Maxy's Comments In Evening Times

[lady-isobel-barnett]

Bit concerned with Maxi's press comments of late. A wee while back he was talking about our enforced exodus from the JHS. He cited the H & S/duty of care argument re OF fans letting off flares. Nothing wrong with that but in the very same article he also mentioned the financial benefits of the move. Stating the latter being completely unnecessary as we presumably have to move due to the former.

 

This new article is all over the place as well. If Maxi was answering direct questions forced upon him then I could partially understand his response. Much of his comments tho' again appear unnecessary and I would ask what benefit the Club has derived from them.

 

The prominent Jags news this week is clearly the stadium rename. We've been given an opportunity here to explain the commercial value of the rename and thus why the decision was made. Again tho' that issue has been clouded due to the paragraphs preceding it in this article. The Club most certainly want everyone to see the stadium rename as a positive venture. So why muddy the waters with such blatant negativity in the same article? My point isn't about the veracity of Maxi's comments. As fans we'll all have differing views about the team and manager's performance just as we've differing views as to what will constitute a successful or an acceptable season. My point is why the comments were made and what possible benefit is there from making them.

[kevin energy]

Anybody think we should show our support to Archie on friday ?

Edited September 13, 2017 by kevin energy

[Auld Jag]

Not that it should be required, but lets hope this gives the players extra motivation for Friday and we get something from this game.

[G13 jag]

Not that it should be required, but lets hope this gives the players extra motivation for Friday and we get something from this game.

Is it possible this was the thought behind the remarks, and again is it possible Archie was involved? Nothing like getting the team to play for the manager.

[Lenziejag]

I think that now that the press have a sniff of a story, they won't let it go until it happens.

Bad decision by Maxi.

 

[Dunfermline Jag]

Not happy that this had to be said in public but in football terms it was pretty much stating the obvious. I would be very surprised if Archie wasn't already aware of this and wouldn't have said it himself if asked.

 

Maybe Maxi felt it was necessary to remind the supporters that the the Board are not just blindly hoping it all works out given the number of knicker-wetters who appear regularly on this forum and other social media calling for Archie's head as soon as we drop points to anyone.

[AlgarveJag]

I'm going to give Maxi the benefit of the doubt and suggest that this is just Graeme McGarry refusing to regurgitate a press release about a new sponsor for a football club doing what many other clubs have done already - it's not a great 'news' piece, let's face it (unless you come up with better pictures and a bit of an angle to feed the lazy journo).

 

However, a couple of innocuous words about Archie not having 'forever' to turn things around becomes Archie 'must turn things around'.

 

The bigger story, if McGarry had the balls to follow it up was in the last paragraph of the one about Old Firm visits.

 

WHY ARE SCOTTISH FOOTBALL SUPPORTERS SO SICKENED BY THE OLD FIRM THAT A THIRD OF THEM WON'T TURN UP TO WATCH SOMETHING THEY HAVE ALREADY PAID FOR???

 

“History tells us that we are going to struggle to sell those tickets. For whatever reason, our fans don’t come to Rangers and Celtic games.

“We’ll drop from 1500 to 1600 season tickets at our home games to under 1000 at those matches, regardless of how we set the stadium up.”

Source: - Ian Maxwell - ET 24 August 2017

[chunky jag]

Really strange comments from Maxi, who I think normally is quite laid back and rational, I worry these comments could be destabilising.

 

 

Also on another note, one of these "a friend of a friend" things, but I've heard before archie and maxi are cousins, or definitey related in some way. I have no proof of this, nor have i seen anyones birth certicates or family trees! But yeh a friend of a friend told me that they were cousins. So its an even stranger situation if thats the case! But like i say could be bullshit

[Paulo]

Maybe the journalists press to get a quote they can sensationalise. Maybe the club themselves decide that a different sort of story to the usual might shake things up for us.

[Lenziejag]

Not happy that this had to be said in public but in football terms it was pretty much stating the obvious. I would be very surprised if Archie wasn't already aware of this and wouldn't have said it himself if asked.

 

Maybe Maxi felt it was necessary to remind the supporters that the the Board are not just blindly hoping it all works out given the number of knicker-wetters who appear regularly on this forum and other social media calling for Archie's head as soon as we drop points to anyone.

But don't you think the comments are a bit knicker wettery ?

[Lenziejag]

I'm going to give Maxi the benefit of the doubt and suggest that this is just Graeme McGarry refusing to regurgitate a press release about a new sponsor for a football club doing what many other clubs have done already - it's not a great 'news' piece, let's face it (unless you come up with better pictures and a bit of an angle to feed the lazy journo).

 

However, a couple of innocuous words about Archie not having 'forever' to turn things around becomes Archie 'must turn things around'.

 

The bigger story, if McGarry had the balls to follow it up was in the last paragraph of the one about Old Firm visits.

 

WHY ARE SCOTTISH FOOTBALL SUPPORTERS SO SICKENED BY THE OLD FIRM THAT A THIRD OF THEM WON'T TURN UP TO WATCH SOMETHING THEY HAVE ALREADY PAID FOR???

 

“History tells us that we are going to struggle to sell those tickets. For whatever reason, our fans don’t come to Rangers and Celtic games.

“We’ll drop from 1500 to 1600 season tickets at our home games to under 1000 at those matches, regardless of how we set the stadium up.”

Source: - Ian Maxwell - ET 24 August 2017

 

I think the reason we don't turn up is because we haven't beaten them in how long ?

 

If we win on Friday, I would expect there to be a larger than normal turnout of jags fans for one of their games - I am holding out to decide if I will go on Tuesday

[MonehJags]

You cant start the season in August and wait until October before getting a win and accept that as being good enough. Other teams are able to pick up points "against teams that finished above them". Archie has the best squad at Firhill for a few generations and has to find a way to use it to grind out an "unexpected" result. When we do take the lead, we don't kill games off and this is what I regard to be Archie' biggest failing.

[Paddy Thistle]

We haven't beaten Sevco for so long is because last season was the first season since they started in 2012 that we played them

[Duke Gekantawa]

You cant start the season in August and wait until October before getting a win and accept that as being good enough. Other teams are able to pick up points "against teams that finished above them". Archie has the best squad at Firhill for a few generations and has to find a way to use it to grind out an "unexpected" result. When we do take the lead, we don't kill games off and this is what I regard to be Archie' biggest failing.

 

So what is "good enough"? For me personally, winning promotion, keeping us up, and outside of the bottom 2, three years running (so far) and -only last season- finishing in our highest league position in over a generation (this being the first time we've finished in the top half of the top division since the mid-seventies) is "good enough". The fact we started last season and this season poorly does not change this for me.

[Duke Gekantawa]

Maxy is quite right, so fair play for just coming out and saying it. It's been a hopeless start to the season, and that has been the way for the last few seasons. Unlike many of our own fans, it is nice to see our GM not content with the idea that a draw against Ross County is a "good result." Our small team mentality against Rangers, Celtic, and Aberdeen also grates on me something awful.

Archie is not some omniscient and omnipotent being. There is chronic problems such as losing late goals, that simply haven't been rectified. It is still early in the season, and Archie can turn it around I am sure. But lets just face the facts here, we have drawn 1 and lost 10 of our last 11 league games (I think that is right), so I think you'd have to be absolutely delusional to think that Archie has been performing to expected standards recently.

 

It is a basic fact that we are a relatively small team to the other clubs you mention, certainly in terms of budget and support. This notwithstanding, I don't see the evidence of small team mentallity you're talking about. While we have had poor results against these clubs (as has everyone), we were one of the few clubs to take a point at Celtic last season, and lost by a very late goal the season before. We outplayed Rangers at home twice last season, taking the game to them. Yes we lost both, but this had nothing to do with having a small team mentaility. We've outplayed Aberdeen a number of times since we came up, and gained positive results against them.

 

Losing late goals is not, in itself, necessarily "the chronic problem" you might think. As I've said elsewhere, this may have more to do with other factors (e.g., entering the final stages often ahead, but usually only by a single goal, or at least level). Most teams lose late goals, but it often doen't matter because 1) they're behind anyway or 2) they're ahead by more than one. These late goals aren't noticed so much. It is good that we so often enter the final stages ahead, not so good that it is usually only by the odd goal. However, it is a reflection on how good we are (and therefore just how many games we enter the last stages ahead in) that despite losing so many last minute important goals last season we finished in the the top six.

 

Ultimately, as many of Archie's critics keep saying, it's a results business. The main result is the league position at the season's close. In every season that Archie has been manager, this has varied from acceptable to excellent, with progress generally being shown over that time. I really don't know what more people expect.

Edited September 14, 2017 by Duke Gekantawa

[MonehJags]

So, if the reason people avoid the old firm because we get beat all the time, the "glory hunters" would be as well only venture outdoors between October and March/April.

 

Would you say that we have been unlucky so far this season in that we have turned in good performances and deserved more points?

 

The very least I 'expect' is for the team to turn up.

[jlsarmy]

Read said article and hopefully Maxi's comments have been taken out of context by an overzealous journalist .

Over the last 3 or 4 years the board have backed the management which includes Ian Maxwell as he had no prior chief executive or office management experience prior to his remit in these jobs and there have been lots of incidences within his tenure which haven't been great.

Don't know where all the panic is coming from , looking at the fixtures at the start of the season the very most I would have been looking for was possibly another 3 points ( St Johnstone or Hibs ). The press and media have obviously caught onto the fact that out top 6 fixture results weren't good last year but are they relevant now ?

I thought this was a brand new season and we started from scratch again, different playing squad etc or if you really want to go further back Alan Archibald got us promoted in 2013 and has kept us in the Premier League ever since.

Hopefully Ian Maxwell gave a very naive interview because if his comments are true he is seriously deluded as to the job Archie and his staff have done .

[AlgarveJag]

no-one could ever accuse a Jags fan of being a glory hunter (OK once every 50 years or so).

 

We avoid the butt cheeks, I'd proffer, because of the bile and hatred that follows them. The atmosphere at PCS at Firhill changes completely when they come calling and it's never for the better.

 

They are an abomination unto themselves and they don't fit within Scottish football any longer.

 

To keep this on topic, the Evening Times, The Daily Ranger, Chick Young et al are just not prepared to grasp that nettle and call it for what it is.

 

Instead we have a non-story that picks at minor irritation whereby 5 games into a season the journalist thinks that he can stir up a bit of dirt and suggest that someone might have to be looking out for his job. The same people that write every week about how the leagues longest serving manager is a target for every club that has just sacked their latest manager.

 

Get off Maxi's case, he's been 'had' by a journalist and his words abused for his own self indulgent purpose.

[Lenziejag]

We haven't beaten Sevco for so long is because last season was the first season since they started in 2012 that we played them

 

I am assuming you are only half serious here. Forget the name change they had and even the change in legal status. How long is it since we beat the team that plays at Ibrox, not just in terms of years but games 20, 30 more ?

[Lenziejag]

You cant start the season in August and wait until October before getting a win and accept that as being good enough. Other teams are able to pick up points "against teams that finished above them". Archie has the best squad at Firhill for a few generations and has to find a way to use it to grind out an "unexpected" result. When we do take the lead, we don't kill games off and this is what I regard to be Archie' biggest failing.

 

The season doesn't finish in August or October. It finishes in May.

 

And what teams have taken points of the top 3 so far ?

[MMCF]

Let us all just take a breath.

 

I've skimmed the article and nowhere is there a quote from Ian |Maxwell that says directly "The manager (Archie) does not have unlimited time to turn things around."

I would further suggest that what was said was to a pretty loaded question and that other outlets are the ones who are responsible for mangling the words to artificially generate some sort of crisis.

 

By the way.

Did anyone notice that the first club in England's Premier League binned their manager this week?

 

Gosh can't we have one of those stories too? (Says the diddy Scottish Press)

Whose team are having a hard time? (Pick a traditionally soft target).

 

There you go.

 

Remember "A house divided against itself cannot stand" - Lincoln 1858

PS An accurate and exact quote by the way.

 

So let all of us in the Nation of Red and Yellow refuse to play their sad little games

[Lambies Lost Doo]

Thistle fans: "Why should we move from the JHS? This not fair."

 

Reason: You don't turn up and support your team.

 

How can we progress and support the team to challenge on the pitch when we don't turn up? We are cutting off our nose to spite our face. It's easy to ignore them (I don't even know the words to their songs) and concentrate on Thistle.

[Lenziejag]

So, if the reason people avoid the old firm because we get beat all the time, the "glory hunters" would be as well only venture outdoors between October and March/April.

 

Would you say that we have been unlucky so far this season in that we have turned in good performances and deserved more points?

 

The very least I 'expect' is for the team to turn up.

 

I can't comment on the performances in league so far as for one reason or another I haven't been able to attend. However, I wouldn't describe a 1-0 defeat to Celtic having a last minute penalty denied, or a 4-3 defeat to Aberdeen, coming from behind but eventually losing to a late goal as "not turning up"

[ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz]

Be fair on Maxy. He's quoted but the questions he was asked are not.

 

His quotes are fairly standard issue for any club. He implies the club are ambitious to push for the best possible results but more importantly emphasises "there is no way that we are being complacent."

 

I would suggest and hope that means the club are making contingency plans and applying some thought to unwanted scenarios. Surely a good thing.

 

I still firmly believe Archie is the "best fit" manager the club has had since McParland (yes, better than Lambie... start a new thread if you want ). Though better technical, more experienced C.V.s might be tendered for the job, I believe it would be a struggle to find a replacement who would have a better feel or understanding of the nature, finance and mechanics of the operation at Firhill or one who would be prepared to accept or be familiar with the adjustments which would be forced on them in the worst case scenario of relegation.

 

Before taking the gamble of trying to improve on Archie, it would be prudent of the the club to consider with some austere self critique whether the improved support from the board to the manager has been sufficiently keeping up to speed with the unquestionably improving standard of opposition in the SPL. The return of an apparently reconstituted Hibs in exchange for ICT, for example, perhaps raises the bar just that little bit higher than we are currently jumping.

 

On the other hand, while I very much doubt it, it is not beyond thought that Archie may feel, despite improving circumstances at the club, he has taken it as far as he can in this league, and resign. He has had alternate offers and while perhaps none on the table at present, may decide to walk before he falls. Again, in fairness to Maxy, on this point he does give some credit of responsibility to the gaffer, "I’m also not saying that we are sitting here as a board thinking we’ll just give it as long as it takes to turn around. The manager doesn’t want that either."

 

Such quotes will be used by some as a "red line" statement of intent to push the club into a corner and hold them to account in a crisis . However, as a fan, I'm willing to give some benefit of doubt, allow for some wriggle room and defend them.

 

Nobody's bigger than the club and all that. But for now we are very proudly, confidently and defiantly - ARCHIBALD'S RED AND YELLOW ARMY!!!

 

Edited September 14, 2017 by ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz

[alx]

Maxi is a bit thick. How much money is it worth giving the OF 12 points a season to sit on my seat and sing dodgy songs, that I'm glad to report I don't know the words to.