Hearts signings - Pre Contracts

[Pedantic_Hibee]

Penrice would be a back-up for Obita. As for the other two, they’d struggle to even make our bench.

We operate on a different level to the little peasants now. Good luck to them.

[chrisski33]

I wouldnt say some of our players we signed under alot of hype over the last 2 years have set the heather on fire tbh

[EGL2000]

11 goals and 9 assists for spittal this season. Considering how bad Motherwell were for some periods that's a great return. Think he will do really well in a team higher up the league as well.

[BILLYHIBS]

Sounds like two steady Eddie reliable pros and one flash in the pan who’s main remit on signing will be to raise their game four times per year against us

After the summer none of the above would even make our bench and will be cannon fodder in our triumphant march to the Champions League

I’ll get ma coat !

[Stubbsy90+2]

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They are pretty solid squad players and will probably be vital to Hearts when they have the Sunday, Thursday, Sunday schedule early season. The types who will come in and help grind out an ugly 1-0 away at St Johnstone on the back of a midweek skelping.

If it's the height of their ambitions then I'm not concerned but as far as a bit depth goes then it's decent business.

Agree. Theyre starting from a position of strength, so trying to solidify their position with some solid players that know our league is a sensible strategy. They’re not going to make their starting 11 any better but their squad will improve.

I’d have been disappointed had we signed any of them though as we need big improvements.

[04Sauzee]

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Agree. Theyre starting from a position of strength, so trying to solidify their position with some solid players that know our league is a sensible strategy. They’re not going to make their starting 11 any better but their squad will improve.

I’d have been disappointed had we signed any of them though as we need big improvements.

Genuine question, who do they replace in their team/squad? Who are they likely to lose in the summer?

[Tyler Durden]

Penrice looks a good player but he's not better than Cochrane. Spittal and Dhanda are no better than Jorge Grant and Barrie McKay, so these are not signings that are going to improve Hearts IMO, not even improving their bench really.

Re Spittal, we've seen this story before with Liam Craig, Drey Wright or the likes of Dennis Wyness etc for Hearts. There is no guarantee he produces similar form for them.

If we concentrate on our squad, there are definite challenges in the summer but we're in a better position for a summer window than we've been since Neil Lennon's time. We now have quality and depth in central midfield, we've got Boyle, Youan and Vente under contract and we're solid at first choice full backs.

We need some left sided centre backs and a new keeper - that should be where we spend our money. Then we can look at loans/wild cards to replace Maolida and Marcondes if they're not returning.

[Tyler Durden]

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Genuine question, who do they replace in their team/squad? Who are they likely to lose in the summer?

Shankland, Cochrane, Beningime

Maybe Halkett, not sure what they've done about him.

[Donegal Hibby]

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Shankland, Cochrane, Beningime

Maybe Halkett, not sure what they've done about him.

Haring another who will be leaving , coming out of contract.

[Since452]

Reminds me a bit of us under Ross. Signing decent Premiership level players.

[babahibs]

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I wouldnt say some of our players we signed under alot of hype over the last 2 years have set the heather on fire tbh

So what?
We're operating on a different level now with the investment.

[ekhibee]

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Haring another who will be leaving , coming out of contract.

I'd completely forgotten about him, thought he'd left ages ago!

[McGruber]

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You cannot deny they have signed bottom 6 players.

I'm not denying the players are coming in from lower level teams, or bottom 6 teams. Just pointing out that it's a stupid point where they are coming from. That's not to say anything about those specific players abilities or how well they'll do with a bit of a step up. Hope they are massive failures.

Remember the initial excitement at the time last year we signed Levitt from a relegated Dundee United!

A good player is a good player, doesn't matter where they come from. The key bit though is how well they will do for Hibs (or Hearts) once they pitch up.

[Forza Fred]

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Sounds like two steady Eddie reliable pros and one flash in the pan who’s main remit on signing will be to raise their game four times per year against us

After the summer none of the above would even make our bench and will be cannon fodder in our triumphant march to the Champions League

I’ll get ma coat !

I hope you are right, but reading this thread it seems to me at least the expectations of some about the type of players we are going to sign may be a tad above what we actually do.

I know we will receive the original investment, some of which is going on infrastructure, but not sure if we are receiving anything else.

Presumably any ‘big’ signings we make will be on big money…and will be for at least 2or 3 years….so we have to figure out how we fund the wages not just for one year.

They may even cost big transfer fees.

Hearts have been smart going early and getting their players on a pre contract and avoiding transfer fees……..genuine question what would their value be on the transfer market ?

[Northernhibee]

Three good signings. It’s no coincidence that when we finished third in he league we signed the lines of Gogic, Nisbet, Paul McGinn etc. who were known to be good in Scottish football and could hit the ground running.

Turning our noses up at players because they play for Motherwell or Livi or Ross County is such Celtic behaviour.

[BILLYHIBS]

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I hope you are right, but reading this thread it seems to me at least the expectations of some about the type of players we are going to sign may be a tad above what we actually do.

I know we will receive the original investment, some of which is going on infrastructure, but not sure if we are receiving anything else.

Presumably any ‘big’ signings we make will be on big money…and will be for at least 2or 3 years….so we have to figure out how we fund the wages not just for one year.

They may even cost big transfer fees.

Hearts have been smart going early and getting their players on a pre contract and avoiding transfer fees……..genuine question what would their value be on the transfer market ?

Blair Spittal 697k

Yan Dhanda 727k

James Penrice 419k

Source : Sofascore

[Brightside]

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So what?
We're operating on a different level now with the investment.

Hearts level of investment is still miles ahead of us.

[Smartie]

Even if they are only squad players... remember the state of our league performances when we were still in Europe at the start of the season? We were able to juggle really solid performances against Luzern and playing Aston Villa through the week with being spanked at home by St Mirren and Livi. Having a squad to be able to rotate will be invaluable for them through what has the potential to be a problematic first half of next season if they don't play their cards right.

For me - Penrice would compete with Obita, if not dislodge him. Spittal has had an excellent season at Motherwell and with Marcondes and Triantis both being on loan, he'd have been an excellent body to have in for midfield - I think he'd quickly establish himself as a starter for us. Dhanda is one of those wild card types, you'd take him as an option off the bench but if he proved himself then he might find himself also being a starter.

[babahibs]

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Hearts level of investment is still miles ahead of us.

Not anymore bud.

[neil7908]

This model has served them well over the years but I'm really hoping we'll be looking at a much higher calibre of player this summer.

I do think that even with all this investment we need to keep a core of players that know the league and expect to be here for a few years. Hopefully not too many loans or short term signings.

[CropleyWasGod]

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Not anymore bud.

It is, on the face of it.

We have just had £6m as a one-off investment. Half(?) of that is for infrastructure.

Hearts get that amount every year from donations.

There will, of course, be other benefits from the new regime. But, cash-investment wise, we're not ahead of them.

[GreenCastle]

Is Penrice a Hibs fan?

He was in Hibs Academy till about 13 year old.

[Libby Hibby]

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I'm not denying the players are coming in from lower level teams, or bottom 6 teams. Just pointing out that it's a stupid point where they are coming from. That's not to say anything about those specific players abilities or how well they'll do with a bit of a step up. Hope they are massive failures.

Remember the initial excitement at the time last year we signed Levitt from a relegated Dundee United!

A good player is a good player, doesn't matter where they come from. The key bit though is how well they will do for Hibs (or Hearts) once they pitch up.

I’m not so sure it’s stupid pointing out facts that they are bottom 6 players.

Massive step up for the 3 of them.

[04Sauzee]

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It is, on the face of it.

We have just had £6m as a one-off investment. Half(?) of that is for infrastructure.

Hearts get that amount every year from donations.

There will, of course, be other benefits from the new regime. But, cash-investment wise, we're not ahead of them.

Correct not hard cash , but I'd imagine we will see the benefit of the multi club structure. Potential plan of players if they fit into our team that we probably wouldn't normally be able to afford or attract. Scouting networks, analytical tools, potential sponsorship deals. I'm sure there are a number of other benefits.

Commercially we are growing.

[McGruber]

I'm hoping the biggest benefit from the Foley deal will be through the savings in wages from players in the group.

On the face of it, straight up cash, 2 million has been mentioned as being added to the player budget from the 6 million investment. Hearts have FOH & Anderson donations that more than match it with millions guaranteed from Europe. Shankland and Cochrane will go for decent cash too but will need replaced.

We have to be smart with our investment to close the gap.

On the other side - there's nothing to stop further investment from Foley/Black Knights from the "initial" money quoted.

Just have to see how it unfolds

[Smartie]

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Correct not hard cash , but I'd imagine we will see the benefit of the multi club structure. Potential plan of players if they fit into our team that we probably wouldn't normally be able to afford or attract. Scouting networks, analytical tools, potential sponsorship deals. I'm sure there are a number of other benefits.

Commercially we are growing.

There will be benefits for sure (not sure how we'd ever get the chance in the current football climate to see the likes of Marcondes play for us otherwise) but there will potentially be downsides - for example, I wouldn't be surprised to see the odd 19 year old on loan get game time beyond what their performances deserve as we let players make their mistakes with us before being at a level to play for someone else.

Positives will surely outweigh the negatives and I certainly wouldn't be in a rush to tell Foley to gtf and take his money elsewhere but having a heavy involvement of someone whose 1st priority isn't Hibs on field success will surely come with some costs.

[McGruber]

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I’m not so sure it’s stupid pointing out facts that they are bottom 6 players.

Massive step up for the 3 of them.

That wasn't the point either. No, it's not stupid to point out they are bottom 6 players, that's fact - it's stupid/ignorant to judge how they'll do/turn noses up at them just because who they are signing from.

Anyway, don't mean to sound snippy - we all hope they turn out to be turd for them

[ErinGoBraghHFC]

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Is Penrice a Hibs fan?

He was in Hibs Academy till about 13 year old.

Rangers fan


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[WhileTheChief..]

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It is, on the face of it.

We have just had £6m as a one-off investment. Half(?) of that is for infrastructure.

Hearts get that amount every year from donations.

There will, of course, be other benefits from the new regime. But, cash-investment wise, we're not ahead of them.

We've got a player on loan earning over £30k a week. Expect to see similar next season and from now on.

Hearts can't get close to having a player earning money like that.

[Donegal Hibby]

Three players coming out of contract who have probably been signed as squad players, even Dhanda who scored against us recently I can't remember watching any Ross county games were I thought ' wow ' he looks good .

Blair spittal has been at numerous clubs over the years like partick , Dundee Utd, Ross county etc and hasn't exactly been on fire at any of them , hitting a purple patch at Motherwell now though time will tell if he can maintain it .

Penrice I again don't remember anything of note from him too . Did one of our forwards not give him a torrid time not that long ago? .

3 players who'd at present struggle to get into the Hibs team and probably not certain of a place on the bench either . Not bothered about any of them .