January transfer window ( Now closed )

[Heartsofgold]

16 hours ago, Gone said:

 

Not this time no. A rare story of mine that doesn't result in me getting tested for gonnorhoea

Explains your screen name then!

[5-1Jambo]

7 minutes ago, Jim Panzee said:

begs the question why he played fine when on loan at dundee. whats the difference? coaching, tactics, team mates, expectation?

I think he got better protection from his midfield and wasn't being asked to play out from the back. I don't see our midfield tracking back or tackling in midfield. Defending should be a team effort. Frear and Halliday, in my opinion, are parti ularly lazy in defence. 

[5-1Jambo]

11 minutes ago, Bunny Munro said:

 

I say this about a few players, but if he we had Haring playing 80% of games last season we would never have got relegated.

Can't argue with that. 

[neilnunb]

3 minutes ago, jamboinglasgow said:

 

Seen Celtic could get 10m for him (with a 30% sell on fee to Man City) so they get a good amount, but if I was a Celtic fan I would be concerned that a player who should have been one of the main players next season is wanting out the door now, suggesting he is not developing at Celtic. Lennon's lack of coaching ability causing more long term damage to Celtic.

 

£10m...wow.  I thought it'd be about £500,000 😁

 

The Sun reporting that wee short-arse they were hyping up, Dembele, has turned down a new contract and is offski in the summer.

[FJT]

1 minute ago, 5-1Jambo said:

I think he got better protection from his midfield and wasn't being asked to play out from the back. I don't see our midfield tracking back or tackling in midfield. Defending should be a team effort. Frear and Halliday, in my opinion, are parti ularly lazy in defence. 

Think these are fair observations. Making Berra very exposed recently. Who knows, I’d absolutely love it if he regained form but I’m just not confident it’s going to happen. 
Whole team responsibility though and I’m not blaming one player wholly for us leaking goals 

[Mr Rabbit]

12 minutes ago, Jim Panzee said:

begs the question why he played fine when on loan at dundee. whats the difference? coaching, tactics, team mates, expectation?

I think it’s a confidence thing personally. You would of hoped that heading out and having a fairly successful loan spell would have helped with that but you can tell with his performances that he’s on edge.

 

Expectation as you mention is also higher. As well as the fact both Kingsley and Smith like to push forward and can leave both our centre backs exposed as one ofHalliday (mainly) and Irving aren’t sitting.

[bigsuperslim1874]

10 minutes ago, jamboinglasgow said:

 

Seen Celtic could get 10m for him (with a 30% sell on fee to Man City) so they get a good amount, but if I was a Celtic fan I would be concerned that a player who should have been one of the main players next season is wanting out the door now, suggesting he is not developing at Celtic. Lennon's lack of coaching ability causing more long term damage to Celtic.

Surely £10m is all nonsense - how on earth could they get that amount? Your Van Dijks and Wanyamas - totally get it but what exactly has this guy done to be worth £10m?!?!

 

Mot moaning at you - just in general at the valuation! 😂

[jamboinglasgow]

2 minutes ago, neilnunb said:

 

£10m...wow.  I thought it'd be about £500,000 😁

 

The Sun reporting that wee short-arse they were hyping up, Dembele, has turned down a new contract and is offski in the summer.

 

To be fair to Dembele, I dont mind him (except for him picking England over Scotland) and think he has genuine talent. If Rogers had stayed then he would have had more apperances. But Celtic decided to play hard ball with him after hyping him up and it has backfired on them. Again I think him leaving is an effect of short termism and poor decision making by the board after Rogers left and they learnt nothing from what made him the ideal manager for Celtic (hence just getting Lennon.)

[Dr. Sheldon Cooper]

3 hours ago, bobby bombscare said:

Washington had a pretty poor goal tally when playing striker. He was really i winger if i remember rightly and had played as a winger at the last few clubs he's been at. He also looked his best for us of the wing, getting behind the line.

 

I think we are of the same thinking. I don't mind players playing in positions they can play in. What i don't understand is things like when we used to send halkett up front cause we needed goals or playing Meshino on the wing when it was clear the boy had no idea how to play on the wing. Playing Wighton as a wing back. Boy is never a winger, never mind a wing back. 

My point was more we look at good players and then play them in a totally different position. Like Halliday. I don't ever recall watching a game with Halliday at rangers and think "he's bossing the midfield". Plenty of games where i thought he played like that at left back though. Same as Irvine, we kept trying to play irvine in an advanced role and he kept plying poor. His best position is as a more traditional role. Not sitting in an advanced role and not sitting back defending. I think that's part of the reason Harring had a howler the other week. He looked as though he was pushing higher up the pitch than normal (always seen him play a very defensive role in the midfield). I think you're right though and Neilson and Savage are moving more towards buying players for positions rather than buying players for how good they are and making them fit in somewhere or altering formations to squeeze them in. I just don't think the likes of Naist should be playing a midfield role anymore, not at 34 in his 4th knee op, second hip op and at the end of a very injury prone career. You can see he doesn't have the legs for it. I think this is probably being addressed with the search for a new midfielder so i think we're going in the right direction but just totally confuses me when our fans just want us to buy players because they rate them. Regardless of if they fit or not. 

 

Last year we had a good squad on paper, but it was a squad full of players who didn't fill the positions needed on any formations without leaving shortfalls. There is still a bit of that now with the contract mess left by Levein. I just think some fans still expect someone's ability to play one position immediately make them a certainty on a team sheet, regardless of where they play.

 

Washington has been a striker for the majority of his club and international career. His goal record at Peterborough was good and I thought he was a great signing at the time but unfortunately his injury prevented us from seeing what he could do. I felt he was a very intelligent forward who was always making good runs but unfortunately we had nobody in the side who was good enough to read his movement and anticipate where he would go. We didn't see enough of him and Boyce as a partnership.

 

The Halkett up front thing is only when we are chasing games. An extra aerial presence as we go more direct to try and find a way back into the game. We saw a few examples of the ball falling to him in the box and Halkett having the composure to score, so it is a useful option in emergency situations. Wighton as a wing back should never happen, don't recall it happening previously but happy to be proved wrong there.

 

Like you I do think we're on the same page and you make a good point about last year's squad. As an example we had four players who all looked most comfortable playing off a central striker (Naismith, Walker, Clare and Meshino) but they all got moved around to try and accommodate each other in the side.

[jamboinglasgow]

1 minute ago, bigsuperslim1874 said:

Surely £10m is all nonsense - how on earth could they get that amount? Your Van Dijks and Wanyamas - totally get it but what exactly has this guy done to be worth £10m?!?!

 

Mot moaning at you - just in general at the valuation! 😂

 

Bayer Leverkusen are after him, he also has 2 and a half years on his contract, and is a young Dutch player. So can all ride the price up. Must admit I was surprised by the price but Leverkusen must really want him.

[bigsuperslim1874]

5 minutes ago, jamboinglasgow said:

 

Bayer Leverkusen are after him, he also has 2 and a half years on his contract, and is a young Dutch player. So can all ride the price up. Must admit I was surprised by the price but Leverkusen must really want him.

Crazy. I think he is decent enough but £10m?!

 

My frustration is probably partly due to the fact Septics finances have taken a real hammering over the last 4 years so when I see them get £10m for a ok player it irritates me! 😂

[jamboinglasgow]

1 minute ago, bigsuperslim1874 said:

Crazy. I think he is decent enough but £10m?!

 

My frustration is probably partly due to the fact Septics finances have taken a real hammering over the last 4 years so when I see them get £10m for a ok player it irritates me! 😂

 

Not that it lowers it by that much but the 10m is Euros rather than pounds. But I agree.

[Arthur Morgan]

He's decent going forward, but he absolutely can't defend.

[Bunny Munro]

29 minutes ago, topsport said:

And if we’d had craig Gordon 😫

Never mind Gordon, if Bobby played all season we'd have stayed up.

[Mister T]

1 hour ago, neilnunb said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55814273

 

Frimpong leaving Celtic. Shame. Always wanted to see someone punch his grinning pus. 😁

First rat to jump the toxic tim tramp steamer. Hope Christie leaves and if he has any sense he will as he's way better a player than fatty fall over at villa. 

[DH1986]

6 hours ago, alanbauld said:

I would love to see Naismith playing behind Boyce and Gnanduillet in a poachers role. We have a few others who might be good there as well. Plus two wingers ? could be great to watch.

Unless Osvaldo Ardiles is going to be out next manager I can’t see that happening.

 

3-2-5 just won’t work......

[GinRummy]

1 minute ago, DH1986 said:

Unless Osvaldo Ardiles is going to be out next manager I can’t see that happening.

 

3-2-5 just won’t work......

Depends on the two surely?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

only joking 😏

[gorgieheart]

So, any further Hearts transfer noises ?     Any of the ITK posse care to contribute ? 

[Sub4TiddlerMurray]

1 hour ago, Alex Kintner said:

There’s dozen of variations of 4-4-2. Our two best teams in the past thirty years have been 4-4-2 but they haven’t had two out and out wingers:

 

Cameron

Salvatori

Fulton

McCann

 

Miko/Cesney

Hartley

Brellier/Aguiar

Skacel

 

 

 

Good point. The big difference in set up is that both sides had 1 out and out winger. Cameron, Fulton and Salvatori bossed the midfield with McCann speeding up the touchline. 

 

Similarly, Miko/Chesney hugged the touchline while Hartley, Brellier/Aguiar and Skacel drove directly at teams through the middle.

 

RN seems to want two out and out wingers leaving only two to control (lose) the midfield

[JamboAl]

So any further news of transfers?

[avhudtheteeshirt]

Read in the paper this morning that Robbie on the lookout for a centre half?

Said he was hopeful in this transfer window!!!

[CAR]

5 minutes ago, avhudtheteeshirt said:

Read in the paper this morning that Robbie on the lookout for a centre half?

Said he was hopeful in this transfer window!!!

 

Where did you see that? everything I've seen says he wants a RB to compete with smith but do feel we need a CB.

[Section Q]

1 hour ago, keifrb said:

Is Ryan Guald an option for a pre contact?  Personally doing well in the Portuguese top flight for a struggling provincial club. A player possibly in the Cameron/Hartley mould.  Could we make him a very good offer or us he out of our league?

Seems like the Scott Allan syndrome here. Big potential poor decision making.

[kingantti1874]

Dembele will never play for England at senior level. They would have at least 6 players in front of him right now and players like Foden, Gomes at the younger age groups..

 

was a crazy decison from him.  I’d take him btw of his attitude is in the right place he’d be an asset

[Debut 4]

1 hour ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

No it isn’t just the tempo. To play that way it is absolutely essential, imperative, you absolutely need good Center halves who can dominate forwards and mop up 1vs1 situations. You need a back line that can take on the challenge of a team hitting you on the break, defenders who can just comfortably clean things up and clear the danger. And behind them you need a goalkeeper because your Center halves won’t catch everything.

 

Because when you push men forward and commit everything to winning the game, at any level, your opponent is bound to sneak through you a couple of times and bear down on your goal. That’s why you need quality in that area. A rolls Royce type reader of the ball like Ferdinand. Or just smash through ball + player like Vidic used to do (though he was not an animal, he was very agile as well and could pop a quick boot in there to disrupt things). And before them, Pallister, Bruce, Stam etc 

 

Good Center halves underpins absolutely everything in an attacking team. Your CBs are what makes attacking football possible. 
 

 

Sounds like a description of good Hearts teams from the past.

[Neil Dongcaster]

4 minutes ago, kingantti1874 said:

Dembele will never play for England at senior level. They would have at least 6 players in front of him right now and players like Foden, Gomes at the younger age groups..

 

was a crazy decison from him.  I’d take him btw of his attitude is in the right place he’d be an asset

Isn’t he linked with the biggest clubs in the world? He’s still only 17.

[JimmyCant]

7 minutes ago, kingantti1874 said:

Dembele will never play for England at senior level. They would have at least 6 players in front of him right now and players like Foden, Gomes at the younger age groups..

 

was a crazy decison from him.  I’d take him btw of his attitude is in the right place he’d be an asset

Dembele would be a POTENTIALLY tremendous signing and quite possibly we’d make a lot of money out of him.

Edited January 26, 2021 by JimmyCant

[Mollo]

Celtic and Rangers top departures have gained fee's that have increased in line with the transfer market over the years. Take Celtic for instance:

 

McGeady - 10/11 = £11m

Wanyama - 13/14 = £13m

VVD - 15/16 = £14m

Dembele - 18/19 = £20m

Tierney - 19/20 = £24m

 

We, however got £9m for Gordon well over a decade ago and since then have watch every asset (I get circumstances come into play such as contract length etc) disappear for at best around £2m.. thats a decade later and top assets leaving for under a fifth of the Gordon price tag. A lot have since then gone for well under £1m. At that rate we will be paying clubs to take our best players

 

How do clubs like Hearts stem the widening gap? It's crippling.

 

Surely contracts should include clauses that say, "As you become a top earner at a club, your release value must move with it" - crude and I know I am nowhere near knowing ANYTHING about it. But the rest are going to the wall losing skills and the ugly sisters continue to reap a increased values for top talent. Is there a way to reverse the trend?

 

Frustrating  

Edited January 26, 2021 by Mollo
spelling

[KyleLafferty]

38 minutes ago, Mister T said:

First rat to jump the toxic tim tramp steamer. Hope Christie leaves and if he has any sense he will as he's way better a player than fatty fall over at villa. 

Mcginn is miles ahead of Christie, absolute miles.

[JamboAl]

14 minutes ago, kingantti1874 said:

Dembele will never play for England at senior level. They would have at least 6 players in front of him right now and players like Foden, Gomes at the younger age groups..

 

was a crazy decison from him.  I’d take him btw of his attitude is in the right place he’d be an asset

Are we after Dembele?

[Robbo-Jambo]

2 hours ago, kingantti1874 said:

looked like he was struggling with the injury again for me. Suspect we are trying to rest it.. pretty worried about his ability to get back playing never mind get anywhere near previous standard

He was very poor first half at Dundee but also the game before that against Alloa at Tynecastle iirc he struggled to make an impact. 

 

Never been back on the park since Dens Park and really wonder if his injury has flared up again to some degree. 

[A_A wehatethehibs]

8 minutes ago, Debut 4 said:

Sounds like a description of good Hearts teams from the past.

Yep. Good Center halves have been the basis for every great attacking team. Not just Hearts, any level in football. When you’ve got average or in our case pish Center halves, you’ve got to have a sitting midfielder there protecting them. Otherwise you’ll just concede 2-3 goals vs any semi-competent opposition which makes winning those games very difficult. 
 

[quockerwodgerjambo]

5 minutes ago, Mollo said:

Celtic and Rangers top departures have gained fee's that have increased in line with the transfer market over the years. Take Celtic for instance:

 

McGeady - 10/11 = £11m

Wanyama - 13/14 = £13m

VVD - 15/16 = £14m

Dembele - 18/19 = £20m

Tierney - 19/20 = £24m

 

We, however got £9m for Gordon well over a decade ago and since then have watch every asset (I get circumstances come into play such as contract length etc) disappear for at best around £2m.. thats a decade later and top assets leaving for under a fifth of the Gordon price tag. A lot have since then gone for well under £1m. At that rate we will be paying clubs to take our best players

 

How do clubs like Hearts stem the widening gap? It's crippling.

 

Surely contracts should include clauses that say, "As you become a top earner at a club, your release value must move with it" - crude and I know I am nowhere near knowing ANYTHING about it. But the rest are going to the wall losing skills and the ugly sisters continue to reap a increased values for top talent. Is there a way to reverse the trend?

 

Frustrating  

We would have to win the league multiple times to be able to compete to bring in the top players, is it true that we have never spent a £M on a player ?

Wasted millions on players though.

 

[NANOJAMBO]

1 hour ago, neilnunb said:

 

£10m...wow.  I thought it'd be about £500,000 😁

 

The Sun reporting that wee short-arse they were hyping up, Dembele, has turned down a new contract and is offski in the summer.

Interesting that the BBC link you posted says Frimpong made it clear he was leaving and Lennon has confirmed a number of players wanted to leave in the summer. Doesn't sound like a happy ship. 

[soonbe110]

1 hour ago, Dr. Sheldon Cooper said:

 

Washington has been a striker for the majority of his club and international career. His goal record at Peterborough was good and I thought he was a great signing at the time but unfortunately his injury prevented us from seeing what he could do. I felt he was a very intelligent forward who was always making good runs but unfortunately we had nobody in the side who was good enough to read his movement and anticipate where he would go. We didn't see enough of him and Boyce as a partnership.

 

The Halkett up front thing is only when we are chasing games. An extra aerial presence as we go more direct to try and find a way back into the game. We saw a few examples of the ball falling to him in the box and Halkett having the composure to score, so it is a useful option in emergency situations. Wighton as a wing back should never happen, don't recall it happening previously but happy to be proved wrong there.

 

Like you I do think we're on the same page and you make a good point about last year's squad. As an example we had four players who all looked most comfortable playing off a central striker (Naismith, Walker, Clare and Meshino) but they all got moved around to try and accommodate each other in the side.

Agree, Washington’s performance at ER was outstanding when, for once, we seemed to play to his strengths.  

[Ainsley Harriott]

4 minutes ago, soonbe110 said:

Agree, Washington’s performance at ER was outstanding when, for once, we seemed to play to his strengths.  

Are we bringing Washington back?

[Mollo]

9 minutes ago, quockerwodgerjambo said:

We would have to win the league multiple times to be able to compete to bring in the top players, is it true that we have never spent a £M on a player ?

Wasted millions on players though.

 

To compete for such prices as Rangers and Celtic, yes of course we would have to win multiple titles.

 

But how do clubs like us get transfer fees for top talent that increase over time in line with the market?

 

Of course we won't get £20m for a player - but seen as we got £9m for a keeper a decade ago, how do we now get even £3m for a player rather than £2m?

 

Thats the frustration, as time moves on we are actually on a declining trend. We are going BACKWARDS from £9m while Celtic are going FORWARD from £9m (Petrov) at around same time.

[TheBigO]

3 hours ago, GinRummy said:

Could we not play 4-4-2 with one wide midfielder plus the three you mentioned. Halliday can surely play more to the left side and the GMS or Ginnelly wider on the right?

This is how JJ generally played. Was essentially 442 but with 3 CMs and one of the CFs a runner who pulled wide a fair bit. It worked!

[John Findlay]

Lennon was on Sky Sports saying Frimpong was abroad negotiating his move from Celtic. Is that possible in the current climate?

[quockerwodgerjambo]

Just now, Mollo said:

To compete for such prices as Rangers and Celtic, yes of course we would have to win multiple titles.

 

But how do clubs like us get transfer fees for top talent that increase over time in line with the market?

 

Of course we won't get £20m for a player - but seen as we got £9m for a keeper a decade ago, how do we now get even £3m for a player rather than £2m?

 

Thats the frustration, as time moves on we are actually on a declining trend. We are going BACKWARDS from £9m while Celtic are going FORWARD from £9m (Petrov) at around same time.

Talent that people want to pay for would help.

Craig was a one off in a generation, would never of happened if the Mad one wasn't at the helm.

We would of got £750,000, previous board would of sold him to one of the manky twins.

[baxterd1974]

2 hours ago, Cruyff said:

Yep. Man Utd always played full on for 90 minutes under Fergie. It was the standard. 

Simply not true.  Man U were often very slow starters hence Fergie Time

[Berra than you]

1 minute ago, TheBigO said:

This is how JJ generally played. Was essentially 442 but with 3 CMs and one of the CFs a runner who pulled wide a fair bit. It worked!

Neilson played like this for a spell on our first season up also. Nicholson wide left and Prince wide right. Allowed Paterson to get beyond Prince. And I'm sure Rossi played left back to give Nicholson nthe freedom. Also had sow and Reilly (little and large) up top. Think it was the run up to Christmas and then it all went to pot after that game agaisnt Hibs.

[David Black]

2 minutes ago, John Findlay said:

Lennon was on Sky Sports saying Frimpong was abroad negotiating his move from Celtic. Is that possible in the current climate?

I thought it was ok for Celtic players to fly anywhere.

[quockerwodgerjambo]

2 minutes ago, baxterd1974 said:

Simply not true.  Man U were often very slow starters hence Fergie Time

They were slow starters when he became manager, how long did it take to turn them around into a top European side again...

Must of been at it longer than 90 minutes.

[rudi must stay]

7 minutes ago, baxterd1974 said:

Simply not true.  Man U were often very slow starters hence Fergie Time

 

Every game is different but Man Utd always attacked, from start to finish. The poster is absolutely right, they lost alot of goals against the run of play 

[baxterd1974]

5 minutes ago, quockerwodgerjambo said:

They were slow starters when he became manager, how long did it take to turn them around into a top European side again...

Must of been at it longer than 90 minutes.

About 7 years to get them to the CL Semi

[soonbe110]

16 minutes ago, Ainsley Harriott said:

Are we bringing Washington back?

You know as much as me? 

[quockerwodgerjambo]

Just now, baxterd1974 said:

About 7 years to get them to the CL Semi

The point was he didn't get off to the best of starts, in fact he was getting hounded.The way they played took time to hone, their ability to run through teams.

All to do with building them up to become stars.

[Abiola Dauda]

16 minutes ago, David Black said:

I thought it was ok for Celtic players to fly anywhere.

The Hamilton game will be moved so he is back for it if the sale falls through. 

[Jamhammer]

14 minutes ago, baxterd1974 said:

About 7 years to get them to the CL Semi

He would never get the time he got then now would he? Football is ******!