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Replacement Striker?


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Hideous transfer window for us. Our captain is leaving on a PC to our main rivals who have also strengthened their team with a real good prospect.

Our top scorer leaves for a very small fee when you look at all the other fees getting spent around Scotland.

Dundee utd bring in a few although they have lost 2 good players. 2 million quid will soften that blow. 2 players we incidentally had a the club at one point and left for nothing.

Hamilton who also let a player or 2 go but brought in a good few quid themselves.

We have totally ballsed up this window and we still don't have players signed up who want to stay!!

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?

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Ever thought maybe the players approached didnt want to come up to Inverness? Should we pay over the odds for a player of lesser ability like our neighbours just to have a player? Also even if they had a contingency list the players cant be approached in advance as thay would have been 'tapping up' so until we formally go through the process we dont know if a player wants to come to us.

 

I do agree about the GS situation especially as the Dons seem to have spent cash on MacLean, can only assume that they had the loan deal done for the otehr CB and decided that GS can wait. I hope the board didnt reject on the basis its a rival only to then sell off Billy.

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.

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Our top scorer leaves for a very small fee when you look at all the other fees getting spent around Scotland.

 

As Billy was out of contract and considering the fees going for players in a similar situation in Scotland we got competitive funds, had he been contracted for another 3 years then I agree its derisory but under the circumstances its ok. Still do wonder if the difference between 2nd or 3rd in the SPL v's 5th or 6th may have offset that.

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Hideous transfer window for us. Our captain is leaving on a PC to our main rivals who have also strengthened their team with a real good prospect.

Our top scorer leaves for a very small fee when you look at all the other fees getting spent around Scotland.

Dundee utd bring in a few although they have lost 2 good players. 2 million quid will soften that blow. 2 players we incidentally had a the club at one point and left for nothing.

Hamilton who also let a player or 2 go but brought in a good few quid themselves.

We have totally ballsed up this window and we still don't have players signed up who want to stay!!

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?

 

 

GMS was on trial with us and, IIRC, he was asked to continue the trial for a wee bit longer as TB wasn't sure about him and his injury history. GMS got a permanent contract offer from Airdrie and went with that instead of extending his trial with us. Fair enough.

 

Armstrong was with us but when we got relegated at the end of 08/09 he said he was waiting on a new deal from ICT as his contract had expired. Whilst he was waiting his family moved to Dundee and United stepped in to snap him up as we still hadn't offered him a deal as we were still trying to get our house in order after being relegated. Disappointing.

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All I'm saying is that both players were with is at some point and both left for nothing. It's frustrating to see united take in 2 million for them when potentially they could have been ours regardless of situation.

Getting 150k is reasonable for the amount left on his contact and I understand that's all he's valued at now. But that's where we go wrong, Hamilton and united etc sell when players value is high and take in replacements. We tend to let contracts run down and let players leave for nothing or for nowhere near their true value due to the duration left on their contract. Again frustrating.

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Hideous transfer window for us. Our captain is leaving on a PC to our main rivals who have also strengthened their team with a real good prospect.

Our top scorer leaves for a very small fee when you look at all the other fees getting spent around Scotland.

Dundee utd bring in a few although they have lost 2 good players. 2 million quid will soften that blow. 2 players we incidentally had a the club at one point and left for nothing.

Hamilton who also let a player or 2 go but brought in a good few quid themselves.

We have totally ballsed up this window and we still don't have players signed up who want to stay!!

 

Last time I checked our captain was foran albeit he hasn't played for over a year.

Edited by Ayeseetee
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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 :tongueincheek:

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Hideous transfer window for us. Our captain is leaving on a PC to our main rivals who have also strengthened their team with a real good prospect.

Our top scorer leaves for a very small fee when you look at all the other fees getting spent around Scotland.

Dundee utd bring in a few although they have lost 2 good players. 2 million quid will soften that blow. 2 players we incidentally had a the club at one point and left for nothing.

Hamilton who also let a player or 2 go but brought in a good few quid themselves.

We have totally ballsed up this window and we still don't have players signed up who want to stay!!

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?

 

 

GMS was on trial with us and, IIRC, he was asked to continue the trial for a wee bit longer as TB wasn't sure about him and his injury history. GMS got a permanent contract offer from Airdrie and went with that instead of extending his trial with us. Fair enough.

 

Armstrong was with us but when we got relegated at the end of 08/09 he said he was waiting on a new deal from ICT as his contract had expired. Whilst he was waiting his family moved to Dundee and United stepped in to snap him up as we still hadn't offered him a deal as we were still trying to get our house in order after being relegated. Disappointing.

 

GMS was on trial, played part of a friendly v Clach and as far as I understood was then so sore after his first game in a long time was unable to train properly again during the rest of his trial period. He only got his deal at Airdrie several months later, as he was unattached. Think he is a bit of a diver, so he will fit in well at his new team. Armstrong however is quality, and Im sure that Ronnie and 10CC rue losing him when we had to let all our youth potential go

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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 :tongueincheek:

 

Your tendency to back the club come what may is commendable but there are a couple factual inaccuracies. Whilst still towards the bottom of the scale, we no longer have either the lowest turnover or the smallest player budget in the division and, while Celtic have a massive budget compared to any other cub in the country, they don't have 'an income base that's literally a hundred times bigger than ours'. Their turnover is closer to twenty times ours. A huge gulf still but nothing like a hundred. The only clubs in the World that have anything close to a hundred times our income are Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United.

 

You make fair points but there is no need to exaggerate to do so.

Edited by Kingsmills
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Yes even if McKay wanted to go. If we have no-one ready to bring in then why would you sell him. I would feel sorry for him as he deserves a good move. But if we're going to be left short in a position where we're already crying out for a back up then no you don't let him go.

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Yes even if McKay wanted to go. If we have no-one ready to bring in then why would you sell him. I would feel sorry for him as he deserves a good move. But if we're going to be left short in a position where we're already crying out for a back up then no you don't let him go.

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).

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Yes even if McKay wanted to go. If we have no-one ready to bring in then why would you sell him. I would feel sorry for him as he deserves a good move. But if we're going to be left short in a position where we're already crying out for a back up then no you don't let him go.

Unfortunately this club needs a minimum of £200k per year to maybe wash it's face so this was probably a godsend to the board.

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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!

Edited by PerfICT
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Yes even if McKay wanted to go. If we have no-one ready to bring in then why would you sell him. I would feel sorry for him as he deserves a good move. But if we're going to be left short in a position where we're already crying out for a back up then no you don't let him go.

 

How do you know they didn't?

 

The Mckay transfer did not complete until Friday PM, which doesn't leave much room for getting someone...even a pre-determined target...signed and ready to go for the Saturday.  Physically getting them here would be a major undertaking in itself.

 

Having been denied that opportunity, then it makes sense to take a bit of time to re-evaluate the situation...and also get a look at any players who became free agents following the closure of the transfer window.

 

Having Watkins replace Mckay on Saturday didn't exactly prove to be the disaster some folk predicted, so that too has to be factored into the decision making.

 

We seem to be going from the ridiculous "Sign someone...doesn't matter who, just anyone" to the absolute ludicrous, with allegations that the club are deliberately self harming by not signing someone (yet).  It's pure hysteria and even normally sensible thinking people seem to be getting caught up in it.  I personally find it bizarre (and somewhat worrying) that an event such as Transfer Deadline Day can have that effect on a community.

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Yes even if McKay wanted to go. If we have no-one ready to bring in then why would you sell him. I would feel sorry for him as he deserves a good move. But if we're going to be left short in a position where we're already crying out for a back up then no you don't let him go.

Unfortunately this club needs a minimum of £200k per year to maybe wash it's face so this was probably a godsend to the board.

 

£200,000 is approximately what it takes to run the club for three weeks.....

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

 

As will many other clubs, like St Mirren who have said they are looking at a couple of players who were released yesterday.

 

I'm surprised little has been said anywhere about Antoine-Curier being released, cos it's a really strange one.  Hamilton are awash with money after getting millions for Neil, Hendrie and Andreu.  No doubt they had also reduced their wage bill into the bargain this window. And then, having just sold their top scorer, they just release their second top scorer on a free? Very odd.  I can only assume that there must have been some sort of falling out, or they couldn't agree a contract extension and someone spat the dummy out big time?

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I was disappointed that we didn't make any signings although they would have been loans so the idea of spending lots of money never crossed my mind. I agree that to much was made of getting someone as we have a small squad and budget it would be folly to just bring someone in for the sake of it and waste wages when the club can save some money. The player needs to be the right fit and someone who will mean we won't miss billy. But for everyone thinking this is the end of our season need to grow up. The squad we have got us here and although billy started to make a major contribution in the last month we made a strong start with him not firing. That core is still there and i am sure that Marley would work as a replacement but my biggest fear is injuries. the time is now to look at some of the younger lads and I would think that Yogi hasn't turned his phone off as there are players who have been released who may tempt him. I am very surprised that Hamilton let Antoine Courier go and I think he would suit our style as he offers pace and played in a team that under Alex Neil played a good possession based game. He has scored 10 goals and is really a veteran when it comes to the top flight so he wouldn't take to long to bed in. St Mirren have said that they will be bringing in more players before our league encounter a week saturday so who knows we may also have one or two before then. 

Edited by gingerjaggy
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I don't think it's absolutely ludicrous to suggest the club might not want to qualify for Europe for financial reasons, nor ludicrous to think that would influence its decisions between now and the end of the season. The suggestion could be incorrect, and I certainly hope and imagine it is; and of course it's a pretty negative thought to allow at this stage. I'm sure the club are pushing as hard as they can to bring someone in.

Plenty free agents out there. As long as we get someone with the right qualities to allow this very good team to fulfill it's potential, I'm not particularly worried about who, where they've come from, or how. Tie up another couple of our squad on new deals and this window could be pretty quickly forgotten.

Edited by Slater
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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.  

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