dumpweed Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 Donnelly is a right back by trade. A couple of Scottish clubs were trying to sign him. I'm guessing he has chosen Motherwell due the Robinson connection. He's OK at best from what I've seen of him. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dezz Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 (edited) 10 hours ago, Ludo*1 said: I take it he done well for you guys? He was meant to be one of McCann's first targets before he signed on at some English club (Then subsequently joined you lot). Is it just me or does there seem to be an absolute abundance of decent quality level CH's going about just now? It's a bit infuriating considering we have Caulker, Meekings, Kusunga, O'Dea and Waddell as all competent players in that position. @capt_oats and @Casagolda in the posts above pretty much sum up my thoughts on Aldred perfectly. The biggest compliment you can pay him is that we didn't miss Peter Hartley one bit after his injury. Considering Hartley was potentially our second best player (after Moult and possibly Carson) in the first half of the season that is saying something. I think it was Graeme Thewliss on the Terrace Podcast that said about 6 minutes into Aldred's debut against Accies he made a brilliant triple (i think?) block, throwing his body all over the shop to stop Accies getting a shot away and everyone just immediately thought 'aye, he'll do fine'. I'd be surprised if you could find a Motherwell fan who didn't think he was excellent for us. Just plucking names out the air but if he is to leave Bury and a return to us isn't on the cards, I think teams like Hearts, Killie, St J would be absolutely mental not to try and get him in. Edited June 8, 2018 by dezz 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swello Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 If he was available from Bury - it would be mental if we weren't in for him - so I had assumed he wasn't coming back to Scotland at all. If he were to end up at a similar club to us in our league, I'd be pretty fucking disappointed... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 I think Aldred knows he can pick up £3k a week in England, here that's be more like his monthly salary 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisGRAEME Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 3 hours ago, dezz said: I think it was Graeme Thewliss on the Terrace Podcast that said about 6 minutes into Aldred's debut against Accies he made a brilliant triple (i think?) block, throwing his body all over the shop to stop Accies getting a shot away and everyone just immediately thought 'aye, he'll do fine'. I'd be surprised if you could find a Motherwell fan who didn't think he was excellent for us. I'm famous! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dumpweed Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 2 hours ago, Busta Nut said: I think Aldred knows he can pick up £3k a week in England, here that's be more like his monthly salary no chance will he get that much in England. Half that if he's lucky 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 (edited) Project Brave Academy u18s representin' here. Robbie Hemphrey (GK) Youssef Hussein (DF) Jack Brown (DF) Stuart McKinstry (MF) Adam Kettings (MF) Reece MacAleer (MF) Dean Cornelius (MF) Cole Starrs (ST) Elite as f**k. Edited June 8, 2018 by capt_oats 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swello Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 I see there's a Graeme McGarry piece on the herald website - with quotes from the player- saying that we've been in for Ali Crawford. Interesting. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 (edited) 37 minutes ago, Swello said: I see there's a Graeme McGarry piece on the herald website - with quotes from the player- saying that we've been in for Ali Crawford. Interesting. Just reading it there. It's an odd interview. Basically he's saying that we've spoken to his agent but his preference is to go down south but if that doesn't happen he'd be interested in speaking to us. Erm...cheers. The article is here but the relevant quotes are below. Quote “I’m not any further forward with what is happening next season, I’m just weighing up my options just now,” Crawford said. “It’s been quite slow at the start of this transfer window, so I just need to sit tight and be brave and wait for the right opportunity. “I’d really like to go down south and that would be my first choice, but I need to keep my options open. “Motherwell have spoken to my agent I believe, but I don’t think anything further has come from it, but I would consider what they had to say. I’ve got to keep my options open at this point, so I’ll wait and see what happens over the next couple of weeks and take it from there.” “It’s been pretty strange,” he said. “It’s weird not knowing what I’m doing for pre-season, and just waiting to see what happens. It’s pretty stressful, and it’s new to me, so hopefully something comes sooner or later. “I paid my dues at Hamilton, playing over 250 games, so I’m more experienced probably than most people my age, and I thought it was time to try something new and see if I could play at a higher level. “I’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds.” Quite a few comments he makes there seem strange things to say on record but I suppose from our point of view it's confirmation that yes, we are looking at adding an attacking/creative midfielder in this window. Edited June 9, 2018 by capt_oats 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YassinMoutaouakil Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 I'm going to be genuinely distraught if we don't sign Ciftci. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YassinMoutaouakil Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 8 hours ago, capt_oats said: Project Brave Academy u18s representin' here. Robbie Hemphrey (GK) Youssef Hussein (DF) Jack Brown (DF) Stuart McKinstry (MF) Adam Kettings (MF) Reece MacAleer (MF) Dean Cornelius (MF) Cole Starrs (ST) Elite as f**k. Based on name alone, I want a Starr/Cornelius strike partnership. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 (edited) 3 hours ago, YassinMoutaouakil said: I'm going to be genuinely distraught if we don't sign Ciftci. Same. I'm now fully invested in this happening. 3 hours ago, YassinMoutaouakil said: Based on name alone, I want a Starr/Cornelius strike partnership. I think a Starrs/Cornelius/Agyeman triumvirate is something we could all get behind. Edited June 9, 2018 by capt_oats 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swello Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 12 hours ago, capt_oats said: Project Brave Academy u18s representin' here. Robbie Hemphrey (GK) Youssef Hussein (DF) Jack Brown (DF) Stuart McKinstry (MF) Adam Kettings (MF) Reece MacAleer (MF) Dean Cornelius (MF) Cole Starrs (ST) Elite as f**k. Poor lads, not one of them realises that from now on, folk from Steelmen will be trawling their Insta to see if they ever eat chips. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desp Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 If you're following these lads on Instagram or Twitter, and don't know them personally, you should be on a list. They all look about 12. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJC Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 3 hours ago, capt_oats said: Same. I'm now fully invested in this happening. I don't get the Ciftci love in to be honest. He was murder for us during the five months he was here and didn't look any fitter in May than he did in January. I'd give him a miss. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 (edited) 3 hours ago, MJC said: I don't get the Ciftci love in to be honest. He was murder for us during the five months he was here and didn't look any fitter in May than he did in January. I'd give him a miss. Personally, I just like mercurial players. Loads of my all time favourite players have looked like they couldn't be arsed. Without wanting to speak on behalf of the other good brothers on here in the pro-Ciftci camp he appeals to me because he's a different type of forward to what we have and could ordinarily afford. He's clearly a talented player who needs to be playing regularly to get the best out him and I feel that we can offer him regular football. When it comes down to it even a half-fit Ciftci has contributed more IMO than your Jacob Blyth, Wes Fletcher and Theo Robinson types. While it's fair comment to say that there were times in his 5 months with us where be was blowing out his arse our results still picked up when he, Main and Tanner were in the side. Looking beyond bare numbers like goals and assists he actually contributed a fair amount in terms of build up and for me a bit of subtlety is what this team needs IMO. There's a reply from me earlier on in this thread below. By and large I stand by it with an added MoM award in the final league game of the season: Quote It's been discussed quite a lot on here but the value (for me) that Ciftci brought to the side has been in build up. I completely agree that he's underperformed in terms of goals but on the whole I feel he's slotted into the side pretty well. Without wanting to be forensic and micro-analysing things a lot of our goals in 2018 have had Ciftci involved in the build up; it was his back-heel to Main that won the penalty in the cup game against Accies, it was his winning the ball back and cross that played Main in to make it 2-0 against County. It was his knock down to Campbell that helped the counter in the opening goal against St Johnstone, it was Ciftci in the target man role who assisted Tanner for the opening goal at Dens in the cup, he was also the foil knocking the ball back to McHugh to play the ball through that resulted in Holt's O.G in that game and it was virtually the same move that led to the winning goal in the 1-0 at Dens. Added to that he equalised against Thistle and could easily have had an assist but for the offside flag going up. On the fitness thing, again I found myself white-knighting Ciftci in a post over on Steelmen the other week but for a bit of context: Quote Rodgers left him out of Celtic's pre-season training camp last summer, he didn't sign for Plymouth until 21st August so missed their pre-season as well given their league season started 5th August. By all accounts Adams signed him for Plymouth and had no idea what to do with him. He picked up an injury playing for Plymouth's u20s in mid-October and his spell with them amounted to 8 appearances and 537 mins of first team football in 6 months. When he signed for us he had 19 minutes of football since mid-September. His two loan spells previous to Plymouth amounted to: 373 mins (Pogoń Szczecin) and 883 mins at Eskişehirspor where he had 4 goals in 12 appearances. His time and lack of opportunities as a Celtic player is pretty well documented. So the upshot of that is you're talking about a player who hasn't had regular first team football since he left United in July 2015. So, that's a player who arrived at Fir Park with no pre-season to speak of save kicking about with Celtic's u20s last summer and has had no regular first team football for going on 3 years. It's probably fair to say that his fitness would have been a pretty low base when he arrived (and probably still is as a result). The St Johnstone game earlier in the month was his first start for us since the end of February (so going on 2 months). As I say, I totally get that he's a pretty marmite player and that he's not for everyone but in a team who offer a ton of graft it'd be nice if we could add a bit of mercurial talent and natural ability and given our budget we're looking at a fairly limited pool of options for that sort of thing. Edited June 9, 2018 by capt_oats 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superwellfan Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 Cole Starrs is definitely a fictitious PES Master League player. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desp Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 I find it sad that these kids, who are what, 16 or 17, all have agents or are "represented" by someone. Maybe I'm just a bit old school, but what the f**k do these boys need an agent for? Game's gone lads. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 23 hours ago, dumpweed said: no chance will he get that much in England. Half that if he's lucky *Figures may be fictional to get a point across 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 I doubt we're signing Ali Crawford either 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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