Cove Thread

[covefan97]

9 hours ago, FFC 1876 said:

I joked that Hartley would send Lawal straight back to Falkirk for the tunnel antics after our game the other day but as he's not been in the last two squads I'm starting to think he actually has.

Who's got the inside scoop? 

Hasn't been mentioned in any Cove stuff about him being injured or suspended so he probably has been sent back or something similar to that

[Watson Nimrod]

On 17/03/2024 at 19:16, covefan97 said:

Hasn't been mentioned in any Cove stuff about him being injured or suspended so he probably has been sent back or something similar to that

I’ve heard he is back at Falkirk but that came from the same source close to the club that told me Hartley was getting sacked last Sunday . 

Was an odd signing anyway, I’m no fan of Hartley but I would have sent him back for that pish anyway. No loss, whereas Golding and Gallagher are. 

[covefan97]

3 hours ago, Watson Nimrod said:

I’ve heard he is back at Falkirk but that came from the same source close to the club that told me Hartley was getting sacked last Sunday . 

Was an odd signing anyway, I’m no fan of Hartley but I would have sent him back for that pish anyway. No loss, whereas Golding and Gallagher are. 

Not bothered about it in all honesty thought he was poor in the games he played and I don't think Hartley rated him too much either few times he was on the bench and didn't come on only times he played we had a few injuries.

[CoveRangers1922]

Lawal returns to Falkirk after less than 2 months warming our bench.

It looks like we loaned out Gallagher to make room for Ola which was completely flawed from the outset and this just rubs salt in the wound. It further shows Hartley's inepitude for me. Gallagher impressed and I'm convinced would have developed with game time and formed a strong partership with Fyvie. Gal definitely has potentially, is box-to-box, has drive and is a far better option that Lawal, McGowan, Darge and Sena.

To be fair Ola didn't have much of a chance to prove himself but with the brief glimpses we seen of him you could tell he was a flair player with very little fight, tenacity and ultimately a luxury we can't afford with the players we have around him.

I imagine Ola will leave the Bairns in the summer. He's not Championship standard and McGlynn will look to further strengthen in the summer, which in turn will inevitably mean letting go fringe players.

[ShaggerG]

53 minutes ago, CoveRangers1922 said:

Lawal returns to Falkirk after less than 2 months warming our bench.

It looks like we loaned out Gallagher to make room for Ola which was completely flawed from the outset and this just rubs salt in the wound. It further shows Hartley's inepitude for me. Gallagher impressed and I'm convinced would have developed with game time and formed a strong partership with Fyvie. Gal definitely has potentially, is box-to-box, has drive and is a far better option that Lawal, McGowan, Darge and Sena.

To be fair Ola didn't have much of a chance to prove himself but with the brief glimpses we seen of him you could tell he was a flair player with very little fight, tenacity and ultimately a luxury we can't afford with the players we have around him.

I imagine Ola will leave the Bairns in the summer. He's not Championship standard and McGlynn will look to further strengthen in the summer, which in turn will inevitably mean letting go fringe players.

You're right, he is a flair player but he can have a big influence in games when he's in the mood. It would have made sense to keep him for the Hamilton game because he would definitely have been in the mood for that one!

[Moorie]

9 hours ago, Watson Nimrod said:

I’ve heard he is back at Falkirk but that came from the same source close to the club that told me Hartley was getting sacked last Sunday . 

Was an odd signing anyway, I’m no fan of Hartley but I would have sent him back for that pish anyway. No loss, whereas Golding and Gallagher are. 

What did he do at the Falkirk game? 

[Hugh Hillshaveyes]

1 hour ago, Moorie said:

What did he do at the Falkirk game? 

Gave it big licks in the tunnel a whopping & a hollering his way into Falkirk folklore whilst being an opposition sub...all whilst singing something about a far greasy rat

[Watson Nimrod]

Interesting article about Connor Scully has been produced on the clubs propaganda channels. I say interesting because it seems to confirm the change of course the club is taking with the hybrid model given the utter disaster of the transfer window(s) and the alleged plan that our PT players would be allowed to leave when their contracts ran out. Not so if we are to believe this latest offering and with Fraser getting a new deal.

With my tongue in my cheek I wonder how many players we have missed out on with our reluctance to sign PT players. Anyone who has seen Kane Hester turn up on a fairly regular basis would be forgiven for scratching their heads. It would almost make you wonder if the club really does have a plan at all

[Watson Nimrod]

49 minutes ago, Hugh Hillshaveyes said:

Gave it big licks in the tunnel a whopping & a hollering his way into Falkirk folklore whilst being an opposition sub...all whilst singing something about a far greasy rat

It’s the sort of stuff if your clubs player did it it’s absolutely hysterical and instant legend status …. if it’s against your club then you run the bellend out of town

[CoveRangers1922]

1 hour ago, Watson Nimrod said:

Interesting article about Connor Scully has been produced on the clubs propaganda channels. I say interesting because it seems to confirm the change of course the club is taking with the hybrid model given the utter disaster of the transfer window(s) and the alleged plan that our PT players would be allowed to leave when their contracts ran out. Not so if we are to believe this latest offering and with Fraser getting a new deal.

With my tongue in my cheek I wonder how many players we have missed out on with our reluctance to sign PT players. Anyone who has seen Kane Hester turn up on a fairly regular basis would be forgiven for scratching their heads. It would almost make you wonder if the club really does have a plan at all

Transfermarkt says both he and Mitch are out of contract at the end of May. Not sure if that's 100% accurate or not. Fyvie recently got a new deal, deservedly so and thankfully accepted it, but nothing about two of our legacy/"core" players. You'd expect Connor will stay. Whether Mitch stays I'm less sure of.

Reynolds must retire, will be 37, saying that Dillon will be touching 41 in May and is signed up for next season. 

We'll be officially told Vigurs is away on 1st June I'd imagine. Same goes for Dayshonne unless Hartley goes before him.

Yeah we would have definitely been heavily in for Kane although the draw to his hometown will have been hard to ignore.

Interesting summer ahead for us, feels like a crossroads.

Do we commit to signing only FT again. If so, we need a bigger pot of gold or someone else doing the recruitment or do we go true hybrid and start poaching PT guys again. Realistically you need a core of PT players if you are going down hybrid or else it's not worthwhile and logically the PT players would be relatively local.

Edited March 19 by CoveRangers1922

[Watson Nimrod]

42 minutes ago, CoveRangers1922 said:

Interesting summer ahead for us.

Indeed. I’m still relatively convinced the manager will not be here unless we miraculously got into the playoffs and did well. Even if we did I’ve got a gut feeling his time is up. I’ve no evidence to back this statement but I’ve heard players were starting to be tipped the wink last Sunday that things were not at all rosy. To quantify it’s maybe nonsense but I’m not convinced that it is. I wonder if the club simply took a view there was little point in getting rid now when they could save themselves a few quid. We won’t be relegated so had very little to loose keeping him on.

Some ‘local’ players coming to the end of their careers at the end of this season already doing their coaching badges might be of interest and might create the headlines the club need to punch through the stagnation and re energise the club. I keep hearing the name Chris Maguire and not just in relation to one club specifically and I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s just in my head!!. Considine and Hayes also look close to retiring and they won’t all get jobs in their own set ups. Barry Robson won’t want to be kicking about for too long. The longer he is the more chance he would take a club like ours on. He might have to drop right down to get a chance as I can’t see anyone in the prem or the big clubs in the Championship taking a chance when proven managers come into the market. He is most certainly not proven. 

The change of direction to a younger fresher outlook would hugely benefit the hybrid model, any of the above would for a start lift the doom and gloom over that dugout.

Edited March 19 by Watson Nimrod

[Moorie]

48 minutes ago, Watson Nimrod said:

Indeed. I’m still relatively convinced the manager will not be here unless we miraculously got into the playoffs and did well. Even if we did I’ve got a gut feeling his time is up. I’ve no evidence to back this statement but I’ve heard players were starting to be tipped the wink last Sunday that things were not at all rosy. To quantify it’s maybe nonsense but I’m not convinced that it is. I wonder if the club simply took a view there was little point in getting rid now when they could save themselves a few quid. We won’t be relegated so had very little to loose keeping him on.

Some ‘local’ players coming to the end of their careers at the end of this season already doing their coaching badges might be of interest and might create the headlines the club need to punch through the stagnation and re energise the club. I keep hearing the name Chris Maguire and not just in relation to one club specifically and I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s just in my head!!. Considine and Hayes also look close to retiring and they won’t all get jobs in their own set ups. Barry Robson won’t want to be kicking about for too long. The longer he is the more chance he would take a club like ours on. He might have to drop right down to get a chance as I can’t see anyone in the prem or the big clubs in the Championship taking a chance when proven managers come into the market. He is most certainly not proven. 

The change of direction to a younger fresher outlook would hugely benefit the hybrid model, any of the above would for a start lift the doom and gloom over that dugout.

I work with a boy who’s close to Chris Maguire will ask a few questions.

reckon Hayes is already lined up with a coaching role within the club when he hangs the boots up. I’m not sure if Consdine would go down the manager/coaching role or will go like Anderson into business out with football as comes across a home bird.

Robson could be a shout. another who seems unlikely to move out the comfort zone. Between yourself and the angus clubs 

[CoveRangers1922]

Still 6 games to go (all cup finals according to Hartley), but thought it would be interesting to start this topic early, who's going in the summer...

I'll start with my opinion..

Hartley - should have been gone before now is the general consensus. Fails to get us top 4 then he can't feel aggreived in any way. 15 months of failure. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vigurs - Most obvious one of the lot, not seen since July 2023 in any capacity whatsoever

Stewart - end of loan, back to Ipswich u21

Reynolds - Retire or join BoD

Golding - Especially if Hartley remains

Gillingham - 1 more year left but candidate to be cut short

Jones - 1 year left but he'll be away

McGowan - Out of contract in June, will leave us. Maybe retire or find something in L2

Burrell - Likely already PCA'd with a National League club down south

Connell - 1 year left but clearly cutting a very frustrated figure and will want first team football

And for spice and controversy...

Mitch - Could he be tempted up to Peterhead this summer. 

 

By my reckoning 9 if not 10 outbound and a manager possibly.

 

Gallagher, Mykyta and Strachan will return from their respective loan spells, so to will Milo and Gaffney but they will be loaned out again in all probability, leaving us with;

Balint

Suman

--

Doyle

Kerr

Shiels

Strachan

Darge

--

Fyvie

Scully

Yule

Sena

Gallagher

Mykyta

--

*Mitch (maybe)

 

So a squad of 13/14..Many holes to fill

 

 

Edited March 28 by CoveRangers1922

[Jo9]

Another change I would make in addition to those listed by @CoveRangers1922 is either get rid of the Director of Football role or get a Director of Football that actually seems to get involved in the transfers.  

[AJ1981]

there is a very interesting take on hartley in a Falkirk podcast, with Rory Loy, walking down hope street. essentially Loy said he was great with part time players as they trained a couple of times a week but in a full time time frame he couldn't communicate, didn't have the personality or courage to deal with the difficult day to day FT problems. He also couldn't manage big personalities and leaders in the dressing room. Now Loy had him as a manager at Falkirk and Dundee so he's in a good position to comment. Hartley's success is all at part time clubs but in a full time environment the wheels come off the bus. the stories of his rudeness and arrogance at falkirk are the stuff of legend, bullying volunteers, pushing out the leaders from the dressing room and leaving us with none on the park, relegation and 5 fucking years in league 1. classic case of a coach who can't manage, or lead. 

[CoveRangers1922]

7 hours ago, Jo9 said:

Another change I would make in addition to those listed by @CoveRangers1922 is either get rid of the Director of Football role or get a Director of Football that actually seems to get involved in the transfers.  

Good shout. What our DoF actually does I'm not sure. If he's involved in player recruitment then needs to go based on the feeble attempts of the last season and a half.

I started the above as I'm fed up seeing the majority of players we've taken in, as is Hartley evidently. Quite ironic when they are all sanctiined under this return. Nearly all nowhere close to the standard required or quality we've had previously. 

Edited March 29 by CoveRangers1922

[CoveRangers1922]

6 hours ago, AJ1981 said:

there is a very interesting take on hartley in a Falkirk podcast, with Rory Loy, walking down hope street. essentially Loy said he was great with part time players as they trained a couple of times a week but in a full time time frame he couldn't communicate, didn't have the personality or courage to deal with the difficult day to day FT problems. He also couldn't manage big personalities and leaders in the dressing room. Now Loy had him as a manager at Falkirk and Dundee so he's in a good position to comment. Hartley's success is all at part time clubs but in a full time environment the wheels come off the bus. the stories of his rudeness and arrogance at falkirk are the stuff of legend, bullying volunteers, pushing out the leaders from the dressing room and leaving us with none on the park, relegation and 5 fucking years in league 1. classic case of a coach who can't manage, or lead. 

Evident from this season alone his man management is as good as his recruitment. 

Our fans are completely despondent with him and want change

[AJ1981]

47 minutes ago, CoveRangers1922 said:

Evident from this season alone his man management is as good as his recruitment. 

Our fans are completely despondent with him and want change

even with the 'family' connection i am sure your board can see that too. surely

[Jo9]

3 hours ago, AJ1981 said:

even with the 'family' connection i am sure your board can see that too. surely

I think that comes down to the length of contract and cost to pay it out.

[Jo9]

4 hours ago, CoveRangers1922 said:

Good shout. What our DoF actually does I'm not sure. If he's involved in player recruitment then needs to go based on the feeble attempts of the last season and a half.

I started the above as I'm fed up seeing the majority of players we've taken in, as is Hartley evidently. Quite ironic when they are all sanctiined under this return. Nearly all nowhere close to the standard required or quality we've had previously. 

I think if it was obvious that the DOF was responsible for signings Hartley would get a break, but it definitely feels all the signings are Hartleys.

So to me that’s two people to get rid of, one for the signings and one for not taking control.

John obviously did a lot of the club and it’s to be commended, but I feel cove has a problem with sentimentality with players and officials from the past and a fear of binning them off