Renegade

I'd imagine the striker will be Scott Davidson after the interview with John Robertson in yesterdays Press and Journal. Talked about him glowingly.

I saw on Twitter that some Dundee fans had been saying on their forum that Dundee were making a move for Meekings and Draper.

I am?!

Cheers. Hopefully, providing there are no delays, I'll be in both America and Glebe Park on the same day!

Anyone know the best way of getting from Edinburgh Airport to Brechin?

Not a chance Fon Williams' is worth anywhere near that.

I see he's been released by Plymouth. Seems to have become half-decent in the years since he left us. He was very inconsistent last time - some games pretty solid, others absolutely abysmal.

Oh he has another brother. Is Ally Ridgers still playing by the way? He was at Brora as I recall and still Djing.

The same Ridgers brother who played for us (without ever actually coming on) in two separate spells? (Three if you include his loan spell)

Joe Chalmers is not very good at football. Ridgers is decent enough I'd say and you'd imagine that Fôn Williams is probably away. I'd rather see Cameron Mackay get a chance though to be honest.

Well we'll not be signing Blair Yule then. He's gone to Arbroath.

Who's the lad who was scoring constantly for Brora? Steven MacLeod or something. Went to watch Brora last season and saw he was playing at left back! Paul Brindle (Brora and ex-Clach striker) was linked with Lincoln City at one point last season. That's the type of market down south we've been operating in in the last few years. I'd also like to see us make a move for Shane Sutherland actually. A superb goal record for Elgin and never really got a run up front with us - constantly shunted to the wing by Butcher.

John McGinlay's first club was Fort William, though he is from the area. As many will remember, Cammy Keith was scoring bags of goals every week for Keith a few years back and had a trial at a club down south (Nottingham Forest or Middlesbrough as I recall). Seemingly we did scout him as well but it was deemed he wouldn't cut it in the Premiership. He went to Formartine United for £25,000 not long after.

Maybe a few years ago. I think he played in the Inverness welfare leagues for a while (at CSK Highfield perhaps?) and perhaps Clach for a while as well?

I think Scott Davidson is from Inverness. It's entirely possible he's just training with the club in order to get himself up to fitness to sign for another club in the Highland League. Despite playing for Fort William, he's actually a very good player in the Highland League.

As things stand - Goalkeeper Owain Fon Williams Ryan Esson Cameron Mackay (we think) Daniel Hoban Defenders David Raven Carl Tremarco Gary Warren Brad Mckay Alistair Stark Kevin McNaughton (if he signs a new deal) Midfielders Ross Draper Liam Polworth Aaron Doran Jake Mulraney Iain Vigurs Strikers Scott Boden Andrew MacRae John Baird One would presume Cameron Mackay and/or Daniel Hoban will go out on loan, while we can't really expect Stark and MacRae to walk into the first team straight away. We're well covered in goal, while (especially should McNaughton stay) our defensive is pretty solid. Could maybe do with one more centre back though. We can assume Baird is signed but I'd like to see one more Alex Fisher-style target man brought in. Midfield has quality, but maybe another central midfielder and another winger would finish the team off nicely. I'd make that four more signings after Baird.

Tomorrow's P&J says Shearer was told of his departure by voicemail. It also includes his own quotes confirming it. Poor show from Caley Thistle.

He's probably still more mobile than Doumbouya was!

It'll be interesting to see how Robbo's tactics are this season. I recollect last time he seemed to move away from Paterson's 3-5-2 and went 4-3-3 (with three strikers) and at times 4-4-2. We were quite a direct side as I recall (and obviously having Bobby Mann pinging the ball out from the back was a big bonus).

A Birmingham fan tweeted it. Could well be nonsense though.

I'd be staggered if Andrew Shinnie came back. Far far far too good for this level.

Just saying roughly (should McNaughton be retained) that we need about six new signings. Does Robbo have the contacts to bring in the players we need? Last time he did well bringing in Barry Wilson and David Bingham, both players he knew personally. You'd imagine recruiting from the lower leagues down south is now a thing of the past. The lower Scottish leagues don't seem to produce the talent anymore. In our history, we've only had two long term managers who've built their own side. Robbo has no track record of doing this from what I can see. In fact, at just under two years, Caley Thistle are the longest time he's ever spent at a club and at Ross County, Hearts and Derry, he was out of the door within a year. Ironically, the one job he spent the longest at (us!) was one where he was headhunted. I wonder why that's such a common denominator.

Whenever you hear of a club making an appointment like this, you always hear the immortal line 'He knows the club' like that is inherently a good thing. I'm not so sure about that. Obviously it depends on the character and the situation, but knowing the club isn't always a positive. Sometimes the best thing is to rid yourself of the old boys network and bring in an outsider with fresh ideas, fresh contacts and a fresh vision for the way ahead. In the long run, the club benefitted massively from Butcher's presence and the way he brought in new hungry players from outside the area, rather Scottish clogger journeymen. Foran on the other hand probably knew the club too well. So yes, 'knowing the club' is one thing but I don't know it's always the positive many claim it to be.

We're in need of a big rebuild. Has Robertson ever actually build a side? As mentioned previously, he did well here with Steve Paterson's team (and added Bingham who he was big friends with) and he doesn't seem to be at teams long enough to truly build his own team. In fact, has he ever been at a club longer than two years? I don't *think* he has.

Robbo seems like a nice enough guy, but this is a bizarre appointment. Hasn't managed a club in five years and even then it was at East Fife where he got the sack and hasn't managed a full time club in a decade. Now yes, he did well here last time but let's not forget what happened - he inherited a very team from Steve Paterson (which was top of the league at the time as I recall) and brought in David Bingham who he was friends with and was also one of the best players in the league. I really wonder if there are some crossed wires here and Robbo is Director of Football or General Manager and someone else is the team manager. That would make far more sense. I'm sure he's an enthusiastic guy around the club but he does seem to have a habit of falling out with people, as well as lasting nowhere long. I won't be at all surprised if he's walked before the season has ended.