat them about 7-0 in Maribor.  However, I agree with your overall point.

I’m aware of that but to be unbeaten in 3 out of 4 of the non Liverpool games is very impressive. 

Contrary to what a few have said I think Maribor will be a noticeable step up in quality from Osijek and will pose a genuine threat. Skupi were terrible and Osijek were bang average whereas Maribor performed very well in the Champions League last season and have a strong track record in Europe. It's very exciting to see how we hold up against a European side with genuine pedigree. I think they will be playing for 0-0 and it could be a very frustrating game for us.

37 minutes ago, Frankie said:

Also worth noting the manager has dismissed any interest in the Bosnian players being linked over the last 24 hours.

Disappointing really. Though we have weeks left to add to the squad and Gerrard seemed keen to suggest we’re in no hurry and not to expect much just now. 

1 hour ago, Uilleam said:

And from the syphillis destroyed brain of some eamonn or other: Liverpool is paying the salaries, etc. of SG and his coaching and ancillary staff, 

under some kind of "loan agreement. 

Sounds like a very promising candidate for sevco of the week

29 minutes ago, Darthter said:

Was it not 3 for Jack last season, then this one???

Jack had 2 of his 4 rescinded. The Stevie May one was a clear red but the Hamilton one was an incredibly harsh second yellow. The kind that really highlights the total lack of consistency with these kinds of decisions. 

2 minutes ago, Darthter said:

Is that at least 4 Red cards now either reduced or rescinded completely, over the course of a season & 1 game.

I think it’s 3?

37 minutes ago, Frankie said:

As expected, red card rescinded and reduced to a yellow.

 

Good news but this is happening far too often - especially to Rangers in the last year.  Time for a mature discussion about why these officials are making these errors which are costing us important points.

Absolutely. The failure to show Ball a red was a poor decision. But this decision was more than poor, it was absolutely inexplicable and outrageous. All the more so given the yellow shown to the St Johnston last year for an unprovoked proper kick last season. Big consolation is that Morelos is back and McKenna has got his karma and will miss the best part of 2 months. Serves him right for what was unprovoked genuine violent conduct. 

25 minutes ago, Bill said:

Funny how Celtic and their media pals seem to be able to talk up valuations to a much higher level

Tell me about it! Alan Brazil on Talksport was seriously suggesting Liverpool should join the race for Boyata because he "proved in the World Cup he could play at the very highest level."

Never mind the fact he only played against England's B team and two walkovers against two of the worst teams in the tournament in Tunisia and Panama. As soon as Vermaelen and Kompany recovered from injuries he was back to being 5th choice centre back and didn't feature for the rest of the tournament when Belgium were really tested (Japan, Brazil, France, England).

Absolutely incredible nonsense like that goes unchallenged.

Elvir Koljić actually looks like a target man type, seems strong in the air and offers a different dimension from what we have. He could be an exciting addition.

I'm guessing with interest in these guys that we've decided to leave Lafferty until the winter or next summer on a free. If so I feel a bit sorry for him because we got his hopes up.