BigMadMental

Why do Ayr fans hate Muirhead so much? Genuine curious question.

The players themselves have voted for the team of the year, these are the players with the most votes.

Source?

I didn’t say it would , but it would go a long way in helping players in general with injury prevention and recovery and for a club who have (their words) strives to “act like a top flight club at all times” then they need to consider having this stuff properly in place.

I think some professional Advisory on how the training is structured is probably something the club would benefit from. This is probably happening but at what level, I don’t know. Unfortunately this does cost ££ while they were both players, Doolan and McDonald themselves really might not have the experience or know how. I’m not suggesting they are running the players into the ground. But ultimately this is their first venture into management and had been largely asssociated with training youths prior to this, which is completely different. the point around Lawless overuse injury wouldn’t strictly be because he played too much. Has he trained too much? Trained too little? Does he do too much close to a game? Not enough recovery after a game? That sort of thing. there was a rumour that he was injured and playing with it but not training, and saving himself for games? Muirhead playing through an injury too apparently? So it seems like an area that needs work. You’re right that injuries are bad luck and happen to all teams. One thing ringing around firhill a lot this season has been the fitness levels and that the team seem to tail off. some people prefer to rant at doolan about his subs or his tactics but I suppose I like to look at this stuff more and have a bit of an interest in it. we have come up against some right fit teams this season. Livingston looked like they could have played another 90mins against us at full pelt. It would be good if we could say that about ourselves.

How is it a prolonged rant? Because I am replying to other people who have an opinion on it? Achillies injuries are commonly caused by overuse. The club were recruiting a lead physio and a sports scientist for months on end to no avail. I didn’t compliment Graham for playing at a high level. I pointed out that it’s obvious he is putting in extra graft in his own time and perhaps on his own dime while others may not be. Because the club can only offer so much in terms of educating players on how to look after their bodies? Isn’t that a fair point? I’m not suggesting anything really. But the original point was around our skeleton back room staff and the impact that it has on the players. Some people have the archaic view that this doesn’t matter and I don’t have that opinion, it’s as simple as that. Whether we have good players or not - we are skint and it shows. the actual original discussion was surrounding the fact that because of our lack of funds, and our lack of resources, we struggle to develop players a wee bit due to that. My simple point was that if we had more money available we might be able to invest a bit more in the back room side.

If you sign the best players and don’t have the resources to look after them properly then you run into problems. Team have struggled to finish 90mins strong all season and several players have pulled up with injuries which are linked to overuse. Lawless being the one who has come out worst. This is why we can’t get out the championship.

Yeah but that’s exactly my point. We don’t gave the resources to put things in place. But with the way modern football is, not having these things creates a ceiling. fitness has been an issue for the team all season. We have been seeing it before our eyes. This absolutely has to be linked to the training side of it or whatever we are doing to look after the players outwith game days. You would have to presume we are running a bare bones operation. As pointed out, players are probably being relied upon to do things in their own time and you would have to assume that most are not. Graham looks to be fitter than he was before so he is obviously putting in the work himself. Milne perhaps another example.

Rovers have significantly more back room staff than us working both remotely and directly with the squad and managers. They’ve invested heavily in that area because it’s equally as important as the playing budget but thistle have never seemed to think so.

We have a bare bones coaching staff, we don't appear have a sports science staff either really and we were trying to recruit a physio for months, still dunno if we managed to do it or not. I understand Doolan and Paul McDonald are doing all the work but that seems to be all we have, I'm happy to stand corrected but the only other coaches we see are ones that were possibly drafted in from Thistle Weir to help with training? And of course Kenny Arthur, who's ability to coach and develop a keeper has recently come under scrutiny due to Sneddon regressing. There will be variety in the training, absolutely, but if you can't afford an array of coaching staff who work with the players on different aspects through the week (and most importantly have the relevant experience) then you are only going to be able to get so much out of the players. It's an unfortunate by-product of the situation we find ourselves in financially. Doolan & McDonald I'm sure are trying their best but for a team with ambition of getting out this league or being seen as a top Championship side, don't think we are doing enough off the pitch. We have some really good players and prospects but I don't think we look after them well enough and the may, or may not, be contributing to some of the niggles and lengthy layoffs.

I don’t think it was a direct result of his training and coaching day to day. the manager has since admitted he didn’t even take training. it seems like we have a very basic setup where we run players through paces and don’t really work much more with them beyond that. By all means if they want to personally develop further then that’s up to them but I don’t see thistle doing much other than the bare minimum.

You could argue both. out coaching setup has been pretty basic for quite some time. this season particularly looks like a pretty bare-bones operation. If you look at Ngwenya as an example - if he signed for us next year, he would likely just “get by” as a thistle player. At the minute he is a squad player who can come on and do a job. I don’t think we would have the resource to improve his game to the point that he becomes a first team regular and an important player in the team. Doolans recruitment this season has been more driven towards players who need minutes who are at other clubs. McCalls recruitment was different in that he mostly signed players who were ready to come in and do the job. I wouldn’t say Tiff, Holt, Doc, McMillan, Milne etc became BETTER players within the thistle setup, they were already good, hence why they were brought in, and fitted into the way we wanted to play. Whereas with this seasons cohort it has been more about finding bodies and trying to train them into fitting into the way doolan wants to play.

McInroy should absolutely be a thistle player next season. Considering the market we are going to be in this summer, if there’s any chance he comes to us, we should be making an offer. Ngwenya too would be absolutely fine as a squad player and he does have potential. Our biggest problem is not having the finance or resources to develop players further.

Would be more keen to see who becomes available around the championship, be this current loans at other clubs or players allowed to move on. on the subject of a an outside chance replacement for McMillan - Miles Welch-Hayes would be my top pick, currently on loan at Dunfermline from Livvy (dreadlocks boy). I would take Chris Kane absolutely. you have to assume the club have made an offer to McInroy but I would keep both him and Ngwenya. We should be looking to League 1 & 2 for players who would comfortably make the step up to the championship and fit into our style of play.

It’s a really stupid clause on the contract really when you think about it - this game would probably get a really good viewing figure and people would be interested in seeing it. it doesn’t even matter to the teams because they all get the same ££ distributed anyway