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Heart of Midlothian 2014-


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Cheers to the mods for moving this, post GTF day.

I'd happy bite anyone's hand off for a play-off play right now.

You'd bite someone's hand off for 4th in a league where we'll have a comfortably bigger budget than 7/9 other teams before we've even done any transfer business? I'll have to disagree.

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Cheers to the mods for moving this, post GTF day.

I'd happy bite anyone's hand off for a play-off play right now.

I agree with him, we have no idea how much money Budge is prepared to spend on the team, as has quite rightly been said the priority is stability and supporting the kids coming through and not promotion, that's a big hint that we might not spend much on the team this season.

Hibs have the money to spend and are probably in a better position than us and the rest have settled teams with mostly good experience.

We shouldn't be thinking this will somehow be easy or straightforward, it won't be.

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I agree with him, we have no idea how much money Budge is prepared to spend on the team, as has quite rightly been said the priority is stability and supporting the kids coming through and not promotion, that's a big hint that we might not spend much on the team this season.

Hibs have the money to spend and are probably in a better position than us and the rest have settled teams with mostly good experience.

We shouldn't be thinking this will somehow be easy or straightforward, it won't be.

Even if we don't spend much relative to our income, we'll still have a comfortably larger budget than 7/9 other teams. It will be roughly the same as Hibs'. Add that to the possibility of a 25 point deduction for Rangers and 4th is miles away from being a "bite your hand off" type prospect.

Third would be disappointing but understandable, fourth would be pretty shite but just about acceptable and fifth or below would be a dreadful effort. This isn't a prediction of where we'll finish - I've no idea. It's just how our performance will be assessed. I wouldn't completely rule out finishing 5th but that doesn't change the fact it would be a disaster.

Given that we'll probably add at least half a dozen players (and most of the names mentioned are experienced Premierhsip players) it seems pretty strange to me to want to snap anyone's hand off for 4th just now

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I'd "bite your hand off" for first right now, and nothing else. If we sign back Jamie Hamill, Gordan Petric, the ghost of Jim Weir, and Robbie Neilson decides that his coaching methods will solely consist of standing with a cup of tea looking disconsolate, THEN I'd maybe "bite your hand off" for a playoff spot.

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Second should be the aim.

What's Hearts' season ticket prices?

Dunno yet. We'll probably know the week after next - that's when we should officially be coming out of administration.

I think the prices will be very similar to last season.

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You'd bite someone's hand off for 4th in a league where we'll have a comfortably bigger budget than 7/9 other teams before we've even done any transfer business? I'll have to disagree.

The young guys improved a lot over the last season, but they're still far from being the finished articled - we can't assume that they'll firing on all cylinders all the time.

Like I said, a lot will depend on the signings we bring in.

At the moment, our starting XI is along the lines of:

Hamilton

Paterson - McGhee - Wilson - McHattie

King - Robinson - Holt - Nicholson

Walker

Carrick

with McKay, Smith, Beith, etc.

Most of these lads have the potential to be cracking players, but they've still got a long way to go, and they'll be up against decent players, many of whom will have experience, nous, and street smarts.

If you think this is going to be easy, I'd have to disagree.

Edited by paranoid android
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Even if we don't spend much relative to our income, we'll still have a comfortably larger budget than 7/9 other teams. It will be roughly the same as Hibs'. Add that to the possibility of a 25 point deduction for Rangers and 4th is miles away from being a "bite your hand off" type prospect.

Third would be disappointing but understandable, fourth would be pretty shite but just about acceptable and fifth or below would be a dreadful effort. This isn't a prediction of where we'll finish - I've no idea. It's just how our performance will be assessed. I wouldn't completely rule out finishing 5th but that doesn't change the fact it would be a disaster.

Given that we'll probably add at least half a dozen players (and most of the names mentioned are experienced Premierhsip players) it seems pretty strange to me to want to snap anyone's hand off for 4th just now

Bigger budget doesn't always guarantee success - surely we ken that by now.

The possibility of Rangers being deducted points is just that - a possibility.

We do seem to be looking to bring in half a dozen or so experienced players, but new signings don't always gel straight away, or hit the ground running - the likes of Gomis should be solid enough, if he signs, but can we assume the same of the likes of McGregor?

I would just add that I'm looking forward to this season, and obviously hope that we do as well as we all want to - my point is that we can't assume that it's going to be easy - I followed Hearts in the old first division in 1981/82, and saw us lose at home to Forfar and East Stirlingshire - not all of our team that season was pump, btw.

Anyway, bring it on - I think this is going to be very competitive, and not just from three teams.

Edited by paranoid android
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The young guys improved a lot over the last season, but they're still far from being the finished articled - we can't assume that they'll firing on all cylinders all the time.

Like I said, a lot will depend on the signings we bring in.

At the moment, our starting XI is along the lines of:

Hamilton

Paterson - McGhee - Wilson - McHattie

King - Robinson - Holt - Nicholson

Walker

Carrick

with McKay, Smith, Beith, etc.

Most of these lads have the potential to be cracking players, but they've still got a long way to go, and they'll be up against decent players, many of whom will have experience, nous, and street smarts.

If you think this is going to be easy, I'd have to disagree.

I never said it would be easy. That doesn't change the fact that 4th would be a disappointing effort. We're not making predictions here - we're talking about biting hands off for 4th placed finishes in the second tier.

Posting a "this is our line up at the moment" on the first day of June doesn't really tell us anything considering we've just released a load of players who haven't been replaced yet. What would Hibs' line up be just now? They've just culled half their squad. A fair chunk of the division will only have a handful of first teamers contracted for next season.

As for your second reply: again, it has nothing whatsoever to do with thinking it's going to be "easy". That doesn't mean 4th would be a good result. It would be pretty shite considering the resources available and we should be doing better.

Edited by DC92
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I never said it would be easy. That doesn't change the fact that 4th would be a disappointing effort. We're not making predictions here - we're talking about biting hands off for 4th placed finishes in the second tier.

Posting a "this is our line up at the moment" on the first day of June doesn't really tell us anything considering we've just released a load of players who haven't been replaced yet. What would Hibs' line up be just now? They've just culled half their squad. A fair chunk of the division will only have a handful of first teamers contracted for next season.

As for your second reply: again, it has nothing whatsoever to do with thinking it's going to be "easy". That doesn't mean 4th would be a good result. It would be pretty shite considering the resources available and we should be doing better.

A play-off place would give us a fighting chance of promotion - I'd take that the now.

edit: I'll say it again - resources/budget doesn't always equate with success.

Edited by paranoid android
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A play-off place would give us a fighting chance of promotion - I'd take that the now.

edit: I'll say it again - resources/budget doesn't always equate with success.

A few of our players were real stand outs in the championship a few seasons ago, so i'm pretty confident our current players have what it takes to challenge for the top, never mind a play off position.

Jamie walker at raith rovers springs to mind, he was what? 17/18 when he was there and he looked a real talent. I think our squad is going to be pretty dominant next season. Just depends how much cash rangers spunk away again this season, or if they'll be sensible.

We've got decent foundations there of a good team, just need to make some additions and hopefully neilson/levein pick the right ones that suit in with our current style ie. no signing a big huddy upfront. You'd need to be blind not to see the improvement Carrick made to the squad so i can't see them doing that.

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A play-off place would give us a fighting chance of promotion - I'd take that the now.

edit: I'll say it again - resources/budget doesn't always equate with success.

This isn't about saying we've got the xth biggest budget so we'll finish in xth position in the table. Of course having a bigger budget doesn't equate with success, but it does give you a better chance of success and, therefore, sets higher expectations. When HIbs and Aberdeen were finishing in the lower half of the SPL, their fans were, quite rightly, pissed off - they should be doing better. If Queen of the South had done the same it would have been seen as a success because they'd be outperforming teams with bigger resources. It's about how we should do, not how we will do.

We should be doing better than 4th, so I certainly wouldn't be snapping anyone's hand off for it.

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