theSilverFox

I was referring to the downward spiral of the last few years and I’m well aware of who appointed Malcs. This has been coming since DC was sacked. A brief resurgence under JW that was fizzling out to Malcs taking over a team lacking in quality and the majority of the quality available to him were long term injured or left. I agree Malcs signings weren’t good enough and his time was up but he knew that too. Other than one good goalie, one very good goalie, Meechan and Irvine we don’t have much. Nudities looks good but hasn’t had a chance to make an impact yet. Doris and Hill should be great but both are putting their bathroom scales under too much pressure

Malcs is very much a decent guy, he was a great player for us but fell short as manager. I wish it worked out for him, Barry and Foxy, who between them must have a combined service to our club of about 40 years. It’s a shame the way it’s fizzled out for all three. Some have blamed this on a certain former chairman with a large ego who, for reasons known only to himself, had a dislike of a certain long term manager with a huge personality. I cannot disagree with this. Malcs, Barry and Foxy, thanks for your years at the club, thanks for trying, deeply sorry it didn’t work out. #oncealoonalwaysaloon

Forfar’s Man of the Match, the Dumbarton goalie 🤣😂

Goal of the season

Bobby Barr away to Brechin 😂

Don’t stay away, just use it sparingly

I’m older than many on here and I’ve been aware of the term Athies since i was a wee lad. I’m not a fan of it or the Sky Blues, though the latter isn’t so bad now we’re playing in sky blue again, those years when our predominant colour was navy blue it was ridiculous. To be fair they can’t use Loons every time. One that does get me is Forfar FC, the Courier are the worst offenders with that one, we are Forfar Athletic FC.

First Meechan, now McCallum signing extensions, these are two of our very best players, players who are certain starters if fit and both very consistent performers. Excellent business by the management team and the board. Perhaps a good indication of the spirit in the club despite our league predicament.

The 2000s were not a great time for us, Ray Stewart - disaster, Brian Fairley - disaster, Neil Cooper - overrated (had a huge budget but couldn’t deliver, I know some here thought the world of him but bonnie football is one thing, success is another. After that we were in financial free fall for a while, Moffat’s reign and the first couple of seasons for Dick. Then came a certain former chairman, who, to be fair, did some great behind the scenes stuff with the business side but his dislike of DC and his liking of GB were not impressive traits in my eyes. I said it then and I’ll say it again, Dick should’ve been heading upstairs to a Director of Football style role and Petrie move up to head coach. Instead we had to endure the Bollan period. I actually think GB is a decent manager and is a nice guy, he was not the right fit here. Jim Weir, a short term fix but he’s had initial success everywhere but has no longevity, and I can’t forgive his treatment of Sellars. As said earlier, I hope Malcs turns it around, January will tell, fingers crossed for him and us.

In my time, obviously much longer, we’ve had Archie Knox, Alex Rae and Henry Hall as former players turned manager. The less said about HH the better but Archie and Alex were probably the best two managers we’ve had though Doug Houston, Tommy Campbell and Dick Campbell run them close. Jim Moffat wasn’t as bad as his stats suggest. He had zero budget and inherited a failing squad, he did, however, sign Foxy.

Let’s be sure of several things, firstly, Malcs is a great guy, his passion for the game as a whole is almost matched by his passion for this club. When he was appointed I was delighted for him and hopeful for his future as Loons manager. It only got better when he recruited Sellars and Foxy who have an even greater affinity for Station Park. A more experienced and proven manager would have been preferable but he was a leader on the park who read the game well so had promise as a manager. Sadly, it’s not happening for him, maybe it will yet and let’s be honest, the three centre backs’ injuries along with Doris’s injury problems have taken away four quality players at this level. Had those four and Hill been fully fit our predicament wouldn’t be what it is. I’m not suggesting we’d be in the promotion hunt (though looking at Montrose, who’s to say we wouldn’t?) but we wouldn’t be in the struggle we’re in. I would say the extension to Meechan’s contract would suggest unity in the squad, Ross is a player who is not a local and could walk into any squad in this division, maybe even higher, but he’s committed to us/Malcs. I still hope it works out for Stuart at our club, I’m not confident it will, but I remain hopeful. Some new faces with quality, TBH says there are new players coming in, and a better balance to the team and we can hopefully climb off bottom and then grow. c’mon you Loons

The incident I was referring to doesn’t appear on the highlights, which doesn’t help, but was seconds before that, the ref had to duck out of the way, the complaint was that both assistants had clear views and did nothing.

One advantage of this pandemic is we don’t have to suffer the great unwashed from the west in our town

He did appear to walk straight for the officials at the final whistle. No question Thistle were the better team and deserved to win but the first goal shouldn’t have happened if the officials did their jobs in the lead up ie a very blatant foul by PT. the second looked offside but will need to see the far superior highlights later. Also how many times did the Thistle players throw or kick the ball away when we won a free kick or throw in?

Explain?