crazylegsjoe_mfc Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 There's so many variables in it now. We signed a lot of the good players we reminisce over when either John Boyle or Les Hutchison were chucking money at it. Our fully fan-owned budget doesn't lend as well to that. As well as what @capt_oats says about Brexit, there was also a spell where the city clubs were taking it in turns to be a bit shit and we would compete with them for signings. I know he's one that splits opinion, but for example, Stephen McManus turned down Hibs to sign with us. Now it seems completely unfathomable that we could beat Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen or even Dundee Utd to a signing. We've seen that with Snodgrass already this season and even with Tony Watt leaving us in the form of his life for Dundee Utd. When we got linked with Fuchs, as much as the deadline had passed, when I saw it was us and Dundee Utd in for him, I pretty much thought "wouldn't have happened anyway". I've also seen it being banded about that the use of data in football now means that unearthing a hidden gem for a club like us is less likely, because his *numbers* will make him already stand out before a scout goes to watch. So basically the TL:DR is fan-ownership, brexit, teams with more money and technology. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al B Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 I asked, lets just say...a guy that doesn't work at the club anymore, a few times if there was ever any chance of bringing Lionel back. He said "hell no...he's the kinda guy at a club that gets managers sacked" 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Aldo Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 4 minutes ago, Al B said: I asked, lets just say...a guy that doesn't work at the club anymore, a few times if there was ever any chance of bringing Lionel back. He said "hell no...he's the kinda guy at a club that gets managers sacked" Was it Mark Mcghee who said that? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al B Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 1 minute ago, Ron Aldo said: Was it Mark Mcghee who said that? Not to me, but I'm sure he probably did! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MP_MFC Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 56 minutes ago, Al B said: I asked, lets just say...a guy that doesn't work at the club anymore, a few times if there was ever any chance of bringing Lionel back. He said "hell no...he's the kinda guy at a club that gets managers sacked" Even if you were to say who that quote probably Flowed from, I think the evidence of him being in squads that by my recollection saw McCall, Baraclough and McGhee sacked you’re probably onto something. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallus Numpty Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 2 hours ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said: So basically the TL:DR is fan-ownership, brexit, teams with more money and technology. There's probably a bit of a quality vicious circle going on too. Because it's harder to sign good players, the overall standard of Scottish football has declined in recent years, so the standard of player that might even consider playing here for a year or two will likely have dropped as well. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazylegsjoe_mfc Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 13 minutes ago, MP_MFC said: Even if you were to say who that quote probably Flowed from, I think the evidence of him being in squads that by my recollection saw McCall, Baraclough and McGhee sacked you’re probably onto something. Ainsworth's exploits in the last week of May 2015 will always hold him in folklore for me, but in all honesty, if he wasn't contributing to his highlight reel, we were as well playing with 10. Don't get me wrong, it's the best highlight reel a 'Well player has had, but he went missing for months on end a few times. I can see why he was a nightmare to a manager. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kapowzer Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 Surprised nobody brought it up before now, but …… Chairman Flao, Summer 2008 - Today 2023 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YassinMoutaouakil Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 (edited) The English market has just outstripped us at an insane rate. Taking Ainsworth as an example, looking at his career history he'd been at Bournemouth, Watford, Huddersfield and Brentford prior to coming here. Granted they were generally Championship/League 1 level clubs that have since lucked out financially by becoming Premiership yo-yo clubs, but they've all been able to spend £20-30m on individual players in recent seasons. There's probably about 30 clubs in the top two English divisions that can spend more than anybody in Scotland. I don't really know how this changes unless the English system implodes on itself. I still don't think a Super League would necessarily be a bad thing for us if it meant the English superclubs fucking off and leaving the others in the dust. Edited February 24, 2023 by YassinMoutaouakil 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al B Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 29 minutes ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said: Ainsworth's exploits in the last week of May 2015 will always hold him in folklore for me, but in all honesty, if he wasn't contributing to his highlight reel, we were as well playing with 10. Don't get me wrong, it's the best highlight reel a 'Well player has had, but he went missing for months on end a few times. I can see why he was a nightmare to a manager. About 3 weeks ago I watched back-to-back highlight reels of Lionel, Higdon and Ojamaa, and got mega-depressed about how we'd ended up 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowsdower Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 1 hour ago, Al B said: About 3 weeks ago I watched back-to-back highlight reels of Lionel, Higdon and Ojamaa, and got mega-depressed about how we'd ended up 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacksgranda Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 Quiz contestants needed 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 There's a bit of analysis of our accounts from Kieran Maguire in his Twitter feed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 On 24/02/2023 at 09:24, Londonwell said: I have absolutely no recollection of Frear playing for Hearts. There you go. Think they were in the lower league at the time 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eliphas Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 4 hours ago, capt_oats said: There's a bit of analysis of our accounts from Kieran Maguire in his Twitter feed. Spending half a million on players under Alexander jumps out at me. Kelly aside, who else did we pay fees for? That's nuts. Thank goodness the board stopped him from spending more in the summer. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisGRAEME Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 2 minutes ago, eliphas said: Spending half a million on players under Alexander jumps out at me. Kelly aside, who else did we pay fees for? That's nuts. Thank goodness the board stopped him from spending more in the summer. Solholm, Slattery and Efford, I think we knew? Solholm we made our money back on, seems like. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YassinMoutaouakil Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 4 minutes ago, eliphas said: Spending half a million on players under Alexander jumps out at me. Kelly aside, who else did we pay fees for? That's nuts. Thank goodness the board stopped him from spending more in the summer. Slattery and Solholm I think? I like both of them and Kelly, but yeah that's not a greeaaaat return on investment really. I suppose we're maybe going to have to be prepared to spend a decent amount every summer now just to try and keep in check with the city clubs. Sure that'll go well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allroy for Prez Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 Normal service resumed today then. Too hasty giving Kettlewell the job permanently? -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallus Numpty Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 35 minutes ago, Allroy for Prez said: Normal service resumed today then. Too hasty giving Kettlewell the job permanently? What do you think any other manager would have done differently on his first weekend, on that terrible pitch? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antiochas III Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 4 minutes ago, Gallus Numpty said: What do you think any other manager would have done differently on his first weekend, on that terrible pitch? Not have his players smash the ball to Ash Taylor for the first 45 minutes for a start. But then, you'd think the players would be intelligent enough to realise that after the 5th... or at least 8th time Taylor won the ball... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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