The Queen of the South thread

[Mr Grimsdale]

What’s Sandra Broons take? Should be a fun interview - again 

[Monkey Tennis]

10 minutes ago, qos_75 said:

Ok. A simple answer to that is to properly fund a full-time team in the third tier of Scottish football.

Secondly, have a budget that can maintain a stadium the  is at least 50 years past its sell by date.

If they can’t do that admit it and advertise for investors.  

of course if that is unrealistic let things go on as they are. Would it be so bad being a a middling side in the South of Scotland league.? 
 

for me that is the two scenarios, but if I am wrong, I am happy to listen to alternative options.

The South of Scotland league stuff is a bit of a stretch.

The fact is that they are currently funding a full-time team in the third tier - a hopeless one.

The stadium is definitely in need of TLC, but part of it is less than 30 years old, while another is the envy of most Scottish fan bases.

I'm not convinced that a queue of potential investors is currently being held at bay.

Edited October 28, 2023 by Monkey Tennis

[Fae_the_'briggs]

9 minutes ago, qos_75 said:

Ok. A simple answer to that is to properly fund a full-time team in the third tier of Scottish football.

Secondly, have a budget that can maintain a stadium the  is at least 50 years past its sell by date.

If they can’t do that admit it and advertise for investors.  

of course if that is unrealistic let things go on as they are. Would it be so bad being a a middling side in the South of Scotland league.? 
 

for me that is the two scenarios, but if I am wrong, I am happy to listen to alternative options.

And where can we find this magic money tree? Splashing cash that we just don't have would probably be a quicker route to non-league football than poor results.

[bod]

9 minutes ago, Fae_the_'briggs said:

And where can we find this magic money tree? Splashing cash that we just don't have would probably be a quicker route to non-league football than poor results.

Well I would expect today's performance would have scared off all suitors from down south.

[Alex Nesovic's Barmy Army]

48 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

In fairness, although Gibson did bring us down, there was a recognition that most of the damage was already in place before his appointment.  

We'd not been great under him, but had rallied a bit towards the end.  Keeping him on was questionable, but there was no great clamour to do otherwise. 

Similarly, the appointment of Bartley was pretty much universally greeted positively.  He was a rookie, but was highly regarded.  With hindsight, it doesn't look great, but I honestly don't think many saw it as a "fucking ridiculous" pathway at the time.

 If you did, then fair play.  It looks like you were right.

A pal quote tweeted a WhatsApp message I sent at the time saying:

"An inexperienced manager? What a terrible appointment this would be."

I wanted it to succeed. It looked good first few months but this season has been shocking. It's not even November and season is done. 

[bod]

1 minute ago, Alex Nesovic's Barmy Army said:

A pal quote tweeted a WhatsApp message I sent at the time saying:

"An inexperienced manager? What a terrible appointment this would be."

I wanted it to succeed. It looked good first few months but this season has been shocking. It's not even November and season is done. 

This. ^^^^

[Greenacres]

17 minutes ago, qos_75 said:

Ok. A simple answer to that is to properly fund a full-time team in the third tier of Scottish football.

Secondly, have a budget that can maintain a stadium the  is at least 50 years past its sell by date.

If they can’t do that admit it and advertise for investors.  

of course if that is unrealistic let things go on as they are. Would it be so bad being a a middling side in the South of Scotland league.? 
 

for me that is the two scenarios, but if I am wrong, I am happy to listen to alternative options.

We need a new main stand i give you that but that  would cost about 2 Million so not going to happen  but apart from a lick of paint the  ground is fine .

We have a good stand the length of the pitch plus the biggest covered terrace in Scotland.

The open terrace means nothing for now no point doing anything with that.

Now we have a top quality plastic pitch as well.

The board have done all they can supporting Marv with a full time budget giving him everything he asked for .

The problem is 100% Marv this is why we must make a change it is just not working out the way everyone hoped .

We got lucky last week at Annan but still played as poor as we normally do every week .

If no change Marv will take us into League 2 i guarantee that .

 

[Slipmat]

5 minutes ago, Alex Nesovic's Barmy Army said:

A pal quote tweeted a WhatsApp message I sent at the time saying:

"An inexperienced manager? What a terrible appointment this would be."

I wanted it to succeed. It looked good first few months but this season has been shocking. It's not even November and season is done. 

Warning - there is potentially some long-winded jibber-jabber in this post!

I too wanted it to succeed, and the signs were there last season that Bartley was a good appointment - he improved fitness levels and results and showed a ruthless streak when necessary.   This season however we are seeing the effects of a disastrous summer recruitment policy where the squad is now almost entirely made up of inexperienced or untried youngsters who are being guided by a manager who has put his faith in players who (as someone mentioned previously) have been found lacking the ability to play the game in the style that he wants it to be played in, and the experience to adjust when the opposition find weaknesses. 

So we are basically stuck with a squad in desperate need of guidance and a manager who is either too stubborn to admit that he has given them the wrong guidance over the past few months and believes it will all come good in time, or just doesn't have a clue how to change things.

Which makes me think, what exactly does Grant Murray do?  Surely as an older head he should be giving the manager the benefit of his experience?  I haven't seen anything in Murray to suggest that he contributes much for his wage except pick up cones, so maybe, if the board are willing (or can't afford not) to stick with Bartley they should consider dispensing with Murray's services and replacing with someone with a track record who is prepared to step in and to some extent mentor Bartley - not that I expect Bartley would like that as he seems to be a headstrong character.  Even having an experienced player to take on the captain's role would help in that respect, although we're kind of short of those in our squad.

Two other quick points - Bartley said last season's squad was too big but then proceeded to assemble an even bigger squad in the summer.  He also said we were desperately short of wingers last season, and now has Gibson and Walker available to him but doesn't give either of them much playing time.  McKechnie on the other hand keeps his place in the team despite blowing hot and cold.  Marvin may be a good talker, but sometimes he can catch himself out by talking too much and revealing that he was either talking bull in the past or is doing so now.

Finally, what the hell is wrong with our players that they are so prone to injury?  They are young and should be fitter than the majority of our opponents, yet in every game we seem to have to make enforced substitutions (another example today with Cochrane) or lose players through mysterious injuries picked up in training.  Are our players just soft or is the training regime too rigourous?  Player's diets, pulse rates, speed, muscle tone etc are all being constantly monitored by the sports scientists and physios and yet they seem to pull their hamstrings, twist ankles and do god knows what else to themselves at the drop of a hat.  I can think of very few of our catalogue of injuries this season that have been sustained through contact with opponents.

Glad to get all that off my chest!

[Otis Blue]

5 minutes ago, Slipmat said:

Warning - there is potentially some long-winded jibber-jabber in this post!

I too wanted it to succeed, and the signs were there last season that Bartley was a good appointment - he improved fitness levels and results and showed a ruthless streak when necessary.   This season however we are seeing the effects of a disastrous summer recruitment policy where the squad is now almost entirely made up of inexperienced or untried youngsters who are being guided by a manager who has put his faith in players who (as someone mentioned previously) have been found lacking the ability to play the game in the style that he wants it to be played in, and the experience to adjust when the opposition find weaknesses. 

So we are basically stuck with a squad in desperate need of guidance and a manager who is either too stubborn to admit that he has given them the wrong guidance over the past few months and believes it will all come good in time, or just doesn't have a clue how to change things.

Which makes me think, what exactly does Grant Murray do?  Surely as an older head he should be giving the manager the benefit of his experience?  I haven't seen anything in Murray to suggest that he contributes much for his wage except pick up cones, so maybe, if the board are willing (or can't afford not) to stick with Bartley they should consider dispensing with Murray's services and replacing with someone with a track record who is prepared to step in and to some extent mentor Bartley - not that I expect Bartley would like that as he seems to be a headstrong character.  Even having an experienced player to take on the captain's role would help in that respect, although we're kind of short of those in our squad.

Two other quick points - Bartley said last season's squad was too big but then proceeded to assemble an even bigger squad in the summer.  He also said we were desperately short of wingers last season, and now has Gibson and Walker available to him but doesn't give either of them much playing time.  McKechnie on the other hand keeps his place in the team despite blowing hot and cold.  Marvin may be a good talker, but sometimes he can catch himself out by talking too much and revealing that he was either talking bull in the past or is doing so now.

Finally, what the hell is wrong with our players that they are so prone to injury?  They are young and should be fitter than the majority of our opponents, yet in every game we seem to have to make enforced substitutions (another example today with Cochrane) or lose players through mysterious injuries picked up in training.  Are our players just soft or is the training regime too rigourous?  Player's diets, pulse rates, speed, muscle tone etc are all being constantly monitored by the sports scientists and physios and yet they seem to pull their hamstrings, twist ankles and do god knows what else to themselves at the drop of a hat.  I can think of very few of our catalogue of injuries this season that have been sustained through contact with opponents.

Glad to get all that off my chest!

I think "cathartic" is the best way to describe your post.

Not much I'd disagree with tbf ...

[Monkey Tennis]

15 minutes ago, Slipmat said:

This season however we are seeing the effects of a disastrous summer recruitment policy where the squad is now almost entirely made up of inexperienced or untried youngsters who are being guided by a manager who has put his faith in players who (as someone mentioned previously) have been found lacking the ability to play the game in the style that he wants it to be played in, and the experience to adjust when the opposition find weaknesses. 

So we are basically stuck with a squad in desperate need of guidance and a manager who is either too stubborn to admit that he has given them the wrong guidance over the past few months and believes it will all come good in time, or just doesn't have a clue how to change things.

I think the part above probably nails it.

You can get away with lots of young players if they're unusually good for the level.  The obvious example is the 90s Man United team, but ours in 2012/13 illustrates this too.  

The (probably unsurprising) fact of the matter with us currently, is that the players really aren't great.  I think there's a mismatch between how Bartley would like his team to play, and how they can.  

When it's not working of course, is when you want a manager who can revisit and tweak, but again, the capacity for that to work is restricted by personnel, as well as by his willingness and ability to do so.

I've not been at all impressed by Bartley, but I've genuinely not given up on him yet.  He needs to learn and he needs the humility to do that.  I think he is a bright bloke though, so hopefully he  can.  

I don't know how much he'll be able to change things in January, but it's so important that any alterations he makes yield clear positive results.

 

Bartley probably does have a media future in Scotland if he doesn't make it as a manager.  I hope it doesn't come to that, but if it does, he wouldn't be the first who talks a better game to viewers than he can to players.

[Adamski]

5 hours ago, Artemis said:

Six defeats in the last 7 league games, so 3 points out of 21.
3 goals scored in the last 6 league games.
One win out of 9 and 8 defeats (2 of them on pens) in all competitions at home.
6 points off the bottom and 17 points from the top of League 1.

Also six defeats in the last seven in all competitions. And five of those defeats were a result of late goals (minutes 88, 84, 78, 90, and 83 today).

[Monkey Tennis]

15 minutes ago, Adamski said:

Also six defeats in the last seven in all competitions. And five of those defeats were a result of late goals (minutes 88, 84, 78, 90, and 83 today).

Imagine how badly we'd tire late in games if we weren't full time.

[Kunter]

6 hours ago, qos_75 said:

Why are we not protesting against this board? They are on par with Harkness and his mismanagement 

Because the majority of fans who are left still carry the scars of the Davie Rae era and think Hewitson is some kind of sugar daddy we couldn't possibly live without. 

The truth is he's slowly sucking the life out of the club and unless he's removed we won't have a club left anyway. 

 

 

 

[19QOS19]

14 minutes ago, Kunter said:

Because the majority of fans who are left still carry the scars of the Davie Rae era and think Hewitson is some kind of sugar daddy we couldn't possibly live without. 

Aye, so we do. 

[the philosopher]

Year 2008 Scottish Cup Final  - Queens best ever achievement,brilliant.

Year 2008 Gretna out the league ,Annan in ( non league ground no up to scratch or SFA full standards).

2023 Queens still full time but down to League 1.

2023 Annan fully compliant ground also promoted to League 1.

In the last 15 years who has progressed ?

 

[Bairn in Exile]

11 hours ago, the_palmy_pie said:

Bartley OUT 

Then get rid.

No new manager bounce please.

Edited October 29, 2023 by Bairn in Exile

[Monkey Tennis]

2 hours ago, Bairn in Exile said:

Then get rid.

No new manager bounce please.

Don't worry.

This lot couldn't bounce if Pep grabbed the reins.

 

[Monkey Tennis]

5 hours ago, the philosopher said:

Year 2008 ...  2023

In the last 15 years who has progressed ?

Well, Annan obviously enough.

Your username seems a tad ambitious.

[overthetop]

12 hours ago, Mr Grimsdale said:

What’s Sandra Broons take? Should be a fun interview - again 

Totally delusional stuff again

[Mr Grimsdale]

6 minutes ago, overthetop said:

Totally delusional stuff again

She seems just like a club mouth piece