The Alloa Athletic Thread

[big al]

Decent signing for yous.

[Cowden til i die]

I assume Alloa will be due Raith a fee then?

[cowdenbeath]

I assume Alloa will be due Raith a fee then?

Raith would have had to have offered him a deal at least as good as he was on to qualify for a fee.

[Cowden til i die]

Yeah, it appears they did.

[Wilky1878]

I assume Alloa will be due Raith a fee then?

I haven't seen anything about Raith offering him an equally as good deal but I am unsure, our budgets were all rraised this year so a fee potentially will not set us back too much

[Waspie]

The Alloa Advertiser guy who tweeted it first said that it's a free transfer. No mention of whether a not a fee was paid from the club though.

[Broken Algorithms]

We definitely offered him a deal, presumably on the same terms as before. I'm not sure how the system works but Matthew Elder of the FFP thought it was along the lines that because we didn't sign him from his original youth club then we weren't due to receive a fee. He's contacting the club to see what'll happen.

Welcome back to the boy wonder. I'm very happy with this signing. Spence might well be coming off an underwhelming season with Raith but he is hardly alone in that respect. With the players Raith had they should have done much better and that suggests a wider issue than Spency spending too much time in Nandos. We know that Greig can score goals and at 21 he still has time on his side.

Of course there is an element of risk involved but that's the market we are in. If he had played every week last season and scored 20 goals then we wouldn't have had a chance of getting him. The ability is there and it's down to Alloa to make sure he performs.

Another striker, ideally a target man, is still required but I think our options in attack are already better than last season.

I don't think anyone would be so bold as to blame Spence completely for our woes, but he certainly didn't make it any easier. He didn't score from between early October (Dumbarton away) and February (Morton at home) and in the goals he did score, four were penalties. As Renton mentioned, it had been hoped by many that he'd fill the boots of Brian Graham but sadly that never came to fruition and he didn't look as impressive as when he first signed with us.

Aside from the #nandos #lourenzos #baller thing he has going on, someone on fantalk was mentioning that he was away playing fives from October onwards at Dalgety Bay with his mates despite instructions from the club. During the whole Ian Black/Michael Moffat thing, I was worried as he was forever posting his coupons on twitter for games he was betting on. Meanwhile, he was apparently falling out of favour with Murray asking why he wasn't getting picked each week. It wasn't even a choice when Baird came back: the difference in attitude between the two is unbelievable.

Still, it isn't outwith the realms of possibility he'll do well at Alloa. He has the talent. Part of me wonders if the problem is if he's too wrapped up with his own ego and that he used to play for Celtic. He's still pretty young so could come good in the future. For losing our top goal scorer, I'm really not too worried about it. While none of our forwards have a particularly great strike rate, I get the feeling Nade has turned a corner in his life and really wants to give things a good go again after his past mistakes. The guy has clearly been working hard since joining Dundee, and I'd far rather have that attitude at Rovers.

[bsd]

Will undoubtedly be more of a success than Andy Kirk was so it is definitley a move in the right direction. Agree that we still need a partner for him.

Still a small squad at the moment so surely we will hear news of a few more signings fairly soon.

[Waspie]

I wasn't suggesting that Spence was to blame for Raith's slump, simply that he was part of an underachieving team in general. That does suggest a bigger problem at Raith than just his alleged poor attitude. I think from our point of view it's quite encouraging that he has turned down a full-time deal to come to us, it suggests he is up for getting his career back on track.

As for Nade, he was clearly working hard at Dundee since Hartley took over at least and that's no surprise, we know how important fitness is to Hartley and he won't stand for players who don't put the work in. You will be hoping that does indeed mean he "has turned a corner in his life" and that Grant Murray can keep it going. The underachievement under him last season might set off a few alarm bells on that one but time will tell.

Regarding the fee, I don't think it matters where you signed him from as long as he was offered the equivalent of the deal he was on previously. We got a fee for Bain and we didn't sign him from youth football. Only other scenarios would be that the player had an agreement that no fee would be required or his previous club waived it.

[harry94]

Sorry to interrupt guys but I'm a bit curious about Greig Spence. A few seasons ago I remember reading an article about Celtic signing him from Alloa and the general view being that he would go on to do very well for himself.

I gather that his head hasn't been screwed on but does he still have potential to do well for himself and play at a higher level? Just wondering because his name has stuck with me for a few years and I don't know much about him.

[Waspy]

Tbf to the guy his spell at Celtic was blighted by injury.

[Cowden til i die]

He's the epitome of a Scottish footballer. More interested in his perceived imagine than actually working hard and improving himself.

[Yoss]

Hopefully a good move for all concerned, this. His career at Raith was far from being a write-off and he certainly showed flashes of ability, but his failure to produce it with any reliability - particularly when given starts - was a bit frustrating. Maybe we didn't give him a long enough run as a starter, but he never really showed enough to justify it. He'll probably get that at Alloa, and is due some credit for taking a step back to part-time football in order to do so. I'd be happy to see him doing well.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

Sorry to interrupt guys but I'm a bit curious about Greig Spence. A few seasons ago I remember reading an article about Celtic signing him from Alloa and the general view being that he would go on to do very well for himself.

I gather that his head hasn't been screwed on but does he still have potential to do well for himself and play at a higher level? Just wondering because his name has stuck with me for a few years and I don't know much about him.

He isn't your typical bam type who goes around fighting at the weekend or acting the arsehole on the pitch. He just seems far more interested in weeks away in maga, trips to the bookies and posting toe curling cliche pish all over Twitter rather than improving himself as a footballer.

A classic case of thinking he's 'big time' when infact he's a complete nobody outside the Scottish lower leagues with a distinctly average record. No doubt he has potential and could be a good signing for Alloa but he needs to take his head out his own arse first.

[CALDERON]

He isn't your typical bam type who goes around fighting at the weekend or acting the arsehole on the pitch. He just seems far more interested in weeks away in maga, trips to the bookies and posting toe curling cliche pish all over Twitter rather than improving himself as a footballer.

A classic case of thinking he's 'big time' when infact he's a complete nobody outside the Scottish lower leagues with a distinctly average record. No doubt he has potential and could be a good signing for Alloa but he needs to take his head out his own arse first.

Pretty much this.

Decent player, with decent ability. But the above highlights the problem.

Players are of course entitled to private life, and to use social media. But some fans were still on their way home from a horrific defeat to Livi on the last day of the season, and we had players tweeting about going to "Maga". Glad we have these guys out the club tbh.

[gav-ffc]

#Nandos

[Munich95]

the fact he started pre season with amatuer side inverkiething hillfeild swifts last week when offered training with raith on saturday says it all.

[Scottydog]

Hopefully for Gregs sake Barry Smith will set him on the right course and he can kick on, I think the potential is there it's just the aptitude and attitude thats amiss.

[Wasps1]

Greg will knuckle down at Alloa and do well am sure . Sometimes you have to go back to where it all started and just get on with it .

Barry will get the best out of him . Maybe we will get another 80k for him in a years time

[Dink]

I'm happy with the signing of Spence, he is certainly an improvement on Andy Kirk. Hopefully this should add a bit more mobility to our front line, although I do think our squad is still a bit lacking physically - both in height and in pace. I would think that Barry Smith is still looking to sign several additional players so that may be addressed over the coming weeks.

Spence may not have had the best of times at Raith last season but he still managed to get a few goals and had done well the previous season. He's still only 21 so there's every opportunity for him to get back on track.