Cardle is Magic

Spent a good 30 seconds trying to get the pun before realising that’s an actual player. I’m all for trying out foreign lads instead of the traditional shuffling around of jobbers from other Scottish sides.

Aye, I quite liked the League Cup format tbh but think it’s in danger of getting stale quite quickly. I guess they’re basically competitive friendlies at the end of the day.

Anyway, guess there’s only so long we can greet about it. Let’s see what sorts of signings we makes.

Former Celtic man brought in due to experience and contacts in the game. Of course, Hay had experienced far more success as a manager.

I can only imagine how low your expectations were if 12 wins out of 55 games is seen as any sort of success.

Overpowering vibes of Davie Hay.

Aye, McGlynn's recruitment has been suspect for years. Remember when he pulled a team together which won League 1 then immediately romped to 3rd in the championship, pumping your mob on the telly twice? Twice?

Having finished 4th, with plenty players signed up already and no Hearts in the league, I’d have been looking for us to aim for a sustained title challenge. There’s been seven seasons of Premiership Play Offs and not only has the side that finished 4th not been promoted, they’ve not once even won their first tie. Finishing 4th essentially only means more prize money. Unless he’s going to suddenly turn us into some free-flowing team that wins most weeks, I can’t see how the style of play makes any difference. I, and many others, was gasping for a new manager that would inspire and get the fans excited. We’re getting Peter Grant.

Sticking to a style of play that’s failing is not the sign of a good manager. It’s the sign of someone that doesn’t have a Plan B or is too arrogant to come up with one. The only reason I’m not predicting a relegation battle is because we have a decent core of players already signed up and most of the league will be total shite.

This will be presented as some exciting, modern venture. In reality, it’s an uninspiring, hire the first out of work manager you can think of, appointment. Does that mean we won’t finish Top 4? No, because we all know the standard of this league is appalling and unless Grant is an actual detriment to the team or we make terrible player recruitment decisions, we have some decent players already in the building. Maybe some fans will be so loyal or so desperate to get back to watching football that we’ll even shift plenty of STs. However I’d be fairly shocked if we’re even close to promotion, which has to be the target.

Stevie Crawford was appointed as Head Coach, not Manager. It was also spun as some big change to the management structure. It meant the square root of f**k all.

He has absolutely zero success as a manager and his “good football” resulted in him sticking to his preferred style despite Alloa sinking like a brick.

You do realise the newspaper reports are just PR fluff they’ve been given by the club, agents, perhaps even Grant himself?

Yeah but how stylish was the football they played? That’s all that really matters.

Anyone else *really* creeped out that TONTROOPER has been away checking out kids’ pants in M&S?

1: Style of football means nothing. Fans won’t care if we’re playing long ball as long as we win, just like they won’t accept pretty patterns and counter press if we lose. 2: He does know this league but it’s not exactly a challenge. 7/8 teams will be an absolute gang filled with Prem rejects and cheap journeymen. Any competent head coach would adapt quickly. 3: I’ll be supportive of anyone who replaces OFW and his pastry hands. Some pace and creativity in the middle of the park has also been sorely lacking. 4: I think people are greatly overestimating how Peter Grant is regarded in the game. Even Celtic fans laugh when he’s described as a “Hoops Hero” in the papers. Maybe he will allow us to bring in some quality players that would be unreachable without his thick contact book, but I doubt it. 5: Not sure what shite Crawford should have been dealing with? Only sniff of any issues saw Turner out on his arse pronto. From his touchline demeanour it suggests his approach is moaning like f**k when things inevitably don’t go his way. I have absolutely no faith in the Board’s decision making unfortunately. They allowed AJ to stay on far too long, then replaced him with Crawford and let him spend two years taking us to the exact same place we were when AJ should have left initially.

By “hearing” do you mean you read a rumour on Twitter and just took it on board as fact?

Glad to have an appreciate audience.

We were helped greatly by the fact there were so many teams even worse than us. A more porous defence and we’d have been fighting relegation with the other jobbers like Arbroath, Ayr and Morton.

It’s P&B tbf. Who honestly gives a f**k if you look daft?

OP formatting is leaving me twitching tbh.

Lazy, uninspiring appointment. Hopefully he makes everyone look daft but I have zero enthusiasm for the season ahead.

Perhaps Petrie wouldn’t have been possible, I don’t know. However, he would clearly be a better candidate because fans would have been buzzing and more likely to buy STs, new kit etc which is badly needed right now. It’s not just about how they train the team and what formation they play. Not sure why those you mention were the only options? However, John Hughes would clearly have been a far better candidate, anyone who says otherwise is talking quite potent shite. Think part of wanting Crawford to be replaced involved “with someone better”, no? Lockdown must have been very tough if this is hilarious tbf.

I wanted Crawford to go but I’d rather have kept Crawford than appoint Grant.