Newco: Dead in the water

Your grandad will tell you Jock Stein was master of the news the week before a big derby game.  He would seed positive news stories about players or the club to make sure everyone had a spring in their step and to put pressure on opponents.

Graeme Murty is not the master of his own domain, so has few levers to pull in this respect, but he must have despaired when news broke that Newco were unable to retain a 21-year-old central defender they bought from Raith Rovers in January 2017.

Newco are dead in the water if they cannot retain recruits from Raith Rovers who have played a dozen league games for them this season.  Dead. In. The. Water.  They cannot buy the finished product, they cannot even compete for the French youth international talent Celtic seem partial to.

The only team development strategy available to them is to develop, retain and benefit from young domestic talent.  And according to Murty, they cannot afford to offer competitive wages for David Bates.

They couldn’t even convince him to keep his contract business to himself for a few days until after his team face Celtic tomorrow.  What a hopeless shower.