2017/18 Ins and Outs Thread

What a day yesterday was. McMillan should end up being a good signing and it's good that we've managed to get him on a free, Motherwell wanting a sell on clause suggests they think he's good enough to have teams offering a fee for him somewhere down the line.

Miller might not be a prolific goalscorer but he has experience and can help out guys like Todorov, Boyd, Mackin and now Hardie. He also gives us another option which is something we've really lacked up front this season.

Hardie is a terrific piece of business and could end up being the difference between finishing in or out of the play offs (the good ones for a change).

What would make this month perfect would be selling Knox for a good amount of money and using that to get Halkett, Byrne, Pittman etc. tied up on longer deals, means that even if we are open to letting them go in the summer we'll get a good fee for them.

Saw Callum Carson tweeting last night that Hopkin expects a couple of players to move out on loan over the next week.

Can't think who it would be? Knox loan with potential to buy? Mackin?!

Certainly Machin needs to be playing regulrly and can see that being severly limited until the end of the season now.

Maybe Rafa or Jacobs?

Only one I can think of is Cadden, maybe Mackin too now we've brought in another 2 strikers and Boyd & Robinson seem to be getting put in as strikers too. He's our top scoring striker but he still needs to be working harder so maybe guaranteed regular starts in a lower division team would help get him fitter for coming back to us.

Maybe Pettigrew the young keeper? Assuming Maley is allowed to play the development matches.

Are Kyle Sampson/Jack Ogilvie still out on loan?

Other than those I could see Mackin going out, weird how we've went from only having a couple of strikers to having 6 to choose from (that's including Boyd and Knox) before you include Robinson/De Vita who can play there.

Wouldn't be surprised if it was Knox, that offer from Sunderland obviously never happened so wouldn't be surprised to see him out to someone like Airdrie.

LiviLion wrote:Are Kyle Sampson/Jack Ogilvie still out on loan?

That'll be a no for Kyle Sampson anyway... well a yes now. Goes out to Penicuik Athletic.

I see Jack Hamilton scored the first goal in Berwick's win against Cowdenbeath on Sat. Good start for the young un, he could be a cracking player for us. Looked quite similar to Hardies style in the video montage of their goals that I saw.

Nikolay Todorov has been recalled by Hearts, and Dylan Mackin looks like he'll join Brechin on loan for the rest of the season.

Makes sense for everyone tbh. Miller, Hardie, Boyd and even Robinson were ahead of them both and I think 2 big guys and 2 smaller guys is enough if we can avoid injuries. Hope Todorov can get a few games for Hearts, or another loan spell (as long as we don't have to go against him), and hopefully Mackin can make use of the game time he should get at Brechin.

LiviLion wrote:Nikolay Todorov has been recalled by Hearts, and Dylan Mackin looks like he'll join Brechin on loan for the rest of the season.

Makes sense for everyone tbh. Miller, Hardie, Boyd and even Robinson were ahead of them both and I think 2 big guys and 2 smaller guys is enough if we can avoid injuries. Hope Todorov can get a few games for Hearts, or another loan spell (as long as we don't have to go against him), and hopefully Mackin can make use of the game time he should get at Brechin.

Not sure Hearts would have recalled Todorov unless we told them he was likely only to get fleeting appearances from now on. Unlikely to get much time with Hearts before he's loaned out again.

I can understand Machin; he needs regular time although he didn't do too bad for us coming on as a substitute. Still maybe running up that hill at Brechin every second week will help his fitness.

Smart decision for the two players. We've signed a better defender and two forwards better than Todorov. Hopefully he gets himself a loan elsewhere otherwise he'll be playing U-20s for the rest of this season. Definitely an option worth taking for any team in League One or Two.

As for Mackin, this'll be a massive learning curve. He won't get many opportunities in front of goal and the team are all but officially relegated, but he's definitely better than what they've already got.

Durnford wrote:

LiviLion wrote:Nikolay Todorov has been recalled by Hearts, and Dylan Mackin looks like he'll join Brechin on loan for the rest of the season.

Makes sense for everyone tbh. Miller, Hardie, Boyd and even Robinson were ahead of them both and I think 2 big guys and 2 smaller guys is enough if we can avoid injuries. Hope Todorov can get a few games for Hearts, or another loan spell (as long as we don't have to go against him), and hopefully Mackin can make use of the game time he should get at Brechin.

Not sure Hearts would have recalled Todorov unless we told them he was likely only to get fleeting appearances from now on. Unlikely to get much time with Hearts before he's loaned out again.

I can understand Machin; he needs regular time although he didn't do too bad for us coming on as a substitute. Still maybe running up that hill at Brechin every second week will help his fitness.

Brechin have been close in games but just lacked someone to put the ball in the net, Mackin may well be the someone they needed. Glad he isn't allowed to play against us too, cert he would've scored if he had.

Good luck to Toddy, great guy, always gave it his all and you could see the enjoyment he got from us scoring and winning games. Was always the first on twitter after the game praising up our fans and thanking them for supporting the team too, esp at away games.

Liviforever wrote:Only one I can think of is Cadden, maybe Mackin too now we've brought in another 2 strikers and Boyd & Robinson seem to be getting put in as strikers too. He's our top scoring striker but he still needs to be working harder so maybe guaranteed regular starts in a lower division team would help get him fitter for coming back to us.

Called it on Mackin, even better that he's gone to Brechin in the Championship and can get regular starts there against tougher opposition, if he does well the rest of the season he'll come back to us a better player.

If he was able to play against us & our defence allowed him to score I'd have been very disappointed in our defenders. All of them are quicker than him, have at least as much skill & are better players.

He scored against us last season when he was on loan to Alloa, think that was prob why Hoppy signed him.

Pretty sure us being FT and Brechin PT means he'll still be training with us so I'm sure that won't do him any harm.

Jack Hamilton scored another goal in his 2nd game for Berwick tonight but they lost 3-2 to Peterhead. Doing great so far though, the lad looks a right good prospect for us.

Matthew Knox finally gets his move as he packs his bags and jets off to, erm, Methil... Signs for East Fife on loan.

I'm still hopeful there's a cracking player in there and hopefully first team football will bring him on a bit more.

Also looks like Todorov might be heading to Queen of the South... I think we all know what's going to happen.

LiviLion wrote:Matthew Knox finally gets his move as he packs his bags and jets off to, erm, Methil... Signs for East Fife on loan.

I'm still hopeful there's a cracking player in there and hopefully first team football will bring him on a bit more.

To be honest he should probably have gone out on loan last season; the development squad just isn't providing regular game time or competition.

LiviLion wrote:Also looks like Todorov might be heading to Queen of the South... I think we all know what's going to happen.

Confirmed. Hope he does well but hope he doesn't end up helping them to a play off spot at our expense.

Durnford wrote:

LiviLion wrote:Matthew Knox finally gets his move as he packs his bags and jets off to, erm, Methil... Signs for East Fife on loan.

I'm still hopeful there's a cracking player in there and hopefully first team football will bring him on a bit more.

To be honest he should probably have gone out on loan last season; the development squad just isn't providing regular game time or competition.

Yep.

All the focus has been on us selling him and not actually playing him in our team, but as time has gone on we're at the point where he needs to be playing in our first team or punting him. At least that'll be where we are with him when he comes back from being on loan and starting next season.

LiviLion wrote:

LiviLion wrote:Also looks like Todorov might be heading to Queen of the South... I think we all know what's going to happen.

Confirmed. Hope he does well but hope he doesn't end up helping them to a play off spot at our expense.

Big man-wee man partnership with him and Dobbie.

Agree with the Knox transfer: he should've went on loan last season, especially when we had signed the likes of Millar and changed our formation after Gallagher returned. He could've went on loan to a Berwick Rangers or a team within a reachable distance from East Lothian and gained first team experience. And he still would've been coached by Hopkin during the days that the part-time teams weren't training.

He really needs to make an impression otherwise I say we just take the hit and cash in as much as we can in the summer.

If he doesn't make an impression the only place he'll be going in the summer is to a smaller club than us. If he really is a wunderkind he should be playing for us every week

He can still catch the eye of scouts if they see that there's potential in him. Obviously if we lose players like Byrne or Pittman for next season then that might change if Hopkin feels that he's ready to step up.