*** Hearts Summer Transfer Window 2022 - Snodgrass signs ***

[Lord Beni of Gorgie]

I don't go the shit the bed stuff like the others, quite the opposite sometimes think the players believe they are better than they are until they hit that rough patch which has appeared in every game, think some folk are getting carried away tbh. And other people are over reacting to the bad spells. 

 

Definitely need a midfield that are strong and quick to improve and plug the yawning holes in the right side of defence. 

 

Hate to mention the S word, anyone honest knew he was a huge hole to fill. Its not the worst position to fill in terms of finance, tbh disappointed we didn't do that early, but we will wait and see who arrives

[PTBCAL]

Aberdeen are a case in point. A club that easily finished top 2/3 for a few years recently and never capitalised on it.

 

I don’t think we will make the same mistake but right now we haven’t hugely moved on from last season. Equally we definitely haven’t regressed though. 

Edited August 20, 2022 by PTBCAL

[DC_92]

8 minutes ago, BackOfTheNet said:

 

As I say, it’s definitely appealing to players and agents. But clubs might feel it will be to the player’s detriment. For example, if a team wants their young prospect to stay in England and go to a Championship club because (rightly or wrongly) they think that’s a higher standard of football, then European football experience may swing the pendulum back in our favour. However, if the team determine we’ll perform in Europe as well as we do away in Glasgow, they may find that the European stint could be to the player’s detriment in terms of confidence. And let’s be honest, there’s every chance we’ll fly around Europe week after week performing like we do in Glasgow.

 

I think you're overthinking.

 

Clubs don't put players out on loan to completely shield them from all negative experiences. All experience, positive and negative, can be beneficial.

Edited August 20, 2022 by DC_92

[CMc]

53 minutes ago, johnking123 said:

Think it obvious that Europa league or the Conference league is going to determine our budge. We will sign players , Europa will give us the cash to go that bit further. 

You think?

 

All the chat I’ve heard seems to be we project our budgets further down the line than that.  For example, I’m sure every time we shift lots of STs, they always say that goes into the following year’s budget. 
 

Club also said they were holding back some of the cup/Europe money for coming seasons. Surely that would be accessible if we had good targets that were marginally out of budget?

 

is it not more likely that negotiations are dragging on or targets are keeping options open and it just coincides with the qualifiers?

 

Or have you heard otherwise?

[BackOfTheNet]

23 minutes ago, DC_92 said:

 

I think you're overthinking.

 

Clubs don't put players out on loan to completely shield them from all negative experiences. All experience, positive and negative, can be beneficial.

This is true, I’m just pointing out that playing Europe might not tip the scales in our favour as much as some might think, as clubs will be looking at mostly the team and league they will play most of the season in, and the 6 European games are an extra, but not as much of an extra if we’re not going to be competitive. And we might very well be, but at this time and point there’s an argument to say we won’t be.

[soonbe110]

48 minutes ago, BackOfTheNet said:

 

As I say, it’s definitely appealing to players and agents. But clubs might feel it will be to the player’s detriment. For example, if a team wants their young prospect to stay in England and go to a Championship club because (rightly or wrongly) they think that’s a higher standard of football, then European football experience may swing the pendulum back in our favour. However, if the team determine we’ll perform in Europe as well as we do away in Glasgow, they may find that the European stint could be to the player’s detriment in terms of confidence. And let’s be honest, there’s every chance we’ll fly around Europe week after week performing like we do in Glasgow.

Young players need good and bad experiences if they are to become rounded individuals.   Protecting them from tough games/experiences isn’t really doing them any favours.  Every player in football has huge highs and lows in their careers. Best to get used to it as soon as possible. 

[soonbe110]

17 minutes ago, CMc said:

You think?

 

All the chat I’ve heard seems to be we project our budgets further down the line than that.  For example, I’m sure every time we shift lots of STs, they always say that goes into the following year’s budget. 
 

Club also said they were holding back some of the cup/Europe money for coming seasons. Surely that would be accessible if we had good targets that were marginally out of budget?

 

is it not more likely that negotiations are dragging on or targets are keeping options open and it just coincides with the qualifiers?

 

Or have you heard otherwise?

Think it’s all to do with the window still being open for another 12 days. 

[johnking123]

28 minutes ago, CMc said:

You think?

 

All the chat I’ve heard seems to be we project our budgets further down the line than that.  For example, I’m sure every time we shift lots of STs, they always say that goes into the following year’s budget. 
 

Club also said they were holding back some of the cup/Europe money for coming seasons. Surely that would be accessible if we had good targets that were marginally out of budget?

 

is it not more likely that negotiations are dragging on or targets are keeping options open and it just coincides with the qualifiers?

 

Or have you heard otherwise?

Could be the difference of loaning a few players and buying them 

[CMc]

11 minutes ago, johnking123 said:

Could be the difference of loaning a few players and buying them 

The same players?

[BackOfTheNet]

4 minutes ago, CMc said:

The same players?

Think Ronan would be an example of someone we would buy or loan dependent on budgets

[bazman]

The quality of the teams in the conference league isn't as bad as some people making out. Fiorentina, Anderlecht, Slavia Prague, Villarreal and West Ham to name just a few. And that's the teams that are having to qualify for it there willBe more in automatically

[Bobbybob79]

Ceptic looking to loan out Mikey Johnston. 

[ramrod]

Its obv proving harder to afford the quality we now need, that's the crux of the matter, hopefully as players options decrease we will become more attractive. Quality demands patience 

[BackOfTheNet]

46 minutes ago, bazman said:

The quality of the teams in the conference league isn't as bad as some people making out. Fiorentina, Anderlecht, Slavia Prague, Villarreal and West Ham to name just a few. And that's the teams that are having to qualify for it there willBe more in automatically

UEFA website has this list: https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaconferenceleague/clubs/

 

Is there any team that qualifies automatically? Or is it just teams that fail to qualify for Europa or finish 3rd in the group and got into the knock outs later?

[gedster]

47 minutes ago, Bobbybob79 said:

Ceptic looking to loan out Mikey Johnston. 

Cause he's not very good. No thanks

[Finlay James]

54 minutes ago, Bobbybob79 said:

Ceptic looking to loan out Mikey Johnston. 

He’ll end up at the wee team 

[Batistuta87]

59 minutes ago, Bobbybob79 said:

Ceptic looking to loan out Mikey Johnston. 

I'd take him. Good option to have on the wing if he's fit but he never kicked a ball for nearly 2y with an ACL and various other issues. He always looked a cracking player any time I seen him play. 

 

Probably end up at Hibs or Aberdeen though. 

 

Edited August 20, 2022 by Batistuta87

[DC_92]

I can remember seeing Johnston on two occasions. The 2019 Scottish Cup final against us, when he was anonymous, and the League Cup final last year against Hibs, when his end product was exclusively terrible.

 

Loaning players off the Old Firm is also a diddy move.

[MyWay]

59 minutes ago, bazman said:

The quality of the teams in the conference league isn't as bad as some people making out. Fiorentina, Anderlecht, Slavia Prague, Villarreal and West Ham to name just a few. And that's the teams that are having to qualify for it there willBe more in automatically

 

This! People are talking about the conference league as if its full of european minnows. Yes there are some smaller teams in the competition but lets not kid ourselves that we wouldn't be one of them. There are some massive clubs in there. Roma won it last season ffs. This is why we should absolutely go all out for the europa league as its the bigger competition and anyone expecting an easy ride in the conference is kidding themselves.

[Holyrood_Hearts]

1 hour ago, Bobbybob79 said:

Ceptic looking to loan out Mikey Johnston. 

Hopefully we don’t look at him. No interest of being like the rest of the league & help develop players for either of those two arseholes 

[OTT]

27 minutes ago, DC_92 said:

I can remember seeing Johnston on two occasions. The 2019 Scottish Cup final against us, when he was anonymous, and the League Cup final last year against Hibs, when his end product was exclusively terrible.

 

Loaning players off the Old Firm is also a diddy move.

 

100% agree. He'd be a good signing potentially, but not on a loan deal. 

 

He's also made of glass, so would be a big risk for the sort of money Celtic would be looking to gouge out of us for him. 

[Batistuta87]

29 minutes ago, DC_92 said:

I can remember seeing Johnston on two occasions. The 2019 Scottish Cup final against us, when he was anonymous, and the League Cup final last year against Hibs, when his end product was exclusively terrible.

 

Loaning players off the Old Firm is also a diddy move.

Not keen on loaning off the OF either and it's probably quite unlikely we're interested for that reason along, but would do it for the right player and under the right circumstances - maybe a loan with option to buy perhaps so we can benefit from any progress he makes. Depends on the money and where the player is at mentally and physically. I'm sure if we are even looking at him we'll do so with due diligence. If we do go for him then I'll trust the decision makers. But I don't think we will. 

 

Edited August 20, 2022 by Batistuta87

[BackOfTheNet]

30 minutes ago, MyWay said:

 

This! People are talking about the conference league as if its full of european minnows. Yes there are some smaller teams in the competition but lets not kid ourselves that we wouldn't be one of them. There are some massive clubs in there. Roma won it last season ffs. This is why we should absolutely go all out for the europa league as its the bigger competition and anyone expecting an easy ride in the conference is kidding themselves.

It’s certainly not minnows, it will have teams you’ve heard of, but nothing to shout home about. Basically teams on par with Zurich. After Thursday’s qualifying for Europa, the only team really in danger of dropping down to Conference that’s a big name would be Olympiakos. Add them to the names bazman mentioned, and that’s it really. There’s only a couple that would be considered glamour ties. It’s when the bigger teams drop from Europa to the Conference knock outs it starts looking more prestigious.

 

Best we can hope for is to get into the Europa, hope we can pick up enough points to finish at least 3rd in the group stages so we at least drop down to Conference knock outs. That way we get more glamour ties and exposure. Saying that, being in the Conference - potentially - gives us more chance of picking up points. But did anyone seriously watch any Conference group match last year that wasn’t just on BT because an English team was on it? I think very few genuinely went looking for a group match in the Conference unless they were a fan of the team involved or just happened to be on TV due to regional reasons. Same will be said of us. However, if we get into Europa against likes of Man Utd or Inter, people won’t be tuning in to watch us, but there will be exposure of us as a club at a much bigger level.

Edited August 20, 2022 by BackOfTheNet

[Carter]

42 minutes ago, ramrod said:

Its obv proving harder to afford the quality we now need, that's the crux of the matter, hopefully as players options decrease we will become more attractive. Quality demands patience 

On that basis we should go with less numerically but don't compromise on quality. Notion that we're waiting to see what European competition we're in doesn't really stack up. We'll be bringing a player in on a 3 year deal. The very real risk is we find ourselves short on numbers and quality and cannot contend with Thurs/Sun and we can't get back into group stage football next season. Initial priority to put distance between ourselves and the rest. There does seem to be signs that we're struggling to nail our main targets whoever they may be. 

[Rick Sanchez]

Connor Ronan, having been on the Wolves bench for the first two games is nowhere today.

[Sooks]

14 hours ago, Hood09 said:

Now Is the time to be putting distance between us and everyone else in the league and we seem to be flapping. 

We aren’t flapping at all we are three games in to the league season and we have periods of excellent play , as the season progresses we will start to that more often and for longer

[Jamboscanbevicius]

2 minutes ago, Rick Sanchez said:

Connor Ronan, having been on the Wolves bench for the first two games is nowhere today.

Interesting. I think Roman could be a cracking signing for us potentially. Either perm or season long loan with an option to buy. 
 

I think he’s a good example of the market we are looking at. On the cusp with PL squads but reaching 22-24 and haven’t quite broken through. It’s often late window decisions for these guys as they try and stake a claim

to stay before deciding if they need to move on and drop a level to kick on like Beni.

[davieholt]

I am so sick of seeing 'Shankland signs' in the thread title.

[Spookie]

3 hours ago, BackOfTheNet said:

Think Ronan would be an example of someone we would buy or loan dependent on budgets

Left out the wolves squad today  👀 

[Carter]

8 minutes ago, Spookie said:

Left out the wolves squad today  👀 

Ronan will be 25 before the end of this season. Needs to leave Wolves permanently and become a regular somewhere. 

[Jamboross]

3 hours ago, bazman said:

The quality of the teams in the conference league isn't as bad as some people making out. Fiorentina, Anderlecht, Slavia Prague, Villarreal and West Ham to name just a few. And that's the teams that are having to qualify for it there willBe more in automatically

 

No one qualifies automatically, everyone in the UECL groups has to go through qualifiers of some sort.

 

Obviously they won't all stay as they are but based on first leg results we're looking at the groups containing : 

 

Silkeborg

Shamrock Rovers

Apollon/Olympiacos

Pyunik/Sheriff

Sivasspor

Heart of Midlothian

Zalgiris

Dnipro

Gent

Austria Vienna

Djurgarden 

Rakow

Slovacko

Anderlecht

RFS/Linfield

CSKA Sofia

Maccabi Tel-Aviv

Wolfsberg

Craiova/Beer-Sheva

Basaksehir/Antwerp 

Vaduz/Rapid Vienna

Zrinjski

Maribor/Cluj

Viking/Lech Poznan

Fehervar

Villareal

Fiorentina

West Ham

Alkmaar

Partizan

Ballkani

 

A handful of minnows and a few bigger names from yesteryear but most of them are clubs we know nothing about (and who probably say the same about us). I know which competition I'd rather be in.

 

Edited August 20, 2022 by Jamboross

[BackOfTheNet]

18 minutes ago, Jamboross said:

 

No one qualifies automatically, everyone in the UECL groups has to go through qualifiers of some sort.

 

Obviously they won't all stay as they are but based on first leg results we're looking at the groups containing : 

 

Silkeborg

Shamrock Rovers

Apollon/Olympiacos

Pyunik/Sheriff

Sivasspor

Heart of Midlothian

Zalgiris

Dnipro

Gent

Austria Vienna

Djurgarden 

Rakow

Slovacko

Anderlecht

RFS/Linfield

CSKA Sofia

Maccabi Tel-Aviv

Wolfsberg

Craiova/Beer-Sheva

Basaksehir/Antwerp 

Vaduz/Rapid Vienna

Zrinjski

Maribor/Cluj

Viking/Lech Poznan

Fehervar

Villareal

Fiorentina

West Ham

Alkmaar

Partizan

Ballkani

 

A handful of minnows and a few bigger names from yesteryear but most of them are clubs we know nothing about (and who probably say the same about us). I know which competition I'd rather be in.

 

Basically from that you’d be wanting Fiorentina and West Ham. Otherwise you’re looking at nice away day locations. 3rd in the Europa group gets us into Conference knock outs, that’s the minimum we should be aiming for. Huge mountain to climb to get to that point though.

[Jamhammer]

25 minutes ago, BackOfTheNet said:

Basically from that you’d be wanting Fiorentina and West Ham. Otherwise you’re looking at nice away day locations. 3rd in the Europa group gets us into Conference knock outs, that’s the minimum we should be aiming for. Huge mountain to climb to get to that point though.

Hearts v West Ham is my worst nightmare 

 

[Ford Prentice]

Need to get this thread back on track.

 

Suwon won 2-1 today. No sign of Lee Seung-woo in match day squad.

 

[FarmerTweedy]

4 hours ago, bazman said:

The quality of the teams in the conference league isn't as bad as some people making out. Fiorentina, Anderlecht, Slavia Prague, Villarreal and West Ham to name just a few. And that's the teams that are having to qualify for it there willBe more in automatically

No teams go automatically into the Conference League group stage. Every club in it either lost a Europa League playoff round tie or won a Conference League playoff round tie!

[Tommy Brown]

5 minutes ago, Ford Prentice said:

Need to get this thread back on track.

 

Suwon won 2-1 today. No sign of Lee Seung-woo in match day squad.

 

On a flight?

[Ford Prentice]

3 minutes ago, Tommy Brown said:

On a flight?

Probably somewhere above the Pentland Hills right now.

Edited August 20, 2022 by Ford Prentice

[BackOfTheNet]

15 minutes ago, Jamhammer said:

Hearts v West Ham is my worst nightmare 

 

 I can imagine!

[jamboinglasgow]

39 minutes ago, Ford Prentice said:

Need to get this thread back on track.

 

Suwon won 2-1 today. No sign of Lee Seung-woo in match day squad.

 

 

Interesting, could be that he has a knock. But considering how important he is to them, thats curious.

[tazhearts]

I didn't think Suwon had a game this weekend? Not according to Fotmob.

[innerjambo]

44 minutes ago, Ford Prentice said:

Probably somewhere above the Pentland Hills right now.

 

A plane just flew over my house. Could be the one.

 

 

[Rick Sanchez]

4 minutes ago, tazhearts said:

I didn't think Suwon had a game this weekend? Not according to Fotmob.

 

Probably looking at Suwon Bluewings.

 

Tyrece Francois on the bench for Fulham.

[lou]

6 minutes ago, tazhearts said:

I didn't think Suwon had a game this weekend? Not according to Fotmob.

They are not playing until the 29th as far as I can see

[Ford Prentice]

 

4 minutes ago, lou said:

They are not playing until the 29th as far as I can see

My bad. Didn't realise there were two Suwons. Following the wrong one on Flashscore.

 

Sorry for any false hopes.

[Gorgierools]

11 minutes ago, innerjambo said:

 

A plane just flew over my house. Could be the one.

 

 

Was it flying towards or away from the pentlands?

[Ford Prentice]

14 minutes ago, Rick Sanchez said:

 

Probably looking at Suwon Bluewings.

 

Tyrece Francois on the bench for Fulham.

 I was mistakenly looking at Bluewings. Sorry.

[soonbe110]

1 hour ago, BackOfTheNet said:

Basically from that you’d be wanting Fiorentina and West Ham. Otherwise you’re looking at nice away day locations. 3rd in the Europa group gets us into Conference knock outs, that’s the minimum we should be aiming for. Huge mountain to climb to get to that point though.

So, climbing a huge mountain is the minimum we should be aiming for?   Bit of a contradiction there I think. 

[Lord Beni of Gorgie]

I would like to see a really dominant player in midfield 

[innerjambo]

23 minutes ago, Gorgierools said:

Was it flying towards or away from the pentlands?

 

Not sure, I was doing a head stand at the time.

[BackOfTheNet]

4 minutes ago, soonbe110 said:

So, climbing a huge mountain is the minimum we should be aiming for?   Bit of a contradiction there I think. 

Yes. As that’s how you only get somewhere in football. The minimum we currently have is Conference League group stages, so we don’t need to aim for that. So we need to aim for Europa group, but all that takes is one game. What we should be aiming for is to stay in Europe beyond the group stages, but Europa League first with at least a 3rd finish. (We should also aim for knock outs in Europa, but that likely is too soon for us this season). 6 group games in Conference might get us some money, but in terms of development of club stature not much. Europa will do much more for us in that regard. So minimum competition - to be aiming for - is Europa. And minimum european length - to be aiming for - is beyond group. So minimum overall - to be aiming for - is Europa group 3rd place. BUT, I’m simply acknowledging that’s a hell of a task within itself, but not our biggest challenge.