Kmcalpin

From Stevie Hammell's comments it would seem that there's a strong possibility of a few new faces arriving in the next 10 days. Also, it would seem a likelihood of some leaving. I'd be interested in getting everyone's thoughts on that. Matthew Connelly: possibility of a loan now that Aston Oxborough has arrived? Juhani Ojala: still a year to go so might be expensive to pay off, but very injury prone and not featuring much. Central defence needs strengthening Robbie Mahon: young player who might benefit from a loan David Devine: one of the older young players who has never made the breakthrough? Maybe some young lads going out on loan?

All I'm looking for an improvement in consistency. All too often a player a red carded for example, whilst in another game the cuplrit is only yellow carded or even let off scot free for an identical offence.

Would we have attracted a crowd of 5,160 had GA still been at our helm? I doubt it. Maybe 1,000 less? In that respect the club has brought in a few thousand pounds extra that will help, in a small way, to offset GA's pay off, whatever it was. Every little helps.

I don't know that we're any worse than most Ian. I've just been reading fan fora for St Johnstone and Dundee United this morning and the level of venom and vitriol amongst sections of their supports is frightening.

Although I wasn't at the game today I'm really pleased with the win. As we know, Livy are good at what they do: stifling, smothering and strangling the opposition. Hence games against them are rarely classic affairs. We were always going to have to grind out a result today...... and we did. Hammy will need more time to mould the players into his style and we'll probably need to add to our firepower before the window closes. Games against this type of opposition who come to FP to sit in and park the bus and/or frustrate us will be a continuing test this season. So, its work in progress. I haven't seen any of the main incidents on TV yet but will no doubt do so in the next few hours.

He made his career decision last summer. Not for me either. If he wants to move on I'm sure United could give him a massive pay off. Thats their problem.

If we're not confident of handling him thats ok, just revert to Plan B - cut off his supply.

Thats quite a shopping list, but not far off the mark. The biggest problem is central defence. We already have 4 players signed up for that department and so it won't be easy to move them on. I think Lammie is the best of the bunch although that maybe doesn't say much. I'd say he and Mugabi are ok as back up. An experienced midfielder wouldn't go amiss.

I haven't seen the game yet but what a start for Hammy. Maybe he's given the player more freedom. Anyway, to win at Pittodrie and do so with a bit of style is a great tonic for us. One swallow doesn't make a summeer though and its only the start of a long journey. We still have some weaknesses which need rectified especially in defence but hopefully we can secure some signatures in the next few weeks to strengthen the squad in general but more specifically the first 11. A breath of fresh air or so it seems today. Early doors but maybe we can avoid a relegation scrap this season. Well done Stevie & Kerrso. Perhaps we're starting to see that some of the players can play after all.

I do have some misgivings over Stevie Hammell's appointment as I've said, but he's now in the hot seat and he's got my backing 100% (not that that means much). Its a fact of life though that his appointment has split the support. He's got a tough job ahead of him now and needs us all to get behind him. His first weeks will be crucial in terms of recruitment alone.

Any idea who might replace Stevie Hammell & Brian Kerr? I know that David Clarkson and Jim Paterson are also involved in some capacities. Its important that we keep the momentum going now after the pandemic.

You have to ask what United directors think they're going to achieve by throwing bucketloads of cash into their playing budget.

Stevie's appointment has certainly split the support, if posts on these boards are anything to go by. I've no idea who applied for our vacancy or were approached by the Board but you have to call into question the overall quality of candidate. I'd be a bit brassed off I had been approached by the club to apply and then not be granted an interview or be given the job. Thats no reflection on Stevie Hammell by the way - its simply that he's totally untried as a manager, and as such represents a huge gamble. He's used to managing young lads - how will he get on managing petulant senior pros or Big Time Charlies? How will he compete tactically with other managers? Many cite his knowledge of the club as being an advantage and yes, it is in the short term. He says he wants to strengthen a couple of areas; hopefully he's being euphemistic when he says that. Many of us are hoping he starts a clear out - that would only be half the job. He then has to bring in better replacements. Remember Harri Kampmann? He certainly identified weak areas quickly and effciently and got shot of a good few. The problem was that he couldn't replace them with better quality. Anyway, good luck to Stevie and he gets my 100% backing. He does sound enthusiastic about the task ahead.

I will have the fear, but would not be disgusted, if Hammy is appointed. On the plus side, he would know the squad and our problems from day one. He also talks a good game. I'm not convinced though that he made much of a difference in our first 2 league games, but I don't hold that against him as he's only had a few days to work with the players. On the debit side he lacks managerial experience and I wonder how extensive his contacts in the game are. In terms of his role as Head of our Academy, I wonder how successful he has been been - is it too early to tell. I'd think it takes a few years to be able to form an informed opinion i.e. to see what young players come though to make the first team. He's not been in post that long. I'll qualify that by acknowldeging there are others on these boards who know a lot more about youth set up than I do. In our current situation we need an experienced head to prepare us for a few months of streetfighting with our rivals, as OTF rightly says.

1-1 draw.

Absolutely Allan. I don't want to go down the Graham Alexander route of inflexible, dull football, but by the same token I'm wary of taking huge risks. There has to be a degree of stability and solidity in the new man's background and approach. A knowledge of Scottish football either through the top man himself or his assistant(s) is absolutely essential. As you say, he has to hit the ground running. Now I'm not saying that David Healy is one of the last men standing but he has signed the likes of Jake Hastie, Ben Hall, Mich'el Parker, and Christy Manzinga for Linfield (source Capt Oats, Pie & Bovril)......... Mark Fotheringham seems to have had a chequered career as a coach but litle or no management experience. We might all be shocked of course if the 2 mystery candidates are personalities that haven't been discussed on here at all! We've all got our own opinions and the reality might be somewhat different.

I don't know if the club is trying to appease us, the fans, with a complete change of managerial direction after GA but I'm finding most of the names, who seem to be in the final frame, to be very risky. Any managerial appointment carries a degree of risk of course, but some of the names mentioned would really seem to be a bit much of a gamble. We don't know the names of the serious candidates amongst the 80 or so names who seemingly applied. For the first time in many years, I'm getting the fear about our new appointment. Maybe I'm just a risk averse kind of person. Perhaps the successful candidate will surprise us and allay our fears.

That would be one very left field and risky appointment.

Apparently, we've snubbed Rangers hero Kevin Thomson. https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-heros-premiership-return-ruled-24720570 No comment.

The new man will start with a pretty clean backroom staff slate then. Maybe not a bad thing. I know its early days, but is our new recruitment sytem working given the players who have been brought in? Will Daws indeed be the next to leave?

I very much doubt that Neil Lennon is anywhere near being a candidate but thats by the way. Another, more plausible, name I've seen mentioned is Malky Mackay. Any views?

No problem. Yes, maybe both parties were frustrated - they are human after all and if that was a factor then its quite understandable. Presumabaly a lot has been going on behind closed doors that we were not aware of.

Whats coming across to me loud and clear now is that Graham Alexander seems to have had an inflexible style of play and that players were instructed to adhere rigidly to it. Many fans like myself were criticising midfield players for example for not supporting the striker(s) or full/wing backs being poor. If I recall corrctly, Onthefringes has made this point several times in the past few months. Its clear now that it wasn't always the fault of the players, but rather the system or instructions they were given. I think Stevie Hammell made a similar point as well. Thats not to say that a manager shouldn't give his players instructions but they should be applicable to the talent he has available and not be overly rigid and inflexible. Maybe we, and I include myself here, have judged players unfairly?

In that case, Stevie's specific comment about that was also inadvisable. That might not have endeared him to certain players. Yes, there are indications that all might not have been well in the dressing room. We may be putting 2 and 2 together to make 5 though.

I've no wish to get involved in the convoluted rights ands wrongs of the O'Donnell/Alexander saga, but here's a slightly different take on the issue. SOD seems a decent and sensible sort of guy to me, although I've never met him. However I think some of comments were "inadvisable" shall we say. We all agree that we need to bring fresh faces in to strengthen the team. Very few will argue about that. However, he should not have said that publicly. That will do little for squad unity. Some of his playing colleagues might think "Is it the strikeforce/defence he's referring to. Is he having a dig at me in the press?" What will that do for their confidence? In his position as a senior player, he'd have been better to omit that particular comment.