The Moonster Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 12 hours ago, 19QOS19 said: I think Dumbarton's season could rely on whether or not Ruth is good enough for this level. He's clearly had a sensational season last year but he was honking at Championship level for two sides. This is obviously the inbetween level so it'll be interesting to see how he gets on this season. Ruth will be fine, I don't expect him to be prolific but he'll cause a lot of problems and get himself goals. I'm quietly confident we'll do well this season but depends on how injuries unfold across the season. I don't know enough about the other squads at this level to make a decent prediction but a couple of sides look in a bit of bother numbers and quality wise...Cove, Montrose and even Kelty all appear very light to me. Alloa also have some top guys from last season still to replace. Plenty time to add bodies but I suspect there are a lot of clubs bidding for the same players/waiting for the same loans and someones going to be scrambling a bit. I can't believe The Caley will run with that squad as Ferguson has said but they appear to be a bin fire that nobody wants to piss on quite yet, so who knows what to expect from them. Common sense would suggest ourselves, Annan and Stenny will battle it out at the bottom. I reckon (or perhaps it's hope) that Annan won't be very good and Stenny will be solid if unspectacular. Any of the sides with ambitions of going up will be looking thinking this is our chance, nobody to fear running away with it IMO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Vojáček Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 13 hours ago, 19QOS19 said: I think Dumbarton's season could rely on whether or not Ruth is good enough for this level. He's clearly had a sensational season last year but he was honking at Championship level for two sides. This is obviously the inbetween level so it'll be interesting to see how he gets on this season. He only started four games in the Championship as an 18-year-old for Arbroath four years ago, so I’m not sure that’s a particularly fair critique. Especially given he was actually ok for them by all accounts, just not ready for that level at that point. The most games he’d started for a side until last season in a single campaign was 11 (for a terrible Falkirk team in 2021) where he scored four times at this level. He won’t be prolific, it’s not his game, but if he stays injury free he should be hitting at least 10 or 12 for us this year I reckon. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelheart Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 1 hour ago, The Moonster said: Ruth will be fine, I don't expect him to be prolific but he'll cause a lot of problems and get himself goals. I'm quietly confident we'll do well this season but depends on how injuries unfold across the season. I don't know enough about the other squads at this level to make a decent prediction but a couple of sides look in a bit of bother numbers and quality wise...Cove, Montrose and even Kelty all appear very light to me. Alloa also have some top guys from last season still to replace. Plenty time to add bodies but I suspect there are a lot of clubs bidding for the same players/waiting for the same loans and someones going to be scrambling a bit. I can't believe The Caley will run with that squad as Ferguson has said but they appear to be a bin fire that nobody wants to piss on quite yet, so who knows what to expect from them. Common sense would suggest ourselves, Annan and Stenny will battle it out at the bottom. I reckon (or perhaps it's hope) that Annan won't be very good and Stenny will be solid if unspectacular. Any of the sides with ambitions of going up will be looking thinking this is our chance, nobody to fear running away with it IMO. We are defo a bit light at the moment but if as I think both Corbett and CJ are signed we have kept 8/9(Tam Oware missed more than half with injury and QP duties) of last seasons main squad and added a few as well( McCarvel , Adamson ,Miller, Flatman ) , Tids pulled it out the bag with loanees last year all bar 1 (very young hibs lad) making a serious impact on the team , we've one or two decent academy players who will fill the squad as well (Owens , Garvie , Shearer ) so I'm pretty happy with how we are building so far , defo need firepower up top though 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19QOS19 Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 2 hours ago, Jan Vojáček said: He only started four games in the Championship as an 18-year-old for Arbroath four years ago, so I’m not sure that’s a particularly fair critique. Especially given he was actually ok for them by all accounts, just not ready for that level at that point. The most games he’d started for a side until last season in a single campaign was 11 (for a terrible Falkirk team in 2021) where he scored four times at this level. He won’t be prolific, it’s not his game, but if he stays injury free he should be hitting at least 10 or 12 for us this year I reckon. So it was. For the life of me I thought we were in the Championship when he was with us. I suppose it's that bit more concerning given he looked very poor for us and it was League 1! I certainly wouldn't be ruling him out based on that of course given he's dropped the level and it'll have done him good. As I say, I'm interested to see how he does this time around. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Vojáček Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 1 minute ago, 19QOS19 said: So it was. For the life of me I thought we were in the Championship when he was with us. I suppose it's that bit more concerning given he looked very poor for us and it was League 1! I certainly wouldn't be ruling him out based on that of course given he's dropped the level and it'll have done him good. As I say, I'm interested to see how he does this time around. I think it's like any forward player. He'll thrive off game time and confidence. At Queen's (and assuming soccerbase and Transfermarkt are accurate) he started three games and played an average of 29 minutes across his 23 league appearances at the club. Last season he played 45 games, 90 minutes in near enough all of them and was probably our most important player. Getting a shot at regular game time as well as feeling needed and valued led to him playing the best football of his career. He was the best striker in League Two last season, was our best player against Rangers and caused Stirling Albion all sorts of issues in the play-offs. That all bodes well for this season. Obviously this is a step up quality wise, but if we hadn't gone up then he would've been playing League One football this season with someone else. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19QOS19 Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 43 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said: I think it's like any forward player. He'll thrive off game time and confidence. At Queen's (and assuming soccerbase and Transfermarkt are accurate) he started three games and played an average of 29 minutes across his 23 league appearances at the club. Last season he played 45 games, 90 minutes in near enough all of them and was probably our most important player. Getting a shot at regular game time as well as feeling needed and valued led to him playing the best football of his career. He was the best striker in League Two last season, was our best player against Rangers and caused Stirling Albion all sorts of issues in the play-offs. That all bodes well for this season. Obviously this is a step up quality wise, but if we hadn't gone up then he would've been playing League One football this season with someone else. I'm not trying to argue the issue. I'm genuinely interested to see how he does. I'm not hoping for him to flop so I can give it a "I told you so" type. Given my liking of Dumbarton I hope he does well (apart from against us) I just thought it was fair to say the success of Dumbarton's season could depend on whether or not he can make the step up this year. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Vojáček Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 2 hours ago, 19QOS19 said: I'm not trying to argue the issue. I'm genuinely interested to see how he does. I'm not hoping for him to flop so I can give it a "I told you so" type. Given my liking of Dumbarton I hope he does well (apart from against us) I just thought it was fair to say the success of Dumbarton's season could depend on whether or not he can make the step up this year. Yeah I think that's absolutely a fair comment. I was just pointing out that it was pretty unfair to describe him as "honking" during a handful of starts in the Championship four years ago and then 20 odd sub appearances for you guys last season. Strikers are a weird breed. You never quite know what they are going to do. Kevin Nisbet at us is the casing point. Even Gavin Reilly with yourselves only scored a couple for Stenny in League Two during that loan spell, went back to Palmerston and scored a decent number for a really poor team last season. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Am Featha Taigh Nan Clach Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 13 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said: Even Gavin Reilly with yourselves only scored a couple for Stenny in League Two during that loan spell, went back to Palmerston and scored a decent number for a really poor team last season. I'm now accepting of the fact we'll sign someone far worse than Gavin Reilly but if you'd have offered me him a month ago I'd have said no. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1320Lichtie Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 Ruth wasn’t honking for Arbroath at all - I actually really wanted to see him get more game time because we were pretty stinking to watch and he was always someone I saw as a bit of a wild card. Also played out on the wing with us. Definitely not honking and looks to have turned into a pretty good central striking option for Dumbarton. I think he will probably kick on to be one of the better PT strikers at some point in his career if he keeps progressing and go on to do pretty well for Dumbarton this season too. I said it in our own thread but I think for us anyway we will be coming up against a lot of teams who have familiarity while we are starting out a brand new thing here this season with what looks like a new way of playing with new players so I think it’ll take us a bit of time to get going fully. I do think there are good players here that are maybe being underestimated - ToB had a lot of injury issues last season and never really fully recovered. Same with Colin Hamilton. Instead of any of our new signings I think they 2 players will be our most important alongside Scotty Stewart who is probably my favourite player currently, just a powerhouse who played absolutely everywhere for us last season and I am looking forward to seeing him get back playing regularly on the right hand side of midfield again. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19QOS19 Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 48 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said: Yeah I think that's absolutely a fair comment. I was just pointing out that it was pretty unfair to describe him as "honking" during a handful of starts in the Championship four years ago and then 20 odd sub appearances for you guys last season. Strikers are a weird breed. You never quite know what they are going to do. Kevin Nisbet at us is the casing point. Even Gavin Reilly with yourselves only scored a couple for Stenny in League Two during that loan spell, went back to Palmerston and scored a decent number for a really poor team last season. FWIW I wasn't referring to Ruth with his time at Arbroath. I meant he was poor for us but I thought we were in the Championship when he played for us (I had no idea he even played with Arbroath tbh). Shows how long we've been stuck here when I'm misremembering such a thing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groaninjock Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 1 Cove 2 Alloa 3 Arbroath 4 Montrose 5 Caley 6 QOTS 7 Dumbarton 8 Kelty 9 Stenny 10 Annan Unless Caley go into administration before/during the season, in which case they'll go bust or finish bottom, or both 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Am Featha Taigh Nan Clach Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 I think this looks like a very competitive league. A few years ago L1 looked quite scary for your diddy semi pro team with usually 2 or 3 big full times clubs but that's not really the case this year. Having not been in the league last year I don't know a lot about the squads but here are some general observations based on nothing but grudges, prejudices and vibes. Alloa - a good squad and good manager. Fairly well stocked in all areas. Title challenge Annan - I don't really like Gibson. He seems quite 'open goal' and probably a downgrade on Murphy. Goss gives me the fear but they have lost a couple of good players Arbroath - I suspect the players who have remained will do well in the league and added an exellent striker. Title challenge, probable winners Cove - Another soulless nouveau riche outfit with few real fans. Don't know and don't hugely care. Playoffs Dumbarton - Finished well and would have done better were it not for injuries to Long/Durnan. I like Shiels/Pig at wing back. Faz is no where as bad as Dumbo fans make out ICT - Basket case. Who the fuck knows? Could potentially finish bottom and push everyone up a place. Kelty - I think the loss of Lyon/Gourlay and not having Bavidge will hurt them badly. Bottom 2 Montrose - They've been garbage 90% of my life so my brain can't really compute them being quite good. I think they'll fall off a bit. Mid/lower mid table. QoS - Anyone but Bartley would do a better job this year but I think some of the signings have been a bit 'Annany'. Being full time will see them through. Playoffs. Stenhousemuir - solid enough at back and relatively fit/athletic. Lacking up front. Relegation battle but survive 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19QOS19 Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 Mcbookie getting their predictions in. For a Scottish company you'd think they'd be clued up on Caley. Clearly not, given those odds. Think the only value in there is Alloa E/W. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skyline Drifter Posted July 5 Share Posted July 5 (edited) On 30/06/2024 at 12:13, Jan Vojáček said: I think it's like any forward player. He'll thrive off game time and confidence. At Queen's (and assuming soccerbase and Transfermarkt are accurate) he started three games and played an average of 29 minutes across his 23 league appearances at the club. Last season he played 45 games, 90 minutes in near enough all of them and was probably our most important player. Getting a shot at regular game time as well as feeling needed and valued led to him playing the best football of his career. He was the best striker in League Two last season, was our best player against Rangers and caused Stirling Albion all sorts of issues in the play-offs. That all bodes well for this season. Obviously this is a step up quality wise, but if we hadn't gone up then he would've been playing League One football this season with someone else. I don't think Michael Ruth got a fair opportunity with us 22/23 though he wasn't helped by circumstances. He picked up an injury in pre-season that held him back and much as we were rubbish that season, Ruari Paton was probably the best striker in the league so he wasn't going to displace him. Reilly played alongside Paton in a pair early season and they were a good pair though Reilly didn't score enough personally. He fell out of favour after Bartley came in though and was sent to Stenhousemuir. That should have given Ruth more opportunities but it didn't, mainly because Bartley preferred a style of one striker supported by two wide men and Paton was never unfit. He had very limited game time with us but to be fair to @19QOS19 he also never really looked like taking any of the chances he did get. He 100% needed someone to put his faith in him and play him every week. He found that at Dumbarton. I suspect he'll do fine at League One next season too. Hope so, he's a good guy. Edited July 5 by Skyline Drifter 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Tarmo Posted July 6 Author Share Posted July 6 On 04/07/2024 at 17:16, 19QOS19 said: Mcbookie getting their predictions in. For a Scottish company you'd think they'd be clued up on Caley. Clearly not, given those odds. Think the only value in there is Alloa E/W. I think they are clearly aware, otherwise they’d have us first. It’s just lazy ‘biggest team but have issues’ odds so have stuck us in 2nd. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RossBFaeDundee Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 (edited) 1st. Arbroath 2nd. Alloa Athletic 3rd. Queen of the South 4th. Cove Rangers 5th. Inverness CT 6th. Montrose 7th. Kelly Hearts 8th. Annan Athletic 9th. Dumbarton 10th. Stenhousemuir This is a really hard league to predict, can't wait to see how it pans out. Edited July 10 by RossBFaeDundee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Tibbs Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 1. Arbroath 2. Alloa 3. Queens 4. Cove 5. Dumbarton 6. Montrose 7. Teuchters 8. Kelty 9. Stenhousemuir 10. Annan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonnieMurdo Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 Big Dunc 'The Relegator' Ferguson to have walked out by Christmas, if not Halloween. I wonder how much of an appetite he has for a battle at this level. If we don't hit the ground running, which is looking unlikely, I suspect he won't hang around. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivo den Bieman Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 1. Queen of the South ------------------- 2. Alloa Athletic 3. Cove Rangers 4. Montrose ------------------- 5. Arbroath 6. Kelty Hearts 7. Stenhousemuir 8. Dumbarton ------------------- 9. Inverness CT (if they continue in their current state) ------------------- 10. Annan Athletic 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiG Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 20 hours ago, DonnieMurdo said: Big Dunc 'The Relegator' Ferguson to have walked out by Christmas, if not Halloween. I wonder how much of an appetite he has for a battle at this level. If we don't hit the ground running, which is looking unlikely, I suspect he won't hang around. He doesn't appear to have much of an appetite for it right now. The sooner he leaves the better. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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