rhliston Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 17 minutes ago, Ally_D said: As a season, this is ominously like the first Ray Stewart season: starting with expectation that a squad had been assembled to challenge for the top (it is almost one year since the confident announcements preparing for this season ), then eroding into a slump towards the bottom. Despite mutterings disparaging keyboard warriors, there is a dearth of comments about the situation. Watching the stream of yesterday's match at Elgin, it was dire stuff. Was enough done in January to shore things up? Or has it been assumed that if the upward play-offs were out of reach, a new manager could bring enough spark to get to the end of the season in mid-table? Even that is looking challenging just now. Well the Trust AGM is on the 27th March, any Trust member can put forward proposals regarding the Club Board ie Get rid of Stuart Brown etc. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmca Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 19 hours ago, Ally_D said: As a season, this is ominously like the first Ray Stewart season: starting with expectation that a squad had been assembled to challenge for the top (it is almost one year since the confident announcements preparing for this season ), then eroding into a slump towards the bottom. Despite mutterings disparaging keyboard warriors, there is a dearth of comments about the situation. Watching the stream of yesterday's match at Elgin, it was dire stuff. Was enough done in January to shore things up? Or has it been assumed that if the upward play-offs were out of reach, a new manager could bring enough spark to get to the end of the season in mid-table? Even that is looking challenging just now. It really has been a bizarre season. 19 points from the first quarter and 8 points from the next 16, with only 1 win. First quarter total flattered us a bit, but the drop off has been totally inexplicable to me. We have been comfortably the worst team in the league in that period, bordering on Berwick/Brechin levels of direness. How the hell has that happened? Young's first few games showed some signs of better play without getting wins, but Saturday's shitshow fills me with a bit of foreboding for the rest of the season. Need to get a reaction in the next game. We've got a decent lead over Cowden, but, if that's chipped away at over the next month or so, we could very easily find ourselves bottom of the pile come the end of the season. I wouldn't be very confident of winning the play off in those circumstances. All a bit pessimistic, and I do believe Cowden have a bit too much to do to get off the bottom of the table. Going forward though, it's hard to see how we improve to the extent of challenging to get out of this league. We've had what appeared to me to be good squads the last couple of seasons, and haven't looked like getting promotion. Hard to be hopeful about the future. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnash Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 3 hours ago, gmca said: It really has been a bizarre season. 19 points from the first quarter and 8 points from the next 16, with only 1 win. First quarter total flattered us a bit, but the drop off has been totally inexplicable to me. We have been comfortably the worst team in the league in that period, bordering on Berwick/Brechin levels of direness. How the hell has that happened? Young's first few games showed some signs of better play without getting wins, but Saturday's shitshow fills me with a bit of foreboding for the rest of the season. Need to get a reaction in the next game. We've got a decent lead over Cowden, but, if that's chipped away at over the next month or so, we could very easily find ourselves bottom of the pile come the end of the season. I wouldn't be very confident of winning the play off in those circumstances. All a bit pessimistic, and I do believe Cowden have a bit too much to do to get off the bottom of the table. Going forward though, it's hard to see how we improve to the extent of challenging to get out of this league. We've had what appeared to me to be good squads the last couple of seasons, and haven't looked like getting promotion. Hard to be hopeful about the future. On current form, Cowden will win both of their remaining games against us. That will reduce the gap to 2 points, which they will make up on us in the other 9 games. Conclusion - our form must improve or we will be relegated. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlbionMan Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 23 hours ago, rhliston said: Well the Trust AGM is on the 27th March, any Trust member can put forward proposals regarding the Club Board ie Get rid of Stuart Brown etc. Unless there are tensions twixt dressing room and boardroom of which nothing is known, I don't see an early cull of directors serving any useful purpose in ensuring we manage to stay in the league. O for the mid table mediocrity of recent years. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammytroot Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 Aaron Dunsmore signs on loan from EF. Right back/wing back. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlbionMan Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 2 minutes ago, sammytroot said: Aaron Dunsmore signs on loan from EF. Right back/wing back. Sounds like a jump from the frying pan straight into the fire. He's been a regular with you for a good few seasons now. Any reason why he's being allowed out on loan? New manager doesn't fancy him? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammytroot Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 Aaron is now in his fifth season with EF and was originally signed by Darren Young. According to EF, Aaron asked to go out on loan and has certainly not featured recently. I suspect that Stevie Crawford does not see him as part of his plans for next season. In my opinion, Aaron needs a change of club although I would expect him to be playing for a first division club next season. He is a better wing back than right back and goes out on loan with the best wished from all EF fans. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB_Bino Posted March 1, 2022 Author Share Posted March 1, 2022 Thanks for the feedback Sammytroot.Totally agree with you GMCA, former West Brom player Bomber Brown (who comments on matches) said recently that a manager is only as good as his players, especially the ones that scores goals……I agree with that and looking through the current side, who scores goals?? With the exception of one season when Darren Smith stepped up, this has been an ongoing problem we’ve had, probably since Jordan White left and he’s been gone for about 8 years now and it’s costing us. The over reliance that KR and now Young have on Mackin is unbelievable considering he spends most of the game blowing out his arse and is as mobile as a traffic cone blowing in the wind. You want to support the players, you want to back them to the hilt but when it’s the same group letting you down time and time again, some for a number of years now, it’s hard to. I would probably only keep Currie, McGeachie and Macgregor from the current squad, possibly Leitch as well, there’s a huge rebuild needed in the summer in my opinion, I just hope that rebuild happens in League 2 and not below and I just hope that Young is the man to do it because we have been here so many times before. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenNuggets_YeeHaa Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 Dunsmore was one of our best players just a few seasons ago and very surprised not to see him involved this season. Was at his best playing right midfield in a 442 and gave us good balance on that side. With some confidence, he will absolutely smash league 2. Would happily have him back next season with a fresh mindset. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhliston Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 16 hours ago, AlbionMan said: Unless there are tensions twixt dressing room and boardroom of which nothing is known, I don't see an early cull of directors serving any useful purpose in ensuring we manage to stay in the league. O for the mid table mediocrity of recent years. Sorry have to disagree with you re cull of Directors. One of the reasons we are in such a mess is that Stuart Brown has been in charge now for a number of years and has failed to get us out of this Basement League. How many managers has the current Board appointed and then had to sack because they were not up to the task. Take the previous manager KR, they gave him a new contract when it looked like we were heading to the playoffs and then look what happened, talk about making a rod to beat your back with. Its time for change Stuart Brown has failed to deliver its that simple when he has been in charge. This club cannot afford to drop down to the Lowland League like the Shire and Berwick Rangers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 Aaron Dunsmore was an Edinburgh City player at one point. I'd quite to see him back...but hey, ho if he does well for the Binos then fair play. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_binos Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 (edited) On 28/02/2022 at 15:54, gmca said: All a bit pessimistic, and I do believe Cowden have a bit too much to do to get off the bottom of the table. Going forward though, it's hard to see how we improve to the extent of challenging to get out of this league. We've had what appeared to me to be good squads the last couple of seasons, and haven't looked like getting promotion. I couldn't disagree more. Cowdenbeath have picked up a bit of form recently and we could find ourselves bottom by the end of March. Since the Stenny win, we have collected 3 points out of 18. With that squad of players, it's simply not good enough. Our best striker not getting much of a chance and leaving for Linlithgow certainly doesn't help matters. With the statements released on the club website, you would think we were the only team in the division impacted by injuries and Covid to their squad. Yes it has an impact but you get on with it and stop making excuses. This is why you build a squad at the beginning of the season. There are many teams above us who have less of a budget and are doing just fine. I'm really starting to fear finishing bottom of the pile. Edited March 1, 2022 by dave_binos 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumb yatt Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 Re club statement, unity at last. The board, management and supporters think were rubbish. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ally_D Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 19 hours ago, rhliston said: How many managers has the current Board appointed and then had to sack because they were not up to the task. Take the previous manager KR, they gave him a new contract when it looked like we were heading to the playoffs and then look what happened, talk about making a rod to beat your back with. A couple of decades ago, managers' contracts were seen out and not renewed. Relatively dignified and allowing renewal to happen through the summer. The repeating pattern over the past decade has been different. Several times, after a season has turned to mulch, I have expected change and instead been astonished to hear that the management contracts have been extended. That has allowed them to repeat lacklustre recruitment (usually involving a couple of players whose sole good performance the previous season seems to have been against SA at Forthbank), and then turned into a crisis by autumn by which time they have to go. I can understand this happening once: a loyalty bond building up between chair and manager, a sense that we are in this together. But not more. The cycle from boosterism to circle-the-wagons crisis does nobody any good. It may even have prevented the innovative approach that has been sought. For example, might broader consideration have reached a consensus that this or that rookie incumbent is an inspiring coach but dreadful at recruitment, or at reading a game, or may benefit from advice from a Director of Football or some such? Who knows, but crisis and rip-it-up-and-start-again means we never find out. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neilly Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 (edited) Even that win against us was really two moments of madness that cost us the game and Stirling didn't look great. What has happened to Flanagan has he reverted to lower league jobber winger again? Looked like the White Pele on opening day and early season but I assume that form has nose dived. Edited March 2, 2022 by Neilly 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB_Bino Posted March 2, 2022 Author Share Posted March 2, 2022 Even that win against us was really two moments of madness that cost us the game and Stirling didn't look great. I would agree with this and I’m sure I said the same on the match thread at the time, but a lot of supporters were concerned about the performances when we were “riding high” because we were regularly in games due to the deficiencies of the opposition rather than playing well ourselves. We looked at that Stenny game as the point that maybe things will change under Young because last 20 minutes we did play well, we bagged the illusive victory and the transfer window was opening and the hope from the support was that the club to entice the Striker we have been crying out for, but sadly we signed Francis instead who has so far shown nothing to suggest he should be playing anywhere near this level. What has happened to Flanagan has he reverted to lower league jobber winger again? Looked like the White Pele on opening day and early season but I assume that form has nose dived. Would love to know myself, like a few others, early season looked absolutely frightening and a quality player but he’s now at the stage where things just aren’t happening for him when he is on the ball. He’s not hiding and is still showing a willingness to get on the ball and make things happen but has looked a shadow of the player we saw in the summer months. Not sure what this is down to, confidence? Injury? Not enjoying his football? Your guess is as good as mine but so far, I doubt many supporters would be bothered if he was to leave in the summer which is quite staggering when you consider what he was doing early doors. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Binos Posted March 4, 2022 Share Posted March 4, 2022 On 01/03/2022 at 12:27, rhliston said: Sorry have to disagree with you re cull of Directors. One of the reasons we are in such a mess is that Stuart Brown has been in charge now for a number of years and has failed to get us out of this Basement League. How many managers has the current Board appointed and then had to sack because they were not up to the task. Take the previous manager KR, they gave him a new contract when it looked like we were heading to the playoffs and then look what happened, talk about making a rod to beat your back with. Its time for change Stuart Brown has failed to deliver its that simple when he has been in charge. This club cannot afford to drop down to the Lowland League like the Shire and Berwick Rangers. The club will finish if it drops down 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vimto90 Posted March 4, 2022 Share Posted March 4, 2022 The club will finish if it drops down We see this every year. Shire, Berwick, Brechin. No they won't, no yous won't & nor will any club just purely because of relegation out the league, if they don't cut cloth accordingly and things are terribly mismanaged that's a separate issue but this " the club will be finished" line that gets trotted out every year is nonsense. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Binos Posted March 4, 2022 Share Posted March 4, 2022 40 minutes ago, Vimto90 said: We see this every year. Shire, Berwick, Brechin. No they won't, no yous won't & nor will any club just purely because of relegation out the league, if they don't cut cloth accordingly and things are terribly mismanaged that's a separate issue but this " the club will be finished" line that gets trotted out every year is nonsense. The club should be nowhere near the bottom of league 2 let alone non league If it drops to non league it will be in the same league as the University Over the years the derby go from Falkirk to alloa to stenny due to dropping away, then what, the uni! If it doesn't financially stop the interest from the local community will nose dive further Or maybe we'll put a string of wins together and it'll all turn round 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumb yatt Posted March 4, 2022 Share Posted March 4, 2022 49 minutes ago, Binos said: The club should be nowhere near the bottom of league 2 let alone non league What are you basing that statement on? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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