wellsince75

Personal view - hire someone who’s already in a job. pay the signing on fee rather than forking out compensation . someone like Ian Murray who’s done well in the championchip or Dave Challinor who’s worked wonders at Stockport managers who have hundreds of games with +40% win record in lower leagues but still hungry to do more is where I’d look .

completely agree. We're averaging less than a point a game and won 3 games from 15. Unless we improve we're on track to be bottom 2 (based on how the league has played out in recent years) Need to improve the win ratio.

thats good news. If we could get back to McGinn, Butcher & Casey as the back 3 we'd be a bit stronger.

Since being a sole manager he's managed 54 games and won 38%. Not brilliant but good enough for us (if sustained) This season our league our win rate is 20%. After 15 games it's no longer a throw away stat. Thats Malpas level poor and almost certainly bottom 2 if you look over the history books. Those running the club have a lot to answer for. Need for a CEO , longer term strategy, invest in youth etc. Spend money on a manager with a proven record. Example Stockports manager has over 700 games and a win record of +50% . Closer to home Ian Murray has over 300 games as a manger with a +40% win record. These are the types of managers we should be looking at. Rather than picking up someone who's been booted out for being poor elsewhere , hire someone a club actually wants to keep and who may want to step up a level.

Brutally cold weather. Team not won since summer months. Need to buy xmas presents. Quite impressed 3.5K well minded fans committed to the cause.

Surprised so many votes for Bevis - for central defender his positioning is often left wanting . that said not easy to pick a winner .

For me SOD switches off and doesn’t really any much value . It’s poor that he’s had so many contract extensions. what frustrates me is Spencer was brought in to replace him and has been pushed to left back . just play Spencer in his natural position please

Hammell had lost the plot and lost the dressing room. the 4-3-3 we were playing was killing us. SK came in, changed formation and got things moving well. During this time we had Defence. Johnstone, Mcginn, Butcher, Casey, Butcher Midfield. Spittal, Goss, Slattery, Strikers. Obika & KVV I suspect the majority of "well fans would prefer that starting 11 to the one we had today. Other than Mika I don't believe we've improved any of the squad. Mugabi, SOD, Paton all being first team picks, with even worse sitting on the bench. I really don't believe we've improved what we had in terms of players. In addition to that we've lost the basics and really have no obvious game plan. @Great Balls of Shire I'm not calling for the managers head but I'm frustrated that after his very positive start he's made a chops of signings and in last few months lost the plot with game plan. There's a fair amount we need to sort out.

He did basics well a year ago - Hammell had lost the plot . hes lost the basics and brought in utter dross . hes not doing well - I don’t think there can be a debate that we have better players now than 12 months ago - we simply don’t

We’re a significsntly worse team that when SK arrived . When he first came in mugabi and sod were no where near the first team. we now have a right back playing left back , a centre half in midfield , piss poor midfielders , one decent loan striker and the rest dross . Three months of being absolutely dreadful and no signs of sorting the basics

Officials doing their best to distract us . were now playing with 1 midfielder

3 man midfield just doesn’t work for us . Teams waltz through us . Hard to believe Davir not good enough in addition we dont put any pressure on the opposition - we sit off them the basics that SK initially brought are a long and distant memory .

What a difference having a striker who can hold the ball and bring others into the game

Exactly what we need . Early goal and getting ourselves in front

Fair to say all perm recruitment was poor and thus far complete waste of money. If SK hadn't pleaded poverty so often perhaps people would be less annoyed about Bair . Even if washers it's a waste of time, money and resources.

completely agree. DT was one of the few players I've seen over the years that ooze quality. It's as if he see's the game in slow motion, his timing, positioning a complete joy. In my 40+ years following us Cooper, Faddy & Turnbull were on a different level to any other player. Looking forward to unearthing a 4th some time soon.

Completely agree - we saw players like Lambert making a huge success by going abroad. Turnbull would excel and I hope he goes on to much bigger and better things. Class act both on and off the pitch.

I don't believe the player covers himself in any glory here. Moving back to Holland whilst family are in the UK is a bit odd. He's touted himself loud and clear for the bigger boys in Scottish football to come and get him. KVV always had 2 sides . The moody one when he didn't get his way v's the happy chap who banged them in. I'm not sold his return to Scottish football would be a repeat of last season. Albeit more than good enough for us. Like you mentioned I'd be delighted and flabbergasted if he ended up with us, more likely Hearts/Hibs/Aberdeen.

Assume the manager just doesn't rate him. He looked reasonably neat/tidy defensive midfield type player. I'd have liked to see him have a run of games to see ,he's international so must have something to offer. If deemed not good enough then another shameful signing. Suspect Butcher will remain in midfield.

Personal view is we were stronger with Butcher in midfield - albeit all the team ended up very deep in the last 2 months teams have carved straight through our midfield . Slattery and Spittal are ok moving forward but weak defensively . Butcher in the holding role made it tough to play through us . butcher added a bit of bite and for now I think better off on midfield. We need 4 in midfield when we play spittal and slattery . I think one needs dropped if we continue to play the 3-5-2 / 5-3-2

brilliant post @David. Get your CV in for the CEO role. You've outlined a very clear vision and strategy that can be adopted . Really enjoyable read.

Just heard, ahead of the Dundee game VAR has already awarded the pre-emptive booking for Slattery. He must be closing in on his personal ambition/points tally for suspension.

Like always I suspect the crowd have a disproportionate impact on all decisions. It was very soft, very very soft. If Obika hadn't scored I have little faith we would have been awarded a penalty for the arm around Obikas waist .

Delighted that Kelly had a much improved game. like several players he's not been at his peak this season and hoping this gives him the confidence boost to get back to his top form. I also thought the whole team offered much better protection and really limited Celtic to less than 5 decent chances.

this is generally the shape I'd go with. Biggest concern is the 3 across the midfield really are weak as a collective. Overall there's a few variations of who could play where (Butcher, SOD, Mugabi, Davor etc) but it needs to be this or a very old fashioned 4-4-2 in the next 3 games where we go out on the offensive, get ahead win and cheer us all up.