RiG

I wondered if it might have been Nigel Hasselbaink but I think he's signed for a Greek team or something.

GoalkeepersOwain Fon WilliamsRyan EssonMark RidgersDefendersGarry WarrenBrad MckayDavid RavenCarl TremarcoRiccardo Calder Collin Seedorf Matty Elsdon Joe Chalmers Midfielders Ross Draper Liam Polworth Ian Vigurs Aaron Doran Jake Mulraney Zachary Elbouzedi Forwards John Baird George Oakley Adutch Striker

Joe Chalmers has now signed. Dutch striker arriving later...

I'm fully aware that a lot of the work was done a) by volunteers and b) off their own back with no salary, freebies etc. It's of course highly commendable and I've said so in the past but I'm happy to repeat it - the media team did a really excellent job pulling together highlights of the odd game, interviews before and after games and of course with the Twitter updates. The recent addition of live streaming games to overseas supporters is also excellent and has been widely commended on here. However, I stand by my feeling that it was, at times, something of a closed shop to outsiders. Twice either I or someone else had offered to do the Twitter updates for games were one of the regulars couldn't make it and each time we received a quite terse rejection. I'm sorry to hear that you felt like you wanted to leave it all behind and do something else but if the club, media team or whoever need some extra hands to help out I'm sure there would be willing volunteers. Maybe I've missed the calls for additional support on the media side of things (and indeed any other times the club has asked for an extra pair of hands) but if it's an ongoing plea for assistance, and it sounds like it is, maybe it would be an idea to have a section on volunteering on the club website with some of the opportunities that could be on offer for both home and away games?

The man himself confirmed this last week. Sorry to see him go. I hope we do as well as possible in every game we play but if we patch the League Cup but just use it to get fitness up and have a (semi) decent league run I'd be happy enough with that. Like the Challenge Cup the League Cup is fast becoming a competition that means nothing until you get to the latter stages so I wouldn't be bothered if we struggled so long as performances were decent and we use it to turn in a good league campaign. Totally agree. Social media is the place where people go for news now and as such having a good presence on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc is really important for clubs. There's absolutely no doubting that what Don and others did to raise the profile of the club through their Twitter antics was largely a good thing save for some minter episodes like the SuperBowl commentary. For the most part the info put out there was well received, informative and very funny. The club definitely benefited from this. However, if there was one criticism to be made it was that the people who were involved appeared to be opposed to anyone else joining in and helping out. Something of a "it's my ball" attitude at times. Obviously you don't want to be giving out a password for a club account to just anyone but sometimes it felt as though those involved didn't want anyone else involved which, ironically, is probably what we need now. I completely understand that when you've worked on something for so long and built it up, in this case from pretty much nothing, that you would be hesitant to see someone else come in and potentially ruin it all but I couldn't help but shake the feeling that at times, whilst additional hands would have been welcomed, they weren't really wanted. Maybe I've picked things up wrong, it wouldn't be the first time, but that's just how I see it.

According to Clach it is:

Absolutely howling performance today. I know it's just a pre season friendly but still...

So our 'realistic' first team squad is something this then? Goalkeepers Owain Fon Williams Ryan Esson Mark Ridgers Defenders Garry Warren Brad Mckay David Raven Carl Tremarco Riccardo Calder Collin Seedorf Matty Elsdon Midfielders Ross Draper Liam Polworth Ian Vigurs Aaron Doran Jake Mulraney Zachary Elbouzedi Forwards John Baird George Oakley

Elsdon loan deal is six months with an option to extend to the end of the season. Confirmed by the player and the manager apparently.

So is this roughly the areas of the squad that we've strengthened? Mark Ridgers - GK Riccardo Calder - DL (also midfield?) Collin Seedorf - DC (also midfield?) Matty Elsdon - DC Zachary Elbouzedi - MR John Baird - ST George Oakley - ST

Last time I trust what Jamie Durent says then

Six months.

Another defender signs, this time on loan. A quick Google for the lad seems to indicate that he is 20 years old and a CB.

I'm sure they are however for the wages that Draper is likely to be on JR will be able to bring in a couple of extra players in his place much like he has done or is doing now that Boden is off the books. It's a tough one. Do you keep one of the best players at the club and probably someone who is captain material as well to drive the team forward or do you flog them and use the cash freed up to bring in two or three players in other areas where the team needs strengthened? For me, ideally, other players get shipped out, use the money saved to bring in some other faces and keep Draper. But I seldom get what I want

Or an indication of just how badly we need the cash from the transfer and that saved from his wages.

That's a good point (although the amount they received from Boyce was never disclosed and I can't imagine it being close to £1 million). We know County have a fair bit of dosh after the Boyce deal so they can easily stump some more. If we're going to sell Draper then we should take the buying club to the cleaners like the French and German sides do when a minted EPL club bids for one of their players.

Cheers guys. Can't help but feel it's pretty similar to Ryan Christie when Hughes was talking about interest from Celtic. If County match our valuation he'll be off.

That's certainly the hope anyway. Back of the P & J has Robbo allegedly rebuffing another Staggies offer for Draper and basically telling them to make the club an offer it can't refuse for the guy. I say allegedly as I've only seen the headline and can't read the actual story so there may not be any quotes to support the headline.

TBF a lot of the signings Foran had made last summer were generally welcomed by the fans (myself included) as they were the players we needed at the time i.e. strikers, defenders instead of the plethora of midfielders signed by Hughes. Obviously things didn't work out so I'll remain cautions. Regardless, glad to see us making moves to strengthen the playing pool.

Here's a wee ESN video compilation of the guy:

Apparently he's been training with United recently and they are favourites to sign him. Probably just some idle Twitter chat linking him with us for some reason.

Hard to keep track TBF what with all the players they release for so called "personal reasons".

Some chat that we're after Paul Quinn and we've offered him a contract.

Maybe that's what is written in the stars...

Really!? That's even more out of date than my one on P & B