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dougster

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    Berwick Rangers 2018/2019 Thread

    in Scottish League 2 General Chatter

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Ducket Lodger said:

    Go away and boil your face in a pan of welks, you'll be a trust member,  one of those who thinks you actually own the majority of the club and wants to own the rest, let me guess, your a follower and a mate of your great leader John, the man who appointed JH and kept him in work even when we were getting stuffed week in week out, shipping goals  by the bucket load.

    I have shares that are now worth nothing, I bought them to support my local club as my father did before me, I trusted that the regime would do what others have done for nearly 140 years, that is to preserve league football in the town, I also buy my season ticket, that in my mind allows me to be critical of the people I see as responsible.

    I have seen utter pish for weeks, why it took the board until the last game before the playoffs  to fire JH, is a mystery, they must have realised as early as January/ February that we were heading for trouble, mistakenly  they thought Albion were worse than us and we would finish second bottom, the Clyde decision went against us and Albion moved to address their form, won a few games and hey-presto we were f**ked.

    Now we have a 67 years old ex player who has done SFA for years alongside a former manager who has an equally pish record this season with WW, to be fair to them, they can only work with what the have in front of them, which is a disinterested team who easily concedes goals and cannot score themselves, the stats from Saturday of 21 Shots to 2 says it all.

    I will therefore continue to  criticise the current board, the coup members, the ST and the SC at every opportunity, until there is a complete regime change. like many supporters, I will not be paying to watch LL football next season, but I will eat my words and bare my arse on Stoddart's corner if its 5-0 nil on Saturday.

    Welks? Don’t bother showing your arse , everyone can see you’re full of shite already 

    0

    Berwick Rangers 2018/2019 Thread

    in Scottish League 2 General Chatter

    Posted

    48 minutes ago, Ducket Lodger said:

    Serious indeed, good job we've got chairman John, he'll sort it, you cannot knock what he's done so far.

    When's the president presiding over the funeral

    Bunch of losers.

    Vote Duggie Watkin for Chairman

     

    I don't know who you are but this kind of post doesn't help. I'm a massive critic of the board but let's have a sensible debate not some free for all mud slinging 

    1

    Berwick Rangers 2018/2019 Thread

    in Scottish League 2 General Chatter

    Posted

    22 minutes ago, Mon_The_Fife said:

     


    So basically your argument is that because a club is from a city they shouldn’t be able to access the professional set up at the expense of clubs who continue to dwell at the bottom of League 2?

    Club 42 should automatically be relegated, we should not have a closed shop system and I’m all for introducing fresh clubs into the league, regardless of where they are from.

     

    Unless of course it was your club which it would be without Rankin

    0

    Berwick Rangers 2018/2019 Thread

    in Scottish League 2 General Chatter

    Posted

    32 minutes ago, Alpha Gordini said:

    Last season the team finishing 10th in SPFL2 got £43K, and there is a parachute payment (£40K I believe in season 1, and £20K in season 2). Trouble is we've got a HUGE amount of team rebuilding to do, and it's already hard to attract players, so I suspect that money won't go very far. The boardroom coup backers tried tightening the purse strings, and that was the straw that broke the Berwick camel's back. If the board try tightening the purse strings again, the only way we'll go is down.

    Either way, the current squad have 180 mins to show the new bosses that they're worthy of a place next season. TIme to stand up and be counted, on AND off the pitch!

     

    But we have already announced 4 of the squad as signed for next year? before the manager even  got sacked? An that's the issue, a lack of joined up thinking, a board within a board. the supporters club representatives think they can do what they want which led to the resignation of GM.  The coup last summer was wrong but there intentions were good. To give the club a plan. At the moment our only plan is to survive and guess what, that's what happens, we survive, Just. 

     

     As for Saturday, I can see the Cove team are older, some in their 30s , perhaps their defence is not the quickest. We have in our team some quick guys like Adamson and Blues, that could be our saving grace. Good luck guys, sorry I can't be there, Im stuck in Malaga with 24c heat, it's a nightmare

     

    0

    Berwick Rangers 2018/2019 Thread

    in Scottish League 2 General Chatter

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, Fergie1 said:

    Matter of opinion ofcourse but would have him in ahead of aloulou rose and Adamson and ideally up top with see. For record last season ouzy scored 3 from 11 starts murrell 4 from 13 starts make of that what you will. 

    My point was more at the fact the he has came up with crucial goals/assists in crucial moments for Bonnyrigg in a time where we are going to need somebody to do similar and I don’t see where this is going to come from but you never know. 

    I liked Murrell when I’ve seen him play. Works hard and always gets a shot away 

    0

    Berwick Rangers 2018/2019 Thread

    in Scottish League 2 General Chatter

    Posted

    22 minutes ago, BerwickMad said:


    There isn’t a position on that at the moment. The last meeting was nearly a month ago so it could be raised in the next one.

    The way it works is that anyone on the committee can raise an issue in the meeting. It might be their view or one that’s come from other fans. There will be a discussion, then if there’s general agreement there’ll be a discussion on what to about it. If, for example, the committee decide they want to stress an opinion to the board of the club, then that will be taken by the representative to the board who can then provide feedback to the committee. We could decide to be stronger, release a public statement, or whatever. We could decide to ask the Trust if they agree too and do something together.

    Thanks, would you not say this current situation merits a statement of intent now? We need to do something before the play offs or it will be too late 

    0

    Berwick Rangers 2018/2019 Thread

    in Scottish League 2 General Chatter

    Posted

    20 hours ago, BerwickMad said:


    You’re entitled to your opinion, but unsurprisingly I’m going to disagree.

    I am/was totally supportive of the supporter ownership model until a few years ago. I’m a member of both the SC and the Trust, and support the general aims of both. I never went along with the few on each side who seemed to see it as a competition. I’m not going to go into too much detail, but both have done good things over the years, usually when working together. From forcing the clubs hand over Crease, to stopping that nonsense in the summer.

    The talk of a refusal to relinquish power at the top is nonsense in my eyes, especially when pointed at the SC. What I will say though, is that there has been a reluctance to ‘relinquish power’ to what could be described as John Bells vision of a football club. A vision that he’s entitled to have but that certainly don’t believe the majority of supporters want to see. I’m not criticising John for that vision btw. He’s held it for nearly two decades and hasn’t moved from it one inch. However for as long as I’ve been involved in the SC, I know that the aim hasn’t been to consolidate power at the top. If anything we’ve been desperate to see people come into the club with ideas and investment. I think you could ask people who’ve invested, people like Monty or Neil Templeman, a multi-millionaire who was put off at the first sign of resistance. He didn’t need it. In the post chairman vote meltdown there was even an attempt to throw Monty off the board, while at the same time just attempting to get anyone on there to replace him. Jonny Fairbairn’s dad? Seriously? With the SC theres been attempts to bring people in, TRFC, the seniors, younger fans, to help influence the club. I don’t get the sense that there’s been much ‘compromise’ or a search for new ideas in the John approach. More, ‘come on board to back me up’. And btw, I’m not denying the faults of the SC of which there are many (including publicising what we do) and is why I believe new blood is needed more than ever.

    I know John too and nothing I say is personal against him. He has many skills that would make him a great chairman. He’s approachable, he speaks well and he’s done a lot in the community. I actually slightly favoured him for the chairman role when it came up and said so at the SC meeting. That despite what I’d seen in the past as a member of the trust board. But the reaction after was dreadful. The arrogance that a picture on a piece of paper and a PowerPoint presentation was enough to blow everyone away. The stadium plan was never feasible and the £12k for a feasibility study couldn’t even be reached. It got people’s hopes up in the town, unrealistically. Have a look at the site. It doesn’t take a feasibility study to realise it would cost millions to get it ready before a brick would even go down. My opinion is that the aim was probably more wrapped up in taking some SC influence away as leaseholders of the stadium. My hope for Lenny was that at least he’d be able to listen and wouldn’t block ideas and potential investment.

    The post chairman vote meltdown continued. Board leaks (by we all know who) on players, what people were saying in meetings, the Robbie Horn debacle when Coughlin was manager, desperate attempts to replace directors, met with an attempt from the other side to look for new people themselves. The ‘keep this to yourself’ in a room full of fans. No, unprofessional I’m afraid. So much energy used up when the club should have been moving forward together. It wasn’t allowed to, which is why at the end of Coughlins full season I said I wanted totally new people to take the club forward and had come to the conclusion that they’d all failed. Totally sick of the supporter ownership model which put too much power in the hands of people with little financial risk.

    Now I want investment and change. I’m desperate for it. Not the magic beans I was wrongly accused of in the ‘keep it in the dressing room talk’, a realisation from everyone that we need it. To make the club as attractive as possible for potential investors. Not the ‘we only want investment for facilities’ line the forum, suggesting the way forward is now settled under John, the strategy ideas by Mathison swept under the carpet.

    I’ve suggested that the SC and Trust should offer up as enough shares to give someone, or a group a controlling interest to invest and take the club forward. However to claim that the idiots last summer were ‘proven correct’ is bizarre. To this day, nearly a year on they’ve said nothing. They made absolutely no attempt to say what they were doing or what their aim was. They seemed to be deliberately agitating, from the stair lift to Tweedmouth Rangers. Little more than one line statements causing upset without consultation. The slashing of the wage bill in an attempt to break even immediately despite the club having money in the bank and the excuses for it. See at the bottom for a sample of the nonsense that Watkins spouts, from today. The action last summer wasn’t just an attempt to keep power, it was vital to stop an absolute disaster at the time and unsurprising supported by both supporters groups. It’s no wonder everyone came together against it. It was something that looked far worse than anything that had gone on before. I’d be delighted if someone like Graham Bell who I’ve known for years and don’t dislike to actually came out and explained what the aim was. They’ve said nothing and make no mistake, the fact that Robbie only had his budget put back up to a normal level in August contributed massively to our terrible start to the season.

    Though I am going to say, this has little to do with the current scenario. The gradual drift, the infighting, the egos, the energy that’s been zapped out of the club, all less important than our current inaction on the manager. He was dealt a shit card, we get that. The fans understand that. Very few were calling for his head in the first few months. But it’s been clear for a long time that he’s had to go. I’ve talked about a gradual drift and incremental failure in the past rather than huge errors, but I’d class the lack of action now as a huge error. It shouldn’t have been too difficult to stay up this season, but we’ve utterly bottled it and failed. This, imo is the worst decision/non-decision I’ve seen since supporting the club.

     

    Re-reading your post, may I ask you a question

    Where do the supporters club stand now in relation to the current manager and do they think he is the man to lead us in whatever league we find ourselves next year? 

    0

    Berwick Rangers 2018/2019 Thread

    in Scottish League 2 General Chatter

    Posted

    8 minutes ago, BerwickMad said:


    You’re entitled to your opinion, but unsurprisingly I’m going to disagree.

    I am/was totally supportive of the supporter ownership model until a few years ago. I’m a member of both the SC and the Trust, and support the general aims of both. I never went along with the few on each side who seemed to see it as a competition. I’m not going to go into too much detail, but both have done good things over the years, usually when working together. From forcing the clubs hand over Crease, to stopping that nonsense in the summer.

    The talk of a refusal to relinquish power at the top is nonsense in my eyes, especially when pointed at the SC. What I will say though, is that there has been a reluctance to ‘relinquish power’ to what could be described as John Bells vision of a football club. A vision that he’s entitled to have but that certainly don’t believe the majority of supporters want to see. I’m not criticising John for that vision btw. He’s held it for nearly two decades and hasn’t moved from it one inch. However for as long as I’ve been involved in the SC, I know that the aim hasn’t been to consolidate power at the top. If anything we’ve been desperate to see people come into the club with ideas and investment. I think you could ask people who’ve invested, people like Monty or Neil Templeman, a multi-millionaire who was put off at the first sign of resistance. He didn’t need it. In the post chairman vote meltdown there was even an attempt to throw Monty off the board, while at the same time just attempting to get anyone on there to replace him. Jonny Fairbairn’s dad? Seriously? With the SC theres been attempts to bring people in, TRFC, the seniors, younger fans, to help influence the club. I don’t get the sense that there’s been much ‘compromise’ or a search for new ideas in the John approach. More, ‘come on board to back me up’. And btw, I’m not denying the faults of the SC of which there are many (including publicising what we do) and is why I believe new blood is needed more than ever.

    I know John too and nothing I say is personal against him. He has many skills that would make him a great chairman. He’s approachable, he speaks well and he’s done a lot in the community. I actually slightly favoured him for the chairman role when it came up and said so at the SC meeting. That despite what I’d seen in the past as a member of the trust board. But the reaction after was dreadful. The arrogance that a picture on a piece of paper and a PowerPoint presentation was enough to blow everyone away. The stadium plan was never feasible and the £12k for a feasibility study couldn’t even be reached. It got people’s hopes up in the town, unrealistically. Have a look at the site. It doesn’t take a feasibility study to realise it would cost millions to get it ready before a brick would even go down. My opinion is that the aim was probably more wrapped up in taking some SC influence away as leaseholders of the stadium. My hope for Lenny was that at least he’d be able to listen and wouldn’t block ideas and potential investment.

    The post chairman vote meltdown continued. Board leaks (by we all know who) on players, what people were saying in meetings, the Robbie Horn debacle when Coughlin was manager, desperate attempts to replace directors, met with an attempt from the other side to look for new people themselves. The ‘keep this to yourself’ in a room full of fans. No, unprofessional I’m afraid. So much energy used up when the club should have been moving forward together. It wasn’t allowed to, which is why at the end of Coughlins full season I said I wanted totally new people to take the club forward and had come to the conclusion that they’d all failed. Totally sick of the supporter ownership model which put too much power in the hands of people with little financial risk.

    Now I want investment and change. I’m desperate for it. Not the magic beans I was wrongly accused of in the ‘keep it in the dressing room talk’, a realisation from everyone that we need it. To make the club as attractive as possible for potential investors. Not the ‘we only want investment for facilities’ line the forum, suggesting the way forward is now settled under John, the strategy ideas by Mathison swept under the carpet.

    I’ve suggested that the SC and Trust should offer up as enough shares to give someone, or a group a controlling interest to invest and take the club forward. However to claim that the idiots last summer were ‘proven correct’ is bizarre. To this day, nearly a year on they’ve said nothing. They made absolutely no attempt to say what they were doing or what their aim was. They seemed to be deliberately agitating, from the stair lift to Tweedmouth Rangers. Little more than one line statements causing upset without consultation. The slashing of the wage bill in an attempt to break even immediately despite the club having money in the bank and the excuses for it. See at the bottom for a sample of the nonsense that Watkins spouts, from today. The action last summer wasn’t just an attempt to keep power, it was vital to stop an absolute disaster at the time and unsurprising supported by both supporters groups. It’s no wonder everyone came together against it. It was something that looked far worse than anything that had gone on before. I’d be delighted if someone like Graham Bell who I’ve known for years and don’t dislike to actually came out and explained what the aim was. They’ve said nothing and make no mistake, the fact that Robbie only had his budget put back up to a normal level in August contributed massively to our terrible start to the season.

    Though I am going to say, this has little to do with the current scenario. The gradual drift, the infighting, the egos, the energy that’s been zapped out of the club, all less important than our current inaction on the manager. He was dealt a shit card, we get that. The fans understand that. Very few were calling for his head in the first few months. But it’s been clear for a long time that he’s had to go. I’ve talked about a gradual drift and incremental failure in the past rather than huge errors, but I’d class the lack of action now as a huge error. It shouldn’t have been too difficult to stay up this season, but we’ve utterly bottled it and failed. This, imo is the worst decision/non-decision I’ve seen since supporting the club.

     

    A very selective take on what i have said but your comments have been noted

    0

    Berwick Rangers 2018/2019 Thread

    in Scottish League 2 General Chatter

    Posted

    Ok here’s my tuppence worth, my first game was 1968 vs East Fife, I’ve watched us up and down Scotland ever since, even flying back from Germany on one occasion,  (flights were dearer then than they are now) From Keith to Stranraer, I’ve seen us win lose and get battered but I’m saddened, deeply saddened it has come to this. 

    What bothers me is this has been caused by a battle of wills, a refusal to let go of what little power and influence the guys at the top have or it some cases want. The board are far from united and last summers ‘rebellion’ was symbolic of how the club has been run for years now. Craig points to the Trust as a root cause of this divide and there is some truth in that but the main cause of division has been the supporters club. They are the major shareholders and nothing can be done without their say so. The nominated Len Eyre as chairman, a nice fellow I’m told but not a board chairman that is for sure. The summer rebels saw this and tried to change things although I don’t agree with how it was done, ultimately, they have been proven correct. I was told to get in line and we are all ‘pulling in the same direction.’ My question of which direction would that be has now been answered. 

    Im too far away to be involved in a weekly basis but even from here it was plain something has not been right for years. So here we are. I cannot forgive the current board and that includes my long time friend JB for what I believe has been a shambles for the last 3 years. John should have been made chair when Porteous left but the supporters club bought his shares with our money (because everyone who has bought a ticket from Conny or Jimmy two times has contributed) and put their own man in the hot seat. I expect some flak for this and the usual it’s ok for you but over the years I bet I’ve personally  put more money into the club than half the current directors have. 

    So we are where we are. It was coming only delayed by the shitshow that was Cowden the last two season( 12 points we took lads not a measly 10 ), 

    what annoys me the most is not that we are in the play offs but more so the fact we have done nothing zilch zippo to try and turn it around. JH was told by an ex player on Saturday to eff off as he had destroyed a hundred years of history. That ex player one of my heroes, was right 

     

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