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Smith leaves behind an incredible opportunity for the next man. We're still in with a shout of staying up and have a cup final place too. This will create a lot of interest in the job IMO.

Keeping a team up and winning some silverware looks good on any CV.

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Would be absolutely stunned If elvis joined a part time club .... I don't think his ego would let him . Trust me you don't want him anyway he's frightened of his own shadow in footballing terms & always sets up not to lose..then tells you after the match how amazing you were.

Edited by distresseduke
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I can't comprehend how anyone can see keeping Alloa in this league as a failure. It's an over-achievement, which will only see the club grow.

Especially after his recent shameless angling for a job at a FT club, Smith's resignation in the face of a survival/cup double confuses me. Are there underlying work/personal/health reasons, or was he just not up for the fight?

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I can't comprehend how anyone can see keeping Alloa in this league as a failure. It's an over-achievement, which will only see the club grow.

Especially after his recent shameless angling for a job at a FT club, Smith's resignation in the face of a survival/cup double confuses me. Are there underlying work/personal/health reasons, or was he just not up for the fight?

Keeping them up wasn't any sort of achievement at all. They were 10 points clear of fellow part-time club Cowdenbeath with 15 games to go when he took over, and yet he was a last minute Queen of the South goal at Central Park away from finishing behind Cowden and ending up in the play-offs.

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His league record was poor enough without you making it worse, I make it 29 points from 42 games. Alloa did get a draw at Dens in the first game after his appointment but he wasn't in charge that day so I am not counting it.

It also has to be remembered that he was in charge for some of the best results in Alloa's history and whilst the overall record was poor, the football and level of performance was generally much better than the results suggested. I'm not disagreeing with the thrust of your argument that Barry is probably not suited to management and I didn't think he was the man to lead us long term but it's also not as black as white as saying he was a complete failure, as some are suggesting.

Apologies, I started with the wrong Dundee game (you lost to them about a month earlier).

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Keeping them up wasn't any sort of achievement at all.

Rubbish! I know this comes from someone who wanted Allan Johnston sacked for not having Killie in the top 6, so I'm not surprised by your insatiable expectations, but any form of survival for Alloa is commendable. Doing it twice is a massive over-achievement.

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Smith's overall record at Alloa looks dreadful. If he kept Alloa up this season it'd have to go down as an absolutely brilliant achievement. That's why it surprises me he quit. He's only pushed his stock right down, when he could have been viewed as the next manager primed to be plucked by a full time club.

As is, he'll be lucky to get another job as a manager.

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Rubbish! I know this comes from someone who wanted Allan Johnston sacked for not having Killie in the top 6, so I'm not surprised by your insatiable expectations, but any form of survival for Alloa is commendable. Doing it twice is a massive over-achievement.

He kept them up last season but how much of it was down to him and how much was down to Hartley? I don't think Smith can really be credited for keeping them up last season.
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Rubbish! I know this comes from someone who wanted Allan Johnston sacked for not having Killie in the top 6, so I'm not surprised by your insatiable expectations, but any form of survival for Alloa is commendable. Doing it twice is a massive over-achievement.

Alloa are certainly over achieving as a club to be in the second tier but again things aren't as simple as you suggest there. Smith took over a side that had been 4th in December and was still looking pretty safe when he came in. They avoided the play off on goal difference. To have relegated that team would have been failure rather than over-achievement.

He deserves more credit for some great results this season but it should be noted that Livingston have imploded and after a points deduction have 12 points. Cowdenbeath by the admission of many of their own fans are dreadful. Would staying up at the expense of those sides when Alloa have possibly their strongest team ever and several of the best part time players around really be a massive over-achievement? I don't think so. I'd suggest the fact that Barry walked despite the chairman saying he wanted him to stay shows that Smith himself recognised he wasn't doing as well as he should have been.

Our natural home is the third tier and we'll we back there soon enough but that doesn't mean that our current league situation is a great achievement, I'd be disappointed to get relegated with the current squad.

Edited by Waspie
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Where do you think Alloa should be, Waspie?

I already said that I think our natural level is the third tier. Sometimes we manage up to the second tier and sometimes we drop down to the fourth tier. Staying up this level is a really good effort for us.

I suspect you are looking in from the outside without the benefit of the full picture and are assuming we were expecting too much from Barry Smith. Staying up last year was fantastic but given the situation when Barry Smith took over it wasn't a massive over-achievement from him to keep us up, rather he almost took us down from a position of strength. This season we are up against 2 other part time squads and a shambolic full time one in Livingston. With us having an abnormally good squad by our standards then getting to 8th is a reasonable target. Smith wasn't doing a terrible job at all but he isn't the miracle worker you seem to be suggesting. I think in terms of his record he wasn't getting enough out of what he had and I tthink he probably recognised that himself.

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Bit concerned that Mulraney will be exclusively making the appointment. He has done well from his association with us. Would we have been better without him? Probably yes. Got lucky with the Hartley appointment. Sold the badge to a cartoon cut out. Sold the Recs to fund a pitch replacement which will ultimatly benefit him.

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No one's saying he's a miracle worker but Smith maintained everything Hartley created, and leaves the club in great condition.

You said he had over-achieved by keeping us up last year and that quite simply isn't true. Having us ninth at the moment isn't over achievement either. Where he did over-achieve was in some brilliant performances against bigger clubs for which he quite rightly got a lot of credit.

Bit concerned that Mulraney will be exclusively making the appointment. He has done well from his association with us. Would we have been better without him? Probably yes. Got lucky with the Hartley appointment. Sold the badge to a cartoon cut out. Sold the Recs to fund a pitch replacement which will ultimatly benefit him.

Bizarre stuff.

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Bit concerned that Mulraney will be exclusively making the appointment. He has done well from his association with us. Would we have been better without him? Probably yes. Got lucky with the Hartley appointment. Sold the badge to a cartoon cut out. Sold the Recs to fund a pitch replacement which will ultimatly benefit him.

Yeah ok. Lol

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