Danny Mullen.

Not sure where to start here but here goes.Whilst looking through the middle pages of The Suns football pullout my eye caught a small article pertaining to the possible offloading Danny Mullen in the January transfer windowTo quote,A Livingston Spokesman said :I can confirm that the availability of Danny Mullen has been circulated to clubs in the SPFL:.Once again money talks as the club try to secure a transfer fee for our no 1 striker knowing that his contract is up at the end of the season.Understandably yes but just as it seems that our fortunes on the pitch have been more than favourable we get this.In hindsight if he were to go to one of our competitors in this league it could really come back and bite us on our arses.Of course Dannys not everones cup of tea and i realise when we lost Buchs a big burdon was probably put on his young shoulders but when hes on his game he is a real asset to the team that we would surely sorely miss.Iknow its only paper talk but id love to know who this club spokesperson is.Looking forward to hearing the thoughts of my fellow posters on this.Oh and by the way ive kept the afore mentioned statement,Ive cut it out in case anyone thinks im scaremongering.Lol T.

If it was in The Sun then it's probably about as true as the Earth is flat. They've got no problem printing lies and the "Livingston Spokesman" most likely doesn't exist.

There's a number of other players I'd be more worried about losing in the transfer window. That's nothing against Danny but the like of Halkett will certainly command interest if only as a ploy to weaken the competition by the likes of Dundee United or St Mirren. Either of those could make a cash offer we couldn't refuse.

If we did end up getting money I'd think it worth making an enquiry about Marc McNulty; I know he's under a two year contract with Coventry City but who knows; if you don't ask...

I'm not sure if an offer will come in for Pittman but if it does maybe its time to give Knox an extended run?

Defensively we might need to start thinking about strengthening the defence; the chances of losing one or maybe even two of our central defenders and we've got a real problem. With no obviously replacements and with McMillan and Penrice probably heading back to their parent teams we really need some cover.

Undeniably though although we are in need of money, not least because of or relatively small home support, the possibility of substantial prize money could outweigh any gain from selling players during the winter. At the very least we need to look at expending contracts if at all possible; I suspect some will be reluctant until its clear that we're in chance of the playoffs; the draw of a possibility of playing in the premiership and the increased earnings that should result may also be high on their agenda.

I thought it strange only giving Mullen a one year extension when all our other signings were getting two, but thought that maybe it was Danny that only wanted the one year. We've missed him in recent games, esp the St Mirren one, nobody else up front comes close to the problems he causes defenders, he's a constant pest to them.
I think he's really come on the last 2 seasons too, we wont hang onto him for much longer at this level, but i'd like to keep him for the rest of the season to see just what we could achieve with the players we have just now. I reckon we will get a play off place anyway, then who knows, we've done no bad in cup comps and group stages, would be interesting end to our season.

I had kind of hoped Carrick would have stepped up to the mark; I don't doubt the effort he puts in but he's just not convincing at this level - even given the fact that he scored in our last game.

At the moment I don't think any of our forwards are "setting the heather alight" - all are chipping in with goals but no one has given the impression of being a goal machine. Our lofty league position is more to do with an exceptional work ethic throughout the team & a run of form that usually sees us bounce back from setbacks. I suspect most teams would rather acquire a goal machine.

Top goal scorers in the Championship this season are all on 6 goals (6 players), Mullen and Halkett are on 4, kinda spread out all over in the whole league just now with nobody setting the heather alight.

Mackin is our top goal scorer in all comps on 7 goals though, and considering how little game time he's had compared to everyone else maybe he's a setting the heather alight player if he gets more starts. His work rate is holding him back but there is no doubting his goal scoring prowess.

What Mullen brings is not just goal scoring though, he hassles defenders and works hard closing them down too which Mackin needs to do more. Reckon they'd be a formidable pairing if Hoppy can get Mackin's fitness up and get him doing more work off the ball.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticising any individuals, like you I think Mackin's workrate needs to improve but I also think it is better than it was. He seems to me to be more of a poking in the scraps type of goalscorer though rather than someone who will take someone on and score a cracker. Mullen can do both of those things.

For me though our strength this season has been the team exceeding the sum of its parts...but that may be unfair on them & an underestimation of those parts. So perhaps it is more that the team itself has simply gelled into a very decent unit & teamwork rather than individual excellence has been the key to our very good first 3-4 months of the season.

Interesting that no one team has a runaway goalscorer (so far) though.

I always expected Mullen to follow in the footsteps of Griffiths and McNulty and get a big move elsewhere, but he's too inconsistent. I'd like to think he still has the potential to be sold on for a bit of money, he's still young. I expect the club to sign him up for another 1-2 years and hope that he kicks on.

Although very different style of players, Mackin reminds me a bit of Rolando Zarate, in work rate only. Lazy bastard, then when you're tearing your hair out with him, will chip in with a goal. Long may it continue. Prefer Mullen to Mackin though.

Zarate was more explosive in the final 3rd though. He could make something happen, whereas Mackin tends to be Johnny On-the-spot when the scraps are falling in the box

With respect to Danny, there are several players in the squad who I think would catch the eye of potential suitors at the moment. Halkett, Pittman, Mullin and potentially Byrne are all in with a shout of a move to a far bigger club than ourselves; Danny, when fully fit, should be in there, but perhaps to our advantage he seems to run into an injury whenever he builds up any sort of momentum. A shame for the guy, as he's come on leaps and bounds since our last spell in the division I think, and we really do miss his presence up front when he's not there. If we did make as much money from the League Cup as was touted, then the objective should be to get the majority of the players signed up to new deals - we've got a real chance this summer to make a bit of money to reinvest in the club which could set us up for the next few years, would be a shame for it to go to tribunal for a small fee in Mullen's case, or get nothing at all for others.

Well that was a fecking shock, Mullen is offski to St Mirren on an emergency loan till Jan, then will sign for them in the transfer window for a 5 figure sum.

Suppose we're getting money for him as he'd be away in the summer for nothing, or at least a development fee, but still feels like we're making a mistake here, we've really missed him in our last couple of games, esp against St Mirren, this will have an adverse effect on our top 4 chances. We're a bit one dimensional up front without Mullen.

Would rather have lost him than the likes of Pittman/ Gallagher/ Halkett, but it does leave us pretty thin on the ground upfront - we're struggling for someone prolific up there since Buchanan left, and he's the best we have.

Also with McMillan & Penrice likely returning to their parent clubs in Jan we really need to be bringing a few faces in...

GK
Alexander
Maley

DF
Longridge
Lithgow
Halkett
Gallagher

MF
Byrne
Mullin
Jacobs
Cadden
Knox
De Vita
Robinson
Brown
Henderson

FW
Toderov
Mackin
Carrick

TodOrov, it shouldn't, but it really bugs me when folk spell Toddy's name wrong.

BTW, they weren't long taking Mullen's pic down from the OS.

There's still Sampson and Ogilvie.

Jack Ogilvie in particular has been coming on leaps and bounds but still not near the finished article.

Jack Hamilton too, Ogilvie is a midfielder though, actually thought he'd have been getting games this season but our midfield is pretty strong, and difficult to get into with the competition for places being what it is.

Yeah maybe a bit early for Sampson and Hamilton, but they have to start sometime.

Ogilvie is down as a midfileder on our official site but I've only ever seen him ply as an out and out forward. Matthew Knox by comparison is down as a forward but I've only ever seen him play as a midfielder.

Toddarrov however can play anywhere

Not sure I remember us playing against Steven Boyd. Is he any good?

Bit shocked by this, but not overly surprised. I began to wonder towards the end of September if Danny would sign a new deal - unfortunately, it's not came to fruition but he is probably viewing this move as his best opportunity to get up to the Scottish Premiership. At the risk of sounding bitter, I think this was by far and away his most likeliest move in terms of moving up a level; never really had an outstanding run in the team and his contributions to the team can definitely be split up by an injury that kept him out for a bit. A loss no doubt, IMO Carrick is in the same mould but nowhere near the same quality, so with any luck Steven Boyd can fill the gap. Looked a very impressive player when Albion Rovers beat us 2-1 at home last season, almost forgot about the game it was that long ago but remember at the time thinking he would've been a good signing for us. By the sounds of it, Hopkin trie dit last January when he went back to Hamilton, but the three club rule prevented it.

Best of luck to Danny, has worked very hard to get to where he is, even if the circumstances surrounding his departure are a tad on the bizarre side. I suspect we'll make a nice wee sum from the sell-on clause when the time comes.

And so it begins.As i said in my original post theres no smoke without fire.When it was known that he was avialable to other teams they would have been swarming around like Bees to a honey jar.Without a doubt he was our main striker and his loss will soon be seen as i have reluctantly no confidence on our options up front now.I realise that the club have had no income for potentially a month now but are things that bad that we have to sell one of our main assets to a rival in the same division as us.Personnaly i feel that any thoughts that i harboured on a possible top 4 finish have now gone from my mind,especially when other players may follow suit in January if decent offers come in for them.Hopefully mid table mediocrity will appease most fans for this season as long as we can stay away from that dreaded 9th place.Know nothing about the lad Boyd but of course i feel we have to give him a chance.Dissillusiond and dissapointed.! T.

Only thing that surprises me is the speed with which it has happened. Kudos to the club for bringing in a replacement just as quickly though.

Disappointed that it's St Midden that he has gone to. The money for the sale will not change hands until January at the earliest so this has nothing to do with having no money now.

Didn't see anything about a sell on clause though.

Can't grudge him the move as he's been a good servant for us. Think the club have done brilliantly here to get a fee for him when he could have left for nothing in the summer.

Steven Boyd is rated highly by Hamilton fans and Derek McInnes sung his praises too so could end up being a very good acquisition.

Callum Carson‏
@CallumCarson34
5h5 hours ago
More
Danny Mullen signs for St Mirren, initially on loan before being made permanent on January 3. David Hopkin said the striker made it clear he wasn't going to sign a new deal in the summer and St Mirren were only club to offer a fee for the 22-year-old. A sell-on clause is included

Cheers D. As usual I was relying on the official news on the official site which seems to be less informative than the unofficial social media postings of a local reporter.

Feels like we have just mugged St Mirren off. They could have waited until the end of the season and got him for hee haw. Good luck to Danny though, felt he started to stall a bit over the last two seasons. I await him hitting some mad scoring form and his career taking off.