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It's desperate when we are digging up things about unproven (at that time) youth players from 2009 to use as criticism for our conduct in this transfer window. Please consider that this club has the smallest squad size, the smallest playing staff budget and the smallest turnover of any premiership club. Until income improves, that will always be the case. Therefore it's always going to be difficult to attract people here without blowing the salary structure out of the water, incurring debt and venturing down an unsustainable road that has inevitably lead county to where they are now. I think that's why we hang on to people; we have to put an awful lot more into getting people here in the first place and it makes sense to squeeze every last drop out of them rather than invest energy in chasing windmills. We need to attract people who actually and really want to be here and that's not everyone - we need the likes of Tansey and for the past few seasons, Mckay. I agree that we really need to now tie in the others who have said they want to stay - Meekings and Raven for a start. Then we can look at what can be brought in. The other aspect of this is that the winter window is an artificially inflated place to buy anything, fuelled by fans desperate to add to their side and agents and players knowing that, if they are in demand, they can wait until the last minute and maximise their income. The minute any club sells, especially in a crucial position, the price of a replacement automatically goes up. If anyone gets wind of a buying club sniffing around, they sense weakness and hey presto - the price goes up. You can either accept that, swallow your principles and dig deep (a la Roy McGregor) or simply not get into the game. Either way, getting up and making your buying strategy public is only liable to add on a couple of zeros to any price that has to be paid for a player. Would you give the game away under the circumstances? Would you respond to a market that says it doesn't matter what you buy (and that's been said on this thread) as long as you buy something? I don't think so. The players in this squad have got us to where we are in a league where it looks increasingly likely that 4th place will be enough to secure european football. Celtic have ensured that they can beat all others now, funded by an income base that is literally a hundred times bigger than ours. Aberdeen are strengthening but everyone else looks weakened. By that token, 3rd place remains eminently achievable and a good cup run could concievably fund strengthening the squad or retaining those who people with no real evidence are deciding are "as good as gone". Take it in this light, are we really in such a bad place? I don't know that we are, but surely the proposed new Nando's at the retail park will save the day

While everyone's going into meltdown about the striker situation, I'm getting increasingly concerned about the defence. Raven and Meekings are two of our most reliable players and have expressed a desire to stay, yet one claims that contract talks have "stalled", while the other seemingly hasn't been offered a deal at all! What's the deal with that?

Just checked the website http://www.bbc.scotlandshire.co.uk/index.php/rural-news.html

For me the only thing that worries me about all this is the clarity of information given to the media and as such to the fans. If Yogi thinks we can get by with what we've got, that's his call and he will be judged on it, If Kenny and the board made decisions about finances that's their call and they will be judged on it. The big but is statements from Kenny that I took as meaning something was in place to cover for Billy going, then Yogi talking about loans etc. I expected this to mean someone being brought in. I'm not raging because we didn't sign players nor do I think we can compete for Europe without a proper striker but what I would have liked is clarity from board and manager.

Seemingly there was a big fall-out behind the scenes. Apparently, MAC wasn't happy with Martin Canning being installed as the manager and instead favoured a different candidate.......himself!

Perhaps it the distance and the detachment that comes with it, or perhaps its because I waited for a day after the window because I spent most of it digging my car out of the driveway after a storm that dumped a crapload of snow on us (and is headed your way) ... but I have what I hope is a more reasoned outlook on this .... Am I disappointed we did not sign a replacement for Billy? Absolutely. Do I believe that we had "contingencies" in place? Kind of ... I think we had targets and we can name a few but its hard to talk to those targets ahead of time without being accused of tapping up. Once we did talk to them, they showed no interest, or perhaps asked for too much leaving us well and truly screwed. That WAS a mistake either in terms of not feeling things out with agents etc (there are ways), or in perhaps thinking some of these guys were prepared to come to us. Should we panic buy? Absolutely Not. That seems to be the reaction from many since yesterday but I believe we should take (a little) time to look at who is available on a short term deal until the end of the season and review our options after that. We do have goals capable of coming from elsewhere in the squad, we do also have the likes of Ferguson or maybe even Foran who can come (back) in as well as others in the squad who can cover but perhaps there is a gem or two in the free agent/unattached market. normally there's a page on the PFA or SPFA websites where you can get a list of players looking for clubs but I dont see anything at the moment. Out of the crop of releases I know of, I would perhaps take a serious look at M-A-C but no-one else really.

You can't ignore the player in all this - while they are a commodity that is traded, they have a common failing....they're human! So, if a player does/doesn't want to leave, it will have a bearing on the correct decision a club will make. Had Mckay insisted that he wanted to stay at ICT for the rest of his days, he would still be here. We know that wasn't the case because he didn't sign a contract extension. so, had he been denied what he probably saw as a good move, his heart would no longer have been with us and his form would have slipped. We would still have played him, but he would have been a shadow of his former self. The same is true of players coming in: it sounded like the guy at Southend was the one who put the kibosh on his move here (well before personal terms were discussed). Even if we'd offered the world and Southend had accepted, he wouldn't have come. So, both clubs and the player have to be happy with the deal on offer and that is why it is so difficult to attract the right person at the right time fro the right money. I still wouldn't be surprised if we weren't to see one or more of the guys papped during the window up here for the rest of the season (MAC, Jordon Slew both mentioned, for example). It's amazing how sudden unemployment can focus the mind!

Personally I think if we did that we would struggle to attract players up here. An unhappy and bitter player is not needed either (Mckay if we had denied him his move).

Where's the transfer window????

There probably never was a contingency plan. It was just a cheap soundbite to appease the fans. Perhaps it was anticipated that we'd get someone in and the chairman could claim "told you so". He'll possibly now claim that the plan was to promote from within - i.e. integrate our two young strikers into the first team. Ali Sutherland and Calum Ferguson.

Dundee United may have weakened but they have strengthened their defence and have the advantage of a striker or two in their first team squad including one rather good one. I appreciate that we have to be financially prudent but we have £150,000 and Billy's salary to play with. Not to have found a replacement when every other team in the league have brought in at least one player smacks a little of incompetence and a lot of lack of ambition when a historic first for the cub was in sight. We already had far and away the smallest squad of the top four which is now smaller still. Was the contingency plan to wait and then scrape the barrel of free agents ?

I wonder how Newcastle Reserves will get on in the cup against Raith at the weekend? Surely no less that 5 payers heading to Ibrox on loan from Newcastle is making a mockery of the rules around the influence one man can have with more than one club.

Raven not offered anything yet according to Courier. wants to sign up, doesnt want to move. get the contract on the table !

You seem to be taking it so personally. I haven't seen anyone casting slurs. Contingency or no contingency we do not have a recognised senior striker at the club at the moment. How can that be a good thing.

Does the BBC have a thing against us as well as players not been keen on the Highlands. Noticed that within hours of Billy McKay signing for Wigan, his name was off the BBC list of SPL top scorers. Hamilton sold Andreu and released Antoin Curier but they are still listed as top scorers. Is this just typical or is it just me?

Why do people even criticise the club when CaleyD and davie are always right and the club is always right. Get a grip everyone.

Its a poor outcome, on a positive note Billy only scored 1 goal during Aug, Sept,Oct and the team coped even when it was highlighted that we only had the one striker. We will just have to see how the future pans out.

Defend the club at all costs. If they weren't going to get a striker in then don't sell McKay.

TIME NOW FOR JAMES DEAN ?

Yogi can only identify players he wants. If he does that he is doing his job. Getting those players should be left to someone with the authority to spend the clubs money and put the deal to bed.

Very likely but we need to know how many players we went for and why we didn't get them. I can quite easily understand that we may not be that attractive to some but it's our ACTIVITY I would like to hear about.

If it's any consoltation just remember we're still not as shite as Ross County.

Come on some of the ridiculous stuff on this thread is laughable. From what I understand GMS was offered a deal at that time but didnt accept. Armstrong was in the youth setup and moved to Dundee to live with his family. Fail to see how club can be at fault for this. The club can only sell players for what other clubs are willing to pay? No?

Why not give Ferguson and Sutherland chances? I'd give them at least 6 starts each to see how they get on. We should be looking closer to home though and bringing in talented youngsters from across Scotland. We should look at St Johnstone as they do very good job on this front.

...if Antoine-Curier is still available, I'd be pulling out the stops on that one.

Underwhelming and disappointing but not hugely surprising. We have a fantastic Chairman & Manager but the failure to bring anyone in this transfer window is very poor, we are so short up front. The Chairman made a statement that we have a contingency but this was clearly not quite correct. As soon as it looked like Billy was away we should have been on to other clubs agreeing fees/loan terms/wages so that when Billy went most of the replacement deal was in place. Dundee United have been weakened but not considerably, they've brought in Anier (international), Dixon (Scotland International) and Robbie Muirhead who turned down Celtic yesterday and is one the better prospects in the SPL. I appreciate that there are budgetary constraints but we received a decent 6 figure sum for Billy as well as freeing up the wages of one of our highest paid players.

If the contingency plan was indeed the guy at Southend maybe we were fortunate he didn't want to come.

Eh, almost a week on and no sign of the plan maybe! If I am not mistaken a contingency plan means you have a plan already in place if something was to happen. The club have been talking for weeks about the likelihood of Billy going but appeared to leave it until yesterday to try and replace him. That ain't a contingency that is being reactive and panicking.

Wouldn't blame Yogi for this one. He can only deal in his allowable budget. Cameron started all this contingency blarney so let's hear from him as to why his plan failed desperately. Yes, fair one. Yogi can only play the cards he is dealt. Cameron is the one to explain what a contingency plan is.

Wouldn't blame Yogi for this one. He can only deal in his allowable budget. Cameron started all this contingency blarney so let's hear from him as to why his plan failed desperately.

The only time we've ever had a deal of january window activity was to try and stave off relegation and that failed abysmally. It would have been great to have signed another striker but, in all honesty, how long would it have taken him to gel with the team and start to make a difference. Its still possible we could find a free agent but I'd much prefer we utilise what we have and play our strengths to whoever we can put up front. I know Fergie is young but he's been around the first team for a while now and has done a decent job in development league so I think he could well step up and be counted.

Agreed. And with money from Billy's move and the saving of his wages there should be a little more cash to offer the out of contract players. It is more important to secure some of these players for next season than to splash money on a second rate striker. Meanwhile who knows how Fergusson and Sutherland might develop if given a bit of first team experience.

Dundee utd might be weaker but they have a bigger squad and one of the best strikers in the league.

Quite a depressing evening all round, seems like every team made a decent signing except ourselves. Really rated Lyle Taylor last year now it seems he'll be facing us again on Saturday. Probably end up with a rushed, poor, sekajja type free agent.

If we don't sign anyone in the window we better be getting our out of contract players on new deals now and stop the faffing about.

Christie and Watkins up front, Doran or Ross behind, and hopefully no injuries....perhaps Foran will feature this season? I also think Hamilton and Dundee Utd have been weakened in this window as well

Ah well that's that then, what a horrific transfer window

We await the contingency plan with interest Mr Cameron.

Its a different country. Fulham had a deal with county. Romanov hearts

The Adams family

#DawsonSources

Rocky1 - are you one of the very few who never considered weeks and weeks ago that there was a distinct possibility / probability that McKay would be subject to bids in this specific window as he was out of contract at the end of the season ? Do you think that the management should have considered contingency plans to put in place should the possibility become an eventuality ? What about looking at possible loan deals involving players who would be suitable to play in the role in the system occupied by McKay ? I am hopeful however that this error can be sorted and that our season continues to move forward in a positive vein.