Changes! Changes!

United manager Roy Walker has used the 'proverbial brush' and swept clean, in fact he has made wholesale changes to the United squad, bringing in no fewer than 11 players. The Sky Blue Sport team are divided on whether these changes will knit together and form a team to alleviate United's trophy famine which has been going on for 22 years. But the Sky Blue Sport team is in unanimous agreement in condemning the releasing the United's talisman, Captain Gary Haveron. Gazza has been the beating heart of this United team for six years and the 'Sport team is definitely in mourning at his departure, we think it is a mistake, but only time will tell if we are wrong. Having witnessed five pre-season friendlies the 'Sports team has taken on itself to 'rate' the new signings as we see them.

Firstly goalkeeper Aaron Kerr, suffice to say we are not impressed, but on the plus side he's seems to be okay with the back-pass, but definitely a worry with his shot-stopping as evidenced in the match against Larne on Wednesday. We decided to to give him a 5.

The new right-back Tony Kane, has a hard job to follow in the footsteps of not only Mike Smith, United have been blessed of having a long list of successes in this position and some abject failures. Marco Carlisle is one of the successes, Joe Gray is only one of the abject failures. Kane started off well, scoring from a free kick at Ballyclare and followed this by an abysmal miss in the match at Larne. We decided to give him 6.

One of the first signings Roy made was left-back Ross Black and we have nothing but praise for Larne man's capture. He's a powerful and gifted player, the sort to stand no nonsense and has a terrific shot, just what we been lacking and not afraid to mix-it. We decided to give him 8

As for central defender Davey Munster, the jury is out on the big stopper who seems to blow hot and cold. He was impressive in the 2nd half against Ards, but not so against Ballyclare or Larne. Maybe it's too early to judge him but we'll give him a 5

Chris Rodgers has impressed both Omar and Sammy when he's been on the pitch but we would like to see him against sterner opposition in order to judge him, but we decided he's worth a 6

Midfield has been revamped and we we're going to start with the impressive signing, Alan Jenkins. The ex- Morton player comes with great credentials, but has only made one appearance in the match against Ards, as he's nursing an injury. It's hard to rate a player on only one appearance and he is for intents purposes Gary Haveron, so he has a lot to live up to. We decided to give him a 6

Ex Portadown player Ally Taggart has been impressive and when he gets to know his forwards likes and don't likes, he'll get better and better. He opened the scoring against Larne on Wednesday with a delightful quick free-kick and then missed three chances which were all makable. We decided to give Ally a 7

Another impressive signing is the former Linfield, Cliftonville and Newry player Conor Downey, a player with a lot of skill and not afraid to mix-it, whether he'll an asset or a liability is anybody's guess but he's competitive and that's no bad thing. We decided to give him a 6

The enigmatic figure that is Aaron Black is more harder to rate, he has an impressive CV, having starred wherever he's been, but injury prone. If United can get him fit and playing every week, no doubt he will a tremendous asset. He's a player with lot to prove, let's hope he fulfils that potential, we decided to give him a 5

Roy believes he's got his dream striker, 6 foot 2, eyes of blue, in Jordan Baker, another ex-Portadown player and he certainly knows where the goals are and he should be perfect foil for the other ex- Portadown marksman, Cutch, no doubt United's 'little and large'. If he could hold the ball up so that Jenkins & co can get up in support, he will provide a very worthwhile asset indeed. We look forward to see him perform, we decide to give him 7

Now for last and by no means least, James (Elvis) Costello , the 'Sports team are unanimous in heralded this man as the messiah we have waiting for these long many barren years. Strong, resourceful and knows where the goals are, hopefully he'll be a Sky Blue legend, dare we say it, in many years to come. With that in mind we don't want to put too much pressure on him, so we give a 7

Hopefully we'll be way off the mark with these ratings and the boys will prove us wrong and silence our criticism. But we have seen false dawns before today and hope this is the 'real' thing. Come Sky Blues!