Number Eleven

Otoo in midfield alongside Hamilton?

Well trailed before the announcement but welcome back to Ewan. He looked like a player with a lot of potential and certainly didn’t lack confidence. Yet another young player on a 3 year deal.

My question would be which player covers the central role in the back 3 if Benedictus is out? Would we be comfortable with any of the others as a centreback pairing in the absence of our skipper?

Welcome back Sam. There seems to be a pattern to James McPake’s signings: young, talented players on long term contracts. He’s a good player with a big future and can play a couple of positions well. I hope that we bring in some new players. The team did really well in League 1 but I think we need to add 1 or 2 more experienced players to really kick-on in the Championship.

Agreed

Rhys Breen must be gutted. Seriously - 6 players in the team of the season really demonstrates how well we did last season.

We didn’t qualify the first season of the revived group stage in 2016-17.

A good signing for both parties. He deserves a chance to play regularly in the Championship and he would probably have been an impact sub for us.

I’m a bit surprised that he re-signed as it took a bit of time to get over the line. He thoroughly deserves an offer given the part he played in an outstanding defensive record last season. Balanced against that last season was the first time he’d been first choice keeper and so a 3 year deal seems quite long. Hopefully it will work out well.

Agreed - someone would need to bring something really special to take a chance on them with such an injury record and he’s just not that good.

I hope we play against the playoffs version of Ayr - a guaranteed 12 points!

What a brilliant signing not been this excited since re-signing Joe Cardle.

I don’t think there’s much difference between the bottom of the Championship and the top of League One but across the leagues as a whole it’s a step up. We are probably better prepared for the step up under James McPake than we were in 2016 given the pragmatic focus on defending and outworking our opponents.

I’m pleased Aaron has re-signed. He’s a proven talent at Championship level, only struggling last season due to terrible management. With the changes the new management has made I’m sure he will thrive. It’s good to see players making a career at East End rather than staying for one contract then moving on. Hopefully the next signing is a goalie.

James McPake has a tough job as he has to improve the team for a much tougher challenge in the Championship. He can’t keep the same squad and rely on organic improvement and that means he has to make tough decisions and some players will be let go and others may be offered less than they think they can get elsewhere. We’ll be able to better judge when we see the quality of the new signings.

Neither Kevin O’Hara nor Nikolai Todorov really nailed down a long run in the team as the main striker. I think their goals per minutes record would be reasonable. Todorov in particular made an important contribution this season. Both are still young enough to expect to do better things in their careers. It’s a good thing that they are leaving with happy memories of their times at East End and I wish them all the best for the future.

Well done Pars, so many records have fallen this season. What a difference a year makes.

Match day for the last time this season! Here’s to the Pars picking up 3 points and setting a new club record. It’s been a terrific performance and we’ve been far and away the best team. I’m already excited for next season.

Very positive news as Rhys Breen has played well as part of a very strong defence. We have been a bit short of central defenders all season especially given the preference to play a back 3. Hopefully will be signing up a few more over the next month.

I don’t agree with B teams anywhere in the pyramid but if they apply at the bottom tier and work their way up to the lowland/highland league level then fair enough. To propose relegating all bar 6 teams is an appalling offence against football. Even proposing this idea shows that those running Scottish football are completely out of touch.

Inflation is 10% and we’ve gone up a division so a 5% rise is very reasonable. There are also plenty of discounts available for different groups.

A poor first half but an improved second and a great strike to win it. I thought the pitch didn’t look great today which probably didn’t help. A full season unbeaten at home is a great achievement.

Clyde spoiled a promotion party by drawing with us back in 1989. Hopefully this time, with promotion already secured, we get a good win to kickstart the celebrations.

Rhys Breen has come on leaps and bounds this season. I think he’s really benefited from playing alongside Bene. If we can get Sam Fisher back that’s a good back 3 but stepping up to the Championship we’ll need more options and ideally some more experience.

According to the BBC Sport website (not always accurate, I know) Todorov is scoring at a rate equivalent to a goal every 1.5 games, which is very good and the best in the team. He’s certainly proved his worth as an impact player but is that enough for him. At this stage in his career he may want to be starting regularly.