Jump to content

The Queen of the South thread


Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, Manwithnoball said:

A good coach/manager can set up a team to get the best out of them.  You asked who I think Bartley would keep and going by his team selections that why I said those players and others I would keep as think they could improve. So when Bartley got the gig you categorically expected us not to improve at all poorer performances even if you say better PPG than WG but to be honest not a high bar. He started off playing Ruth in his first few games then pulled him off after 30 mins against Hamilton never to be seen again. Great man management that of a young boy. Wilson ridiculed him saying he was not die after bringing him on a week earlier against Kelty then leaving him out of squad the following week. Again great man management. Which we thought Bartley was bringing as he talked such a good game. He even said at the start of his tenure. That he has to get a team on the park anda formation that brings out the best in these players. Yet to see it. Then he plays more or less the same team for 5 games including the 👻 including 3 losses and a draw on Saturday. That's why I have my doubts plus his attitude is to blame everyone else but himself. 

Xenophopic and short term view. The guy is a highly intelligent, experienced coach that needs to bring his own squad in then judge him. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, Slipmat said:

I think that Bartley's demeanour in his most recent PM interview suggests that he himself knows that this season has gone down the pan, so one thing I would like to see him doing is giving some of the young guys who sit on, but never get off, the bench each week some game-time ahead of those who I'm guessing he has already decided he will be binning in the summer.  Try McMahon instead of Murray, give Muir some pitch time in the first team.  Maybe even recall Mendy from his loan (I assume we can) and give him some minutes to see how he handles first team responsibility... he seems to be as good a prospect as Irving, for example.

I also wouldn't be averse to trying some different formations as at the moment while we seem to be more compact, we are seeing Paton more isolated and as a team we're struggling to score as regularly as we were earlier in the season.  Who knows, we may even discover that a player proves more adept in a new role than that to which he has been deployed in to date - a sort of Euan East attacker to defender scenario. 

There's nothing to lose, the season is gone, so let's use the remaining games to see what we can take into next season.  We're not getting into the play-offs and we're not going down, so we might as well experiment.

Very sensible post. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, 19QOS19 said:

I'd argue Bartley is getting the best out of them. As Dougie said, this is about the worst group of FT footballers you're likely to see. No I absolutely did not ask you who you thought Bartley would keep, I asked who you'd keep. You named about 3 players and yet you still think we have a squad there that can get better? Can you not see the contradiction there? 

No I didn't expect us to improve. If you can be bothered trolling through the thread you'll see at no point did I call for WGs head and the reason being that the season was done. I said to give him until the end of the season and then get a new man in then. Why waste money sacking WG to bring someone in who won't be able to turn them around anyway? And again, lets face it, the BoD would have likely done exactly that had WG not got himself into bother. 

So he binned a shite Michael Ruth and it's bad man management and yet you're wanting him to do exactly that to Connor Murray? You can't use both as a rod to beat him with. McKechnie has had some of his best performances for us and Cochrane is a different player; nothing to do with MB?  He also got rid of Currie, Quitongo and McKenna (basically), 2 of which the fans in general were slating all season but he doesn't get credit for that? Dabroski is a massive improvement on Currie and Brydon has looked better every time I've seen him. Yet we continue to be shite: does that not suggest that the majority need to go?  

I don't think he has been blaming everyone but himself. I've found myself agreeing with every one of his post match interviews so far. What do you think he should be doing differently with the side? 

Great post! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, HighlandQueen said:

Xenophopic and short term view. The guy is a highly intelligent, experienced coach that needs to bring his own squad in then judge him. 

Don't be so stupid with comments like that. It's his first gig on his own he been a assistant manager and coach.  Because he speaks well he is highly intelligent. Like everyone else I will wait and hope when he gets his own players he shuts me up. Think it may be time for a break from here as you longer now allowed to express your own opinions without stupid comments.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Manwithnoball said:

Don't be so stupid with comments like that. It's his first gig on his own he been a assistant manager and coach.  Because he speaks well he is highly intelligent. Like everyone else I will wait and hope when he gets his own players he shuts me up. Think it may be time for a break from here as you longer now allowed to express your own opinions without stupid comments.

Your most sensible post ever. Bye

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Manwithnoball said:

I don't want him to do the same to Murray everyone apart from him can see he is not a player we need on our team. I agree for rid of our main weaknesses and brought supposedly better replacement but still the same. I think he should be making us hard to beat. Set us up in a way that we are not bombing forward all the time and leaving spaces all over our already fractured back line. Keep it tight scrape a wee 1-0 win. Do you honestly think with our budget next year we are going attract  level of players who will have is challenging. 

 

We're still the same because even 2 better players aren't enough to fix this shitshow. A complete clearout is needed - you've all but said that yourself! He is trying to make us hard to beat, you can see that with the set-up, the same set-up you're wanting him to change. He's clearly got Paton up front alone (with a couple trying to play off him) to give us an extra body further back. It's very frustrating when we're losing something going forward to replace it with some more defensive and yet we continue to lose goals that amateur sides would be embarrassed about. It's basic marking that's cost us the last few goals, not a result of us 'bombing forward and leaving spaces'. 

We'll be one of the only FT squads in the league next season. I've no idea what our budget will be but I'm confident it'll be one of the top 3 so yes we absolutely should be challenging. 

 

9 hours ago, Manwithnoball said:

 Like everyone else I will wait and hope when he gets his own players he shuts me up. 

You aren't waiting! You've given him 7 games and already have the daggers out. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, HighlandQueen said:

Xenophopic and short term view. The guy is a highly intelligent, experienced coach that needs to bring his own squad in then judge him. 

Struggling to see any xenophobia in the post you reply to. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, 19QOS19 said:

We'll be one of the only FT squads in the league next season. I've no idea what our budget will be but I'm confident it'll be one of the top 3 so yes we absolutely should be challenging. 

You aren't waiting! You've given him 7 games and already have the daggers out. 

As @19QOS19 says, the league should be a more level playing field than this season.  There is a good chance we will be losing both Dunfermline and Falkirk who clearly command bigger budgets than ourselves or say Airdrie (as the other FT side). Coming down will be either Accies, Arbroath or Cove and I can't see Accies or Arbroath having significantly bigger budgets than Queens/Airdrie - though something tells me that Cove may have some kind of rich sugar daddy funding behind them (but I'm not sure about that).  So yes, we should be able to pull together a squad capable of challenging.  That's not forgetting the likes of Alloa, Edinburgh, Montrose as strong PT sides.  If the rumours are right, I'm also sensing that Kelty's (conservatories?) sugar daddy is thinking of relocating his support to Kirkcaldy and if that's correct then Kelty's ambitions next season might have to be realigned.  Coming up from L2 could be Dumbarton or Stirling - so again, although having decent successful squads, they shouldn't have significantly larger budgets.

What worried me last summer with WG's recruitment was that quite a few were ... "players I've played with before or have known at other clubs" ... which is understandable to an extent but that's a "safe" recruitment strategy that very much has its limitations (which were sadly realised in practice as the season unfolded).  Instead, with MB, I feel that (although the usual agents will still be knocking on his door this summer) we will have access to a much wider network of contacts within the game both up here and below the border.  Plus, having regular contact with a mentor such as Eddie Howe has to be a positive.  So this makes me hopeful that we might see some interesting recruitment in the summer - despite not throwing around big buck deals.

Also, yes, MB talks well - wouldn't expect anything less given his media work.  But he's taken on a squad he didn't fancy from day 1 and he's acted on that where and when he could by ditching those that just weren't matching what he wanted.  He couldn't ditch the bulk of the rest because he had a season to finish so he's making the best out of what he has - and what he has will be de-motivated knowing that they are unlikely to get new deals for next season.  So not an easy task for him to manage just now.  However, he seems to be a clear decision maker, and that's a good start.

So, I'm staying glass half-full for the moment.

Edited by Otis Blue
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 14/03/2023 at 21:56, SUPERSOUTH said:

Hopefully the Glasgow Kilt walk on the Sunday will force the game to go ahead on the Saturday. Lots of road closures and police will be deployed to the walk. Wouldn't think they would want an Old Firm game on the same day. 

Rangers v Celtic is on the same day as Dobbie’s testimonial with a kick off of 1.30pm.

That’s far from ideal 😕

Link to comment
Share on other sites

29 minutes ago, the_palmy_pie said:

Rangers v Celtic is on the same day as Dobbie’s testimonial with a kick off of 1.30pm.

That’s far from ideal 😕

They may as well change the game to the Saturday then. Understand that would be difficult because we have already sold tickets though. All the glory hunting p***ks in the town would rather watch their “team” than go to the testimonial unfortunately.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Fae_the_'briggs said:

Struggling to see any xenophobia in the post you reply to. 

 

MB is a chap who hails from a different country and location to that of most prototypical managers in this league. Hence my comment. We are lucky to have such an intelligent guy in charge. I keep saying give him a chance to get his own people in then judge him. I know it’s frustrating but we are where we are. I personally think it will prove a good move rather than a Yogi Hughes or Jim McIntyre style appointment. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Otis Blue said:

As @19QOS19 says, the league should be a more level playing field than this season.  There is a good chance we will be losing both Dunfermline and Falkirk who clearly command bigger budgets than ourselves or say Airdrie (as the other FT side). Coming down will be either Accies, Arbroath or Cove and I can't see Accies or Arbroath having significantly bigger budgets than Queens/Airdrie - though something tells me that Cove may have some kind of rich sugar daddy funding behind them (but I'm not sure about that).  So yes, we should be able to pull together a squad capable of challenging.  That's not forgetting the likes of Alloa, Edinburgh, Montrose as strong PT sides.  If the rumours are right, I'm also sensing that Kelty's (conservatories?) sugar daddy is thinking of relocating his support to Kirkcaldy and if that's correct then Kelty's ambitions next season might have to be realigned.  Coming up from L2 could be Dumbarton or Stirling - so again, although having decent successful squads, they shouldn't have significantly larger budgets.

What worried me last summer with WG's recruitment was that quite a few were ... "players I've played with before or have known at other clubs" ... which is understandable to an extent but that's a "safe" recruitment strategy that very much has its limitations (which were sadly realised in practice as the season unfolded).  Instead, with MB, I feel that (although the usual agents will still be knocking on his door this summer) we will have access to a much wider network of contacts within the game both up here and below the border.  Plus, having regular contact with a mentor such as Eddie Howe has to be a positive.  So this makes me hopeful that we might see some interesting recruitment in the summer - despite not throwing around big buck deals.

Also, yes, MB talks well - wouldn't expect anything less given his media work.  But he's taken on a squad he didn't fancy from day 1 and he's acted on that where and when he could by ditching those that just weren't matching what he wanted.  He couldn't ditch the bulk of the rest because he had a season to finish so he's making the best out of what he has - and what he has will be de-motivated knowing that they are unlikely to get new deals for next season.  So not an easy task for him to manage just now.  However, he seems to be a clear decision maker, and that's a good start.

So, I'm staying glass half-full for the moment.

Terrific assessment. 100 percent agree with you. It’s all up to unlocking loans, winkling out diamonds in the rough and people that will be motivated to play for him in the summer than the predictable dross that WGS limited network gave us last summer. These players have given us nothing in terms of performance, courage or commitment this season and for the first time ever I don’t care if they all go.  Summed up when I saw them at Alloa, Kelty and Morton in the cup. When things were tough they just gave up and collapsed. Also in my 52 years watching Queens I have never seen a technically poorer, weaker and smaller defence. I hate not looking forward to the weekends but will be a wild ride next year. I’m hopeful. We all know where we are at the moment and do suck it up and start the hunt for the right group for next year

Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, HighlandQueen said:

... We all know where we are at the moment and do suck it up and start the hunt for the right group for next year

I'm sure Bartley is already talking to agents, contacts and players about next season - he'll have been doing this since day 1 in the job.  It's going to be an interesting summer that's for sure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, HighlandQueen said:

MB is a chap who hails from a different country and location to that of most prototypical managers in this league. Hence my comment. We are lucky to have such an intelligent guy in charge. I keep saying give him a chance to get his own people in then judge him. I know it’s frustrating but we are where we are. I personally think it will prove a good move rather than a Yogi Hughes or Jim McIntyre style appointment. 

Again I have read the post you reply to and can see no reference or derogatory statements that could in any way be described as Xenophobic. What was said could be levelled at any coach from any background. Maybe try not reading things into situations that don't exist. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Otis Blue said:

I'm sure Bartley is already talking to agents, contacts and players about next season - he'll have been doing this since day 1 in the job.  It's going to be an interesting summer that's for sure.

He has said on more than one occasion that the squad is far too big for his liking so I would expect that, after a couple of months working with the current gang, he has identified most of the areas which he wants to clear out and recruit for.  His problem is where he is going to find the new recruits from.  For example he has already stated that we are woefully short of wingers, and although the board offered to cover the cost of bringing a winger in on loan in February he declined, partly because of his reluctance to add yet another body to an already bulging squad but possibly he also felt that there were no suitable candidates available to bring in.

We're counting the cost of Gibson signing players of dubious merit, and then signing more players of dubious merit in an attempt to cover up his initial botched recruitment.  McKenna and Currie looked like being and proved to be disastrous signings from day one (and don't forget shortly after signing Currie he tried to entice Josh Rae back, a player who he had previously thought he didn't need).  Quitongo was no left-sided Cafu but aside from his positioning wasn't that bad, but Wullie still ended up signing another LB in Hendrie because he obviously didn't rate Quitongo.  Reilly proved to be a flop - and I take no pleasure in predicting he would be - but the back up signings he made, Ruth, the seemingly panic-bought Irving obviously aren't much better so he then wasted a loan on the equally inept Bange.

I'm hoping Bartley will operate with a squad of no more than 22/23 next season, which should hopefully allow the club to spread the wage bidget among far fewer players and entice players who aren't at the bottom of the barrel in the professional game.  Trouble is, we aren't exactly an attractive proposition for players who aren't in the last chance saloon in terms of playing football full-time as we look a long way from being a club capable of stopping the rot.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know someone is going to reply saying I’m talking pish but was speaking to Nicky Low in a pub in Glasgow a few weeks ago and he said Wullie offered him a deal to come back last summer but pulled the offer as they “signed that big boy instead”, presume he was referring to Bange.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, QoS99 said:

I know someone is going to reply saying I’m talking pish but was speaking to Nicky Low in a pub in Glasgow a few weeks ago and he said Wullie offered him a deal to come back last summer but pulled the offer as they “signed that big boy instead”, presume he was referring to Bange.

More likely Wilson.  Obviously Wullie doesn't set his fitness expectations as high as Marvin.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I get the feeling Wullie's recruitment policy was similar to the parent who buys their kid loads of toys for Christmas but doesn't check to see if batteries or leads are supplied and is then surprised when the said kid has a miserable Christmas day because none of his presents work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, QoS99 said:

I know someone is going to reply saying I’m talking pish but was speaking to Nicky Low in a pub in Glasgow a few weeks ago and he said Wullie offered him a deal to come back last summer but pulled the offer as they “signed that big boy instead”, presume he was referring to Bange.

Quite glad it never went through tbh. He was a very good player but given his carry on at Arbroath and his desire to move closer to home, I doubt we'd have got the season out him anyway. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, QoS99 said:

I know someone is going to reply saying I’m talking pish but was speaking to Nicky Low in a pub in Glasgow a few weeks ago and he said Wullie offered him a deal to come back last summer but pulled the offer as they “signed that big boy instead”, presume he was referring to Bange.

Yep, that would've been Wilson most likely.  I'd have happily taken Low back but the trouble is he's as equally injury prone as Wilson is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...