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Graham Alexander


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On 3/8/2021 at 12:28 AM, Yassin said:

Yeah I understand folk not wanting to get ahead of themselves but I'm amazed there's debate over the job he's done so far. Both results and performance wise he's massively exceeded reasonable expectations for me. He's probably got a few genuine reasons to be aggrieved about decisions against us or other weird bits of misfortune otherwise we could potentially have been preparing for a shootout for Top Six in a couple of weeks.

He wont be judged until he has his own players in but the standard of play is fuckin turgid in the main.

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I think Alexander is caught between a rock and a hard place, he’ll know the squad aren’t  good enough and that certain players couldn’t care less.  

Bringing the totally uninterested Chris Long on yesterday , hoping he just might ,as he occasionally does ,do something ,highlights his problems. More often that not he does S.F.A.

But what can he do ,we could still be relegated, he’s got to try and get the best out of this squad of players  .That means to the best of his abilities trying to keep the players onside hoping we can get to the end of the season still in the top flight.

1-4 Accies, 0-3 St Johnstone was bad ,but that display yesterday i.m.o was our  worst result and performance of the season.
If I’m reading the stats correctly that was Killies first win in 11 games ,of which they’ve lost 9 and scored 5 goals  along the way?

Another concern is we’re struggling against the bottom 6 teams, we can beat Hibs and Livi , but get steamrolled by Hamilton and Kilmarnock .

 



 

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12 hours ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

He wont be judged until he has his own players in but the standard of play is fuckin turgid in the main.

That’s the standard of Scottish football, it’s pretty dire with the majority of top clubs fielding players that would struggle to get in a league one team down south.

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21 minutes ago, Yorkyred said:

That’s the standard of Scottish football, it’s pretty dire with the majority of top clubs fielding players that would struggle to get in a league one team down south.

It is but in our case we are severely hampered by Robinson’s dreadful summer transfer business over the past couple of years. Some of the utter shite that he brought in are still regular starters or at least contenders every week. With the likes of Lamie, Seedorf, McGinley, the disinterested Long and a good few others it really is no wonder that our style of play is so turgid to watch.

Any manager coming in half way through a season would struggle to work with that and make it look like a football team so that’s why I won’t be judging Alexander until he’s had the chance to build his own team.

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12 hours ago, grizzlyg said:

I think GA is the man but needs a close season to clear out players and bring in his own players.   Will be totally different team next season....COYW 

As yet the jury is out for me.  But I do agree that with his "own team" we can put behind us  this current weekly re-framing of views that suggests its all down to Alexander when we win and nothing to do with Alexander and all down to Robinson's players if we lose, and judge him on his merits.

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For me GA has steadied the ship when he came in we hadn’t won since Halloween? Alexander joined early January. Got points on the board and hopefully keeps us up. The same thing that happened to McCall had happened to Robinson, great manager but times up. It’s a very difficult position for the manager to be in when you’ve got a club captain and others who’s contracts are up and don’t want to be there. 

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1 hour ago, MJC_mkII said:

It is but in our case we are severely hampered by Robinson’s dreadful summer transfer business over the past couple of years. Some of the utter shite that he brought in are still regular starters or at least contenders every week. With the likes of Lamie, Seedorf, McGinley, the disinterested Long and a good few others it really is no wonder that our style of play is so turgid to watch.

Any manager coming in half way through a season would struggle to work with that and make it look like a football team so that’s why I won’t be judging Alexander until he’s had the chance to build his own team.

And I think that’s only fair. I have to say my expectations are set pretty low, outside of the old firm the football is poor with a low level of technical ability next to the top European leagues which of course is no surprise given the size of the population in Scotland and the limited budgets in the Scottish game.  There was a time when Scotland was exporting world class players but that’s not been the case for a long time now and I don’t see it changing. I’m hoping for a rebuilt squad that’s hungry, fit, and organised, with players signed to play in their dedicated positions and not players that are seen as “ jack of all trades”it rarely works. I would like a far smaller squad with a continued emphasis on the young players coming through and the funding concentrated in that area. It’s better spent there than in paying large amounts in transfer fees because in truth you can finish midtable in this division by making astute signings for free and just paying decent wages. I’m optimistic about Alexander and think he’s done a decent job with points per game improvements and on the whole better performances with more stability in the starting 11. He will of course still make one or two dud signings in the summer, everyone does so he will need a bit of slack in that regard.

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If we go down the usual route of bringing in players who can't get a game and are surplus to requirements elsewhere, it's gonnae be another shit season. A team full of guys who might not have played a competitive game in a year, even at reserve level? January showed us how that's likely to end up.

Or you go even further down the levels in England to find out of contract players who are willing to come for what we pay. 

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10 minutes ago, bobbybingo said:

If we go down the usual route of bringing in players who can't get a game and are surplus to requirements elsewhere, it's gonnae be another shit season. A team full of guys who might not have played a competitive game in a year, even at reserve level? January showed us how that's likely to end up.

Or you go even further down the levels in England to find out of contract players who are willing to come for what we pay. 

While I agree that signing players who haven't played in a long time has its risks, it's important to point out the kind of players we sign. Every player we sign is surplus to requirements elsewhere or from a lower level and therefore a gamble. It's where we are in the food chain. If we don't sign those surplus to requirements then you're looking at guys with no track record whatsoever...

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17 minutes ago, bobbybingo said:

If we go down the usual route of bringing in players who can't get a game and are surplus to requirements elsewhere, it's gonnae be another shit season. A team full of guys who might not have played a competitive game in a year, even at reserve level? January showed us how that's likely to end up.

Or you go even further down the levels in England to find out of contract players who are willing to come for what we pay. 

When we get rid of the loans and dross we will still have a good core of players to build a team around, so there will be cash available for players maybe even some extra from the board. 

Developing our own players and recruiring from the lower English and Scottish  leagues is our market, so given GA's contacts and experience I am confident we can identify decent players to bring in.

Over the years we have brought in some good players, as well as some utter dross but every signing from those leagues is a punt so hopefully GA can find some gems that fit our club and style, as always time will tell.

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20 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:

When we get rid of the loans and dross we will still have a good core of players to build a team around, so there will be cash available for players maybe even some extra from the board. 

Developing our own players and recruiring from the lower English and Scottish  leagues is our market, so given GA's contacts and experience I am confident we can identify decent players to bring in.

Over the years we have brought in some good players, as well as some utter dross but every signing from those leagues is a punt so hopefully GA can find some gems that fit our club and style, as always time will tell.

Alexander has commented on the size of our squad so I anticipate he'll be looking at improving the quality over quantity next transfer window.

He's hardly covered himself in glory with the his signings so far however managers frequently talk of how difficult it is finding quality in the January window and I can only assume the signings of Smith, Nolan and Foley were desperate measures due to the injury situation at the time. He needs a decent shot at building a squad. 

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26 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:

When we get rid of the loans and dross we will still have a good core of players to build a team around, so there will be cash available for players maybe even some extra from the board. 

Developing our own players and recruiring from the lower English and Scottish  leagues is our market, so given GA's contacts and experience I am confident we can identify decent players to bring in.

Over the years we have brought in some good players, as well as some utter dross but every signing from those leagues is a punt so hopefully GA can find some gems that fit our club and style, as always time will tell.

Yeah, more fingers getting crossed with each passing season, unfortunately. I'd be interested to hear which players you think we'd want to keep and will want to stay with us.

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44 minutes ago, MelvinBragg said:

While I agree that signing players who haven't played in a long time has its risks, it's important to point out the kind of players we sign. Every player we sign is surplus to requirements elsewhere or from a lower level and therefore a gamble. It's where we are in the food chain. If we don't sign those surplus to requirements then you're looking at guys with no track record whatsoever...

You're obviously right, and I don't kid myself how far down the chain we are.

If Alexander brings in some guys he knows and trusts, we might well finish higher next season, cos there's hee haw between most of the league. 

I'm just mumping because it's getting harder to watch our - and others - attempts at fitba with each passing year.

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47 minutes ago, bobbybingo said:

Yeah, more fingers getting crossed with each passing season, unfortunately. I'd be interested to hear which players you think we'd want to keep and will want to stay with us.

Obviously depending on the contract situation of each player, but for me Carson (assuming Kelly is going back to QPR), MgGuire, Lamie, Mugabi, Crawford, Carroll, Lawless, watt, Cornelius could all contribute.  Would love to keep Campbell but think he might want away and if we could get Cole and Roberts on permanent deals that would be a bonus.

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1 hour ago, bobbybingo said:

Yeah, more fingers getting crossed with each passing season, unfortunately. I'd be interested to hear which players you think we'd want to keep and will want to stay with us.

Carson,  Carroll, Lawless, Donnelly, O'Donnell, O’Hare. I would obviously keep Kelly, Gallagher and Campbell but they will be away.

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13 minutes ago, Yorkyred said:

Carson,  Carroll, Lawless, Donnelly, O'Donnell, O’Hare. I would obviously keep Kelly, Gallagher and Campbell but they will be away.

I wouldn't break our back trying to keep O'Donnell, if he's even entertaining the idea of staying. By no means the worst, but if he's earning more than others I'd be expecting more in return. He has to take his fair share of the blame for some of the doings we've had and his crosses/free kicks are pretty woeful.

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Gut feel is there's something very wrong at the club, which goes beyond poor signings. 

To sum up top players not playing, lack of comms re injuries, mystery illnesses ,several games where the teams get spanked by bottom of the league clubs.  All signs of something being rotten, which is a million miles for how we've know the club to be run over the years

I'm already bored of listening to GA and his interviews. He doesn't strike me as someone I'd want to play for.


 

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2 hours ago, bobbybingo said:

I'd be interested to hear which players you think we'd want to keep and will want to stay with us.

Don’t know if this is even possible on the forum, but could someone set up a poll where everyone gets (say) 5 votes and you get to pick which of the out of contract (or any squad) players you’d like to keep?

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