The 2021/2022 Championship

[Shandon Par]

10 hours ago, Otis Blue said:

So ..... back to the 2021/2022 Championship......

Peter Grant then ..... enhances the Pars prospects or not .....?

Certainly enhances our chances of finishing in the bottom two. 

[TxRover]

7 hours ago, virginton said:

What 'budgetary issue' was in place at Alloa that didn't apply to Arbroath, who were streets ahead of them in both seasons Grant was there?

Any manager whose club ended up comfortably cut adrift at the bottom of this rancid league just finished did not do his job properly. When push came to shove, Grant's side was a soft touch. 

Well, where shall we begin. Perhaps by looking at the composition of the teams, which seems to show a directive from the top at Alloa to maximize the use of loanees rather than signing players. Despite a higher club valuation (source, Company House filings), Alloa were obviously building the team on the cheap where Arbroath took the path of building a more compact team, with signings preferred over loanees.

Alloa has constantly tried to economize its team building, consider their Championship finishing positions of eighth, eighth and tenth. The Rec has less than half the capacity of Gayfield, and average attendance at the Rec is1,100-1,200 versus 1,400-1,500 at Gayfield. To suggest that the manager at Alloa was more financially constrained than the manager at Arbroath seems quite fair.

[vikingTON]

That'll be a 'no idea mate' buried beneath a lorryload of non-sequitur rubbish and bluster.

[TxRover]

40 minutes ago, virginton said:

That'll be a 'no idea mate' buried beneath a lorryload of non-sequitur rubbish and bluster.

And that’s a “I have no response”, tarted up with incorrectly punctuated Latin and a bit of puffery. Why don’t you just trot off to the Morton thread and start bitching about those two-year deals.

[vikingTON]

1 hour ago, TxRover said:

And that’s a “I have no response”, tarted up with incorrectly punctuated Latin and a bit of puffery. Why don’t you just trot off to the Morton thread and start bitching about those two-year deals.

^^^ verge of tears

'Alloa have got a wee ground so must be paying less money' was my personal favourite from your giant stack of nonsense: most of all given that the season was played behind closed doors. 

[TxRover]

1 hour ago, virginton said:

^^^ verge of tears

'Alloa have got a wee ground so must be paying less money' was my personal favourite from your giant stack of nonsense: most of all given that the season was played behind closed doors. 

Really, since I never mentioned only this season, and the monetary figures available are from 2019 and/or 2020…you’ll have to try better.  There’s also the minor point of Alloa’s streaming being, putting it mildly, shite for the first half of the season…certainly impacts revenue too. Now, about those two-year contacts your team is currently handing out like candy at Halloween…

[Lichtie78]

Well, where shall we begin. Perhaps by looking at the composition of the teams, which seems to show a directive from the top at Alloa to maximize the use of loanees rather than signing players. Despite a higher club valuation (source, Company House filings), Alloa were obviously building the team on the cheap where Arbroath took the path of building a more compact team, with signings preferred over loanees.
Alloa has constantly tried to economize its team building, consider their Championship finishing positions of eighth, eighth and tenth. The Rec has less than half the capacity of Gayfield, and average attendance at the Rec is1,100-1,200 versus 1,400-1,500 at Gayfield. To suggest that the manager at Alloa was more financially constrained than the manager at Arbroath seems quite fair.

We only stayed up because of loanees lol

[TxRover]

1 hour ago, Lichtie78 said:

We only stayed up because of loanees lol

But how many loanees? Alloa was brimful of them compared to Arbroath.

[Lichtie78]

But how many loanees? Alloa was brimful of them compared to Arbroath.

Well, in the game we won 2-1 at Gayfield at the start of April we had 4 loanees starting and another on the bench. From what I can see Alloa had 2 in their whole squad.

[1320Lichtie]

We’re a bigger club than Alloa but Alloa are very well backed by Mulraney. 
 

Difference is I think we have the best back 4 and goalkeeper available at part time level and a solid reliable group of versatile experienced pros in midfield too. Our squads all a good age. We lacked a killer instinct and cutting edge at the start of the season and we managed to get that from loanees.

[TxRover]

7 hours ago, Lichtie78 said:

Well, in the game we won 2-1 at Gayfield at the start of April we had 4 loanees starting and another on the bench. From what I can see Alloa had 2 in their whole squad.

The numbers I saw indicated otherwise, but you are more in tune and likely more correct with direct knowledge. In that case I retain the suggestion for his Norwich career and posit that a lack of support for loanees may have occurred at Alloa.

1 hour ago, 1320Lichtie said:

We’re a bigger club than Alloa but Alloa are very well backed by Mulraney. 
 

Difference is I think we have the best back 4 and goalkeeper available at part time level and a solid reliable group of versatile experienced pros in midfield too. Our squads all a good age. We lacked a killer instinct and cutting edge at the start of the season and we managed to get that from loanees.

Agree that they are backed, but not sure how “well”. There were obvious gaps in the team that Grant wasn’t given the ability to fill, which suggests his support was “measured”. With those handcuffs removed, I’m quite worried he’ll do much better.

[1320Lichtie]

6 minutes ago, TxRover said:

The numbers I saw indicated otherwise, but you are more in tune and likely more correct with direct knowledge. In that case I retain the suggestion for his Norwich career and posit that a lack of support for loanees may have occurred at Alloa.

Agree that they are backed, but not sure how “well”. There were obvious gaps in the team that Grant wasn’t given the ability to fill, which suggests his support was “measured”. With those handcuffs removed, I’m quite worried he’ll do much better.

Well Alloa probably quite similar size to Montrose or Forfar or whatever but always seem to attract the better part time players. Mulraney plus location plus relative success obviously play a part but they seem to be a very well run club.
 

I think Grant will do well but he does kind of have a David Brent feel about him for some reason.

[TxRover]

Just now, 1320Lichtie said:

Well Alloa probably quite similar size to Montrose or Forfar or whatever but always seem to attract the better part time players. Mulraney plus location plus relative success obviously play a part but they seem to be a very well run club.
 

I think Grant will do well but he does kind of have a David Brent feel about him for some reason.

No doubt that Alloa are a prime example of a well run League One team, one that managed to bob up to the  Championship for a couple of years before dropping back to a more natural level. It also singles out Arbroath as the sole possible PT question mark in the Championship. It will be interesting to see if being the only PT club at this level will actually attract the best available PT players.

[1320Lichtie]

2 minutes ago, TxRover said:

No doubt that Alloa are a prime example of a well run League One team, one that managed to bob up to the  Championship for a couple of years before dropping back to a more natural level. It also singles out Arbroath as the sole possible PT question mark in the Championship. It will be interesting to see if being the only PT club at this level will actually attract the best available PT players.

I’d say we already do have a lot of them but there’s not much in it. I think Gaston is up there but there’s not too many good goalies about. ToB and Little hands down best centre halves, JT and Hammy no sure how we could improve on them too much, same goes with a lot of others, maybe not the best but nobody outstanding that I can think of who would definitely improve on them. Kelty have a few, Cove too, Alloa... then most teams got a star man or one or two standouts. We are never going to be in a position where we could have every single best part time player in each position.
 

Plus our squads a solid one, core of them have been together a long time so that helps a lot. We have quite a few signings to make so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of player DC is able to attract. Imagine players will be wanting to play under the guy. 
 

But we are in for a hard season but I’m looking forward to it. 

[TxRover]

1 minute ago, 1320Lichtie said:

We are never going to be in a position where we could have every single best part time player in each position.
 

Plus our squads a solid one, core of them have been together a long time so that helps a lot. We have quite a few signings to make so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of player DC is able to attract. Imagine players will be wanting to play under the guy. 
 

But we are in for a hard season but I’m looking forward to it. 

Always the case, but it gives you the ability to pick and chose the ones that fit best with your established core. The only caveat to that is there is a tendency to stay entrenched with the core a bit too long and that’s what normally causes the drop after a few seasons. You have a small handicap with your location not being as favorable as it might be for the PT crowd, but as you note, a solid team and coach is a draw.

Good, but not too good, luck next year!

[1320Lichtie]

11 minutes ago, TxRover said:

Always the case, but it gives you the ability to pick and chose the ones that fit best with your established core. The only caveat to that is there is a tendency to stay entrenched with the core a bit too long and that’s what normally causes the drop after a few seasons. You have a small handicap with your location not being as favorable as it might be for the PT crowd, but as you note, a solid team and coach is a draw.

Good, but not too good, luck next year!

We train in Perth tbf and I know people in the central belt seem to think anything north of Stirling is for Teuchters but Glasgow and Edinburgh only an hour / hour and 40 away. 
 

Aye same to you I cannot fucking wait.

[Derry Alli]

3 hours ago, 1320Lichtie said:

I think Grant will do well but he does kind of have a David Brent feel about him for some reason.

Perhaps this? :

20 hours ago, Sh*teAndMuck said:

"They saw my CV on the football pitch," Grant says. "I don't believe in putting a CV in because, if I did, I would blow everybody else away anyway. I don't mean that disrespectfully."

[1320Lichtie]

6 minutes ago, Mr. Alli said:

Perhaps this? :

Can’t be real?????? Wtf  

 

He does come out with a lot of shite but I was just going off the way he looks in that suit and tie. Looks like a car salesman. Not sure how the players will take to the guy... 

[Cardle is Magic]

I’m all for Peter Grant being an arrogant b*****d tbh, as much as I think he’s the wrong appointment. Crawford’s interviews sounded like he’d had his charisma removed at birth.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

I don't know much about the detail behind the finances at Alloa and Arbroath.

What I will say is that although both teams were pretty well organised when they faced us, I felt Arbroath just had a bit more quality about them.

If that's down to finances or the manager's own recruitment is another matter.