Walking Down The Halbeath Road

[smpar]

I think O’Hara is getting overlooked too easily tbh. His energy, instinct and finishing makes him a good option as a sub. Whether or not he’d accept a new deal knowing he’d barely start a game is another question, but considering he likely isn’t a top earner I’d be offering him another year. 
 

Comrie and MacDonald should both be offered new deals. I’d rather get Fisher and/or Murray before Breen, but wouldn’t be disappointed to see Breen kept on. Assuming McGowan is back to Dundee, I’d hope for a more influential central midfielder and have Chalmers on the bench. 
 

 

[HoBNob]

1 minute ago, smpar said:

I think O’Hara is getting overlooked too easily tbh. His energy, instinct and finishing makes him a good option as a sub. Whether or not he’d accept a new deal knowing he’d barely start a game is another question, but considering he likely isn’t a top earner I’d be offering him another year. 
 

Comrie and MacDonald should both be offered new deals. I’d rather get Fisher and/or Murray before Breen, but wouldn’t be disappointed to see Breen kept on. Assuming McGowan is back to Dundee, I’d hope for a more influential central midfielder and have Chalmers on the bench. 
 

 

I wouldn't be shocked if O'Hara is on decent wages. We signed him off the back of a good season with Alloa, we wouldn't have been his only suitors and we gave him a three year deal. 

[101]

18 minutes ago, Ludo*1 said:

Shaun Byrne

Yes please.

[HoBNob]

As far as our loan signings go the only one I'd be trying to get back is KRH. I'd be OK with Fisher coming back but I wouldnt be offering compensation. 

I reckon Mahon has got it in him to go somewhere and be decent, but he's not really had much of a sniff here. 

Mochrie, McGowan and Otoo can be on there way with a league winners medal. 

[Ludo*1]

I'd honestly imagine McPake giving McGowan a deal for next season. Think that was the whole point of him leaving in January from us. Kind of an end of an era.

Wouldn't be surprised to see Byrne join you either.

[smpar]

I’d take Shaun Byrne in a heartbeat. 

[Stellaboz]

Haven't seen anything from McGowan to suggest he's got anything to offer. 

[CallumPar]

8 minutes ago, Ludo*1 said:

I'd honestly imagine McPake giving McGowan a deal for next season. Think that was the whole point of him leaving in January from us. Kind of an end of an era.

Wouldn't be surprised to see Byrne join you either.

McPake hasn’t trusted him enough to give him much game time. From the limited game time he’s had, he’s looked past it. If he’s behind Chalmers, Hamilton and Todd right now and we need to strengthen anyway, I can’t see any benefit in extending his stay. Worth pointing out that one of McPake’s early moves involved terminating Dorrans’ contract, so I think he’s a bit more ruthless than he was at Dundee, when it comes to players/contracts.

If Byrne were to return, that would be another player ahead of McGowan.

[CallumPar]

1 hour ago, 101 said:

138 appearances for Comrie 135 for Edwards.

Yep. Only a couple of months in it I think, but Comrie was an early summer signing and Edwards signed 2/3 games into the league cup campaign. Regardless, I’d like to see Comrie stay. He’s a steady RB option, proven at championship level.

Would be happy to see competition come in at RB (and LB), or someone who’s capable of forcing their way into the team ahead of Comrie, but the same goes for every single position, if such a player is available and wanting to come here. 

[Ludo*1]

2 minutes ago, CallumPar said:

McPake hasn’t trusted him enough to give him much game time. From the limited game time he’s had, he’s looked past it. If he’s behind Chalmers, Hamilton and Todd right now and we need to strengthen anyway, I can’t see any benefit in extending his stay. Worth pointing out that one of McPake’s early moves involved terminating Dorrans’ contract, so I think he’s a bit more ruthless than he was at Dundee, when it comes to players/contracts.

If Byrne were to return, that would be another player ahead of McGowan.

He's barely played since October - don't think McPake would just throw him in and for him it's more about having him round the squad. McPake, on signing McGowan said this:

'Paul was one of the first names, if not the name, I put to the board. He’s a fantastic footballer, but he’s driven, he demands standards from his team-mates and from his team, whether that’s on a training day or a match day, and he’s an experienced player.  It’s maybe something that we were lacking in the group, but we were happy with enough that.  He’s a big game player, but he treats every game and every training session like that.'

As I say, I won't claim to know more than Dunfermline fans on how McPake has changed but I'd still be mega surprised to not see him kept on.

As for Dorrans, I thought that was more Dorrans packing it in than anything else?

[CallumPar]

6 minutes ago, Ludo*1 said:

He's barely played since October - don't think McPake would just throw him in and for him it's more about having him round the squad. McPake, on signing McGowan said this:

'Paul was one of the first names, if not the name, I put to the board. He’s a fantastic footballer, but he’s driven, he demands standards from his team-mates and from his team, whether that’s on a training day or a match day, and he’s an experienced player.  It’s maybe something that we were lacking in the group, but we were happy with enough that.  He’s a big game player, but he treats every game and every training session like that.'

As I say, I won't claim to know more than Dunfermline fans on how McPake has changed but I'd still be mega surprised to not see him kept on.

As for Dorrans, I thought that was more Dorrans packing it in than anything else?

I get what you’re saying, but I do wonder if McGowan’s fitness levels have been below McPake’s expectations. A fit McGowan can probably offer something. But he looks like his legs have completely gone. Looks knackered 5 mins after coming onto the pitch. I probably wouldn’t be too surprised either way with him.

Regarding Dorrans, I believe McPake informed him that he was being stripped of the captaincy. Dorrans threw his toys out the pram and McPake said he was free to leave if he wasn’t happy about it. Player and club then agreed to rip up his contract prior to the transfer deadline.

[Ludo*1]

2 minutes ago, CallumPar said:

I get what you’re saying, but I do wonder if McGowan’s fitness levels have been below McPake’s expectations. A fit McGowan can probably offer something. But he looks like his legs have completely gone. Looks knackered 5 mins after coming onto the pitch. I probably wouldn’t be too surprised either way with him.

Regarding Dorrans, I believe McPake informed him that he was being stripped of the captaincy. Dorrans threw his toys out the pram and McPake said he was free to leave if he wasn’t happy about it. Player and club then agreed to rip up his contract prior to the transfer deadline.

Bold to do that to his best mate tbf. A ruthlessness we certainly didn't ever see at Dens.

[VinnyPar]

I'm not sure we can say for certain it was McPake who forced Dorrans out the club, imagine Dave Cook would have had a big influence on the matter.

[AlwaysAPar]

Just googled Shaun Byrne and he’s 30 years old! I distinctly remember him making his debut as a teen against rovers ffs. I’m feeling very old now but get him home

[Stellaboz]

1 hour ago, AlwaysAPar said:

Just googled Shaun Byrne and he’s 30 years old! I distinctly remember him making his debut as a teen against rovers ffs. I’m feeling very old now but get him home

Did he not break through same time as Phinn?

[parsforlife]

7 minutes ago, Stellaboz said:

Did he not break through same time as Phinn?

No, a few years later.   Phinn is 34 now

[The Toun Clock]

4 minutes ago, Stellaboz said:

Did he not break through same time as Phinn?

Nah way after. I recall Phinn in that honking Adidas home kit when Stephen Kenny was the manager so a good bit of time would pass before Byrne, although Byrne was probably at the club as a kid when Phinn was in the first team.

Byrne didn’t make any appearances until the year we went into admin in the Championship under Jeffries so he probably missed the Jimmy Mac era in terms of being in the first team, and that’s when Phinn featured most. I do recall Byrne’s debut at home to Raith.

[Stellaboz]

Thanks for clearing that up folks, it's a fuzzy period for me. Wouldn't have been a bad central pairing. 

 

[The Toun Clock]

1 hour ago, Stellaboz said:

Thanks for clearing that up folks, it's a fuzzy period for me. Wouldn't have been a bad central pairing. 

 

Aye you’re right! Sometimes I have to sit and have a right good think about who came before when thinking about past players.

With regards to McGowan, I totally appreciate he’s not fit and that was the guy we were getting. At the time he signed it was viewed as more of a guy to get us over the line but fortunately for us it kinda looks like it’s happening anyway, without him having much involvement. What I will say is I’m sure he’s had a bit impact in the dressing room. His experience coming on against Falkirk in March, winning fouls, running the clock down etc - brilliant. I think we will offer him a deal, and I think with a solid pre-season he could be an asset next year.

Interesting to read about Dorrans spitting the dummy after being told he was being stripped of the captaincy. Obviously I’ve just read that, however I can’t actually get my head round him being bothered about getting stripped as captain. From the get go Dunfermline & Dorrans just didn’t work, I know the fans didn’t like him (I wasn’t one, I thought he would come good) but after the spat at Somerset a lot of the support made their mind up, and as the season went on I got the impression the feeling was mutual, he wasn’t that arsed etc. Not at all saying what was said isn’t the btw, just shocked he was that bothered. f**k last season was rubbish just thinking about it

Edited April 10, 2023 by The Toun Clock

[101]

Dunfermline ladies against Falkirk at EEP on the 3rd May 19:30 KO should be fun.