The General Ross County Chat Thread

[Matty-RCFC]

Careful now, he’s “already apologised”.    My guess is he’s gone by November.  

Just a query because I am seeing this a lot; why do a large quantity of County fans assume he’s going to be gone early?

No malice intended by the way, just a question.

[UAE1929]

1 hour ago, Matty-RCFC said:

Just a query because I am seeing this a lot; why do a large quantity of County fans assume he’s going to be gone early?

He hasn't managed in over five years. His views on football and people in general are outdated.

Edited July 18, 2021 by UAE1929

[StuartTaylor]

Just caught up with the podcast, Yogi was on Sportsound last Sunday. Confirmed that it wasn't his choice to depart, he wasn't offered the job and is desperate to get back into football. His feeling was that MM had been lined up all along but couldn't take the job earlier for whatever reason. No hard feelings, great bunch of boys etc etc.

[Matty-RCFC]

He hasn't managed in over five years. His views on football and people in general are outdated.

Take out his personal views because I don’t think they will be taken into account by a board that didn’t really care when they appointed him originally. The point made about footballing knowledge is nonsense though. If anything, his views toward football would be anything but outdated having coached and overseen the modern era of Scottish footballers. Can’t wrap my head around why so many County fans reckon he’s going to do disastrously poor and be out by Bonfire Night.

[Savage Henry]

3 hours ago, UAE1929 said:

He hasn't managed in over five years. His views on football and people in general are outdated.

He’s awful coach.  He also has no good feeling to fall back on because he’s a rotten, homophobic misogynist.  And his teams play incompetent route one football.  And he has lost his first two games 0-6 because of his own inability to sign enough players.  

In short, he’s a notoriously incompetent arsehole, and there’s no evidence whatsoever that he’ll be anything other than an abject failure like Owen Coyle was. 
 

Edit: Malkkky (if John Hughes is to believed) decided to release Jason Naismith and start the season with Connor Randall as starting right back with no back up.  

Edited July 18, 2021 by Savage Henry

[StoneThrowAway]

3 hours ago, Matty-RCFC said:

Take out his personal views because I don’t think they will be taken into account by a board that didn’t really care when they appointed him originally. The point made about footballing knowledge is nonsense though. If anything, his views toward football would be anything but outdated having coached and overseen the modern era of Scottish footballers. Can’t wrap my head around why so many County fans reckon he’s going to do disastrously poor and be out by Bonfire Night.

Be careful, people talking sense here isn’t generally liked…

[yoda]

On the other hand, there's nothing to suggest that he's going to be particularly good. His spell at Wigan was rubbish and he left Cardiff in 2013.  Working "behind the scenes" and working as a first-team coach are two very different skillsets. Bringing in players from Man City and Southampton is obviously something that he brings to the table with his contacts; but if he's a hopeless manager then those contacts aren't worth a damn.

He won't be sacked this season though. We could be bottom on Hogmanay and he'll still be in a job. The club can't really afford to keep sacking managers and having no coherent medium-term plan. Plus MacGregor would lose too much face over it.

[frankthetank22]

Hopefully there's a defender or two lined up to sign this week, we're pretty thin at the back at the moment.

[staggy1929]

I know it depends on what's available but I'd like to see a couple permanent signings rather than loans but we're in a position where we need to take what we can get.

 

[forkboy]

19 hours ago, Matty-RCFC said:

Just a query because I am seeing this a lot; why do a large quantity of County fans assume he’s going to be gone early?

No malice intended by the way, just a question.

It's more hope than prediction. I hope he'll be gone early so I can actually go to the football in the first time in what feels like several lifetimes, but I suspect he'd have to do spectacularly poorly for Roy to pull that trigger unfortunately.

[Matty-RCFC]

On the other hand, there's nothing to suggest that he's going to be particularly good. His spell at Wigan was rubbish and he left Cardiff in 2013.  Working "behind the scenes" and working as a first-team coach are two very different skillsets. Bringing in players from Man City and Southampton is obviously something that he brings to the table with his contacts; but if he's a hopeless manager then those contacts aren't worth a damn.
He won't be sacked this season though. We could be bottom on Hogmanay and he'll still be in a job. The club can't really afford to keep sacking managers and having no coherent medium-term plan. Plus MacGregor would lose too much face over it.

It's more hope than prediction. I hope he'll be gone early so I can actually go to the football in the first time in what feels like several lifetimes, but I suspect he'd have to do spectacularly poorly for Roy to pull that trigger unfortunately.

Both of these are spot on. It’s a long term project it seems so he’s here for the long run I can only presume. I’m not saying at all that he’s going to be a world beater and lead us to a top six finish and a good cup run, I just feel like a lot of people want him to do bad; which I personally find strange but respect. Every person is entitled to their own views about a person and I’m not going to begrudge anyone for disliking him after his previous actions. Me personally, I supported the club when David Goodwillie signed and I continued supporting after. I will do the same for Malky, but I respect if people don’t. However, it does baffle me that supporters now want the club to do bad off the back of a managerial appointment they don’t like.

[Forfinn]

12 hours ago, yoda said:

He won't be sacked this season though. We could be bottom on Hogmanay and he'll still be in a job. The club can't really afford to keep sacking managers and having no coherent medium-term plan. Plus MacGregor would lose too much face over it.

I'm not sure I entirely agree with that. For all Roy stood four-square behind Mackay with that disastrous P&J interview in the aftermath of the appointment, he's demonstrated in the past that a manager has his full support... until he doesn't.

Another point that I don't think has been mentioned is the potential for Mackay to go of his own volition. His reputation is clearly still toxic, as evidenced by the reaction to his appointment at County and the fact that no bigger club has gone near him in years. This could be his last chance to rebuild his career at a meaningful level. If he misses out on umpteen signing targets (due to a combination of the covid shutdown and general reluctance to move to the Highlands) and we start the season badly does he hang around if the writing is on the wall? If he gets out quick he might be able to make excuses and persuade someone else to give him a shot. If he stays and adds a relegation to his CV, surely that's him done?

 

[Loki]

I will always be a supporter of Ross County.  I’ve seen them when they were absolute dog shite and I seen them lift the League Cup.  And everything in between.

I will still watch their games on TV and still want them to win.  I will still read the forums, however I will not purchase anything from Ross County, be that PPV, merchandise or tickets for the game.  I will not support them financially whilst Malky Mackay is there.

Malky will be gone as soon as McGregor’s ego takes a battering week in week out.  If Malky performs above expectation it will quickly be forgotten about, but as soon as he starts losing the pressure will build quite quickly on him and County.  I am not convinced he will be a good appointment, as there is very little evidence to support this.  The last time he did anything as a manager, Alex McLeish was still in top jobs in England.

[Savage Henry]

2 minutes ago, Loki said:

I will always be a supporter of Ross County.  I’ve seen them when they were absolute dog shite and I seen them lift the League Cup.  And everything in between.

I will still watch their games on TV and still want them to win.  I will still read the forums, however I will not purchase anything from Ross County, be that PPV, merchandise or tickets for the game.  I will not support them financially whilst Malky Mackay is there.

Malky will be gone as soon as McGregor’s ego takes a battering week in week out.  If Malky performs above expectation it will quickly be forgotten about, but as soon as he starts losing the pressure will build quite quickly on him and County.  I am not convinced he will be a good appointment, as there is very little evidence to support this.  The last time he did anything as a manager, Alex McLeish was still in top jobs in England.

This is precisely my stand.  
 

A less likeable Owen Coyle. 

[Staggie52]

My take on all this is that it’s just the continuation of Roy’s long term plan to install Don Cowie as manager. Mackay’s role is more about a reorganisation of the footballing side while supporting Cowie as the first team coach. I reckon that Roy has also factored in the possibility of relegation as a possible consequence of the plan. I think that results are less likely to be a problem for Mackay than people think.

Of course this is mere speculation and I may be well off course, however it does fit with Cowie’s long term contract and Roy’s talk of re-assessing County’s approach to football. Will it work? No idea but I can see Mackay being here longer than most people think/hope.

[Forfinn]

16 minutes ago, Loki said:

I will always be a supporter of Ross County.  I’ve seen them when they were absolute dog shite and I seen them lift the League Cup.  And everything in between.

I will still watch their games on TV and still want them to win.  I will still read the forums, however I will not purchase anything from Ross County, be that PPV, merchandise or tickets for the game.  I will not support them financially whilst Malky Mackay is there.

Malky will be gone as soon as McGregor’s ego takes a battering week in week out.  If Malky performs above expectation it will quickly be forgotten about, but as soon as he starts losing the pressure will build quite quickly on him and County.  I am not convinced he will be a good appointment, as there is very little evidence to support this.  The last time he did anything as a manager, Alex McLeish was still in top jobs in England.

This is pretty much me as well, with the caveat that I am open to Mackay persuading me he has in fact changed as a person.

When he joined the SFA in 2016, Kick It Out’s chairman said the role would give him an opportunity to "put himself back in a state where he can prove that he is a good person, and a person capable of performing both in football terms, and how he treats people".

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect him to proactively address what he has done to fulfil that in the last five years. He clearly doesn't want to, and that's his prerogative, but if he wants to win people over I think it would help.

[staggy1929]

20 minutes ago, Forfinn said:

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect him to proactively address what he has done to fulfil that in the last five years. He clearly doesn't want to, and that's his prerogative, but if he wants to win people over I think it would help.

This is where I am with everything as well. People will say 'he doesn't have to, he owes the fans nothing' etc. However I think the atmosphere around the club could genuinely change if he did so. We're beating a dead horse at this point though because it won't happen and it's been made apparent by Roy himself.

[Ludo*1]

You've been impacted so heavily this pre-season that simply surviving this season will enhance Malky's name with his media pals even if not with Ross County fans.

He could have you playing shite all season, fluke the play-off place on the last day and scrape a result in the play off final due to Arbroath needing to field their U16s as they've had a covid outbreak, but the story from the media has already been written of how that's some cracking achievement.

I think expectations are so low for you guys right now amongst the wider media world that it won't take much for them to be scribbling down the 'redemption' story arc and facts won't get in their way.

[Savage Henry]

33 minutes ago, Ludo*1 said:

You've been impacted so heavily this pre-season that simply surviving this season will enhance Malky's name with his media pals even if not with Ross County fans.

He could have you playing shite all season, fluke the play-off place on the last day and scrape a result in the play off final due to Arbroath needing to field their U16s as they've had a covid outbreak, but the story from the media has already been written of how that's some cracking achievement.

I think expectations are so low for you guys right now amongst the wider media world that it won't take much for them to be scribbling down the 'redemption' story arc and facts won't get in their way.

I suspect that’s right. The only thing I’d question is the amount of media love he’ll get, after being an abject failure at u21 level, the farce of Project Brave, and taking a job from behind the back of a’body’s pal Yogi Hughes.  Also, he’s a big fat racist. 

Edited July 19, 2021 by Savage Henry

[MarkPockets]

30 minutes ago, Ludo*1 said:

I think expectations are so low for you guys right now amongst the wider media world that it won't take much for them to be scribbling down the 'redemption' story arc and facts won't get in their way.

I don't think even the most optimistic of County fan can see us as anything but favourites to go down atm. Obviously, hope we stay up but if we do, that is a success