Clyde FC; Season 2022-23

[Domino the Dug]

1 hour ago, Ingo ohne Flamingo said:

All this chat of shite players over our horrible years, what's your Duffy/Ferguson dream team? 

 

Barclay

Gavin Brown - Pat Scullion - Ian Gray - John Kane

Struggling to think of a midfield that was fuckin horrific, managed to erase them out my head so suggestions welcome! 

John Stewart - Kieran McGachie - Marc Archdeacon 

Three of the back five, made playoffs during a period of brutally Siberia-esque austerity. Very unduly harsh inclusions. Especially, when a great number of them were on minimumish wage. 

 

The real culprits are surely those who took the piss, even allowing fans start crowdfunding for their wages. That process, among Clyde fans, could  surely only ever end well...

[Only one David Marsh]

No kicking the ball out the ground tonight lads it will cost you! 

[haufdaft]

Agreed, Brown, Gray and Scullion were poor, but we have had much much worse. 
Although, I’d certainly keep Barclay in the list of the utter garbage brigade.  

Barclay was deservedly part of the
PFA Scotland, Third Division, Team of the Year during his spell at Clyde.

[Replays]

The Norwegian Prince doing absolute #bits so I’m told.

[the_bully_wee]

John Gibson

John Kane - Ross Fisher - Ryan Frances - Gerard Traynor

Ryan Kane - Giuseppe Capuano - Scott McLaughlin - Andy Gibson

Kevin Watt - Stephen McDonald

 

Racking my brains, that is the "best" and most balanced team of 2011-2017 shite I can come up with - I've tried to keep it to players who were, at least for a spell, semi-regular starters for us in their 'strongest' allocated positions above. There are far more ringers over and above that who either barely featured or could be shoehorned into a different formation but, as a tribute to Jim Duffy and his banks of four, going 4-4-2 was simply the right thing to do. 

 

John Gibson: 'Gibby' came to Clyde from Alloa in 2015, and somewhat unbelievably remained our number one across much of the next two seasons. Alloa fans warned us about him, Elgin fans told us we'd made a fantastic signing - it was the former group whose forecast was most accurate, as Gibson treated us to over fifty appearances fraught with hesitance, indecision and the odd moment of downright madness. One of the tallest 'keepers I've seen with us, and yet utterly pathetic with all crossed balls. 

John Kane: It's long enough ago that I've mercifully started to forget about John Kane, but Jim Duffy was delighted to secure the full-back's signature alongside that of Stuart McColm when the pair joined Clyde from newly-promoted Stranraer in the summer of 2012. This poster remembers Kane having a stinking attitude towards Bully Wee fans which, combined with his extremely limited ability, did very little to endear him to anyone. Thankfully replaced by a post-weight-loss Gavin Brown and a 500-year-old Lee Sharp in both full-back positions - and that's saying something.

Ross Fisher: For all the shite Clyde fans had to endure in this lengthy spell, we always seemed to do quite well for ourselves at centre-back. Ross Fisher, a mainstay in the worst QP side ever - and hooked after half an hour when we beasted them at Airdrie in the season before - signed up in Barry's first season, as he bodied all of Jim Duffy's lieutenants out of the club. Fisher wasn't all that bad for Clyde, but he's certainly up there with the poorest regularly-starting centre-backs seen in this era.

Ryan Frances: One man who can't be remembered with any sort of affection is gangly left-sided defender Ryan Frances, who looked equally uncomfortable both as a centre- and full-back. Frances was so poor that Duffy sought to sign the podgy, fairly unfit and crimson-faced Ross McKinnon to cover our left side in 2014. Frances was one of the first to be unceremoniously bodied out of the club by Ferguson, much to the player's fury. Barry got plenty wrong, but the swift removal of Ryan Frances from our club was a right shrewd move.

Gerard Traynor: This is perhaps a somewhat harsh inclusion, but there are two particular moments which make Gerard Traynor stick very unfavourably in my mind. Yes, 'Ged' was something of a youngster when he had a spell as our first-choice left-back, but he just wasn't very good. The first such moment I speak of occurred at Hampden, with Clyde leading 1-0 in the 90th minute on the cusp of a first victory at the club's very own shitemare venue since 2010. Up came QP 'keeper Muir for a last-gasp corner, and who else but oor Gerard was on hand to haul him by the jersey to the turf. Penalty, Darren Miller, scored, Clyde fans given the "shoosh" symbol. A @ScottR96 (hiya pal) broken toe from hoofing a chair out of seethe. The second came when Albion Rovers journeyed to Broadwood to try and win their League Two title in 2015; with his team having pissed away a two-goal lead, Traynor went in for a 50-50 challenge against Gary Fisher with such fear and lack of conviction that it became a 5-95 effort, and the Rovers right-back's cross-cum-shot secured yet another opposition title in Cumbernauld.

Ryan Kane: Jim Duffy developed a serious hard-on for released Morton right-wingers; upon his arrival, Kevin Finlayson was already thrilling Clyde fans with his dogged, workmanlike wing-play. Jim decided to make this line of recruitment something of a tradition, with Ryan Kane and Sean Fitzharris both signing for the club in the following seasons. Kane was your stereotypical released youth product; flashes of talent, but very little else to distinguish him as a player with any sort of future in senior football. Fitzharris had more to his game and was, in my opinion, the more unfortunate of the two with injuries, so he's given a free pass here.

Giuseppe Capuano: Giuseppe Capuano wasn't a bad player. He wasn't. He was technically alright, reasonably tidy. But the devilishly handsome, debonair Italian-Scot simply wasn't very good, either. Pretty lightweight for a limited defensive midfielder, not particularly mobile (though that was in some way refreshing next to the headless chicken-style shuttle runs of Captain Fantastic) and we improved as a side when Neil 'Scrabble' Janczyk (another player released by a club in the same division) assumed his berth in the team. 

Scott McLaughlin: Barry Ferguson's most trusted player throughout his managerial reign, Scott McLaughlin came to Clyde from Ayr United as a player who had been there and done it in the lower leagues. While he was actually a decent player for us in the two and a half years he spent at Clyde, McLaughlin came to represent the essence Barry's era: a host of experienced, overpaid mercenaries who weren't particularly likeable performing, individually and collectively, beneath their potential. The chapter's closure at Montrose in 2017 was fittingly rounded off when club captain McLaughlin started arguing with still-disgruntled Clyde fans on the terracing.

Andy Gibson: I actually feel sorry for Andy Gibson, putting him in here, but he was one of the most hilarious features of a hilarious first season in charge for BF. Having kicked off trying to bed-in a Barcelona style of play, with a three-pronged attack of Scott Ferguson, Scott McManus and Kevin Watt, Barry soon realised that - at this level, and with those players - such a philosophy was doomed to fail. His first real batch of incomings in September of 2014 saw the arrival of former Partick Thistle and then-Beith winger Andy Gibson, a man who was clearly once a good footballer but who could literally no longer run. Gibson belied his geriatric physique to turn in a few surprisingly okay-ish performances along with a number of completely ineffectual ones before he departed with a whimper not too long after.

Kevin Watt: "You Watt, you Watt?" some will ask, incensed, at the inclusion of wee Kev, but Watt was a player whose raison d'etre was to poach and score goals goals, and I have never seen a player described as such possessing his complete lack of composure at times. Watt's all-round game wasn't particularly good, he was something of a headless chicken and he made some really shite decisions all-round. Plenty of other contenders, but none saw regular action like wee Kev did.

Stephen McDonald: I didn't actually think that 'Steph' made anywhere near enough appearances to qualify for this XI, but a quick look confirmed that he passed my threshold and was a fairly regular starter during the 2011-12 campaign. Signed up from Shettleston in Duffy's first summer window, McDonald started his Clyde career reasonably well, scoring in the shock 2-0 win over Peterhead in the season's opening game. That's about as good as it got for McDonald though, who was just a below-par player in just about every area. Not particularly big, strong, quick or gifted in any technical or tactical way, 'Steph' departed for f**k-knows-where at the end of that season.

[CM.]

Hearing Fitzpatrick at RB and Grant at LB in tonights game

[David W]

I think Love would have started left back but he went off injured during warm-up, replaced by Lamont. Fitzpatrick putting in a Tom Lang right back performance.

We have played well. Should be winning.

[the_bully_wee]

7 minutes ago, David W said:

I think Love would have started left back but he went off injured during warm-up, replaced by Lamont. Fitzpatrick putting in a Tom Lang right back performance.

We have played well. Should be winning.

Where are we playing The Bone and how has he looked? I will be re-branding when the squad photos are taken and, although not essential, would prefer it if he were deployed in a role in which he will body folk and perform exceptionally.

[Clyde01]

John Gibson

John Kane - Ross Fisher - Ryan Frances - Gerard Traynor

Ryan Kane - Giuseppe Capuano - Scott McLaughlin - Andy Gibson

Kevin Watt - Stephen McDonald

 

Racking my brains, that is the "best" and most balanced team of 2011-2017 shite I can come up with - I've tried to keep it to players who were, at least for a spell, semi-regular starters for us in their 'strongest' allocated positions above. There are far more ringers over and above that who either barely featured or could be shoehorned into a different formation but, as a tribute to Jim Duffy and his banks of four, going 4-4-2 was simply the right thing to do. 
 
John Gibson: 'Gibby' came to Clyde from Alloa in 2015, and somewhat unbelievably remained our number one across much of the next two seasons. Alloa fans warned us about him, Elgin fans told us we'd made a fantastic signing - it was the former group whose forecast was most accurate, as Gibson treated us to over fifty appearances fraught with hesitance, indecision and the odd moment of downright madness. One of the tallest 'keepers I've seen with us, and yet utterly pathetic with all crossed balls. 
John Kane: It's long enough ago that I've mercifully started to forget about John Kane, but Jim Duffy was delighted to secure the full-back's signature alongside that of Stuart McColm when the pair joined Clyde from newly-promoted Stranraer in the summer of 2012. This poster remembers Kane having a stinking attitude towards Bully Wee fans which, combined with his extremely limited ability, did very little to endear him to anyone. Thankfully replaced by a post-weight-loss Gavin Brown and a 500-year-old Lee Sharp in both full-back positions - and that's saying something.
Ross Fisher: For all the shite Clyde fans had to endure in this lengthy spell, we always seemed to do quite well for ourselves at centre-back. Ross Fisher, a mainstay in the worst QP side ever - and hooked after half an hour when we beasted them at Airdrie in the season before - signed up in Barry's first season, as he bodied all of Jim Duffy's lieutenants out of the club. Fisher wasn't all that bad for Clyde, but he's certainly up there with the poorest regularly-starting centre-backs seen in this era.
Ryan Frances: One man who can't be remembered with any sort of affection is gangly left-sided defender Ryan Frances, who looked equally uncomfortable both as a centre- and full-back. Frances was so poor that Duffy sought to sign the podgy, fairly unfit and crimson-faced Ross McKinnon to cover our left side in 2014. Frances was one of the first to be unceremoniously bodied out of the club by Ferguson, much to the player's fury. Barry got plenty wrong, but the swift removal of Ryan Frances from our club was a right shrewd move.
Gerard Traynor: This is perhaps a somewhat harsh inclusion, but there are two particular moments which make Gerard Traynor stick very unfavourably in my mind. Yes, 'Ged' was something of a youngster when he had a spell as our first-choice left-back, but he just wasn't very good. The first such moment I speak of occurred at Hampden, with Clyde leading 1-0 in the 90th minute on the cusp of a first victory at the club's very own shitemare venue since 2010. Up came QP 'keeper Muir for a last-gasp corner, and who else but oor Gerard was on hand to haul him by the jersey to the turf. Penalty, Darren Miller, scored, Clyde fans given the "shoosh" symbol. A [mention=21829]ScottR96[/mention] (hiya pal) broken toe from hoofing a chair out of seethe. The second came when Albion Rovers journeyed to Broadwood to try and win their League Two title in 2015; with his team having pissed away a two-goal lead, Traynor went in for a 50-50 challenge against Gary Fisher with such fear and lack of conviction that it became a 5-95 effort, and the Rovers right-back's cross-cum-shot secured yet another opposition title in Cumbernauld.
Ryan Kane: Jim Duffy developed a serious hard-on for released Morton right-wingers; upon his arrival, Kevin Finlayson was already thrilling Clyde fans with his dogged, workmanlike wing-play. Jim decided to make this line of recruitment something of a tradition, with Ryan Kane and Sean Fitzharris both signing for the club in the following seasons. Kane was your stereotypical released youth product; flashes of talent, but very little else to distinguish him as a player with any sort of future in senior football. Fitzharris had more to his game and was, in my opinion, the more unfortunate of the two with injuries, so he's given a free pass here.
Giuseppe Capuano: Giuseppe Capuano wasn't a bad player. He wasn't. He was technically alright, reasonably tidy. But the devilishly handsome, debonair Italian-Scot simply wasn't very good, either. Pretty lightweight for a limited defensive midfielder, not particularly mobile (though that was in some way refreshing next to the headless chicken-style shuttle runs of Captain Fantastic) and we improved as a side when Neil 'Scrabble' Janczyk (another player released by a club in the same division) assumed his berth in the team. 
Scott McLaughlin: Barry Ferguson's most trusted player throughout his managerial reign, Scott McLaughlin came to Clyde from Ayr United as a player who had been there and done it in the lower leagues. While he was actually a decent player for us in the two and a half years he spent at Clyde, McLaughlin came to represent the essence Barry's era: a host of experienced, overpaid mercenaries who weren't particularly likeable performing, individually and collectively, beneath their potential. The chapter's closure at Montrose in 2017 was fittingly rounded off when club captain McLaughlin started arguing with still-disgruntled Clyde fans on the terracing.
Andy Gibson: I actually feel sorry for Andy Gibson, putting him in here, but he was one of the most hilarious features of a hilarious first season in charge for BF. Having kicked off trying to bed-in a Barcelona style of play, with a three-pronged attack of Scott Ferguson, Scott McManus and Kevin Watt, Barry soon realised that - at this level, and with those players - such a philosophy was doomed to fail. His first real batch of incomings in September of 2014 saw the arrival of former Partick Thistle and then-Beith winger Andy Gibson, a man who was clearly once a good footballer but who could literally no longer run. Gibson belied his geriatric physique to turn in a few surprisingly okay-ish performances along with a number of completely ineffectual ones before he departed with a whimper not too long after.
Kevin Watt: "You Watt, you Watt?" some will ask, incensed, at the inclusion of wee Kev, but Watt was a player whose raison d'etre was to poach and score goals goals, and I have never seen a player described as such possessing his complete lack of composure at times. Watt's all-round game wasn't particularly good, he was something of a headless chicken and he made some really shite decisions all-round. Plenty of other contenders, but none saw regular action like wee Kev did.
Stephen McDonald: I didn't actually think that 'Steph' made anywhere near enough appearances to qualify for this XI, but a quick look confirmed that he passed my threshold and was a fairly regular starter during the 2011-12 campaign. Signed up from Shettleston in Duffy's first summer window, McDonald started his Clyde career reasonably well, scoring in the shock 2-0 win over Peterhead in the season's opening game. That's about as good as it got for McDonald though, who was just a below-par player in just about every area. Not particularly big, strong, quick or gifted in any technical or tactical way, 'Steph' departed for f**k-knows-where at the end of that season.

A few great shouts in there. Jon Stewart, Willie sawyers & ally park are all players I remember as horrific but before duffy’s time I think.

Ian gray, pat scullion, John sweeney, Jamie Barclay have all been slagged over the last few pages but to me these guys were limited but far from the worst. The fact they all made so many appearances tells you that they were actually the better players of that era [emoji33].

[FREDDYFRY]

Ally Park was absolutely shocking! 

[sydney]

Why are we talking about these players ? They should be wiped from memory. Terrible period for the club, best forgotten. 

[clyde4ever]

Anyway, any update on tonight's friendly?

[haufdaft]

Anyway, any update on tonight's friendly?

Alloa 3-2 Clyde

[CM.]

2 defeats on the trot. Absolutely abysmal start to the campaign.

[clyde4ever]

2 minutes ago, haufdaft said:

5 minutes ago, clyde4ever said:

Anyway, any update on tonight's friendly?

Alloa 3-2 Clyde

Cheers.

The positives?

[the_bully_wee]

9 minutes ago, Clyde01 said:

A few great shouts in there. Jon Stewart, Willie sawyers & ally park are all players I remember as horrific but before duffy’s time I think.

Ian gray, pat scullion, John sweeney, Jamie Barclay have all been slagged over the last few pages but to me these guys were limited but far from the worst. The fact they all made so many appearances tells you that they were actually the better players of that era .

 

Stewart was terrible pre-Duffy but actually went on a bit of a goalscoring run towards the end of the 2010-11 season as I recall. If my memory serves me correctly, he had agreed to sign on again for the next season before his contract offer was pulled for sectarian tweets or something like that. Sawyers was really, really bad, while I didn't think Park was great but didn't quite reach John Kane levels of inefficacy.

Those four were always reasonably steady performers for us during a time where we had a comparatively small budget. Barclay was a decent League Two 'keeper, had a few hairy moments and hated crosses but made some outrageous saves at times. Gray and Scullion were very versatile and did jobs wherever they played, generally. Sweeney was a headless chicken but a good player for us; first couple of seasons he was a bit out of his depth but performed pretty strongly in our play-off campaign. Would obviously have absolutely none of the players mentioned near our first XI now, though.

 

7 minutes ago, sydney said:

Why are we talking about these players ? They should be wiped from memory. Terrible period for the club, best forgotten. 

Because it's important to remember where we've come from. Additionally, we are enduring a torrid pre-season results-wise and we aren't signing world-class talent to fix the left side of our defence.

 

[haufdaft]

Cheers.

The positives?

 

I wasn't there but the club's Twitter says it was a decent contest.

 

McStay and Johnston with the Clyde goals

 

[haufdaft]

Regarding dross, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Sean Higgins.

 

I'll never understand why Higgins and McLaughlin had their contracts extended.

 

 

[whereismillar]

9 minutes ago, C. Muir said:

2 defeats on the trot. Absolutely abysmal start to the campaign.

Friendlies are no gauge to anything bar friendly performances , you did ok,  teams full of trialists mean nothing in the long term .

[the_bully_wee]

2 minutes ago, haufdaft said:

Regarding dross, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Sean Higgins.

I'll never understand why Higgins and McLaughlin had their contracts extended.

Higgins narrowly missed out and, were there not dozens of them to list, he would have been one of the "honourable mentions". Scored a few important goals for us and showed some form in the 2015/16 season though, so that worked against his inclusion. A huge disappointment overall, though.