Berwick Rangers 2018/2019 Thread

[Blue Oktober]

12 hours ago, Muzza81 said:

Absolute tinpot behaviour and reeks of being way out of his depth. 

Well if he hadn't lost the dressing already I suspect he will have now after such an embarrassingly amateur stunt. I would suggest he considers the Latin edict "Delegatus Non Potest Delegare" in relation to his remit as Manager.

[berwick-the-unbeatable]

A lot of what I'll say in this post has already been touched on, but I'll chip in with my usual negativity. 

 

Firstly, my feeling is that Harvey should go. I kept quiet on here a couple of weeks back when there was a discussion about sacking him and the consensus seemed to be that 'the time had gone', but I said to Bri privately at the time that actually, I completely disagreed. The timing was wrong a couple of weeks ago but it literally won't get any better than it is now. What I said to Bri then was that actually, there was no point replacing him then - you'd be better off waiting till a week before the Albion game and then rolling the dice, pinning your hopes on the new manager bounce, giving him a little time to whip together a team prepared for what you'd assume would be a relegation six-pointer, and with enough time to put together an XI that is at least hard to beat if it were to come to a relegation play-off.

At the moment, we are simply not hard to beat, and you can dispute that we ever have  been under Harvey. EK beat Kelty  (two sides who are probably way better than us in brutal honesty), by 4 goals to nil last week. I dread what the current setup would return against them, or a Cove side that have netted about 100 goals and conceded just 10 all season. For that very reason, my view is that Harvey absolutely must go.

Fans will discuss a lack of alternatives, but ultimately we won't know who'd want it until we take action. I'll likely be ridiculed and I usually say this jokingly, but I genuinely feel we could do far worse than grovelling to Coughlin and asking him to take us through to the end of the season. I think it's realistic and he'd be up for it, but I have my doubts that we'd swallow our pride on that one. It'd not be a fashionable appointment, but you know exactly what you're going to get from a Coughlin side, and right now it's what we need. In any case, I'd support that as a temporary measure to get us through to a point where we have clarity at the end of the season - if there's a totally fresh start in L2 it's attractive for someone, and if it's a title assault on the Lowland it's much the same. 

It looks like views are mixed on his team talk stunt yesterday - I'm firmly on the side of the fence that sees it as ridiculous. Some lines shouldn't be blurred and if I were a player, I'd honestly think he's lost the plot. For me, it seems Harvey is struggling to motivate and can't put an organised team on the park. In recruitment, he's fared even worse. We shouldn't forget he lost our best player/top scorer, simply because he couldn't manage him, and we shouldn't forget that he's replaced those lost goals with two forwards who didn't have a senior goal between them (one still doesn't and is a five-a-side player), and now it looks like he's turning to Grant Rose, another goalless striker. We're currently without hope at both ends of the pitch. 

As Redcar touched on, fans at the talk-in were criticised for their negativity on social media and on here. I honestly find that quite difficult to understand. For over a decade, we've become increasingly complacent as a club. Myself & DutchBorderer disagreed at the start of the season when he said he'd be delighted with 9th. Of course you'd take that if offered now but for me it was a statement very much indicative of the absolute state we've gotten ourselves into. In a decade I don't think we've once aimed to win the league - the height of our ambition has been to reach the play-offs - and even then what is really meant is to 'sneak in' in 4th. In the last few seasons, even that has diminished. We now exist as a club solely to survive - to be a L2 side. We are totally devoid of any ambition and worse still, even if we stay up I don't really see that changing. What do you expect your fans to do? Grab a season ticket and shut up?

I hope that there is more reason behind any inactivity than people being 'afraid to touch it' through fear of association. At the moment, I feel we deserve what we have coming - and make no mistake, as it stands it is coming, for our prolonged complacency (the same level I used to tear Montrose to shreds for). With relegation seemingly imminent, I don't know why you wouldn't roll the dice - I genuinely feel it cannot get worse. I have no idea who holds the power at the moment with a Chairman elect in place, but if it is John and if memory serves me correctly (and I might have this wrong), John has always been on the side of the manager when it came to their departures. As a result of all mentioned in this paragraph, I get the feeling we'll see no change. 

Edited April 7, 2019 by berwick-the-unbeatable

[Fergie1]

5 minutes ago, berwick-the-unbeatable said:

A lot of what I'll say in this post has already been touched on, but I'll chip in with my usual negativity. 

 

Firstly, my feeling is that Harvey should go. I kept quiet on here a couple of weeks back when there was a discussion about sacking him and the consensus seemed to be that 'the time had gone', but I said to Bri privately at the time that actually, I completely disagreed. The timing was wrong a couple of weeks ago but it literally won't get any better than it is now. What I said to Bri then was that actually, there was no point replacing him then - you'd be better off waiting till a week before the Albion game and then rolling the dice, pinning your hopes on the new manager bounce, giving him a little time to whip together a team prepared for what you'd assume would be a relegation six-pointer, and with enough time to put together an XI that is at least hard to beat if it were to come to a relegation play-off.

At the moment, we are simply not hard to beat, and you can dispute that we ever have  been under Harvey. EK beat Kelty  (two sides who are probably way better than us in brutal honesty), by 4 goals to nil last week. I dread what the current setup would return against them, or a Cove side that have netted about 100 goals and conceded just 10 all season. For that very reason, my view is that Harvey absolutely must go.

Fans will discuss a lack of alternatives, but ultimately we won't know who'd want it until we take action. I'll likely be ridiculed and I usually say this jokingly, but I genuinely feel we could do far worse than grovelling to Coughlin and asking him to take us through to the end of the season. I think it's realistic and he'd be up for it, but I have my doubts that we'd swallow our pride on that one. It'd not be a fashionable appointment, but you know exactly what you're going to get from a Coughlin side, and right now it's what we need. In any case, I'd support that as a temporary measure to get us through to a point where we have clarity at the end of the season - if there's a totally fresh start in L2 it's attractive for someone, and if it's a title assault on the Lowland it's much the same. 

It looks like views are mixed on his team talk stunt yesterday - I'm firmly on the side of the fence that sees it as ridiculous. Some lines shouldn't be blurred and if I were a player, I'd honestly think he's lost the plot. For me, it seems Harvey is struggling to motivate and can't put an organised team on the park. In recruitment, he's fared even worse. We shouldn't forget he lost our best player/top scorer, simply because he couldn't manage him, and we shouldn't forget that he's replaced those lost goals with two forwards who didn't have a senior goal between them (one still doesn't and is a five-a-side player), and now it looks like he's turning to Grant Rose, another goalless striker. We're currently without hope at both ends of the pitch. 

 

As Redcar touched on, fans at the talk-in were criticised for their negativity on social media and on here. I honestly find that quite difficult to understand. For over a decade, we've become increasingly complacent as a club. Myself & DutchBorderer disagreed at the start of the season when he said he'd be delighted with 9th. Of course you'd take that if offered now but for me it was a statement very much indicative of the absolute state we've gotten ourselves into. In a decade I don't think we've once aimed to win the league - the height of our ambition has been to reach the play-offs - and even then what is really meant is to 'sneak in' in 4th. In the last few seasons, even that has diminished. We now exist as a club solely to survive - to be a L2 side. We are totally devoid of any ambition and worse still, even if we stay up I don't really see that changing. 

I hope that there is more reason behind any inactivity than people being 'afraid to touch it' through fear of association. At the moment, I feel we deserve what we have coming - and make no mistake, as it stands it is coming, for our prolonged complacency (the same level I used to tear Montrose to shreds for). With relegation seemingly imminent, I don't know why you wouldn't roll the dice - I genuinely feel it cannot get worse. I have no idea who holds the power at the moment with a Chairman elect in place, but if it is John and if memory serves me correctly (and I might have this wrong), John has always been on the side of the manager when it came to their departures. As a result of all mentioned in this paragraph, I get the feeling we'll see no change. 

Great post 

[sammyreidloyal]

Good,but sad stuff indeed. JH won't walk, the ego he has to put out an interview after these dreadful games proves that. Instead of perhaps humbly declining to talk he tries to convince everyone we won the the first half. It was 0-0, not two nil to us Johnny. The board won't sack him, they haven't the backbone. Probably financial. And he knows it.
The statistics speak for themselves. One win since November last year. He can't change things because he doesn't know how to. Truly awful.

[marty_j]

A lot of what I'll say in this post has already been touched on, but I'll chip in with my usual negativity. 
 
Firstly, my feeling is that Harvey should go. I kept quiet on here a couple of weeks back when there was a discussion about sacking him and the consensus seemed to be that 'the time had gone', but I said to Bri privately at the time that actually, I completely disagreed. The timing was wrong a couple of weeks ago but it literally won't get any better than it is now. What I said to Bri then was that actually, there was no point replacing him then - you'd be better off waiting till a week before the Albion game and then rolling the dice, pinning your hopes on the new manager bounce, giving him a little time to whip together a team prepared for what you'd assume would be a relegation six-pointer, and with enough time to put together an XI that is at least hard to beat if it were to come to a relegation play-off.
At the moment, we are simply not hard to beat, and you can dispute that we ever have  been under Harvey. EK beat Kelty  (two sides who are probably way better than us in brutal honesty), by 4 goals to nil last week. I dread what the current setup would return against them, or a Cove side that have netted about 100 goals and conceded just 10 all season. For that very reason, my view is that Harvey absolutely must go.
Fans will discuss a lack of alternatives, but ultimately we won't know who'd want it until we take action. I'll likely be ridiculed and I usually say this jokingly, but I genuinely feel we could do far worse than grovelling to Coughlin and asking him to take us through to the end of the season. I think it's realistic and he'd be up for it, but I have my doubts that we'd swallow our pride on that one. It'd not be a fashionable appointment, but you know exactly what you're going to get from a Coughlin side, and right now it's what we need. In any case, I'd support that as a temporary measure to get us through to a point where we have clarity at the end of the season - if there's a totally fresh start in L2 it's attractive for someone, and if it's a title assault on the Lowland it's much the same. 
It looks like views are mixed on his team talk stunt yesterday - I'm firmly on the side of the fence that sees it as ridiculous. Some lines shouldn't be blurred and if I were a player, I'd honestly think he's lost the plot. For me, it seems Harvey is struggling to motivate and can't put an organised team on the park. In recruitment, he's fared even worse. We shouldn't forget he lost our best player/top scorer, simply because he couldn't manage him, and we shouldn't forget that he's replaced those lost goals with two forwards who didn't have a senior goal between them (one still doesn't and is a five-a-side player), and now it looks like he's turning to Grant Rose, another goalless striker. We're currently without hope at both ends of the pitch. 
As Redcar touched on, fans at the talk-in were criticised for their negativity on social media and on here. I honestly find that quite difficult to understand. For over a decade, we've become increasingly complacent as a club. Myself & DutchBorderer disagreed at the start of the season when he said he'd be delighted with 9th. Of course you'd take that if offered now but for me it was a statement very much indicative of the absolute state we've gotten ourselves into. In a decade I don't think we've once aimed to win the league - the height of our ambition has been to reach the play-offs - and even then what is really meant is to 'sneak in' in 4th. In the last few seasons, even that has diminished. We now exist as a club solely to survive - to be a L2 side. We are totally devoid of any ambition and worse still, even if we stay up I don't really see that changing. What do you expect your fans to do? Grab a season ticket and shut up?
I hope that there is more reason behind any inactivity than people being 'afraid to touch it' through fear of association. At the moment, I feel we deserve what we have coming - and make no mistake, as it stands it is coming, for our prolonged complacency (the same level I used to tear Montrose to shreds for). With relegation seemingly imminent, I don't know why you wouldn't roll the dice - I genuinely feel it cannot get worse. I have no idea who holds the power at the moment with a Chairman elect in place, but if it is John and if memory serves me correctly (and I might have this wrong), John has always been on the side of the manager when it came to their departures. As a result of all mentioned in this paragraph, I get the feeling we'll see no change. 

Very good post mate

[Redcar]

3 minutes ago, sammyreidloyal said:

Good,but sad stuff indeed. JH won't walk, the ego he has to put out an interview after these dreadful games proves that. Instead of perhaps humbly declining to talk he tries to convince everyone we won the the first half. It was 0-0, not two nil to us Johnny. The board won't sack him, they haven't the backbone. Probably financial. And he knows it.
The statistics speak for themselves. One win since November last year. He can't change things because he doesn't know how to. Truly awful.

I get why JB wants positivity around the club and on social media. I don't mind Johnny Harvey's upbeat approach even after a gubbing. I get little injections of hope that next week will be better. 

But there are some simple facts that speak for themselves. 

1. This is the worst Berwick side I've ever seen

2. There is absolutely no sign of improvement 

3. Harvey's record is beyond abysmal

4. With a better budget, Harvey has signed at least 10 players and many of them are worse than those that left a struggling team. (Willis & Phillips or Hume & Aloulou? Vote now... ) 

5. In most other seasons we would already be in the play-offs

It is impossible to see how Johnny Harvey could have realistically done any worse, and he should go now to let that bit of hope click into place for a new manager bounce in the last 4 games. No idea who, but if someone does take the job and we survive, they get the plaudits. If we don't, it's not really their fault. 

[Blue Oktober]

4 minutes ago, Redcar said:

I get why JB wants positivity around the club and on social media. I don't mind Johnny Harvey's upbeat approach even after a gubbing. I get little injections of hope that next week will be better. 

But there are some simple facts that speak for themselves. 

1. This is the worst Berwick side I've ever seen

2. There is absolutely no sign of improvement 

3. Harvey's record is beyond abysmal

4. With a better budget, Harvey has signed at least 10 players and many of them are worse than those that left a struggling team. (Willis & Phillips or Hume & Aloulou? Vote now... ) 

5. In most other seasons we would already be in the play-offs

It is impossible to see how Johnny Harvey could have realistically done any worse, and he should go now to let that bit of hope click into place for a new manager bounce in the last 4 games. No idea who, but if someone does take the job and we survive, they get the plaudits. If we don't, it's not really their fault. 

Genuine question If JH remains manager till end of the current season  & manages to  keep Berwick up either by securing 9th place or winning the play off, does he stay or move on?

[Hampden Diehard]

If the Berwick players want it enough, they should beat QP. 

Nah. Rovers were on a decent run and a win yesterday might have saved them from last place, yet we tonked them 4.0. Wanting it enough usually isn't enough.

[Redcar]

10 minutes ago, Blue Oktober said:

Genuine question If JH remains manager till end of the current season  & manages to  keep Berwick up either by securing 9th place or winning the play off, does he stay or move on?

Good question. The answer is that he will stay because he has proved he can work miracles. 

Looking (hypothetically) deeper, should the Board overlook his dreadful record over 6 months because he got it right in the last couple of weeks? Difficult one - if he shows any signs of humility and has any sort of coherent plan, perhaps the Board will back the man they appointed. 

No sign of either just now though. 

[qpsnapper]

1 hour ago, berwick-the-unbeatable said:

It looks like views are mixed on his team talk stunt yesterday - I'm firmly on the side of the fence that sees it as ridiculous.

What was his team talk stunt?

[BerwickMad]

What was his team talk stunt?

He invited a fan into the dressing room to tell the players what it means. Phil Brownesqe.

[DutchBorderer]

7 minutes ago, qpsnapper said:

What was his team talk stunt?

After the match he invited a supporter with decades of loyalty to the club, into the dressing room to tell the players what the club means to him and all the other fans who have been so deeply miserable this season.

[Berwick Tait]

Afternoon. First time poster long time reader.

I’ve never felt the need to write a post before but this season has finally beaten me into it. So here goes. Your opinion may differ but this is how I see it.

This is the worst team I’ve ever seen, Johnny Harvey seems clueless. I have no idea what happens at half time but when the team comes out it’s like a different 11. 3 up away to Clyde and it ends up as a draw? Stirling a couple of weeks ago we had a decent first half then the second half was completely different, the team lost shape and purpose . He seems unable to motivate and manage the squad. 

The board took a gamble on a young manager and its not worked out. I don’t blame them for this but perhaps it’s time to admit it hasn’t worked and think about a change.

Signings have been pretty poor. You can take a chance on lower league players, Lewis Barr has been great but the rest have failed. Far too many of them. It’s like Johnny has taken far too many risks on players unproven in this league hoping for a big payoff. He’s let people likeWillis go because he couldn’t manage him, Todd too was “difficult”. He tried to play from the back and then abandoned it. 

 Loan signings have been terrible too. A six aside player upfront who only played once for his parent club? Risk failed. Knox from Livingston? I knew he was always on the lookout for another club and he’s missed most of the season on trial elsewhere. That was a waste of a loan spot.

the 3rd string keeper from Cowdenbeath? Why not a striker or midfielder on loan? We had a reserve team keeper who has now left because there was no chance of progression. The kick in the teeth for him was when the goalkeeping coach was on the subs bench in front of him. An let’s not forget the assistant coach in defence against Stirling! What an absolutely ridiculous decision. We have reserves for a reason and to put in the assistant coach who was so unfit and dreadful was completely embarrassing.

JH has made too many bad decisions, gambled too many times for my liking.

the post match interview are now tired and the same old blah blah blah. And the officials have done us out of so many games? Utter drivel. I’ve been to most of the games home and away and he must be watching something different. There is no conspiracy, 13 penalties against us,  not surprising given that we spend most of the game furiously defending the barrage against us. I feel sorry for Sean Brennan, he’s a decent enough keeper but having so many shots against you must take its toll.

and speaking of reserves why have all the reserve coaches quit a couple of games before the end of the season?

next stop boardroom.

i was at the fan forum and I though it was quite good. John Bell seems to have a direction and a plan. He put it out there for us to see. A few in the room though it was pish (a comment I heard) but it seemed reasonable to me. There are still a few on the board however that I don’t actually know what they do. The current chairman wasn’t  there and he’s staying on as a director.  It I was happy with the plan, whether is plays out is another matter but it’s the first plan I’ve seen. We’ve been on a downward spiral for years hoping for a cup run to boost the coffers again. This is a risky way to run a club and that what John wants to stop and you can’t argue with that.

while I’m hear I’ll have a comment on the supporters club and Trust.

The trust seem to be doing ok. Activity on social media lets you know they are alive st least and they have supported the Reserves this season to keep them afloat. They have also contributed to the pitch works at the start of the season. All seems reasonable if not game changing.

the supporters club? God knows what is going on there. The website vanished after being taken over by a clothing company? And they are virtually non existent on social media. It was £5 for membership but I and several I know haven’t rejoined because we don’t know how! The membership should be huge for only £5  it’s cheap enough to join. So that’s a reasonable loss of revenue for the club. The schemes the run are poorly advertised and pushed too. Weekly scheme and bond scheme should have far many more members. Given that a director of the football club is the chairman of the Supporters club this is an easily accessible way to raise vital funds but it’s not happening. Annual legends dinner anybody? That’s not happened either.

thers always the talk of them having donated £x to the club but it’s via schemes like the 50/50 draw and lotteries that other clubs run via the football club, not the supporters club. It’s a bit of a strange setup.

right that’s that off my chest. Happy to stand corrected on the above if I’ve made any glaring errors or assumptions.

 

 

[Blue Oktober]

1 hour ago, Redcar said:

Good question. The answer is that he will stay because he has proved he can work miracles. 

Looking (hypothetically) deeper, should the Board overlook his dreadful record over 6 months because he got it right in the last couple of weeks? Difficult one - if he shows any signs of humility and has any sort of coherent plan, perhaps the Board will back the man they appointed. 

No sign of either just now though. 

As you say it is a difficult one & suggest one your board would need to give a lot of careful considerations factoring in the points you highlight taking a "big picture" view. For what its worth I have a lot of sympathy for the loyal Berwick support having endured similar & potentially journey not just once but twice a lot of the feelings and comments sadly resonate with me. I wouldn't wish this on any team & genuinely hope you & the Rovers can navigate a route to safety & regroup.

In terms of JH I have watching him since his appointment & not just on his weekly YouTube show sadly my view is he is a self interested narcissist who if allowed to persist under any circumstances may inflict damage that the club may not be able to recover from.

[BerwickMad]

Afternoon. First time poster long time reader.

I’ve never felt the need to write a post before but this season has finally beaten me into it. So here goes. Your opinion may differ but this is how I see it.

This is the worst team I’ve ever seen, Johnny Harvey seems clueless. I have no idea what happens at half time but when the team comes out it’s like a different 11. 3 up away to Clyde and it ends up as a draw? Stirling a couple of weeks ago we had a decent first half then the second half was completely different, the team lost shape and purpose . He seems unable to motivate and manage the squad. 

The board took a gamble on a young manager and its not worked out. I don’t blame them for this but perhaps it’s time to admit it hasn’t worked and think about a change.

Signings have been pretty poor. You can take a chance on lower league players, Lewis Barr has been great but the rest have failed. Far too many of them. It’s like Johnny has taken far too many risks on players unproven in this league hoping for a big payoff. He’s let people likeWillis go because he couldn’t manage him, Todd too was “difficult”. He tried to play from the back and then abandoned it. 

 Loan signings have been terrible too. A six aside player upfront who only played once for his parent club? Risk failed. Knox from Livingston? I knew he was always on the lookout for another club and he’s missed most of the season on trial elsewhere. That was a waste of a loan spot.

the 3rd string keeper from Cowdenbeath? Why not a striker or midfielder on loan? We had a reserve team keeper who has now left because there was no chance of progression. The kick in the teeth for him was when the goalkeeping coach was on the subs bench in front of him. An let’s not forget the assistant coach in defence against Stirling! What an absolutely ridiculous decision. We have reserves for a reason and to put in the assistant coach who was so unfit and dreadful was completely embarrassing.

JH has made too many bad decisions, gambled too many times for my liking.

the post match interview are now tired and the same old blah blah blah. And the officials have done us out of so many games? Utter drivel. I’ve been to most of the games home and away and he must be watching something different. There is no conspiracy, 13 penalties against us,  not surprising given that we spend most of the game furiously defending the barrage against us. I feel sorry for Sean Brennan, he’s a decent enough keeper but having so many shots against you must take its toll.

and speaking of reserves why have all the reserve coaches quit a couple of games before the end of the season?

next stop boardroom.

i was at the fan forum and I though it was quite good. John Bell seems to have a direction and a plan. He put it out there for us to see. A few in the room though it was pish (a comment I heard) but it seemed reasonable to me. There are still a few on the board however that I don’t actually know what they do. The current chairman wasn’t  there and he’s staying on as a director.  It I was happy with the plan, whether is plays out is another matter but it’s the first plan I’ve seen. We’ve been on a downward spiral for years hoping for a cup run to boost the coffers again. This is a risky way to run a club and that what John wants to stop and you can’t argue with that.

while I’m hear I’ll have a comment on the supporters club and Trust.

The trust seem to be doing ok. Activity on social media lets you know they are alive st least and they have supported the Reserves this season to keep them afloat. They have also contributed to the pitch works at the start of the season. All seems reasonable if not game changing.

the supporters club? God knows what is going on there. The website vanished after being taken over by a clothing company? And they are virtually non existent on social media. It was £5 for membership but I and several I know haven’t rejoined because we don’t know how! The membership should be huge for only £5  it’s cheap enough to join. So that’s a reasonable loss of revenue for the club. The schemes the run are poorly advertised and pushed too. Weekly scheme and bond scheme should have far many more members. Given that a director of the football club is the chairman of the Supporters club this is an easily accessible way to raise vital funds but it’s not happening. Annual legends dinner anybody? That’s not happened either.

thers always the talk of them having donated £x to the club but it’s via schemes like the 50/50 draw and lotteries that other clubs run via the football club, not the supporters club. It’s a bit of a strange setup.

right that’s that off my chest. Happy to stand corrected on the above if I’ve made any glaring errors or assumptions.

 

 

Totally agree on all the Harvey stuff but no where near as optimistic on the forum last week. I’ve already covered why so no point repeating myself.

 

I’m a member of the Trust and have been since 2003. I totally agree with its aims and think it’s run well.

 

I’m also on the Supporters Club board so I’ll take back a lot of what you say to the meeting on Tuesday. Totally agree with the £5 membership thing and it needs to be better. The numbers for the weekly scheme are actually going up, but aye, things could be advertised better. Regarding the web presence and social media, I update the Facebook page when it’s about things specific to the SC, but didn’t want to use it as a page to just repeat what was being posted on the club and trust pages. Maybe we should look at that again. The legends dinner will happen at some point but some of the winners were unavailable when a date was suggested so will probably be early next season.

 

Things could certainly be done better, but like with a lot of organisations it needs the people to be able to do things. Most members of the Supporters club committee have match day roles, turnstyles, selling programmes, 50/50 draw tickets, stewarding. The SC hold the lease for the stadium and have agreements with Tweedmouth Rangers and Matty Moor youth coaching (who’s also a committee member). They donate indirectly to Berwick Juniors by paying NCC for the use of Iverson. The money really comes from the Weekly Scheme, rent from the Bandits, from the phone mast in the ground and any other fundraising events. A lot is done with the upkeep of the ground. In the summer I think role we played along with the Trust was vital in stopping the Watkins and co debacle. But again, it needs people to do things. There’s spaces on the committee for anyone wanting to get involved.

 

Great post by Dale and I agree with nearly it all. The complacency and the lack or urgency is still there for me. I thought that’s what I saw at the forum last week, and I think that’s why we’ll fail to act this week.

 

You could go back to Crease. A stop gap who was made permanent. It was almost painful at the end as he went onto Radio Newcastle to criticise the fans and it took the Supporters groups putting their foot down for any action to be taken. Yano stayed long beyond losing the plot, and even then some on the board were reluctant to see him go. Cough should have gone at the end of his full season but stayed and was sacked at the worst possible time.

 

The appointments of Yano, Horn and Harvey showed we were happy to take a ‘risk’ on young inexperienced managers, but it keeps failing and I’d argue it’s far from ambitious. Like we’re looking for a someone to deliver a project without getting the basics right. I think it was a fan of another club who said ‘at least you don’t get one of the same old dinosaurs who do the rounds’, but maybe we need to get the basics right first and get someone in with experience of challenging at the top end of this league. The first team winning games as a priority.

 

The excuses/reasons and accusations of negativity are boring when you see nothing changing and see no reason to all of a sudden become positive. It’s an absolute chore supporting Berwick Rangers when it should be something you enjoy.

[DutchBorderer]

27 minutes ago, Berwick Tait said:

Snipped for brevity's sake

Welcome, it's a shame you had to join us under these circumstances.

If anything, I am glad to see that supporters have been galvanized and are now more likely to come forward and speak up. You can blame me for being hopeful but this has been the biggest and clearest wake-up call to date for everyone who wishes the best for BRFC.

BTU rightly brought up the exchange he and I had at the start of the season about what a good place in the final standings would be for us - I recall having pointed out 8th or 9th as being good enough in my eyes. That perhaps is a symptom of us (club, board, players, fans) sleepwalking to relegation (a concept coined by BerwickMad as far back as 2014). Where we seem to have stagnated, others (Arbroath, Montrose, Edinburgh City, Elgin, Annan, etc.) have continued improving to the point where we've now ben propping up the arse end of the table for what feel like forever - without actually doing anything about it.

Scratch that, I was impressed by how much the board has backed Johnny Harvey, in terms of playing budget and faith. That was a signal of intent, but for one reason or another, it has not worked out.

[Alpha Gordini]

1 hour ago, Blue Oktober said:

In terms of JH I have watching him since his appointment & not just on his weekly YouTube show sadly my view is he is a self interested narcissist who if allowed to persist under any circumstances may inflict damage that the club may not be able to recover from.

Amen to that. I don't know if it's just me, but he seems to be avoiding looking at the camera or interviewer more now than he did when he first arrived. I'm sure the body language experts would have a field day in analysing the videos.

My fear is that the damage is done, especially if he stays. We've let journeymen players go--maybe they weren't great, but they mostly put in a shift and battled away, and they've got experience of being in this sort of situation before--and replaced them with players that aren't as good and have never had to scrap for their footballing lives. If the ones who left fell out with Harvey (and it appears several of them did) then word is going to get around, so we're going to find it harder to attract any half-decent players. His recruitment policy (including loans) has been found wanting, anyway, and he's been found out.

I've also been wondering whether we tried to get Kevin Harper when we looked to replace Robbie Horn. He took over a team that looked dead and buried and, leaving aside the bonus points, they now look a much better organised team, and are playing better football than us... although that's not difficult TBH!

[berwicksfinest]

In the cold light of day, another 6 - 0 defeat, sitting in 10th with league status hanging by a thread.

What Now??

The board are noticeable by their silence, Are the backing JH? or are they as miffed as we all are.  

JH himself hasn't covered himself in glory, should he do the decent thing and step down now or is he waiting to be pushed ??

The team are they genuinely that rubbish or is it a message they have also had it with JH.

Time is now not on our side. and Our team are potentially leaving league status, yet he gravity of the situation doesn't seem to have sunk in with the Club

[Blue Oktober]

29 minutes ago, Alpha Gordini said:

Amen to that. I don't know if it's just me, but he seems to be avoiding looking at the camera or interviewer more now than he did when he first arrived. I'm sure the body language experts would have a field day in analysing the videos.

My fear is that the damage is done, especially if he stays. We've let journeymen players go--maybe they weren't great, but they mostly put in a shift and battled away, and they've got experience of being in this sort of situation before--and replaced them with players that aren't as good and have never had to scrap for their footballing lives. If the ones who left fell out with Harvey (and it appears several of them did) then word is going to get around, so we're going to find it harder to attract any half-decent players. His recruitment policy (including loans) has been found wanting, anyway, and he's been found out.

I've also been wondering whether we tried to get Kevin Harper when we looked to replace Robbie Horn. He took over a team that looked dead and buried and, leaving aside the bonus points, they now look a much better organised team, and are playing better football than us... although that's not difficult TBH!

The points you raise on body language are very valid something I have deployed within my professional career over the year  interesting book if you like that aspect bt Alan & Barbara Pease titled "The Definitive Book of Body Language" to simplify I watched his most recent PM again key points -

• Frequent face touching an indication of someone lying.
• Hands in pocket an aim to hide or deceive.
• Looking away from eye contact particularly to the right trying to deceive.
• Touching holding back of neck a sign of confusion & mistrust.

In relation to Kevin Harper having spent time with both a huge gulf in terms of credibility & professionalism Harper very measured, & focused and can get a dressing room buzzing honestly no idea whether your board considered him or not,

[cowdenbeath]

12 minutes ago, Blue Oktober said:

The points you raise on body language are very valid something I have deployed within my professional career over the year  interesting book if you like that aspect bt Alan & Barbara Pease titled "The Definitive Book of Body Language" to simplify I watched his most recent PM again key points -

• Frequent face touching an indication of someone lying.
• Hands in pocket an aim to hide or deceive.
• Looking away from eye contact particularly to the right trying to deceive.
• Touching holding back of neck a sign of confusion & mistrust.

In relation to Kevin Harper having spent time with both a huge gulf in terms of credibility & professionalism Harper very measured, & focused and can get a dressing room buzzing honestly no idea whether your board considered him or not,

I always thought he looked uncomfortable in his videos always touching his face and never looking straight into the camera.