Clyde Season 23/24

[Brian Carrigan]

1 hour ago, not man of the match said:

We have our own reasons to dislike him but his stats are mince.

How about this stat: get to f**k.

[not man of the match]

16 minutes ago, Brian Carrigan said:

How about this stat: get to f**k.

That’s exactly what you should want for him.

[AUcal]

McCall almost single handedly turned us around from an absolute mess of a club, destined for League 2, with dwindling crowds and a toxic atmosphere hovering over us - into a club that played attractive football, won a league title for the first time in decades, had a couple of decent cup runs and got to the Championship play-offs. 

It was him that was instrumental in a lot of the big decisions (going professional etc) that laid the groundwork for the club to return to where we are now. Since he departed, we've not came anywhere close to the quality of football that he had us playing.

He wasn't perfect - he had an annoying stubbornness at times, the squads were often light on bodies, he liked playing guys out of position just to shoehorn them in and our form post Xmas was never as good as the first half of the season. It's clearly ended poorly at Thistle, but imo he's a far better option than pretty much all of the other choices Clyde had. Some Ayr fans would love to have him back, some wouldn't want a return - I lean towards the latter (best to move on etc).

I think there's a good chance he might be able to sort out the situation Clyde find themselves in. He is quite well connected in the game - something that was clear across his time with us (especially when we were in League 1) was the calibre of loan singings he was able to bring in from up the chain. At the time, Ayr also had a reputation as a club that found decent young players with a point to prove - that was largely because McCall had a very good eye for a player.

I was of the impression he might end up in a kind of Director of Football role somewhere, as I think that might suit him quite well. Anyways, decent appointment I think, will be interesting to see how it goes.

Edited November 15, 2023 by AuAl

[oneteaminglasgow]

 

41 minutes ago, ScottR96 said:

There isn’t a single player/coach/manager in Scottish League 2 who is a perfect all rounder, or they simply wouldn’t be operating at this level. Having a look at Queen of the South and Alloa’s threads recently, a lot of their fans would’ve taken your hand off for McCall so the fact we’ve managed to land him despite propping up the other 41 teams in the SPFL is clearly a bit of a coup. 

I would suggest that McCall possibly wouldn’t have taken the gig without some assurance that he’d be able to bring in players as well, so that’s something. There’s also the fact that it’s, presumably, much easier for him to get to wherever you train than Alloa or Dumfries, which is a big deal for him I believe. 

McCall has his limitations - you’re all going to love watching a central midfielder playing wife every week despite clearly not knowing how to do it - but he’s obviously definitely (at least) among the best managers in that division. If anyone is going to sit and say that he’s a worse manager than Robbie Horn or Stevie Farrell, then their opinion quite simply isn’t worth listening to.

[JagsCG]

53 minutes ago, ScottR96 said:

It’s incredible how quickly Thistle’s relegation in 2020 appears to have gone from the biggest injustice in sporting history, to the biggest managerial failure in sporting history in some of their supporters’ eyes.

Apart from the one Thistle supporter commenting on this thread who never did like McCall anyway, most criticisms Thistle fans have of him don’t come from that season. 
 

He’s a very decent appointment at that level IMO, although I say that knowing nothing about Clyde’s current squad and their abilities.

Edited November 15, 2023 by JagsCG

[GroundskeeperWillie]

It's a cracking appointment and likely a bit of recognition from the board that recent decision-making hasn't been, erm, good and that we needed to get this one spot on.

My only faint concern is the length of time he's been out of the game, but given his track record he on paper appears to be the right appointment to get us out of the complete and utter shitshow that we are currently in.

In many ways, this has some similarities in many respects to around 30 years ago, right down to where we're currently based - we'd just papped a failing manager, brought in someone with excellent credentials, went on to win the Second Division (caveat, the winning of the league clearly won't be this season)

From an objective setting point of view as long as we can keep up with the likes of East Fife, Elgin and Forfar until January, it gives McCall the chance to get his own faces in.

Assuming Chris Millar is being retained as assistant?  I'd not be averse to him staying on in that capacity to be fair and as a definite also hope there is a role within the club (boardroom ideally) for Allan Maitland.

[Salvo Montalbano]

On 14/11/2023 at 13:25, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

The man is an egomaniac and someone like Ian McCall is light years ahead of Mick Kennedy in terms of managerial ability.

Clearly in the know!

I think it's s good appointment for Clyde tbh. Interesting to hear the Thistle fans being so disparaging about him when I remember them liking him when he started out there. Something must have happened behind the scenes for it to fall off a cliff the way it did. Had success at most places he's been, especially in the short term, which is obviously vital here. Think he'll keep you up and maybe even looking upwards towards a top 4 finish. Good luck.

[AUcal]

1 minute ago, GroundskeeperWillie said:

My only faint concern is the length of time he's been out of the game, but given his track record he on paper appears to be the right appointment to get us out of the complete and utter shitshow that we are currently in.

For what it's worth, he was out of the game for 4/5 years before we appointed him. We were in a L1 relegation battle, he was appointed in January.

It wouldn't say it was pretty or an overnight success - but he improved us and we survived. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

12 minutes ago, Salvo Montalbano said:

Clearly in the know!

I think it's s good appointment for Clyde tbh. Interesting to hear the Thistle fans being so disparaging about him when I remember them liking him when he started out there. Something must have happened behind the scenes for it to fall off a cliff the way it did. Had success at most places he's been, especially in the short term, which is obviously vital here. Think he'll keep you up and maybe even looking upwards towards a top 4 finish. Good luck.

To be fair, apart from @Highlandmagar (who would’ve continued criticising McCall if he’d won us the Champions League) I think most Thistle fans acknowledge that he did good work, but ultimately it was time for him to go. Upper championship is his ceiling, but obviously that’s several levels above where Clyde are, or have been for a long time. 

[John MacLean]

On his own, he's an excellent appointment. With a good assistant, it's an outstanding appointment. 

He's always worked best with a good assistant beside him. 

He's not the greatest coach, and he'll not make the players already at the club become better players but he will get them playing at their maximum ability. Short term that might be enough to get away from the bottom. 

He can spot a player. Has good contacts if a bit of a blind spot when thinking an old firm kid is decent just because they are at the old firm. That aside he does work the loan market well. 

He has his flaws, the Thistle side he had last season should have won the league, and there clearly is a ceiling to his ability as a manager but that's significantly above the level Clyde are at right now. 

And that's where my slight misgiving lies. I'm not sure how well he knows football at League Two level. Building a side capable of winning promotion to the Premiership is one thing, getting a side away from the foot of League Two is something completely different. He does have 6 weeks ir so to assess the league and what he has at his disposal before the window opens. He had, IMO, one iffy window at Thistle. And that was his first one. 

Despite a lot of nonsense being said, his character isn't in question. I've a lot of time for him personally as a person. 

[Brian Carrigan]

41 minutes ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

you’re all going to love watching a central midfielder playing wife every week despite clearly not knowing how to do it

Can I shock you? We’ve been watching players play in positions they haven’t a clue how to play in for around two decades. I call it the “Clyde Madness”.

[Cardle is Magic]

Very good appointment from Clyde tbh. Unless he’s utterly finished then the club have basically ended any worries about Lowland League at the very least.

[Bob731]

55 minutes ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

To be fair, apart from @Highlandmagar (who would’ve continued criticising McCall if he’d won us the Champions League) I think most Thistle fans acknowledge that he did good work, but ultimately it was time for him to go. Upper championship is his ceiling, but obviously that’s several levels above where Clyde are, or have been for a long time. 

If he had not lost those 5 games in a row,(correct me if I’m wrong) but Thistle wold be in the SPL. The rumour I heard from a Jags fan was he was sacked for substituting Brian Graham off at the Rangers cup tie so he could go and help with the women’s team that night ? Or is that just pish? Lol..

[John MacLean]

1 minute ago, Bob731 said:

If he had not lost those 5 games in a row,(correct me if I’m wrong) but Thistle wold be in the SPL. The rumour I heard from a Jags fan was he was sacked for substituting Brian Graham off at the Rangers cup tie so he could go and help with the women’s team that night ? Or is that just pish? Lol..

That is complete and utter pish. 

[Cardle is Magic]

50 minutes ago, John MacLean said:

a bit of a blind spot when thinking an old firm kid is decent just because they are at the old firm.

Sums up pretty much every manager in Scottish football tbh.

[JagsCG]

1 hour ago, Bob731 said:

If he had not lost those 5 games in a row,(correct me if I’m wrong) but Thistle wold be in the SPL. The rumour I heard from a Jags fan was he was sacked for substituting Brian Graham off at the Rangers cup tie so he could go and help with the women’s team that night ? Or is that just pish? Lol..

I wouldn’t even call that a rumour but that was made up by someone (may have been Chris Sutton) on BBC 5 Live. Graham was substituted but he was still at Ibrox at the end of the match and missed the first half of the women’s game because of it. 

He was sacked for losing back-to-back matches at home to the worst teams in the league (for many a year) having already fallen behind in-part due to the losing run you reference and publicly conceding the league title.
I think most Thistle fans liked McCall, he was a solid appointment for us at the time and I think the right man for a rebuilding job on and off the field. He put a terrific squad together last season but struggled with it for large spells and was rightly sacked, probably should’ve been earlier in the season.

[the_bully_wee]

The key distinction to be made here is obviously that failing to break through the ceiling of the top end of the Championship is literal leagues apart from where we're currently at; the only box McCall doesn't tick is experience at this level, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. There's not a single reasonably attainable option who wouldn't represent some level of risk in comparison to him. He's got a track record of immediately improving struggling teams, turning them around with smart signings/improvements to existing players, getting them promoted from considerably tougher leagues than this one and also getting them playing good football into the bargain. As others have said, I reckon the fact we've managed to get him in at all speaks to us being an attractive option in terms of the budget he'll have to play with in January and beyond. Not to look too far ahead of extricating ourselves from our current predicament, but if the club's ambition to re-establish itself in the Championship over the short-to-mid term future is a genuine one, I can't think of anyone better-suited to actioning that, given his track record. I now hope to wake up tomorrow to news that, after seeing them in one training session, he has terminated at least half a dozen players' contracts.

[Kempes]

6 hours ago, the_bully_wee said:

The key distinction to be made here is obviously that failing to break through the ceiling of the top end of the Championship is literal leagues apart from where we're currently at; the only box McCall doesn't tick is experience at this level, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. There's not a single reasonably attainable option who wouldn't represent some level of risk in comparison to him. 

This is very true. Some fans might think Guardiola would not be suitable for the Clyde job as he hasn’t managed in the fourth tier in Scotland. Whilst Pep might find it difficult to adjust to not having world class players at his disposal, I think he would be able to get Clyde up the leagues. As will McCall, given time and decent resources.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

This is potentially a great appointment for Clyde, and whilst they are currently a rival League Two club I don't want to see them slip towards the Lowland League quicksands.

And to offer the Bully Wee fans hope I would cite the example of ourselves in the Autumn of 2012 when we were welded to the bottom of the Championship.  Alan Adamson was replaced by Ian Murray, a bold move in the sense that Murray had never managed in Scotland, but the improvement was instant and seismic.

Ian McCall is hugely experienced in the Scottish game and I'll be astonished if by joining at this stage of the season he fails to stabilise the ship, as long as people manage their expectations.  At the very least there must now be much more positivity about the place.

[19QOS19]

MK buddy at the Record seems an even bigger fanny than the man himself - "We couldn't grab Kennedy. Shit we'll have to take a chance on some amateur instead".