joewarkfanclub

Would have voted none of the above, but as that isnt an option I voted Casey as less shite than the rest. But that was pushing it a little.....

That was totally unacceptable today. Im not sure what has happened to Wimmer, but for the second, maybe third week in a row, there was no intensity, no high ball wins, nothing to suggest that his coaching has turned the corner for us. The red card was a shocking decision, but if we are honest we were already one down and probably should have been 2 down. We showed no ability to get in behind them with 11 men so when we were down to 10, the writing was on the wall. To make no changes at half time was shocking to me, and when we lost the second goal from a poorly defended set piece it was game over. I was initially enthused by Wimmer coming in, but the last few weeks has me wondering whether he really does have something to offer, or whether it was just the new manager bounce which has now passed. The manager needs to be ruthless now. Those not performing need axed. He has a sufficient "picture" of the players to make the tough decisions. We are now in a dogfight. He needs to choose his dogs wisely.....

With the greatest respect, Campbell is only 26 and if we dont need to pay a transfer fee to secure his services, there is no re need to secure a sell on for him. No different than signing any number of English lower league journeyman, as has been our want of late. Circumstances were not kind to him down south and although I wasnt that impressed with him when we played United, I still think he has sufficient energy and quality to do a job for us. He would be a significant upgrade on Davor imho. Regardless, I dont think the wages we are offering will be of any interest to him these days. Unless United dont offer him anything and other suitors are thin on the ground....

Alan Campbell would be a great addition to our squad and exactly the type of player that would fit into Wimmerball. Whether he would come home on the wages we can offer is a different matter. I certainly wouldnt be pushing the boat out for him. We need to spend our limited budget more wisely than we have in recent seasons.

This is the key for me. With the number of players we have under contract, some of whom we would proably like to move on, we are going to have to box clever. If we could move on some of the contracted players that would be ideal and give us more leeway to sign others back up. For me Balmer is a hothead and has had enough opportunity to see why Palace let him go. Koutroumbis is an interesting one as the one full game he has had, he has looked ok. But the fact he hasnt featured since would suggest he isnt in the plans. Nicholson, Stuparevic and Robinsons injuries are all a concern. Would probably move all of them on as I dont really see a future for any of them in a Wimmer team, but there are unlikely to be any takers until they are all back fit. The rest Id keep. Of those OOC, Id probably offer Casey, Seddon, Halliday, Paton and maybe Armstrong something. Casey will probably be away but the others are good enough to be in the squad, but that will rely on Wimmer identifying better players within our budget to increase the quality of the squad so that we dont end up with just the same starting 11 as this season. Some tough decisions to be made and we probably wont be able to move on everyone we would like or indeed keep those we dont want to let go.

The new club board are apparently doing that. It was communicated during the WS agm that they believe that there are opportunities to grow the business within the current set up. The previous board did not, hence the cringey video and bending over for Barmack. If you want serious investment from an outside source, you need to show that you are a viable investment opportunity. It would appear that in the short term all efforts are being put into getting our house in order so that we are in a stronger position to make that pitch. At the very least it should help us to be a better version of ourselves.

I think before this turns into a binfire, its important to stress that support for the Well Society and fan ownership doesnt have to mean that you can see no wrong in them or that there isnt anything that can be done better. Similarly, being pro investment doesnt mean that you think all investment is good. FWIW, I was a little concerned by the Society's change of position on investment in their recent pre AGM blurb. However, that point was addressed at the AGM and I left feeling more re-assured by the response. Its not that the Society Board or Club Board are turning their back on outside investment, they just think there is more that can be done within the club currently to grow revenue from within and put structures in place that will attract better offers of investment. That seems emminently sensible to me. I also dont think there is anyone on the WS Board or Club Board that think they have all the answers. I think anyone with vision or a particular skillset that could help the club progress in those areas would be welcomed. Hence my highlighting of the upcoming vacancies on the WS Board......

I note that Feeleys term of office on the WS Board is up but he is standing for re-election. No harm to the guy, but I cant imagine that will be supported by the wider membership. 2 vacancies will be voted on. His and Jay Henderson who is standing down after 8 years. Opportunity for all those who dont think the current WS Board is doing enough, to step up and make a difference!

Attended the Well Society AGM tonight online. Biggest take away was the explanation re outside investment. Its been put on hold for now until the Society and Club can get their houses in order. It was felt that the previous board embarked on a search for outside investment without the club being on a sound footing financially and without actually knowing what the outside investment would look like or what it was for. Martin Grey gave the analogy of going into Dragons Den looking for investment saying that we were skint, didnt know how much money we needed and that we didnt know what we would do with it when we got it. No surprise that the only offer that turned up was Barmack. Im summarising, but he said that both Society and Club Boards are still open to outside investment but before proceeding down that line we need to get all our governance issues in order so that the club is steuctured priperly, do what we can to grow the club organically and get a proper valuation of the club so we are in a much stronger position when we go looking for that investment Greg Anderson also advised that there are 2 more strategic partnerships in the pipeline following on from the successful collaboration with Social Jungle over the Well Society App. He wasnt able to provide further detail on those at present. There was some discussion surrounding how the Society operated in the past and the changes that have taken place in the last 7 months to ensure that Society Members have a voice and are no longer paid lip service. There was also discussion around the closer ties and enhanced communications with the club board. I left the meeting feeling that it was still early days for the new Society and Club Boards but many improvements have been made, with a lot of work still to be done. Ultimately it feels like things are heading in the right direction and that lines of communication are now open.

Probably not as big as there would have been if we had got a decent result on Saturday. But all us happy clappers will be there so come along and have a glass half full of whatever we are having! 😉

Do you think a football club should live outwith its means? If not, it doesnt matter whether the club is fan owned or not. Its the job of the club board to raise and expand existing revenue streams so we have a bigger budget to work with. We have a new chairman, directors and a CEO to deal with that. Its the Society's job to generate sufficient cash reserves to ensure that should the time come we have a big enough overdraft facility to satisfy the governing bodies and deal with any shortfall from operational revenues (apologies for any clumsy terminology, Im not an business person). Any investor is looking for a return on their money, its not free cash. Thats why Im 100% against any investor having majority control of the club as they could literally bleed us dry. Nothing wrong with encouraging investment thats a win win for the club and investor, but thats a whole lot more difficult to find. I would have thought after last summer we might have put all this kind of chat to bed. Its been less than 12 months since we saw off Barmack. Look at the changes that have occured structurally at the club during that time. I think those responsible need a little bit of credit for that and maybe a bit of support in moving onto the next phase?

Hopefully means changes come Saturday.....

Those 3 would certainly be the pick of the bunch. Thompson gives the ball away for fun. Watt offers nothing anymore and Balmer still spends the entire time arguing with officials, opponents and trying to wrestle with anyone who comes near him. All 3 can go at the end of the season.......

Never really enjoy games at Rugby Park due to the surface and the way we usually end up playing. Im hoping that Wimmer isnt influenced by the pitch, sticks to his guns and plays the high intensity passing game. Even if we dont win it might make it more enjoyable to watch....

At the game it was the level of force that concerned me. If both his feet are off the ground then presumably he is out of control and by default has endangered his opponent?

Didnt see Sportscene last night. Did they show the Papa Gueye tackle? Was interested to see if the point of contact merited a red card? Didnt look too clever at the game but it was too far away to tell.....

Not arguing against the need for Balcombe due to the injuries to Ox and then Archie Mair. But Ox is back on the bench now so he should be back in when fit......

Not really sure where to start with yesterday. Found it really hard to work out what our gameplan was. We certainly didnt press high with intensity (so no high ball wins) but we didnt sit off in a low block either. It was some sort of weird mid block that Aberdeen passed around with ease Not sure if thats on the players or the manager. SOD & Sparrow had very poor first halves although both were much better second. Thompson looks like a footballer, but continually gets wrong side of his man and gives the ball away for fun. So careless with his passing, although not the only one yesterday. Agree Balcombe not at fault for goals yesterday, but he does parry everything and distribution is rotten so Id have Ox back in asap as he is our keeper. Like Armstrong, works hard and with more support could be effective at our level. Tony Watt should be put on a bus back to Dundee. He better not have some sort of contract for next season that no one has told us about! Least said about the defence the better. Lots for MW to think about. Thats the first time tge players have shown him their negative side. He needs to deal with that. Final word for Aberdeen and their away end. Absolutely shocking. Penned in a tiny wee corner only have of which was covered. Given the weather forecast we were lucky not to get more of a soaking than we did. They wasted more seats with their "new segreagation" than they filled in the old away end and the efforts of their stewards to keep their neanderthals away from us were pathetic. One guy was right in our faces after every goal. Thankfully the polis eventually huckled him. At £10 it was overpriced and I wont be back in a hurry.

Big shout out to The Well Society for the comedy night last night. Great night out, very well attended and with all the acts appearing for free, should have raised a nice wee sum for the pot. Together with the quiz night, prize draw, membership drive and raise a million by May initiative, its good to see the Society Board following through on their promises to be more active in generating revenue for the club to fall back on should it be required.

I totally understand and accept your argument. What I would say is that the 4/15 stat that is used to beat him with requires some perspective attached given who we played in those games. (and how we performed in the Nations League). Only the N.Ireland home game would be one we should be expected to win. A bit like Kettlewell, Im not calling for Clarke to go, but I do see his deficiencies, so I wouldnt be devestated if he left. He isnt getting sacked before the World Cup though. So onwards we go......

I guess every manager has their shelve life. For me, we are back where we were after the Euros. He had earned the right to look at things and see if he could re-invent the team. He did that by changing to 4-2-3-1 and we ended up putting in some really good performances in Nations League A. Unfortunately, he didnt recognise the warning signals of the 2nd half on Thursday, so we are back to the drawing board.......

There are a lot of teams at the World Cup, but its statistically harder for European teams to qualify now due to the way the extra teams have been distributed through the other federations. Qualifying for the World Cup would be a much bigger achievement for Clarke than the 2 Euros. I agree though, Ive no great desire to see us fail miserably again when we get there.....

Qualification would be great. But if we went out in the same manner as the 2 previous qualifications then the result should be the same. We actually discussed this away in Greece. I think everyone would like to see us play more adventurously. A manager with a different outlook would help. But I think we are still a few players short of being able to do that competitively anyway. We certainly need to find a good striker, a couple of good centre halves (Souttar if he could stay fit would make it one) and a new goalkeeper. We talked about Will Sagnol, Bielsa and even big Ange as the kind of managers we would like. How realistic any of them are on the money the SFA can pay is another matter. I guess Wimmer is the perfect proof of someone we have never heard of being able to do far more with the same players though (albeit still early days) so maybe there is someone out there on our budget.....

You hear it all the time on Scotland trips as well, and theres nothing wrong with voicing the opinion that you want the national team to do better. Clarke is a cautious manager and his teams can be negative no doubt. Sometimes too negative. But see my previous post re risk v reward. I was looking at clips this morning of our game v Slovenia at Hampden in 2017 and there are large swathes of empty seats. Thats no longer the case under Clarke primarily due to his ability to get us winning games, especially at home. The SFA could sack him before the World Cup Qualifiers, but they wont because he has proved he can win games and put bums on seats. He will either qualify us for the World Cup and they will be vindicated. Or he will fail and he will be gone by November as his contract expires with our elimination. I re-iterate though, Gemmill should be gone. His teams dont even play the same style as the first team. That should be a pre-requisite to ready players to step up.

Not sure thats true. Finances limit whats available and again its the risk v reward scenario. Do you fire a guy thats got you to 2 major finals and a World Cup play off in the hope you can get someone better? Gemmell should be nowhere near the U21s though. A proper progressive youth coach shouldnt be beyond the SFAs finances and there is no risk attached to making a change there as he has been generally shite.