The Queen of the South thread

[Jan Vojáček]

Any indications yet on which Andy Stirling you've got? The one who was with us from July til January who was terrified to take a man on, and contributed little. Or the one who was with us January to May, and routinely tore teams to shreds whilst racking up assists?

[Rjc-1988]

He may believe in himself but he has never given the impression that he believes in the players.
I am not prepared to cut Naysmith any slack  as I saw nothing from his management last season to provide any optimism for this season.  We need to get rid as soon as possible.
The football on offer has been dire to watch and his excessive negativity and criticism toward his players totally unacceptable.   His man management and motivational skills are non-existent and his football philosophy not much better.    He will reap what he sows.
After the magnificent AJ season and the introduction of the plastic surface I seem to recall the Club saying that the way forward was for fast, attacking, on the ground football.  This certainly continued under McIntyre and Fowler but changed slightly with Skelton and is now unrecognisable under Naysmith.
It may be because most of those players have moved on but I would have thought the Board - of whom I am very supportive - would make it clear to any prospective Manager what they are looking for in terms of approach.   It is then up to the Manager to recruit, coach and organise accordingly to deliver on that.
That has certainly not happened since Naysmith came in.  His tactics, recruitment and negative approach have seen to that.
I still think Fowler was harshly treated and suspect the Board acted because of falling crowds and supporter displeasure.
If they are to be consistent then Naysmith should not last much longer as crowds will surely continue their downward trend and displeasure among the faithful will continue to grow.
I must say that I am usually very positive regarding all things QOS - even the relegation with Gus - and have never felt like this or as strongly as I do now.
Perhaps I have fallen into the web of negativity that surrounds  Naysmith.

You make some very good points. I am also supportive of the BOD but agree on Fowler.

I am not a fan of the surface but in the McIntyre/Fowler period I found myself quite enjoying it. We played out from the back, pushed the full backs up and generally dominated possession perhaps except big 3. This made us extremely hard to beat because we had a game plan that played to strengths and we saw the benefit of a fit energetic striker (Gavin) pressing high up pitch.

Our home record under GN is very poor. If he has a game plan for the artificial surface I am not entirely sure what it is. To do well on Astro you definitely need midfield players who are comfortable on the ball and who can pick a pass and also get ahead of the ball from time to time. Midfield needs an immediate overhaul - even if we got one genuine performer in there one of the spoilers could perhaps support him but as it stands I cannot see us doing well with any permutation of Jacobs, Tapping and Rankine. I have only seen Akubine for about 5 mins so I can't comment but if he is good he should have a great chance of starting any time soon.

As other have said we have Dobbie - we don't necessarily need to unearth budding stars ( although it would be nice) - we need a midfield general in there who can get us playing and creating a decent level of supply for Dobbie and whoever is partnering him.

[SUPERSOUTH]

24 minutes ago, QoS_1919 said:

The fact East Fife were second bottom when he left and then shot right up the table says it all really. 

When's he contacted to at us? Cant see the board paying any money to get rid of him. 

He was 3 games from the sack at East Fife.

[Nithsdale Wanderer]

What Frankie S says is what the Manager wants the fans  to believe.

Both he and his assistant have made sure they make reference to their budget restraints at any opportunity.  As someone commented earlier that is about self preservation for future roles to say failure at QOS wasn't my fault, the Board didn't back me.

Who knows, there may well be an element of prudence at work but many would say that is a sensible option and that we don't want the very existence of the Club to be jeopardised.

I suspect it is not overly so but acknowledge we will be behind the likes of Falkirk , St. Mirren and probably Dunfermline.

The Manager is given a budget and it will be up to him how he utilises it.

So far, I don't think he has done too well and I think in terms of recruitment players don't see QOS as a positive option at present which is a real shame as in recent times we have been seen as that.  

That is more down to the Manager than the Board

Someone mentioned this already and I agree totally that this Manager has destroyed the team spirit that we had and,with his negativity, is incapable of restoring it.

 

[19QOS19]

I felt sorry for Rooney last night, he had absolutely no support out wide and was crossing the ball with two folk right up his arse every single time. I've heard the club has next to no money left for signings either

I can't recall any time he had folk behind him in the second half. His crossing was just awful.

[Monkey Tennis]

Of course there are budget constraints.

We're running a full-time set up on gates of 1500.  I've no problem with that having an impact - it would be remarkable if it didn't.

It does mean however that we need our management team to act cleverly.  Thus far, there's been little evidence that we've got one of those that can.

[Monkey Tennis]

15 minutes ago, SUPERSOUTH said:

He was 3 games from the sack at East Fife.

I'd imagine that's difficult to prove, but the point that he wasn't doing too well, certainly stands.

The more you hear, the more reminiscent it sounds of when Dundee took Chisholm off our hands.

[kirkyblue2]

The BOD panicked after we lost to Albion Rovers in the cup and give Naysmith a long term contract so for those that think Naysmith is a dud then maybe you should focus on those who employed him.

[Priti priti priti Patel]

20 minutes ago, Nithsdale Wanderer said:

 

Someone mentioned this already and I agree totally that this Manager has destroyed the team spirit that we had and,with his negativity, is incapable of restoring it.

 

Only those 'in the know' will actually know what the budget is like and how frugal the BoD are being. However, whether or not money is there, anyone can see the above is true. We have all had bad bosses who are negative, critical, blame people, give poor instructions, sap morale, etc... It is not a football thing, some people just aren't cut out for management in whatever walk of life. This guy is clearly one of them. I am not going to list his track record of negativity because the list would be massive and I am on my lunch break. I also don't need to. It is not a pattern of separate incidents, it is everything he does.  The chancer was 9th in League One ffs, he never should have come (if he was the best candidate then we are in bigger trouble than I thought) and as DHD pointed out to me - we are tied up with him for a long time. A miserable situation unless he walks.

[Fae_the_'briggs]

38 minutes ago, Sonsteam of 08 said:

Any indications yet on which Andy Stirling you've got? The one who was with us from July til January who was terrified to take a man on, and contributed little. Or the one who was with us January to May, and routinely tore teams to shreds whilst racking up assists?

Probably more of the July to January version I would say. Given that we've only played competitive games against Stenhousemuir and East Kilbride and he hasn't  particularly stood out gives an indication of his performances. Maybe a bit harsh as the team as a whole have not performed particularly well and he's not been the worst. Playing on the left he was taking men on and cutting inside where I would have liked to have seen him taking a chance on goal himself but he either played it out wide to the other wing or tried to set other players up. It might be just my imagination but he looks a bit chubbier than I recall at Sons. It's still early days and there are two or three new players to bed in, hopefully by the time the league campaign starts he and the others will be more settled. We are still a bit short in numbers and on showings so far I doubt if he would be an automatic pick if there were alternatives. Jury still out.

 

 

 

 

[QoS_1919]

2 hours ago, SUPERSOUTH said:

He was 3 games from the sack at East Fife.

And our board thought he was the right candidate for us. East Fife must have thought it was Christmas when he left and their results after showed that. 

[weeredbook]

This is a board that put Jim Thompson in charge of the team .After that anything was possible .

[Steeplechat]

This is a board that put Jim Thompson in charge of the team .After that anything was possible .

The only Board member I've no time for is the chairman

[WILLIEA]

1 hour ago, QoS_1919 said:

And our board thought he was the right candidate for us. East Fife must have thought it was Christmas when he left and their results after showed that. 

I posted at the time that it seemed a strange appointment given how poorly East Fife were doing.

Like most I thought " give him a chance " but it is becoming increasingly clear that a great mistake has probably been made.

[The Caul Back]

I see Thomas bagged a couple last night

[Mustafa_sheet]

Failing to score against and losing on penalties to a non league team must surely rank as our worst ever result in a competitive fixture?

From the results and performances I have witnessed under GN he must have pulled the wool firmly over the eyes of our BOD at his interview as there has been nothing to suggest to me that he is the right man for the job!

Sadly I believe we will be involved in a relegation dog fight this season and the blame must lie firmly at the feet of the BOD.

They are responsible for hiring GN and if the rumours are true that his promised spending budget has been reduced by 30% this season then there is absolutely no way that they can expect a top 4 finish this season!!!

I feel that the current state of affairs behind the scenes at Palmerston are beginning to overshadow that of the playing field and unless there is a change at the top then I fear we could find ourselves languishing in the lower echelons of Scottish football for many years to come.

 

[Dougie Mills]

41 minutes ago, Mustafa_sheet said:

They are responsible for hiring GN and if the rumours are true that his promised spending budget has been reduced by 30% this season then there is absolutely no way that they can expect a top 4 finish this season!!!

Can't say I've heard any rumours of a 30% budget cut but if that is indeed the case then we're in big big bother.

[Doonhamer doon south]

I'm not quite in the "sack the manager" stage but I be getting close to it if we lose to brechin on the opening day of the season. There is still time in the transfer market I will reserve final judgment for now

[football maniac]

Wow football fans really are fickle. Last season Naysmith took a team which was in freefall and managed to steady the ship enough to ensure we had a relatively comfortable finish. Rankin, Thomson and initially Thomas made good impacts so in the main his signings were good. The fact of the matter is a number of fans never bothered their arses to show up last season and we ended up having the 2nd worst average crowd in the league. What right do we have of finishing above better supported teams and having a bigger budget than them? We live within our means. You could argue we are being clever waiting to see who becomes available later on. Better available players will become available/desperate for game time nearer the end of the window so with space in our squad/budget we may be in a better position to pounce. 

Our football under magic Johnston was exhilarating but it was at a poor level so how we would have fared at this level with the style he imposed will never be known. When McIntyre came in it was a less glamourous style of play but whenever we played teams from a lower league under McIntyre, Fowler or even Skelton we were back to playing the brilliant style we witnessed under Johnston which makes me think we may have looked better than we were that season due to the appalling standard of other teams. Fowler had us playing football which was like watching paint dry. Don't know why fans seem to have such fond memories of his style? Naysmiths signings this summer look good so far tbh. The only one I'm still not decided on is Rooney. He hasn't really made any really poor signings so far so we can trust him to get it right with his final 3/4. 

[Queens1919]

Wouldn't say anyone is overreacting, we got beat by a Lowland League team. It's a disgrace. 

We never got beat though did we. Looked like a draw to me. Pens are just a lottery. We hit the post about 5 times and it was all one way the whole of the second half. It's not easy trying to break down 10 men behind the ball. Even Dobbie is human. Hamilton was 1-1 with them last week till the 85 min. If it wasn't for 2 late goals that would have been a draw as well.