Clyde FC; Season 2022-23

[Bullyweeno1]

3 hours ago, Brian Carrigan said:

He shouldn't be above criticism but you can see exactly why he's in the huff. I'd be in the huff too if I were one of the best players in the league, surrounded by dross with a manager that employs an extremely odd set of tactics with a shambolic recruitment policy.

Against Montrose, he was being asked to play as a 10 in behind Tade and Jones, with no one in midfield capable of linking up. There's only so much 'f**k it, I'll do it myself' a man can do.

Agree with above that no one should be above criticism but you can hardly blame DGW for appearing huffy given the rubbish he has to play with and the lack of service he gets.

In any decent team built around him and playing to his strengths he would score 30+ goals a season in L1.

Lets face it, the majority of the goals he has scored this season he has self constructed out of half chances or have been penalties.

He nearly created a goal out of nothing on Saturday that hit the bar.  No one else could come close in the team of doing that.

[Clyde01]

Goodie is the only player except Cunningham to score since august. Our recruitment should have been totally based around getting a team and system to effectively service Goodie. No wonder he is frustrated with how things are going. If he gets injured we are in deep trouble as our back up striker (Jones) couldn’t score in a brothel.

[Bullyweeno1]

4 hours ago, Clyde01 said:

Goodie is the only player except Cunningham to score since august. Our recruitment should have been totally based around getting a team and system to effectively service Goodie. No wonder he is frustrated with how things are going. If he gets injured we are in deep trouble as our back up striker (Jones) couldn’t score in a brothel.

With Goodie we have a glimmer of hope finishing in 8th (just a flicker mind you).

Without Goodie we are definitely finishing 10th as would predict that other than Goodie there will probably be less than 15 goals scored by other players over the rest of the league campaign.  Maybe even less than 10 as from a quick check we have scored 4 goals in the league other than by DGW (2 v Montrose away from Jones and Love and 2 v EF away from Cunningham).  That 4 goals out of 11 games from all players other than DGW.  About a goal ever 3 games.  There is 25 games still to go over the league campaign so keeping that ratio up would mean other players scoring about 8 or 9 over the remaining 25 games.

[ClydeFCTheBullyWee]

People heading to broadwood tonight, what sort of questions will you all be asking ? I have a few in mind but interested to see if people have the same sort of ideas. 

Edited October 26, 2021 by ClydeFCTheBullyWee

[haufdaft]

Fully expect Clyde fans to come away from the meeting tonight reassured about the squad and their performances this season.

Then lose 4-0 to an awful Falkirk team on Saturday.

[DGW9]

11 minutes ago, ClydeFCTheBullyWee said:

People heading to broadwood tonight, what sort of questions will you all be asking ? I have a few in mind but interested to see if people have the same sort of ideas. 

What annual quota of pies will it take to sign a decent CB

[Clyde01]

People heading to broadwood tonight, what sort of questions will you all be asking ? I have a few in mind but interested to see if people have the same sort of ideas. 

Just make sure it’s a question and not a statement. [emoji6]

[FREDDYFRY]

I just simply want to know if Lennon’s signings were first choice (surely not). If not, was that because we are not capable to compete financially with other cubs  and if so why sign 5-6 dross rather than maybe 2 real quality.

Is Goodie and perhaps Parry taking up too much of our budget?

just be honest with us.. are we struggling to be a L1 club financially?

[chas]

Please for those attending tonight, can we have an honest report on here given that it is not "owners only" this evening. Especially the signing v budget debate. I, personally, find it difficult to accept why the likes of Dumbarton, Montrose, Peterhead, East Fife et al have better budgets than us.

[Brian Carrigan]

3 hours ago, ClydeFCTheBullyWee said:

People heading to broadwood tonight, what sort of questions will you all be asking ? I have a few in mind but interested to see if people have the same sort of ideas. 

Personally, I'll mainly be trying to ask about the signing policy - I want the process to be fleshed out, from top to bottom.

We have players in the squad who, without debate, aren't good enough for this league and clearly were never going to be, and we've ended up with a bloated squad with players even being shipped out on loan before they've kicked a ball. I want to know how, with the combined experience of our manager and recruitment team, this was allowed to happen, and I want to know what the answers are.

[haufdaft]

We as fans should be looking forward to watching the players training tonight.

Eager to see a "hungry" set of players "training hard", "determined to make amends for another poor performance" and "under no illusions that there is still work to be done at both ends of the pitch".

[Clyde01]

Someone ask Danny if he has Paul Watsons phone number and if he does tell him to use it.

Would also be good if our chairman would elaborate on the positive performances he has seen this season as mentioned in his recent statement. As I haven’t seen them….

[Bullyweeno1]

Unfortunately wont be able to attend tonight due to family commitments.

But like most people would just like honest answer at to whether the signings were all DL first choice or whether they were as I expect his 2nd or 3rd choices or more maybe worse for that position.

Why was the policy to sign 25 of mostly dross when surely the prudent approach would be so sign 14 players who could realistically compete

What is the plan going forward to avoid the bottom 2 places this season.

Edited October 26, 2021 by Bullyweeno1

[Bully Wee Clyde FC]

8 hours ago, ClydeFCTheBullyWee said:

People heading to broadwood tonight, what sort of questions will you all be asking ? I have a few in mind but interested to see if people have the same sort of ideas. 

Things we learned tonight:

The Arria looks great.

We have invested big time in sport science.

We have invested big time in The Diamond Corr mob who have match analysts at opposition games and provides reports 

PJ sits in the stand and gives regular update to Danny.

PJ is no IT guru and could only share some of his lap top output.

We were led into false beliefs that guys were gonna sign but they were actually using us to negotiate better deals.

We missed out in a number of signings

Danny talked about his tenner at the club

DL made a rousing case for retaining his job based on 4 promotions, 2 play offs and a league cup win

Dominic Diamond said one word all night. "Lions" although he could have meant "Lyons". 

DL believes things will turn for the better. 

We decided not to train tonight and instead played Gretna in a bounce match with a good few 1st team regulars included in our team.

DL, the chairman, Matty& Corr came over well.  The audience of around 35 listened respectfully and asked question on signings, midfielders, confidence, corners...

[FREDDYFRY]

When asked if he had anything to say Diamond said; “No!” 

Helpful eh?

Basically, looks like Danny was convinced he had several players coming (and seemed to agree to sign) only for them to accept more money from other sides. 
 

Lennon as passionate as ever and essentially claiming he will see us out of this… January will need to be miracle time I think.

[CM.]

Would've been nice if he used some examples of players who were "in the door" before going elsewhere but appreciate it would probably come across unprofessional. 

Post above has pretty much covered everything although perhaps should've been more discussion than powerpoint presentations. 

Only stayed for the first half of the bounce game but we were 1-0 up with Kennedy scoring a decent goal. Shape varied from 352 to 442 with Mortimer as a RB/RWB and Docherty as LCB/LB at times. Page and Balatoni made up the defence. Deveney, Splaine, Nicoll and Kennedy in midfield with McGrath partnering Jones. 

 

[Clydeside]

I thought the forum was good.

Danny was humble about our form, some of the decisions he has made and very frank about the difficulties we experienced in recruiting players over the summer. He gave a strong and timely defence of himself in response to the criticism he's faced recently while never coming over as bitter about it. Whatever else might be said about him, he loves Clyde: the supporters, his staff and the players. That comes over more so than with any other Clyde manager I can remember.

There was a good explanation given by both Danny and PJ about the approach the club has to recruitment and who is the ultimate decision maker. That's Danny, for the avoidance of doubt. The performance, match and opposition analysis operations we have are clearly methodical and akin to what you see even at the bigger clubs. And they're more generously staffed than I'd thought. On its face that's all very encouraging.

Perhaps the most encouraging takeaway is that we're actively looking to recruit. That is, right this minute and with a mind to January in particular. We're actively looking at players and making inquiries about bringing them in. The clearest hint given on that front was that a loan of one or more players from Celtic, Rangers or St.Mirren might be possible in January.

As someone else wrote, it would've been better to devote more time to the Q&A with Danny. These events usually see supporters grow in confidence the longer they go on and I think a couple of hours should be set aside for the next forum if possible. But that's a very minor criticism. Nobody could say they didn't have a chance to speak.

I would've liked to pry a bit more into his opinions on some of our central defenders and midfielders.

What more can you say...

Danny said something I think we can all sympathise with: that he hates to use Barry Cuddihy anywhere else but in the middle of the park such is his importance to the midfield. But he recognises that he's been just about the best choice for right-back at the same time so he's been torn with that decision. He also mentioned the loss of Mitchell and highlighted Mitchell's ability to distribute the ball accurately as something that's hard to replace, without suggesting that it has been the cause of our poor form of course.

I think on the should he stay or go question, his mind is made up: he'll never walk. He loves the job too much. Fair play to him. For us supporters, I still think the question is: who comes in with a better record? I couldn't name anyone. I think we're best lining up behind him and the team until there's a loss of spirit akin to what we saw with Bomber and Millar. For myself I think we're miles away from that still. A few Montrose-style performances could get us there. But I prefer to think we'll stick it out however patchily until January and start to compete better then, once we've strengthened. We are only a couple of good results and pieces of good luck off the play-off spots after all.

Edited October 26, 2021 by Clydeside
Typo

[Bullyweeno1]

1 hour ago, Bully Wee Clyde FC said:

Things we learned tonight:

The Arria looks great.

WHO CARES WHAT THE ARRIA LOOKS LIKE 

We have invested big time in sport science.

WHAT IS THE SCIENCE SAY - “NOT GOOD ENOUGH” HOPEFULLY

We have invested big time in The Diamond Corr mob who have match analysts at opposition games and provides reports 

THAT WOULD BE EASY CUT AND PASTE JOB EACH WEEK - “THIS TEAM GOING TO PUMP US NEXT WEEK”

PJ sits in the stand and gives regular update to Danny.

DANNY IT LOOKS S*** UP HERE ALSO

PJ is no IT guru and could only share some of his lap top output.

 

We were led into false beliefs that guys were gonna sign but they were actually using us to negotiate better deals.

THAT HAPPENS IN ALL WALKS OF LIFE. MOVE ON AND DEAL WITH

We missed out in a number of signings

GOOD TO KNOW HOW MANY - 1, 2, 3 or 15,16,17 OR SOMETHING IN BETWEEN

Danny talked about his tenner at the club

DL made a rousing case for retaining his job based on 4 promotions, 2 play offs and a league cup win

DISTANT PAST - LAST SEASON AND THIS HAVE BEEN S***

Dominic Diamond said one word all night. "Lions" although he could have meant "Lyons". 

DL believes things will turn for the better. 

OBVIOUSLY HE WOULD - I DISAGREE

We decided not to train tonight and instead played Gretna in a bounce match with a good few 1st team regulars included in our team.

DL, the chairman, Matty& Corr came over well.  The audience of around 35 listened respectfully and asked question on signings, midfielders, confidence, corners...

Comments above to each point in bold and caps to stand out 

[haufdaft]

Interesting meeting. The way I saw the meeting:

Interesting that Head of Football Operations, Graham Diamond, chose to say absolutely nothing when the main theme of the questions and one of the presentations were about recruitment. Why did he even bother to turn up?

I was trying to think of the player Lennon mentioned who played in the championship, indicated he was signing for us then signed for a League two team. I wondered if it was a certain ex Alloa player.

Curious that with all the effort both financially and man hours spent that our recruitment is so poor

Lennon definitely isn't happy with many of his squad. Am I wrong to suggest that he indicated that some in the squad are mentally weak (in football terms)?

We've now recruited a sports psychologist. We're certainly putting a lot of our resources into the sports sciences. It needs to pay off at some point surely.

We've signed two right backs and still Danny things Cuddihy is the best right back at the club.

There was suggestions that we seek some loans from the old firm in January. Hopefully, we're looking at loans from other clubs too.

Lennon also stated that he is very grateful for the support from the board. He again stated he takes full responsibility for the situation we're in. Head of football operations, Graham Diamond said nothing! Credit to Danny Lennon for taking on the full responsibility (although I'd blame Robert Jones)

Staunch defence of his position by the manager. He said he was going nowhere and loves the club as much as we do.

Danny said he wasn't patronising the fans in attendance. With respect, I think he did patronise a little. That irritates me more than it should.

Disappointed that it didn't have the Falkirk level of entertainment but a worthwhile exercise by the club that I'm glad will be repeated.

[Clydeside]

One thing I didn't mention was something that was discussed on this forum just as last season ended. That was the business of budgets and when the manager gets an amount of certainty about those so that he can recruit.

I remember a thread of conversation which saw some supporters argue that it was unrealistic to expect budgetary certainty towards the end of last season with our fate hanging in the balance. Other supporters argued that it was realistic because, for example, Montrose were signing players when their fate too hung in the balance. Albeit we were looking over our shoulder and Montrose were looking up to the prospect of playing in the Championship. The same rules apply.

It seems that Danny has asked and we're going to try in future to speed-up the budgeting process so that we can get as much certainty as possible as early as possible, all so that we can get an edge which we might (just might, mind) have lacked in the player market before now. So those supporters who argued that we should've or could've been signing players just when Montrose were doing the same at the end of last season had a point. It seems we can do better there.