The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Rab Douglas urges Dunfermline striker to seize his chance in the Premiership
I’m a big fan of Kevin Nisbet. I definitely rate him highly and I know that our centre-halves at Arbroath do too. He caught the eye at Raith Rovers and then Dunfermline. Stepping up to the top flight with Dundee United is a move that makes sense. Time will tell if the Pars get the right sort of offer to persuade them to do business. What that offer would look like in such an uncertain transfer window is very hard to say.
My instinct is that if Dunfermline can get close to £300,000 that’s a very good fee for a player who has one year left on his deal and is unproven in the Premiership.
The market has changed and if United were looking to cash in on Lawrence Shankland this summer, it could be for £1.5 million rather than between £2m and £3m, which might have been the case previously.
I think there are more similarities in their styles of play than differences and, if they both end up in the same United team, it might not be a natural front pairing. Neither of them is a whippet and the fact that they would make similar runs could be an issue.
They both know where the goals are though, that’s for sure. And it’s not just tap-ins they score.
If Robbie Neilson was lucky enough to have the pair of them in his squad come August, blending them into a partnership would be the sort of challenge he would relish.
Championship getting go-ahead It’s good to finally get a start date for next season’s Championship.
In an ideal world we’d be playing a full campaign but everyone knows we’re a long way from an ideal world these days.
A 27-game season is long enough to produce a legitimate champion and teams who make the play-offs but it really will make it more important than ever to get your signings and pre-season preparations right and then hit the ground running.
I’d like to think the stability we have in our squad will help us do that.
Most of the players are tied down and, as hard as it will be to replace quality like Craig Wighton and Miko Virtanen, the manager has got a great track record with his loan signings.
Everybody in the league will view a shortened season as an opportunity to give the big boys a run for their money and we’ll be no different.
“Stepping up to the top flight with United is a move that makes sense
No fright in finance for Ross
It’s sad to see the stories of redundancies and wage cuts coming out of Easter Road. After all the financial problems Jack Ross had to work around in his last job at Sunderland, he’ll be getting a feeling of “not again”.
The positive side of it for him and Hibernian is that he won’t be spooked by it.
Managers who start out in part-time football don’t have a silver spoon and know how to get the best out of players in tough circumstances.
Jack will still back himself to have a decent season with Hibs and it’s amazing how people can start to feel better about themselves when games get going again and a few wins are put on the board.