Clydeside

I agree with Danny's comments about Love and Nicoll. Although both will have to be used sparingly. I think most supporters agree. If we had to play an away game in the cup and it was to be played on a tight grass pitch, Nicoll's an ace up our sleeve. That's quite a limited niche of course! But even where we find ourselves in a slugfest away at Peterhead, Dumbarton or Morton if they come down, there I can see him adding something. Something that isn't easy to replace. However, inbetween those games, unless we're playing a Roberts/Miller style 3-5-2, I wouldn't want him pegged as a starter. He takes as much as he gives if he's playing all the time. He'll get caught in possession and lose us a goal, give away a penalty or get booked and become a liability. We experienced the same kind of diminishing returns with Marvyn Wilson toward the end of his spell with us. Love's a more straightforward one. For a player without pace or stature to support his game he does very well. His decisions in possession are excellent. He holds the ball in strongly. He's got a bit of flair too. He's also the epitome of a team player which is more than enough for me. Solid on paper. Solid in practice. Might not start or last every game but he easily deserves his contract. What Danny will need to measure with these two and whoever else he brings in is what kind of football he wants us playing. Love and Nicoll don't move it quite as quickly as Cuddihy does for example. So they could be inhibitive of the style that Lennon's tried for up until now. The really interesting thing for the summer will be what the players we sign suggest about the style we'll try to play.

As good a player as he is, having Grant back would probably have meant playing a certain way. At least if he was to be a starter. For that reason, I'm not too bothered about him going to Stirling. Nor am I surprised. Had he Tom Lang's or even David Goodwillie's physical attributes he could be an SPL player. As it is, to really stand out, he probably needs to be playing in slower tempo matches with a team that's not on the ropes for long spells. A league two season with Stirling could be a good option. Particularly as he doesn't seem to have full-time ambitions. On the playing a certain way point. I don't think we'll get out of this league other than by the back door if we try to replicate the shape and system that got us up. That is, the out from the back approach with one up top and a five man midfield. It would require some really extraordinary signings to work. Goodwillie isn't as sprightly as he was two years ago. Rankin, McStay and Grant were an unusually good footballing three. And then you had the likes of Lang, Boyle, Cogill, Syvertsen and Banks. The technical skill, flair and speed which that bunch had was really out of market for league two. And even then, remember, we came second to Peterhead who had the ability to be more direct than us through players like McAllister and McLean. Over the piece I thought that was the telling factor, albeit the margin was small. It's usually cheaper to get players who're a bit limited technically but who're decent athletes and good team players. I think if we're as cash strapped as is rumoured, we should be going down the 'big team' route, with the odd bit of star quality here and there if we can find it. That is, so we don't wind up like Dumbarton. But we've already got David Goodwillie so that couldn't happen, happily.

I suppose the club can only set its watch by what wage budget is likely to be available for the following season. And to say the obvious, any wage budget estimate would be influenced by the league we expected to be in. But it doesn't necessarily follow that making offers or signing pre-contract agreements before being certain about which league we'll be in would be unwise. To make the point by example, I wouldn't tell Stewart Petrie that he was unwise to sign Craig Brown from Striling University before knowing if Montrose would be in League One or the Championship next season. Just as Montrose knew when they signed him that they'd be in League One at worst next season, we knew then that we'd be in League Two at worst. Even in the world of player contracts it's possible to condition offers or pre-contract terms so that both parties can decline, withdraw or terminate as the case may be based on future events. And even if that wasn't so or couldn't easily be done, it's not unthinkable that we could have identified players who'd accept a wage which was tolerable for us whether in League One or League Two. It would only matter that they could do a job in League One if it came to it. If budget uncertainty has truly had it that we've been unable to make any offers before knowing our fate then that strikes me as a profound financial management problem. One with obvious negative consequences for our ability to compete in the player market. All that said, I think the most likely picture from behind the scenes is that limited scouting has gone on outside of the senior leagues due to the pandemic. We probably did make our interest known to some players before the end of the season whether by offer or otherwise. And the fact we don't have anyone signed up is simply a product of the extent of competition for the players we're interested in. Lennon alluded to the last part in his end of season message.

Send the footage to Arsene Wenger. He'll have a dossier knocked up double quick.

Hear. hear.

Good player, Jackie Baillie...

About the offside. I was with Pride of the Clyde and BrigtonClyde on that even after a couple of watch-overs. However, after a few more watch-overs, and reminding myself that some of us probably watch a lot of televised football where you get some very sohpisticated analysis done on these kind of decisions.... I imagine what David W and the_bully_wee are picking up on is that when McGlinchey sticks it back across, if you slow the footage down and apply the kind of analysis you see on the big televised games... You know, the straight-line drawn across the screen and an examination of whether the attacker had some part of his body capable of legally scoring a goal ahead of the defender when the ball was played... Then there's an argument to say Goodwillie was just a little ahead of the East Fife defender and therefore offside. I would just say though... Again with nothing but love for my fellow supporters here... To say he was definitely offside makes it sound as though there was clear daylight between Goodwillie and the defender or that it was obvious even without slowing down the footage. It certainly wasn't obvious to me. And on the point about luck. Yes I suppose it is lucky, strictly speaking. But even the best positioned linesman there would just be seeing two silhouettes in more or less perfect alignment. I don't get worked up when teams get very fine calls like that in their favour against us. And I don't really think of it as unlucky to the same degree as a manifestly bad penalty call or whatever. Had another look at the East Fife penalty actually. No change of mind there. Soft I'd give you, yes. But it's never, ever a dive. The rules and how they apply, especially these days after so much revision over the last twenty years, are easily the most boring part of the game to ponder over. I daresay there'll be consensus on that if nothing else!

It's interesting that opinion is so divided on who to keep. Maybe we've lost sight of what good looks like having made do with so many limited players for so long. None of whom have given anything less than their best for us I hasten to add. But it's worth remembering that without David Goodwillie in our team there's a great chance we'd regard almost everyone in this year's squad, Lang and Mitchell aside, as a frustrating player at best and a straightforwardly bad one at worst. I exclude the loan players from that estimation. Jamieson and Otoo I'd have back in a heartbeat. If we've a generous budget for next season I'd be holding onto Mitchell and Goodwillie. Love, Cuddihy, Lamont and Cunningham would be tolerable squad players, provided they keep trim and fit. But the relatively recent benchmarks of guys like McLaughlin, McQueen, Lithgow, Halkett and Gallagher makes it hard to want to hold onto any of our defenders. Even players like Mark Brown, who we took from the amateurs, I'd consider better than what we've had lately. Lang aside. I'd like to see us recruit some tough, athletic players for the midfield and defence. Ideally ones with decent experience to their name. But beggars can't always be choosers. A big partner for Goodwillie would be good too. Be an interesting summer.

I say this with nothing but love for my fellow supporters having received no inducement whatever from East Fife. To call that a dive is very, very harsh. It's a brilliantly plausible tumble if it was intended to con the referee. Rumsby has his arms on the East Fife player from the point the corner comes in. Of course, we all recognise that an amount of that goes on at corners. It's inevitable, difficult to police and rarely punished. But in the end, and right in front of the referee, Rumsby's seen to be pushing the player, his arms near the player's neck and all without any real claim on the ball. If you slow it down, you'll also see Rumsby's leg come across the player before he falls. One or both of those things, particularly given how the East Fife player was adjusting to follow the ball as it swung out, strikes me as being enough to put him off balance and start a fall. Another player might've been steadier on his feet. True enough. But defenders have to play a game at corners as much as attackers do. You don't deal so aggressively with a player who has so little chance of getting on the end of it. And you certainly don't do it away from the scrum right in front of the referee.

Spoiler alert. The Clyde are staying up.

Putting McGlinchey on in a game that needs its intensity back is an act of masochism. Even if it is Robertson that's coming off. Lamont should still be on the park.

If we don't want to look back and rue this one, we need to take Love off and put Jamieson on as a second forward beside Goodwillie. East Fife can't be allowed this much time to knock it between their defenders and it'll be too easy for them to deal with Goodwillie as an isolated forward, having emptied most of his tank in the first-half.

No need whatever for Rumsby to foul the East Fife player there. Gift of a goal.

Can't complain other than to say we should have had two, maybe three. Cunningham's gotten inside East Fife's full-back umpteen times and should've done better on each occassion. But he's doing great work out there on the left in front of Otoo. That we're taking so few touches in posession is great. Lamont and Cuddihy really help us out with that. You couldn't drive the tempo we have in the first half without players like that or, for example, with four Robertsons, Nicolls or McGlincheys across the middle. Good intensity. We'll need to keep it up. Sitting on a 1-0 is a bad idea.

Yes, I'd go along with all of that. Even in the nineties and in the noughties when, in my opinion, what was then the first division had more individual quality than it has had in the last decade, a part-time team with good quality players didn't always look like a part-time team in fitness terms. That is, in the normal rhythm of things. Weeknight games in the league almost always showed up the fitness difference however. Particularly as the games would wear on. I think what might distinguish Arbroath from the part-time teams of that era a little would be that they don't set up quite as stuffily week in week out. Then again, they share with the part-time teams of that era that they're a reasonably big team with some players who either are full-time (loan players), have got real pace or who, everything else aside, could easily be full-time simply by being as good as they are in other respects. The teams I'm benchmarking against from earlier eras would be the likes of Neil Watt's Stranraer. Allan Moore's Stirling. And perhaps QoS before they went full-time. Good luck again lads. Will keep an eye out.

I just wanted to come on here tonight and congratulate Richard Campbell, Arbroath and their supporters. Having a part-time team compete the way Arbroath have for two seasons against almost exclusively full-time opponents week on week is something else. Dick and his team really have it down to an art. From a distance, what has stood out for me is his player sourcing and how simply he sets his team up to play. If ever I've dipped into match highlights I've always come away with the impression that Abroath's success is the product of a team with a great blend of experience, natural fitness, physicality and ability which, in many areas of the park, is at least as good as the full-time players' it's pitted against. That's to say nothing of the great spirit which Arbroath clearly have about them. What I'm really saying is... Arbroath are my big team now. It'll be really interesting to see how you get on next season. And even if they don't shout it from the rooftops, I know there are plenty of supporters of other lower league clubs who'll be rooting for you each week.

I will say, in the spirit of reconciliation, that if you combined Clyde's defence and Dumbarton's attack you would have one of the best amateur teams in the country.

I think Jan, the Dumbarton supporter, called it a few pages back. This time out, we played with the aggression and physicality that Dumbarton brought to Broadwood a couple of weeks back. I didn't see that coming. Danny and Allan have got to take a lot of credit for putting fire in our bellies today. It seemed to buff the rust off of players like Goodwillie and Lamont, bringing out performances from those two the likes of which we haven't seen in a year or so. I could go on about others; Cuddihy played a busy blinder in midfield, and all of our defenders showed up in a big way. Much more so than through the week. Then there was Cunningham who brought a speed and directness to things that we were sorely missing on Thursday. It's been an interesting season from a physical and psychological perspective. I expect most supporters will look back and remember that there was no telling which individuals and, by extension, what team would really show up on the day. Or on the night as was more often the case. Whatever happens next week I won't have a mind to be harsh on the players or the management. Fixture schedules like the one we've bashed through are bound to generate the sort of inconsistency we've experienced. Sure, there've been games in which we've managed the rotation of players and the business of who plays where better and worse. But I just think I wouldn't want a manager's job this season.

04:22 to 04:26. That's how we'll remember this one.

We started the first half well enough. We were first to a lot more than Forfar were, maybe levering the advantage of having a few more days rest. Decent enough goal to open things but against poor opposition it must be said. As for Forfar's goal, deary me. Timid, sluggish defending from Rumsby. And the goalkeeper could've done better. Looking at the starting eleven, the midfield struck me as being awfully conservative. In Nicoll, Thomson and McGlinchey you've got three players whose natural inclination is to take it from deep, get turned and stay behind play. Perhaps surprisingly, Nicoll ended up being the one from the three who ended up bringing the ball out of midfield. And he set up the goal as I remember. Bringing Cuddihy into the centre is a positive step for the second-half, he at least moves it on quickly and looks for a forward pass more often than not. But it does nothing for us being paceless in almost every area of the pitch. Jamieson was the difference up here last time, remember. And it was his speed that got him his goals. I'd probably move Otoo upfield and stick McNiff at left-back because we need to win this. I'd think about having Butterworth on for Love or Cunningham too.

The fine ethical judgements generated by this season have been more interesting than the football. With the rescheduled match due to be played only a little over a week later, I wonder if those East Fife players who were concerned about infection will want to be involved.

I'd keep Danny away from any microphones this eveing in case he thinks we competed well for long periods.

I want to see the title deeds.

I agree with C.Muir. Love has had the heaviest legs of all these past few weeks. And Cunningham, while a good player technically, shares a vice with Michael McGlinchey. Namely, taking touch after touch before moving the ball. You can characterise Cunningham and McGlinchey as players who'll help us play a bit but that would be to forget McGlinchey's performance, for example, against East Fife at Bayview. And it would also forget Cunningham's performance on Saturday. Both McGlinchey and Cunningham's games are in stark contrast with a player like Cuddihy's who plays in the same midfield positions and, although not a world beater, is every bit as solid technically as those two but far more wise in possession insofar as he takes very few touches and is much quicker about it all in all. It's really that, the fewer touches and speed in moving it, that helps us play a bit. All that said, McGlinchey and Cunningham should've fresher legs than at least some of our other options. It may be that they do a turn tonight, we'll see. But it does strike me that we're not flexing as much of our fitness advantage as we might with the starting eleven we've put out tonight. Of course, we've a big bench of subs to play so perhaps we'll rotate as the game goes on.

So few managers have good, consistent records when it comes to sourcing players. Remember Ian McCall's first stint at Thistle: Rowson, Harkins, Murray, Hinchcliffe, Buchanan, Chaplain, Twaddle, McStay, Gray, Archibald, McKinlay, Tuffey, Paton, Maxwell, Storey, McKeown. All players who done a job in the old first division. They ended up finishing second to a very good St.Johnstone in 2009 as I remember. And got a draw against Rangers at Ibrox. This time around, I think Thistle supporters would tell you McCall's not fared anything like as well. Although, to be sure, he's made one or two good ones; Tiffoney for instance. And this is all despite Thistle topping the league. Roberts and Miller done well, though perhaps by necessity they had to keep some poorer players on the books. Reid was good with some notable extremes: Aaron Conway, Karim Kerkar. The latter being brought in through an agent friend if I remember rightly (Willie McKay)? In Lennon's time at Cowdenbeath and St.Mirren he generally sourced good players it must be said. Moore too at Morton. And Jim Duffy had an eye for a defender, whatever else might be said about him. Lately, only Stewart Petrie and John McGlynn have stood out to me for their sourcing. I can't remember any truly rotten players turning out for Montrose or Raith in recent past. Only decent or really quite good ones. It struck me the other day that Montrose and Raith have already moved to sign players from other clubs for next season. I'm not sure many other outfits have done that yet. Perhaps that supports the argument that they're doing something other clubs aren't. I've no idea to what extent any of the managers mentioned and their sourcing records have to do with money, in all honesty. Danny's signed some gems and some shockers for Clyde; more the latter on balance. The real economics of our situation have to do with whether we could hope to source a better manager than Danny Lennon and, by extension, better players through a different manager. I don't fancy we could. And I think Danny and Allan are owed a failure or two, particularly given the circumstances of this season.