Educated (*** packet calculated) guess? It 'll be 7-8 million this year I expect - with the resumption of pre-relegation pay levels for existing contracts, wage subsidies of loans out and fees/wage expenditure associated with new incomings. I might be under-estimating, but not by much.
I suspect that much of the reason behind that is that only 3 Scottish clubs would be able to match his contract here, and they're not currently willing to. The SPL is perfect for him though. 6 - 8 games a year against championship standard defences and 30+ vs L1/2 standard should both challenge him whilst also allowing him to gain confidence, sharpness and and momentum that only regular football brings. We need to remember he's still a youngster with plenty of un-realised potential in his boots.
As you look down the SPL it gets worse, St Mirren's wage bill was £2.9m in the last accounts, Grimsby's was £2.7m. And there's quite a few really small sides in the SPL. For the most part, the clubs operate on L1/L2 wages apart from the big 3.
Who was that SPL team of the year defender we signed in the early Pearson era who turned out to be cack in L2? John Anderson? Truth is there's only 3 SPL sides who's current playing resources would realistically suggest they could compete at EFL Championship level - and none at the top challenging the automatics. Even then, one of those 3 would realistically be scrapping at the bottom for survival and the rest of the league is at a level somewhere between Doncaster and Scunthorpe.
John Anderson and Gregg strong signed from north of the boarder around the same time ( if not the same time ) I know John very well, still lives local and is now on the coaching set up looking after our academy players very well.
We're they Molby signings or Little? Can't remember.... I do remember being pleasantly surprised by Stuart Elliott first time i saw him based on those 2 previous SPL signings being pretty gash, though Strong marginally contributed more than Anderson on the pitch.
Strong, Anderson, Appleby..... What an eye for a player that fat bastard had.... ... Though didn' he sign Ashbee too? That kinda re-dresses things.... Totally confusing myself now. Did Molby sign Elliott or was it Taylor?
I actually think there's so much value to be found in the SPL and L1. You can get some real quality for extremely sensible fees. We've seen L1 first hand and there's plenty of players who are more than good enough to play in the Champ. I can't understand why so many Championship clubs are so hesistant to use them. They end up paying a huge premium for average players from other Championship sides.
I don't necessarily disagree - but the SPL is such a disparate league it's easy to be fooled. Re-watched the Derby game and with a more analytic, less emotional head on, Williams looked quite a prospect for much of the game considering he's previously from L2.
He's looking like an astute signing so far, on a free it's excellent business. The Derby game was awful and we completely lacked creativity but we can't be too surprised when we're without Honeyman & Moncur. The recruitment has been good this summer, we just lack an experienced centre half. I'm sure we'll bring one in & that will allow us to shift Alfie into midfield too. They've got to give it a go, I don't expect anything exceptional but I can't see us not trying somebody with experience.
They were; both were bought specifically to play in a back three - that was the big mans vision for his team. Big Jan brought us Ian Ashbee - enough said!
I'm not sure Alfie wants to play in midfield. I think he wants to nail down a position at centre half. Ideal business for me would be to still bring an experienced loan defender in and also Slater in on a loan with a view. As well as Smith as our wildcard centre forward signing.
The SPL has grown a bit over the last few years. Typically (and this is just my opinion), you've got Rangers and Celtic at the top. I measure their quality on how well they do in Europe, Rangers seem to have got their act together and have a decent manager and a good squad. Celtic have the money but they seem to be in some sort of crisis at the moment. They'd both probably be top end Championship, a bit like Boro or Cardiff. Strong fanbases so big revenues and they get the money and TV rights from Europe. Then you have the also-rans for Europe, who generally get through the qualifying rounds but then lose out to bigger clubs. So the likes of Hibs, Aberdeen and Hearts. They're probably the equivalent of us or Bristol City, decent enough but never really going to upset the top two. Then you have the rest, so your Dundee clubs, Livingston, Ross County et al. They tend to bounce around between the Scottish Championship and the SPL and are equivalent to middle range League One clubs like Oxford and Accrington. They might spring a result from time to time but they generally lack the funds and quality to compete higher up. Saying that, St Johnstone have enjoyed a great season last year and did well against Galatasaray in Europe. Gretna tried funding a breakthrough a few years back and it was going so well until Brooks Mileson died and they ended up going bust. We even sent them Ben Wilkinson on loan. All in all it's not a bad league, there's certainly talent in it and Scott will get game time and experience up there with some home comforts. If he isn't ready for the Championship, it's a deal that benefits everybody.
The comparison is the level of quality they can currently fund. Yeah, with EFL revenues then Celtic and Rangers would inevitably eventually progress - but that's both hypothetical and potentially heretical. Its an English league, the Scottish are gonna vote independent sooner or later so **** Celtic and Rangers frankly. They do about as well in Europe as English League Cup winners do. Which is probably not as well as championship winners would do if winning the championship got you into Europe. Their equivalent respective playing budgets stand currently at a championship playoff side, a championship top 10 side and a relegation scrap side - with a couple the apparent equivalent of challenging for promotion in L1.
I think it speak volumes that Scott walks into Hibs starting eleven and is no where near our first team at present. Having watched quite a lot of Scottish football whilst north of the border, though that was 10 years ago, Aberdeen then, and at that time were mid table in the SPL, would have been a lower half Championship side IMO. As far as James Scott is concerned I for one feel there is a player in there, and this loan is his make or break time with us. But I hope he does well and comes back with more confidence, and certainly as this stage the right move for him. On this potential new signing from the Blunts, he sounds not a bad punt. Regan Slaters dad rates him from what I have seen, and as usual some fans have written him off already, but let's see how he goes. Most players need playing time to get their match sharpness, so I just hope he gets enough run of games to prove himself, something in James Scott's defence he didn't get..
You'll never see Celtic and Rangers in England, the SPL wouldn't allow it, and while the EFL/PL would welcome it, there would be so much backlash from Scottish fans it wouldn't be worth their time. I think you're being a tad unfair on the European front, remember we qualified for Europe and didn't make it past the playoff round and we had loads of Premier League money bankrolling us. The league isn't really a measure of quality due to the disparities I mentioned, but Hibs are a decent sized club with some very experienced professionals and I'm sure Scott will do better for this loan.
Big Ange will have Celtic bouncing before long (in fact they already are). I wanted him as our manager a few years back and I'm unchanged on that. Think he's gone past us though.
It was the other way around. Strong played only a handful of games before being dropped, Anderson was practically ever present for the whole season and won a few player of the season awards, though he was moved on the following season. Anderson is, as someone else noted, part of the Coty coaching team now.
The acid test of Ibrox next Sunday will see if he's got what it takes to resurrect the great unwashed...
