The Queen of the South thread

[Fae_the_'briggs]

A piece about Naysmith in today's Daily Record.  Not able to do a link but,  paraphrasing, he's basically outlining everything that was against him,  small budget,  small squad,  probably smallest off-field and behind the scenes set up of any other full time club, etc,  etc.  Having 43 goal striker Dobbie meant that expectations were above what should have been, and his injury was a big factor in the downturn.  Manager of the Month award earlier in the season and sacked at the end of it,  blah blah. 

Of course what he doesn't say is that Dobbie would probably have reached his record earlier if the team hadn't been set up negatively. He had,  on paper at least,   a stronger squad after the January Window than before it,  getting rid of most of the young bench-warmers,   yet that was when the rot set in.  Bringing in top goal assister Aird should have been a positive yet for whatever reason he was barely used.  Bringing in injury prone Low was always a risk and so it proved as he missed most of the last quarter. Connor Murray,  played a lot  last season hardly got a sniff of a game this season,  The dodgy goal-keeping position and defending  was never correctly addressed.  IMO we wouldn't have survived the play-offs if he had been left in charge.  His dismissal could have been handled better but even he must have had an idea it was coming.  We are all pretty aware of the drawbacks of the job,  as Naysmith did when he took it,  no good him bleating about it now.  I wish him all the best but he had to go. 

[Swarley]

1 hour ago, Fae_the_'briggs said:

A piece about Naysmith in today's Daily Record.  Not able to do a link but,  paraphrasing, he's basically outlining everything that was against him,  small budget,  small squad,  probably smallest off-field and behind the scenes set up of any other full time club, etc,  etc.  Having 43 goal striker Dobbie meant that expectations were above what should have been, and his injury was a big factor in the downturn.  Manager of the Month award earlier in the season and sacked at the end of it,  blah blah. 

Of course what he doesn't say is that Dobbie would probably have reached his record earlier if the team hadn't been set up negatively. He had,  on paper at least,   a stronger squad after the January Window than before it,  getting rid of most of the young bench-warmers,   yet that was when the rot set in.  Bringing in top goal assister Aird should have been a positive yet for whatever reason he was barely used.  Bringing in injury prone Low was always a risk and so it proved as he missed most of the last quarter. Connor Murray,  played a lot  last season hardly got a sniff of a game this season,  The dodgy goal-keeping position and defending  was never correctly addressed.  IMO we wouldn't have survived the play-offs if he had been left in charge.  His dismissal could have been handled better but even he must have had an idea it was coming.  We are all pretty aware of the drawbacks of the job,  as Naysmith did when he took it,  no good him bleating about it now.  I wish him all the best but he had to go. 

He would have been aware of all that prior to accepting the role therefore he can't complain about that now. And winning a MoM award earlier in the season is completely irrelevant. Our form was abysmal and we were on the verge of being relegated. He should have gone earlier imho.

I'd say he's treading on thin ice here. Its highly unlikely any team above us will give him a job and any team below us will be thinking well if he couldn't work with QOS' budget and we're only part-time then he'll never be able to cope here either.

Edited May 30, 2019 by Swarley

[weeredbook]

2 hours ago, Fae_the_'briggs said:

A piece about Naysmith in today's Daily Record.  Not able to do a link but,  paraphrasing, he's basically outlining everything that was against him,  small budget,  small squad,  probably smallest off-field and behind the scenes set up of any other full time club, etc,  etc.  Having 43 goal striker Dobbie meant that expectations were above what should have been, and his injury was a big factor in the downturn.  Manager of the Month award earlier in the season and sacked at the end of it,  blah blah. 

Of course what he doesn't say is that Dobbie would probably have reached his record earlier if the team hadn't been set up negatively. He had,  on paper at least,   a stronger squad after the January Window than before it,  getting rid of most of the young bench-warmers,   yet that was when the rot set in.  Bringing in top goal assister Aird should have been a positive yet for whatever reason he was barely used.  Bringing in injury prone Low was always a risk and so it proved as he missed most of the last quarter. Connor Murray,  played a lot  last season hardly got a sniff of a game this season,  The dodgy goal-keeping position and defending  was never correctly addressed.  IMO we wouldn't have survived the play-offs if he had been left in charge.  His dismissal could have been handled better but even he must have had an idea it was coming.  We are all pretty aware of the drawbacks of the job,  as Naysmith did when he took it,  no good him bleating about it now.  I wish him all the best but he had to go. 

Spot on .

[Rjc-1988]

Think Club showed very good loyalty to GN - an initial two and a half year deal and then stood by him despite a 7 consecutive losing run followed by an equally uninspiring run after the DUFC away win.

I am firmly of the view and have been almost immediately after GN arrived that his negative outlook really held us back. He had the most highly paid Championship player (I guess) at his disposal and I think most of his managerial opponents would have gladly sacrificed 4/5 non-descript squad players to have Dobbie on board.

Hope he learns from his experience
as in many facets of the role he has a lot to offer but a negative outlook in matches will seriously limit his ability to deliver in long term. He needs to recognise that his style of play was negative - I sense that he is in denial on that point.

I wish him well but the dismissal after the Partick result and performance was absolutely inevitable and necessary.

[Sloop John B]

8 hours ago, Fae_the_'briggs said:

A piece about Naysmith in today's Daily Record.  Not able to do a link but,  paraphrasing, he's basically outlining everything that was against him,  small budget,  small squad,  probably smallest off-field and behind the scenes set up of any other full time club, etc,  etc.  Having 43 goal striker Dobbie meant that expectations were above what should have been, and his injury was a big factor in the downturn.  Manager of the Month award earlier in the season and sacked at the end of it,  blah blah. 

Of course what he doesn't say is that Dobbie would probably have reached his record earlier if the team hadn't been set up negatively. He had,  on paper at least,   a stronger squad after the January Window than before it,  getting rid of most of the young bench-warmers,   yet that was when the rot set in.  Bringing in top goal assister Aird should have been a positive yet for whatever reason he was barely used.  Bringing in injury prone Low was always a risk and so it proved as he missed most of the last quarter. Connor Murray,  played a lot  last season hardly got a sniff of a game this season,  The dodgy goal-keeping position and defending  was never correctly addressed.  IMO we wouldn't have survived the play-offs if he had been left in charge.  His dismissal could have been handled better but even he must have had an idea it was coming.  We are all pretty aware of the drawbacks of the job,  as Naysmith did when he took it,  no good him bleating about it now.  I wish him all the best but he had to go. 

I'm pretty sure early on in his spell he was saying he preferred to work with smaller squads as well.  He was ok for 2 years (You could certainly make a case  to people not aware of context that it was better than just fine)  and then had a near historically bad final 4 months.  I'm guessing he's going to go to his pals in the media to try and sniff about a Mid to Lower Championship (Potentially Alloa if Goodwin goes) or upper League One.

I was to advocate In his defence; I'd say the players worked hard for him up to around the 2nd Ross County goal and then the floor caved in on him.  I'd argue that some players were better compared when he started.first arrived, Marshall, Dykes, Mercer,  Brownlie, Murray I'd say have improved (Not that it was necessarily  him but he'd get slagged if a player regressed).  He at least, prior to the last window, seemed to have figure what he was trying to do and the kind of player/character he was after. The players he got rid of were largely the right calls, not many of them have evidenced themselves to be good enough since.

He certainly isn't wrong about those things being a massive restriction on him but even then he got a lot more support than Fowler or Skelton ever did.  I certainly doesn't excuse the appalling decision making process through that entire January window. Even the Facebook roasters could tell you that having 2 strikers is not enough considering one is 36 and the other doesn't score. The fact he didn't even try and get some youngish player as some sort of audition for next season to replace Dykes shows the lack of foresight. Fraser aird i'm sure is good crosser but the only player that could attack a header  was a 5 foot 7 striker/winger/midfielder, it was a bad fit for a Naysmith team. Nicky Low should never have been sanctioned  considering he had a hernia operation last year. Ian McGrath was evidence that more often or not you tend to find rough when looking for diamonds.

Other things to what you said about him were things like always playing the same side  if they had played well rather than trying to change to other teams. The amount of times he fell out with players or the complete lack of squad rotation,  I appreciate it's football but the fact Fordyce, Doyle, Mercer, Dobbie and Todd all seemed to get some sort of non contact muscle injury after playing multiple games suggests that he didn't have a clue about looking after players. If you are going to be running them into the ground at least play some exciting football whilst doing it.

[Airdrie76]

That’s Airdrie just announced Callum Fordyce. Any good? Cheers

[die hard doonhamer]

11 minutes ago, Airdrie76 said:

That’s Airdrie just announced Callum Fordyce. Any good? Cheers

He's ok, although was part of a piss poor defence last year. I expect he'll do fine a level down.

[Distant Doonhamer]

15 minutes ago, Airdrie76 said:

That’s Airdrie just announced Callum Fordyce. Any good? Cheers

I quite liked Fordyce in his early time with us but when he did feature last season i thought he was poor. I think injuries may have taken their toll but if he can stay fit he'll do a decent job for you IMHO.  Good luck to him.

[Airdrie76]

Thanks. Fingers crossed then!

[QoS_Blue1919]

Should be one of the better defenders in League 1. I remember we lost to East Fife 2-0 in November, he came back in to the team and results picked up temporarily. Not been great this year, but if he can stay fit, there’s a good defender in there

[Sankasouthy]

I remembered he captained Dunfermline against Queens at Palmerston a few years ago. He did look a very capable defender tbh. When he joined us I didn’t think any different, but he hasn’t looked the same since picking up injuries.

As die hard says he will do well in Div 1. There is definitely a player in there at that level. Probably a good shout for Airdrie Captain [emoji848]

[19QOS19]

Very good signing for Airdrie IMO. Glad he has left if we have kept Brownlie though.

[SUPERSOUTH]

27 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:

Very good signing for Airdrie IMO. Glad he has left if we have kept Brownlie though.

No IF, We have extended Brownlie's contract. 

Edited May 30, 2019 by SUPERSOUTH

[19QOS19]

No IF we have extended Brownlie's contract. 

I know that.

[Kunter]

2 hours ago, Sloop John B said:

I'm pretty sure early on in his spell he was saying he preferred to work with smaller squads as well.  He was ok for 2 years (You could certainly make a case  to people not aware of context that it was better than just fine)  and then had a near historically bad final 4 months.  I'm guessing he's going to go to his pals in the media to try and sniff about a Mid to Lower Championship (Potentially Alloa if Goodwin goes) or upper League One.

I was to advocate In his defence; I'd say the players worked hard for him up to around the 2nd Ross County goal and then the floor caved in on him.  I'd argue that some players were better compared when he started.first arrived, Marshall, Dykes, Mercer,  Brownlie, Murray I'd say have improved (Not that it was necessarily  him but he'd get slagged if a player regressed).  He at least, prior to the last window, seemed to have figure what he was trying to do and the kind of player/character he was after. The players he got rid of were largely the right calls, not many of them have evidenced themselves to be good enough since.

He certainly isn't wrong about those things being a massive restriction on him but even then he got a lot more support than Fowler or Skelton ever did.  I certainly doesn't excuse the appalling decision making process through that entire January window. Even the Facebook roasters could tell you that having 2 strikers is not enough considering one is 36 and the other doesn't score. The fact he didn't even try and get some youngish player as some sort of audition for next season to replace Dykes shows the lack of foresight. Fraser aird i'm sure is good crosser but the only player that could attack a header  was a 5 foot 7 striker/winger/midfielder, it was a bad fit for a Naysmith team. Nicky Low should never have been sanctioned  considering he had a hernia operation last year. Ian McGrath was evidence that more often or not you tend to find rough when looking for diamonds.

Other things to what you said about him were things like always playing the same side  if they had played well rather than trying to change to other teams. The amount of times he fell out with players or the complete lack of squad rotation,  I appreciate it's football but the fact Fordyce, Doyle, Mercer, Dobbie and Todd all seemed to get some sort of non contact muscle injury after playing multiple games suggests that he didn't have a clue about looking after players. If you are going to be running them into the ground at least play some exciting football whilst doing it.

He didn't do particularly well in his first season either bombing us out of cup runs early doors hence the contribution towards the 200k dept. 

 

He talked a good game and wore nice jumpers but he was distinctly average at best and just got lucky having the best striker in the division.  His downfall was over managing and negative tactics off the back of defeats mainly. 

 

 

 

 

[Monkey Tennis]

Personally, I don't really think there's been a great deal to commend Naysmith's performance at any stage.  He arrived with a mediocre reputation and kept us appropriately mediocre until the late nose dive.

I think he probably is a very decent bloke who was fully committed.  He was far from awful with us for the bulk of his reign.  In truth, it was never great either though.  

[Sloop John B]

6 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

Personally, I don't really think there's been a great deal to commend Naysmith's performance at any stage.  He arrived with a mediocre reputation and kept us appropriately mediocre until the late nose dive.

I think he probably is a very decent bloke who was fully committed.  He was far from awful with us for the bulk of his reign.  In truth, it was never great either though.  

And yet people on here in January were calling for a new deal for him and thinking we did well in the window.  If he had been true to form and ambled along to another 6th place, he'd have probably doing a similar spiel to the press  as he is now if we punted him but obviously with more sympathy to him from anyone who hasn't watched our interpretation of football. He'll join the Barry Smiths of the world and rotate around the various jobs that come up.

[Monkey Tennis]

8 hours ago, Sloop John B said:

And yet people on here in January were calling for a new deal for him and thinking we did well in the window.  If he had been true to form and ambled along to another 6th place, he'd have probably doing a similar spiel to the press  as he is now if we punted him but obviously with more sympathy to him from anyone who hasn't watched our interpretation of football. He'll join the Barry Smiths of the world and rotate around the various jobs that come up.

Agreed.

Even back then, those posts were clearly jumping the gun.  

As it is, things really wouldn't have had to be that different for us to have wound up 6th.  We could still have had a collapse in form, just a slightly less spectacular one.  Had that happened, Naysmith would probably still be in post, and most of us would probably be ok with it.

[HoBNob]

On 5/28/2019 at 10:50, Nithsdale Wanderer said:

 Magic brings and the ability he has to inspire the players likewise.

Chuckle. 

[qos_75]

3 hours ago, Grant228 said:

Chuckle. 

Time will tell, but I am more confident going into this season than last. At least we will take teams on.