Stenhousemuir FC - The Warriors - The 2023/24 Thread

[roman_bairn]

Don’t get excited about the other semi final champ. We will despatch each of you tinpot league contenders in turn. Better luck next season 

Hmmm?

[roman_bairn]

With respect you know little about our team. Anything Annan have physically we will match and then some. We are a big, physical mob ourselves who will grind teams down.
Diet Carlisle will be dispatched without breaking sweat.

Hmmm? [emoji23]

[Neilly]

Four-two to be trolling my thread like this is not on.

I have messaged a moderator and you will be banned accordingly.

[Annan Massive]

Warriors eh ?
GIFRUY Neilly [emoji38][emoji23]🤣

[Neilly]

Doon we get.

We haven't been good enough all season and got our just desserts.

The dismantling of Falkirk Football Club and Aberdeen away a side we have never looked likely of putting a run together.

Some of the better players signed for next season and Cove away should be a lovely day out.

[falkirkthebigclub]

2 hours ago, Neilly said:

Doon we get.

We haven't been good enough all season and got our just desserts.

The dismantling of Falkirk Football Club and Aberdeen away a side we have never looked likely of putting a run together.

Some of the better players signed for next season and Cove away should be a lovely day out.

^^fucking seething.

[Francesc Fabregas]

Where to start with the 2018/19 season? There are a number of factors that have contributed to our relegation, so now's an apt time to examine them one by one and try to understand how and why we've dropped back into League 2 after just 12 months.

When Brown Ferguson's team won promotion to League 1 via the play-offs, there was always an expectation they'd struggle. We had an above-average fourth-tier squad with two exceptional players - Mark McGuigan, who enjoyed the most prolific season of his career, and Harry Paton, a terrific creative midfield on loan from Heart of Midlothian, someone who was starring at a level well below his capabilities - and unless there was major surgery, we were always likely to battle at the bottom of the table.

Major surgery did come, but it wasn't in the way we hoped or expected.  Let's examine the defence first. We had a good back four in League 2 in Ruaridh Donaldson, Mick and Ross Dunlop, and Ross Meechan, players who would most certainly have performed well for us in this division. Donaldson stayed on (a surprise given how well he'd done the previous year) but the other three all moved on. I can't quite recall what happened with the Dunlops and their contracts but Mick joined Peterhead and Ross signed for East Fife. Meechan, meanwhile, was someone I thought would stay at Ochilview for years but he was offered a tremendous wage to sign for Forfar Athletic, where he's continued to improve and, for my money, has been the best right-back in the division this term.

In their place came Morgyn Neill, a solid-but-raw centre-back from Stranraer and Albion Rovers stalwart Alan Reid, who looked slow and unfit over the first half of the season. Perhaps most perplexing of all was the signing of Jesus Garcia Tena from Edinburgh City. We had played Edinburgh five times last year, winning every game, with Tena looking hugely cumbersome and ineffective each time. Why on earth Ferguson brought him to Stenhousemuir, I do not know, but his arrival caused some consternation behind the scenes. As such, our defence looked weaker than last season's and, up until January, had been an enormous concern.

With Harry Paton returning to Ross County, we badly lacked creativity in the middle of the park (although he would return to the club on loan for a couple of months). The midfield was stocked with energetic water carriers and honest triers but no-one who could really provide a spark of magic or open up a defence. Up front, other than McGuigan, there was no goal threat. Players like Seb Ross (underwhelming considering his reputation within Aberdeen’s academy), Kevin O’Hara (hard working but very limited, and rarely fielded) and Bobby Vaughan (nowhere near good enough) flitted in and out of the team as the manager tried to find some kind of successful combination.

Bomber was sacked at the start of November following a 2-0 home defeat to Stranraer. At that point of the season, we were pretty much where most people expected us to be – sitting in the lower reaches of the table amongst a throng of other mediocre sides and a handful of points from the top four. Quite what the board expected from the team at this point, I don’t know, but Ferguson’s dismissal was perplexing. Would we have been relegated if he had still been in charge? Who knows. There were some frustrations about his management (reductive tactics, poor use of substitutions, assembling an unbalanced squad) but it still didn’t make any sense at the time and it still doesn’t now.

Neither did the board’s search for a new manager. When they made a second call looking for applications (the deadline is tomorrow!) it suggested there was no real strategy behind Ferguson’s removal, just change for change’s sake. I suspect the board expected to be flooded with decent candidates but were alarmed when few were forthcoming. Colin McMenamin was awarded the job two-and-a-half weeks and three games later following the sensational 4-2 victory over Falkirk in the Scottish Cup, the season’s unalloyed high point and probably my favourite moment following the Warriors. The fact the job was given to McMenamin – part of Ferguson’s coaching team – gave the impression there were no viable applicants and they had to look within. This is not to denigrate McMenamin, far from it, but the lack of forward thinking was palpable.

Other than a 2-1 win over Brechin City in his second game in charge, there was no immediate upturn in form under the new manager and we were suckered to the bottom of the table. It wasn’t until the January transfer window when the arrivals of Andy Munro, David Marsh and Greg Hurst brought about an improvement (and that Munro was awarded our Player of the Season despite featuring in less than half of our league games tells its own story). McMenamin settled on a 3-5-2 system, making the team more difficult to break down. With Conor McBrearty, a converted centre-back, bounding around the middle of the park, there was a lot of energy, albeit one without much quality; it’s perhaps worth pointing out that if the league table began on 26 January, Munro’s first game for the club, we would be in fifth place after 15 matches.

Even so, as we improved, so too did Dumbarton (who I never felt were really going to be threatened by relegation, not with Dom Thomas in their team) and Stranraer and we were never able to take advantage whenever they slipped up. For instance, at the end of March, Stranraer lost at Montrose and we beat Dumbarton, creating four points between ourselves at the bottom and the Sons in seventh; the next week, we lost a late equaliser to Raith Rovers while Dumbarton and Stranraer both won. Both teams continued to do well while we faltered and we found ourselves stuck in ninth.

For all the improvements, we continued to shoot ourselves in the foot and some of the defending over the latter part of the season has been unreal. We lost a last-minute equaliser at East Fife, despite being the better team throughout, when we failed to deal with a simple corner; Alan Reid played a short backpass to Graeme Smith in a defeat at Montrose; Morgyn Neill sliced a clearance towards his own net, forcing Smith to push the ball straight to Liam Buchanan in the aforementioned 1-1 draw with Raith; Neill again sold the jerseys in the stalemate against East Fife at the end of April with an unsighted backpass that went straight to Aaron Dunsmore; and three of Annan Athletic’s four goals in the play-off semi-finals came from set-pieces. Real head-in-hands stuff, truly.

We weren’t much better further forward. McGuigan had a good season with a poor team, scoring 16 times, but our second highest scorer was Alan Cook with three. Hurst provided a bit of spark in attack and linked well with McGuigan but his return of just one goal isn’t good enough.

The play-off semi-final defeat to Annan rankles. We were shocking in the first leg, barely landing a glove on them – the biggest game of the season and everything was wrong, from the starting XI to the tactics to the substitutions to the application (that’s not to discredit Annan’s victory, who were far better than us). If there was ever a week to make an unlikely comeback, it was this, but Kyle Bradley’s early goal in the second leg gave us an enormous task to overcome. The effort was there, and there was a flurry to chances either side of David Marsh’s well-taken strike, but it all petered out and Steven Swinglehurst quietly killed off the contest. Being “olé”d by Annan supporters is horrible, believe you me.

So there we are. We were disadvantaged at the start of the season by poor recruitment and although we got better in January, it still wasn’t enough. We deserved to be relegated on the back of the last two games alone.

Dropping into League 2 is a massive disappointment, more so because Falkirk had inexplicably found themselves in the third tier for the first time in decades and the prospect of playing them four times was absolutely tantalising. We’ll probably never get the chance to do it again – the Bairns should win the league next term, given their relative size and resources, and there’s no guarantee we’ll get promoted, even if Falkirk somehow stay down. What a huge missed opportunity!

Perhaps the only positive is we have a decent group of players contracted for next year. McGuigan as mentioned earlier, scored 23 goals last season, while Munro and Marsh are a good defensive partnership for League 2, and Alan Cook, often frustrating, occasionally world class, should do well. I’m unconvinced about the goalkeeper, who has shown in recent weeks a tendency to punch the ball as well as getting involved in petty squabbles with opposition players, while the decision to sign Kieron Gibbons on a two-year contract last summer seems strange in hindsight, given he actually isn’t very good. Nevertheless, it’s a decent base to start from. Thomas Halleran should be given more game time.

I expect a number of players to move on. Hurst and, remarkably, Neill are chasing full-time football. I would have liked Hurst to stay on but you have to admire his ambition. Connor Duthie too is looking for a full-time gig – I won’t lose too much sleep over his departure because he always overcomplicated everything and would run himself into cul-de-sacs. Ruaridh Donaldson will apparently leave the club to take up a job in London – a shame, as he’s been a good player over the last two years. The youngsters in on loan will return to their parent clubs while the rest will probably move, players like Reid, Sean Dickson, Ryan Watters and Mark Ferry (although I imagine he’ll be kept around in some capacity).

A damn shame all in. It’s the hope that kills you, isn’t it.

[beaver1]

It’s a fair summation.

I think Sean and Ferry would do a job for us in league 2 so would be please if I heard they had re-signed.

Neill’s cameo yesterday was embarrassing. Good riddance.

Hurst started with a bang but withered away. Can’t believe he will get full time. Feel that league 1 is his level,but he could excel in league 2. Would be happy if it was with us.

Duthie needs to smell the coffee. Wouldn’t even fancy him in our team next season.

Reid - back to Albion Rovers? They are well suited.

There is a good spine already signed but we need someone in midfield who can pass the ball forward, and forwards who are capable of scoring goals. In fact, just players who can show a bit of composure when offered a chance to score.

[CEMSFC]

2 hours ago, Francesc Fabregas said:

Where to start with the 2018/19 season? There are a number of factors that have contributed to our relegation, so now's an apt time to examine them one by one and try to understand how and why we've dropped back into League 2 after just 12 months.

When Brown Ferguson's team won promotion to League 1 via the play-offs, there was always an expectation they'd struggle. We had an above-average fourth-tier squad with two exceptional players - Mark McGuigan, who enjoyed the most prolific season of his career, and Harry Paton, a terrific creative midfield on loan from Heart of Midlothian, someone who was starring at a level well below his capabilities - and unless there was major surgery, we were always likely to battle at the bottom of the table.

Major surgery did come, but it wasn't in the way we hoped or expected.  Let's examine the defence first. We had a good back four in League 2 in Ruaridh Donaldson, Mick and Ross Dunlop, and Ross Meechan, players who would most certainly have performed well for us in this division. Donaldson stayed on (a surprise given how well he'd done the previous year) but the other three all moved on. I can't quite recall what happened with the Dunlops and their contracts but Mick joined Peterhead and Ross signed for East Fife. Meechan, meanwhile, was someone I thought would stay at Ochilview for years but he was offered a tremendous wage to sign for Forfar Athletic, where he's continued to improve and, for my money, has been the best right-back in the division this term.

In their place came Morgyn Neill, a solid-but-raw centre-back from Stranraer and Albion Rovers stalwart Alan Reid, who looked slow and unfit over the first half of the season. Perhaps most perplexing of all was the signing of Jesus Garcia Tena from Edinburgh City. We had played Edinburgh five times last year, winning every game, with Tena looking hugely cumbersome and ineffective each time. Why on earth Ferguson brought him to Stenhousemuir, I do not know, but his arrival caused some consternation behind the scenes. As such, our defence looked weaker than last season's and, up until January, had been an enormous concern.

With Harry Paton returning to Ross County, we badly lacked creativity in the middle of the park (although he would return to the club on loan for a couple of months). The midfield was stocked with energetic water carriers and honest triers but no-one who could really provide a spark of magic or open up a defence. Up front, other than McGuigan, there was no goal threat. Players like Seb Ross (underwhelming considering his reputation within Aberdeen’s academy), Kevin O’Hara (hard working but very limited, and rarely fielded) and Bobby Vaughan (nowhere near good enough) flitted in and out of the team as the manager tried to find some kind of successful combination.

Bomber was sacked at the start of November following a 2-0 home defeat to Stranraer. At that point of the season, we were pretty much where most people expected us to be – sitting in the lower reaches of the table amongst a throng of other mediocre sides and a handful of points from the top four. Quite what the board expected from the team at this point, I don’t know, but Ferguson’s dismissal was perplexing. Would we have been relegated if he had still been in charge? Who knows. There were some frustrations about his management (reductive tactics, poor use of substitutions, assembling an unbalanced squad) but it still didn’t make any sense at the time and it still doesn’t now.

Neither did the board’s search for a new manager. When they made a second call looking for applications (the deadline is tomorrow!) it suggested there was no real strategy behind Ferguson’s removal, just change for change’s sake. I suspect the board expected to be flooded with decent candidates but were alarmed when few were forthcoming. Colin McMenamin was awarded the job two-and-a-half weeks and three games later following the sensational 4-2 victory over Falkirk in the Scottish Cup, the season’s unalloyed high point and probably my favourite moment following the Warriors. The fact the job was given to McMenamin – part of Ferguson’s coaching team – gave the impression there were no viable applicants and they had to look within. This is not to denigrate McMenamin, far from it, but the lack of forward thinking was palpable.

Other than a 2-1 win over Brechin City in his second game in charge, there was no immediate upturn in form under the new manager and we were suckered to the bottom of the table. It wasn’t until the January transfer window when the arrivals of Andy Munro, David Marsh and Greg Hurst brought about an improvement (and that Munro was awarded our Player of the Season despite featuring in less than half of our league games tells its own story). McMenamin settled on a 3-5-2 system, making the team more difficult to break down. With Conor McBrearty, a converted centre-back, bounding around the middle of the park, there was a lot of energy, albeit one without much quality; it’s perhaps worth pointing out that if the league table began on 26 January, Munro’s first game for the club, we would be in fifth place after 15 matches.

Even so, as we improved, so too did Dumbarton (who I never felt were really going to be threatened by relegation, not with Dom Thomas in their team) and Stranraer and we were never able to take advantage whenever they slipped up. For instance, at the end of March, Stranraer lost at Montrose and we beat Dumbarton, creating four points between ourselves at the bottom and the Sons in seventh; the next week, we lost a late equaliser to Raith Rovers while Dumbarton and Stranraer both won. Both teams continued to do well while we faltered and we found ourselves stuck in ninth.

For all the improvements, we continued to shoot ourselves in the foot and some of the defending over the latter part of the season has been unreal. We lost a last-minute equaliser at East Fife, despite being the better team throughout, when we failed to deal with a simple corner; Alan Reid played a short backpass to Graeme Smith in a defeat at Montrose; Morgyn Neill sliced a clearance towards his own net, forcing Smith to push the ball straight to Liam Buchanan in the aforementioned 1-1 draw with Raith; Neill again sold the jerseys in the stalemate against East Fife at the end of April with an unsighted backpass that went straight to Aaron Dunsmore; and three of Annan Athletic’s four goals in the play-off semi-finals came from set-pieces. Real head-in-hands stuff, truly.

We weren’t much better further forward. McGuigan had a good season with a poor team, scoring 16 times, but our second highest scorer was Alan Cook with three. Hurst provided a bit of spark in attack and linked well with McGuigan but his return of just one goal isn’t good enough.

The play-off semi-final defeat to Annan rankles. We were shocking in the first leg, barely landing a glove on them – the biggest game of the season and everything was wrong, from the starting XI to the tactics to the substitutions to the application (that’s not to discredit Annan’s victory, who were far better than us). If there was ever a week to make an unlikely comeback, it was this, but Kyle Bradley’s early goal in the second leg gave us an enormous task to overcome. The effort was there, and there was a flurry to chances either side of David Marsh’s well-taken strike, but it all petered out and Steven Swinglehurst quietly killed off the contest. Being “olé”d by Annan supporters is horrible, believe you me.

So there we are. We were disadvantaged at the start of the season by poor recruitment and although we got better in January, it still wasn’t enough. We deserved to be relegated on the back of the last two games alone.

Dropping into League 2 is a massive disappointment, more so because Falkirk had inexplicably found themselves in the third tier for the first time in decades and the prospect of playing them four times was absolutely tantalising. We’ll probably never get the chance to do it again – the Bairns should win the league next term, given their relative size and resources, and there’s no guarantee we’ll get promoted, even if Falkirk somehow stay down. What a huge missed opportunity!

Perhaps the only positive is we have a decent group of players contracted for next year. McGuigan as mentioned earlier, scored 23 goals last season, while Munro and Marsh are a good defensive partnership for League 2, and Alan Cook, often frustrating, occasionally world class, should do well. I’m unconvinced about the goalkeeper, who has shown in recent weeks a tendency to punch the ball as well as getting involved in petty squabbles with opposition players, while the decision to sign Kieron Gibbons on a two-year contract last summer seems strange in hindsight, given he actually isn’t very good. Nevertheless, it’s a decent base to start from. Thomas Halleran should be given more game time.

I expect a number of players to move on. Hurst and, remarkably, Neill are chasing full-time football. I would have liked Hurst to stay on but you have to admire his ambition. Connor Duthie too is looking for a full-time gig – I won’t lose too much sleep over his departure because he always overcomplicated everything and would run himself into cul-de-sacs. Ruaridh Donaldson will apparently leave the club to take up a job in London – a shame, as he’s been a good player over the last two years. The youngsters in on loan will return to their parent clubs while the rest will probably move, players like Reid, Sean Dickson, Ryan Watters and Mark Ferry (although I imagine he’ll be kept around in some capacity).

A damn shame all in. It’s the hope that kills you, isn’t it.

Pretty sure Hurst scored twice, Montrose then Forfar a week later. 

I know for someone who has no knowledge of behind the scenes at the club will be perplexed at Bomber's sacking but, from what I've been told, he had a tendency to not listen to the board. The Dunlop situation was a weird one. Brown didn't want to offer Ross a contract as he wasn't too sure if he would keep Mick on. He assumed that Ross would want to stay on at the end of the season but when he offered him a contract, he had already signed with East Fife. I think Mick mentioned on your podcast that he declined the contract offer he was given. 

The JGT signing was a last resort for Brown. He had no other options to sign and the board plus the scouts told him not to sign Jesus but he went ahead and done it anyway. 

I hope that we can assemble a good squad for next season. I know that the board had a meeting a few months ago looking at potential targets to sign, so it seems that they are well prepared and we should have the same budget we would have had if we had stayed up. 

Here's hoping for a good season next season. 

[Gordon EF]

Well it's that time of year again where East Fife come in to sign a solid, if unspectacular, player from Stenhousemuir. Two seasons ago Kieran Miller was a relative unknown but came with good reviews from the Stenny fans and turned out to be probably our signing of that close season. Ross Dunlop continued that fine tradition in the summer of 2018.

Who are the candidates this summer. Hearing good things about the lad Donaldson. Should he be expecting the call from Bayview?

[ewan_fife]

Well it's that time of year again where East Fife come in to sign a solid, if unspectacular, player from Stenhousemuir. Two seasons ago Kieran Miller was a relative unknown but came with good reviews from the Stenny fans and turned out to be probably our signing of that close season. Ross Dunlop continued that fine tradition in the summer of 2018.
Who are the candidates this summer. Hearing good things about the lad Donaldson. Should he be expecting the call from Bayview?

Would take hurst back!

[Francesc Fabregas]

1 hour ago, CEMSFC said:

I know for someone who has no knowledge of behind the scenes at the club will be perplexed at Bomber's sacking but, from what I've been told, he had a tendency to not listen to the board. The Dunlop situation was a weird one. Brown didn't want to offer Ross a contract as he wasn't too sure if he would keep Mick on. He assumed that Ross would want to stay on at the end of the season but when he offered him a contract, he had already signed with East Fife. I think Mick mentioned on your podcast that he declined the contract offer he was given. 

That was it, I knew there was some kind of mix-up with the Dunlops' contracts. A season in League 1 might have been a step too far for Mick but Ross should have been kept on; it's no surprise to have seen him going on to do well with East Fife.

Graeme Smith is a decent goalkeeper, David Marsh and Andy Munro are two good centre-backs and appear to have a decent understanding with one another, and Mark McGuigan has arguably been our best player over the last two years, so there's a good spine to build on there. I'm pleased to read the board have already discussed possible transfer targets but I worry our descent into League 2 might compromise our bargaining power.

[CEMSFC]

3 minutes ago, Francesc Fabregas said:

That was it, I knew there was some kind of mix-up with the Dunlops' contracts. A season in League 1 might have been a step too far for Mick but Ross should have been kept on; it's no surprise to have seen him going on to do well with East Fife.

Graeme Smith is a decent goalkeeper, David Marsh and Andy Munro are two good centre-backs and appear to have a decent understanding with one another, and Mark McGuigan has arguably been our best player over the last two years, so there's a good spine to build on there. I'm pleased to read the board have already discussed possible transfer targets but I worry our descent into League 2 might compromise our bargaining power.

That could be a problem but hopefully they already have a few players more or less signed up for next season. Hopefully, we can also keep a few more of the current squad.

[Happy Pebble]

Good summary Cesc, I would certainly keep Dickson and agree with most of the rest, I would also keep Duthie - a decent player who needs coached. Donaldson will be a loss, his drive helped immensely when attacking although I thought he had a poor game by his standards on Saturday.

[Neilly]

14 hours ago, CEMSFC said:

Pretty sure Hurst scored twice, Montrose then Forfar a week later. 

I know for someone who has no knowledge of behind the scenes at the club will be perplexed at Bomber's sacking but, from what I've been told, he had a tendency to not listen to the board. The Dunlop situation was a weird one. Brown didn't want to offer Ross a contract as he wasn't too sure if he would keep Mick on. He assumed that Ross would want to stay on at the end of the season but when he offered him a contract, he had already signed with East Fife. I think Mick mentioned on your podcast that he declined the contract offer he was given. 

The JGT signing was a last resort for Brown. He had no other options to sign and the board plus the scouts told him not to sign Jesus but he went ahead and done it anyway. 

I hope that we can assemble a good squad for next season. I know that the board had a meeting a few months ago looking at potential targets to sign, so it seems that they are well prepared and we should have the same budget we would have had if we had stayed up. 

Here's hoping for a good season next season. 

And why would you listen to the board in fairness? Something still does not add up there and with our "talented squad" does that mean if you do listen to the board we will fare better? What utter bollocks.

In terms of next season I can't remember the last time we were so well placed. We have some of our best players signed up and if we add similar quality we won't be far away I feel.

To leave: Reid, Neill, Duthie and Gibbons for starters. Neill and Duthie certainly have ability as players but ultimately it hasn't worked out for whatever reason. Reid hasn't been good enough but can never really knock a tryer. I'm well aware Gibbons has another year but he's not good enough. Has no impact on the game whatsoever and can't be anywhere near a team aiming for promotion.

I can't see teams queuing at the door for Hurst in all honesty. I'm a big fan of his and would he delighted if he stays but ultimately clubs are going to look at the goal record since coming here and not take notice. A full pre season behind him and he would be a major asset for us against the blind skull next season.

Roooori will get a club better than us no bother and deservedly so. Quality player who has earned his stripes in the senior game. 

I'd keep Sean for another season. That may be heart ruling head but Saturday showed the ability he has in midfield and it's a disgrace Dingwall has been getting so much game time over him. Colin has to take major flack for that decision in isolation. Continually playing an empty jersey in such a competitive league is just not acceptable really.

Ferry away for me. I love this player. An Iain Thomson type who gives it everything in every single game. I just feel it's been a year too much this season and most games have passed him by. Always appreciate what he done for us last season he was superb and that break through the Falkirk back line will live long in the memory.

If Clyde go up that league is majorly for the taking next season. Not that we will win it as we are Stenhousemuir but if we get recruitment at a similar level to the players we have signed up already then play offs are the minimum I would expect.

[Francesc Fabregas]

I'd also be keen to keep Sean Dickson - not many players emerged with much (any) credit from the two play-off games but he did well, despite having been frozen out in recent weeks. Whether or not he'll be offered terms, or even wants to stay, is another matter but he'd be a handy player in League 2.

[CEMSFC]

13 minutes ago, Francesc Fabregas said:

I'd also be keen to keep Sean Dickson - not many players emerged with much (any) credit from the two play-off games but he did well, despite having been frozen out in recent weeks. Whether or not he'll be offered terms, or even wants to stay, is another matter but he'd be a handy player in League 2.

He's said to me on a few occasions that it's very likely he won't be here next season

[Francesc Fabregas]

5 minutes ago, CEMSFC said:

He's said to me on a few occasions that it's very likely he won't be here next season

Fair enough. I wouldn't blame him. As Neilly said on the previous page, when you're not even in the matchday squad at the expense of players like Russell Dingwall, you're bound to be fed up.

[Ancient Warrior]

I'm not a fan of Sean Dickson. The only decent game he had this season was against "we won the cup in 1957" and my granny would have looked good against that lot.

It's very much pot luck with loan signings but apart from Paton and to a lesser extent McBrearty our loanees  have been  weak wee laddies who were trying to play in a league at least 2 levels above their ability.

Donaldson will be a miss and I can't see Neill, Hurst or Duthie getting full time contracts, they could do a job in League 2 with us.

[Francesc Fabregas]

Sure enough, that looks like Sean's away going by his Instagram post.

Fair play to him for his efforts over the course of the season, especially his goal in the Scottish Cup against Falkirk!