Clyde Season 23/24

[Right turn Clyde]

2 hours ago, Bearded Bully said:

If Clyde were to sign half the Man City squad, you lot would still moan... Here's an idea... how about getting behind your team and supporting them and the signings rather than sitting behind a phone/keyboard spouting pish and negatively. 

Not sure it’s “pish”, but definitely negative and justified I’d say.

Where does your optimism stem from? 
Good signings?

Experienced Manager?

Competent Board?

 

Or,  is it just blind faith and loyalty like most of us have displayed for years.

The proof will be in the pudding- let’s see how we go over the first quarter, but personally, I’m afraid I don’t hold out much hope of us doing at all well let alone competing at the top end of the league.

 

[shawfield shed boy]

3 hours ago, Bearded Bully said:

If Clyde were to sign half the Man City squad, you lot would still moan... Here's an idea... how about getting behind your team and supporting them and the signings rather than sitting behind a phone/keyboard spouting pish and negatively. 

[Bullyweeno1]

1 hour ago, Harry Hood Fan Club said:

Not sure it’s “pish”, but definitely negative and justified I’d say.

Where does your optimism stem from? 
Good signings?

Experienced Manager?

Competent Board?

 

Or,  is it just blind faith and loyalty like most of us have displayed for years.

The proof will be in the pudding- let’s see how we go over the first quarter, but personally, I’m afraid I don’t hold out much hope of us doing at all well let alone competing at the top end of the league.

 

Have to agree with Harry here,  to compete at L2 level you need to have players who have been around the block and played at that level.

We have signed in the main a very inexperienced squad.  Only 7 outfield players have 2 more seasons experience in the pro leagues. 

Sure the young guys might be good and we have a great season but more times that not young players who have left PL teams cant hack it anywhere in the pro league and just disappears without a trace.

See that we have 5 potentials out tomorrow and with only 16 outfield players signed dont get along to NDP too early tomorrow or you might find yourself getting a game.

[Brian Carrigan]

3 hours ago, Bearded Bully said:

If Clyde were to sign half the Man City squad, you lot would still moan... Here's an idea... how about getting behind your team and supporting them and the signings rather than sitting behind a phone/keyboard spouting pish and negatively. 

An absolutely stinking take.

Season upon season we get fed absolute garbage from the club. It’s not the young lads from Hibs or Killie that annoy me, for instance. It’s the lack of a cohesive squad in general. Re-signing players that we know don’t work. 

Asking fans to blindly be positive about a group of players, 60% of which got us relegated in one of the most pathetic seasons in recent memory, is just really fucking weird.

[BullyWeeStonehouse]

Surely we’re only one or two f**k ups away from a Netflix documentary series.

[Bob731]

DGW interview coming up this week  

 

[Ignoramus]

Five injured tomorrow, so that’s a squad of 11 or 12 tomorrow I think? Fantastic stuff.

Also, players getting injured during pre-season is such a Clyde touch.

[craigkillie]

2 minutes ago, Bob731 said:

DGW interview coming up this week  

 

It's not the first time he has spoken out about it - he had the opportunity to do so in court, and of course was found to not be an impressive witness and was thus judged to be a rapist.

[David W]

I'm not a fan of telling others how to follow their team to be honest.

My positivity stretches to the following:

• I think that Sula, Grant and Carswell give us three decent options at centre half, with Dunachie an unknown. Given Duffy's previous centre half signings, I'd suggest he'll probably turn out okay. I think we'll be fine as a L2 team in that regard. Maybe not the best, but definitely not the worst. 
• Whenever we get Ray Grant fit, a midfield with him, Cuddihy and Scullion has enough football about it to be competitive if we get someone physical in there. I think Grant's game will mean he'll return from such an injury reasonably well.  
• I reckon that Ewan Cameron, if played centrally, will surprise people. If we stick him out wide, then he'll be ineffective of course. That said, if anyone is smart enough to notice that I edit this post in October, this is the bullet point I'll be deleting.
• There are a lot worse goal-scorers in the league than Martin Rennie, assuming he tries a bit harder and that we get the ball into the box more than once or twice a game.

The negativity stems from:

• The fact that signing youth players released from top division clubs generally do not turn out well; there are an infinite number of examples.
• If you look at our squad, you'd struggle to convince yourself that we fought off the challenge of other clubs to land any of our additions. Which signings am I supposed to be excited about based on actual evidence?
• We clearly have a poorer side that the one which finished with a diabolical point tally last season - we haven't replaced Roberts, Salkeld, Mullen, McLean with comparable quality or experience. We also allowed our first choice striker - regardless of opinions on his ability - to leave for a fee, and then made no successful effort to replace him.
• We have retained the likes of Hynes, Lyon, Cameron who have a lot of work to do to convince that they're up to this level.
• More importantly than all of the above, the overall malaise around the club, including the kit fiasco, general miscommunication, closed door friendlies etc.

[GroundskeeperWillie]

5 hours ago, Bearded Bully said:

If Clyde were to sign half the Man City squad, you lot would still moan... Here's an idea... how about getting behind your team and supporting them and the signings rather than sitting behind a phone/keyboard spouting pish and negatively. 

For a moment I thought Gerry Dunn had created an account on this forum (such is the level of detachment from where we are currently)...

Joking aside, once the action kicks off, I'm sure everyone will 'get behind the team', but it can't be denied that good will and all that have been badly eroded over the past while.  There hasn't been a proper feel-good factor since the promotion season under Danny Lennon.

In terms of the signings, I'll be hoping they succeed, because otherwise we are facing Lowland League and, obviously, the chances of survival as a club diminish even further.  In fact, I have a, hopefully not misplaced, confidence that Brian McLean - with some fresh ideas - might give us the impetus we need.  I just don't agree personally with how it's all come about (for me a fresh slate was needed as soon as we were relegated, but I can also see the board's point of view on it)

I'm all for the rampant optimism of the poster here, but given what has been endured recently, it's perhaps not a huge surprise that there's an air of negativity.

[GroundskeeperWillie]

8 minutes ago, David W said:

I'm not a fan of telling others how to follow their team to be honest.

My positivity stretches to the following:

• I think that Sula, Grant and Carswell give us three decent options at centre half, with Dunachie an unknown. Given Duffy's previous centre half signings, I'd suggest he'll probably turn out okay. I think we'll be fine as a L2 team in that regard. Maybe not the best, but definitely not the worst. 
• Whenever we get Ray Grant fit, a midfield with him, Cuddihy and Scullion has enough football about it to be competitive if we get someone physical in there. I think Grant's game will mean he'll return from such an injury reasonably well.  
• I reckon that Ewan Cameron, if played centrally, will surprise people. If we stick him out wide, then he'll be ineffective of course. That said, if anyone is smart enough to notice that I edit this post in October, this is the bullet point I'll be deleting.
• There are a lot worse goal-scorers in the league than Martin Rennie, assuming he tries a bit harder and that we get the ball into the box more than once or twice a game.

The negativity stems from:

• The fact that signing youth players released from top division clubs generally do not turn out well; there are an infinite number of examples.
• If you look at our squad, you'd struggle to convince yourself that we fought off the challenge of other clubs to land any of our additions. Which signings am I supposed to be excited about based on actual evidence?
• We clearly have a poorer side that the one which finished with a diabolical point tally last season - we haven't replaced Roberts, Salkeld, Mullen, McLean with comparable quality or experience. We also allowed our first choice striker - regardless of opinions on his ability - to leave for a fee, and then made no successful effort to replace him.
• We have retained the likes of Hynes, Lyon, Cameron who have a lot of work to do to convince that they're up to this level.
• More importantly than all of the above, the overall malaise around the club, including the kit fiasco, general miscommunication, closed door friendlies etc.

Pretty much completely agree with all of this David.  All the players we kept on I was pretty much of the opinion I wanted to stay (I'll be honest, I wouldn't have retained Ray and Barry personally, but only because of the concern as to whether they can maintain a level of fitness across the season, and in Ray's case, to what level he will be at when he fully recovers from injury - controversial I know, but given the circumstances we are in as a club, can we afford to pay wages to players who potentially spend a proportion of the season injured).  I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but I think Euan Cameron has potential, but as you say he needs to be played centrally where I think he carries more impact.

On your last point, I think its fair to say most of that has been a part of this club for a long, long time.  The difference now is that we're not even getting the closed door friendlies reported in any way, shape or form on the official website.  The communication side of things has always been a bit of a bugbear, but feels like its falling even further

[Johnny Worm]

I’ll break this down for everyone - we are utter dugmeat and we’ll do well to finish 7th -9th.

[SLClyde]

The bookies have clocked on that we might not be near the top of the league, now sitting 5th favourite at 13/2

[Replays]

Here is my half-time take from watching the stream:

Pros:
Cameron looked more effective through the middle - using the ball well

Parry, for all his other flaws, remains an excellent goalkeeper 1-on-1

Possibly seeing benefits of retaining a core of the squad - shape has been largely okay and you can tell there’s a familiarity between most of the group

Midfield are playing okay - Liam Scullion is continuing his transition from absolute jobber into a really competent player for our level

Cons:

Limited Hamilton to mostly half-chances for about 35 minutes but they have started to turn the screw now. There has been a few times where they’ve had options at the back post and we’ve gotten away with it so far

Still have largely no out-ball which limits us to playing through the middle

Mulvanny is working hard and is physically a decent size but having a hard time holding the ball up or getting involved

Defending corners still seems absolutely terrifying

[Replays]

The equaliser was overdue and we’re looking pretty leggy now.

[Replays]

I appreciate we’re a bit short at the minute but that second half was painful. Plenty of effort but barely touched the ball and looked leggy from the off. That’s a bit of a concern to me considering McLean was talking about a well conditioned, fit team. It was all too easy for Accies in the end.

[BullyWeeStonehouse]

7 minutes ago, Scott-Replay said:

I appreciate we’re a bit short at the minute but that second half was painful. Plenty of effort but barely touched the ball and looked leggy from the off. That’s a bit of a concern to me considering McLean was talking about a well conditioned, fit team. It was all too easy for Accies in the end.

They are full time and were championship last season, though, so the difference in fitness levels was always going to come into play later on in the game.

[Ignoramus]

Not at the match but allowing almost 30 shots on your goal is never a good recipe for success.

[Walk Glasgow]

Wasn't at the game and can only go on the match stats which seem to suggest we got off lightly despite the late scoring.

Don't know if it is safe to mention this as Jim Duffy might look at this forum, but Mark Clougherty who played for both Clyde and Dumbarton back in the 70s is still alive!!

 

 

 

 

[FREDDYFRY]

First half we competed well, and yes they had a lot of the ball particularly second half. 
Stats slightly misleading in that 90% of their shots were from distance and caused Parry little problem.

Difference over 90 mins was certainly the fact Hamilton had subs to bring on and we didn’t. Totally ran out of steam in the end which contributed to their 2nd and 3rd.

Not as bad as I thought it would be against a full time team. Cameron still way out his depth and we have ZERO up front. The 5 or so players sitting  in the stand will help and think there are 3-4 still to come in.