Corkey's Time Here

[angry gaz]

Probably the best since Lambie,although there's not been much competition.He's left us with a far better playing staff than when he arrived and had very little finance to do it with,a promotion challenge, a cup run featuring a great night at the Hunnery,at last some younger players making their way into the first team ,some good signings in the transfer market that brought vital money into the club when they left and for the most part decent football.

On the negative side the run of goaless games last season was as bad as I,ve ever seen and perhaps too cautious and overly defensive at times especially at home.

All in all a pretty good manager in my opinion,not the best but no where near some of the rank rotten diddys we've had before him.He leaves the managers chair with the footballing side of things a lot better than he found it.

 

.......... 6.5/10 ... with Lambie being a ten and Dickie boy being one.

[Jaggernaut]

Probably the best since Lambie,although there's not been much competition.He's left us with a far better playing staff than when he arrived and had very little finance to do it with,a promotion challenge, a cup run featuring a great night at the Hunnery,at last some younger players making their way into the first team ,some good signings in the transfer market that brought vital money into the club when they left and for the most part decent football.

On the negative side the run of goaless games last season was as bad as I,ve ever seen and perhaps too cautious and overly defensive at times especially at home.

All in all a pretty good manager in my opinion,not the best but no where near some of the rank rotten diddys we've had before him.He leaves the managers chair with the footballing side of things a lot better than he found it.

 

.......... 6.5/10 ... with Lambie being a ten and Dickie boy being one.

That's a good summary. Although more recently we've had a couple of victories away from him, his overall record away from Firhill is rank rotten.

 

I might give him a 7/10, but wouldn't argue with 6.5. I pretty much liked him at Firhill, but strangely I'm not that sad at him going......although it'll be interesting to discover the precise reasons for his departure.

[kni]

I'd give him a 6 - but only 2 for 2010 which lowered his rating considerably. McCall was lucky to escape the sack last year.

[Fellow Traveller]

I must be a strict marker. If Lambie's 10, McCall is 3 for me. The gap is that big.

 

Last one I'd rate above 3 is Auld who can have a generous 5. And if Lambie has to be 10, you break the scale to give McParland 11.

[twinny]

I'd rate him at 7, maybe even 7.5. I perhaps rate him too highly and am a bit of a happy clapper at times, but his time in charge has been our only period of stability during my time following the jags. We've never really been at risk of sinking back into division 2 (unless my memory is failing me). We've had an outside shot at promotion against a St Johnstone side who had been threatening to be promoted for years. Whilst maybe not achieving the success of Lambie, he seems to have managed the things Lambie couldn't, bring in a youth set up which could still reap in rewards, and tie players down to longer contracts than the end of the current season.

[Jaggernaut]

I'd rate him at 7, maybe even 7.5. I perhaps rate him too highly and am a bit of a happy clapper at times, but his time in charge has been our only period of stability during my time following the jags. We've never really been at risk of sinking back into division 2 (unless my memory is failing me). We've had an outside shot at promotion against a St Johnstone side who had been threatening to be promoted for years. Whilst maybe not achieving the success of Lambie, he seems to have managed the things Lambie couldn't, bring in a youth set up which could still reap in rewards, and tie players down to longer contracts than the end of the current season.

Thanks for that post, Maxi.

[1 John Lambie]

I'd rate him as a success, simple as that. Where that comes out of 10, possibly 7/8?

[Gordie]

He has left us in a better position than when he arrived. We have a young squad with potential. He has had very little doh and not a lot of support, so he kept reminding us. In terms of football he was a success, interns of pr with the fans, he lacked. Overall and remember I don't like him. An overwhelming success in my opinion.

[chunky jag]

I am disappointed to lose McCall, think he's done well, bit of stability, good young team I feel optimistic about. Frustrating at times too though, would agree with the 6.5-7 area.

[jaggy]

This time last year I would have been happy for him to leave, but I think he's turned things around a bit this season after a poor start. Got some promising youngsters, a decent keeper & a few good players signed for next season. He sent Kinniburgh, Doolan & Boyle out on loan last and all returned better players. Hopefully young Bannigan will be another. He's the 4th best manager we have had in the last 40 years (taking away the obvious Lambie, Auld & McParland) maybe there has been not much competition, but overall I would say his 4 years at Firhill have been reasonably successful.

[lennythistle]

I am disappointed to lose McCall, think he's done well, bit of stability, good young team I feel optimistic about. Frustrating at times too though, would agree with the 6.5-7 area.

 

Pretty much agree with what has been said up till now. McCall I'd say 7 out of 10.

 

We have a youth set up which is very very good and hopefully will provide the main stream of a strong side for years to come. I touched on this on other threads but fact the 3 main people in coaching our youth teams are now taking over the main job, could prove a great move. McCall brought a number of good players to firhill and generated some much needed cash with the transfers of a couple of those players. At times we played some of the best football i've seen at the club for many a year. sure some was bad but no where near the worst i've witnessed. Think one of Mccall's failings, as mentioned by others, was he wasn't the best people person. He had an arrogance about him and was quite abrupt.

 

2010 was a very bad year and clearly things went very wrong for us. Whether that was all McCall's fault i'm not so sure but a great deal of it was.

 

As for Lambie, 9 out of 10. Took him 3 seasons and some awful awful signings before it all turned to gold when we were in div 2. He loses 1 mark for the season he brought in a number of juniors, only to punt them before the first qtr. After that and with Danny Lennon leading us on the park, he was almost untouchable.

[thestreets]

That's a good summary. Although more recently we've had a couple of victories away from him, his overall record away from Firhill is rank rotten.

 

I might give him a 7/10, but wouldn't argue with 6.5. I pretty much liked him at Firhill, but strangely I'm not that sad at him going......although it'll be interesting to discover the precise reasons for his departure.

 

 

I would give him 8.5/10

I think we will only know after he has gone just how good he was and for all the doubting charlie's and moaners... maybe this will shut up tomorrow and start concentrating on supporting the team instead of shouting abuse at manager.

 

Also don't forget Dick Campbell got us promotion!!! I will always be grateful for him for that... 1 is very harsh..... 7/10

[Mad Mull Jag]

He sucess in the job.

 

Didnt hit the heights of promotion but steadied a shaky ship and hopefully put us on the course to a better on the field performance. Had to deal with probably a smallest budget this year we have had in 20 years.

 

Lacked a bit in the carisma stakes and never got the fans 100% on his back,what manager does? but seemed to know what to say to keep us on board most of the times.

 

Could spring a massive wim when needed but also played some of the most awful footabll ive seen since the 80s and that includes Campbell, Bryce, McVeigh, et al

 

Some rotten signings and some decent signings.

 

I rated him and would have liked him to stay but the question is who is next?

[Big Dave]

I must be a strict marker. If Lambie's 10, McCall is 3 for me. The gap is that big.

 

Last one I'd rate above 3 is Auld who can have a generous 5. And if Lambie has to be 10, you break the scale to give McParland 11.

I think Bertie is worth more than 5! Constantly humping the old firm at Firhill makes it a 7.5 for me

[Vom Itorium]

We had ups and downs with the first team under McCall but more importantly to me is the professional structure to the club that he has tried to bring about with a scouting network in place and a youth set-up that for once we can be proud of. These are areas that are going to be vital to the future of Partick Thistle and what we need now is a manager to come in who realises this and tries to continue the good work that Ian McCall started.

 

I fear the worst here though. I fear we'll end up with a management team a la Whyte & Britton and that we'll be spun the yarn that the money's not there to keep the youths/scouting running in the way we have been.

 

If McCall had been given the opportunity to stick to his initial five year plan I think we'd have been on the right road but sadly the carpet was whipped from beneath his feet annually by the clowns running the circus. I'd be very interested to hear from the man himself as to if we now have new clowns running the show but reckon that today's announcement and the way it has come about will be kept firmly under wraps and we'll be none the wiser as to what has gone on today.

 

Ian McCall has had his bad spells during his reign as Thistle manager, but for me he is the best gaffer we've seen since the Messiah and we will be very lucky to replace him with someone who can take the club on in the way he would have liked. A sad day for the club and something that may well lead to more fans switching off if the replacement isn't the right one. A crucial time for the new men at the top table and it'll be interesting to see how they play ball now.

[Big Col]

More good spells than bad and more good signings than bad. All you can ask from a manager really. Just a shame that the bad spells were bad.

 

Wish him well for the future in his new role (wherever that may be). Can't blame him for leaving if it is for better dosh etc - we would all do that in our own professions. Leaves the club relatively safe from 2nd bottom spot.

 

Managers come and managers go - but there will always only be one PTFC.

[Elginjag]

Overall McCall has done a great job since coming to Firhill.

He made money to help keep the club afloat with the signings of Harkins and Twaddle. Unearthed Doolan, Paton,Fox,Boyle,Erskine all for free, who may go on to bigger things, there have been very few transfers in recent years from Div 1, but we still got money.

I fear that one of the major points of having McCall was that one aspect of any signings was for other players to look at who already has come here(see above) and not become better players and been given a chance.

Do people honestly think that signing players like this was not the only way forward for the Jags along with instigating a youth policy (long overdue)My fear being that this is scrapped next.

McCall said on many occassions about his 5 year plan, now you can take it with a pinch of salt or whatever, but maybe look at it like this.

It's got to the stage where he has to lose Buchanan. No fee, just 'off the wage bill'. Dwindling crowds.

week after week he's been thanking 'those who have turned up' but how soul destroying must that be week in week out.

I know he could paint a better picture at times than what reality was, "we've not lost a goal in open play in 900 odd mins"etc "We've been on good form of late" (and actually won few game's but din't loose any)

I think Dundee must have been a wee calling card and got him thinking, if he lost heart I don't actually blame him.

I don't think he failed to deliver at all, I do believe though, that certain expectations, realistic or not were agreed within the club that have not been met.

I'm not blaming the board at all, but FFS, can they not just come out and be honest and tell us the story from their side?

McCall should go with all our best wishes, anybody not think we are one hell of a lot better off than the times of div 2 and the Peterhead drama?

Many thanks Ian for trying to give us a team playing attractive football.

[chunky jag]

Overall McCall has done a great job since coming to Firhill.

He made money to help keep the club afloat with the signings of Harkins and Twaddle. Unearthed Doolan, Paton,Fox,Boyle,Erskine all for free, who may go on to bigger things, there have been very few transfers in recent years from Div 1, but we still got money.

I fear that one of the major points of having McCall was that one aspect of any signings was for other players to look at who already has come here(see above) and not become better players and been given a chance.

Do people honestly think that signing players like this was not the only way forward for the Jags along with instigating a youth policy (long overdue)My fear being that this is scrapped next.

McCall said on many occassions about his 5 year plan, now you can take it with a pinch of salt or whatever, but maybe look at it like this.

It's got to the stage where he has to lose Buchanan. No fee, just 'off the wage bill'. Dwindling crowds.

week after week he's been thanking 'those who have turned up' but how soul destroying must that be week in week out.

I know he could paint a better picture at times than what reality was, "we've not lost a goal in open play in 900 odd mins"etc "We've been on good form of late" (and actually won few game's but din't loose any)

I think Dundee must have been a wee calling card and got him thinking, if he lost heart I don't actually blame him.

I don't think he failed to deliver at all, I do believe though, that certain expectations, realistic or not were agreed within the club that have not been met.

I'm not blaming the board at all, but FFS, can they not just come out and be honest and tell us the story from their side?

McCall should go with all our best wishes, anybody not think we are one hell of a lot better off than the times of div 2 and the Peterhead drama?

Many thanks Ian for trying to give us a team playing attractive football.

 

 

Well said

[Steven H]

I'd say McCall's time as Manager has been a relative success thanks to 3 areas mentioned already, money made in transfer market (plus more good signings than bad), the development of what could well be a very successful youth system (The Messiah's one big failing was not looking at the bigger picture in terms of the future of the Club), and the fact he steadied a very rocky ship (the rollercoaster ride was fun at times and terrifying at other times).

 

Overall, 7/10.

[jagfox]

Jobbie gets 7/10 from me. Second best to Lambie in my 29years watching/enduring previous Thistle managers attempts.

[jaf]

What he did well -

 

bring through some decent young players

work on a tight budget

in the aftermath of the confrontational supporter/mamager relationship of dickie, he was good at communicating with the fans

he supported the directors in every unpopular decision they made and 'sold' it to the fans

 

What he did badly -

 

stick to the 3/5 year plan

make loan signings

failed to make signings that were obviously needed at times

 

I think on the whole he did a pretty good job; he fronted up to us, the supporters, and it has been a difficult time to be at the club for sure. I think he was exactly what we needed post-dickie, and in that context, i would probably say he gets about 7/10.

 

I think next year would have been tiring for him trying to keep players, move forward with a budget probably cut once again.

 

But the next permanent appointment is absolutely critical. Remember McCall WANTED this job, so it was an easy appointment lasttime round.

 

I think the question might be less, who do we want, and more who can tolerate being our next manager? Don't expect a long queue.