Welcome. To the boys listen to the.
Passion and come to far. It's John again.
It's done it's that's today. We're going to be doing a 2526
preview for the season ahead. I'm joined today by familiar
faces Aaron Mackintosh and Joe Mctaggart.
I'm your host Finn Crocker and let's start with some managerial
movement in the championship, Aaron.
There's been a lot of movement between managers, obviously
Brian Gray and rejecting the managerial role at Partick
Thistle a few with along with a few other movements.
What do you think of it? Very strange when you think
about going back to the playoffs.
I mean, for me, Brian Graham's been Thistle's main man for how
many years now? When did he join, 2020?
I think he joined. He's been their star player ever
since then. And, you know, since he was
appointed, February time, March time, I think it was.
He's been so adamant that you wanted that job.
And, you know, you kept saying every game that was on the
television, every game that was on your radio, every game that
was mentioned, the part he said I want the job, I want the job.
What happens? He gets offered the job and you
know, he doesn't want it. It's strange one, I kind of see
it because there's so many off the field.
I mean, we're seeing it now. How many off the field issues
arise at this moment in time. It's not strange, but you kind
of yeah, if he wants to prolong his playing career over a
managerial career, which could, you know, you could have
another, you know, he's in fine. You know, he's a he's a fine
figure of a player. You can have another 2345 years
at least if he really wanted to in the top of his profession.
And he's going to Falkirk and he's going to I think he's a
great signer for Falkirk and I think he's going to do a good
job there. And and you know, Falkirk gained
his Thistle's loss. Yeah, I, I think you, you got to
consider maybe what's going on behind the scenes at Partick
Thistle as well. If you know, he's, he's been
given a more detailed plan for what they were able to spend in
the summer and maybe wasn't happy with that.
Or on the flip side of if Falkirk were able to offer him
more than part of Thistle could. And like you said, maybe
prolonging his, his career. You know, obviously Falkirk back
in the Premiership. It's quite, it'd be quite an
attractive offer for him to maybe go in, try and and keep
them up, at least have a good season with, with Falkirk I.
Think I think he's going to be a great signing for Falkirk, I
really do. I think the only thing I said
about Falkirk is who's going to get the goals for them.
I've said it before, the last two seasons they've had, you
know, every sort of player scored, they've had midfielder
scored, winner scored. They don't really have a natural
#9. He's.
Added that situation straight away.
You've had him, you should get goals.
Yeah, I mean, Scott Arfield was doing some of the heavy lifting
towards the back end of last season.
I. Mean, how many important goals
did he score? I mean, he scored.
I think he scored twice on his debut.
I think it was a hat trick on his debut, yeah.
Hat trick? Yeah, exactly.
He's going. They're both experienced
players. You think he wants another shot
at the Premiership and I think it's a great signing for
Falkirk. I really, really do.
I think you need, I think there's been talks before John
Mcglin wanting to reunite him. I think he was going to try and
resign them for Race Rovers. You know, I do remember rumors
going around that he might be going back to Race Rovers when
John Mcglin was the manager. John Mcglin was the manager who
signed them for Race Rovers for Morton and pretty much saved his
career. No, he was not going anywhere
more. And you know, there was so much,
if you might not remember, there was so much really bad stuff
that was getting said about him from certain things.
I think the manager at the time said that he needed to lose
weight and he was one of the thinnest players of the club.
You know, it's we things like that that just had that and he,
it took maybe about 3/4 of the season before he started getting
into rhythm of goals, scoring form.
And ever since then, he's become the striker who's scored goals
wherever he's been. Sorry, I'm, I'm not as with
Aaron, I mean, I think I think it's got potential to be a good
season for Brian Graham and Falkirk, but I think there's a
lot of things that we've got to take into consideration.
I think there's going to be a lot going on behind the scenes
of Brian Graham and like in his head, because he's come out of a
manager role to be back in the dressing room with players.
That was the reason he didn't he didn't stay with Partick Thistle
as a player on its own. Obviously it's well documented
that he turned down the job at Partick Thistle and I think
there's a whole host of reasons that the public will never know.
But I think we've seen over the years, I mean, the year just
gone was the first time in a while that two teams that come
up from the championship. There is a big gap in quality
between these. Brian Graham, I'm saying only as
if it was an unhealthy number. It's still a very good number
but we only got 15 goals last season.
That's the first year in quite a few years that he's not hit 20.
We can't ignore that. He's not the player it was two
or three years ago. I'm not slacking him.
I think he's still an excellent player at Championship level,
but I think it's easy to forget the gap there is when you're
taking the step up from the Championship to the Premiership.
As well as that, Falkirk aren't going to be on the front foot in
every game or even going to have as many chances as Partick
Thistle has in the Championship. John Mcglinn said that to Sky
when the Frictures were announced last Friday.
Fans have to realise that they're not going to be as
successful, they're not going to be turning up his favourites to
many games, maybe even any games.
So Brian Graham and the Falkirk attack need to realise that the
chances they get that quite often are going to be few and
far between. They need to be even more
clinical and I feel that could be a bit of a shock to a system
for Brian Graham, who is used to playing against these defences
in the Championship and get the better of them physically.
But there's a much more tactical side to it in the Premiership.
Yeah, and then we saw obviously Mark Wilson was was appointed as
part of this little manager instead.
A lot of the fans were obviously, you know, he's got
their full support. They'll get behind the manager.
But they were unhappy that Brian Graham wasn't given the job.
And I saw quite a few saying the board need to walk.
You know, they're really unhappy that they've not been able to
get Brian Graham over them. So we'll see what happens next
season. Moving on, Dougie Emery, there's
a lot of noise about him. He stayed at Greenock Morton.
Neil Lennon signed the new contract at Dunfermline as well,
keeping him there until 2027. You know, he came in, brought
players like Victor, One Yaman, you know, big names.
Obviously he got a red card in his debut so didn't go quite to
plan but you know, being able to to bring big names to the
Championship is is something that could be valued at
Dunfermline and could could help them pitch for Premiership
maybe. I think I think Dunfermline, I
think that's going to be the biggest season in the signing of
the season, getting Neil Lennon and you know, again, I think
they're going to have to really strengthen their squad.
I mean, they've been in the bottom half for a little while
now and I think they do. They've got a good chance and
we've all got a good chance this year of getting into those
playoffs. I think it's still a very.
Yeah, it's really open. Yeah, I think it's a really open
league. I think we're all, you know,
speakers, are we throwing support?
I think that we're still, I think we can get into the
playoffs. I think no, but I think Partick,
that's all fans will think, you know, all the rubbish that's
going on behind there. But if they get a good run of
games, if you get a good run of form, they can get in the air.
United have strengthened the game, you know, no, even though
with Ross County and then Johnston coming down, it's going
to be a very Open Championship again for those playoffs.
I think I know Aaron's been very diplomatic about it as a Ruth
Rovers fan talking about Dunfermline, and I imagine they
wouldn't want them to do that Well.
I think Neil Lennon was the best possible appointment.
Honestly think, I think the fans have realised this.
I'm glad the fans aren't taking it for granted, but I think the
potential that Neil Lennon could bring, I'm saying could because
he's not done it yet. I think when you have a in the
interim spell was a great example, but there's got to be
more of that over a sustained period.
But I'm not just saying about the contacts it'll bring, but
players will look at the experience that he's got and
honestly, Barr the end of the Celtic spell in his second stint
and his spell abroad, he's gone. I know he can.
Folks say he can be a bit of a meme and a laugh in Scottish
fruitlatten. He's got a stellar record.
He did well at Bolton until they faced financial issues Hebsi
brought up when they had other strong competitors in the league
and Dunfermline they managed to keep them up.
I know the points deductions, Hamilton, Aki's played a big
part in it, but I've got no I went to see them against
Livingston who ended up going up and I think it was Lenin's first
home game and honestly you wouldn't have known who was
second and 9th in that league at a time and that probably shows
on on his day. The Championship can turn into a
crazy league. I don't really know what to
expect from it this season with Arbroath, a part Time Team
coming into it, but they'll still hold their own in a lot of
games, I'm sure of it. But I think Neil Lennon has, if
there is someone out there to take Dunfermline to the level
that they've got the fan base to be capable of being in the
Premiership. And I hate talking about the
size of clubs because I partly don't believe in it at all.
But when you see the clubs and the fan bases and the geography
of a lot of the clubs that have been in the Premiership
recently, Dunfermline, Aaron's, Rate, Rovers, so many clubs have
got reason to be thinking there's no reason why they can't
be there either. And Dunfermline have
experimented with a few managers previously.
Michael Teds have been the perfect example, trying to get a
young up, up and coming guy. I saw where they were coming
from. It just didn't pay off and they
didn't have the time to give them more time.
Adding Neil Lennon, it just takes all the boxes.
I can see it being a really promising period, but Paris fans
have to be patient as well. I think just one thing there, I
think the, I mean, I don't think anybody would notice apart from
Dunfermline fans. They relied too much on Chris
Kane to for like half the season.
There was a period where I think, I think there was about
10-11, maybe 12 games. The only player that scored for
Dunfermline was Chris Kane and on goals it wasn't for the else
I mean. What I've what what I've said
for for years are in I I'm I'm I'm worthy of forgetting about
Kevin Nesbitt, but I would say since Kevin Nesbitt the firm and
haven't had a reliable goal scorer.
I, I sometimes find myself going back to Faizal, back to me
before, before I remember Kevin Nesbitt, but I feel like that's
what someone in the Championship needs.
And I thought Dunfermline, maybe they could have done it with
Falkirk eventually coming in for him.
But I thought Dunfermline should have thrown the kitchen sink at
getting Brian Graham because I know the money's there and
obviously it hasn't turned out that way.
I think there's real potential for Connor Young, who's come
from Edinburgh, came in January and I have full pre season,
could do him good. But I, I'm, I'm not talking
rocket science here. I'm sure Neil Lennon knows this.
A striker is what Dunfermline really need to take it up to the
next level. Yeah, anyway, moving on to the
Premiership, there's there's been a lot of movement similar
to Championship with managers. Obviously Stuart Kettlewell been
appointed Kilmarnock manager, a shock appointment for Stephen
Presley at Dundee which caused, you know, a lot of memes and a
lot of outrage from from fans. Jens Berthel Ascu appointed by
the well boss, sorry for a butcher in the name of a did.
And finally, obviously Russell Martin officially appointed
Rangers manager after all that speculation.
So there's been a lot of movement.
What do you guys think has been the best appointment and
probably the worst, which would be Stephen Presley?
We just going straight into the Stephen Presley slander, right?
Now, yeah, go on. It's not much, few years or you
know anything. You know, he's he's a football,
you know, pass the football guy. But why did he see that in his
press conference? Why did he see what he did at
his press conference? I mean, you, you know, you want
somebody, you know, really wanting to go for it straight
away in the season. I mean, we know that Dundee are
not, you know, going to win the Premiership.
We know that. But where's the ambition?
And you know, where's the where's the?
I like his honesty, don't get me wrong, but.
I was going to say that. Aaron, can I play devil's
advocate with you? Yeah, go on.
What if he said I am your guy to win trophies?
Well, yeah, I mean, but The thing is we don't know what's
going to happen this evening. They could do something
unbelievable. I'm not seeing the Premiership.
There is a Scottish Cup, there is a League Cup.
But if, if you're going to see that street, are we?
You want the fans on site, don't you?
You. Don't, yeah, you can say, you
can say you're not the right man for to win trophies, but you can
also say, you know, I want to change that.
I've got ambition at this club. I want to be the guy that
delivers the trophies. I've got a wee bit of a soft
spot for a stay in prison. My dad taught him at the school
and he's a lovely, lovely guy. So this is probably why I'm
fighting this corner a wee bit more than I normally would.
But I mean, I feel like that quote was taken really out of
context. I mean, he understood that
Dundee fans were, I'd say when that point was made, like a lot
of Scottish law fans confused more than anything because it
kind of came out of left field quite a lot.
And he kind of, I think he was trying to get him on board by
saying, I understand. I mean, you've not got a lot of
reason to be enthusiastic right now.
And if you listen to the full quote, he does say, I hope to
change that. But right now they have no
reason to think that I am. But I hope to change that.
That's that's what he said. And social media being it's
reactionary wonder circled in on a few of those words.
And I get it. And they're trying to get
quotes. And believe me, they got it.
Bloody hell. But I, I, I think, I think folk
have been a wee bit harsh on that quote.
I, if I was a Dundee fan I wouldn't be over the moon about
the appointment. And my main take away from the
appointment has been was it really worth sacking Tony
Docherty for? No, I mean, I mean, Stephen
Presley's came in. Obviously he's spent time down
in England everywhere, but most recently at Brentford.
But but there's been reports. Obviously there's a bit of a
Mexican connection at Dundee already, but they look to sign,
they look set to sign a Montre trio of George, oh, sorry, Jorge
Landeros, Jose Orias and Oscar Soto.
So oh. Well done, well done.
Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
I've been practicing that. So yeah, obviously using those
funky connections already. I think they've already got
Porta. Porta, alas, is Mexican.
So kind of adding to that. Cohort send the boys to train
over there as well. Yes, they did.
I can't remember the name, but they did, yeah.
Saying a couple of young players over there to.
Play. So kind of kind of adding to
that Mexican cohort. It's quite unusual, but excited
to see who it is because Monterey obviously a big name.
I think they are at the Club World Cup currently.
So they're a big, big name, big club.
Obviously don't know too much about the players, don't watch
the Mexican League myself, but we'll see how they're coming and
do. So very for me, just the going
back to the Presley point when I think it is, I just think it's a
bit of a risk just because this is a guy who's not managed.
People say they're not managed in Scotland.
I mean he's not managed in senior football in about 6
years. Last job was at Carlisle United.
I'm sure that was in League 2 in England.
Wasn't success. I think he only lasted a few
months and I know that he's gone to Brentford.
He's gone near been, you know, part of the Academy, being part
of the coaching side. Then he might have learned
something completely. You know, you see what Brentford
are doing in the Premier League, It's quite remarkable the way
that they're playing. These young players are selling
them on, you know, profits and stuff like that are selling them
on brilliantly. And no, the young players are
still, you know, for me what I've heard are developing
brilliantly and the so be interested to see what he's
actually learned at Rentford. I think that's the thing you
need to see what he does with. I think it's more what is he
learnt from Brentford rather than what is he learnt from
Carolina is what is he learnt from Fleetwood Town And it's
just don't look at those. I think look at what he's going
to do at Brentford and see if he can do something like that.
Dundee you might, you might even be a good help for the young
players as well if he's been involved in player development.
If they've got good young players, I mean they have got
good young players, but they need more in the team, then
maybe getting somebody in player development is going to be a big
help for. Them.
Yeah, I mean, that's a good point.
Stuart Kettle, well appointed as Kilmarnett manager, obviously
replacing Derek Mcinnis after, I think I'm right to say, walked
away from Motherwell. Am I right to say that?
Yeah. Well, you can see that, yeah.
I think, I think he walked away from Motherwell.
It came out and said that he had said because of the abuse from
the supporters, yeah. So yeah, appointed as commander
manager replacing Derek McInnes. Obviously that'd be a hard, a
hard role to fill. Obviously Derek McInnes come in
and been so, so reliable. I'd say for for Kilmarnock,
steering them back into, you know, trying to get consistent
top six, obviously not going the way some seasons, but I think
it'll be quite hard for him to fill the books of Derek McInnes.
He's he was good for for Motherwell, I'd say.
But what do you guys, what do you guys see him doing next
season? It's hard, isn't it?
It's hard. What what what's successful for
Kilmarnock? That's the only thing this was
success getting into Europe is success in the Premiership.
Just really depends on what the classes, what success and and I
think, you know, again, we're talking about Stephen Brasley,
Stuart Kayla has done things at youth development, there's lots
of young players at Kilmarnock as well.
I think he'll thrive in that environment and thrive work with
Chris Burke. I've heard good things about his
Academy team and I think he might really enjoy working with
young players again. I think maybe that's the reason
why they've appointed him over, you know, you've seen what
Motherwell are doing. You know, they've point to
foreign managers in the space of how many months, 345 months or
so they're going for, you know, reliable people, people who work
in the youth Academy and to try and get this team with young
players playing further. So maybe that's the key to it.
Maybe he's not European football.
Maybe the key is developing the young players, getting them to
play as many games as you can in this season, try and get the
next. You know, we see what Bobby
Wales has done. He's gone to Swansea, he's done
good things at Cullinet. Can they do something else?
Can we get another Bobby Wales into that team with young
players? Can they get another David
Watson into that team with young players?
Maybe that's the reason why they've appointed them.
You touched you touched on what come on the fine success as
Ireland. That's a good point because
they've obviously had the high of Europe so recently they'll
also be so eager to chase that again.
But there's been so many mitigating circumstances I've
got in the way since. I think Dundee United's Hibs
really and Aberdeen really upped their game this season, so to
take over clubs that have those resources is going to be an even
bigger ask. They've also lost a manager,
Derek McInnes. I don't think, with all due
respect to Kilmarnagar, I think Macinnes had probably outgrown
his boots at Kilmarnock and I think they were never going.
It's like with Steve Clark, they were never going to be able to
get someone in with as much expertise as the guy that had
just left. No disrespect to Killwell, I
think Kettlewell was probably a good fit for Kilmarnock.
I think is still a football works really well, hence they've
signed a six foot 7 striker or something and that'll be an
absolute joy to watch at Celtic Park I'm sure.
But I, I think the most that these clubs like your
Kilmarnocks and Dundies and those that were in and around
the relegation zone but were never in too much danger either
last season. I think the most that they can
really ask for is to be where St.
Mirren are, is getting top six and being very comfortable
having a really compact team and not changing too much every
year. And if you get top 6 from there,
maybe build on Europe, maybe build up to Europe in the split.
But that I don't think Europe can be an expectation for a lot
of these clubs. Yeah, I agree.
Moving on to Motherwell, obviously it's a bit of an
unknown. Their new manager, he was most
recently head coach in Sweden, IFK, Gothenburg, Gothenburg.
Joe, you, you can correct me on that.
It's it's Gothenburg, since that's, I thought it turned it
from. Yeah, that's where from.
You'll know. Well, that's where Aberdeen won.
There, Yeah. Gothenburg.
Oh yeah. Aberdeen supporter.
Well, I thought. It might be Gothenburg but I
wasn't sure. I didn't want to presume it's
spelt weirdly. It's spelt in the Swedish way.
Yeah, obviously he's he's been assistant manager at Sparta
Prague and most recently Copenhagen.
He spoke highly of Jimmy Talin from his time in Sweden in his
press conference and obviously mentioned Russell Martin from
their time as as teammates at Norwich when he was a player.
He's a bit of an unknown, so I think we'll just have to wait
and see for what he gets up to. But anyway, Russell Martin
officially appointed as Rangers manager.
There's been a lot of noise about, you know, Davidia
Enchilatte Russell Martin first was was reported to have
rejected the job and and obviously now officially
appointed. It was such a vital appointment
after the takeover was officially announced.
What do you guys think of the appointment, first of all?
And secondly, what do you think he has to do to get not only the
fans keeping the keeping the fans on his side, but also, you
know, trying to trying to break that Celtic dominance and, and
you know, it's, it's hard, but go for the title.
I think what he used to do is get the fans on site quickly.
Not a lot of them. When I say not a lot of them,
usually you see some people say I didn't, you know, I think
they've looked at him as what he was as a player.
Maybe he was on loan there and wasn't highly regarded.
That's completely different now. You know, how long has it been
since he was a player at Rangers?
It's been a few years now. He's been in management for a
while now. He's, you know, been successful.
You know, he's played a good value and good brilliant style
of play. And I think it's something
that's a little bit different. I think coming in same we're
going to play this sound style of play and he knows what.
No, there's no, there's no getting away from it.
I mean, we know what he's going to bring and that's what, you
know, the style of play and what he's going to bring.
He's not going to change his style.
I mean, but I think I've just remembered there now.
I think when he was at NK Dons, there was some fans, some
supporters, some maybe a fan group in particular that didn't
like the way that they were playing.
I think they were 15th or something like that.
And League One at the time. I think they were League One at
the time and and you know, he said we're not changing the way
we're playing. We were the highest in
possession in this league. We might not be scoring goals,
but I believe in this team. I believe in this group.
And so I think, you know, there's no, there's no get away
from that. We know what he's going to bring
in terms of style play. What he needs to do is get the
fans on side, get a good run in Europe as well.
That's the main thing. And can you judge somebody after
one season? No, that's the only thing.
I mean, I mean, this is the first summer in a while that the
range of appointed a new manager starting in the summer, if you
get what I mean. You know, Philip Clement was
appointed mid season and you know, Van Bronkos was
appointment season. Beal was appointed mid season.
So he's starting. It's like it's starting the
whole thing. No fresh up from no grand level
up. And what he needs to do is get a
good run in Europe, get a good run of games in the in the
Premiership when at the hardest venues as possible.
I don't people are seeing the title race might be narrower.
I don't see it. It could be, but I just don't
see it. So getting a trophy on board,
getting a League Cup, getting a Scottish Cup, one of the two
success, that's a success, that's a trophy and getting a
good run in Europe and that's a good starting point and then
keep building and building up. An embarrassing result versus
Iceland losing 3 went at home. It was a bad day off for
Scotland but I'd say an even worse one for Kieran.
Slicker came off the bench after 7 minutes to make his debut due
to another Angus gun injury. But within, you know, 60
seconds, 120 seconds, he gifted the ball to Iceland and Andrea
Good Johnson capitalised with what what you can only describe
as an excellent finish. Despite the mistake, the night
just got worse and worse. Luckily I missed it.
I was supposed to be going but I took a miss and gave my ticket
to my dad and I'm sure he enjoyed it a lot.
You're evil, you know that? You are so evil.
Yeah, what do you guys make of the game?
Do we have to talk about the game?
Horrible. We'll touch it and then we can
move on to the amazing game of against Lexus then.
I just want to talk about, I'll talk about Kieran Slicker, but I
don't want to talk about Kieran Slicker.
I want to talk about why he was in the position that he ended up
being. Because there's been a lot of
talk of oh, there was no one else.
There was no one else. If there was no one else, then
how come he was call able to call up someone else?
Afterwards he talked about how there was someone was that Cal
McKenna who'd been in training with the squad but wasn't part
of the match day squad. There was no reason that can be
Kieran Slicker as well or instead.
Well, well, I think, I think I just have to add that he wasn't
planned to be the number 2 on the day.
Robbie McCrory was actually supposed to be the number 2 but
was injured in the warm up. I realise that but to me any
goalkeeper that's in the match day squad should be in a
suitable position to come on if they need to.
And I mean if that if if not then what's the point in even
having him there? So I think it was a horrible
situation for him to be thrown into and I think Steve Clarke
has take the full responsibility.
I mean I think this was actually Slickers first appearance at
senior level. Don't he's ever played a league
game. Maybe a handful of League Cup
games. Yeah, he's played a few in the
cup, yeah. In FA Cup game for sure for
Ipswich, I think, I think for Rochdale as well, but.
Yeah, so I mean, he's not, he's not even played a league game
yet. So yeah, not, not great.
It reminded me a lot of it wasn't far off.
What happened to David Marshall getting his debut for Celtic.
He he had to come on, he came on at half time against Barcelona
and and at home and then played the second leg away to
Barcelona. Celtic ended up holding on to A1
nil win home and away and I feel like that was a make or break
for David Marshall's career. I really hope this isn't a break
for Kieran Sticker and he learns from it.
I know it's easier said than done.
I think Kieran Sticker's actually younger than me, which
is mental to mental to think it. If he's, if he's older, it's
marginal. So I really hope the whole team
gathers around him. We've got to be really careful
how we hand him in the future. But for me, Roston should have
been that third goalkeeper from the very start to prevent that
situation ever occurring anyway. I felt really sorry for him.
I have to admit. I felt really, really sorry for
him. You just, you know, you just
see, you've, I think we've all seen at one point they just
went. You just see a guy who's having
a shocker and there's nothing you can do about it.
And when it's a goalkeeper as well, it's even worse.
You know, You know, it should have been the proudest moment of
his career. Let's be honest, playing for
your country in front of Hampden Park, you know, in front of how
many was there, 30,040 thousand or so at night.
It should be the proudest moment of your career.
It's probably one of the worst moments of his career.
And I've really felt sorry for my thought.
There were certain things I didn't like in the crowd.
I mean, there was one thing where I think in the
second-half, you know, he went and gathered the ball.
I don't know if he's remember. I think you just said that he
went and gathered the ball and I think he grabbed it and, you
know, landed on on it. And I think just to be safe and
everybody just started the crowd.
No cheering, you know, clapping their hands.
And I just think there's no need for that.
I mean, he's had a shocker. He's a young guy as well.
You, you don't want to be in that position.
You know, I didn't want to be, you know, I wouldn't want to be
in that position. Could you handle being in that
position? I can't, you know, and it's just
I just so sorry for him. And you know, I hope, I do hope
you'll get another chance one day.
You know, I think he needs for me, he needs confidence.
He needs a good move on loan somewhere to get some regular
first team football. Listen, you'll get, I'm sure
you'll get another cap one day and I've got no doubt about
that. And I think we've got to be
careful with them. I think we're not in a good
situation with goalkeepers at this moment in time.
We've got to try and protect as many of the young guys as
possible at this moment in time. And I really hope for his sake
he gets a good loan somewhere this point in this summer and go
out, get some games under your belt and get your confidence up
and then you can come back and enjoy.
You know, your Angus Gunn will be back, Craig Gordon will be
back. You know Zander Clark will be
back. Glenn Kelly will be back.
Get gather him around these guys and he can learn from them and
he can learn from playing regular football alone
somewhere, League 2 if anywhere, and really get your confidence
back. Yeah, I mean, I think it does
highlight the the real issue we've got with the goalkeeping
department, kind of a crisis now.
I think Steve Clark actually mentioned it.
There was talks of Chris Brady switching allegiance from the
USA to to Scotland, 21 year old keeper at Chicago Fire in the
MLS, You know, real promise and talent.
You know, there's a lot of talk about him and he mentioned, you
know, he, he had ambitions to play international in the near
future, but he didn't really mind who that was for, whether
it was USA or Scotland. So there was quite some hope
around that, that he would be called up and there was rumours
about it, but unfortunately was called up to Moritzio
Pochettino's USA squad. So that's kind of ended any
hopes of that. And I think it just compounds
the the kind of crisis we've got.
You know, we've got these these veterans, you know, David
Marshall's now retired. Craig Gordon is what, 40?
He looks about 60, but he's 42. You know, Angus Gunn, he was
good when he came in, but there's been errors.
You know, he wasn't good at the EUR.
And you know, you think who is our first choice?
Angus Gunn was he was injured and then Zander Clark's injured.
Robin McCrory, You know, who do you think can step up into that
role? Because it is a big role.
There's nowhere you can hide as a goalkeeper who steps up into
that role and and, you know, takes us forward into that, you
know, hopefully new generation of, you know, promising talents
striving to to qualify for a World Cup.
It's hard, isn't it, because you've got got you've not really
got so many coming through this moment in time.
The under 20 ones looks like they're down to their bare bones
as well a little bit. And I think the way goalkeepers
do, one thing you can see about goalkeepers don't have that
train until they're, you know, in and around where Liam Kelly
is right now. You know 3031, don't you do
goalkeepers, you know, see what Craig Gordon's doing.
He, he, he'd been around for, how long is he playing football
for? I wish I did my research on how
long he's been playing football for.
Goalkeepers will be around forever and ever and ever.
If the the injury fit, the injury free the fit as a fellow,
you can really meet your potential 303132.
That's when you're at your peak as a goalkeeper, not at your
peak. You know, if you're a
midfielder, you're thinking your peak 26/27/28.
There's a lot more to come as a goalkeeper and I hope that, you
know, we just keep going with these guys that are and you
know, slicker is one of them. You know, Macquarie, he's not
far away from that age. I don't think it's 2627.
No, we need to keep we just seem to keep trying as much as we can
and you know, we just need to keep believing that we can
produce. You know, we've produced so many
good players with late of, you know, recent years or Aaron
Hecky's come out of, you know, the heart, you know, hell, or
was he when he was 1617, he played for belonging.
He's now, you know, he's now playing in the Premier League.
We got right backs available, we got centre backs, we got
midfielders. He's a goalkeeper.
You know, it was never, never a problem.
A few years ago we had Alan McGregor, we had David Marshall,
you know, Trey Gordon, all three of them in their crime, wanting
to be that number one. And you could argue any of them
could have been. I think, I know, I know we're
going to come on to the player that's been strongly rumoured
for a while and Chris Brady, who's not quite been ruled out
for Scotland yet because he's only made friendly appearances
for America. But I think there's a case we
made for Scott Bain because he's just made his permanent move to
Falkirk. I know his, let me get this
right, his last game for Celtic was him coming on as a
substitute for a minute and Joe Hart's last ever game at Celtic
Park. And before that he came on as a
substitute because Joe Hart got sent off and then played the
subsequent game after which was a way to Motherwell.
So he's played three games in two seasons, a push.
So he's obviously got a lot of work to do.
But he's going to be a Scottish goalkeeper playing regular
football at the top level in Scotland and he's been on the
books that served it for a while.
Celtic wouldn't have him if he wasn't a capable goalkeeper, so
I think that's one to keep an eye on.
That's probably the only bit of optimism I'm taking from this
scenario. It's a bit of a like Oscott fans
I'm really worried about because we've got 2 very capable
goalkeepers in the league who are sitting on the bench and
Liam Kelly and Xander Clark. I know they're both injured at
the moment, but they'll be back soon enough, I assume.
So I'm really praying that Steve Clarke, I'm honestly, I'd be
stunned if he hasn't already been on the phone to Chris
Brady. But if he hasn't already gets
him on the phone, gets his Scottish granny's signature or
something and then gets him over for, for, for a chat and then
hopefully a few games. Because a goalkeeper playing
regularly at MLS level, I think could be a, a real, a real game
changer for Scotland's. But I'm saying this, I'm still
not against Angus Gunn, but I'm questioning his commitment
because there was talk of him purposely not playing a few of
those games at the end of last year.
Yeah, it's one that we'll just have to see for Chris Birdie.
I guess we can touch quickly on the the Liechtenstein game.
Obviously, it's one that we had to win.
It wasn't a question of if, it was just how many we could
score. It ended up being 4.
Now when Jay Adams scored the first Scotland hat trick since
John McGinn in 2019, I think against San Marino, he also
assisted George Hurst, who got his first goal for Scotland.
But I think even despite the impressive performance from Jay
Adams, it was kind of Lennon Miller who who was the star of
the show for for me personally anyway, Boston, the midfield and
I know the the opposition was, you know, not good.
But you can only play what's in front of you first start for
your country. And he, he looked an absolute
natural. And you know, you can go back
to, to when he made headlines for the wrong reasons for, for
saying he could be the best in the squad in a couple of months.
You know, he, he, he did apologize for the same time
frame of use, but wrong. Reason.
Yeah, I was about to say I don't think he's got anything he he
should be apologizing for. I think we need players striving
to be the the the best that they can be.
And, and for him just saying that he wants to be the best, I
think it was taken quite out of context.
And I think that he's proven though that he can be the best.
And I think in that game that he was I.
Think, I think he was actually one of our best players against
Iceland as well. You know, I think he came on.
He actually did quite well. You know, what could you do when
you're 31 down? You actually came on.
He wasn't afraid, you know, for commitment, you know, wasn't
afraid to run with the ball. He wasn't afraid to pass around,
wasn't afraid to take some, you know, dangerous crosses away.
He's stood out well against Iceland and then on against
Liechtenstein. Again, You've just said you can
only judge him on who he's up against.
But you know, you've got to beat these teams and you, you
certainly stood out very well. Can he do it against Denmark and
in Copenhagen in a couple of months?
Time yeah, we can touch quickly on the Premier Sports Cup draw
that happened I think a couple weeks ago now.
Hearts in the group stages, they'll face stolen Albion at
4th Bank on TV. That'll be a good one.
St. Mirren, St.
Johnstone, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Dundee and obviously
Falkirk, the big names in it. Do you see there any being, do
you see any shocks happening? You know Bricancetti Bonnie Rig
Rose outside the the the pyramid now, but they could cause a few
upsets I think. There's only one.
Yeah, sorry, sorry, Aaron. I think the only one that stands
out to me purely because they were so close to going up last
season's maybe Edinburgh City. They've got, they've got, they
don't have a premiership team in their in their group.
They've got 2 championship teams in Partick, that's on Ross
County. Partick Thistle seem to be going
through. I don't know if a transition
period is the right word but no one really knows what to expect
from at the moment. Ross County have got, don't get
me wrong, a few big hitters coming in, but.
They'll still be waiting for them to settle in at this point,
so there's no reason Edinburgh City can't at least have a few
certain results against those. But apart from that, it's a
really funny one. I mean you touched Finn on it's
five of the teams that don't don't come in.
And so five teams are going to be in Europe this year.
So I'm happy for, I mean, we've got Kilmarnock and Livingston
who are going to get a taste for playing against each other in
the league. I think they've got each other
on the first day of the league season, but they're also in the
same grip as each other, which is going to be a funny one.
And then, I don't know, I think I said it to you when I was
doing something for my own podcast, that you're going to
get a chance to see St. Johnstone up close when they're
coming into the league for the first time in so long.
So I think it's more just going to be a case of I think there's
more pressure on the big teams because if you don't get it
through, that's any idea of a cup ran out the window.
And that's so important to fans. But it's a lot of it for the
lower league sides is get a big crowd through at some point, be
that a home or away against one of the bigger teams.
And then also get a chance to suss out a few opponents that
are going to be in your league this year.
But a lot of the teams there will there will be one.
There always is take it too much that pre season and then end up
shooting themselves in the foot. The European fixtures were
decided, I think it was earlier this week.
I've lost track to be honest. Rangers drew Panathenacos, who
finished 13th in last season's Conference League.
Obviously Rangers got to the quarterfinals, I believe, after
finishing eighth in the league phase.
So going straight into the around the 16 inside of the
playoff, it'll be a tough game for them.
But I think they do have the the firepower to get through.
Obviously Panathenacos got such incredible fans, but yeah.
Sorry to interrupt you there. And I think he's going to be
really interesting how Russell Martin lines up in Europe
because football wise reminds me a lot of and positive Hoglu.
And for all the praise that and positive Hoglu got for Celtic,
it was all domestically. I mean, I do believe that if
he'd got another year, he probably would have done really
well in Europe and obviously he did really well in Europe for
Tottenham eventually. But that kind of football where
where you where you refuse to adapt, it's either going to,
it's either going to take. Off it's really risky.
It's. Either going to take off real,
it's, it's very much fight or flight and it's either going to
take off really well or it's just going to go down horribly.
And I, I, I don't know if Martin is going to be as stubborn as
Portugal glue has been this football down South would
suggest so. But it it might just have to
accept that in a game where it's a very even game, I think it
kind of go in all, all guns blazing like like he would
against St. Mirren.
Yeah, and it's such a pivotal round in the qualifiers because
if Rangers win this, they're going to Champions League
qualifying round 3 as a seeded team, and if they lose this,
they're going to Europa League qualifying round three as an
unseeded team. So it's quite a contrast.
It's the same for Hibs. They've drawn Michelin, Danish
side. It's quite a tough fixture.
I mean, I think they've got their their group.
There wasn't many that you'd France them against.
I think Anderlecht was in there Shaq to the Nesk.
So there was there was only there was only really one or
two. Yeah, but they've they've drawn
Michelin's. It's a tough fixture.
It's the first time back in Europe, for instance, obviously
losing to Astonville and the conference in playoff, which I
think they were quite unlucky with that draw as well.
Yeah, that was obviously the Sunshine and Leith brigade
coming back. But obviously it's a tough
fixture. You don't you probably wouldn't
see them as favourites. They I think they'd have the
second leg Easter Rd. which which is a small positive, but
but it's going to be a tough one for them.
I think so. I think could be think if they
come back with, you know, a goal deficit by teach the road.
They would probably fancy that. Wouldn't they mean they would
think East Road for house you would think is pale?
Yeah, if they come back level, yeah, if they come back level
that they'll fancy themselves. But I think it's arrived in the
first leg, which will be a real struggle for them.
I. Think so.
I think that first game being a wee is probably going to be more
tricky. What you think it's going to be
as well? I mean, people have seen the
second leg at home, that's fantastic, but we've got to play
the first. You know, we're going to play
the wee leg 1st and that's arguably for me worse, isn't it?
I mean, you would much rather take get as much privilege as
you can at home before you go away.
That that's my perspective. That's, you know, it's just
something I've always thought that should know.
That's always been in my head. But you know, I think it's going
to be a very hard game. Yeah, having a hard time.
But listen, you don't even know. I mean, they've got they've got
as good a chance as any. And listen, I think the Hibs
have had some good European results in the qualifiers before
and not mentioned the Malamo game.
But Oh my God, that was all years ago.
But if we. You're older than me.
I forgot about that. But yeah, that's not mentioned,
an animal game. But apart from that, I mean
they've had some good results away from home, difficult
venues, good comebacks as well. I think Easter Rd.
I think they had one a couple of years ago as well.
So who knows? Who knows what this draw can do
for Hibs? I can also remember by the time
much on play Hibs at home, their legal have already started.
So I mean there'll only be one game in, but they'll have
another game between the two legs as well.
I think Mitchell, they'll probably be in a bit bit more
physical. I think it would be a bit more
ready physically for it. I was just checking if it was a
summer league. It's not, but there's the league
starts about two weeks before, which probably suits him quite a
bit more. Yeah, I mean, there's this new
thing that's come in to allow Scottish fixtures to get not
postponed, but put back so to help, you know, the Scottish
teams prepare for European football.
But I think it's actually maybe slightly disadvantage not having
a game between the two legs just to kind of prepare get because
at the start of the season fitness is is not there yet.
It obviously takes a couple of months, couple weeks to get into
the flow of things and not having a midweek fixture, I
think it's actually slightly disadvantage.
Yeah, there's. There's been talk of if, I know
a lot of people have said that a lot of teams might actually not
use that request that they might have when they get to play a
fringe just to let players get time in, in their legs.
But I think if we skip forward to January, February time and
obviously Celtic, Celtic can have a doing, They're both
guaranteed to be in the league phase.
Hopefully the other teams do it as well, but I think they might
take that request option up. If they were to get through to
knockouts, I think that'd be a much more important time to use.
It yeah, I mean say Aberdeen get into the the playoff round in
the conference league, you know, finish between between yeah,
well, I'm, I'm not I'm not too helpful and and to be fair, I
think I'd, I don't know if it's too bad to say this, but I think
I'd prefer us in conference. I think it'd give us a better
chance to get into knockouts, whereas in Europa being
obviously and. Coefficient wise, it'd be very
wise. Yeah, I mean.
We are to be these as well. No, I know, but Europa League is
better away these for me, but I I think to have a chance to get
into knockouts at least in that top 24, I think conference would
be better. So Speaking of conference,
Dundee United drawn against Luxembourg side FC Unis Trasen.
It's only their second time in Europe.
The Luxembourg team, they lost to finish side coops 5 nil last
season in the first round of qualifying.
And I looked at their their history and they've generally
been a mid table team in Luxembourg.
So they were a European debutante last season.
They they they had a nil nil draw in the first leg against
coops at home and then they went to to Finland and and got
absolutely spanked 5 nil. I've seen I've seen this too
many times. Yeah, it's really not giving me
great help. I remember, I can't remember
which Luxembourg team. I think it was a Luxembourg
team. I can't remember their name.
Who beat Rangers? All those.
Years ago. That's it.
So yeah, it's giving me a bit of
a bit of a flashback. It's just given it's just given
me inter club Descaldes and I know his his I think has bumped
him about 6th one at home anyway.
But yeah, I mean I'm I mean coefficientize.
Both games are important because they're taken as individual
games, aren't they? Yeah, so, so each win really,
really helps the coefficient and you'd hope that Dundee United
could get a win in both and just progress as as far as they can,
because to be honest, I'd I'd fancy them against.
Progress. That is such a bad joke, God's
sake. Yeah, good one.
Good one, Joe. No, but I fancy them against
cops so to see them against the team that that was beaten 5 nil
by coops, you'd really really hope that that they could get
the job done nice and early win both games and just progress
was. It coops at was it coops at
hearts having conference like a few years ago?
I, I think I can't remember. I remember them having a
Rosenberg and doing a comeback against them and.
Coops no. It was when they they were in
the group with Fiorentino and I'm sure there was a team from
Finland in it. We're going Wikipedia, you know,
Wikipedia. Here we go, groups.
Group A. It's RFS from Latvia.
Oh. Sorry, sorry, sorry, off road.
So yeah, it's besak. I hear Fiorentina hearts on RFS
from I think that's Latvia. I'm a fraud.
Yeah, Latvia. So nice one, Joey.
We just maybe Google it and it's not right.
Yeah, So, yeah, you'd hope Dundee United can progress as as
far as they could. It's it's kind of like St.
Vernon last season where they got drawn against God.
I can't even remember what team, but it was, you know, they were
big favourites. They progressed for that round
and then eventually made their match, met their match.
So just about how far can Dundee United get?
Hopefully at least one man round man, more so moving on since
last podcast is a new scheme announced by the the Scottish
Football Association cooperation agreement.
They've named it. It's not replacing loans as a
lot of people have assumed, but it allows better integration
between between the two teams where players can switch between
the clubs throughout the season. It allows three players Max per
team to be put on the list and it's a parent club and a feeder
club where Premiership and Championship teams can
essentially lone players to to lower league opposition to lower
league clubs. And throughout the season if
they if they've got an injury crisis, if they're playing, you
know, someone in the cup that they think you know, this player
would be great to get some good game time, test them out.
They can get them back in just for a game or two and then send
them back afterwards. So it it kind of allows those
players that are are too good to be on the bench, but not good
enough to be, to be starting for the for the team to get some
valuable game time in the lower leagues, but also some some game
time, you know, when it is available.
It's interesting this because a story broke about 3 weeks ago, 4
weeks ago, maybe more than that, that Rangers wanted to do this
with Race Rovers. So it's become something that
I've become looking up and just seeing all these rules.
We had one of our directors was on the club channel saying all
the stuff about it does for me. I'm one of the only people
probably that strings it promising, you know, that a club
the size of Rangers wants to loan some players out.
I think the apparently they've seen us as a club that are on
the up, they've seen us seeing their player.
They think that their players would be a good style, style of
play for Barry Robson and his team.
They've seen the progression of the football club from the fan
base we've had. Joe would know more than as
well. I mean, we we had, we were at
1400 season tickets. How many years ago?
Four years ago, five years ago. We're now around about 2 1/2
thousand. And so they're they're
interested in coming to be throwers to loan some players
out. This is a story that broke about
3-4 weeks ago. We found this out on the club
channel, it's gone quiet because there's been a lot of changeover
at Rangers, obviously new boards, new imagine it's going
to be new director of football as well along with the new
management team. So it'll be interesting if if
anything does come to this. I know Celtic I think are
looking at Queen's Park and here I think here have actually gone
to East Kilbride, sorry E Dillonshire even they went to
East Dillonshire and they're going to be doing the
disagreement with them. So it was no, I'm all for it.
I think it doesn't make you feel like AB team.
It makes offence and you want to get as many players into your
squad as possible. And I've said it before already,
we've had an injury crush of so many players that may be getting
3234 players and alone from, you know, one of these corporation
agreements might help boost your squad up by just a few players
and that can be enough to help. Yeah, yeah, I mean the, the,
there's a restriction on it where you can't send players to
more than one team per league. So obviously if say Aberdeen
wants to send players to the Championship, they'd have to
pick one club, 1 club only and you know, commit to that club
into the. Corporation agreement Celtic
have entered an agreement with Queen's Park.
Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. I know, I know, whoever the big
guy is at Queens Park, I know he's had relations with Celtic
in the past and we've got a. Friend.
Yeah, there's been a few. We've got a friendly with
Amnition, we had one last year as well, so it wasn't surprised
to see that happen. There's been a few youth players
that, you know, went out of contract at Celtic and then and
then made the move to Queens Park as well, so that doesn't
surprise me. One thing we've been told as
well is that if this happens, so if you get, you know, the
corporation agreement, if you say for example, let's use
Rangers to be throwers, for example, you can still get
players on loan that say from Celtic, Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen,
whoever you want that's able no, that's above that age limit.
So it's above the the, I think challenge with.
The eligible for under 20 ones is what they say.
That's right, Yeah. So I think they mean Rui Gal,
Rui, who's our club, one of our club directors.
Very good guy. If you need to see him, if you
know he's one of those guys you just want to see him and you,
it's been all of them. What he can do on club channels
and club digital channels, he was seeing that.
If we use Finley Pollock as an example, we had Finley Pollock
on loan from Hearts last year, he doesn't qualify.
He's a year, he's a year older now.
So if Hearts wanted to loan Finley Pollock back, we can get
him and we can get three players from Rangers within the
corporation agreement. Yeah.
So it'll be really, really useful for, for not only
Championship clubs, but also League One, League 2 and even
low only clubs to, to get those players.
Because I'm writing, I think I'm writing in that League One and
League 2 clubs cannot act as parent clubs.
They cannot enter cooperation agreements with, you know,
sending players out to two leagues below them.
It's only for Premiership and Championship clubs, which is
maybe a little bit disappointing.
Obviously not being able to to send players.
Think when you've got 2. Standard clubs in League One and
League 2. Yeah.
So I find that a bit surprising, but it will be good for those
lower league clubs to to form stronger partnerships with, you
know, clubs higher up and and kind of develop those those
partnerships maybe to make that a, a yearly basis honestly.
So yeah, we'll we'll see what happens with that and I think
we'll leave it there for for this week.
Guys, thank you very much for joining me.
If you've enjoyed the podcast, please let us know what you've
enjoyed about it if we're missing anything.
And we'll see you next time, guys.