The Road Ahead!

[rik2304]

He's a number 2.

[GORDON76]

Yep, straight out of the McInnes, Goodwin and Naismith school of diving, feigning injury and general cheating. 

[Cagey]

1 hour ago, rik2304 said:

He's a number 2.

Thought you didn't like abusive language 😅.

[Northern saint]

With hopefully a clear out of the coaching staff as they've shown no ability to improve a player, more the opposite, would Fox now released from Hearts be a worthwhile shout.  He did put Shankland back into a position he thrived in.  That would be a major improvement with us, having people play to their strengths.  

[rik2304]

2 hours ago, Cagey said:

Thought you didn't like abusive language 😅.

Only when it's from Steve Lomas and directed at fans.

[dunblanemike]

15 hours ago, Northern saint said:

With hopefully a clear out of the coaching staff as they've shown no ability to improve a player, more the opposite, would Fox now released from Hearts be a worthwhile shout.  He did put Shankland back into a position he thrived in.  That would be a major improvement with us, having people play to their strengths.  

I would suggest McPake and Steven counter your first point and I hope that with no injuries at start of season all players would be in their natural positions. We shall see. 

[Maskrey]

We should look to bring in Robbie Neilson and Liam Fox.  Neilson knows what is required to get out of that league and has operated well at the top end of the Prem.

[CAH]

12 minutes ago, Maskrey said:

We should look to bring in Robbie Neilson and Liam Fox.  Neilson knows what is required to get out of that league and has operated well at the top end of the Prem.

Flogging a dead horse mate! Just accept that the current manager will be here 'til c. October

[Maskrey]

2 hours ago, CAH said:

Flogging a dead horse mate! Just accept that the current manager will be here 'til c. October

Yes and when he is sacked during the season it will then more than likely be too late to recover.  We need to bounce back up immediately as the longer we stay down there the harder it will be to get out.  

[RandomGuy]

5 hours ago, Maskrey said:

We should look to bring in Robbie Neilson and Liam Fox.  Neilson knows what is required to get out of that league and has operated well at the top end of the Prem.

 

2 hours ago, Maskrey said:

Yes and when he is sacked during the season it will then more than likely be too late to recover.  We need to bounce back up immediately as the longer we stay down there the harder it will be to get out.  

Worth mentioning Neilson, the perfect promotion specialist who we rip up 8 months of work for and restart the entire clubs process to hire, didn't get United promoted at the first attempt and only did on the second because they paid more than Premiership sides for Shankland.

[Hendo]

Disappointed there haven't been any "Messi spotted on the High Street" posts yet. 

Sure he's one of the most talented players to ever grace the field, but can he do it in a midweek game at Gayfield in February? I'd like to find out. 

[blueheaven]

2 hours ago, Maskrey said:

Yes and when he is sacked during the season it will then more than likely be too late to recover.  We need to bounce back up immediately as the longer we stay down there the harder it will be to get out.  

But isn't that the case whatever we do? Keeping Simo might not work out, but appointing a new manager is a gamble that might not work out either. Hypothetically, if we were to sack Simo right now and appoint Neilson, but then the first few months of the season turn out to be a disaster, would you sack Neilson in October?

FWIW I don't really see much to get excited about in Neilson. He's had some great opportunities given to him by walking into some really appealing management jobs, but they don't seem to generally end very well. And bear in mind he rated Cammy MacPherson enough to take him out to the States. That in itself should set alarm bells ringing.

[PSJ.84]

It should get him into the Hall of Fame, though. 

[MySpazz]

Need a first friendly announcement!
Jeanfield Swifts @ Riverside, testimonial for May
£25 a ticket

Edited May 21, 2025 by MySpazz

[RandomGuy]

Valakari’s summer signing strategy will take into account the physical demands of the Scottish game as he seeks to eradicate a McDiarmid Park “softness” that undermined their top-flight survival fight.

“That will feed into my recruitment,” he said.

“You saw we had footballers but maybe didn’t have that physical presence, especially towards the end of the season, when we were losing our big defenders.

“We were a very small team. I mean, just the physical size.”

 

Valakari criticising himself today and talking about what he got wrong. Says he under-estimated the league and how important second balls are, because its not a huge thing in other leagues hes managed in and scottish football when he played in it. Also under-estimated the need for large physical players. Felt he'd improved things on both fronts until injuries stole the defence, and will work on getting more physical players and winning second balls more in training and through recruitment.

[SlickDT]

3 minutes ago, RandomGuy said:

Valakari’s summer signing strategy will take into account the physical demands of the Scottish game as he seeks to eradicate a McDiarmid Park “softness” that undermined their top-flight survival fight.

“That will feed into my recruitment,” he said.

“You saw we had footballers but maybe didn’t have that physical presence, especially towards the end of the season, when we were losing our big defenders.

“We were a very small team. I mean, just the physical size.”

 

Valakari criticising himself today and talking about what he got wrong. Says he under-estimated the league and how important second balls are, because its not a huge thing in other leagues hes managed in and scottish football when he played in it. Also under-estimated the need for large physical players. Felt he'd improved things on both fronts until injuries stole the defence, and will work on getting more physical players and winning second balls more in training and through recruitment.

This is encouraging. A manager highlighting his lessons, which make total sense.

[Linky]

Good that he’s being open about what he got wrong, but did he not think to ask his backroom staff for some advice. They have years of experience playing and coaching in this league. Seems a bit odd.

[RandomGuy]

36 minutes ago, Linky said:

Good that he’s being open about what he got wrong, but did he not think to ask his backroom staff for some advice. They have years of experience playing and coaching in this league. Seems a bit odd.

Managers live and die by the decisions they make, so have to trust themselves and their beliefs.

[GMac]

Maybe some of his signings will reflect, just what is required,  sign players who will be able to get us out of the championship

[blueheaven]

1 hour ago, Linky said:

Good that he’s being open about what he got wrong, but did he not think to ask his backroom staff for some advice. They have years of experience playing and coaching in this league. Seems a bit odd.

I'm sure they input into decisions but ultimately he's taking the responsibility here, which I'd say is a good thing. Wouldn't be a good look if he was to say he got things wrong but it was Cleland or Kirk's fault because they told him a load of bollocks. Years of experience playing and coaching in this league doesn't mean getting everything right, as we saw in great evidence with Craig Levein.

[Northern saint]

Simo cleaned out many of the players as they "learned to lose", a culture bred by the failed coaching staff.  Until they leave and are replaced, their replacements will learn the same culture.  The stink will just continue. 

Would Fox now released from Hearts be a worthwhile shout.  He did put Shankland back into a position he thrived in.  That would be a major improvement with us, having people play to their strengths.  

[Kat71]

15 minutes ago, Northern saint said:

Simo cleaned out many of the players as they "learned to lose", a culture bred by the failed coaching staff.  Until they leave and are replaced, their replacements will learn the same culture.  The stink will just continue. 

Would Fox now released from Hearts be a worthwhile shout.  He did put Shankland back into a position he thrived in.  That would be a major improvement with us, having people play to their strengths.  

Have to agree, for a number of seasons now new players have come in and look promising until our coaching staff get their hands on them and they then look very ordinary.

[RandomGuy]

20 minutes ago, Northern saint said:

Simo cleaned out many of the players as they "learned to lose", a culture bred by the failed coaching staff.  Until they leave and are replaced, their replacements will learn the same culture.  The stink will just continue. 

Would Fox now released from Hearts be a worthwhile shout.  He did put Shankland back into a position he thrived in.  That would be a major improvement with us, having people play to their strengths.  

Let's sack the entire coaching staff that have seen multiple managers sacked, because they're clearly useless, and hire a member of coaching staff who's seen multiple managers sacked, because hes clearly great.

[Northern saint]

Clearly as I, Kat71 and many others have commented over the years, players come in and appear to have something but by six or so weeks they have become crap.  The common denominator are the coaching staff.  

If Simo has his own choices, with his enthusiasm, with the ability to improve players, it can only help.  Who they may be I don't know.  We all pull names out of the air as we don't see coaching staff at work.  We see or in our case, see no positives from our coaching staff, how to defend, how to take set pieces.  

Simo has to show the board are correct to retain him.  

[RandomGuy]

3 minutes ago, Northern saint said:

Clearly as I, Kat71 and many others have commented over the years, players come in and appear to have something but by six or so weeks they have become crap.  The common denominator are the coaching staff.  

If Simo has his own choices, with his enthusiasm, with the ability to improve players, it can only help.  Who they may be I don't know.  We all pull names out of the air as we don't see coaching staff at work.  We see or in our case, see no positives from our coaching staff, how to defend, how to take set pieces.  

Simo has to show the board are correct to retain him.  

Funny how the coaching staff was never an issue under Tommy Wright.

The issue is we've been panic signing shit players for half a decade.