but who apart from your own team (obviously) do you think will win the league ? I think that dundee have got a good squad and st johnstone. Partick could also be a dark horse.

Scumdee for the title

em apart from your own club.

In my opinion looking at the squads the way they are now. St Johnstone should win this league at a canter. Us second, Partick third, Dunfermline fourth, Morton fifth, QoS sixth, Livi seventh, Ross County eighth, Clyde ninth, Airdrie tenth.

But of course, many a title has been lost on paper

If Colin Cameron sign's with Dundee, i'd say they will the win the title. But my gut say's St Johnstone.

Dunfermline 3rd and Thistle 4th and we are in total agreement.

I didn't know Scotland were in the 1st division, doesn't surprise me right enough.

Pedant alert

st j for the title

Saints and Dundee should be up there with Queens and County not far away. Thistle and Morton next. Clyde and Airdrie at the bottom.

Here comes the disillusioned Queens again.

EDIT: What's the odds on QoS relegation??

no. i respect ur opinion. i'm not disillusioned but i definitely dont thnk morton will finish ahead of us. wots the odds on our relegation? fuk knows but they will be long odds!

St Johnstone. They just have a far better squad than Dundee.

I predict they'll win it by at least 10 points.

You really do have a problem with us, dont you?

Was it the cup quarter defeat, the game where we ended your title run or the fact that we basically owned you in the second half of the season that did it?

I dont think any Queens fans on here are being disillusional. None are predicting Queens will win the leauge, most are predicting a small improvement on last season, which given we've strengthened our squad seems a reasonable predicition.

Contrast that to the Dundee fans predicting their weakend team will beat a strengthed saintees to the title and you have to ask who the most disillusioned are

You know what I think I do.




Perhaps it's all the things you said, perhaps none.

I can't really put my finger on it. Perhaps it's the way everyone sees you as their second team. Cuddle Wee Queens. I don't like following the norm. Don't get me wrong I was supporting you in the cup final as Rangers are a far bigger evil.

Sorry it's nothing personal. As far as my opinion on your team goes I am not letting my dislike cloud my judgement. I do feel you will do well to be in the top 3 as so many Queens fans and other Div 1 fans are predicting. Probably scrape top 5.

EDIT: I've already stated I think Saintees should walk this league given current squads.

Why does everyone try to make out that we're far weaker than last season??

Our signings up until now have been good, some even strengthening areas of the team.

Samson, who started last season as 2nd choice, has been replace by Rab Douglas. Palenik has been replaced by McKeown, who many last season said was possibly the best CB in the Division. Swankie has been replaced by Gilhaney. Yes, we've lost McDonald and Robertson in midfield, but Young will do a good job IMO and McHale will now get his chance, one which is deserved going by some of his performances last season. Mearns seems like he can be a very good signing going by comments on Hearts messageboards.

Personally, I don't see a massive weakening of our side from last season, and with more signings to come, we should have a side as good or better than last season's.

Now before everyone jumps on my comment about Young, I honestly feel he can do well with us. According to Pars fans he's been crap the last couple of years, but who in the Pars' lineup can claim to have been good, except Paul Gallagher, which tells it's own story. With an extended run of fitness and regular games in a side challenging at the top, he can be a solid performer for us.

Back on topic, if we don't win the league, I'd say Saints as favourites. Watch out for Ross County though, could be this season's Hamilton.

And you were doing so well up until that point. You know, the first step is admitting you have a problem


Swankie, McDonald and Robertson have gone onto bigger clubs, your replacements have come from worse clubs ... pretty simple really.

You've lost two of the best central midfielders in the league last season, its would be almost impossible to replace them.

You made some fair points there. However I'd have Palenik back in a heartbeat over McKeown. Gilhaney & Curier are great signings. I personally think Paton will do well for us, possibly could move more into midfield in a crisis where is where I believe he has played in the past. Young on the other I have never rated, will be a disaster.

I still don't understand why everybody still thinks it's a shock Accies won the league last season. They had finished top half the last few seasons, had the pitch advantage . I for one tipped them for top 3 at least. Ross County on the other hand have just been promoted and while I think they will stay up easily they will be nowhere near winning this league.

Swankie moved to St Johnstone, a smaller club than ourselves. His replacement is Mark Gilhaney who came from Hamilton, a current SPL club. Go figure.

He does make a good point Billy

Depends what you base it on.

Crowd size, history = Dundee
Money, chances of winning the league = Saintees

If you're going to claim Saints are a smaller club than you, then so are Hamilton, by the same criteria - SPL or not.

I wondered how long it would be before a Dundee fan played the "big club" card

Does he?

Funnily enough, he totally ignored my other point

I think everyone outside of Dundee thinks you are weaker. It's similar to last summer where Saints fans (myself included) were claiming we weren't weaker after losing just a couple of key players. Fact is the players you've lost (Robertson, McDonald, Palenik, Swankie, and even guys like Lyle, Samson etc...) were established players and there is no guarantee the replacements will be as good. McHale is a decent player but he's not as good as Robertson and McDonald and neither is Young.

You finished second by a clear distance though so maybe being weaker won't stop you winning the league. Your current squad isn't as strong as the one that finished last season though...

Retained
Antoine-Curier
Cowan
Daquin
Davidson
Deasley
Forsyth
MacKenzie
Malone
McHale
McMenamin
O'Brien
Roy

Out
Lyle
Palenik
Sturm
Zemlik
Robertson
Dixon
Swankie
Samson
McDonald
Worrell

In
McKeown
Paton
Young
Gilhaney
Mearns
Douglas

Whilst you can no doubt talk about guys like Sturm and Worrell being poor players, all of those (10 players) that have left played over 20 games for you last season, so were needed over the course of a whole campaign. You've only brought in six players so far, one of whom has no first team experience whatsover and two who are incredibly injury prone. It's very hard to make a case that your squad is stronger.

Indeed he did. And a fair point it was. To be honest I think McHale is good enough to replace Robertson. With Mearns as backup. McDonald was one of, if not the best player in the league last season. Of course he will be impossible to replace. What we have to hope for is that we don't have to rely on our midfield as much as we did last season at that our improved strikeforce can take the burden and be supplied by our improved wingers

You're a trier .. I like that

You are so efficient Radders

Do you alphabetize your CDs and books as well??


You obviously make a lot of perfectly valid points. This is one Dundee fan who doesn't think we are stronger than last season.

I gave up on that as the CDs rarely go back in the right cases and one case is usually home to about three CDs!

Books are stacked in order of size!

Wouldn't be too sure Radford, a lot of rumours kicking about over Milan Palenik. You quite clearly try to pick out all the negatives but I believe we have the best goalkeeper, defence and strikers in the league currently and there are more signings to come. Our midfield is currently our weakest point but with Gilhaney, Mearns, McHale and a new central midfielder joining shortly - I feel our midfield will be as good as the rest in the league. Also, who cares about Mearns lack of first team experience? Don't St Johnstone ever have young players will little or no first team experience?

This seems like a strong enough squad to me.

---------------------------------------- Douglas/Roy --------------------------------------

Cowan/Paton - MacKenzie/Other Versatile - McKeown/New Signing - Malone/Forsyth

Mearns/Daquin/Gilhaney - McHale/Young - New Signing/Mearns - Mearns/Gilhaney/O'Brien

-------------------------------- McMenamin/Deasley - Curier/Davidson ---------------------

With a new central defender, a new central midfielder and probably also, an extra striker we have a strong squad - your in denial Radford. Also, a midfielder and a defender WILL sign and if we don't get a striker now, we'll certainly get one on loan later in the year. Your in denial - that squad is strong and you know it.

Dundee SHOULD be up there. I would pick St. Johnstone to win, but they always seem to come up short.

QotS should do ok, not sure about how their defence will be though. I think Dunfermline need more than Graham Bayne to score goals to be successful.

The rest aren't worth a mention at the top end.

I think st johnstone will be up there,although they will need to tighten up there defence fromlast season and also find a left back.Their midfield looks good and they have some decent strikers although holmes and samuel could be hit or miss imo.If we can get another couple of players in I feel we can do well also this season and maybe livie may surprise a few.

Dundee did finish behind Hamilton and Hamilton were clear deserved winners. However this year we have the anomaly of no SPL club coming down from the SPL. So Dundee just need to preserve their advantage over St Johnstone and further down Queens to be competitive this season. It is debatable that Queens and Saintees have actually bridged that gap, however you can equally argue at this point as Radford has that gap has diminshed this close season so far. I think Saintees may just have too many cooks up front.

the broth hath always been spoiled down Perth way.

The second biggest club on their street......

OO ARRR!!!

A strong squad indeed, fair enough, as long as you aren't too concerned about the Mearns triplets lack of first team experience!

I think your right about my team the pars. We need a good striker alongside bayne but there seems to be no movement on transfer signings in that area. Plus some of our team are getting past ie "cough..." Thompson.

We didn't sign triplets He is just versatile. There will always be players with no or little first team experience and there not going to get any experience unless they play.

My Leeds United supporting friend and me have a £100 double on St Johnstone and Leeds winning their respective leagues, i really cant see past Saints this season, i suspect Leeds might let us down at the bookies though

Dundee for me

First off I agree with your second point!
However to say that Swankie has gone onto a bigger club is absolutely nonsense, yes they have more money but then we did finish higher in the league than them last season and have won more trophies etc etc. The only reason they have had more chances to win the First Division title is because they have been in the First Division a lot longer than us! Ok, sure this is all history now but it doesn't mean how much money you have, that makes yo a big club it's how much success you have had!

My not french fucked opinion is that the Saintees will win the league. I've tipped them the last 2 years so third time lucky.

If its not us, then its hard to see past Saints, who for the nth season in a row have a good squad on paper. Signing Jody Morris long term was a bit of a coup, and they've still got the likes of Andy Jackson. IMO Swankie wont really make much of a consistent impact. Good on his day, but his day doesnt happen nearly often enough. Ill go for Morton to be this season's dark horse. Big support and a few signings being made, they could surprise a lot of people.

In regard to the other points about our squad being weaker. Well duh. We've sold one of the best young midfielders in Scotland, that would weaken any side. However, Gilhaney for Swankie certainly isnt a weaker replacement. We'll also have a strong strikeforce from day one of next season, rather than spending the first half of the season relying on Kev McDonald until signing 2 strikers in January. With more signings to come so it'll be interesting to see how it all falls together. I'd be surprised if the title race next season doesnt go down to the final day.

I think saintees will win the league, Dundee have got no chance if they are singning lauchlan.

Most successful thou

As it stands I think St J will win the league with some ease.

In my opinion we have as good a defence as anyone and probably the most prolific striking partnership but our midfield is far too light to be considered serious title challengers at this stage.
We need an attacking centre mid (Cameron or someone similar) and someone to play on the right. We also need another centre half who might end up having to play a fair bit this season.

If we were to sign Palinek, Cameron & Snodgrass (or players in those positions of similar ability) I would then say us and St J are too close to call.

Still 20 days until the season starts and I'm sure we will have signed at least another 3 players bt then but as it stands today I would say St J to win it by a proverbial mile followed by Dundee and QoS (in any order)

The bookies don't make us favourites for nothing, I reckon our squad is stronger than last season, especially up front with Deasley fit again and Curier and McMenamin and Davidson. McDonald was a big loss but let's see who comes in before the kick off. IfDundee blow it Saints look the next strongest team and could narrow the gap to Dundee to single figures this time.

I think Lauchlan gets a lot of undeserved stick to be honest. I wouldn't take him over Thomson or Aitken but he's not a bad centre half and I doubt he'll be first choice at Dundee. Decent experienced back up if they sign him though. Could do much worse.

Unless Dundee sign 2 or 3 decent midfielders they're going to win nothing. There's a huge whole in that team with losing McDonald and Robertson.

On paper St. Johnstone's squad is a lot stronger. Maybe a left-back is needed. It's one of the least important positions on the field and relatively easy to cover as long as there are good strong centre halfs providing some leadership.

Queens are strong all over too. Although, probably not as strong as St. J.

A Dundee fan hasn't.

If you'd bothered to actually process your posts instead of just engaging your fingers and typing, you'd see it was you who played the...er..."big club" card.