Annan Athletics managerial position

[annan4eva]

After yesterdays horrendous and very expensive loss ( again in the Scottish cup ) would it not be apt to do as Dick Campbell did and say thank and let a better manager keep Annan in division 1 ? 

[falkirkthebigclub]

John 'Yogi' Hughes.

[tamthebam]

1) Are there better managers available than Peter Murphy and 2) would they come to Annan?

If the answer to either question is "No" then better to stick otherwise the exercise of changing managers isn't worth the candle

[the philosopher]

Spot on Tam - he knows the lay of the land.

Stuff wasting money on wannabes or has beens.

We are probably in a poor geographical area but give the  boys a chance - loads o decent players came from our area ( years ago right enough).

Mega rich Carlisle now - let the relationship flourish.

[annan4eva]

17 hours ago, tamthebam said:

1) Are there better managers available than Peter Murphy and 2) would they come to Annan?

If the answer to either question is "No" then better to stick otherwise the exercise of changing managers isn't worth the candle

You have to ask the question before you know the answer ? Yes there is IMO.

[annan4eva]

11 hours ago, the philosopher said:

Spot on Tam - he knows the lay of the land.

Stuff wasting money on wannabes or has beens.

We are probably in a poor geographical area but give the  boys a chance - loads o decent players came from our area ( years ago right enough).

Mega rich Carlisle now - let the relationship flourish.

You’re 100 % correct on the wannabe/ has been answer,

.There is a manager across the border who operates very successfully in a much worse geographical area ?

Mainly due to he’s very competent. 

They area is so poor its attracted the Americans to CARLISLE??

Dumbartons draw just makes things worse.

 

[FK1Bairn]

4 minutes ago, annan4eva said:

You’re 100 % correct on the wannabe/ has been answer,

.There is a manager across the border who operates very successfully in a much worse geographical area ?

Mainly due to he’s very competent. 

They area is so poor its attracted the Americans to CARLISLE??

Dumbartons draw just makes things worse.

 

Annan were beat 5-4 after extra time by a club with a similar possibly larger budget than your own, it's not as if you were pumped by an EoS club. 

Annan would also have been a differently numbered ball to Dumbarton if you had got through so wouldn't have got the same draw they did either. 

Would you be asking the question if you had got to the next round?

Edited November 27, 2023 by FK1Bairn

[marco44]

22 hours ago, annan4eva said:

After yesterdays horrendous and very expensive loss ( again in the Scottish cup ) would it not be apt to do as Dick Campbell did and say thank and let a better manager keep Annan in division 1 ? 

Now is not the time to change the manager. 
Yes it was disappointing losing on Saturday. 
Can you tell me a name of a better manager that would be prepared to come to Annan and operate with our small budget? 
 

[Jan Vojáček]

Peter Murphy has done a terrific job at Annan. You'll struggle a bit this season because the club is probably the smallest in League Two and in a patch that isn't great for attracting players. But if he keeps you up (playoffs or eighth) then that's a tremendous achievement.

One cup defeat to a side who probably have a bigger budget shouldn't change that.

[Brian Carrigan]

Did the original poster expect Annan to be challenging at the top of the table this season?

Peter Murphy done tremendously well to get Annan promoted for the first time ever last campaign. They were better drilled than (admittedly, a very poor) Clyde across both legs of the playoffs but it wasn't a cakewalk, which suggested to me that there would be a bit of a struggle this term especially when you factor in budget and location. Simply 'not being bottom of the table' at this point I would have thought would have been decent for Annan, especially being three points off QotS with a game in hand.

[annan4eva]

12 minutes ago, Brian Carrigan said:

Did the original poster expect Annan to be challenging at the top of the table this season?

Peter Murphy done tremendously well to get Annan promoted for the first time ever last campaign. They were better drilled than (admittedly, a very poor) Clyde across both legs of the playoffs but it wasn't a cakewalk, which suggested to me that there would be a bit of a struggle this term especially when you factor in budget and location. Simply 'not being bottom of the table' at this point I would have thought would have been decent for Annan, especially being three points off QotS with a game in hand.

Thank you for your comments. 

[annan4eva]

31 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

Peter Murphy has done a terrific job at Annan. You'll struggle a bit this season because the club is probably the smallest in League Two and in a patch that isn't great for attracting players. But if he keeps you up (playoffs or eighth) then that's a tremendous achievement.

One cup defeat to a side who probably have a bigger budget shouldn't change that.

Thank you for your comment. If is the word ?

[annan4eva]

38 minutes ago, marco44 said:

Now is not the time to change the manager. 
Yes it was disappointing losing on Saturday. 
Can you tell me a name of a better manager that would be prepared to come to Annan and operate with our small budget? 
 

I can give you a name of a manager ( whose team are currently punching above their weight again)

whether he would come to Annan ? That would be for others to persuade. I cant think the budget he operates on is much bigger TBH. I JUST don’t buy into the geographical disadvantage excuse.

[19QOS19]

1 hour ago, annan4eva said:

I can give you a name of a manager ( whose team are currently punching above their weight again)

whether he would come to Annan ? That would be for others to persuade. I cant think the budget he operates on is much bigger TBH. I JUST don’t buy into the geographical disadvantage excuse.

I think the geographical thing is valid. I won't pretend to know Annan's budget but I imagine the wages aren't good enough for folk to up sticks from the Central belt and come down permanently. Travelling down* twice a week and every second Saturday wouldn't be very appealing either. Aren't most of the side from Dumfries? 

We train in Glasgow to give us a better chance at players I'd imagine. I think there's plenty over the years who wouldn't have been at Queens** if we trained locally, for the same reasons as Annan. 

* I'm guessing they train at Galabank. 

** Arguably a good reason for us to train locally I suppose...

[parsforlife]

1 hour ago, annan4eva said:

I can give you a name of a manager ( whose team are currently punching above their weight again)

whether he would come to Annan ? That would be for others to persuade. I cant think the budget he operates on is much bigger TBH. I JUST don’t buy into the geographical disadvantage excuse.

On geography,  just taking your Campbell example, he’s west fife based, him and pink run their businesses from there.  He’s simply not going to go to Annan. 

There’s going to be a lot of players in similar positions.  Some will travel, but they tend to do so for a fair bit of cash. If you want central belt based guys to sign it’s going to come at a premium as they have plenty of other more convenient options.

[annan4eva]

23 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:

I think the geographical thing is valid. I won't pretend to know Annan's budget but I imagine the wages aren't good enough for folk to up sticks from the Central belt and come down permanently. Travelling down* twice a week and every second Saturday wouldn't be very appealing either. Aren't most of the side from Dumfries? 

We train in Glasgow to give us a better chance at players I'd imagine. I think there's plenty over the years who wouldn't have been at Queens** if we trained locally, for the same reasons as Annan. 

* I'm guessing they train at Galabank. 

** Arguably a good reason for us to train locally I suppose...

With all due respect it would appear your ethos is not working and hasn’t done for some time now, at I would imagine an eye watering cost? I’ll stick with my observation that not enough is done to nurture local talent. I do see QOS seem to have a good U18 side, lets see.

[annan4eva]

3 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

On geography,  just taking your Campbell example, he’s west fife based, him and pink run their businesses from there.  He’s simply not going to go to Annan. 

There’s going to be a lot of players in similar positions.  Some will travel, but they tend to do so for a fair bit of cash. If you want central belt based guys to sign it’s going to come at a premium as they have plenty of other more convenient options.

I said Dick walked thats all? Ive no idea as regards the reasons other than to suggest he thought it was the correct choice for him to make.

[Jan Vojáček]

The other thing perhaps to think about, is that Queen of the South being weak will impact Annan. How many QOS offcuts have been excellent players for Annan? Moxon and Goss are the obvious two, but the likes of Scott Hooper has been a very good player for Annan.

The fact that Queens are now ropey means the players they are binning aren't up to the level Annan require. Championship rejects make excellent League Two players. League One rejects from QOS now won't cut it for League One Annan.

It's similar to us and Morton. We always seem to take their offcuts, they've been quite weak for a few years so we either don't sign their offcuts or sign guys who aren't up to it. When in the past we've had the likes of Andy Graham, Scott Taggart, Ross Forbes and (going way back) Paddy Flannery.

In saying that, our best player at the moment is a Morton offcut. Albeit he ripped up his deal there to go back PT.

[19QOS19]

52 minutes ago, annan4eva said:

With all due respect it would appear your ethos is not working and hasn’t done for some time now, at I would imagine an eye watering cost? I’ll stick with my observation that not enough is done to nurture local talent. I do see QOS seem to have a good U18 side, lets see.

I never claimed it was working. But I doubt it would be any better if we brought training to Dumfries. The training facilities aren't the issue, it's the lack of decent wages. I doubt the cost of training in Hamilton is steep enough for us to get a better class of player if we moved training to Dumfries. The last time we did that (as far as I'm aware) was the Connolly era and we took in a shitload of players from south of the border. Those were the days when you could sign them at any time though. I doubt we'd have been promoted if we had transfer windows. We didn't exactly have a bag full of great quality from down there either. 

How do you suggest we nurture local talent though? A big chunk of our 'future stars' are now playing at Annan. Simply put, they weren't good enough for the Championship. You can't polish a turd. Any rare natural talent is quickly snapped up as well. 

If Queens and Annan were well backed then we may have a chance of better developing players but the reality is we won't pay great wages as we need it for the first team and there's little in the way of work for part-time players down here either.  

[FK1Bairn]

On 26/11/2023 at 14:09, annan4eva said:

After yesterdays horrendous and very expensive loss ( again in the Scottish cup ) would it not be apt to do as Dick Campbell did and say thank and let a better manager keep Annan in division 1 ? 

You're suggesting Dick Campbell resigned because of poor form and you believe Peter Murphy should do the same? Are you advocating Dick Campbell as Annan's next manager? 

If the answer to these questions is yes then you're needing a touch of realism here. Dick Campbell is 70 year old, has been around the Scottish game for years, has his own business and without wishing to sound ageist has probably managed his last football club. 

Peter Murphy on the other hand is making his way in the game and is not going to give up at Annan until he's forced out. He probably has financial commitments that managing Annan helps pay towards. If he keeps Annan 8th or 9th and wins the playoffs his CV will look much more appealing to other clubs