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Meet the Manager - Tuesday 6pm


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7 hours ago, laukat said:

I don't get this. Surely there are more people with Thistle at heart who would scout players if asked and or offered some training?

Also if thats correct we rely on Caldwell (who lives in England) and Kerr to Scout all of Scotland?

When we got promoted last time is was built on several years of scouting young players at other Scottish clubs either plying their trade in the reserves of a club in a higher league (Lawless, Balatoni), picking up young players from lower league teams (Muirhead, Taylor-Sinclair) or by picking up a couple of undiscovered players in the juniors and devloping them (Doolan, Erskine).

Our success in recruiting form lower leagues in England is questionable and creates a gap between players and fans as we know their only here for wages. This however appears to be the direction of travel and its not working.

Surely the chairman's statement of " we must return to playing football like Partick Thistle – we can’t be anyone else" meant recruiting talent from Scotland not continuing to import older jouneymen players?

P.S. Sorry for the selective quoting

 

 

I keep hearing people say this based I believe on an a column written by Cammy Bell where he said the manager drove him home as he could not drive due to the injury he picked up at the Falkirk game. The manager's family are still down in Manchester but the manager himself is based here and he was going back at that weekend to be with them.

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There's already been good summaries of the content of Caldwell's answers from last night so I won't repeat them. But I would just say that despite him being a hugely confident speaker and, actually, despite showing bravery in actually taking part in the event, once you dig beneath the surface of what he said it just doesn't stand up to scrutiny.  He continually highlighted the improvement that he maintains he has seen, but in the context of five defeats and one draw this just doesn't reflect reality. Listening to him you would think he had taken over when we were already bottom of the league, but we weren't - he has taken us there. 

I also grew tired of the constant reference to improving the team being a "process". Caldwell wasn't brought in to evolve the team over the long-term, he was expressly brought in to get us promotion (which was a ludicrous statement for the board to make, but it was made nevertheless). The fact is that he has failed to shape us into anything resembling promotion contenders, and the suggestion that there has been improvement as part of this 'process' just doesn't bear weight. I think he is a genuinely decent guy and desperately wants to succeed (and I really want him to succeed, as we all do), but he needs to lose the buzzwords, cliches, and coaching course management-speak if he is to win fans like me over. Just get us winning, it's simple.

The night also made me think of wider concerns about the club and its leadership. The Fans Trust, for example. Having sat through the update provided by the trustees I am still no clearer as to what it has actually achieved in the two years since it has been established. We were told of a new Buy a Brick Scheme, that seemed the sum of it. More importantly than that, we were told that the Trust is the largest shareholder at the club - so why does it not have a place on the board? We were told that it is in communications with the board and that it receives regular updates, but shouldn't the fans - who through the Trust are the largest shareholders - have a direct voice on the board? This doesn't make sense, particularly when most of our current directors don't (as far as I am aware) have any substantial shareholdings in the club. Why, also, are three (I think) of the trustees either directors or the Chief Exec? This is a supporters trust. It just comes across as a pat on the head from the club, with no real efforts to empower the supporters or ensure any meaningful influence or representation. I don't mean that as any disrespect to the volunteers who are managing it, and who I am sure are working really hard on it, but if it isn't empowered or taken genuinely seriously by the club then it's utterly meaningless. It all just seemed a bit too cosy.

More broadly, it made me think of the wider communications from the club which - to my mind - have been atrocious. It is fine for the Chairman to talk about how important communication is etc., but when your attempts at PR (e.g. continually maintaining that the aim is promotion, and putting out weird interviews with the Chief Exec which are clearly scripted) are as subtle as a punch in the chops, then it really isn't very good PR. When your Chairman's background is seemingly PR it makes it even more baffling and worrying.

These are seriously worrying times at the moment, and I am very worried that we don't have the leadership at the club to see us through them in good shape.

Edited by KemoAvdiu
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Just now, KemoAvdiu said:

There's already been good summaries of the content of Caldwell's answers from last night so I won't repeat them. But I would just say that despite him being a hugely confident speaker and, actually, despite showing bravery in actually taking part in the event, once you dig beneath the surface of what he said it just doesn't stand up to scrutiny.  He continually highlighted the improvement that he maintains he has seen, but in the context of five defeats and one draw this just doesn't reflect reality. Listening to him you would think he had taken over when we were already bottom of the league, but we weren't - he has taken us there. 

I also grew tired of the constant reference to improving the team being a "process". Caldwell wasn't brought in to evolve the team over the long-term, he was expressly brought in to get us promotion (which was a ludicrous statement for the board to make, but it was made nevertheless). The fact is that he has failed to shape us into anything resembling promotion contenders, and the suggestion that there has been improvement as part of this 'process' just doesn't bear weight. I think he is a genuinely decent guy and desperately wants to succeed (and I really want him to succeed, as we all do), but he needs to lose the buzzwords, cliches, and coaching course management-speak if he is to win fans like me over. Just get us winning, it's simple.

The night also made me think of wider concerns about the club and its leadership. The Fans Trust, for example. Having sat through the update provided by the trustees I am still no clearer as to what it has actually achieved in the two years since it has been established. We were told of a new Buy a Brick Scheme, that seemed the sum of it. More importantly than that, we were told that the Trust is the largest shareholder at the club - so why does it not have a place on the board? We were told that it is in communications with the board and that it receives regular updates, but shouldn't the fans - who through the Trust are the largest shareholders - have a direct voice on the board? This doesn't make sense, particularly when most of our current directors don't (as far as I am aware) have any substantial shareholdings in the club. Why, also, are three (I think) of the trustees either directors or the Chief Exec? This is a supporters trust. It just comes across as a pat on the head from the club, with no real efforts to empower the supports or ensure any meaningful influence or representation. I don't mean that as any disrespect to the volunteers who are managing it, and who I am sure are working really hard on it, but if it isn't empowered or taken genuinely seriously by the club then it's utterly meaningless. It all just seemed a bit too cosy.

More broadly, it made me think of the wider communications from the club which - to my mind - have been atrocious. It is fine for the Chairman to talk about how important communication is etc., but when your attempts at PR (e.g. continually maintaining that the aim is promotion, and putting out weird interviews with the Chief Exec which are clearly scripted) are as subtle as a punch in the chops, then it really isn't very good PR. When your Chairman's background is seemingly PR it makes it even more baffling and worrying.

These are seriously worrying times at the moment, and I am very worried that we don't have the leadership at the club to see us through them in good shape.

This. Entirely this. The club is drifting in troubled waters without a rudder, any engine firing and no sign of a captain. We are heading for the rocks until we get a captain, a leader on board.

 

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45 minutes ago, KemoAvdiu said:

There's already been good summaries of the content of Caldwell's answers from last night so I won't repeat them. But I would just say that despite him being a hugely confident speaker and, actually, despite showing bravery in actually taking part in the event, once you dig beneath the surface of what he said it just doesn't stand up to scrutiny.  He continually highlighted the improvement that he maintains he has seen, but in the context of five defeats and one draw this just doesn't reflect reality. Listening to him you would think he had taken over when we were already bottom of the league, but we weren't - he has taken us there. 

I also grew tired of the constant reference to improving the team being a "process". Caldwell wasn't brought in to evolve the team over the long-term, he was expressly brought in to get us promotion (which was a ludicrous statement for the board to make, but it was made nevertheless). The fact is that he has failed to shape us into anything resembling promotion contenders, and the suggestion that there has been improvement as part of this 'process' just doesn't bear weight. I think he is a genuinely decent guy and desperately wants to succeed (and I really want him to succeed, as we all do), but he needs to lose the buzzwords, cliches, and coaching course management-speak if he is to win fans like me over. Just get us winning, it's simple.

The night also made me think of wider concerns about the club and its leadership. The Fans Trust, for example. Having sat through the update provided by the trustees I am still no clearer as to what it has actually achieved in the two years since it has been established. We were told of a new Buy a Brick Scheme, that seemed the sum of it. More importantly than that, we were told that the Trust is the largest shareholder at the club - so why does it not have a place on the board? We were told that it is in communications with the board and that it receives regular updates, but shouldn't the fans - who through the Trust are the largest shareholders - have a direct voice on the board? This doesn't make sense, particularly when most of our current directors don't (as far as I am aware) have any substantial shareholdings in the club. Why, also, are three (I think) of the trustees either directors or the Chief Exec? This is a supporters trust. It just comes across as a pat on the head from the club, with no real efforts to empower the supports or ensure any meaningful influence or representation. I don't mean that as any disrespect to the volunteers who are managing it, and who I am sure are working really hard on it, but if it isn't empowered or taken genuinely seriously by the club then it's utterly meaningless. It all just seemed a bit too cosy.

More broadly, it made me think of the wider communications from the club which - to my mind - have been atrocious. It is fine for the Chairman to talk about how important communication is etc., but when your attempts at PR (e.g. continually maintaining that the aim is promotion, and putting out weird interviews with the Chief Exec which are clearly scripted) are as subtle as a punch in the chops, then it really isn't very good PR. When your Chairman's background is seemingly PR it makes it even more baffling and worrying.

These are seriously worrying times at the moment, and I am very worried that we don't have the leadership at the club to see us through them in good shape.

Ran out of likes. Great post.

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51 minutes ago, KemoAvdiu said:

There's already been good summaries of the content of Caldwell's answers from last night so I won't repeat them. But I would just say that despite him being a hugely confident speaker and, actually, despite showing bravery in actually taking part in the event, once you dig beneath the surface of what he said it just doesn't stand up to scrutiny.  He continually highlighted the improvement that he maintains he has seen, but in the context of five defeats and one draw this just doesn't reflect reality. Listening to him you would think he had taken over when we were already bottom of the league, but we weren't - he has taken us there. 

I also grew tired of the constant reference to improving the team being a "process". Caldwell wasn't brought in to evolve the team over the long-term, he was expressly brought in to get us promotion (which was a ludicrous statement for the board to make, but it was made nevertheless). The fact is that he has failed to shape us into anything resembling promotion contenders, and the suggestion that there has been improvement as part of this 'process' just doesn't bear weight. I think he is a genuinely decent guy and desperately wants to succeed (and I really want him to succeed, as we all do), but he needs to lose the buzzwords, cliches, and coaching course management-speak if he is to win fans like me over. Just get us winning, it's simple.

The night also made me think of wider concerns about the club and its leadership. The Fans Trust, for example. Having sat through the update provided by the trustees I am still no clearer as to what it has actually achieved in the two years since it has been established. We were told of a new Buy a Brick Scheme, that seemed the sum of it. More importantly than that, we were told that the Trust is the largest shareholder at the club - so why does it not have a place on the board? We were told that it is in communications with the board and that it receives regular updates, but shouldn't the fans - who through the Trust are the largest shareholders - have a direct voice on the board? This doesn't make sense, particularly when most of our current directors don't (as far as I am aware) have any substantial shareholdings in the club. Why, also, are three (I think) of the trustees either directors or the Chief Exec? This is a supporters trust. It just comes across as a pat on the head from the club, with no real efforts to empower the supports or ensure any meaningful influence or representation. I don't mean that as any disrespect to the volunteers who are managing it, and who I am sure are working really hard on it, but if it isn't empowered or taken genuinely seriously by the club then it's utterly meaningless. It all just seemed a bit too cosy.

More broadly, it made me think of the wider communications from the club which - to my mind - have been atrocious. It is fine for the Chairman to talk about how important communication is etc., but when your attempts at PR (e.g. continually maintaining that the aim is promotion, and putting out weird interviews with the Chief Exec which are clearly scripted) are as subtle as a punch in the chops, then it really isn't very good PR. When your Chairman's background is seemingly PR it makes it even more baffling and worrying.

These are seriously worrying times at the moment, and I am very worried that we don't have the leadership at the club to see us through them in good shape.

This post, and an increasing number of other posts on the forum depressingly remind me of many of the mid 1990s, when we were drifting towards oblivion on and off the field. The thing is, (most) people don't write such posts without reason.

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1 minute ago, Jaggernaut said:

This post, and an increasing number of other posts on the forum depressingly remind me of many of the mid 1990s, when we were drifting towards oblivion on and off the field. The thing is, (most) people don't write such posts without reason.

I see where you are coming from but I disagree. In those days we were financially in peril and the structure of the club wasn't great. The structure of the club now, and the financial backing we (let's be honest, jammily) get from the Weirs is excellent. The problem is the lack of leadership and the ham-fisted attempts at communication. Running a football club isn't a PR exercise. You can't just say stuff into existence. At the moment far too much rhetoric is being expended, with far too little to back it up.

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1 hour ago, KemoAvdiu said:

There's already been good summaries of the content of Caldwell's answers from last night so I won't repeat them. But I would just say that despite him being a hugely confident speaker and, actually, despite showing bravery in actually taking part in the event, once you dig beneath the surface of what he said it just doesn't stand up to scrutiny.  He continually highlighted the improvement that he maintains he has seen, but in the context of five defeats and one draw this just doesn't reflect reality. Listening to him you would think he had taken over when we were already bottom of the league, but we weren't - he has taken us there. 

I also grew tired of the constant reference to improving the team being a "process". Caldwell wasn't brought in to evolve the team over the long-term, he was expressly brought in to get us promotion (which was a ludicrous statement for the board to make, but it was made nevertheless). The fact is that he has failed to shape us into anything resembling promotion contenders, and the suggestion that there has been improvement as part of this 'process' just doesn't bear weight. I think he is a genuinely decent guy and desperately wants to succeed (and I really want him to succeed, as we all do), but he needs to lose the buzzwords, cliches, and coaching course management-speak if he is to win fans like me over. Just get us winning, it's simple.

The night also made me think of wider concerns about the club and its leadership. The Fans Trust, for example. Having sat through the update provided by the trustees I am still no clearer as to what it has actually achieved in the two years since it has been established. We were told of a new Buy a Brick Scheme, that seemed the sum of it. More importantly than that, we were told that the Trust is the largest shareholder at the club - so why does it not have a place on the board? We were told that it is in communications with the board and that it receives regular updates, but shouldn't the fans - who through the Trust are the largest shareholders - have a direct voice on the board? This doesn't make sense, particularly when most of our current directors don't (as far as I am aware) have any substantial shareholdings in the club. Why, also, are three (I think) of the trustees either directors or the Chief Exec? This is a supporters trust. It just comes across as a pat on the head from the club, with no real efforts to empower the supporters or ensure any meaningful influence or representation. I don't mean that as any disrespect to the volunteers who are managing it, and who I am sure are working really hard on it, but if it isn't empowered or taken genuinely seriously by the club then it's utterly meaningless. It all just seemed a bit too cosy.

More broadly, it made me think of the wider communications from the club which - to my mind - have been atrocious. It is fine for the Chairman to talk about how important communication is etc., but when your attempts at PR (e.g. continually maintaining that the aim is promotion, and putting out weird interviews with the Chief Exec which are clearly scripted) are as subtle as a punch in the chops, then it really isn't very good PR. When your Chairman's background is seemingly PR it makes it even more baffling and worrying.

These are seriously worrying times at the moment, and I am very worried that we don't have the leadership at the club to see us through them in good shape.

Ran out of likes,very good post.

 

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Re the 2nd part of Kemo's splendid post re the Trust. I thought the gentleman (sorry forgotten name) that spoke was most articulate. I am tho' a wee bit confused. He said his responsibility on the Trust Board was matchday experience and he'd welcome suggestions/feedback etc. All no doubt worthwhile but I thought we already had a Supporters Liaison Officer (Beth).

Kemo already covered my thoughts re the manager's appraisal of performance and everyone can hear the Q & A in its entirety. While i agree with Caldwell that the last three games have shown an improvement and the team now looks more compact that improvement had come from rock bottom. Also the tightening up of the side effectively means playing a fair bit narrower in attack. Hence so little in the way of clear cut chances.

We're maybe at the stage of being theoretically hard to beat IF we scored goals. In reality we lose a goal a game and still drop eight points from those three "improved" performances. Just as worrying is if anything there's been no improvement since the ICT match.  All this suggests a long slow improvement "process" designed to steer us clear of relegation and that's putting an extremely positive spin on what in reality is a dire situation.  

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32 minutes ago, lady-isobel-barnett said:

Re the 2nd part of Kemo's splendid post re the Trust. I thought the gentleman (sorry forgotten name) that spoke was most articulate. I am tho' a wee bit confused. He said his responsibility on the Trust Board was matchday experience and he'd welcome suggestions/feedback etc. All no doubt worthwhile but I thought we already had a Supporters Liaison Officer (Beth).

Kemo already covered my thoughts re the manager's appraisal of performance and everyone can hear the Q & A in its entirety. While i agree with Caldwell that the last three games have shown an improvement and the team now looks more compact that improvement had come from rock bottom. Also the tightening up of the side effectively means playing a fair bit narrower in attack. Hence so little in the way of clear cut chances.

We're maybe at the stage of being theoretically hard to beat IF we scored goals. In reality we lose a goal a game and still drop eight points from those three "improved" performances. Just as worrying is if anything there's been no improvement since the ICT match.  All this suggests a long slow improvement "process" designed to steer us clear of relegation and that's putting an extremely positive spin on what in reality is a dire situation.  

Just to clarify, I wasn’t being critical of the trustees themselves and I agree they spoke well. Anyone who puts themselves forward to be involved deserves all of our respect and thanks. I think they did a good job outlining the role of the Trust as it stands. I just feel that the role as it stands isn’t sufficient, and exemplifies the sort of ‘rhetoric over reality’ approach of those providing leadership at the club currently (by which I’m referring to the Chairman, Chief Exec and manager).

The fact that we the fans are the largest shareholders - through the Trust - but don’t have a place on the board (when there are directors on the board with minimal shareholdings, if any), strikes me as utterly baffling. If there are good reasons for why this is the case I’d be keen to hear them. 

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The manager has had no transfer window to bring in his own targets and no pre-season to experiment with players in different positions or different formations. Despite this, everybody was expecting instant results from a team on a downward spiral with confidence at rock bottom.

There has been a steady improvement in performances in recent weeks and the players look hungrier and fitter. The only thing that is missing is the most important thing which is results. I believe, like Gary Caldwell does, that once we get a win or two under our belts, things will change. Confidence is huge in any sport, and we just need a break to set us on our way.

We are in a terrible position but we are not even half way through the season. There are still plenty points to play for and I believe our manager will turn things round. I am  certainly willing to get behind him while he does so. He isn't even two months in to his tenure and, while I can completely understand fans' frustration, I think people need to show a bit of patience with the guy.

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21 minutes ago, Jag said:

The manager has had no transfer window to bring in his own targets and no pre-season to experiment with players in different positions or different formations. Despite this, everybody was expecting instant results from a team on a downward spiral with confidence at rock bottom.

There has been a steady improvement in performances in recent weeks and the players look hungrier and fitter. The only thing that is missing is the most important thing which is results. I believe, like Gary Caldwell does, that once we get a win or two under our belts, things will change. Confidence is huge in any sport, and we just need a break to set us on our way.

We are in a terrible position but we are not even half way through the season. There are still plenty points to play for and I believe our manager will turn things round. I am  certainly willing to get behind him while he does so. He isn't even two months in to his tenure and, while I can completely understand fans' frustration, I think people need to show a bit of patience with the guy.

I totally understand where you’re coming from and I certainly don’t want him sacked. But I refuse to accept that we have the worst team in the league, and yet we are bottom of the league. There is also a big difference between expecting instant results and being seriously concerned that a) we have lost 5 games out of 6 under the new manager and b) the signs of improvement don’t, I believe, stand up to much scrutiny. 

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1 hour ago, KemoAvdiu said:

I totally understand where you’re coming from and I certainly don’t want him sacked. But I refuse to accept that we have the worst team in the league, and yet we are bottom of the league. There is also a big difference between expecting instant results and being seriously concerned that a) we have lost 5 games out of 6 under the new manager and b) the signs of improvement don’t, I believe, stand up to much scrutiny. 

If we were getting hammered every week and not showing any signs of improvement I'd be concerned but this isn't the case.

Yes, the league table doesn't make for good reading at the moment but things can turn very quickly and I believe they will. 

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Thanks flashman.

Up until the young chap got into his mince gary was doing well, fair play to the young chap, a future becons in the media.

Some positive points and many concerning issues re scouting, fitness, form, tactics, signings. We've never replaced Bobby Dinnie. 

I've offered to go to junior games and cast an eye, pay my own way, i'm sure many would give their time to the club. Never had a reply. We are getting more wrong than right just now and this did nothing to give me confidence it's going to improve.

I hope he gets it right, will be there on saturday

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26 minutes ago, Jag said:

If we were getting hammered every week and not showing any signs of improvement I'd be concerned but this isn't the case.

Yes, the league table doesn't make for good reading at the moment but things can turn very quickly and I believe they will. 

In Alan Archibald's third last game we beat QoS and scored two of the best team goals I've ever seen at Firhill. The team also battled really hard that day. We were 6th in the league. It was a poor start, because we'd been told to expect promotion, but we didn't look like relegaion candidates.

Now, despite this, I do think it was right that he was sacked two games later, because that performance was way too rare. However I just don't fully sign up to the idea that Caldwell was starting from such a low ebb that 1 point out of 18 can in any way be seen as "progress".

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1 hour ago, KemoAvdiu said:

I totally understand where you’re coming from and I certainly don’t want him sacked. But I refuse to accept that we have the worst team in the league, and yet we are bottom of the league. There is also a big difference between expecting instant results and being seriously concerned that a) we have lost 5 games out of 6 under the new manager and b) the signs of improvement don’t, I believe, stand up to much scrutiny. 

I think we have to accept that we have the worst team in the league.

I don't accept we have the worst players and it is GC's job to get those players playing as a team.

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3 hours ago, KemoAvdiu said:

There's already been good summaries of the content of Caldwell's answers from last night so I won't repeat them. But I would just say that despite him being a hugely confident speaker and, actually, despite showing bravery in actually taking part in the event, once you dig beneath the surface of what he said it just doesn't stand up to scrutiny.  He continually highlighted the improvement that he maintains he has seen, but in the context of five defeats and one draw this just doesn't reflect reality. Listening to him you would think he had taken over when we were already bottom of the league, but we weren't - he has taken us there. 

I also grew tired of the constant reference to improving the team being a "process". Caldwell wasn't brought in to evolve the team over the long-term, he was expressly brought in to get us promotion (which was a ludicrous statement for the board to make, but it was made nevertheless). The fact is that he has failed to shape us into anything resembling promotion contenders, and the suggestion that there has been improvement as part of this 'process' just doesn't bear weight. I think he is a genuinely decent guy and desperately wants to succeed (and I really want him to succeed, as we all do), but he needs to lose the buzzwords, cliches, and coaching course management-speak if he is to win fans like me over. Just get us winning, it's simple.

The night also made me think of wider concerns about the club and its leadership. The Fans Trust, for example. Having sat through the update provided by the trustees I am still no clearer as to what it has actually achieved in the two years since it has been established. We were told of a new Buy a Brick Scheme, that seemed the sum of it. More importantly than that, we were told that the Trust is the largest shareholder at the club - so why does it not have a place on the board? We were told that it is in communications with the board and that it receives regular updates, but shouldn't the fans - who through the Trust are the largest shareholders - have a direct voice on the board? This doesn't make sense, particularly when most of our current directors don't (as far as I am aware) have any substantial shareholdings in the club. Why, also, are three (I think) of the trustees either directors or the Chief Exec? This is a supporters trust. It just comes across as a pat on the head from the club, with no real efforts to empower the supporters or ensure any meaningful influence or representation. I don't mean that as any disrespect to the volunteers who are managing it, and who I am sure are working really hard on it, but if it isn't empowered or taken genuinely seriously by the club then it's utterly meaningless. It all just seemed a bit too cosy.

More broadly, it made me think of the wider communications from the club which - to my mind - have been atrocious. It is fine for the Chairman to talk about how important communication is etc., but when your attempts at PR (e.g. continually maintaining that the aim is promotion, and putting out weird interviews with the Chief Exec which are clearly scripted) are as subtle as a punch in the chops, then it really isn't very good PR. When your Chairman's background is seemingly PR it makes it even more baffling and worrying.

These are seriously worrying times at the moment, and I am very worried that we don't have the leadership at the club to see us through them in good shape.

Superb post, echos a few posts i've put on in the past that our problems are beyond just the team. Very well put sir. We need to make the board wake up, see what we see and fix all that is broken they to a woman and man seem to have their heads in the sand. Wake the f@ck up before it is too late

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28 minutes ago, Dick Dastardly said:

I think we have to accept that we have the worst team in the league.

I don't accept we have the worst players and it is GC's job to get those players playing as a team.

Well yes, exactly. We don’t have the worst players in the league but we are currently the worst team. It’s literally the manager’s job to sort that and so far Caldwell hasn’t, and in fact our form has worsened. No amount of obfuscation and coaching course psychobabble can change that. I definitely don’t want to see him sacked but I do want results, and I don’t like the feeling of spending hundreds of pounds to support my team and then listening to the manager’s post match comments which seem to come from an alternate reality. So he needs to cut that out. 

As said before, though, he’s just one component in a club leadership-wide reliance on rhetoric and poorly judged PR attempts. 

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42 minutes ago, allyo said:

In Alan Archibald's third last game we beat QoS and scored two of the best team goals I've ever seen at Firhill. The team also battled really hard that day. We were 6th in the league. It was a poor start, because we'd been told to expect promotion, but we didn't look like relegaion candidates.

Now, despite this, I do think it was right that he was sacked two games later, because that performance was way too rare. However I just don't fully sign up to the idea that Caldwell was starting from such a low ebb that 1 point out of 18 can in any way be seen as "progress".

Can't see anywhere on that post or my previous one where I suggest that one point out of eighteen is progress. I said that there has been clear signs of improvement over the last few weeks. 

The home victory against Queen of the South was followed by an absolutely disgraceful performance from the manager and team at East End Park. An embarrassment. The following week was another spineless display at home against Ross County.  Preceding the  QOTS match we had away defeats at Inverness and. of all places, East Fife. So, out of those games we avoided defeat once. Caldwell's record is slightly worse than that (with no pre-season etc as I mentioned).

If the club weren't on a downward spiral, why was the previous manager sacked?

Is there something wrong with having a bit of belief in the guy and giving him some time to do his job? I genuinely believe he is going to turn it round.

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There’s no difference, like others have said we don’t have the worst players but in terms of points and enjoyment in general it’s  is the worst in the league look at Arsenal for years they where 4th and after they brought Emery a guy not scared to make big changes  look ok Arsenal are 4th but the fans are happy and enjoying it and the promances are better.

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, Jag said:

The manager has had no transfer window to bring in his own targets and no pre-season to experiment with players in different positions or different formations. Despite this, everybody was expecting instant results from a team on a downward spiral with confidence at rock bottom.

There has been a steady improvement in performances in recent weeks and the players look hungrier and fitter. The only thing that is missing is the most important thing which is results. I believe, like Gary Caldwell does, that once we get a win or two under our belts, things will change. Confidence is huge in any sport, and we just need a break to set us on our way.

We are in a terrible position but we are not even half way through the season. There are still plenty points to play for and I believe our manager will turn things round. I am  certainly willing to get behind him while he does so. He isn't even two months in to his tenure and, while I can completely understand fans' frustration, I think people need to show a bit of patience with the guy.

You are correct we were on a downward spiral when Caldwell was brought in. I obviously was not present at the interview , but I am sure he did not say he would need the January transfer window before he could do anything. We were told that he had analysed the team and as far as I know he was brought in to win us promotion. You are right in that apart from the Morton game we have not been gubbed.Like you I will get behind the team and manager, but at the moment I don't have much confidence in us getting a positive result. Remember at Chesterfield he only managed 3 wins out of 28 games. I hope we get the first win soon and it proves to be the catalyst of a great run of results.

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2 hours ago, Jag said:

Can't see anywhere on that post or my previous one where I suggest that one point out of eighteen is progress. I said that there has been clear signs of improvement over the last few weeks. 

The home victory against Queen of the South was followed by an absolutely disgraceful performance from the manager and team at East End Park. An embarrassment. The following week was another spineless display at home against Ross County.  Preceding the  QOTS match we had away defeats at Inverness and. of all places, East Fife. So, out of those games we avoided defeat once. Caldwell's record is slightly worse than that (with no pre-season etc as I mentioned).

If the club weren't on a downward spiral, why was the previous manager sacked?

Is there something wrong with having a bit of belief in the guy and giving him some time to do his job? I genuinely believe he is going to turn it round.

Nothing at all wrong with a bit of belief. I admire you for it. I wouldn't argue against it either, we need to have that belief. And I'm not arguing that form wasn't generally poor before he arrived. What I am arguing is that he didn't inherit a hopeless case, he inherited something with potential to be far better than it was showing. And therefore I don't think there are excuses and I don't think there has been progress, and there has to be soon.

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6 hours ago, lady-isobel-barnett said:

Re the 2nd part of Kemo's splendid post re the Trust. I thought the gentleman (sorry forgotten name) that spoke was most articulate. I am tho' a wee bit confused. He said his responsibility on the Trust Board was matchday experience and he'd welcome suggestions/feedback etc. All no doubt worthwhile but I thought we already had a Supporters Liaison Officer (Beth).

Kemo already covered my thoughts re the manager's appraisal of performance and everyone can hear the Q & A in its entirety. While i agree with Caldwell that the last three games have shown an improvement and the team now looks more compact that improvement had come from rock bottom. Also the tightening up of the side effectively means playing a fair bit narrower in attack. Hence so little in the way of clear cut chances.

We're maybe at the stage of being theoretically hard to beat IF we scored goals. In reality we lose a goal a game and still drop eight points from those three "improved" performances. Just as worrying is if anything there's been no improvement since the ICT match.  All this suggests a long slow improvement "process" designed to steer us clear of relegation and that's putting an extremely positive spin on what in reality is a dire situation.  

Was it Alan Caldwell (no relation)? I think that he is the Trust match day experience rep.

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