Park the Buffs

For me it’s all about the first team squad. We started the season with a small but talented squad. Pitches and weather were good which suited our style of play and no injuries or suspensions. Result - as good a start as anybody with a good win over Darvel being the stand out result. Over the Autumn/Winter the squad got smaller and smaller with constant departures and injuries and suspensions further depleting the team. We never really addressed our ever decreasing numbers and eventually we arrive at Blantyre last Saturday. For me to operate at this level we need a squad of 18/19 players. That’s 18/19 guys at the the level of Collins/McGowan/Syme. Not a dozen plus 4 guys making up the numbers and three more from the youth teams sitting on the bench.

Must be over a decade ago now I attended a Meadow Talbot league match at Meadow Park. Meadow were the big spenders at the time but Talbot won an scrappy match by the odd goal. On the way out the ground I heard two different conversations between Talbot supporters. The first was moaning about Talbots poor performance, Tommy Sloans managerial shortcomings and the abject awfulness of certain players. The second conversation was how that days win had set a new record for Talbot being undefeated in the league. They had gone something like 25 matches undefeated consisting of the end of the previous season and all the matches in the current season. It seems nothing has changed.

What’s been achieved at the new ground is amazing in a such a short time period and everybody involved deserves tremendous credit. However the playing squad has actually got worse as the season has gone on with one departure after another. I’d like to see a bit more stability on that front with us actually building (however gradually) a squad that can compete with Talbot.

I’m a bit sceptical about 17/18 year olds getting into our first team en masse. There’s a physicality and a level of know how required at the level we’re at now. Also when you go on a poor run confidence evaporates in young players as we saw in recent weeks. I get the infrastructure thing taking priority but there’s a level of expectation around the club and the supporters now that demands a stronger playing squad than we’ve currently got - both in terms of quality and numbers.

A fair summing up FM. I think our inconsistency is due to a lack of any real strength in depth. Our best 11 can give anybody a game - Pollok game proved that - but the quality drops of severely beyond that 11. Our bench most weeks consists of players carrying knocks, unproven youngsters and guys who are miles off the pace at this level. Tommy Sloan regularly picks up 3 points by bringing on real quality second half - and if we want to compete for the league we need a squad of 20 top level players not a dozen.

Tremendous performance from Thomas Collins yesterday. Constantly made something out of nothing and battered the Pollok defence despite giving away about a foot in height to the central defenders. Credit also to Davy Ramsay who had maybe his best game of the season and won the penalty just by being persistent. It was a scrappy game on a hard surface but Buffs wanted it more.

Carlo Monti’s one man goal of the season competition had a new entry yesterday with a 35 yard free kick that thumped in off the underside of the crossbar. Thought the winner at home to Clydebank was going to be it but think yesterday’s was better.

Can you give us some info on what phase 2 of the ground improvements involves parkcircus?

To be fair to Killiepieo - of course he has switched allegiance to Talbot. Who would want to film Bangaverage juniors every week whose season highlights might be a local derby win and a run in the West. Instead he has a constant diet of big occasions with plenty of silverware to film. Twenty years ago he would have been a Buffs supporter.

Totally on the money Funky Monkey. Noticed at half time Talbot had nine players kicking a ball around - Buffs had 2 and I doubt if Sam was fit. Best Buffs XI this season (think we started with 9 or 10 of them) will give Talbot a game but thought it was a massive task when Fleming went off. All credit to the lads they gave it a go but Talbot were unplayable once Glasgow came on. I think Tommy Sloan might have assembled the best squad of players the Juniors has seen both in terms of quality and strength in depth. Most of them could play Senior and the “reserves” would be automatic choices for any other junior club in the top division. In short Talbot now are effectively a Senior team operating in the junior ranks.