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Berwick Rangers 2016/17


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1 hour ago, A Believer said:


One thing Coff has never shied away from is that the buck stops with him. I'm ok with the honesty of sharing what they work on in training (i.e. work hard, press the ball, keep the ball moving etc) along with the honesty when the players lose the track on a Saturday. Man; how frustrating must that must be. I just don't see that as copping out or blaming players.

I saw Sheerin on trial for us v Spartans 3 seasons ago; he looked worth a punt then (looked strong, scored a screamer and laid on another) but we didn't and he went on to score a barrow-load for Musselburgh and was signed by Livingston. He looked a great capture based on that; his drop from full-time to part time impacted big time, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Who'd be a manager.

I saw Wilson and Dunlop when they were fit, and both were good players. We've missed these boys; and Martin was a revelation when he first came in.

Again, who'd be a manager.

I was at the player presentation yesterday, and I had no sense whatsoever of back-slapping from anyone on the board. It was a time for celebration, but I honestly saw contrite resolution to work harder and do better for the fans and the club.

I like the strong development structure we have now; best we've had for as long as I can remember. But yes, it's about the first team; all I'm saying is history is littered with examples of clubs changing managers with alacrity, ending in tears.

Let's go long term.
 

Hamilton, Verlaque, Mckinlay were deemed not good enough for a team within our division. Same with Dunlop and Phillips. Murrell while on loan couldn't get a game at Cowdenbeath. We signed two Dutch boys who haven't kicked a ball for us but sit on the bench every week. Add Alan Walker to that list too. What made the manager think that these signings would improve the team?

Our loan signings from Hibs were a joke, while our latest loan signing from Hamilton looked bang average and in the end couldn't get a game.

 If we are thinking that a total rebuild is required, on basis of the above do you think the manager is capable of this? 

The above, piss poor performances and tactics means for me his time is up.

 

 

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Honest interview and can't really disagree with what's said.

There's no question that Coughlin will be the manager next season - whatever anyone thinks, that has to be accepted.

Ultimately there's 2.5 months until the League Cup sections start so time for some thoughtful review, player recruitment, training, pre-season and then the real stuff.

Making a decent start in the league, and not bombing in all the cups, are musts.

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10 hours ago, Yellow Feet said:

Have to say I was particularly impressed with McKenna yesterday too

what a lot of pish you talk yellow feet, McKenna gave the ball away all game, you must watch a different game from the rest of us, or you've not got a Scooby of football. ---

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what a lot of pish you talk yellow feet, McKenna gave the ball away all game, you must watch a different game from the rest of us, or you've not got a Scooby of football. ---

Could discuss that all day and night. He's still one of the most talented players we have. And put in a great shift yesterday.
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2 hours ago, DutchBorderer said:

Statement from the Len Eyre;

http://www.berwickrangers.com/statement-from-club-chairman-len-eyre/

Cough to be the manager next season, in addition to fixing roofing? Whatever, I'm glad he's staying and has kept the board's backing.

Inadvertent Comedy gold from the Chairman. He should have hired a Manager with a qualification in PR, but at least we now know why Coughlin's resignation wasn't accepted after Hawick - there was a hole in the fecking roof!

At least he said something though, and the rest of his statement is something we can all agree with. (Tad bland and stating the obvious though). What I'd like to see is an independent facilitator brought in to enable all Directors to have their say. And no restrictions for anyone not wanting to wear a sodding tie for God's sake.

Need to hear something from the Manager, the Trust and the SC too.

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3 hours ago, DutchBorderer said:

Statement from the Len Eyre;

http://www.berwickrangers.com/statement-from-club-chairman-len-eyre/

Cough to be the manager next season, in addition to fixing roofing? Whatever, I'm glad he's staying and has kept the board's backing.

But what exactly are we being told ?? John here for another season, and we have a hole in the roof, the rest sounds like an oscar acceptance speech.

What about the promises for this season. Clearly something when nipples skywards.

Looking forward can we have some players that actually play and not fill a sick roster.

Accountability, let the board carry the can

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Firstly Saturday, and I concur with what has been said by the majority on here. I left the game with a mixture of feelings of relief and annoyance with that second half performance. After the second half at Clyde and the first half on Saturday, all we needed to do was continue to play the same way. Edinburgh had barely been a threat. Rutherford going off is just an excuse. We had already decided to sit back well before then. When he did go off, to continue to try and park the bus and pelt the ball long to Murrel was idiotic as it kept coming back. Mbu was terrible on the floor and we kept gifting him it in the air. I doubt anybody was surprised when they eventually equalised and Coughlin was extremely lucky with the break away goal and Cowden failing at Elgin. It was awful management imo.

The seeds were sown for the season in the summer though. The transfer work and the 2 year contracts to players on their way down was poor and left us totally unprepared for the season. A shambolic pre-season tour/schedule (against some ridiculously weak teams showing us nothing) followed by the League Cup games left our weak squad absolutely knackered before the end of July. Loans from Hibs had been great last season, but the ones given to us this season were awful, when they were allowed to play. Hard to blame Coughlin for this one, but it was an issue no doubt. Injuries also didn't help. Before Christmas there was also rumours of Robbie Horn being approached by one director. Disgraceful, and it affected the squad at a hugely important time of the season.

From January it was just a scattergun approach to signing players. Some good, like Rutherford, Phillips, Spark and Scullion, but the majority not good enough. Results picked up as the overall quality of the squad improved, but it still looked like a team that had been thrown together rather than planned. Lavery and Notman are good servants, but I'm afraid centre midfield is the weakest part of the team. Some good results, and also the usual Berwick bottle job in many games. Probably a mix of Coughlin tactics trying to protect points like we saw on Saturday, and the mentality of the players including Walker who it's clear the defence had no confidence in. Another big moment was that loan keeper going back to Killie. We looked far better with him and he gave the defence confidence. Thankfully following a bizarre performance against Clyde where Walker barely left his line, Brennan came in and did very well from the games i've seen. One to keep.

The return to form for Fairbairn was also welcome as the season ended. Our results towards the end weren't terrible, but the whole bottom half of the table also had improved form meaning the pressure was on. Thankfully we managed to make it over the line, but this should never happen again. We should never be so unprepared for the season and off field nonsense should never be allowed to affect the first team.

 

However, nobody comes out of this season well, especially off the field. Today's statement is an absolute embarrassment. How can anyone reading that over think it was a good idea to release? It basically suggests the manager is in a job through convenience, and the club will die if we go down. Both utterly ridiculous. Clearly no thought into how it would go down with supporters and sponsors. I've had my say on the share issue and stand by it, however it was 18 months ago. It cannot continue to dominate the club off the field. Get over it and work together. It had no affect on the contribution the SC make to the club. There are huge issues at the club, like why we struggle to sign players when other outlying teams like Stranraer manage and also like the continued disconnect with the town. These are continuously overlooked and not addressed because of the 'battle for the boardroom' which has gone round in circles for about 15 years. A shelf, a secret meeting, spending too long in the Montrose board room. The grand scheme of things, who care? It was the same 10 years ago when we were actually doing well. Each side could continue to point fingers at each other with these trivial issues being blown up out of all proportion. How is anybody on the board or at the club supposed to perform to their best of their ability with the constant worry of people working against them? The Stadium Trust 'spanner in the works' articles at a time where the club were building relationships with Northumberland County Council over the new leisure centre for example. Theres constructive criticism and offering an alternative, then theres bitterness and just stirring shite aimed at shifting the mood music. The result by result judgement of the board which has happened for years is another bizarre feature of Berwick Rangers which I don't think happens anywhere else.

When it comes to the board I think it's obvious we need some new people involved. Not just each faction putting their people forward to try and hold sway in there, but totally new people. Being a businessman is fine, but when the club is releasing statements like today, it's clear where they're lacking. As a business, it's not a huge one and a long way from being the biggest business in the town. Other skills are needed. At least one more 'football person' on the board. Jim Jefferies would have been good. The boardroom should get together, all recognise that they've failed collectively and actively search for some new people with the skills needed to run the football club. They shouldn't panic, but they need to recognise this and begin the process. There are some talented people on there who've done some good things (look at the Academy, summer camps and improved links with NCC as examples compared to even 5 years ago), but they're rudderless and theres no long term plan. They need a long term plan to move forward. None of them, and I mean none of them, should be fooling themselves to think that they're the person to run the club.

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Paragraph on it being "convenient" for Coughlin to be manager, and btw he'll fix the roof don't you know, is pretty cringey. Probably more poor wording than actually intended, tbf.


As with Coughlin's comments before the Clyde game about relegation meaning Berwick Rangers never returning and more likely folding, the comment that

"It would have been unthinkable if Berwick Rangers had gone out of the League, in my opinion they wouldn’t have got back."

disappoints. Maybe if it had been 'thinkable' to more key people earlier we wouldn't have come so perilously close in the first place. Also if it does happen why couldn't we get back?

If club truly couldn't survive below SPFL2 or couldn't compete at top of LL, that's an indictment of things currently. It'd simply reemphasise why we need to steer clear of the risk, too.


Other than that there isn't much to disagree with. However broadly speaking it's been 9yrs of doldrums with 1 short-lived playoff appearance, 1 Scottish Cup run, and a few glamour cup-ties... unquestionably actions and achievements will be judged, rather than words.

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Cracking post - very little I disagree with. Some of the behaviour over the season has been unbelievable. Year on year, the political landscape surrounding the club leads to trouble, but far from things getting better, this year has been the worst yet. Anyone who thinks these events don't have an effect on the pitch is kidding themselves. The Horn thing was a fucking disgrace - it filtered through the squad and totally undermined the manager's position. In December we took 3/15 points. The 3 points came in our first game of the month, demonstrating how much of an effect it had.

Until we got pummelled at home off Cowden, I was in Coughlin's corner. That game was a shambles tactically as Coughlin invited a Cowden side with absolutely everything to prove to pile pressure on a defence which has conceeded more than any other team in the league, and effectively made my mind up (much like Saturday). Unfortunately, I think his summer signings were woeful and where people say he cannot be blamed for the Hibs shambles, I totally disagree. They appointed Neil Lennon in June and it should have been quite apparent that a change in how players were managed may have became a possibility. Was this checked? It certainly doesn't look like it.

One thing that I'd add to your post is that whilst I agree a long-term plan needs to be formed, I'd also argue there is nowhere near enough concentration on the short-term either, which is quite odd given we're so reactive as a club. The political shite that plagues the club often leaves the football side of things secondary. I'm the first to point out that the board is far from perfect and continues to make mistakes, but some of the things we argue about are laughable. Case in point, people making a huge deal out of the installation of a shelf. 

I would absolutely love to hear when the last time the club asked players what we could do to make their time at the club better. I can only begin to imagine the reputation that Berwick Rangers has among players within our catchment area. I remember listening to one of the Tell Him He's Pele podcasts with a lad who was a part of the Queen's Park side that battered us the year we won the league. They still spoke glowingly of QP. Their players didn't get paid, but they were so well taken care of that to them, it didn't matter. They were able to attract some top players, and of course also some excellent youth players. I'm not suggesting we stop paying our players and I'm well aware there will be limitations in resources, but has it ever been considered that our players have very little to buy in to compared to other sides?

On today's statement, it was a total embarrassment and your conclusion that the board is quite clearly lacking in PR etc is absolutely spot on. How that has been given the okay I'll never know. For all us fans may make a mountain of a molehill at times, the board do not make things easy for themselves at times. I'm all for transparency and in honesty I don't even think a statement was a bad idea - but the way in which the message has been alluded to is all wrong and, just like reducing the admission by £2, it's as though it's just been done for the sake of it as opposed to serving a real purpose. How the f**k does nobody see these things backfiring?

I am often mystified for some of the things that the board are judged on. As has been said, they as a group are weirdly judged result-by-result. However, I am a huge believer that the board is hugely lacking knowledge, expertise and experience in a number of areas. The circumstances in which the new directors were elected at the AGM were fairly poisonous. These weren't the best available, they were power plays.

The one new director everyone seemed to agree would be a good addition (myself included) was John Lawrence, and he seems to have (to be brutal about it) done next to nothing. Even more worryingly, after Saturday he tweeted: "Good / vital win @OfficialBRFC against very spirited @EdinburghCityFC. Will talk about sponsorship but #fundamental changes needed". We don't need people on the board just to get a bit of additional sponsorship, we need people on the board to drive change. If this director is going on like it is beyond him, what hope do we have?

The one point that was right within that statement was that it's time factions pulled together and got behind the club. But the club have also got to give something for its fans, its players and even just its stakeholders something to buy into. My biggest concern is that far from lessons being learnt from this disaster of a season, we're about to stick more plasters over the wounds.

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Paragraph on it being "convenient" for Coughlin to be manager, and btw he'll fix the roof don't you know, is pretty cringey. Probably more poor wording than actually intended, tbf.


As with Coughlin's comments before the Clyde game about relegation meaning Berwick Rangers never returning and more likely folding, the comment that

"It would have been unthinkable if Berwick Rangers had gone out of the League, in my opinion they wouldn’t have got back."

disappoints. Maybe if it had been 'thinkable' to more key people earlier we wouldn't have come so perilously close in the first place. Also if it does happen why couldn't we get back?

If club truly couldn't survive below SPFL2 or couldn't compete at top of LL, that's an indictment of things currently. It'd simply reemphasise why we need to steer clear of the risk, too.


Other than that there isn't much to disagree with. However broadly speaking it's been 9yrs of doldrums with 1 short-lived playoff appearance, 1 Scottish Cup run, and a few glamour cup-ties... unquestionably actions and achievements will be judged, rather than words.

Agree. Being realistic, all part time clubs run the risk of being relegated out of the league at some point. Look at Cowden, more than likely 3 relegations on the bounce. However there are surely things you can do to limit the chances and make it as easy as possible to bounce back should the worst happen.

Berwick is a decent sized town in a good catchment area. A well run club rooted in the community should easily be able to sustain a league club. How can you plan long term if you're fearing the trap door like it would be a death knell for the club? How do you hope to attract long term sponsorship or get anyone to invest if that's the message?

We need some new people and to attract new investment. None of the finger pointing, blowing things out of proportion or pretending things will be alright 'if only he'd f**k off', or 'if only I had my way'. It's pathetic and it's damaging the club. Of course there have been some good things happen and I'm not saying everyone should go, but they need to be grown up about it, agree that they're all in part responsible for this, and agree together to look for some new leadership at the club.
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The whole Board are not behind one another, after speaking to several members since Saturday that is hugely apparent so what hope is there when apart from Eyre and Parkin there is nobody backing one another?

 

Recruiting is one huge issue too. We have a full time Manager yet there's little confidence in him recruiting well. We can't expect him to do this alone but who else is driving player recruitment and the sourcing of players?

 

Genuine question folks.

 

Lastly there was no mention of thanks to Pee Oliver on Saturday at the awards I believe. This tells you pretty much everything about the current lot.

 

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Some really excellent points made by BUT and BM. The battle for the boardroom needs resolved before any other foundations can be built to start going forward again.

Callum has resigned, rather than seek a suitable replacement, it will be someone appointed for a vote.

Don't know the new director at all but on paper it looked a smart move, a little worried by that tweet mentioned by BUT. Another reason that lowers confidence in the current board.  

Once a new board is appointed, a sub working group should be setup. There is a lot of intelligence amongst the support and it's important new ideas and feedback are heard. I have experienced both sides and being a director can be difficult without a complete board pulling together. I used to do 30 hours a week for the club and it's almost like wearing a pair of blinkers, sometimes you are oblivious to other people's opinion as you are focused on what you think is right.

Recruitment is paramount to any success on the pitch, location shouldn't even be an issue.

Some important ex players were given poor treatment on Saturday, only a few on the board would have known who they were, simple things like this need to be improved upon. 

The current situation is retrievable but my biggest fear is that in twelve months time it could be too far gone to resolve. 

Between the SC and ST they have the power, for the sake of the football club, get your heads together. Start with the short term working towards a longer term project. It can be done putting egos to one side. 

Edited to add:

How about start by identifying a structure and filling the positions rather than appointing directors and giving them a pointless title.

Chairman-Vice Chairman-Director of Football-Finance Director-Secretary-Commericial Director x2, PR and Social Media Director-Operations Director.

 

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On a bit of a happier note, the club is consulting fans as to what we would like to see in the way of an away kit for next year;

BerwickShirt.png.465bead36b8d4bfd3a63579d366b4fba.png

I'd love to seen a green effort, bit of gold in there as well to keep a link with the main colours. Would love for the club to hold a design competition!

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19 hours ago, BerwickMad said:

The seeds were sown for the season in the summer though. The transfer work and the 2 year contracts to players on their way down was poor and left us totally unprepared for the season.

From an outsider looking in point of view, I would wholeheartedly agree with this. Listen, I have made it clear on here in the past that I would hate John Coughlin to be Stirling manager, so I'm not going to go over old ground on that one....but one thing Coughlin would normally give you is a team that's hard to beat and by and large you would expect his sides to defend themselves in and around the Play Offs slots and I kind of thought that's were Berwick would have ended up this season.

I then watched with interest when he signed Kevin McKinlay, a player who was very much finished when he signed for us and probably would have disappeared from senior football had his mate, Martyn Corrigan, not been Assistant Manager at Stirling and influential in pretty much every transfer that McLaren made during that time. In fact Kevin McKinlay spent most of his last season with us injured, but getting bigger and bigger during this time (muscles not fat) which resulted in him becoming slower.  Then Lee Hamilton quickly followed. Again, that was a strange one. Sure, Stirling fans held him dearly, one of our own, from the area who had come through the youth setup, but hadn't played well enough to cement a regular starting slot in a very poor side.

Nothing against these players really, and who knows, they may have actually had a good season for you in the end, but if you times that by the amount of players that were signed during this time then it was always going to be a tough season for you.

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