Rjc-1988

Even when we play decently (by our admittedly low standards) we fold “like a cheap suit”. This squad are completely and utterly gutless. Manager on immediate gardening leave please before it is too late. I really don’t care who is in as caretaker so long as he is gone before L2 becomes a reality. Still haven’t beaten anybody but Annan and Edinburgh at home - that is frankly indefensible.

Totally agree - many of us saw this coming months ago. The BOD were blinkered by what they saw as an unassailable points cushion that we had over Annan and mistakenly thought we could stagger along and retain our status. The Manager is the most important person in any club - you simply cannot let an incompetent individual remain in post. It is not just about results because for me it is always about performances and results. Sometimes results are poor but you can see that a Manager is making progress and invariably if you get good performances results will follow. Sadly, we get neither and don’t even start me on our home record.

When is enough going to be enough? The dreaded relegation trap door is now getting perilously close and there can’t be many supporters who have any confidence whatsoever in our incompetent Manager and his squad of under achievers scraping clear of 9th place.Queens are not only fighting for their L1 status but also their future league existence because one more dire season in L2 and it’s game over. That could happen a lot easier than many people think. It will be very interesting to see who if anyone comes forward to assume control of the club. The task facing them is huge and let’s hope they know what they’re getting themselves into. In all honesty the best thing would be to take the cost of dismissing Bartley on the chin now, appoint a caretaker until end of season and hope that he can avoid second bottom. There are plenty of “out of work” Managers who will be desperate to get back in. If they do a good job in the short term they are well placed to get the job once new decision makers emerge.

Manager talks up Mumbongo ……………” he is potentially one of the best strikers in Scotland”. Quite a sweeping statement for a player essentially discarded by Accies. To be fair, Mumbongo comes on v Kelty and does really well. The logical assumption is that he would start against Edinburgh BUT NO - on the bench. Comes on and does well and scores. Logical assumption number 2 - he must surely start against Montrose BUT NO on the bench. Comes on and scores again but fails to start against Stirling No wonder Queens’ fans are at the end of their tether with Bartley. He comes out with these big statements and then does the opposite. I feel sorry for the player - has made a decent impact and his reward is a permanent seat on our bench.

Given the playing record of QOS over past few years it is totally understandable that many supporters are crying out for a change of boardroom direction. It is hard to imagine any team in senior football having such a prolonged run of horrendous home form. Even if Queens were losing almost every away game but doing respectably at home the “locals” would at least see some wins. That said I reserve the right to see exactly who is coming in before deciding if the change is positive or negative. The performance of Marvin Bartley is probably the last straw for the current Directors. On paper they made a good appointment and while I took an early dislike to “the cut of his gib” I don’t think anybody associated with Queens could have foreseen the shambolic state of Bartley’s tenure. I don’t blame either AJ or Wullie Gibson for our decline. Johnston did far more good than bad while with us and given our geography and low budget there was an inevitability about our eventual relegation. Gibson’s recruitment was poor but if he had played himself every week I reckon we would have accumulated many more points. Unless you have very deep pockets football ownership at our level is a thankless task. If we get owners who dramatically improve our position we will have been very lucky. Hoping for the best and certainly hoping for a change of Manager asap.

Yes pretty accurate. Unfortunately, he is a midfield player but we don’t really have a midfield. Technically, manager picks a midfield but whatever permutation is picked the players can’t dominate the ball, control the tempo of a game, manage a game and certainly can’t create much in the way of prolonged creative attacking play. Most important area in any team and sadly it is our weakest area although there are a few other strong contenders!!

Extremely depressing but sadly all true. I would be astounded if Bartley and this squad save themselves through a rousing finish to the season - much more likely that the retention of our L1 status will come through the failure of others. After getting a great away point at Falkirk I know who will be looking forward to the game more next week. For once we will have to go and try to "make things happen" because surely all our luck was used up the last time at Annan.

Of course you are right. i can’t believe that he will be at the helm at start of next campaign but it is a horrible situation for the new BOD (whoever they may be) to start with a sacking and worse still a substantial outgoing unexpired salary payment. It’s tantamount to “money down the drain” that we can ill afford. Retaining his services though simply doesn’t bear thinking about.

I honestly can’t believe he’s still there.

What a useless shower and an imposter of a Manager. Still not beaten anybody at home other than Annan or Edinburgh. Are you kidding me? Annan get late equaliser at Falkirk.

Watched the highlights- a dreadful time to be on the wrong end of a somewhat flukey Arbroath comeback. First Arbroath goal was a tremendous turn and shot - really not much you can do about a quality strike like that. Managers will say that dreadful goals have been lost but that wasn't one of them. Dabrowski was at Queens - what little fans we have left loved him because he was the first player to wave at the fans but he certainly has his weaknesses - crosses and "ball at feet" spring to mind. The second goal was a bad error by him but the third goal was just bad luck. Sometimes when shots are completely mishit they fall perfectly and very difficult to legislate for that. You couldn't really have got Arbroath at a better time after their weekend hiding and I don't think anybody saw that fightback coming. Have been surprised to see Easton and Stanton not starting recently - both were getting rave reviews earlier in season.

Yes it definitely is a “crossroads” moment . Running any football club with very deep pockets is a big enough challenge in itself but trying to do it in Scottish League 1 with little or no money is very often a thankless task. All the things that QOS75 mentioned in his post are very legitimate points and it is hard to argue with any of that. I am hopeful that our BOD will have a sensible succession plan. At least we will have a huge influx of “returning fans” who were never coming back until there was a change at boardroom level.

Very worrying times - we are coming to a huge crossroads in the history of the club. Take the wrong turning now and it could be trips to CD and Dalbeattie. Have to hope that the guys will find good solid replacements. It should not be forgotten that the current BOD stabilised the financial position and not only kept us financially secure but presided over a very “purple spell” when we won promotion and competed at the top end of an ultra competitive Championship league. The retention of FT football in L1 cannot be sustained on a long term basis without very deep pockets - so some huge challenges ahead for the club.

That’s my point - I don’t know exactly what his footballing responsibilities are but I am led to believe he looks after the Reserves from time to time and the Dev squad. Did he not start out as a GK with us so presumably he has been steeped in football. I am not sure at all where the incredulity comes from …………………..we have a Managerial team using drones at present who can barely beat any teams in the league other than Edinburgh and Annan. It won’t take a footballing genius to match or hopefully better the results we have had so far.

We don’t have many internal candidates - Dan, Reilly and Todd. To be honest, I don’t think Dan would be remotely interested but he is actually running the Reserves so I have no idea why his suggestion as an interim caretaker on a very temporary basis is seen as an outrageous suggestion? Many clubs turn to the Reserve Manager as a temporary expedient until they work out what they want to do longer term. He has been an “Over Achiever” in everything else he has done at the club so certainly nowhere near as big a gamble as keeping Bartley on.Gordon Marshall our GK Coach is good guy but he is probably happy doing what he does.

You make a very good point regarding the necessity to avoid increasing the payroll. Your summary of the situation is exactly the same as mine. Gardening leave and then appoint someone till the end of the season.

We both know it’s not going to happen but just as a matter of interest what are these qualifications that guarantee success in the role? Some of the best Managers had no playing career to speak of, were dreadful communicators, some did not believe in coaching. Bartley arrived with a dossier full of positive qualifications and many would say he is one of the worst Managers that Queens have had in our long history.

As daft as keeping the current Manager in post?

Something like that!!!

Do you honestly think he could not get better results than Marvin Bartley?

Ok if you say so.

Actually not me first - someone else did and I agreed further down the post.

I noticed on Facebook that someone suggested putting DAN in charge of the playing side for rest of season. Funnily enough I bumped into Dan at the recent Kelty away game and said the exact same thing to him. He laughed BUT I was deadly serious. Dan has done brilliantly in every job at the club. - why would he necessarily fail at this one? I think Dan would energise the entire club because everybody would be willing him to do well. Let’s be honest the playing results can only go one way. That would buy us time until we can make another appointment or just decide that he is the man for the job. The players might also just “pull their fingers out”.

Yes I agree totally about the 8th place gamble and while I understand why they are doing it - I think it is a huge risk. I don’t think there is any connection at present between the Manager/BOD and the supporters. The level of disenchantment at present is huge and when this level of negativity exists within a football club it seldom ends well. Annan on the other hand will battle to the death and I really worry that their fighting spirit could make the difference. Relegation to L2 is unthinkable and for that reason I would take the hit and get rid immediately. No guarantee with new incumbent but it surely has to improve from what we are seeing just now.