The General Ross County Chat Thread

[Quitongo's Left Peg]

Ross County Chairman, Roy MacGregor announced today the appointment of Jim McIntyre as their new Manager and Billy Dodds as Assistant Manager.

and Billy Dodds as Assistant Manager

Billy Dodds

[Skyline Drifter]

Don't believe the hype that taking us to the playoffs last season was some sort of giant killing achievement. We did well to achieve it after a horrifically slow start that could have easily cost him his job, but it was always the minimum expectation. He got us there by beating the teams we should have been beating, yet we had a terrible record against the teams above us (something like 7 points from 36 against Dundee, Hamilton and Falkirk).

I don't know enough about County to know what it is you are missing, or what you are looking for in a new manager. If you feel you are underachieving then there is a good chance McIntyre will have you performing more at the level you should be. I don't think he's good enough to take you (or any club for that matter) to "the next level" though.

I haven't seen any hype anywhere that making last year's playoffs was a giant killing achievement. It was his target and he achieved it. Whilst the start wasn't exactly flying or even good, neither was it "horrific" or anywhere near likely to cost him his job. That's an exaggeration.

It's fair to say he was very consistent in beating the teams around us and below us (except Raith) and that's why we ended up where we did. Other than Raith, twice, nobody outside the top three beat us after September. Likewise it's fair to say that his record against teams above us was disappointing considering we weren't a long way off them really. One league win each over Dundee and Falkirk plus one over Falkirk in the playoff.

Personally I think he did a very good job and was under-appreciated and harshly compared to Allan Johnston by many when we never got the chance to see how Johnston would have done playing full time sides every week. Generally his players appear to like and respect him and he does have an attacking philosophy even if not quite as cavalier as AJ. Likes a quick passing style. I think he'll do well if he has the right raw material to work with. We shall see.

At Championship level he has the best points per game record of any of our managers in the post millennium era.

Edited September 9, 2014 by Skyline Drifter

[qos8]

'Personally I think he did a very good job and was under-appreciated and harshly compared to Allan Johnston by many when we never got the chance to see how Johnston would have done playing full time sides every week. Generally his players appear to like and respect him and he does have an attacking philosophy even if not quite as cavalier as AJ. Likes a quick passing style. I think he'll do well if he has the right raw material to work with. We shall see.'

Totally agree.

Edited September 9, 2014 by qos8

[Quitongo's Left Peg]

Jim will always be a Killie legend for that goal in 1997, so I hope he does well. Or more pertinently, finishes at least a place below Killie.

[parsforlife]

I think he'll do ok. His track record is pretty steady and typically has clubs where they should be. Obviously 2011-12 is the blemish on his cv but that came down essentially to his choices over the summer. He decided to go with a fairly large squad of (very) good 1st division players when it would have been more wise to have gone with a small squad of proven spl players. That may not have been enough to keep us up and we would of had to ride our luck with injuries but it would have given us a chance. As said he has good record of learning from his mistakes and he is unlikely to make that decision again.

In contrast he must be given credit for our title win the previous year. He made the right decisions at the right times, especially his moves in january. He also did a good job when he started of sorting out the pile of crap he had been left with by kenny.

Players seem to like playing for him but there are fans at both queen of the south and ourselves who simply never took to him, why that is I don't know but ultimately it doesn't matter.

[DA Baracus]

It's a decent appointment. I thought he was decent at East End, but as pointed out was ill prepared for the SPL. He will have learned for that.

Massive boab as well.

And Joe Cardle will be delighted.

But BILLY DODDS?!

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!

The man is a fucking atrocity of a football manager/coach. His views on football and how it should be played are Jurassic.

[Ludo*1]

Can't say it's an appointment that made me suddenly think, 'Uh oh, Ross County can drag us down into a relegation battle'. Whenever he's been in charge of a side in opposition to Dundee, his tactics and attacking philosophy have always impressed me, but the Dunfermline stain on his collar whilst in the Premiership is a pretty big one for me. Although it's a much weaker league this season, Hamilton have kept the majority of their Championship players and are currently flying.

The ill fated side that Barry Smith had to go into the Premiership with managed to gain more points than that Dunfermline side with a helping from John Brown.

McIntyre's only previous stint at this level, was complete failure. That being said, I'm sure he's learned from some of his mistakes, but he'll be walking into quite a tough position at County and will have to rely on generally (unwanted) free transfers and a team that he's not signed until January.

That being said, I thought he might just have the ability to dig Ross County out of a hole but then I read that he has the anchor of Billy Dodds round his neck. Let me be clear, Billy Dodds was part of Dundee's worst management team since Alan Kernaghan. All he seemed to contribute to Chisholm was his apparel of wearing what looked like women's tights under his shorts during the games and jotting everything down into a notebook rather than trying to help Chisholm when things were going badly wrong. His rat face isn't the most likeable personality either. He definitely epitomises his, 'BILLY LIKES FITBAW!!' caricature.

[yoda]

The ill fated side that Barry Smith had to go into the Premiership with managed to gain more points than that Dunfermline side with a helping from John Brown.

That's technically not true. McIntyre managed more points per game than Smith did

I'm "meh" on this appointment. The more I think about it, the more it strikes me as a - at best - sideways move. Adams is a better manager than McIntyre. JM wouldn't have been my first, second, third, or even fourth choice but I'm happier with him than I would have been had Locke, Hartson, or any number of other incompetents got the job. Least worst candidate from the supposed list of interviewees IMO.

I'll support him but I'm a pessimist, and I don't think he'll be here particularly long. I don't envy the task he has either.

Billy Dodds can GTF.

[Lex]

I think this is a great appointment, for the rest of the division.

[Parscelona]

Very surprised he's been given the job.

Hopefully his home record is better for you guys than it was for us in the SPL.

[Bigmouth Strikes Again]

Yes

http://www.rosscountyfootballclub.co.uk/news/club-statement-09092014/

Fucking hell.

[RandomGuy.]

He'll be a success if he plays De Leuww every week probably, a true top half player

[AberdeenBud]

JM is pretty meh, but Billy 'Thicko' Dodds.

[Im_Rodger]

Derek Adams is a better manager than many top flight managers however Jim MacIntyre isn't that far a step down as Danny Lennon would've been.

[Monkey Tennis]

I guess the horrifically slow start was because McIntyre wanted to implement his own style in place of AJ's, which naturally took time to work.

That's an accurate enough assessment, but it's not to be glossed over.

He fixed many things that weren't broken in an ego driven desire to place his stamp on things.

Our fortunes only really improved when he started doing some of the bloody obvious things that should have been getting done from the start.

Naturally, I'm a little anxious now about who we bring in. I'm not at all sorry to see the back of McIntyre though. I suspect that you'll soon come to view him as something of a dud.

[Highland No 1]

Agreed.

Plus he now just has to get on and shape a playing team with what he has, which is (mostly) just about good enough to stay in the league. As a tactician, I quite like him.

I think County have chosen an excellent manager and should have them playing better football and winning games again.

[gav-ffc]

Billy Dodds?

[DAFC]

Would say that Jim was pretty much a success at the Pars and enjoyed watching his team.

He was a bit naive in playing 4-4-2 in the SPL, not sure if he still used this formation at Queens?

Reckon Joe Cardle will be chuffed, he did really well under Jim.

Best of luck to him, I don't get the McIntyre hatred from some of our fans.

[DAFC]

He had a good track record of learning from his mistakes and improving the team in the right areas. Didn't get the chance to make amends for being ill-prepared for the SPL but I'm sure he'll have learned from that.

Always wore a sharp suit too - good to have a manager on the sidelines that outclasses the opponents in the sartorial stakes.

Also thinking back winning the first division with a defence of Chris Smith, Austin McCann, Alex Keddie and Chris Higgins deserves some recognition!

[Dunning1874]

Surprising appointment, comes down to whether he's learned from the mistakes of his previous time in this division. It's hard to say when you're not watching the team regularly but I felt that on results much of the criticism he got from Queen of the South fans was completely ridiculous: I'm not sure what they were expecting him to achieve last season.