Queen's Park 2017/18

[bridgeofweirdo]

There is talent in the squad- that's there for all to see and imo it's the gaffer's job to use his skill and knowledge of the game to create tactics which result in a winning or at the very least a competitive performance - I'm sorry to say that just ain't happening.

[an86]

23 minutes ago, bridgeofweirdo said:

There is talent in the squad- that's there for all to see and imo it's the gaffer's job to use his skill and knowledge of the game to create tactics which result in a winning or at the very least a competitive performance - I'm sorry to say that just ain't happening.
 

Is it? Muir, Brady, Galt, Millen. We're very, very ordinary beyond that imo. The lads in the squad are honest and hard working, but the quality is not great at all. 

[bridgeofweirdo]

So what has happened since the game on a sunny evening in Greenock a few short months ago to cause such a downward spiral to where we find ourselves now ?

[an86]

30 minutes ago, bridgeofweirdo said:

So what has happened since the game on a sunny evening in Greenock a few short months ago to cause such a downward spiral to where we find ourselves now ?

Things looked positive then, for sure. I've come to the conclusion that not looking too much into League Cup group matches is probably best. They're more competitive than friendlies, but they don't quite have the edge of normal cup ties. Just because we're not a good side doesn't mean we're not going to put in some good performances and get a few results, it just means that we're probably not going to be good enough over the full course. 

[williebraveheart]

14 hours ago, bridgeofweirdo said:

There is talent in the squad- that's there for all to see and imo it's the gaffer's job to use his skill and knowledge of the game to create tactics which result in a winning or at the very least a competitive performance - I'm sorry to say that just ain't happening.
 

I could not agree more. The first few games of the season suggested to me that there was promising potential in some of the signings. We were playing some neat football ( even against Motherwell) but come the first league game of the season all the old favourites returned and we have not been the same since. Yes, it is hard to come from the juniors to league one but in all honesty it is not that much better than league two save for two or three teams. I do believe we have the skill to easily survive in this league. I have not seen very many good teams so far this season. My beef is that other than disrupt the team from week to week Gus has shown a lack of imagination and creativity to deal with the current situation. The past is the past and I would be first in the queue to congratulate Gus on his achievements but equally I am not satisfied with accepting our potential to be slightly better than league two mid table as that is what challenging for play offs means. We are better than that even with the current squad. What we do not have is any leadership or coaching to realise that maybe we need to change our style or formation and above all attitude on the park. One huge step forward would be to play people in their correct positions. I would far rather Gus had kept the nucleus of the team from day one  even if it meant some heavy early defeats which we got anyway. Perhaps by now we would be seeing some light at the end of the tunnel instead of still having no clue as to where we are going.

[Bring Your Own Socks]

Eight of the starting line-up yesterday were playing with the first team last season, nine if you include Brady who played almost the entire match. So let's not reinvent history by suggesting this squad shouldn't be as good as last season's. Unless of  course you agree with the views expressed here by many that McGeever and McKernon are the great loss. But that's a tricky one for some who have elevated Gus McPherson to some saintly status because it leaves the thought that maybe Gus wasn't the key contributor to our success last year. 

As for the other great myth, that Gus got us promotion, we actually lost more games, won less, lost more goals and scored less than the previous season. Our promotion was as much to do with the failure of other teams as our perseverance. Elgin were crusing with a few games and bottled it. And anyone at Annan for the last league game will remember the torment of our goal getting pounded for that last 10 minutes when a single goal more for Annan would have knocked us out of the play-offs, never mind promotion.  At both the play-off ties, we played very well in one game and poor in the other, especially at Cowdenbeath who were the worst team I saw that year. We got there in the end but I said at the time, and since, Muir and McGeever in particular were the main reasons for getting us over the line in the last 5-6 games. The team got us promotion.

Gus did no better in 2013-4 than Spiers did in the first half of that season. The first sign I saw of his single-mindedness was at the last game at Rovers. I spoke to Jamie Brough who was absolutely baffled as to why he had been dropped. After years of good service, and given that day's result made no difference, what would have been wrong with giving a loyal player the chance to say farewell to the fans wearing The Hoops, rather than standing beside a roll van. Gus did extremely well in the next season and I was gutted for him and the players at Stenny at the end of it. Really couldn't have done more. Last year was a good effort too but he made some really poor decisions during games that said a lot about his mindset to me.  In all his years he's never made any decent arrangment for an attack. He continues, like last week, in his post-match comment to refer to "getting the ball up the wing and getting crosses in". Why? We haven't any strikers who will jump and attack the ball. When was the last time a forward player scored with his head from open play? And whenever we get ahead we end up shortly after playing a deep defence. When Paul Ronald joined as a coach at the start of last term I was hopeful his brief would be to coach the strikers/midfielders but he mysteriously left before his coat had stopped swinging on the peg.

Gus' starting point for recovery is to stop blaming his players for everything. Unfortunately they are making it easy for him with so many gaffes at the moment but the brutality of his mid-game verbal criticisms and hooking players for making mistakes cannot possibly be productive. I watch all the coaches at games and all the younger guys still coach during the game, still direct their players but in a positive way. I haven't seen anyone this year going ballistic at players after an event except Gus and Ian McColl. Both of the same era as players. It might have been alright back then but people skills are different now. Especially for players who don't get paid and choose to play for Queen's Park. When it comes to team spirit the coach has to be the main contributor and it's very evident at the moment he's failing massively on that score.

I doubt if the Committe will ask Gus to go. They need all the pals they can get in the Scottish game at the moment. I seriously doubt if any other club, certainly above L2, would want Gus (sorry boys, he's had his day at the top). Like every player and coach he will go one day. Whether he walks away or stays until no more can be done for this season is the  only question.  Being QP coach is difficult enough but for a guy who wants to work with a full-time team and given his clear frustration, one way or another this will be Gus' last year at QP.  A witchhunt to get him out won't help the club either. Maybe we should just get back to playing for the sake of playing.

[an86]

We’ve played something like five of the last thirty odd seasons in the bottom tier. It’s neither a lack of ambition or an acceptance of defeat to suggest that our natural habitat is League Two. It’s just what we are as a club and recent history backs that up. We’ll play most of our football in the bottom tier, occasionally get promoted, and then eventually get relegated when the best players who got us there drift off.

Our unique status means that we’re not going to get beyond that level unless we land ourselves with a freakishly talented squad. Even the talented squad of 2007/8 only managed 8th place in what is now League One, which just goes to show hw remarkable last season was with a less gifted squad. I disagree that there’s little difference between League One and Two. Montrose, for example, last season in the Cup, looked miles off the standard of anything that we faced in the league.

[Hampden Diehard]

6 hours ago, Bring Your Own Socks said:

Eight of the starting line-up yesterday were playing with the first team last season, nine if you include Brady who played almost the entire match. So let's not reinvent history by suggesting this squad shouldn't be as good as last season's. Unless of  course you agree with the views expressed here by many that McGeever and McKernon are the great loss. But that's a tricky one for some who have elevated Gus McPherson to some saintly status because it leaves the thought that maybe Gus wasn't the key contributor to our success last year. 

As for the other great myth, that Gus got us promotion, we actually lost more games, won less, lost more goals and scored less than the previous season. Our promotion was as much to do with the failure of other teams as our perseverance. Elgin were crusing with a few games and bottled it. And anyone at Annan for the last league game will remember the torment of our goal getting pounded for that last 10 minutes when a single goal more for Annan would have knocked us out of the play-offs, never mind promotion.  At both the play-off ties, we played very well in one game and poor in the other, especially at Cowdenbeath who were the worst team I saw that year. We got there in the end but I said at the time, and since, Muir and McGeever in particular were the main reasons for getting us over the line in the last 5-6 games. The team got us promotion.

Gus did no better in 2013-4 than Spiers did in the first half of that season. The first sign I saw of his single-mindedness was at the last game at Rovers. I spoke to Jamie Brough who was absolutely baffled as to why he had been dropped. After years of good service, and given that day's result made no difference, what would have been wrong with giving a loyal player the chance to say farewell to the fans wearing The Hoops, rather than standing beside a roll van. Gus did extremely well in the next season and I was gutted for him and the players at Stenny at the end of it. Really couldn't have done more. Last year was a good effort too but he made some really poor decisions during games that said a lot about his mindset to me.  In all his years he's never made any decent arrangment for an attack. He continues, like last week, in his post-match comment to refer to "getting the ball up the wing and getting crosses in". Why? We haven't any strikers who will jump and attack the ball. When was the last time a forward player scored with his head from open play? And whenever we get ahead we end up shortly after playing a deep defence. When Paul Ronald joined as a coach at the start of last term I was hopeful his brief would be to coach the strikers/midfielders but he mysteriously left before his coat had stopped swinging on the peg.

Gus' starting point for recovery is to stop blaming his players for everything. Unfortunately they are making it easy for him with so many gaffes at the moment but the brutality of his mid-game verbal criticisms and hooking players for making mistakes cannot possibly be productive. I watch all the coaches at games and all the younger guys still coach during the game, still direct their players but in a positive way. I haven't seen anyone this year going ballistic at players after an event except Gus and Ian McColl. Both of the same era as players. It might have been alright back then but people skills are different now. Especially for players who don't get paid and choose to play for Queen's Park. When it comes to team spirit the coach has to be the main contributor and it's very evident at the moment he's failing massively on that score.

I doubt if the Committe will ask Gus to go. They need all the pals they can get in the Scottish game at the moment. I seriously doubt if any other club, certainly above L2, would want Gus (sorry boys, he's had his day at the top). Like every player and coach he will go one day. Whether he walks away or stays until no more can be done for this season is the  only question.  Being QP coach is difficult enough but for a guy who wants to work with a full-time team and given his clear frustration, one way or another this will be Gus' last year at QP.  A witchhunt to get him out won't help the club either. Maybe we should just get back to playing for the sake of playing.

I need to pick you up on a few points, Bring Yer. 

Gus inherited the worst team that I've seen in all my years.  Given the restrictions that he has in replacing players, that the results in 2013/14 weren't any better than Gardner's isn't really relevant.  What he had to do was rebuild and that's what he did.  Finishing second bottom that year wouldn't have been a success.  It didn't take him too long to get us up (with the team!) and I'll forgive him the style of football as he dealt a few blows to Clyde (13 in a row?), which warmed the cockles of my heart.  Yes, the last three Saturdays of the promotion season were nervy to say the least....but we went up.  To say that Elgin lost it rather than we won it is a bit disingenious.  Over 36 games, we were higher than them in the League; end of story.

He is a ranter and a raver; most managers are - off the top of my head, you can add Weir and Goodwin to your list.  Gardner was criticised by some for not being a ranter......apparently that shows a lack of passion.  I'm not hugely bothered about how a manager gets us to win; I would love another Season of Love with Trouten, Paton, Canning etc etc treating us to superb football, but we don't have these players.  The spirit of the last three Saturdays of 2015/16 will do me.

He hasn't replaced the massive holes left by the departures of Zannetti, McGeever and McKernan.  The defence look lost, with no leadereship.  Another two free headers yesterday for the first two goals, and there was another one after that.  We're not learning.  I'd have Wharton back; he commits howlers but he can tackle and he has spirit.

Gus's style is not to take nonsense from players and that's meant some departures that haven't met with my agreement.  But he's the man.  Players and managers fall out and, unless you're Rangers, the manager wins out...even if he's wrong.  Hey, let's not forget the bizarre state of affairs with Jamie Longworth and Gardner

Gus'll be judged by the results on the park.  And, let me say, he'll not take too much discomfort by criticism from supporters as to his treatment of players when one of the true stalwarts of the last 25 years had his chuckies publicly booted by the Club members back in June.  

He's not the Messiah, but his history with us is one of success.  We were a ba' hair away from the play offs to go to the Championship last year.  Who'd have though that would be the case when he took over?  Talk of his going is ridiculously premature.  We're in a helluva mess and yesterday was as bad as I've felt in a long time after a game.  He is, to my mind, making mistakes (Donnelly up front on his own just isn't going to work, Brady not starting - surely not a "disciplinary" move?), but I can't see anyone being good enough to come in and sort it out, especially given our restrictions on signing players.  Confidence is obviously low and we don't seem to have a leader on the park.

There's a big gulf between this division and the one below.  To say otherwise is simply not right.  Any mistake is generally punished and the standard of player is considerably better. Our defensive mistakes probably run to double figures most weeks.  Decent forwards have a feeding frenzy when they play us.  If the players in post won't mark guys and challenge them at set pieces, we need to change them.  Gibson back might make a difference as he has bags of heart, but he's a bit wee.

We have to pray that Gus can sign up a 20 goal loanee and McGeever's twin brother.  That, and kidnap Davie Anderson. 

With Forfar seemingly finding their feet, we could sink without trace fairly soon.  However, I would stick with Gus to tackle it.

[an86]

4 hours ago, Hampden Diehard said:

I need to pick you up on a few points, Bring Yer. 

Gus inherited the worst team that I've seen in all my years.  Given the restrictions that he has in replacing players, that the results in 2013/14 weren't any better than Gardner's isn't really relevant.  What he had to do was rebuild and that's what he did.  Finishing second bottom that year wouldn't have been a success.  It didn't take him too long to get us up (with the team!) and I'll forgive him the style of football as he dealt a few blows to Clyde (13 in a row?), which warmed the cockles of my heart.  Yes, the last three Saturdays of the promotion season were nervy to say the least....but we went up.  To say that Elgin lost it rather than we won it is a bit disingenious.  Over 36 games, we were higher than them in the League; end of story.

He is a ranter and a raver; most managers are - off the top of my head, you can add Weir and Goodwin to your list.  Gardner was criticised by some for not being a ranter......apparently that shows a lack of passion.  I'm not hugely bothered about how a manager gets us to win; I would love another Season of Love with Trouten, Paton, Canning etc etc treating us to superb football, but we don't have these players.  The spirit of the last three Saturdays of 2015/16 will do me.

He hasn't replaced the massive holes left by the departures of Zannetti, McGeever and McKernan.  The defence look lost, with no leadereship.  Another two free headers yesterday for the first two goals, and there was another one after that.  We're not learning.  I'd have Wharton back; he commits howlers but he can tackle and he has spirit.

Gus's style is not to take nonsense from players and that's meant some departures that haven't met with my agreement.  But he's the man.  Players and managers fall out and, unless you're Rangers, the manager wins out...even if he's wrong.  Hey, let's not forget the bizarre state of affairs with Jamie Longworth and Gardner

Gus'll be judged by the results on the park.  And, let me say, he'll not take too much discomfort by criticism from supporters as to his treatment of players when one of the true stalwarts of the last 25 years had his chuckies publicly booted by the Club members back in June.  

He's not the Messiah, but his history with us is one of success.  We were a ba' hair away from the play offs to go to the Championship last year.  Who'd have though that would be the case when he took over?  Talk of his going is ridiculously premature.  We're in a helluva mess and yesterday was as bad as I've felt in a long time after a game.  He is, to my mind, making mistakes (Donnelly up front on his own just isn't going to work, Brady not starting - surely not a "disciplinary" move?), but I can't see anyone being good enough to come in and sort it out, especially given our restrictions on signing players.  Confidence is obviously low and we don't seem to have a leader on the park.

There's a big gulf between this division and the one below.  To say otherwise is simply not right.  Any mistake is generally punished and the standard of player is considerably better. Our defensive mistakes probably run to double figures most weeks.  Decent forwards have a feeding frenzy when they play us.  If the players in post won't mark guys and challenge them at set pieces, we need to change them.  Gibson back might make a difference as he has bags of heart, but he's a bit wee.

We have to pray that Gus can sign up a 20 goal loanee and McGeever's twin brother.  That, and kidnap Davie Anderson. 

With Forfar seemingly finding their feet, we could sink without trace fairly soon.  However, I would stick with Gus to tackle it.

I agree with every single word of this. Every single word.

[Mission]

14 hours ago, an86 said:

I agree with every single word of this. Every single word.

I too agree with you agreeing. Gus has done a fantastic job, we are in league one, a few years back we could have been in a play off for non league football. Still time to turn things round but even if we go down then so be it. How we rebuild again will be the real measure of the man.

[Tonsilitis]

How is our loanee Iredale doing?

[Bring Your Own Socks]

2 hours ago, Tonsilitis said:

How is our loanee Iredale doing?

Very well. Don't tell anyone else at Cappielow. 

[spider1867]

Looking from outside in. Our team has no pace, no creative spark, no leadership on the park or off it. We must have players in our reserves our Under 20s to give them their proper name that could be given a chance to shine as the players are not doing it at this time. If we don't have players that are good enough to step up why not? Im sure we would rather see hungry young players than run of the mill junior players. If our reserves are not up to it get players in to that team that are young and hungry and good enough. The only problem with that is Gus's fear of putting youngsters in. Liam brown has come and gone. Cammy Foy unfortunately got a bad injury just when he was finding his feet.  Cant think of to many others. We are not known under Gus of playing attractive more effective football as that has been successful.  Forfar are finding their feet and if we don't get ourselves sorted soon we could have a long hard season. We need a striker badly, creativity and pace in the middle of the park and a couple of defenders to put pressure on the players that are struggling just now.  Gus has all the experience in the world hopefully he can turn this round for us. 

[Mick1867]

On ‎05‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 20:13, Hampden Diehard said:

I'll forgive him the style of football as he dealt a few blows to Clyde (13 in a row?),

Speirs was manager when we beat Clyde 11 games in a row. Gus didn't quite manage that but he /we did beat them when it truly mattered in the play off final 

Good post from you.....who hacked your account?

 

[Mick1867]

On ‎05‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 13:24, Bring Your Own Socks said:

 The team got us promotion.

 

OK....so when we do well the players get all the credit but when we do badly it's all the manager's fault? I think the truth is somewhere in between.

Some of our better players haven't really performed this season and some of the new signings look pretty average or worse.

Sad to say but right now we're just not good enough. Both the players and coaches need to do a whole lot better

 

[Mick1867]

On ‎05‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 01:17, bridgeofweirdo said:

So what has happened since the game on a sunny evening in Greenock a few short months ago to cause such a downward spiral to where we find ourselves now ?

What has happened is instead of losing daft goals late in the game, we've now started losing daft goals early in the game

Don't think we need to go back that far....it was only 16 days ago we won at Coatbridge 

[Bring Your Own Socks]

I said the team Mick. Coaches and players. My message said the same as you. Everyone involved on and off the park needs to work it through. Snarling at each other won't get them anywhere.

[jinky]

As ive mentioned previously Gus has got to take responsibility for the summer recruitment which IMO has been very poor!...he must have been pretty desperate to sign-up some of the" very average" players who are currently wearing the QP shirt.

Don't think all his ranting and pathetic antics from the sideline will improve a squad that is way short on ability!!

[Hampden Diehard]

Speirs was manager when we beat Clyde 11 games in a row. Gus didn't quite manage that but he /we did beat them when it truly mattered in the play off final 
Good post from you.....who hacked your account? [emoji14]
 

Obviously lost the plot with the 13 in a row...........

[an86]

2 hours ago, jinky said:

As ive mentioned previously Gus has got to take responsibility for the summer recruitment which IMO has been very poor!...he must have been pretty desperate to sign-up some of the" very average" players who are currently wearing the QP shirt.

Don't think all his ranting and pathetic antics from the sideline will improve a squad that is way short on ability!!

The question is who else was available and good enough for the level? We lost one of our best players to the juniors because they pay a few quid. The market we shop in doesn’t offer a huge selection. The players who did well for us in League Two wouldn’t have been able to make the immediate jump to League One from junior either in my opinion. 

As for “ranting” and “pathetic antics.” It’s a passionate game. It’s not cricket or croquet. We’re missing a bit of it on the park. Big McGeever would bark his way through a game and his move has left a huge hole, not just on the park either. It came across that he was the life and soul in the dressing room. You can’t just go out and replace that. Guys with that level of character are few and far between.