Exiled Fifer Posted March 26, 2022 Share Posted March 26, 2022 Well that was dreadfull and shocking this afternoon, the 9th game this year where we couldn’t score, and didn’t look like scoring, 9 out of 13 played. I hate to blow my own trumpet, ( but I will nonetheless), I expressed my concerns about where goals were going to come from in the absence of Smith and/or Wallace way back at the end of June last year. (All has now been proven, I just wish I could predict the winning lottery numbers. )Now this is not the blame or fault of the current management team but goes much further back even to last season. The current squad needs a complete overhaul in terms of age,quality and new faces but can the club afford paying top dollar for quality players to sign up for league 2 and is the youth ready to battle against seasoned campaigners. I doubt it. But let’s hope that we will be spared next season from the horrendous injury saga like this current season. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richey Edwards Posted March 26, 2022 Share Posted March 26, 2022 Your post made me feel like I was at an optician appointment. 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fifer67 Posted March 26, 2022 Share Posted March 26, 2022 Majority of players just not good enough for 1st division level just look at the boy Boyd playing for Alloa today couldn’t get a sniff of a game for East Fife a couple of years ago but he would comfortably be our best striker by some distance now. Lost a lot of quality and just never been replaced, last 2 weeks have been as bad as it has been. Not sure about Crawford but I’ll give him the benefit of building his own team and see where we go. Decent home crowd today but not sure many people will part with £15 to watch what has been served up last fortnight. Board not blameless in the mess we find ourselves in. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLClyde Posted March 26, 2022 Share Posted March 26, 2022 Even if you managed to catch Dumbarton, which isn’t impossible at this stage, I doubt you’d win the play offs based on what I saw last week. Since going up and the seasons since we came up you were always a decent outfit until this year. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FifeSons Posted March 27, 2022 Share Posted March 27, 2022 Hang on, East Fife don’t have a monopoly on relegation looming. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Specky Ginger Posted March 27, 2022 Share Posted March 27, 2022 10 hours ago, fifer67 said: Board not blameless in the mess we find ourselves in. You'll have Wee Jockie and his troops at your door with comments like that. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon EF Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 Even if we managed to squeak past Dumbarton and won the play-offs, we've got that look of a club who're just waiting to be relegated. It's probably best that we go down, rebuild and have a go at bouncing back relatively soon. The writing's been on the wall for a while. We clearly don't have the budget to compete with lots of the clubs around us but the squad has been allowed to degrade fairly alarmingly. Key areas of the squad were left with massive holes. We lost what would probably be our starting front two before the season even started and we've hobbling along with multiple injuries for what seems like forever. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CM. Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 I always thought Dunsmore was a good player and one I'd be happy to see rock up at Broadwood. Was surprised to see him loaned out to Stirling. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cambuslang Fifer Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 58 minutes ago, CM. said: I always thought Dunsmore was a good player and one I'd be happy to see rock up at Broadwood. Was surprised to see him loaned out to Stirling. For me dunsmore hasn’t been the same player since raith rovers were in the league and that was two/three seasons ago since then he and others have declined so bad to injuries, suspension and generally not the same player. Definitely one of players to move on and find his feet again sadly. Loaning him out to Stirling is why he hasn’t been getting game time either but like so many players who wants any of our players this year given we have been poor and most of the squad out injured. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon EF Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 (edited) Agreed on Dunsmore. I thought he was going to be a player who'd move up a level once he moved on from East Fife. One of our best players a few years ago. But his performances have really dipped over the past couple of years. I wonder if part of that is that he still wants to play right back when he's far better suited to a more advanced role. So he's kind of caught between becoming a better defender and focussing on RB and learning to be a better attacking midfielder and kicking on. There's still a player there and he's still young. I like him so hopefully a change of scenery does him good. Edited March 28, 2022 by Gordon EF 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Vojáček Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 (edited) 3 hours ago, Gordon EF said: Even if we managed to squeak past Dumbarton and won the play-offs, we've got that look of a club who're just waiting to be relegated.. That's how I feel we're looking at the moment too. And have been since early last season. It's more a matter of when we're relegated, not if. Could've been last season, could be this season, might be next season if we can somehow scrape survival. Who knows. But it's deflating. It feels like the club needs switched off at the wall, left for 30 seconds and then turned back on again. Statistically our recent league history is fairly bleak. We've only finished in the top half of a league once since 2012/13 (5th in the Championship, which was a cracking achievement to be fair) and only had a positive goal difference once in that time (+1 in 2013/14). Now that's skewed by staying in the Championship (which, of course, was superb) - but I've only seen a Dumbarton team not embroiled in a relegation battle once since the 2011/12 season. I don't want us to go down. Naturally. And likewise I fear we'd be stuck at the wrong end of League Two - just as our former rivals in the Championship Brechin and Cowdenbeath have been. But this struggling every year to keep our heads above water thing is fairly exhausting. And it's not exactly helping boost our home crowds. Even with £10 entry and free for kids we only had just over 400 at the weekend. Edited March 28, 2022 by Jan Vojáček 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fifer67 Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 It’s no coincidence to find East Fife and Dumbarton in dire straights the whole ownership thing of both clubs is a mess that doesn’t look like being resolved any time soon. Silent owners not interested in the football side of things only seeing the land round about the stadiums as a cash cow. No financial input from either owners so there is no way any of the two of us are competing against teams paying players £500 per week. I’d assume a good wage at East Fife or Dumbarton would be £250 to £ 300. You need owners who are going to engage with the community at this level and engage with local businesses. There is no way the East Fife team of the last 2 weeks will win 2 more games so Dumbarton pretty safe in 9th place. Since your Kelly’s and Cove have came around and started to fling silly money around it’s been a dream for players as they can negotiate much bigger salaries. If your team can’t afford the £500 per week gong rate for a league one player you’ll find it harder and harder to compete. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon EF Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 56 minutes ago, fifer67 said: Since your Kelly’s and Cove have came around and started to fling silly money around it’s been a dream for players as they can negotiate much bigger salaries. If your team can’t afford the £500 per week gong rate for a league one player you’ll find it harder and harder to compete. Part-time clubs without external funding are going to have to accept that it's going to be much more difficult to live in League One for the foreseeable future. I'd much prefer we kept to a sensible, sustainable player budget than try to compete with the likes of Kelty or Cove or get caught up in some salary spiral for average League One players. Their money won't last forever, just wait them out. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockson Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 6 hours ago, Gordon EF said: I'd much prefer we kept to a sensible, sustainable player budget than try to compete with the likes of Kelty or Cove or get caught up in some salary spiral for average League One players. Their money won't last forever, just wait them out. Waiting them out is all well and good, and much to be wished for, but there's the possibility it might have to be in the Lowland League. The slippery slope can be difficult to escape from. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon EF Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 1 minute ago, rockson said: Waiting them out is all well and good, and much to be wished for, but there's the possibility it might have to be in the Lowland League. The slippery slope can be difficult to escape from. Medium to long term, trying to compete with the wages Kelty et al are paying is more likely to put you in the Lowland League. I don't fancy being in L2 five years from now absolutely fucked by overspending when it's only going to get harder to avoid the trapdoor. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockson Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 2 minutes ago, Gordon EF said: Medium to long term, trying to compete with the wages Kelty et al are paying is more likely to put you in the Lowland League. I don't fancy being in L2 five years from now absolutely fucked by overspending when it's only going to get harder to avoid the trapdoor. I think Dumbarton are more likely to be fucked by lack of cash all round than overspending. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fifer67 Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 Cove Rangers and Kelty Hearts average home attendance this season is 660 and that’s on a season where they are having runaway league success. Airdrie running a full time set up averaging 800 fans clearly outside resources funding all this, at what stage does the Gretna impact kick in. When your depending on one man like Brooks Mileson then it will clearly run it’s course. How long can Falkirk go on running a full time club paying one player a reported £1500 per week . Good luck to them all but the figures don’t add up, 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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