Walking Down The Halbeath Road

[da_no_1]

It's staggering how angry some folk get about stuff that didn't happen.

We didn't even skirt close to relegation even during the spell when we had the worst form in the country.

We did make the playoffs and in my opinion 4th place was just about correct. You can bang on about budgets etc but money doesn't mean success.

And AJ spotted the same massive hole in our team and fixed it. 

Bizarre how deleting good results against PT teams now seems to be acceotable when judging a manager.

Edited August 28, 2018 by da_no_1

[Poet of the Macabre]

We've made steady but unspectacular progress under AJ. It's rarely been thrilling but it's also not been a calamity either.

I totally understand why some people get frustrated and want us to be challenging for the title and get back to the top flight but plenty of clubs have shown that changing the manager can actually make things worse.

We've changed a lot of players over the summer and are also trying a new system. There might be some painful results but AJ has shown plenty of times that he can guide us through poor spells. 

Basically, ignore D.A.F.C because he's got a black belt in being a gibbering knicker-wetter.

[TheMessiah]

You know AJ is doing fine when the argument against him is "If we'd have lost a lot more games, results against PT teams didn't count and DUmbarton won more games we'd have been in the relegation playoffs."

If Man City had lost all the games they won last season they'd have been relegated 

#Guardiolaout

[DeeBairn]

6 hours ago, parsforlife said:

 

FWIW, lazlo and mckinnon both failed badly with far more budget, Naismith relies heavily on having Dobbie available. Hartley has just been sacked for doing less with more, I wouldn't ask for either Archibald or Goodwin, AJ beat Robertson in the race for the play-offs. So what mccall? Sure doing ok just now but he hasn't got a team promoted from this level in 15 years despite numerous attempts.

 

It's no surprise your so quick to anger if you think promotion should be expected when there's a maximum of two spots available and 2 clubs comfortably outspending us and another 4 or so we are grouped within.

 

It's silly If you think st mirren operated on a notable smaller budget than us, particularly given the squad turnover when Ross came in would be very surprised if their spend over the last 2 years was less than ours, one season which they avoided relegated by a very small margin.

 

By your own agreement AJ is doing ok, that should be enough to avoid these intermittent meltdowns we see after any bad result. He didn't do as well as Ross or Hopkin, nobody is going to argue that, but he's done a heck of a lot better than many.

 

I can't actually think of a manager that has us perform above expectations in 20 years. Someone that is doing ok is enough keep me happy.

 

Bert Paton, in all likely hood. Weird how things work out, if Geoff Brown hadn't been such a tight arse in sacking Totten and Paton for asking for more transfer funds, both our clubs histories could have worked out very differently. 

[Stellaboz]

Paton had us at the peak of where we can realistically finish I feel, however on the budget he had compared to every other top flight team, it was over achieving in glorious terms.

For fans over 30, these two are the, if not one of the, iconic figures of our respective clubs right? Paton I believe is the greatest ever Par.

[DeeBairn]

1 hour ago, Stellaboz said:

Paton had us at the peak of where we can realistically finish I feel, however on the budget he had compared to every other top flight team, it was over achieving in glorious terms.

For fans over 30, these two are the, if not one of the, iconic figures of our respective clubs right? Paton I believe is the greatest ever Par.

We could make an argument for Jeffries for some of the football he had us playing in the top flight, but over two spells, for me anyway, Totten would shade it. 

 

Paton would be my choice for you lot, clearlyearned a lot from oor Alex!

[smpar]

Surely Calderwood counts as someone who performed above expectation? I was still quite young but I don’t remember us *expecting* to finish fourth and reach the Scottish Cup final in the same season.

Even though we cheated our way to it for the lols

[Salvo Montalbano]

Paton had us at the peak of where we can realistically finish I feel, however on the budget he had compared to every other top flight team, it was over achieving in glorious terms.

For fans over 30, these two are the, if not one of the, iconic figures of our respective clubs right? Paton I believe is the greatest ever Par.

Agree with that. Not only the first bit (Totten seemed to be around for ages at Falkirk and at a time when we had some ding-dong matches... I didn't believe it when someone told me he used to play for us since he was, well, the enemy!) but also the second.

Leishman and Stein seem to always get the nod when talking about "the Greatest" but Bert was a cracking player, our record European goalscorer, a fantastic manager (who also had to deal with the death of his captain), was kinda shafted by the club but then still came back as a scout and is heavily involved in the Former Players Association. On top of that he's one of the nicest men you'll ever meet (my Dad plays bowls with him occasionally). I'm not belittling what Leishman and Stein did but I'd put Paton at the top.

[DAFC.]

9 hours ago, Grant228 said:

I still think Martin is a cracking player tbh. 

Martin played really well at LB near the end of the season. Any time I've seen him at CB he looked like a bombscare, though.

[DAFC.]

1 hour ago, smpar said:

Surely Calderwood counts as someone who performed above expectation? I was still quite young but I don’t remember us *expecting* to finish fourth and reach the Scottish Cup final in the same season.

Even though we cheated our way to it for the lols

Nothing expected but finishing 3rd was the target season 2002-03 and 2003-04. 2002-03 we were battling well for 3rd and flirted in 3rd place in spells, but fell right away after the festive period. 

 

ETA: Season 2002-03 was successful in its own right. Got to two quarter finals and only shaded out by a rampant Rangers side whilst being competitive in the top half. Oh, and we also caused Chris Sutton to almost spontaneously combust after "lying down" to said stupidly good Rangers side. 

Edited August 29, 2018 by DAFC.

[D.A.F.C]

Paton and Campbell deserve lots more credit and were the Hopkins of their day for getting so much out of so little.

[parsforlife]

4 hours ago, DeeBairn said:

Bert Paton, in all likely hood. Weird how things work out, if Geoff Brown hadn't been such a tight arse in sacking Totten and Paton for asking for more transfer funds, both our clubs histories could have worked out very differently. 

Paton was who i thought when i restricted it to 20 years, i forgot he narrowly qualified for that time frame., tho even though I attended games in his era, i had no idea of who the manager was and what they did.

It does prove to have a club perform above expectations is a bloody tough job tho.

[Potted hOuGh]

Jim Leishman did a lot to raise our profile and bring the crowds back to East End. Not the most tactical of Managers but he's been an integral part of the club one way or another for decades.

Bert Paton is without doubt the nearest to a Legend in my opinion. He's done a lot for this club and wasn't exactly treated right seeing him staying away from the club. Thankfully the new Board have changed that situation.

I lost touch a bit during the Calderwood era. Couldn't be arsed with the guy.

 

[DeeBairn]

7 hours ago, Potted hOuGh said:

Jim Leishman did a lot to raise our profile and bring the crowds back to East End. Not the most tactical of Managers but he's been an integral part of the club one way or another for decades.

Bert Paton is without doubt the nearest to a Legend in my opinion. He's done a lot for this club and wasn't exactly treated right seeing him staying away from the club. Thankfully the new Board have changed that situation.

I lost touch a bit during the Calderwood era. Couldn't be arsed with the guy.

 

Calderwood always had the air of a used car salesman about him. Just something off about him. Was almost quite good enough wherever he went, but never quite lived up to his own marketing. Essentially, Dunfermlines Yogi. 

[Potted hOuGh]

1 hour ago, DeeBairn said:

Calderwood always had the air of a used car salesman about him. Just something off about him. Was almost quite good enough wherever he went, but never quite lived up to his own marketing. Essentially, Dunfermlines Yogi. 

He never hid the fact he was a huge Rangers man. He never hid his ambitions to one day manage them. Even back then rumours were he was brought in to be 'bloodied' and prepared for the Rangers job through managing us first.

Calderwood admitted this on Off the Ball 3 or 4 year ago. We were like a feeder club to them with Masterton and Murray being pals, being labelled 'Hunfermline' by fans of the other arse cheek.

Spent cash we didn't have and although I took in the big games like the 2004 cup final I wasn't as regular when he was in charge.

Spoke to him in Lorenzo's one night after we had been beaten 3-0 by Hearts. He was mortal drunk on his own being an obnoxious p***k. I remember saying at the time you'd never have seen Bert Paton in a toun nightclub in that state. He didn't have much class.

 

[Stellaboz]

Calderwood was deceptively tall.

[DeeBairn]

29 minutes ago, Stellaboz said:

Calderwood was deceptively tall.

Big fat fuckers usually are, to be fair. 

[Gaz FFC]

2 hours ago, Potted hOuGh said:

He never hid the fact he was a huge Rangers man. He never hid his ambitions to one day manage them. Even back then rumours were he was brought in to be 'bloodied' and prepared for the Rangers job through managing us first.

Calderwood admitted this on Off the Ball 3 or 4 year ago. We were like a feeder club to them with Masterton and Murray being pals, being labelled 'Hunfermline' by fans of the other arse cheek.

Spent cash we didn't have and although I took in the big games like the 2004 cup final I wasn't as regular when he was in charge.

Spoke to him in Lorenzo's one night after we had been beaten 3-0 by Hearts. He was mortal drunk on his own being an obnoxious p***k. I remember saying at the time you'd never have seen Bert Paton in a toun nightclub in that state. He didn't have much class.

 

f**k me...You sound like that boring c**t who comes out for a night out with a book and tells everyone they've had too many units of alcohol.

I sincerely hope you're about 75

[DA Baracus]

Piracy is a good guy 

[D.A.F.C]

Calderwood came in and did a good job, he could change a game tactically really quickly and made good subs usually. He only spent what he was given and promised so not really his fault. I agree that engagement with fans was poor and I remember watching games against United and Aberdeen and tanking them thinking this is boring. Some great performances though like Patrick away or hearts at home where the football was sensational.

I also heard he was a bit jakey and got banned from the picbuachlie.