Edinburgh City

[FatboyFatFTS]

11 minutes ago, Bay Citizen said:

Have to say I disagree with a lot of this, James had done an excellent job up until the first lockdown that handed Cove the title and denied us a playoff place. After we returned for the new season we were inconsistent and were horsing teams one week and then losing or drawing the next and were failing to gain any momentum for a title charge and by the time we went into the second lockdown, Queen’s Park already had the title in the bag and we were sitting outside of the play-offs. That’s not to say that James couldn’t have turned that around but might have been a factor of moving into a different role.

Gary Naysmith’s appointment was the right manager at the right time He built consistency and momentum, got some improved performances from players that hadn’t been making any impact and dragged us up from 5th place into 2nd and into the L1 Play-off final for the first time in our history. Apart from a poor 2nd half in the first leg, we would have been likely playing League One football this season. At that point I would think that the majority of City fans thought the board had made a brilliant appointment.

The decision to then let go of so many of our players during the summer was a bit of a shocker but he had earned the right to build his own team. After all, the majority of this team had failed to gain promotion into League One now on a number of occasions (ok the no playoff season is a bit harsh).

Then adding in the unplanned departure of Liam Brown and Liam Henderson (not forgetting his assistant Grant Murray) along with the falling out with Blair Henderson in hindsight had left a bigger rebuild than he probably wanted on his hands and in a short period of time to do it.

Recruitment has been a bit of a mixed bag and with the amount of injuries we’ve had, we’ve ended up back at failing to have any consistency, not building any momentum and fans already starting lose patience.

Last night though was unacceptable, the defence was absolutely woeful and with maybe the exception of Robbo, the entire team were not that much better. I’ve been willing to accept the building list of injuries as an excuse so far but that does not forgive last night.

I think Gary and the players need to take a long hard look at themselves today as they can’t afford another performance like that or the majority of fans will be demanding change at the club in the near future.

A couple of things here - whilst he came in and got a tune out of the players, he chose to decimate the team, when all it really needed was the odd quality addition. Whilst I accept they didnt get promoted, they had high spending Cove and full time Queens to deal with. Peterhead were no mugs, in the first season with that team, and they ran out of steam, after leading for much of it. Naysmith should've looked at that and went 'ok, we were whisker away', rather than taking the scythe that he did. Many of the players he's signed havent cut it. If you're going to release who he did, you need a very clear plan and have similar quality lined up. It looked then, and still looks now, absolutely directionless. As example, Chris Kane returning was an absolute shocker. He wasnt good enough the first time around.

Keeping the two Liam's was always going to be difficult and they'd been watched for months. He should've realised it was likely.

There was no fallout with Blair. Naysmith just doesnt fancy him as a player. Its the second time he's released him.

As for the fans, it appears its already got to the point of demanding change.

[tamthebam]

Be careful what you wish for...

Gary Bollan and Peter Grant are currently available.....

[Bay Citizen]

A couple of things here - whilst he came in and got a tune out of the players, he chose to decimate the team, when all it really needed was the odd quality addition. Whilst I accept they didnt get promoted, they had high spending Cove and full time Queens to deal with. Peterhead were no mugs, in the first season with that team, and they ran out of steam, after leading for much of it. Naysmith should've looked at that and went 'ok, we were whisker away', rather than taking the scythe that he did. Many of the players he's signed havent cut it. If you're going to release who he did, you need a very clear plan and have similar quality lined up. It looked then, and still looks now, absolutely directionless. As example, Chris Kane returning was an absolute shocker. He wasnt good enough the first time around.
Keeping the two Liam's was always going to be difficult and they'd been watched for months. He should've realised it was likely.
There was no fallout with Blair. Naysmith just doesnt fancy him as a player. Its the second time he's released him.
As for the fans, it appears its already got to the point of demanding change.

I agree with a lot of what you’ve said but I could kind of see what Naysmith was trying to do with trying to build a younger team but I also think how deep the cuts went was unnecessary. Some of the players brought in have been ok, although majority of those are only loans, some of the other signings I’ve not seen enough of and yes some have been absolute dross and look like sticking plasters to cover injuries.
I’m sure a lot of fans are already at the point of demanding change, another performance like last night and I’ll be joining them.

[FatboyFatFTS]

12 minutes ago, Bay Citizen said:

I agree with a lot of what you’ve said but I could kind of see what Naysmith was trying to do with trying to build a younger team but I also think how deep the cuts went was unnecessary. Some of the players brought in have been ok, although majority of those are only loans, some of the other signings I’ve not seen enough of and yes some have been absolute dross and look like sticking plasters to cover injuries.
I’m sure a lot of fans are already at the point of demanding change, another performance like last night and I’ll be joining them.

I appreciate the need for some younger players. I'd say Balatoni and Thomson looked off the pace. Trying to replace the former with a 'retired due to injuries' Toshney and bringing back Kane as a back-up beggars belief. I was excited by Bronsky signing but he looks a shadow of what we thought we were getting. The rest of the squad he got rid of wasnt particularly 'old'. Black, Antell, Blair etc all mid-twenties. Indeed, Tapping, Toshney, Kane are all older. Others needed to go e.g. Harris. And just why he got rid of the aforementioned Antell and kept Goodfellow is a proper head-scratcher.

There appears to have been no plan to replace them. The only highlights of the recruitment, so far, has been Robertson and the on-loan Schwake. And lets be honest, the latter has stole us a number of points.

As for the fans, this isnt a knee jerk response. Many had fears before the season and have done throughout. Last night was the final straw - injuries or not, that was unacceptable.

[Bay Citizen]

I appreciate the need for some younger players. I'd say Balatoni and Thomson looked off the pace. Trying to replace the former with a 'retired due to injuries' Toshney and bringing back Kane as a back-up beggars belief. I was excited by Bronsky signing but he looks a shadow of what we thought we were getting. The rest of the squad he got rid of wasnt particularly 'old'. Black, Antell, Blair etc all mid-twenties. Indeed, Tapping, Toshney, Kane are all older. Others needed to go e.g. Harris. And just why he got rid of the aforementioned Antell and kept Goodfellow is a proper head-scratcher.
There appears to have been no plan to replace them. The only highlights of the recruitment, so far, has been Robertson and the on-loan Schwake. And lets be honest, the latter has stole us a number of points.
As for the fans, this isnt a knee jerk response. Many had fears before the season and have done throughout. Last night was the final straw - injuries or not, that was unacceptable.

I’d probably also put Tapping in as one of the ok signings, although not as good he’s been the direct replacement for Mark Laird. Although I was a big fan of Laird he was in and out of the squad all last season through injury and he is getting on a bit, so could understand the need for change.
Although he’s not been here long, I’ve also been impressed by Innes Murray so far. James Hilton has also been ok on the odd occasion but not consistently enough.
The goalkeeping situation has been the head scratcher for me as well. I honestly can’t remember Ryan Goodfellow ever making a save earlier this season that wasn’t straight at him.
After seeing Schwake come on for his debut in Forfar, I couldn’t understand why he’d been 2nd choice keeper. He has been outstanding this season and to be honest I can’t really blame him for last night as the defence in front of him left him exposed time and time again.
As I said before I’ve accepted injuries as an excuse for some of the poor performances this season and already agree last night was unacceptable.

[FatboyFatFTS]

13 minutes ago, Bay Citizen said:

I’d probably also put Tapping in as one of the ok signings, although not as good he’s been the direct replacement for Mark Laird. Although I was a big fan of Laird he was in and out of the squad all last season through injury and he is getting on a bit, so could understand the need for change.
Although he’s not been here long, I’ve also been impressed by Innes Murray so far. James Hilton has also been ok on the odd occasion but not consistently enough.
The goalkeeping situation has been the head scratcher for me as well. I honestly can’t remember Ryan Goodfellow ever making a save earlier this season that wasn’t straight at him.
After seeing Schwake come on for his debut in Forfar, I couldn’t understand why he’d been 2nd choice keeper. He has been outstanding this season and to be honest I can’t really blame him for last night as the defence in front of him left him exposed time and time again.
As I said before I’ve accepted injuries as an excuse for some of the poor performances this season and already agree last night was unacceptable.

Lairdy was still good enough to have in and around the team. If you watched the YouTube interviews with the previous squad, you could see how much those guys looked up to, and respected, him. Thats tough to replace. And he certainly wasnt injured as much as  the likes of Toshney.

Tapping looks ok but again, a shadow of what he's looked like the last couple of years. Murray's grand. Hilton's been poor for me. We've barely seen Kidd, and he's been out of position too. Reekie's been poor, regardless of what position he's played. Shanley another who hasnt lived up to the billing, though I'm willing to cut him slack because of his bout of Covid and the possible effects of that. Its a litany of poor recruitment decisions and thats part of the reason we've perfomed poorly. And with the number of injuries, I'd be querying exactly how they're training too.

The Schwake decision about sums it up. Just how he wasnt in earlier is absolutely baffling.

[Thom & Gerry]

Don’t think you can say we were over reliant on him, when you have a striker scoring goals he becomes a focal point and has to play, same when we had Sutherland before him. Players like them are hard to find and you are unlikely to have a ready made replacement.

[RubyTuesday]

Less than 6 months ago we played Dunbarton in the 2nd play off leg. Of the 18 (EIGHTEEN) players on the teamsheet, just ONE started the Albion game last night, and that was Danny Handling. Judging by his Instagram. he's missing his old team mates. 

To be honest with you, so am I. 

[tamthebam]

In regard to signings Ouzy's been OK too if you accept that he'll never be a 20 goal a season guy (and shouldn't be played as a lone striker)

We need what I would call a midfield b*****d- a scrapper, a tackler. Every successful City team had one. Scott Hunter in the EOSL winning team and Subo in the LL winning teams. And then Lairdy (who I notice hasn't missed many Binos games this season). After the Bo'ness game I was only half jokingly wondering if Robbo could play midfield 

The other thing to mention is injuries. We have a large list. That is a problem. I wonder if someone (eg a Director of Football) can't do the Moneyball type thing and look at players injury records. You'd never sign Toshney for one. Don't sign injury prone players.

A 4-0 shellacking by Albion Rovers ain't great but it shows how far we've come. Whitehill were once our main rivals and look where they are. I'm not panicking yet although Stenny and Cowden's results today are slightly worrying. We're 8 points off the bottom at least and there's winnable games coming up. 

I hope I'm not seething by the end of November though.

[tamthebam]

I noticed an English ground hopper moaning he had to ask for a team sheet.

Boo fucking hoo.

I used to hate these trainspotting cnuts turning up in LL days moaning that there were no teamsheets. We're a football club  not a fucking charity and if you can't buy a notebook and note down names off a tannoy announcement that's your problem.

If it was me their teamsheet would consist of a piece of bogroll with the words "f**k off"written on it.

 

[cowdenbeath]

8 hours ago, tamthebam said:

I noticed an English ground hopper moaning he had to ask for a team sheet.

Boo fucking hoo.

I used to hate these trainspotting cnuts turning up in LL days moaning that there were no teamsheets. We're a football club  not a fucking charity and if you can't buy a notebook and note down names off a tannoy announcement that's your problem.

If it was me their teamsheet would consist of a piece of bogroll with the words "f**k off"written on it.

 

Thing is they probably won't even know the players are anyway.

When we played City a few weeks ago I was on reporting duty and after going through the turnstiles Jai shouted asking if I wanted a teamsheet a few hoppers heard him you would have though he had asked me if I wanted a million quid the way they reacted

A teamsheet is obviously handy but in this day and age you can quickly get the 2 teams on social media. Hope they turned up at one of the games you didn't have a printed programme

[FatboyFatFTS]

11 hours ago, tamthebam said:

In regard to signings Ouzy's been OK too if you accept that he'll never be a 20 goal a season guy (and shouldn't be played as a lone striker)

We need what I would call a midfield b*****d- a scrapper, a tackler. Every successful City team had one. Scott Hunter in the EOSL winning team and Subo in the LL winning teams. And then Lairdy (who I notice hasn't missed many Binos games this season). After the Bo'ness game I was only half jokingly wondering if Robbo could play midfield 

The other thing to mention is injuries. We have a large list. That is a problem. I wonder if someone (eg a Director of Football) can't do the Moneyball type thing and look at players injury records. You'd never sign Toshney for one. Don't sign injury prone players.

A 4-0 shellacking by Albion Rovers ain't great but it shows how far we've come. Whitehill were once our main rivals and look where they are. I'm not panicking yet although Stenny and Cowden's results today are slightly worrying. We're 8 points off the bottom at least and there's winnable games coming up. 

I hope I'm not seething by the end of November though.

One of Naysmith's successes was getting Ouzy going, when he came in (mind, it was James that brought him back, not Gary). He was never going to replace Blair's goals, as he's not that type of forward. We're certainly missing a DM. Someone like, let me think, Andy Black?

As for signing injury-prone players, its just plain daft. It just adds to those who think, and still think, there was little plan after releasing who he did.

While you can say we've came far, which we have, that doesn't mean we should accept whats currently on offer. I saw a stat that noted Friday was our worse home defeat, in league play, in a decade.

[RubyTuesday]

11 hours ago, tamthebam said:

I noticed an English ground hopper moaning he had to ask for a team sheet.

 

I'm an English City fan, lived here for 20 years and I haven't lost my accent. But, it wasn't me...

I think the club need every paying customer at the moment. I remember a couple of seasons ago a stag do being invited onto the pitch to do a crossbar challenge or similar. It's cheesy but if it gets a dozen lads spending their pounds then it all helps..... 

[Anniversary year]

Naismith now odds on to be the next manager to be axed,  cant disagree with the odds as we are rubbish.

[FatboyFatFTS]

1 hour ago, RubyTuesday said:

I think the club need every paying customer at the moment.

They do. Friday's crowd will be interesting to see, with Scotland playing at 5pm, and no pubs close by to watch that then stroll to AP.

How many will fancy going to a freezing AP after sitting in watching Scotland?

[tamthebam]

Friday's Choice: Scotland or City? Shit or shite? 

I might just get a seat in the stand...

[tamthebam]

4 hours ago, RubyTuesday said:

I'm an English City fan, lived here for 20 years and I haven't lost my accent. But, it wasn't me...

I think the club need every paying customer at the moment. I remember a couple of seasons ago a stag do being invited onto the pitch to do a crossbar challenge or similar. It's cheesy but if it gets a dozen lads spending their pounds then it all helps..... 

You're right but most hoppers are tight as a fish's bathing costume in my experience and as @cowdenbeath has alluded to getting a team sheet is almost like the holy grail to some of them and they take it as a personal insult if they can't get one.

 

[cowdenbeath]

1 hour ago, tamthebam said:

You're right but most hoppers are tight as a fish's bathing costume in my experience and as @cowdenbeath has alluded to getting a team sheet is almost like the holy grail to some of them and they take it as a personal insult if they can't get one.

 

I’ve heard of some hoppers not going into a game if there’s not a programme.

I buy one when their available but it’s not the end of the world if a club decides not to do one.

[cowdenbeath]

2 hours ago, tamthebam said:

Friday's Choice: Scotland or City? Shit or shite? 

I might just get a seat in the stand...

Given that Stranraer won’t have that many away fans could be a really low crowd after your result on Friday.

Look on the bright side all the more Bains pies for you

[Tenkay]

On 07/11/2021 at 16:46, tamthebam said:

Friday's Choice: Scotland or City?

I might just get a seat in the stand...

To be fair, there will be plenty of empty seats on Friday for you to choose from!

Edited November 8, 2021 by Tenkay