Walking Down The Halbeath Road

[DeclanG]

Give me a second to wire on my tin-foil hat, find it a bit odd that Meggle's using "outwith" as a word seeing as that's a purely Scottish word, reckon someone else has written his statement for him?

[DA Baracus]

 

[Hamish's Passenger]

No one sacks Peter Grant. You strap yourself in and feel the seeeethe!

[CallumPar]

If any pars fans are looking to become even more seething, I just looked on dot net for the first time in years to see some people unironically defending the last paragraph of the statement. 
Honestly some people deserve this shitshow

No way? That place is bad and full of roasters, but surely it’s not THAT bad? Is it just people who know the chairman and will blindly defend anything he says/does?

[Goldenface]

Far too many 'be happy we've got a club' wanks on dotnet. All of them can gtf.

[DAFC.]

Don’t read .nut ffs it is a riot. Full of absolute weirdos.

[Chubbychops]

The has to be a relation or member of the BoD on .Net

1985Par, Tue 05 Oct 18:45

Struggling to find anything in the statement that I, as a fan, can construe as " a dig" or " putting the boot in" . To the fans who constantly slate the board from the terraces or from behind their keyboard: what`s wrong? Did you get a bit back? Awwww, shame.

And what good is cancelling your lifeline going to do?

Grant got his tactics and personnel all wrong at the start of the season . He`s recognised this and it`s a bit like an oil tanker trying to turn round at the moment.
Deserves another few games.

[Rob1885]

I cannot believe theyve referred to that offside goal in the statement [emoji23][emoji23]deary me

[John MacLean]

Wow.. 

If you wanted a statement to drive a wedge between fans and a club that was it. 

I'm not a Dunfermline fan and, aside from a wee snigger at how a divisional rival are struggling, I've no great thoughts or insight into Peter Grant. 

I do believe, however, that you either sack a manager or continue as you were. 

Don't issue a statement saying you are all hurting. 

Don't issue a statement saying the manager needs more time. 

And if you do do the above, don't finish the statement by having a pop at the fans. 

Sack him or say nothing. 

Edited October 5, 2021 by John MacLean

[Cardle is Magic]

I’ve seen someone ask why are Dunfermline going so far to defend and protect Peter Grant?

What you need to remember is this is Ross McArthur protecting himself. His ego has been hurt and we didn’t buy enough season tickets and you can see what that festering resentment has led to; the most self-defeating club statement DAFC has surely ever published.

Not one full-time club in Scotland would have appointed Stevie Crawford or Peter Grant. At least with Crawford you can say he was already at the club and he’s a well-liked former player. Grant had absolutely nothing going for him and nearly everyone knew it from before he was even announced.

We are a shambles on and off the park and the club have the temerity to condescend to the fans and treat us like the problem? The same loyal fans who you beg for more money every few months?

The reaction of other supporters tells you this isn’t just us. They’ve fucked it big time and they should be lucky if there’s a protest at Killie game because the alternative is likely people leaving the ‘Pars Family’ for good.

 

[R&Y99]

Hurry up and lose Pars so we can boo and lose more potential sponsors.

[Brashy's Boots]

What an insulting big bag of shite that statement is. It's riddled with contradictions and outright lies. Who is it they think they are fooling?!
Meggle claimed we played some entertaining football in the league cup (that game in Paisley wasn't entertaining), yet we smacked around a COVID riddled Dumbarton. However, whilst they aren't allowed to use COVID as an excuse, we are. Makes no sense. What impact has COVID actually had anyway? What players have been missing due to COVID? Breen? But then they surely knew the rules around isolation before bringing him over. Didn't they? Surely?! But he's just one of a trillion centre backs anyway, so what difference would he have made?
He also mentions injuries. Again, who? Martin, Wilson and McCann. Wilson might have made a difference, but not enough to stop the shite we've seen. McCann has zero goals for the club. Martin has been released. Dow was injured and has been rushed back when a perfectly fit Thomas was available. Also, as the signing of Connolly showed, they could have tried to get another winger on loan anyway. The squad has been badly misused in general. No need to go in to that further, we all know and have all seen it.
What are the "issues outwith the manager's control"? What is he hinting at there? Since the next paragraph mentions the disallowed goal on Saturday, it surely can't be that? The goal was rightly given offside incidentally, and even had it stood, there is no guarantee we would have won. The same applies to Wighton's goal at Starks. 
He notes that the defence improved after binning Mehmet, Graham and the shite formation. Yes, it did, but we still gave away some glaring chances. The defence was breached multiple times first half at Starks for example. Against Hamilton there was a free header they should have scored from. The goal we conceded on Saturday was rank. Three times we tried to aimlessly hack away the ball before Queens scored. Check the highlights. The defence is still far too vulnerable. 
The 'balance' he notes about attacking is bullshit. The stats have been noted on here about how few shots we have had. It should be noted how few crosses we're getting in, how few chances we're actually creating for the strikers. Why are out wingers so narrow? Why do we play forward so slowly? Where is the link up between midfield and attack? Why do we still shell so many awful high balls to no one? The 'balance' doesn't work when it's only 'balanced' towards defence anyway. We won't be drawing our way to the title or the playoffs. We've scored the lowest number of goals across the entire SPFL. Even Vale of Leithen, bottom of the Lowland League with a -67 goal difference after 13 games have scored more than us. Wigtown and Bladnoch, bottom of the South of Scotland League with a goal difference of -53 after eleven games have scored more than us. Every single team in the North of Scotland league has scored more than us, even though we've played more games than them all.
It's obvious where the deficiencies lie here.
Meggle mentions that "every single player has the individual qualities to help the team". Do they aye? That'll be why Graham has been bombed out of the squad completely. That'll be why Mehmet was dropped. That'll be why Leon Jones was basically given a big middle finder with the signing of Connolly. That'll be why we won't be seeing Watson again. That'll be why Thomas been dropped, despite starting as captain and despite Dow still not being fully fit after his injury. This will be why Kyle Macdonald hasn't got a look in at all. This will be why Matty Todd and Miller Fenton are nowhere to be seen, often not even making the bench. 
I don't get how they think things will suddenly change. It's not like we've got several key players out who will make a big difference to the team when they return. Will we suddenly start playing differently despite showing nothing to suggest we will at all? What exactly is the plan to turn things around? We signed a squad for the hideous three at the back formation. Now that that has been abandoned, we're stuck with 382342 central defenders and a really imbalanced squad. We signed really poorly and now the signings don't fit. Pybus is awful. Dorrans is a huge waste of cash. Who of them is driving us forward in the midfield? Allan might impress, the jury is still out on him. Cole, maybe? I'm unsure what sort of player he is. We're running with three strikers too. Todorov I think is ok, but like Wighton and O'Hara is getting no service at all, save the occasional aimless punt. These guys aren't getting any service for the most part. Wighton and O'Hara showed in the Rovers game, and at the weekend, that they can stay sharp and put the ball away if one comes their way, albeit the goals were disallowed (close with Wighton but definitely offside with O'Hara). O'Hara did score at Starks. We have strikers who can take chances. We need to make these chances, but we aren't.
He notes that everyone is 'up for the fight blah blah blah'. I don't think the commitment of any of the players or staff has really been a question. I've seen them all trying, but many aren't good enough and the confidence is so low, ably assisted by the management.
 
The stuff about Grant showing that he can handle 'a difficult situation' is perhaps the biggest lie and biggest pile of pish there. Have they genuinely got him confused with someone else? Between the talk of his team playing good football last season and now this, what the f**k are they on about? Anyway:
- Grant resigned as manager last season (28.6% win record). He wasn't sacked. Does that show he can handle a difficult situation?
- Grant resigned as manager at Norwich (33% win record). He wasn't sacked. Does that show he can handle a difficult situation?
- Grant was punted as part of the Celtic coaching staff. Does that show that he can handle a difficult situation?
- Grant was first team coach at Birmingham, before scuttling across the city to join Alex McLeish at Aston Villa, where they were both fired within a year. Does that show he can handle a difficult situation?
- Grant was part of the awful Scotland set up under Alex McLeish who were pumped by Kazakhstan (that defending reminds of some team I know...) and who were sacked just after a year. Does that show he can handle a difficult situation?
 
The last paragraph just seals the big mountain of shite and nonsense. I was at Dumfries on Saturday. One guy ran over to the barrier to give abuse. He wasn't trying to attack or get at anyone. He might have went a bit over the top with the abuse, but it was just one guy. One guy was a dick at Ayr to Dorrans. Are we to believe that two guys are driving sponsors away? No, what's driving sponsors away, or not helping attract sponsors, are the rapidly falling attendances at East End. Have some sponsors perhaps been sold on being seen by a certain number of people per game? Is that one of the reasons why the club lie about attendances? Sponsors won't be falling for that nonsense any longer, if they ever did. 
The club could have said that they understand fans' frustrations, but please try to remain civil. That's all they needed to say there. Incidentally, I was at the Ayr game too, and just like at the Dumfries game, there were a bunch of younger supporters who sang throughout the game and tried to encourage the team throughout, despite getting nothing in return.
 
If the new investors have taken a negative portrayal of the club because a few lads shouted a few bad words, they need to have a wee word and perhaps think of the cause here. Why they, and the existing board members, are so desperate to defend Grant I don't know. They're alienating fans and driving them away (witness the lowest away support at Starks in memory, and just fucking wait until you see the crowd at the Kilmarnock game!), and for what? A dud manager who has never been a success and never will, at least not at this level. Crazy, crazy stuff. Fucking mind melting. A huge climbdown and massive, sincere apology is needed here, or else I fear we'll be fighting for our club again, against the club again.
 
The talk of a youth academy seems like an absolute fantasy right now. In principal I'm absolutely for it, but in reality, how do we pay for the running costs once it's set up? How do we pay for the coaches and other staff? The equipment, the upkeep of the pitch(es) and facilities? On sub 3000 crowds? There's no joined up thinking there.
 
I can genuinely see a scenario where the investors think it isn't working out as they hoped and selling up their shares and leaving, especially when you hear of so many fans cancelling lifelines and when you see the attendances we'll be getting at games. And they, and the existing board, have brought it on themselves should that happen. That's the path today's statement has set us down.
 
 

Excellent post mate. I'm another Raith supporter who has had a chuckle at Grant's delusions from day 1, but the Anelka and more recently Locke debacles are still all too vivid for me. When you can take apart the statement line by line as you have done, your board's contempt for supporters shines through. This all seems bad enough at the moment but it will be resolved at some point in the not too distant. I'd be more worried about the more grandiose plans still waiting to drop, like the academy and training facilities etc, and the culpability of the Germans in the decision making. It surely doesnt bode well.

[DA Baracus]

Guess what part of the statement the vast majority of news outlets are leading with or focusing on...

But aye, it's a lad at Dumfries shouting stuff and being 'held back' by a steward and some fans booing that is costing us sponsors...

Also, I wonder how many sponsors will be willing to chuck money at the club in League 1

Edited October 5, 2021 by DA Baracus

[pantene proV]

"In our earlier matches, individual mistakes, losing possession in dangerous spaces and lack of defensive compactness played a big role in why we couldn`t win games.

Peter Grants' fault for signing a diddy goalie and centre half. 

"The coaching team put the focus on the defence in order to reduce the number of goals conceded so that we would have a better opportunity to win games. Relatively quickly, these goals were achieved from a defensive perspective. Our opponents scored only two goals in the last four games"

Yeah but your team only scored 1, genius! To claim some small victory has been achieved by reducing the goals against - whilst still losing ground on all other teams - is insane.

"Footballwise, the coaching team will continue to work on the balance between defence and offense in the coming weeks in order to be able to score goals".

Peter Grants' fault for not signing an adequate midfield. Also, this is what pre-season is for - NOT after a quarter of the season is already done. Again, lack of prep by the manager.

"I believe that we can only overcome this situation by all of us sticking together", then...

Finally, the Board would like to state that the behaviour of a handful of supporters at the end of Saturday’s match was completely unacceptable.

 

Edited October 5, 2021 by pantene proV

[Stellaboz]

Just because some Chelsea fans act like utter scum hasn't stopped 3 Mobile or triage from heavily investing in sponsorship deals. Same with Rangers or Celtic. It's a pathetic excuse.

[Raith Against The Machine]

"Were you sent here by the devil?" 

"No good sir, I'm Thomas Meggle!" 

[Highlandmagar]

Tha statement is worse than some of the cringeworthy stuff that has come out of Firhill in recent years. It just confirms that 1) Football boards don't understand their fan base and 2) They don't care

[MuckleMoo]

Raith Against The Machine absolutely knocking it out of the park here. It's almost worth seeing the pars in the shit just for the quality of the posts......almost

[TxRover]

Something better to spend to dosh on:

https://www.poppyscotlandstore.com/collections/pin-badges/products/dunfermline-f-c-pin-badge-f4

[third lanark]

Pretty arrogant way to treat the Pars fans to say the least from their board.

 See the lifeline thing that some fans are cancelling- is it like a Pars lottery thing or the Pars equivalent of the FOH that Hearts had?