(That long since we've had any, couldn't find the thread)

Alan Nixon: "Top Liverpool starlet Cameron Branagan will Ben allowed out on loan in Jan.

Bolton lead the race for the 20 year old midfielder"

Edited December 11, 20169 yr by Ratwhite

55 minutes ago, Arrested development said:

Lawrence isn't exactly built. Most people have no idea what his heading ability is like either. He doesn't strike me currently as a guy that can play up top on his own against League 1 centre halfs. 

If he can jump more than half an inch off the ground that's an improvement.

Moot point as I'm sure we'll have another striker in by next week. I just don't want McAtee stood up front pointing at everyone 

Interesting thread on Erhahon on the St Mirren fans forum that goes back to 2018 when he first broke into their team, having been with them since he was a foetus.

Key takeaways for me are:

* He was/is technically gifted as a youngster and the hope was that he would develop to the same level as their last great academy product John McGinn (who is class IMO)

* Was a bit lightweight as a teenager, but still held his own against the men due to his skill. Couldn’t tackle for toffee at the time though and I don’t think they expected their young midfield prodigy to develop into the defence minded ratter he has become.

* Did a lot of gym work to bulk up and learnt how to tackle but, they say, lost it for a couple of seasons and couldn’t impose himself on games as much. 
 

* He’s not that quick and for a while at least, his attitude was questioned in terms of determination, will to win and general discipline.

* Came good in the end - not McGinn standard, but nonetheless a great youth product and most fans were gutted when he was eventually sold to Lincoln after a couple of Championship teams and Hibs had initially shown interest in him. They felt insulted when the likes of FGR were also reported to be sniffing around.

* They still follow his progress - which says a lot

 

My take on it plus the little I’ve seen of him developing at Lincoln is that there a lot of similarities with GT and is perhaps an upgrade in quality - so if you sell a player for north of a mill, buy a slightly better replacement and have £450k change, that’s an incredibly astute piece of business.

 

Edited July 26, 2025Jul 26 by Wanderlust

Be good to know how the ledger reads in terms of money spent v money made from sales. We will never 100 per cent know because all fees these days are undisclosed. At a guess I would say we are slightly in profit with money still available to be spent on a striker.

21 minutes ago, paulhanley said:

Be good to know how the ledger reads in terms of money spent v money made from sales. We will never 100 per cent know because all fees these days are undisclosed. At a guess I would say we are slightly in profit with money still available to be spent on a striker.

Thinking this myself GT 1.2 million, Collins 800k makes 2 million of figures are correct and EE 750k and before all this happened we had agreed 500k for  Ceesay and 600k for the Celtic kid so my thinking is we still have money in the pot. No idea what we have paid for the others though? 

Just now, Rizlar said:

Thinking this myself GT 1.2 million, Collins 800k makes 2 million of figures are correct and EE 750k and before all this happened we had agreed 500k for  Ceesay and 600k for the Celtic kid so my thinking is we still have money in the pot. No idea what we have paid for the others though? 

I think Gray and Simons are the other two for whom we have paid fees but no definitive numbers. We also received a "nominal" fee for Southwood from Bristol Rovers. 

There'd have been money in the pot at the opening of the transfer window irrespective of sales. I think (more or less) that's the cash that's still there.

8 minutes ago, Rizlar said:

Thinking this myself GT 1.2 million, Collins 800k makes 2 million of figures are correct and EE 750k and before all this happened we had agreed 500k for  Ceesay and 600k for the Celtic kid so my thinking is we still have money in the pot. No idea what we have paid for the others though? 

I think Gale was reported to have cost around £600k. 

24 minutes ago, paulhanley said:

I think Gray and Simons are the other two for whom we have paid fees ...

Gray ?

2 hours ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

We'll have signed a striker by the start of the season but if we didn't I'd be very surprised if he didn't go one up top and that one being McAtee

 

Please no!

1 hour ago, Wanderlust said:

Interesting thread on Erhahon on the St Mirren fans forum that goes back to 2018 when he first broke into their team, having been with them since he was a foetus.

Key takeaways for me are:

* He was/is technically gifted as a youngster and the hope was that he would develop to the same level as their last great academy product John McGinn (who is class IMO)

* Was a bit lightweight as a teenager, but still held his own against the men due to his skill. Couldn’t tackle for toffee at the time though and I don’t think they expected their young midfield prodigy to develop into the defence minded ratter he has become.

* Did a lot of gym work to bulk up and learnt how to tackle but, they say, lost it for a couple of seasons and couldn’t impose himself on games as much. 
 

* He’s not that quick and for a while at least, his attitude was questioned in terms of determination, will to win and general discipline.

* Came good in the end - not McGinn standard, but nonetheless a great youth product and most fans were gutted when he was eventually sold to Lincoln after a couple of Championship teams and Hibs had initially shown interest in him. They felt insulted when the likes of FGR were also reported to be sniffing around.

* They still follow his progress - which says a lot

 

My take on it plus the little I’ve seen of him developing at Lincoln is that there a lot of similarities with GT and is perhaps an upgrade in quality - so if you sell a player for north of a mill, buy a slightly better replacement and have £450k change, that’s an incredibly astute piece of business.

 

Better replacement?

Really don't get these comments.

They've both played league one at the highest.

One has just been sold to the championship, one hasn't.

He may turn out to be better, but it will be virtually impossible to judge given that we can't compare them when not in the same side.

At the end of their careers, if one has achieved more than the other, then we may have a definitive answer. 

9 minutes ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

Gray ?

Andy,   it's our experienced striker

Mr.

Coming back.

13 minutes ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

Gray ?

Gale. I've been calling  him Gray ever since we signed him for some bloody reason!

2 minutes ago, paulhanley said:

Gale. I've been calling  him Gray ever since we signed him for some bloody reason!

I spent a lot of the summer thinking Simmons was black.

14 minutes ago, noxid said:

Please no!

It's be him or Lawrence, and obviously McAtee would be the better option

But it's a moot point because we'll sign a striker

51 minutes ago, gonzo said:

I spent a lot of the summer thinking Simmons was black.

Simons.

30 minutes ago, Cheese said:

Simons.

Worried how quickly he’s been linked with Chelsea though

Just now, tomski said:

Worried how quickly he’s been linked with Chelsea though

He was in Chelsea's academy. Buyback deal like Trafford?

Fergal said at the bond holders do last night that we were very much in for a striker last week but another club was paying stupid money and we pulled out.  Presume it was Alfie May, can't think of anyone else that fits the description.  I'm surprised we were ready to pay a decent fee for a 32 year old and I'm happy to see who we spend the money on instead.

5 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Fergal said at the bond holders do last night that we were very much in for a striker last week but another club was paying stupid money and we pulled out.  Presume it was Alfie May, can't think of anyone else that fits the description.  I'm surprised we were ready to pay a decent fee for a 32 year old and I'm happy to see who we spend the money on instead.

Anything else worth knowing?

Iles on Kenny

I think we're pretty close to a decision on Kenny. Feeling quite positive on it.

33 minutes ago, desperado said:

Iles on Kenny

I think we're pretty close to a decision on Kenny. Feeling quite positive on it.

Followed by a big hint  'I have a feeling s striker might be on his way down next week' ....

40 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

Anything else worth knowing?

Nothing that isn't already out there really. The host was Derek Clark, the Scot that does match commentaries, came across well with his sidekick Super John.

It was a Q&A with SS and Fergal, they're very enthusiastic about the new season and clear that promotion is the aim.  Sharon showcased the outstanding community work the club does, she's rightly very proud of all that and how they've changed lives.  Hard to put into words how much she's impacted the culture and ethos of that side of the club.

10 minutes with the new chief exec David Ray (he only started on Wednesday, seems decent).       

Someone asked if we might sign Sharman-Lowe permanently next year, Fergal said only if we've got a spare £10mil!  We enquired about if we could keep him on loan if we got to the championship, in other words they see this as his one season in L1.

And confirmation we intend to sign 2 strikers by 1st Sep but might need to be patient because we'd rather wait for the right man than rush someone in just to play at Stockport etc.  They rate Dalby very highly (the impact he was having in training before his injury, winning the sprints etc) but are determined not to rush him back and lose him for even longer. 

1 hour ago, tomski said:

Worried how quickly he’s been linked with Chelsea though

When I first heard of the deal I thought we'd signed the Dutch bloke. It's amazing the difference an er can make to a transfer story.

1 hour ago, Johnnyrotten said:

And confirmation we intend to sign 2 strikers by 1st Sep

So to be negative we have gone from Dalby getting injured before the Spain trip to bringing a striker in  for hibs game then it was last week then this week then for Stockport game to deadline day 1st sept then it will be we just missed out  in time with the paper work fax machine broke 😂

Edited July 26, 2025Jul 26 by Farnywhite

35 minutes ago, Farnywhite said:

So to be negative we have gone from Dalby getting injured before the Spain trip to bringing a striker in  for hibs game then it was last week then this week then for Stockport game to deadline day 1st sept then it will be we just missed out  in time with the paper work fax machine broke 😂

It does have that air to it.

1 Sept is a bit over 5 weeks away.