Yngwie

Many congratulations to the 3 of them! Enjoy every moment, it's fun. But you won't get much sleep, and you'll probably get peed, pooed or puked on. A normal Saturday night for Bronson!

With hindsight we perhaps did the right thing letting him go. He gave Gretna a few months decent service but then got an illness, was out for a long time and has been a shadow of his former self ever since. I think he's previously been loaned out to QoS and Stirling, as Gretna know he's finished as a player. They must now regret giving him such a long and lucrative contract.

Well they've beaten Dundee Utd twice

I thought they played that in Dumfries?

The squad is significantly weaker than it was. I'm very disappointed, I thought there was some kind of masterplan and we'd see a couple of signings yesterday that would improve the first team, not just the squad. I'd like to think we tried a few things but they just didn't come off. On the bright side, we must have trimmed a fair bit off the wage bill in January.

Did Richard Hastings play for Caley, or was it just ICT? Got one definite though : Allan Smart, now onto his 16th club and still only 33! Currently at Burscough in the Conference North. I think he's also the only player to progress from ICT to the Premiership, but that's perhaps another thread.

Celtic did well to offload Jarosik for a healthy fee, but I chuckled at this bit of journalism on the BBC website : "The fee is expected to be in the region of ?747,500." :024:

They lived the dream, now they are living reality. Just look at their transfer activity this month. They offloaded a large chunk of their squad including some of their best players, and just brought in loans for the rest of the season. Very sensible decisions from a club that knows its fate, meaning they can start next season in Division 1 with their lowest wage bill for many years, and then assemble a new squad more in keeping with their resources.

IIRC Rankin was the Division 1 stand-out player at the time we signed him, and had a dozen or so goals by this stage of the season. In comparison, ?50k just seems a lot to pay for Imrie.

I can hardly believe we would pay that much for a merely decent division player. This has the potential to supersede Martin Glancy as our biggest waste of a transfer fee!

Actual P&J : Brewster said: "The contracts of Barry Wilson and Markus Paatelainen are up at the end of the season and we will monitor their situation over the coming months. They have not been offered new contracts at this stage." Not quite the same thing Alex!

?50k for Imrie doesn't sound particularly good value for money, does it?

Who sings that one?

A bargain at ?20 a head if anyone is interested, although I'm more likely to break a pencil than break sweat. :003:

I don't think any club says that and actually means it. It's just a polite way of saying "we know we have deficiancies in our squad, but failed in our attempts to bring in better players".

An average player spends around 45 hours a year on the pitch. Many of us do 45 hours a week, for a lot less money.

I think we've done really well so far, by offloading players early in the window and going into the crucial last day knowing exactly how much we have to spend. Most clubs spend the last day wanting to sign players but can only do so only if they sell/dump existing members of the squad, and they get caught in transfer chains. I would be absolutely certain that we will make signings (plural) but I have no idea who. There are always surprises.

Are you overlooking his season in the wilderness?

Do other Highland league clubs not balance the books, and even make the occasional surplus, with smaller crowds than Clach? Is it just that those clubs own their grounds and don't have a rent bill, or are there other differences?

A wasted trip and overnight stay then. It'll cost Motherwell an awful lot more, but I can't have too much sympathy in that respect because they are making big money this season by having tennants and that has contributed to the pitch being in poor condition.

Solution : offer him a cracking contract, but with a ?100 penalty clause for every time he passes to the opposition.

Yeah, I'll be amazed if this one goes ahead. Constant heavy rain onto an already waterlogged pitch.

Vast experience of international football, knows the Scottish game inside out, well respected by players and fans. Excellent choice. I'm more than happy to overlook his one fault.

The OF certainly seem more beatable than 5 or 10 years ago when they had much higher calibre players. However, they have been doing very well in Europe despite the deterioration in quality on the pitch. Could this be down to managers more attuned to the needs of European football?

We appointed Jim Chapman as his replacement, but then he got offered the Dumbarton manager's job.