The Queen of the South thread

[19QOS19]

10 minutes ago, Bluenortherner said:

Clubs like Queen of the South are constantly faced with an array of factors to consider when participating in the debt finance market – predominantly pricing, maturities, the potential impact of relegation or promotion, the assets available to provide or take as security and the myriad of rules and regulations applicable to them and their activities.

I doubt that a move to part-time football would allow us to continue with our major interests out with the playing side.

.

 

I won't lie. I have absolutely no idea what that post means. 

 

3 minutes ago, Artemis said:

Not sure that decent part-time players will be much cheaper than the full-time ones Queens have. I agree that, as a policy, going part-time might be an improvement. But I think that if Queens couldn’t afford the current level of full-time players they wouldn’t be able to afford better part-time ones either. I could be wrong, though.

I don't know if they'd be cheaper but even if the PT players were a similar price they'd likely give us better value than the FT ones. 

 

It was a semi-serious post but the reality is we're in the market for the shittest FT professionals. Even if they're a similar price, I'd rather we were in the market for the best PT players. 

[QoS99]

10 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:

I won't lie. I have absolutely no idea what that post means. 

 

I don't know if they'd be cheaper but even if the PT players were a similar price they'd likely give us better value than the FT ones. 

 

It was a semi-serious post but the reality is we're in the market for the shittest FT professionals. Even if they're a similar price, I'd rather we were in the market for the best PT players. 

We won’t be in the market for the best part time players though? Arbroath, Cove and even East Kilbride could pay bigger wages than us.

[Otis Blue]

24 minutes ago, Bluenortherner said:

Clubs like Queen of the South are constantly faced with an array of factors to consider when participating in the debt finance market – predominantly pricing, maturities, the potential impact of relegation or promotion, the assets available to provide or take as security and the myriad of rules and regulations applicable to them and their activities.

I doubt that a move to part-time football would allow us to continue with our major interests out with the playing side.

Que?

Any chance you could explain that in plain language capable of being understood by a financial dafty like myself?

Oh, and do we have any major interests outwith the playing side? ... does that mean the Arena?

[19QOS19]

6 minutes ago, QoS99 said:

We won’t be in the market for the best part time players though? Arbroath, Cove and even East Kilbride could pay bigger wages than us.

I'd imagine we'll offer similar to what Arbroath do, Cove are FT and EK are irrelevant, as they are likely paying more than us just now anyway. 

[QoS99]

4 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:

I'd imagine we'll offer similar to what Arbroath do, Cove are FT and EK are irrelevant, as they are likely paying more than us just now anyway. 

I highly doubt we offer anywhere close to what Arbroath do to be honest. I thought Cove still had PT contracts before going FT next summer.

[19QOS19]

2 minutes ago, Artemis said:

Yeah, my point was that if Queens had to go part-time because they could no longer afford to be full-time, they wouldn’t be in the market for the best part-time players. In other words, going part-time as a policy to improve could only be done at a similar level of income to now. If it was forced upon them because they had to save money, they’d be in a different market for part-time players. 
I’m only guessing, though, because I’ve no idea about their budget or the relative cost of players. Probably shouldn’t have made the point in the first place but I just thought I’d clarify what I meant.

Aye I think we're talking about two different things here. As you say, if we financially had to go PT that's a different matter altogether. I'm meaning if we could still afford to pay FT wages then being in the market for the best PT players wouldn't be a disaster considering our successes of lately being in the market for the worst FT players. 

 

1 minute ago, QoS99 said:

I highly doubt we offer anywhere close to what Arbroath do to be honest. I thought Cove still had PT contracts before going FT next summer.

Why do you doubt that? They're a PT side with no major investor that I'm aware of. 

[Rjc-1988]

The reality here is that whatever model is adopted some genuine investment will be required to get us out of the mess that we are in. With no investment we will be reliant on a new manager to work the oracle on the recruitment front and somehow get us to “punch above our weight” by signing quality players that others have missed. Easier said than done unless you are paying comparatively good wages.

We are definitely at the crossroads now - if we were in a safe mid table position we could write off the season and completely re-build for 2024/25 season BUT sadly we do not have that luxury and quality winter recruitment is now a must. There is no way that Bartley can be trusted with that recruitment - it is far too important.

[Distant Doonhamer]

4 minutes ago, Rjc-1988 said:

The reality here is that whatever model is adopted some genuine investment will be required to get us out of the mess that we are in. With no investment we will be reliant on a new manager to work the oracle on the recruitment front and somehow get us to “punch above our weight” by signing quality players that others have missed. Easier said than done unless you are paying comparatively good wages.

We are definitely at the crossroads now - if we were in a safe mid table position we could write off the season and completely re-build for 2024/25 season BUT sadly we do not have that luxury and quality winter recruitment is now a must. There is no way that Bartley can be trusted with that recruitment - it is far too important.

For me over and above our dismal record this season, Bartley's willingness to criticise players, often by name, in  post match interviews can only further discourage players who might otherwise come to us. It certainly can't help. 

[QoS99]

48 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:

Aye I think we're talking about two different things here. As you say, if we financially had to go PT that's a different matter altogether. I'm meaning if we could still afford to pay FT wages then being in the market for the best PT players wouldn't be a disaster considering our successes of lately being in the market for the worst FT players. 

 

Why do you doubt that? They're a PT side with no major investor that I'm aware of. 

The fact they consistently keep all their players without a rebuild every summer. Also from being told how much players in the first team with us earn.

[QoS99]

13 minutes ago, Rjc-1988 said:

The reality here is that whatever model is adopted some genuine investment will be required to get us out of the mess that we are in. With no investment we will be reliant on a new manager to work the oracle on the recruitment front and somehow get us to “punch above our weight” by signing quality players that others have missed. Easier said than done unless you are paying comparatively good wages.

We are definitely at the crossroads now - if we were in a safe mid table position we could write off the season and completely re-build for 2024/25 season BUT sadly we do not have that luxury and quality winter recruitment is now a must. There is no way that Bartley can be trusted with that recruitment - it is far too important.

His recruitment started off really well with us though, Dabrowski, Brydon and Logan were all good last season, and Kabia looked decent until his injury. This isn't me advocating for MB to get January to put things right, just pointing out every signing hasn't been a waste of space. 

[Priti priti priti Patel]

1 hour ago, 19QOS19 said:

I won't lie. I have absolutely no idea what that post means. 

Tbh, I don't think he has either.

[Rjc-1988]

10 minutes ago, QoS99 said:

His recruitment started off really well with us though, Dabrowski, Brydon and Logan were all good last season, and Kabia looked decent until his injury. This isn't me advocating for MB to get January to put things right, just pointing out every signing hasn't been a waste of space. 

Of course not - retaining too many underperformers (or having to retain some due to two year deals) was a bad foundation for this season. Sadly the summer recruitment was dreadful - we seem to have a good eye for GKs because we have had 3 good keepers on our books this season (4 if you count young Cowie). Sadly you can only play one of them.

We have far too many signed players and could have freed up some cash by concentrating on quality over quantity. Easy in hindsight of course. I can’t stand our style of play, it lacks urgency and is slow, weak, insipid and boring. Unsurprisingly, we are getting out of it what we are putting in.

[19QOS19]

1 hour ago, QoS99 said:

The fact they consistently keep all their players without a rebuild every summer. Also from being told how much players in the first team with us earn.

They may retain them because Arbroath are the best PT side in Scotland. If PT suits them they'll obviously want to play at the highest level. I don't think a PT side will be paying significantly more than us. Though with their day jobs as well I'd imagine most Arbroath players will then be on more than ours. 

[bod]

When you've PT teams like Clydebank, Johnstone Burgh, Darvel and  EK to name a few throwing silly money at players our chances of picking up good PT players is slim. They all have players if rumours are correct who're on more than what our guys are on!

We would be well down the pecking order for the best part timers.

[bod]

46 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:

They may retain them because Arbroath are the best PT side in Scotland. If PT suits them they'll obviously want to play at the highest level. I don't think a PT side will be paying significantly more than us. Though with their day jobs as well I'd imagine most Arbroath players will then be on more than ours. 

The likes of Lafferty blows that thought out of the water and there's plenty of others.

[19QOS19]

41 minutes ago, bod said:

When you've PT teams like Clydebank, Johnstone Burgh, Darvel and  EK to name a few throwing silly money at players our chances of picking up good PT players is slim. They all have players if rumours are correct who're on more than what our guys are on!

We would be well down the pecking order for the best part timers.

 

37 minutes ago, bod said:

The likes of Lafferty blows that thought out of the water and there's plenty of others.

Darvel will likely be bust before too long but there are a few lower sides throwing money about aye. I wouldn't say they're full of Championship quality players though. There's probably a handful across those sides that could get a gig at that level. Arbroath and Alloa have done extremely well in the Championship over the last decade or so with PT squads. 

I don't think a hybrid approach would be a bad way to go. At least we'd be shopping in two markets. 

[Otis Blue]

12 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:

... I don't think a hybrid approach would be a bad way to go. At least we'd be shopping in two markets. 

^^^ This.

[Baghdad_QoS]

I would genuinely like to see a club training in Dumfries operating with a Hybrid model enabling us to tap back into the NE/NW markets.

Much more to be sorted within this though, for example a remapped grass roots system with the club launching teams from u8's upwards... which is where the fulltime players tie in with coaching the youngsters as part of their employment.

[Greenacres]

 What a result at Montrose I never seen that coming .

Brilliant result 

Still in shock now the hard part to keep that level of performance every week .

[Otis Blue]

Well, one thing's for sure ... Marvin's not going anywhere soon now - I'm assuming the BOD liked what they saw today!

Looks like this has the makings of another batsh*t crazy season from Queens.

Next up: an Embra in freefall at home, Stirling away and the massive Southern/Borders/Dumfriesshire/not-Galloway/Solway derby with Annan at home ... on the face of it three winable ties - dare we hope?  Surely not?  We should know better shouldn't we?

Edited December 9, 2023 by Otis Blue