Kilwinning Rangers 24/25

[Peter Culter]

29 minutes ago, Crfc1990 said:

End of the chris aitken saga he's joined st cadocs coaching staff awe the best chris just wandering are buffs losing some supporters to st cadocs .

Why would that be the case?

 

[coistysgoldenboots]

59 minutes ago, funky monkey said:

The pathway has constantly been mentioned since before we relocated to KSC. It was the primary reason for the parting of the ways with Chris Strain who understood the pressures at WoSFL Premier Level and refused to commit young players to the demands of men's football before they were ready.

 

 

In some ways the youngsters introduced to the first team last season were enforced due to injuries, not quite ready to nail down a regular place. However, Mark McLuckie, only 20/21, went on to become our player of the season, not pathway granted, but goes to show if you are good enough, you are old enough.

And what did Strain’s successor do?

Signed guys closer to their 40s than 30s.

Aitken wasn’t much better until injuries forced his hand.

This is what I mean by a mish mash strategy.

Sacking Strain seemed madness at the time after years of consistent progress.

Recent years only back that view up… 
 

Edited June 21 by coistysgoldenboots

[funky monkey]

3 minutes ago, coistysgoldenboots said:

And what did Strain’s successor do?

Signed guys closer to their 40s than 30s.

Aitken wasn’t much better until injuries forced his hand.

This is what I mean by a mish mash strategy.

Sacking Strain seemed madness at the time after years of consistent progress.

Recent years only back that view up… 
 

Hard to comment on Gormley's time at the club without my blood pressure rising .

I never wanted Chris gone. It was hard to fathom out at the time and even harder now.

[coistysgoldenboots]

Just now, funky monkey said:

Hard to comment on Gormley's time at the club without my blood pressure rising .

I never wanted Chris gone. It was hard to fathom out at the time and even harder now.

Yeah, I could kinda understand Strain’s sacking if the club then actually turned to youth - but they did the complete opposite! 
 

Absolutely bizarre decision making.

[Crfc1990]

25 minutes ago, Peter Culter said:

Why would that be the case?

 

As some ruffs n tuffs loyalty lay with aitken rather than the buffs 

[Peter Culter]

13 minutes ago, Crfc1990 said:

As some ruffs n tuffs loyalty lay with aitken rather than the buffs 

Then they were never supporters to begin with.

[Lokloyal]

28 minutes ago, funky monkey said:

Hard to comment on Gormley's time at the club without my blood pressure rising .

I never wanted Chris gone. It was hard to fathom out at the time and even harder now.

I was amazed at the time that Kilwinning got rid of strain-was there any specific reason for that at the time?

[TwoFooted]

On 18/06/2024 at 15:10, funky monkey said:

There's bags of experience in that management team.

I've a gut feeling that we've got things right with this appointment, a feeling I never got with Gormley or Aitken.

You were up Aitken ass mate

[funky monkey]

1 minute ago, TwoFooted said:

You were up Aitken ass mate

What's that, 80 pages of comments on this thread?

Then you post that .

[funky monkey]

8 minutes ago, Lokloyal said:

I was amazed at the time that Kilwinning got rid of strain-was there any specific reason for that at the time?

It was all to do with the pathway and introducing young players into the first team.

Chris didn't think they were ready whilst others did. Final straw came when Chris played himself from the bench in a pretty meaningless end of season game and personalities clashed.

That's my understanding of the parting of the ways. Others may wish to correct?

[coistysgoldenboots]

3 minutes ago, funky monkey said:

It was all to do with the pathway and introducing young players into the first team.

Chris didn't think they were ready whilst others did. Final straw came when Chris played himself from the bench in a pretty meaningless end of season game and personalities clashed.

That's my understanding of the parting of the ways. Others may wish to correct?

By others you mean, those not on the football side of the operation. 
 

Hopefully a few lessons learned from that…

[skelpy]

That’s pretty much it. Chris is a good guy & a highly qualified coach. Best I’ve seen down there. That said he put footballing matters ahead of friendships & surrounded himself with likeminded coaches. That’s why he’s winning leagues in the top flight. He played himself rather than use youths who had qualified for a Scottish Cup Final a few weeks later & not wanting to risk injury to them in what was a dead rubber league game. Gormley was appointed & was a cracking guy, very personable, perhaps underestimated the magnitude of the club in general as well as the league. Chris Aitken was another good footballing guy & in his defence his team suffered crippling injuries. He’s gone & that’s football though & now he’s got a chance to get back in the saddle, coaching without the pressure of being a gaffer.
 

What I can’t understand or work out is why a lot of the last dozen or so posts on this thread are from someone who thinks it’s acceptable to attack the club, the committee (all volunteers) for appointing a new coaching team who are highly qualified & respected. If the Buffs are your team support them through good times & bad times. People in glass houses

[funky monkey]

10 hours ago, skelpy said:

That’s pretty much it. Chris is a good guy & a highly qualified coach. Best I’ve seen down there. That said he put footballing matters ahead of friendships & surrounded himself with likeminded coaches. That’s why he’s winning leagues in the top flight. He played himself rather than use youths who had qualified for a Scottish Cup Final a few weeks later & not wanting to risk injury to them in what was a dead rubber league game. Gormley was appointed & was a cracking guy, very personable, perhaps underestimated the magnitude of the club in general as well as the league. Chris Aitken was another good footballing guy & in his defence his team suffered crippling injuries. He’s gone & that’s football though & now he’s got a chance to get back in the saddle, coaching without the pressure of being a gaffer.
 

What I can’t understand or work out is why a lot of the last dozen or so posts on this thread are from someone who thinks it’s acceptable to attack the club, the committee (all volunteers) for appointing a new coaching team who are highly qualified & respected. If the Buffs are your team support them through good times & bad times. People in glass houses

The poster seeking to damage the club clearly has a personal axe to grind. 

As it is, I'm very happy at the appointment of the new management team. I've a gut feeling they are going to turn the fortunes of the club around.

[skelpy]

1 hour ago, funky monkey said:

The poster seeking to damage the club clearly has a personal axe to grind. 

As it is, I'm very happy at the appointment of the new management team. I've a gut feeling they are going to turn the fortunes of the club around.

Totally agree. Things change quickly in football & making things personal will always come back to bite you in the backside. Most of the stuff that has been posted is factually incorrect or twisted to suit a different narrative. 
 

Things had to change. The new manager had to have certain coaching qualifications to comply with the SFA Licence requirements. Unfortunately a couple of the applicants that were unsuccessful didn’t meet those requirements.

Good luck to Kevin Kelly, big job on his hands but I’m sure his back room staff & the wider support he’ll have will bring success on & off the pitch. 

[Leeco10]

Some of the comments on here are miles off being factual, it's easy to post with anonymity and in the heat of the moment, but take a step back and look at what we have achieved, and what the potential is at the club and how best to support it, rather than try and kick the legs away from it.

Buffs do have a Dept, the majority of which was expected when we moved and set up a new SFA Licensed Ground at the Sports Club at a fraction of the cost we were quoted to make the old place safe and sustainable (without sfa license).

We did the majority of the building work during Covid with a squad of Volunteers and no money coming in through the gate.

Sponsors, Private Individuals, Council Organisations, Sport Scotland etc, etc all helped us get the project over the line with minimum cost to the Club but there were some costs which were expected and are managed. Obviously this dept is paid from Club funds so does impact budgets elsewhere, this will include the playing and coaching staff.

Last three managers would know the budget and work within it.

 

[Lokloyal]

I used to love going to Abbey Park as it was a classic junior /old school ground with a real feel to it.
I don’t like the new ground as it just feels like the Buffs are tenants of a big empty sports centre/conplex and has no atmosphere at all.

Really enjoyed my times in the past going down and all the best to Kilwinning going forward.Its a tough league to get out of.

[coistysgoldenboots]

54 minutes ago, Lokloyal said:

I used to love going to Abbey Park as it was a classic junior /old school ground with a real feel to it.
I don’t like the new ground as it just feels like the Buffs are tenants of a big empty sports centre/conplex and has no atmosphere at all.

Really enjoyed my times in the past going down and all the best to Kilwinning going forward.Its a tough league to get out of.

To be fair, when Strain was there I attended a few Friday night games at Buffs Park with bumper crowds and great atmospheres. 

It seems like there’s a disconnect now. Part of that no doubt to do with the loss of a feel good factor on the pitch and a fair sized whack of supporters who simply haven’t, for whatever reason, attended the new place like they did Abbey Park. 

I like the ground with its  three covered ends,  it’s actually a very decent,  tidy wee stadium. The problem is it’s got so few bodies rattling round it these days that it feels barren. This is clearly seen in the match highlights packages. 
 

Barely a soul behind each goal which was just never the case at Abbey Park.  There was something about that elevated ‘shed’ there that had real character. 
 

That said, If the Buffs can start the season well and get some tasty Friday night fixtures lined up there’s the potential for some cracking games and crowds at Buffs Park. 

 

 

 

[Lokloyal]

7 hours ago, coistysgoldenboots said:

To be fair, when Strain was there I attended a few Friday night games at Buffs Park with bumper crowds and great atmospheres. 

It seems like there’s a disconnect now. Part of that no doubt to do with the loss of a feel good factor on the pitch and a fair sized whack of supporters who simply haven’t, for whatever reason, attended the new place like they did Abbey Park. 

I like the ground with its  three covered ends,  it’s actually a very decent,  tidy wee stadium. The problem is it’s got so few bodies rattling round it these days that it feels barren. This is clearly seen in the match highlights packages. 
 

 

Barely a soul behind each goal which was just never the case at Abbey Park.  There was something about that elevated ‘shed’ there that had real character. 
 

That said, If the Buffs can start the season well and get some tasty Friday night fixtures lined up there’s the potential for some cracking games and crowds at Buffs Park. 

 

 

 

Hope they get the fans back as it was noticeable the last few times at Kilwinning how much the support has fallen away.

[funky monkey]

A winning team on the park will get the crowds back again. It's been a pretty disastrous couple of seasons with a lot of negativity and apathy around.

North Ayrshire derbies under the lights on a Friday night will generate an atmosphere.

[energyzone]

The stand doesn't really help in fairness as a lot of people sit there instead of spreading themselves around the ground.  No elevation elsewhere doesn't really help either.