Jump to content

The Queen of the South thread


Recommended Posts

Not going to argue about McFadden's best days being behind him but for a bit of perspective it's probably worth mentioning that (due to him being our assistant manager) he only played 100 mins of football last season and hasn't actually started a game since 20th February 2016. I think it's understandable if he's a bit short of match sharpness right now.
The question I'd be asking is whether or not he looks like he could offer something with a pre-season and games behind him.


Most fair minded Scottish football fans fully appreciate the quality that James McFadden had in spades. One assumes that if he had retained a decent level of fitness Well would surely have deployed his services in the fight against Relegation last season.

The only way that a club like Queens can sustain any sort of meaningful Championship challenge is to recruit imaginatively and identify progressive players before the vultures circle. We freed two excellent centre backs in close season whose fitness I would imagine is infinitely better than McFaddens and I would hate us to squander an above average wage on a player whose best days are well behind him. We also have an artificial pitch which McFadden is unsuited to.

We need to look elsewhere and find a pacy energetic forward to add a valuable dimension to our squad. It worries me that our Manager sees James McFadden as a plausible signing given the existing age profile of our attack.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Obviously very little can be read into yesterday's result/performance but it's not a great start to our pre-season preparations. Hopefully there's another couple of signings or loan deals in the pipeline. Luckily we have cup games before the league campaign gets underway which should give a better indication of how we will fare. I think I'll hold off rushing out for a season ticket 'til nearer the time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

81 Queens Trust members now joined / rejoined for 2017/18. Great to have 9 new members. Help us reach last years membership of 215 by joining today.

 
Edited by JTulip
Link to comment
Share on other sites



They were bottom of division last year. That looked a totally different side yesterday majority trialists. Regardless still for that to happen is worrying as you say, 2-0 up I was thinking how many...


Aye, last years team looked stronger.

The only "new" player they had was the number 7, the trialists were last year's u20s side.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Flash
59 minutes ago, Grant228 said:


The only "new" player they had was the number 7, the trialists were last year's u20s side.

 

This.

Despite our OS saying it was a "much changed" Cowden side, their fans said it was the exact same team, bar one, and all the trialists, most of whom were on the bench, were from their U20s.

It is, of course, too early to read too much into the result (including losing 3 goals in half an hour to a team that scored a total of 15 league goals at home last season) but let's not kid ourselves we weren't playing the worst league team in Scotland.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Grant228 said:

The only "new" player they had was the number 7, the trialists were last year's u20s side.

 

 

48 minutes ago, Flash said:

This.

Despite our OS saying it was a "much changed" Cowden side, their fans said it was the exact same team, bar one, and all the trialists, most of whom were on the bench, were from their U20s.

Cowdenbeath's starting eleven contained 7 or 8 players who were with them last season, five of whom were starting games regularly. Basically the back four was last season's along with Fraser Mullen in midfield. The rest included goalkeeper David McGurn who was with them last season but usually a sub latterly as last year's first choice has left, and young Cameron Muirhead who was also usually a sub last season. Harvey Swann who started wide is also newly promoted from their 20's side. Forward Josh Morris was a new signing from Hawick and so was the No 7 trialist. I've no idea who the No 8 trialist was. Presumably he was one of last year's 20's. The bench was all last year's 20's I believe but they didn't bring most of them on until the last 15 minutes or so.

I'm not remotely defending the result or performance but given only half of that team started games at the back end of last season, it isn't unreasonable to describe it as "much changed". It certainly wasn't close to being "the exact same team bar one". We were even more changed for that matter. It is worth noting our starting 11 yesterday included only 3 players who were regular starters last season (Marshall, Rankin and Dobbie). That said, I'd expect Martin, Fordyce, Tapping & Stirling at least to also be regulars this season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

 

Cowdenbeath's starting eleven contained 7 or 8 players who were with them last season, five of whom were starting games regularly. Basically the back four was last season's along with Fraser Mullen in midfield. The rest included goalkeeper David McGurn who was with them last season but usually a sub latterly as last year's first choice has left, and young Cameron Muirhead who was also usually a sub last season. Harvey Swann who started wide is also newly promoted from their 20's side. Forward Josh Morris was a new signing from Hawick and so was the No 7 trialist. I've no idea who the No 8 trialist was. Presumably he was one of last year's 20's. The bench was all last year's 20's I believe but they didn't bring most of them on until the last 15 minutes or so.

I'm not remotely defending the result or performance but given only half of that team started games at the back end of last season, it isn't unreasonable to describe it as "much changed". It certainly wasn't close to being "the exact same team bar one". We were even more changed for that matter. It is worth noting our starting 11 yesterday included only 3 players who were regular starters last season (Marshall, Rankin and Dobbie). That said, I'd expect Martin, Fordyce, Tapping & Stirling at least to also be regulars this season.

Number 8 was Robbie Buchanan who was on loan in the 2nd half of last season from Hearts. Only real "new players" in the squad were number 7, Morris and the sub goalie. All the rest were with us last season. 

Your website reporter would have been right in saying it was a much changed side however as our loan players from last season bar Syme, now signed, and the previously mentioned Buchanan have all gone back to their parent clubs while Renton, Sneddon and Johnston all moved onto other clubs in the summer while McLaughlin and O'Brien also left.

Edited by cowdenbeath
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Flash
15 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

 

Cowdenbeath's starting eleven contained 7 or 8 players who were with them last season, five of whom were starting games regularly. Basically the back four was last season's along with Fraser Mullen in midfield. The rest included goalkeeper David McGurn who was with them last season but usually a sub latterly as last year's first choice has left, and young Cameron Muirhead who was also usually a sub last season. Harvey Swann who started wide is also newly promoted from their 20's side. Forward Josh Morris was a new signing from Hawick and so was the No 7 trialist. I've no idea who the No 8 trialist was. Presumably he was one of last year's 20's. The bench was all last year's 20's I believe but they didn't bring most of them on until the last 15 minutes or so.

I'm not remotely defending the result or performance but given only half of that team started games at the back end of last season, it isn't unreasonable to describe it as "much changed". It certainly wasn't close to being "the exact same team bar one". We were even more changed for that matter. It is worth noting our starting 11 yesterday included only 3 players who were regular starters last season (Marshall, Rankin and Dobbie). That said, I'd expect Martin, Fordyce, Tapping & Stirling at least to also be regulars this season.

So they brought in the second choice goalie and an U 20 who were in the squad last season but neither of whom was good enough to start (apparently) plus another couple of U20s who weren't even good enough to get in the squad. Plus 2 signings, one of whom played for Hawick and whatever non-league they play in.

Thanks for clarifying.

And I was going by comments from the Cowden fans which suggested they only had 1 new player in the squad. Given that 9 of the  starting 11 were with them last season, it isn't really "much changed" a phrase which suggests that they had brought in a host of new signings, rather than a couple, plus squad players and kids who weren't getting a game last season.

21 hours ago, Cowden_T.I.D said:

Also our squad today was mostly filled with players from last season and under 20s no new faces apart from the number 7 on the wing that missed a sitter , saying that we were well prepared through pre season last year and we ended up shite

 

21 hours ago, Cowden_T.I.D said:

Number 8 was robbie buchanan all trialists from
The bench were from under 20s last season i think

 

21 hours ago, cowdenbeath said:

All the guys on the bench were from the 20s apart from the keeper.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, Flash said:

Were they much changed?

I hope so

26 minutes ago, Northfield 53 said:

There might not be any new signing.Thar is my worry we go with what we have backed up with the young players

 

Why would there not be any new signings?

18 minutes ago, weeredbook said:

If we dont sign 4 or 5 we are up shit creek without a paddle .The current squad isnt good enough to challenge ,indeed we would have a play off place at best .

I think most fans would settle for a play off place

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Northfield 53 said:

Don,t see the point of this

Nairn County 0 St Mirren 9

Surely it is better to get a competitive game  rather than a easy gane.

Dale Hilson got 2 of the 9 goals.

Think it will prove to be a huge mistake releasing Hilson

What is it that you don't get, it's 90 mins to further increase the team's fitness before we play Dundee on Tuesday night. The standard of opposition doesn't mean a thing in pre season friendly games. 

It's a run out and a chance for all of our new players to gel as a team.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don,t see the point of this
Nairn County 0 St Mirren 9
Surely it is better to get a competitive game  rather than a easy gane.
Dale Hilson got 2 of the 9 goals.
Think it will prove to be a huge mistake releasing Hilson


In my mind we freed three excellent players - Hilson, Dowie and Higgy. I can just about get the Dowie release - the other two don't make any sense especially when you see the calibre of the replacements being mooted.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

46 minutes ago, Northfield 53 said:

Don,t see the point of this

Nairn County 0 St Mirren 9

Surely it is better to get a competitive game  rather than a easy gane.

Dale Hilson got 2 of the 9 goals.

Think it will prove to be a huge mistake releasing Hilson

The train of thought behind that is to get the team scoring loads of goals and getting the confidence up. I can see the thinking behind that. You graduallly build the quality of opposition up over the next few games.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...