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If Hoggan is staying then I'm not convinced that we need another centre half. We all know that Goodwin likes Graham and McKeown as a pair. Meggatt can cover either when required with Hoggan or Hetherington at LB. Hoggan can also cover at CB. He is a highly rated player who has done well when he has played and has caught the attention of bigger clubs. We should give him a chance. And on top of all that, Goodwin himself is capable of being emergency cover at CB. I'd save the budget for other positions rather than getting another centre half.

Suppose we did play a portion of last season with only him as cover, having said that someone previously said he wasnt seen at pre season so hope he is still around.
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So on the surface (and as it stands) it looks like the manager is looking to get the ball forward quicker, more energetic with a bit more aggression in the final third.

Would rather see a direct replacement for Waters, with Meggatt more centre half covering left back if required. Even if we go with Meggatt left back I think that's a pretty strong back 4.

We've probably had the playing budget cut a bit (assume) and lost 3 key players to full time football so that's always difficult to turn over. I'm not convinced at least 2 of those 3 would have stayed regardless of full time offers but that's another point entirely.

I still think as Waspie says we need an enforcer/play maker- someone to put their foot on the ball and create. A tricky one to recruit obviously. As it stands it looks like Robertson and Hetherington will play prominent roles next season. Both good all rounders, so I'm happy with that. Just need to add a bit of balance to that I think. 

Very pleased with the signings of Fleming and Meggatt, we will see how the others go. I think 2 more signings in the positions mentioned above and we are ready to go.

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According to the St Mirren website, they "expect to announce one more friendly match that will be played away from home on Saturday 8th July." Presumably this will be the game against Alloa. If this is the case, I would expect the Stirling Albion game to be played on Tuesday 4th, as the Albion are playing Motherwell on the 1st. 

https://www.stmirren.com/news/club/all-news/936-pre-season-friendlies

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7 hours ago, English Wasp said:

According to the St Mirren website, they "expect to announce one more friendly match that will be played away from home on Saturday 8th July." Presumably this will be the game against Alloa. If this is the case, I would expect the Stirling Albion game to be played on Tuesday 4th, as the Albion are playing Motherwell on the 1st. 

https://www.stmirren.com/news/club/all-news/936-pre-season-friendlies

The game is afoot.

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Looks like we are going with a strong starting eleven and a bunch of kids on the bench.
http://www.alloaadvertiser.com/sport/15358138.Young_Wasps_handed_pro_deals_for_season_ahead/


Liveson comically claiming that bringing young players through the system is 'the way forward for clubs like Alloa'.

Not sure exactly what he means by that, but then neither does he.
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John Grant remains the last youth product to play 25 games for an alloa first Team . It's the way forward right enough. Better value getting released players from the big teams - Bain ,McCord,Cawley,Marr, Holmes, Doyle, watters, to name a few. 

Reality is great youth players will be cherry picked away rather than staying at alloa. A reserve team is the way forward with young players playing with experience players . 

 

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Well, it would be nice to see more of the development side getting a decent chance in the first team, but aye, you can't help but feel that it'll affect our standing in the league. I'd rather see that kind of gamble being made than spending money that we don't have, however. Shame it didn't come soon enough for Wilson and Hynd, but whatever.

We all know that there are a few roasters in the crowd who'll be all over the youngsters at every opportunity, though. Not sure what good they think it does, but "I pay my money like everybody else, and have a right to make my opinion heard"  :rolleyes:

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I believe Hynd had chances to really put his name in the mix & didn't take them. I'm pretty sure this statement of playing youth was said last season too & the likes of Hoggan didn't really get a look in.

I only really see Martin playing a similar role to what he did tail of last year & the only one getting a bit more game time being Hoggan.

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15 minutes ago, printer said:

Even if they aren't good enough?

 

Read the rest of the paragraph, FFS!  :P

If the choice is relying on our own unknown quantities for backup, or taking on debt to pay for established players, I'd take the former. If that's the choice, and I assume it must be part of what's going on.

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16 minutes ago, KierenAAFC said:

I believe Hynd had chances to really put his name in the mix & didn't take them. I'm pretty sure this statement of playing youth was said last season too & the likes of Hoggan didn't really get a look in.

I only really see Martin playing a similar role to what he did tail of last year & the only one getting a bit more game time being Hoggan.

You could well be right Kieren, however with talk of  a reduced budget it could be that Goodwin has sunk all or most of his budget in the new signings he has made and re-signing the majority of last years squad with the intention of beefing up the squad with youth players. 

That's all well and good but as Printer says what if the youths are not up to it then when the suspensions and injuries kick in, which they will, you will be relying on youngsters that are possibly not ready to step in.

You would think that Goodwin must feel these guys are ready to play bit parts in the coming season but i feel we need at least a couple of more signings to strengthen the squad to a competitive level. 

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3 hours ago, Oweny said:

John Grant remains the last youth product to play 25 games for an alloa first Team . It's the way forward right enough. Better value getting released players from the big teams - Bain ,McCord,Cawley,Marr, Holmes, Doyle, watters, to name a few. 

Reality is great youth players will be cherry picked away rather than staying at alloa. A reserve team is the way forward with young players playing with experience players . 

 

I know there is a debate over whether or not players who came into our youths from other clubs count as being produced by our setup. I think if a player comes into the first team having previously played for our youth team then he counts, and as such I'd add Jamie Stevenson and Greig Spence to that list. If we're not counting them then I don't think you can count John Grant either, as he came to the Alloa Youths from Leith Athletic. 

Must be said that going with so many youths next season isn't because we have a golden generation, but that there is an inevitable budget cut. The squad we had last season was only ever going to be sustainable by winning promotion, that's what it was built for. It was a costly failure. That said, I hope there are more decent signings still to come, or I fear we will be relying far too much on the youngsters.

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Opinions on Calum waters?

Flourished in league 1 but jumping two divisions is a big step. I think he has the potential there though. Took a few decent free kicks aswell.

Quite a high energetic player likes getting forward but makes sure he gets back to do his defensive duties.
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