The Alloa Athletic Thread

[Waspie]

You can't be sure what was behind the manager's decision there. Personally I suspect it was more based on wanting to get Robbo on - a good call - rather than Jamieson being hooked for a poor performance. Indeed if you believe the QoS fans, Jamieson was Alloa's MOTM for his involvement in the incident that saw Shields go off . 

I've always liked Taggs at CB and I'd be happy to see him there regularly. At the same time, Jamieson has had some excellent games already and has the potential to be a good player for us. He was man of the match the day we beat Hearts when he was up against strikers with loads of international caps. Well over the top IMO to see some posters saying at this stage he isn't good enough or too slow. 

[Alloa 68]

I'll get pelters for this from some,but so be it,Peter Grant should go now.It's torture watching us this season.He can't even address the fact we need pace in the team,something thats been all to obvious.I'm no football expert,but nobody can tell me that things can get any better,we are woeful.The core of the team give everything,the old faithfuls,but the new signings just have not worked,and we look disjointed .Judging by todays performance i don't see what we have to lose in getting shot of Grant,sorry i really don't.I get that finances must be tight,but surely we can get at least one player in to try and save our season?If Grant can't or won't we're going down.Sorry if this sounds like a rant,but this season has been unbearable for the most part.It pains me to say this,but i've almost resigned myself to going down,i hope we don't,but it's looking ominous.Get a new manager in a try and get a boost from that.Last throw of the dice but i'm done with Grant.

[Tamhain]

Aye favourites to finish bottom and sitting only 3 points behind the other part-time team with a game in hand after losing our top scorer and best player in the summer and having had a number of injuries this season. Clear case for sacking Grant so it is. 

 

[weetoonlad]

Think both posts are very harsh. Imo 

I always ask someone OK you want the manager sacked. Who do you replace him with 

You know the Board of Directors at the club don't just sack managers 

If we are relagated then there would be a case but at this time my views would be a No 

But I do respect your views and understand your frustration we need to go on a run of two or three wins am sure we can pull one or two above us into the Dog fight 

Keep believing guys through thick and thin. 

[Magic Hat]

Don't think it is just our position that is the issue, the way we have played this season has been terrible to watch. Yes we lost O'Hara but then that is Grants job to replace him, keeping Buchanan and Thompson was not the answer and despite Camerons goal today not convinced he is the answer. The lack of speed and directness in the team has made us both ineffective and poor to watch. 

[Kobe2010]

What part of screaming at the players for the entire 90 minutes constitutes coaching.The players must be demented listening to him.Staying in the championship as a part time club is very difficult with only ourselves twice Arbroath,Cowdenbeath and best of all Dumbarton  managing to get up and stay up in the last decade and it invariably ends at some point.What we need now is to get our best players in their best positions and just let them play.Taggs at right back,Robertson in the middle with Hetherington,Scougall and Cawley in front with Trouten in the no.10.Cameron or thompson can play as a lone striker in front of them.Get everyone a little further up the park and go for it.Plenty pace and ability for me.

[AlloaAdam]

We haven't been great at all this season and have really struggled at times but there has been a big overreaction in this thread tonight imo. Sacking a manager at this point of the season just isn't the way to go and while the last 2 performances on the most part have been poor, we still got 4 points out of 6. We've also been missing key players from key positions this season that hasn't really allowed us to get any momentum going and has resulted in the team changing week on week. People forget that as much as O'hara was excellent for us last season, he didn't really start scoring until January and the team in general weren't great until that point last season either, and at the halfway point we were 7 points from safety, and Grant turned it round and we ended last season playing some really good football. There's no reason that can't happen this season as well. Still plenty games left. Understand the frustration as we are really boring to watch atm, but still believe Grant can turn it round. Lets hope he signs someone with a bit of pace

[printer]

24 minutes ago, Kobe2010 said:

What part of screaming at the players for the entire 90 minutes constitutes coaching.The players must be demented listening to him.

Indeed. Can only drain their confidence.

[LeodhasXD]

I'm going to preach patience too.

The championship is a wild league. A good month and we could be in the playoffs. Dundee  in 4th could be bottom this time next month. Even when we've been bad we've been moments away from turning games in our favour.

[BFTD]

Managers can't really win when it comes to communication from the sidelines; some are quiet, some bawl and shout, but nobody gives a toss so long as the team's doing well. Whatever their approach, it'll be held against them if it's going badly.

For what it's worth, I don't think changing managers at this stage would work out well for us. We don't really have a squad that's massively underperforming and might benefit from a new approach. I think the die's cast for this season and we'll just have to hope that Peter Grant's capable of tweaking the tactics, shoring up the defence, and picking up more points. Not gifting every visitor a goal's head start would nice, for one thing.

[weetoonlad]

My views are big neilly needs a few weeks out. He's struggled for a few, games now. We have the back up keeper to do it. One thing for sure it wouldn't be long term just a few, weeks 

[KierenAAFC]

5 minutes ago, weetoonlad said:

My views are big neilly needs a few weeks out. He's struggled for a few, games now. We have the back up keeper to do it. One thing for sure it wouldn't be long term just a few, weeks 

Made a massive save in the second half to keep us in it. Made an even bigger save last week to keep all three points. Bench Parry? Steady on.

[Redwedge77]

My views are big neilly needs a few weeks out. He's struggled for a few, games now. We have the back up keeper to do it. One thing for sure it wouldn't be long term just a few, weeks 

Parry’s not been at his best but still pulling off big saves, probably still one of our most consistent players. I don’t think he’s to blame for the goal we lost today as pass back was well short.

The defence are totally short of confidence. We still look one dimensional and play at one pace. We have no real cutting-edge. Grant appears to coach the team well but his signings have failed to jell and they look out of their depth at this level. Scrougal appears to have continual injury problems and probably want see the best of him this season.

As for replacing Grant if he was to go, the club have history of new young manager cutting their teeth and Andy Graham fits mould coming to end of his playing career and has done his coaching badges and previous managers all speak about leadership qualities.

[Waspie]

I'd agree that Andy Graham would be worth a shot as manager at some point. You can never be sure but he has great leadership qualities, knows the lower leagues so well and is well liked so should be well placed to attract players.

But regarding Peter Grant, I'd be astonished if the club is even thinking about sacking him. We all know that Mike Mulraney backs his managers and that it took massive failure by Alan Maitland to eventually lose his job. Contrast that with Grant who is in credit for keeping us up last season and who still has us in touch at the moment. Even had we lost the last two huge games I'd say he would be safe, but we picked up 4 points. I'd probably have taken that beforehand. 

Think we also need to remember how exceptional the circumstances are. The team Grant had built last season was just coming into its own when Covid stopped the season. He then lost his key playmaker, his top scorer and the very impressive young loans he had brought in. It wasn't a normal rebuild either with the club saying early on that they would keep all the contracted players, clearly in the knowledge that recruitment in the current climate would be different. Some players were retained who would have gone in normal circumstances. And Grant has managed despite everything to get some good players in, albeit they haven't all hit the heights yet. He has also had a lot of bad luck with injuries, affecting continuity of selection and allowing new men to settle. 

I agree that he has made mistakes. I can't understand why he didn't sign a fast attacker or two before the season and why he still hasn't since January. I don't accept his excuse about it being tough due to bubbles simply because there are so many players out on loan at pt clubs. I don't think he is at the moment getting as much as he could from the existing squad, although there are caveats there due to pandemic and the injury problems. 

But overall he has done a pretty solid job. I do suspect we'll end up bottom but our situation is far from hopeless. With the spirit we have and no lack of talent in the group, they are still capable of pulling it off. It's the weakest Alloa side of the last 3 seasons in the Championship, but it is also the weakest Championship. I'm struggling to think of games, even when we got pumped, that I felt at the end that the opposition were really good. There will be plenty of chances to pick up points. And I'm sure Grant will be in charge for the rest of the season regardless of what happens. 

Edited February 14, 2021 by Waspie

[KierenAAFC]

Think it’s pretty far stretched to say that Peter Grant doesn’t warrant his job. Like the posters have said, we’re in the mix and we’re doing it on a shoe string budget and at large chunks of the season, a shoe string squad.

Over his tenure, I can’t remember too many managers dealing with the injuries he’s deal with. Long term injuries to Neil Parry, Andy Graham, Scott Taggart, and Alan Trouten in his time. Without mentioning the frustrating niggles or suspensions that have kept the likes of Liam Dick, Stevie Hetherington and Stefan Scougall out.

The last two games were dubbed as must-wins, albeit yesterday was poor, we salvaged something and I wouldn’t say 4/6 is bad. It hasn’t been helped with other teams picking up surprising points. We have a tough run of fixtures coming up  but nothing to suggest we also can’t pick up ‘surprising’ points. 
 

Peter has brought us some great results and performances in his short time. He’s also done what no other Alloa manager has really managed and started to integrated some youngsters in Lucas Williamson and Cameron O’Donnell. You can’t play them every game but he’s dealing with them well I think. 
 

We’re still very much in this and I don’t see what giving him the chop will do going into the final third of the campaign. We all know too that it’s not the way the Alloa BoD operate either. Regarding Andy Graham, yes I’m an advocate of him being manager one day. Now? Absolutely not. He’s far too important in the squad and we know how bad it can be to balance it both when we think about Goodwin. I see Andy Graham given the opportunity when we are League 1 again in a few years. A much less ruthless league to learn his trade and means he can continue playing duties for as long as possibly. Which he is more than capable of doing based on current performances.

Edited February 14, 2021 by KierenAAFC

[Wee wasp]

Three away games coming though

12 hours ago, weetoonlad said:

My views are big neilly needs a few weeks out. He's struggled for a few, games now. We have the back up keeper to do it. One thing for sure it wouldn't be long term just a few, 

As much as parry  has been brilliant over the piece I think he's struggled to get back to fitness after injuries. He's still pulling  off good saves but I think a few of the goals he's lost have shown a lack o mobility about him. The goal yesterday was a shortish pass back but I think he was a bit slow in getting out to clear and he almost got caught in 2nd half as well alhough he did keep us in the game with a good 2nd half save.  Don't think he deserves to be dropped but the manager must be thinking  about  something when he's brought this guy up from forest. Or is it just cover with neils past injury problems.

[Kevchenko]

With only loan deals now available I would say it would be a pretty meaningless time to change manager, all we could really hope for would be a new manager ‘bounce’ but that’s not exactly something you can count on.

Completely agree with what the club did in retaining everyone (other than O’Hara) in the close season, but Grant has to take responsibility for failing to replace what O’Hara brought. He may have only really hit goal scoring form from January onwards, but his running and work rate all year was great. He was a proper outlet for harassing defenders and chasing down lost causes, often resulting in us getting possession back much higher up the pitch.

The style we play suits more to someone like that up top as opposed to a target man (although I’m pleased with how Cameron has done so far) as there is such a big gap back to the midfield.

I quite liked the change of shape yesterday, but if we go with that set up, I think Cawley and Trouten need to be much more advanced behind Cameron - in that situation a big target man makes much more sense.

Last 2 weeks have been grim, but 4 points from playing like that is a decent return. The issue I see is performing to that level in the next few games isn’t going to produce that type of return against much better teams.

Finally, in a history of terrible takes, dropping Parry for a few games has to amongst the worst. It’s not exactly like we have Jamie MacDonald sitting on the bench, and although he might not have been at his peek this year, I’d rather have Neil in there for a dogfight than an unproven youngster. He’s as much the reason we’ve taken 4 points from 6 then anyone else.

[weetoonlad]

3 hours ago, KierenAAFC said:

Think it’s pretty far stretched to say that Peter Grant doesn’t warrant his job. Like the posters have said, we’re in the mix and we’re doing it on a shoe string budget and at large chunks of the season, a shoe string squad.

Over his tenure, I can’t remember too many managers dealing with the injuries he’s deal with. Long term injuries to Neil Parry, Andy Graham, Scott Taggart, and Alan Trouten in his time. Without mentioning the frustrating niggles or suspensions that have kept the likes of Liam Dick, Stevie Hetherington and Stefan Scougall out.

The last two games were dubbed as must-wins, albeit yesterday was poor, we salvaged something and I wouldn’t say 4/6 is bad. It hasn’t been helped with other teams picking up surprising points. We have a tough run of fixtures coming up  but nothing to suggest we also can’t pick up ‘surprising’ points. 
 

Peter has brought us some great results and performances in his short time. He’s also done what no other Alloa manager has really managed and started to integrated some youngsters in Lucas Williamson and Cameron O’Donnell. You can’t play them every game but he’s dealing with them well I think. 
 

We’re still very much in this and I don’t see what giving him the chop will do going into the final third of the campaign. We all know too that it’s not the way the Alloa BoD operate either. Regarding Andy Graham, yes I’m an advocate of him being manager one day. Now? Absolutely not. He’s far too important in the squad and we know how bad it can be to balance it both when we think about Goodwin. I see Andy Graham given the opportunity when we are League 1 again in a few years. A much less ruthless league to learn his trade and means he can continue playing duties for as long as possibly. Which he is more than capable of doing based on current performances.

Excellent post Young Man 

[Redwedge77]

Excellent post Young Man 

[nugs]

Arboath and QOS have improved their squads with loan signing in January. . I fear this may be the difference by the end of the season. I still can't understand why we haven't added at least one more loan.