DUFC News

Let me take you back to your childhood. Those innocent days before you realised everyone on a certain terrestrial television station had a penchant for little boys, when dabs were about awful powdery sweeties and not stupid goal celebrations, when bumming was still frowned upon by many despite the fact most liked to indulge in their secret little dens of filth.

Back in those days you'd be itching for Christmas, to find out what presents you got. Would it be lego? Maybe a Star Wars figurine? Maybe hungry hippos? And then you'd hear those magic words from your old man, already well on after a few too many cans of McEwans Export..."would you like to open a present early son?"

Well, like your drunken old man, I'm giving you an early Christmas present - a pre-Christmas DUFC News update!

Transfer news is coming in thick and fast at the moment, and it's no surprise that most of the focus surrounds our need for a striker to be brought in. The manager is clearly looking for a target man and we've been linked with a number of players.

The first was the return of Nadir Ciftci on loan. Rumours abound that this was our preferred option, although no movement has happened on this front. He is of course so far out of the picture at Celtic Park that I'm more likely to get a game for them than he is, so he surely is going to be moving on in January. But will he come back to Tannadice? Is he actually the type of player we want? I'm not so sure. Likely to sign rating - 4

Next up was a lad with a name which I'm not even going to attempt to spell. Begins with a Z. He's a Dutch born Curacao international and was across on trial, but has now returned home. 6ft 2 but the fact he's gone home without a deal suggests he won't be signing. Likely to sign rating - 2

This morning we've been linked with Hearts forgotten frontman Connor Sammon. The Fish had a terrific spell at Killie, moved to Derby and initially did well before falling out of the picture. He's barely featured for Hearts this season and Cathro seems happy to move him on. He could of course sign on an emergency loan which would give us a few weeks to assess him. Likely to sign rating - 8

Away from transfers, our manager has received the manager of the month award for the Championship, and that's no great surprise. He's done a terrific job and I'm very pleased with the direction the club is going in. The work he's done on the defence is just incredible and, as I mentioned the other day, to have 9 clean sheets in the last 11 games, only conceding two, is just fantastic.

I think all his transfers have worked pretty well so far. Your average manager has a 50% success rate with transfers and I think he's doing a little better than that, and that's why I trust him with the striking decision.

All is going well so far, we're exceeding expectations by sitting level on points with Hibs, and if we can secure a win on Saturday against St Mirren at Tannadice then we Arabs will be having a very Merry Christmas.