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Update from McCall


javeajag
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That interview was depressing.  He didn't know why Erskine left? Ask your chairman numpty! We are all in the same boat? How many in League 1 are full time?  It's a crap shoot? Basically saying he doesn't have a clue what to do.

Well, a scatter gun approach to the signings, a desperate gamble in desperate times. If he does get us back into the championship then he will have proved he actually is a football manager.

But his record in this second spell suggests he can't cut it anymore.

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Looks like we’ll have Graham back in the running for Saturday’s game .The others on injured list may take time ...would like to see Williamson and Docherty back pronto .

Hope we have been sharpening up our penalty taking as McCall rightly says it has cost us dearly this season and last .

Edited by Anniesland Jag
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1 hour ago, Garscube Road End 2 said:

That interview was depressing.  He didn't know why Erskine left? Ask your chairman numpty! We are all in the same boat? How many in League 1 are full time?  It's a crap shoot? Basically saying he doesn't have a clue what to do.

Well, a scatter gun approach to the signings, a desperate gamble in desperate times. If he does get us back into the championship then he will have proved he actually is a football manager.

But his record in this second spell suggests he can't cut it anymore.

.I think you taking the all in the same boat comment out of context. It wasn’t about fitness - it was about this unique circumstance of an 18 game league with the possibility of another 4. How do you plan for that ? And he actually did say that he doesn’t have a clue what to do. Whether the signings are right or not we will find out over the next month, but I think we are desperate and need players in and he explained why he chose them. 

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2 hours ago, Garscube Road End 2 said:

That interview was depressing.  He didn't know why Erskine left? Ask your chairman numpty!

Are you really this dense?

That was a very diplomatic way of him saying “Gary Caldwell is a **** he was absolutely crazy to drive Erskine out of this club he’s a legend here and a good player and I’m glad I can have him back because he has unfinished business here. PS get it up you Caldwell you ****.”

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Thought it was a good interview. Mainly because McCall was quite open in his responses. Disagree with his assessment of January last year, still think he ****** up spectacularly. Our demotion had to do with a lot more than a couple of missed penalties. 

Bit concerned about his comments on Graham. If he's still having headaches after this time, it's a bit of a worry. Head injuries are potentially more serious than any other. 

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7 hours ago, Woodstock Jag said:

Are you really this dense?

That was a very diplomatic way of him saying “Gary Caldwell is a **** he was absolutely crazy to drive Erskine out of this club he’s a legend here and a good player and I’m glad I can have him back because he has unfinished business here. PS get it up you Caldwell you ****.”

I think you need to take your Erskine blinkers off.

Regards McCall using a diplomatic way of criticising Caldwell, as a manager hasn't he moved on popular players?

In my opinion, moving Erskine on was a management decision in overhauling the squad. I don't think it was such a big deal. Now the way it was handled was appalling. From Low to Britton to Caldwell.

Erskine had contributed very little to Thistle from our relegation year from the Premiership and beyond.

True, he went to Livingston where I believe he achieved practically nothing.

He was released and ended up where? The Lowland League. 5th tier.

And this misty eyed attitude of club ' legends' is part of the reason why Partick Thistle FC are in the position they are in.

McCall is thrashing about desperately to try and get us up. Fair enough that is his job.

I personally don't think he has it in him anymore. He did admit that he has nothing to offer the players. Not a good look.

Hopefully he confounds me and takes us up as a Thistle supporter I desperately want that.

Fist week, with 3 games will reveal the true position we are in.

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Erskine leaving in 18/19 was to me a poor decision. He was clearly someone Caldwell singled out as a problem. However whilst Erskine wasn't having the greatest of seasons by his own high standards he was still one of our best performers and one of our very few leaders.

When you compare Erskine and Doolan. Erskine was the one that shouldn't have left. Doolan shouldn't have left in the manner that Caldwell and Lowe forced upon him.

Our problems in 18/19 lay elsewhere. We had a poor keeper (bell) a poor back 4 (Elliot-O'Ware-McGinty-Penrice) a central midfield that relied on Bannigan being a defensive midfielder which was daft given he's not great tackler and a manager that couldn't sign a decent striker (Doolan, Storey, Coulibally, Jones and Quitongo)

Whilst Caldwell in the January transfer window addressed the defensive weaknesses (Anderson, Saunders, McMillan) and the lack of a decent striker (McDonald) he never addressed the midfield/ wide creativity problems.

To try to fill those gaps he went with Cardle and Elliot in wide areas as part his 3-5-2 masterplan. I don't think any of those could realistically say they performed better than Erskine. Caldwell tried to adress that with Austin then Zanatta and Cardle in 19/20 but Zanatta is that poor defensively that we only really start gaining points when we play 2 right backs (Williamson/Kakay) on the right side to balance Cardle and Penrice on the left side. McCall's failing in that seasons January window was in not finding a wide/creative player and having to go with Cardle and Zanatta who couldn't provide enough chance to Graham.

Meanwhile Erskine at Livingston played most of the remaining games in the premier league 18/19. In 19/20  features heavily in livingstons games until he get injured and then struggles to get back in the team.

Did Erskine's performances in 18/19 merit Caldwell getting rid of him - no.

Could Erskine have done a job for us in 18/19 and 19/20?  absolutely.

Will he do be a success this time? Who knows - he has the ability but fitness will be the doubt.

However signing Erskine does give us formational options that we haven't had. First of all Erksine can playwide on either side of a 4-4-2. However what he can provide that Cardle, Murray and Lyons have struggled to do is play as a number 10 either in a 4-4-1-1 or in a 4-2-3-1. (I actually wonder in McCall is considering a 3-4-1-2 given other signings)

With that in mind and the limited options in a covid impacted season then signing him seems worth the risk and for me he is a player I'm very much looking forward to seeing in a Thistle strip again.

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7 hours ago, Garscube Road End 2 said:

I think you need to take your Erskine blinkers off.

Again you staggeringly miss the point. What I think of Erskine is neither here nor there. This is what McCall thinks of him. He said as much while Ayr manager when Caldwell have him the boot, and he said it again about both Erskine and Doolan when the latter’s contract wasn’t renewed.

Feigning ignorance as to that being what he meant just makes you look like a clown.

Quote

Regards McCall using a diplomatic way of criticising Caldwell, as a manager hasn't he moved on popular players?

In my opinion, moving Erskine on was a management decision in overhauling the squad. I don't think it was such a big deal. Now the way it was handled was appalling. From Low to Britton to Caldwell.

Erskine had contributed very little to Thistle from our relegation year from the Premiership and beyond.

True, he went to Livingston where I believe he achieved practically nothing.

He was released and ended up where? The Lowland League. 5th tier.

And this misty eyed attitude of club ' legends' is part of the reason why Partick Thistle FC are in the position they are in.

That’s fine and you’re entitled to your opinion about whether Erskine can hack it. But that’s completely and utterly irrelevant to what you first said, which was:

”He didn't know why Erskine left? Ask your chairman numpty!”

McCall knows fine well why Erskine left. He simply lays the blame for that far more at Gary Caldwell being a **** and far less on Erskine’s performances than you do.

Edited by Woodstock Jag
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Erskine left/was allowed to leave as the then manager reported he couldn't guarantee that the player wouldn't be marginalised with regards to 1st team appearances. We effectively replaced Erskine with Gary Harkins. Erskine had half a season to run on his contract. Harkins was handed an 18 month contract. Erskine went on to feature on 25 occasions in the top tier. 

 

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1 hour ago, lady-isobel-barnett said:

Erskine left/was allowed to leave as the then manager reported he couldn't guarantee that the player wouldn't be marginalised with regards to 1st team appearances. We effectively replaced Erskine with Gary Harkins. Erskine had half a season to run on his contract. Harkins was handed an 18 month contract. Erskine went on to feature on 25 occasions in the top tier. 

In my mind Cardle was brought in to replace Erskine however either we replaced 31 year old Erskine with 31 year old Cardle or 32 year old Harkins.

Every way you look at its had to see how Erskine was 'done' in 2018/9, too old or that his replacements were any better than him.

 

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Who he was replaced by is a separate issue and I would have taken neither Harkins nor Cardle, however based on his performances it is hard to see how Erskine deserved a place in the squad. In fact I was saying 6 months earlier that it was time for him to go. I've seen no evidence since to change my mind.

I hope that his time in the juniors has given him a chance to recharge his batteries. If we van find 80% of Erskine at his best, then he will run riot. I just hope he has still got it.

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Just now, Dick Dastardly said:

Who he was replaced by is a separate issue and I would have taken neither Harkins nor Cardle, however based on his performances it is hard to see how Erskine deserved a place in the squad. In fact I was saying 6 months earlier that it was time for him to go. I've seen no evidence since to change my mind.

I hope that his time in the juniors has given him a chance to recharge his batteries. If we van find 80% of Erskine at his best, then he will run riot. I just hope he has still got it.

When Caldwell arrived at the Club Erskine was (if my memory serves) the team's top scorer and we were mid table,

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3 minutes ago, Dick Dastardly said:

Who he was replaced by is a separate issue and I would have taken neither Harkins nor Cardle, however based on his performances it is hard to see how Erskine deserved a place in the squad. In fact I was saying 6 months earlier that it was time for him to go. I've seen no evidence since to change my mind.

I hope that his time in the juniors has given him a chance to recharge his batteries. If we van find 80% of Erskine at his best, then he will run riot. I just hope he has still got it.

Surely the key part of any manangers job is to only replace players where he has superior alternatives? How do you improve the squad if you let players leave and sign inferior ones?

If you are suggesting that Erskine should have been left and someone better than him signed then I absolutely agree. The same would apply for every player in the squad. However as Caldwell in 2 transfer windows didn't come close to finding that person and McCall didn't either does it not suggest that finding that person was not possible and therefore Erskine was the best option and by implication deserved his place in the squads for season 18/19 and 19/20?

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16 minutes ago, Woodstock Jag said:

When Caldwell arrived at the Club Erskine was (if my memory serves) the team's top scorer and we were mid table,

May 22nd 2018 was my post in Players in out and maybes...

I'm going to be controversial and put Erskine and Doolan in the maybe category. I'm not questioning their ability and their commitment, my problem is with their ability to play for a full 90 minutes. It is rare for either of them to start and finish a game, so if we start them both, we know that 2 substitutions are used up, which leaves few options to change the formation. If we pick up a couple of knocks elsewhere and they do need to play for 90 minutes, we have 2 players who are dead on their legs. It maybe that they are carrying knocks this year, or it maybe that the fitness training is a problem and it is possible that the pacein the Championship might help them (Livi didn't suggest that), but I think that they are probably now best as impact players which is why I have them as maybes 

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16 minutes ago, laukat said:

Surely the key part of any manangers job is to only replace players where he has superior alternatives? How do you improve the squad if you let players leave and sign inferior ones?

If you are suggesting that Erskine should have been left and someone better than him signed then I absolutely agree. The same would apply for every player in the squad. However as Caldwell in 2 transfer windows didn't come close to finding that person and McCall didn't either does it not suggest that finding that person was not possible and therefore Erskine was the best option and by implication deserved his place in the squads for season 18/19 and 19/20?

You don't know what the finances were at the time. It's not Football Manager where you can just buy a replacement before getting rid of the old one. We also don't know who they tried to get in but didn't land.

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31 minutes ago, Dick Dastardly said:

May 22nd 2018 was my post in Players in out and maybes...

I'm going to be controversial and put Erskine and Doolan in the maybe category. I'm not questioning their ability and their commitment, my problem is with their ability to play for a full 90 minutes. It is rare for either of them to start and finish a game, so if we start them both, we know that 2 substitutions are used up, which leaves few options to change the formation. If we pick up a couple of knocks elsewhere and they do need to play for 90 minutes, we have 2 players who are dead on their legs. It maybe that they are carrying knocks this year, or it maybe that the fitness training is a problem and it is possible that the pacein the Championship might help them (Livi didn't suggest that), but I think that they are probably now best as impact players which is why I have them as maybes 

Aye and you were wrong then too!

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