The Squad 2021-22

[Sparky]

He got player of the year for St Mirren in the SPL in 19/20 so should still have something to offer

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

He got player of the year for St Mirren in the SPL in 19/20 so should still have something to offer

.... if he can stay injury-free. He hasn't played much recently.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

.... if he can stay injury-free. He hasn't played much recently.

He has only been signed as back up I think. I think it is better to have someone like Foley as a squad player than the likes of Kirby / Crawford, as last season.

 

[Boz]

What has he done to deserve an increase? They didn’t achieve anything last season.

It depends on how much credence you give the leaked wage reports. Khan was allegedly near the bottom and George Ray at the top, yet I’d have said for ability in their main position, they were on a par.

While no strong views on Foley, it would be preferable if we could bring in a few younger squad players

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

We have got Cogley, MacDonald, Merrie, Glatzel and Jolley, so a fair amount of youth already I would say.

 

[bigmart]

I think the squad is looking pretty good so far and once complete I'm sure it will be very strong as there's still plenty more to come

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I think the squad is looking pretty good so far and once complete I'm sure it will be very strong as there's still plenty more to come

Definitely stronger than last season with the exception of the centre forward position, which will hopefully be addressed soon.

 

[bigmart]

Definitely stronger than last season with the exception of the centre forward position, which will hopefully be addressed soon.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's not at least as strong in due course

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I wouldn't be surprised if that's not at least as strong in due course

Indeed.

 

[Boz]

I think there is more depth in the squad in most areas than last season, but will reserve judgement until knowing who else is coming in.

It's been touched on before, but with the majority of contracts being 1 year deals, we're looking like needing to go through a squad renewal process every season. While I think the right call on contract lengths have been made, given age and injury records and hopefully with some options to extend, it's a shame that we haven't been able to recruit more on longer deals to give greater stability. Though the remaining signings may address that to an extent.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

It's been touched on before, but with the majority of contracts being 1 year deals, we're looking like needing to go through a squad renewal process every season. While I think the right call on contract lengths have been made, given age and injury records and hopefully with some options to extend, it's a shame that we haven't been able to recruit more on longer deals to give greater stability. Though the remaining signings may address that to an extent.

I back the current policy of giving one-year contracts to most players. Many in the squad are either veterans, unproven youngsters or may have injury records. The club is ambitious and wants to make sure that if we get promoted at the end of the season, anyone on a two-year deal will be young enough and skilful enough to operate at the higher level. Yes, we have lost players like Woolery but also we were landed with players like Payne, Ferrier, Ellis and Nelson who became surplus to requirements long before their contracts ended. The proof of the policy is whether we can attract at least as good a squad as last season. As things stand, we are well on our way.

Once we get into League One (as I believe will happen in 2022, or 2023 at the latest), it will be unrealistic to expect immediate promotion to the Championship. Therefore, I would expect more two-year contracts to get more stability and establish us as a tier three side.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

MP has said in the past that he always wants roughly 50% of the squad in contract and 50% out of contract at the end of a given season, to give us a degree of stability while still allowing us to refresh the squad, particularly if we have changed division. We certainly offered more one year deals last season due to Covid, but I would guess that general rule still applies.

 

[Boz]

I could understand last season Mark being cautious because of the pandemic and reiterate that I don’t think any of the offers this season are wrong. However, my hope would be that we finish up closer to that 50% mark than we are currently

 

[drwhoman]

Maybe I should know this but who have we signed on a two year contract? I know that we have several players entering the last year of a two year contract but who have we signed this summer for two years? There cannot be many.

 

[bigmart]

Maybe I should know this but who have we signed on a two year contract? I know that we have several players entering the last year of a two year contract but who have we signed this summer for two years? There cannot be many.

Only Cogley Watson and Merrie so far are on 2 year deals that I can think of. There's also the option to extend Jolleys contract

 

[drwhoman]

Only Cogley Watson and Merrie so far are on 2 year deals that I can think of. There's also the option to extend Jolleys contract

Thanks bigmart. I would imagine that we will only get any marquee signings on a two year deal.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Only Cogley Watson and Merrie so far are on 2 year deals that I can think of. There's also the option to extend Jolleys contract

Thanks bigmart. I would imagine that we will only get any marquee signings on a two year deal.

That's right, except that we paid transfer fees for Jolley and Merrie, and they are young, developing players, so we would not want them to leave us after a year. Watson is a player at his peak who has just played a full season in League One, so we know he can play at that level if we get promoted.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

I could understand last season Mark being cautious because of the pandemic and reiterate that I don’t think any of the offers this season are wrong. However, my hope would be that we finish up closer to that 50% mark than we are currently

At the moment, we have 21 players signed up for the season. Excluding the three youth team graduates, that makes 15 on deals expiring in June 2022 and only 3 longer. If we sign a decent striker, that will certainly be a two-year deal, but I think most of the other three or four players I expect to arrive will have 12-month deals (or shorter) or be loanees.

I agree that it would be nice to have more long deals for stability, but it is a buyer's market at the moment and you can't blame Mark for exploiting it.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

It is suggested elsewhere that a contract has now been offered to Khan and we are waiting for his response.

 

[bigmart]

It is suggested elsewhere that a contract has now been offered to Khan and we are waiting for his response.

That makes sense as he said in an interview a couple of weeks ago his agent was still in talks with the club.