Clyde FC; Season 2022-23

[Guest andyp1301]

8 hours ago, Jack Burton said:

We were shite before the shut down and shite after it. We were just lucky that in Forfar and Dumbarton there was another two shite teams in the league.

If we sign another squad on par with the season just past then we will struggle to avoid finishing 10th. Queens Park will be a big improvement over Forfar.

We knew Nicoll and Love had been offered new contracts and I'm not surprised both are the first to resign. The clearly like it at the club and I doubt either would have had too many offers.

I'll be more interested to see who the first batch of the new signings are.

Queens Park will be challenging for the title in my opinion if the rumours are true about a former SPL manager taking over.

[SouthLanarkshireWhite]

34 minutes ago, andyp1301 said:

Welcome to the cabal SLW....you can be our stats expert.......;))))

Coals to Newcastle 

[David W]

Craig Watson leaving East Fife, rumours that Chris Higgins is as well. I would take both.

[BrigtonClyde]

Agree with others that when players move on as they always do, then so do we.

As for Grant specifically, not so sure it's to do with money.  Both him & McStay were good players for us, but for whatever reason, always got the impression that while they enjoyed playing, really they had other career ambitions.  If it's true RG is going to Stirling Uni, then it kind of makes sense.  Goes to Alloa with his father as manager, gets a full time wage for money in the bank, but probably didn't enjoy last season as they'd be constantly looking to grind out results and playing in a way that didn't suit his style.  Whereas Albion are local, he can play in a way he enjoys, get a bit of money and pursue what he wants to do without the pressure of possibly battling at the wrong end of the table.  Just my take on it.

Players are all different.  Rory McAllister made it clear for years he didn't want to go full time because he had a good job he enjoyed, so football was really his favourite pass time.  That could also easily have been Pat Nevin.  He'd been released by Celtic as a kid, was pursuing a Uni course, playing football with us for fun, but the move to Chelsea was the turning point as it convinced him it could actually be a viable career.

Anyway hopefully we get a few in who have the drive in them, whether a little experience still with the passion or younger fellas looking to possibly advance in football.  Just need to wait & see.

Is it time for a 2021 / 2022 thread yet ?  This farcical season's thankfully over !

[Guest andyp1301]

3 hours ago, BrigtonClyde said:

Agree with others that when players move on as they always do, then so do we.

As for Grant specifically, not so sure it's to do with money.  Both him & McStay were good players for us, but for whatever reason, always got the impression that while they enjoyed playing, really they had other career ambitions.  If it's true RG is going to Stirling Uni, then it kind of makes sense.  Goes to Alloa with his father as manager, gets a full time wage for money in the bank, but probably didn't enjoy last season as they'd be constantly looking to grind out results and playing in a way that didn't suit his style.  Whereas Albion are local, he can play in a way he enjoys, get a bit of money and pursue what he wants to do without the pressure of possibly battling at the wrong end of the table.  Just my take on it.

Players are all different.  Rory McAllister made it clear for years he didn't want to go full time because he had a good job he enjoyed, so football was really his favourite pass time.  That could also easily have been Pat Nevin.  He'd been released by Celtic as a kid, was pursuing a Uni course, playing football with us for fun, but the move to Chelsea was the turning point as it convinced him it could actually be a viable career.

Anyway hopefully we get a few in who have the drive in them, whether a little experience still with the passion or younger fellas looking to possibly advance in football.  Just need to wait & see.

Is it time for a 2021 / 2022 thread yet ?  This farcical season's thankfully over !

I was under the impression that Alloa are a part-time Club.

[Guest andyp1301]

4 hours ago, David W said:

Craig Watson leaving East Fife, rumours that Chris Higgins is as well. I would take both.

Definitely, Scott Agnew would be a great signing too.

[Replays]

Ben Armour released from Peterhead. Any takers?

[CM.]

5 minutes ago, Scott-Replay said:

Ben Armour released from Peterhead. Any takers?

Might be my ignorance to other clubs particularly this season when watching on streams and not being at the games - but genuinely never heard of him  

 

[SLClyde]

7 hours ago, David W said:

Craig Watson leaving East Fife, rumours that Chris Higgins is as well. I would take both.

We’ve not stabilised in league 1(just) and going into a third season, we need to be signing a better standard of player. 
 

I don’t know much about Watson but he can’t be that bad coming from East Fife, Higgins would also be good. 

[Pride Of The Clyde]

Higgins would definitely add some experience at the back, I think Howie would come on leaps and bounds playing along side him.

[Jack Burton]

Ben Armour released from Peterhead. Any takers?

No thanks, been shite for Peterhead and Dumbarton at this level.

Wouldn't mind Watson or Higgins.

[The Moonster]

I think you've offered Morgyn Neill a deal. 

[Replays]

At least we might score from a set piece if he signs.

[Bully Wee Clyde FC]

1 minute ago, Scott-Replay said:

At least we might score from a set piece if he signs.

Fu(£ no, we'll coach that right out him in the first week.

We are Clyde and we only score from open play. 

[David W]

I'd be fairly underwhelmed to be honest, if him and Rumsby were ever paired up it would be a nightmare. I think he does a decent job in that Dumbarton team but if that's the sort of player we're targeting then we're kind of heading in a particular direction that's not going to see us moving that far up the table. Similar to yesterday's renewals.

[SLClyde]

We need to be better defensively and Morgyn Neill is probably better than what we let go. He may also be better himself not playing in that Dumbarton team with that style of play. 

[David W]

12 minutes ago, SLClyde said:

We need to be better defensively and Morgyn Neill is probably better than what we let go. He may also be better himself not playing in that Dumbarton team with that style of play. 

Nah, going back to Stranraer/Stenny he's always been a head the ball centre half, not particularly good on the ball. He would benefit us when defending corner kicks but if we sign him we're aiming to be Dumbarton with Goodwillie up front. It would be a signing that would have Danny Lennon moving away from his favoured approach and that's never a good thing for a manager.

[Clydeside]

If it's true that we've offered terms to Morgyn Neill then I'm encouraged by that. In my opinion he is one of the better defenders in the league and has his best years ahead of him.

Like David W, I wince at the thought of him being paired with Scott Rumsby. And I agree that he isn't very good in possession. However, he would add stature, strength and aggression to our defence. He has more of those qualities about him than anything we had except Tom Lang.

On an optimistic view, our interest in Neill might indicate that we want a defence that does the basics well before anything else: getting to the ball first and reliably sending it back up the park, stopping the other team getting an easy foothold.

On the business of changing favoured approaches and the potential for us to become Dumbarton but with David Goodwillie up front. I know it's a bit silly to entertain the thought but I'm perfectly serious when I say that if Dumbarton had David Goodwillie playing up front they would have been well in the running for a play-off spot. And in a league which will have two or three full-time teams again next season that would be the height of our ambition anyway.

I recognise that Lennon has a favoured way of playing. However, it's not as though he's done without defenders like Neill while enjoying success at other clubs. I'm thinking about Cowdenbeath and St.Mirren there. So I don't think having our eye Neill carries any absolute implications for how we'll play. We were able to play the way he wanted with Rumsby or McNiff in the line at times. Neill's not a vast downgrade on those two in footballing terms. It would be a real indictment to say he was!

Even if we are going to change our approach, and I hope we do, it's worth remembering that we had transitioned to become a more direct outfit when we reached the play-off final under Barry Ferguson. There you have an example of a manager breaking with his preferences and achieving relative success.

It's the favoured approach that's the problem in the first place. Or the fixation on one approach. If you ever listen to Walter Smith talk about Rangers' sourcing strategies, budgets and how those were connected to the style of football Rangers played in his two spells at Rangers, there's a lesson in there for us. Beggars can't be choosers and philosophies are for the Greeks. Being unable to play in more than one mode has been our outstanding weakness since Lennon arrived. The best part-time teams have it in them to change things up: Cove, Montrose, Arbroath.

Capping off the rant now...! If Montrose can make the play-offs with defenders like Kerr Waddell and Queen of the South can make it into Europe with Jim Thomson we must have more to worry us than centre backs that can't play a bit.

Edited May 18, 2021 by Clydeside
Typo

[Guest andyp1301]

9 hours ago, Pride Of The Clyde said:

Higgins would definitely add some experience at the back, I think Howie would come on leaps and bounds playing along side him.

Has Howie decided to stay with us?

[Guest andyp1301]

4 hours ago, Clydeside said:

If it's true that we've offered terms to Morgyn Neill then I'm encouraged by that. In my opinion he is one of the better defenders in the league and has his best years ahead of him.

Like David W, I wince at the thought of him being paired with Scott Rumsby. And I agree that he isn't very good in possession. However, he would add stature, strength and aggression to our defence. He has more of those qualities about him than anything we had except Tom Lang.

On an optimistic view, our interest in Neill might indicate that we want a defence that does the basics well before anything else: getting to the ball first and reliably sending it back up the park, stopping the other team getting an easy foothold.

On the business of changing favoured approaches and the potential for us to become Dumbarton but with David Goodwillie up front. I know it's a bit silly to entertain the thought but I'm perfectly serious when I say that if Dumbarton had David Goodwillie playing up front they would have been well in the running for a play-off spot. And in a league which will have two or three full-time teams again next season that would be the height of our ambition anyway.

I recognise that Lennon has a favoured way of playing. However, it's not as though he's done without defenders like Neill while enjoying success at other clubs. I'm thinking about Cowdenbeath and St.Mirren there. So I don't think having our eye Neill carries any absolute implications for how we'll play. We were able to play the way he wanted with Rumsby or McNiff in the line at times. Neill's not a vast downgrade on those two in footballing terms. It would be a real indictment to say he was!

Even if we are going to change our approach, and I hope we do, it's worth remembering that we had transitioned to become a more direct outfit when we reached the play-off final under Barry Ferguson. There you have an example of a manager breaking with his preferences and achieving relative success.

It's the favoured approach that's the problem in the first place. Or the fixation on one approach. If you ever listen to Walter Smith talk about Rangers' sourcing strategies, budgets and how those were connected to the style of football Rangers played in his two spells at Rangers, there's a lesson in there for us. Beggars can't be choosers and philosophies are for the Greeks. Being unable to play in more than one mode has been our outstanding weakness since Lennon arrived. The best part-time teams have it in them to change things up: Cove, Montrose, Arbroath.

Capping off the rant now...! If Montrose can make the play-offs with defenders like Kerr Waddell and Queen of the South can make it into Europe with Jim Thomson we must have more to worry us than centre backs that can't play a bit.

That was a rant? I thought it all made perfect sense sir.......