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proudjag
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There is nothing decent about squeezing 4th place in what must be the worst First Division in living memory. Our promotion hopes were over after about 2 months and we got dumped out the cup by garbage, nicking 4th place by winning a few dead rubbers means nothing, if anything it shows McNamara is a bottle merchant who can’t handle the pressure or instil any confidence in his players.

 

This.

 

Edited to add not there on Saturday but was at Falkirk the week before. Despite a few more positive performances of late, I'm truthfully unsure as to whether he knows his best 11 or best formation.

 

No leadership coming from the side of the park either from what i've seen this season. McNamara may well be a good coach but that doesn't necessarily make him a good manager.

Edited by Trotter
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It's just that I've noticed an increasingly negative tone to your posts over the past few months, almost a personality change! Saturday's performance, like the one the week previously at Falkirk, and a businesslike home win before that, showed that the current team has the potential to compete and even excel in this division, which is what we need to do to get out of it. But if you're not at the matches, I guess you won't see the improvements. I see very little acknowledgement of anything positive in your posts of late. Even your old humour seems to be in short supply. But correct me if I'm wrong.

 

This season I chucked away games a long time ago after watching utter dross, I'm not talking about getting beaten by the better team or whatever I'm talking about a team putting in no effort and who were competely de-motivated and had no clue as to what to do in the first place or what to do when we went behind.

 

Funnily enough I made a concious effot to organise an old school away day for that Saturday just passed on the basis that Queens were probably going down and Dumfries is a good place to go to watch the football. Despite 7 people agreeing this would be a good idea all but 1 pulled out over the coming days. Unlike in times past I made no effort to talk them back round, frankly watching the final day of the 6 nations appealed just as much. In hindsight it sounds like a great performance.

 

But whether or not I witnessed it you can't deny there is no pressure on the team, we aren't going down and ultimately we hammered a truly terrible team. Yet when the stakes were much higher this same terrible team dumped us out of the cup at home. That shows that the players can't perform under pressure and that comes down to the manager.

 

My posts contain very little positives this season because there are very little positives. Beyond some excitement from an on form Chris Erskine, a rejuvinated Paul Cairney and a few glimpses of real promise from Sinclair there have been no other straws to clutch at all season. It has been a disaster from the outset and I cannot wait until it is finished. For every 1 of these positives there are 10 negatives and that's just on the pitch and not counting the fact that Firhill has been a trule miserable place to be.

 

Sadly winning meaningless games such as last Saturday only cements McNamara's role at the club, something I want changed this summer.

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This season I chucked away games a long time ago after watching utter dross, I'm not talking about getting beaten by the better team or whatever I'm talking about a team putting in no effort and who were competely de-motivated and had no clue as to what to do in the first place or what to do when we went behind.

 

Funnily enough I made a concious effot to organise an old school away day for that Saturday just passed on the basis that Queens were probably going down and Dumfries is a good place to go to watch the football. Despite 7 people agreeing this would be a good idea all but 1 pulled out over the coming days. Unlike in times past I made no effort to talk them back round, frankly watching the final day of the 6 nations appealed just as much. In hindsight it sounds like a great performance.

 

But whether or not I witnessed it you can't deny there is no pressure on the team, we aren't going down and ultimately we hammered a truly terrible team. Yet when the stakes were much higher this same terrible team dumped us out of the cup at home. That shows that the players can't perform under pressure and that comes down to the manager.

 

My posts contain very little positives this season because there are very little positives. Beyond some excitement from an on form Chris Erskine, a rejuvinated Paul Cairney and a few glimpses of real promise from Sinclair there have been no other straws to clutch at all season. It has been a disaster from the outset and I cannot wait until it is finished. For every 1 of these positives there are 10 negatives and that's just on the pitch and not counting the fact that Firhill has been a trule miserable place to be.

 

Sadly winning meaningless games such as last Saturday only cements McNamara's role at the club, something I want changed this summer.

 

Thanks for the response. Points taken - I've also lamented how terrible the team has been at times this season - but I do believe that there is scope for optimism. I'll always remember calling for Lambie to get the boot when he started signing juniors and we looked like we were heading towards oblivion. But the club stuck with him, and that turned out to be the right decision, I think everyone would agree.

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Thanks for the response. Points taken - I've also lamented how terrible the team has been at times this season - but I do believe that there is scope for optimism. I'll always remember calling for Lambie to get the boot when he started signing juniors and we looked like we were heading towards oblivion. But the club stuck with him, and that turned out to be the right decision, I think everyone would agree.

 

That's like the people on here who have used the "Sir Alex Ferguson got off to a terrible start with Man United" when defending McNarama. Managers can improve of course and if he stays in charge and turns us into a competitive team next season I'm all for it but he hasn't shown anything that makes me think he can do that.

Tactics might improve with experience but he is not a motivator and doesn't seem to have the right mentality, too nicey nicey with the players I think.

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At the start of the season we looked like we were going down, but since Culter we have picked up and now are up in 4th, virtually clear of the drop. That tells me Jackie is slowly but surely learning.

 

That's not true. We didn't look like going down at the start of the season - we looked ok. Culter wasn't a turning point for the better - it was the beginning of a period of crap performances and really boring games. Apart from a couple of exceptions, we've been rubbish in the latter part of the season. Let's not pretend the team is good because of a 5-0 win over a team who won't be in the division next year.

Edited by PaleGreySky
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That's not true. We didn't look like going down at the start of the season - we looked ok. Culter wasn't a turning point for the better - it was the beginning of a period of crap performances and really boring games. Apart from a couple of exceptions, we've been rubbish in the latter part of the season. Let's not pretend the team is good because of a 5-0 win over a team who won't be in the division next year.

 

Points in 1st round of games: 11

Points in 2nd round of games: 12

Points in 3rd round of games: 12

 

we've been grimly average all season, I can probably see us picking up another 8-9 points over the remaining games as well.

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That's like the people on here who have used the "Sir Alex Ferguson got off to a terrible start with Man United" when defending McNarama. Managers can improve of course and if he stays in charge and turns us into a competitive team next season I'm all for it but he hasn't shown anything that makes me think he can do that.

Tactics might improve with experience but he is not a motivator and doesn't seem to have the right mentality, too nicey nicey with the players I think.

 

 

 

Based upon what? We have had players diets been wrong on the basis on their twitter accounts, training wrong based upon the women who works in the pub! What next!

 

Serous reality check required by some on here. We are a struggling first division club with one of the lowest full-time budgets in the league.

 

Your point about mentality is correct. A problem that will only be fixed by a bringing in new players in my opinion.

Edited by Alan Murray
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We are a struggling first division club with one of the lowest full-time budgets in the league.

 

Based upon what? Some back-of-fag-packet calculations?

 

My frustrations with this season stem predominently from our piss-poor performances in the cups. Without sounding arrogant, we could've expected more.

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Points in 1st round of games: 11

Points in 2nd round of games: 12

Points in 3rd round of games: 12

 

we've been grimly average all season, I can probably see us picking up another 8-9 points over the remaining games as well.

 

Yeah, but the performances following Culter were way worse than earlier in the season. Take the two Livingston away games for example.

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Based upon what? We have had players diets been wrong on the basis on their twitter accounts, training wrong based upon the women who works in the pub! What next!

 

Serous reality check required by some on here. We are a struggling first division club with one of the lowest full-time budgets in the league.

 

Your point about mentality is correct. A problem that will only be fixed by a bringing in new players in my opinion.

 

Based on the fact you never see him shouting on the touchline and doesn't seem to be the kind of guy who is ever going to lose his rag and stick it to the players. Assuming from the tone of the post you hold the opposite view what are you basing that on?

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Just read this aswell...

 

 

Your point about mentality is correct. A problem that will only be fixed by a bringing in new players in my opinion.

 

Sorry if i misunderstand... You agree with Uberteeb, that McNamara doesn't have the right mentality... but you think his mentality will improve by bringing in new players? :confused1:

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Based upon what? Some back-of-fag-packet calculations?

 

My frustrations with this season stem predominently from our piss-poor performances in the cups. Without sounding arrogant, we could've expected more.

 

 

No from David Beattie, Ian McCall, other directors and our current manager.

 

Your other point about the cup failures is perfectly fair comment.

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If they say where they eat 3 times a week on twitter, why wouldn't that be a reliable source? You're so tedious.

 

 

What going to the place that gets recommended by sliming magazines and men health magazines???

 

Nando’s is famous for footballers. The chicken is grilled meaning many of the choices are high in protein and fat content is low.

 

Going there once or twice a week in not going to break their diet alone.

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Based on the fact you never see him shouting on the touchline and doesn't seem to be the kind of guy who is ever going to lose his rag and stick it to the players. Assuming from the tone of the post you hold the opposite view what are you basing that on?

 

Haven't there been reports that he does go a bit mental in the confines of the dressing room?

 

Just read this aswell...

 

Sorry if i misunderstand... You agree with Uberteeb, that McNamara doesn't have the right mentality... but you think his mentality will improve by bringing in new players? :confused1:

 

I think he meant that it is the players' mentality and not that of the manager that he thinks is the problem.

 

I'm not saying I think JM is the man to take us up (he could be I suppose), but the teams that get out of this league from the right end and the most successful teams at the top level are generally those with the greatest stability in both management and the playing staff. Any time a new manager comes in that's another season we're postponing a title challenge. JM appears to be taking us to fourth place, and having done that in his first season I think he merits one more season.

 

I don't particularly understand the criticism of players eating Coco Pops and going to Nando's. Is it to do with how healthy the food is? Neither are particularly unhealthy and players at this level have always had diets similar to that of the average person. Remember stories about Scott McLean eating dry Pot Noodles and the whole of the team at that time getting pished in Blackpool. I guess it doesn't matter when you're good, but when you're sitting mid-table or lower anything is up for criticism.

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There is nothing decent about squeezing 4th place in what must be the worst First Division in living memory. Our promotion hopes were over after about 2 months and we got dumped out the cup by garbage, nicking 4th place by winning a few dead rubbers means nothing, if anything it shows McNamara is a bottle merchant who can’t handle the pressure or instil any confidence in his players.

 

Here here....said it all season..just waiting for "its a good foundation for next season" patter to start getting spouted..bollox....we should have pumped the absolutely dreadful QOS every time this season.

The 5-0 drubbing actually just proves this.

Jackie should get no more than 12 games next season to "prove" himself otherwise we will be in the same meaningless position again next season and so on.

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Haven't there been reports that he does go a bit mental in the confines of the dressing room?

 

I've never seen them, anyone else?

 

Still waiting on Mr Murray elaborating on his assertion that McNamara isn't too 'nicey nicey' with the players. Or why for that matter new players would solve the mentality problem at Thistle?

 

The mentality of the players and the team is dictated by the manager, or is it just coincidence that the whole team bottled it away from home in virtually every meaningful away game this season, that the whole team bottled it in the cup games against garbage opposition and that the whole team spent most of the season looking disinterested and clueless. Imagine thinking any of that stems from the manager, I must be off my head.

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Here here....said it all season..just waiting for "its a good foundation for next season" patter to start getting spouted..bollox....we should have pumped the absolutely dreadful QOS every time this season.

The 5-0 drubbing actually just proves this.

Jackie should get no more than 12 games next season to "prove" himself otherwise we will be in the same meaningless position again next season and so on.

 

And what for you would "prove" mean? Top of the division only? Maybe 2nd or 3rd? How many points off top?

Remember after the first quarter last season when ICT were truly, truly crap? Who'd have thought they'd turn it around to win the league back then? There are also many cases of teams sitting nicely on top after the first quarter or half of the season, then losing it totally. So maybe if JM does get us to the top of the league after the first round of matches next season we should ditch him anyway, just in case.

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It's difficult to judge McNamara on this season, in my opinion, and this is shown by the polarized views on his performance so far. When we have played well, we have been excellent to watch and put in some great displays. When we have played poorly, we have been abject. Can we put that down to inexperience on both the players and the management's behalf or is that just a convenient excuse?

 

The frustrating thing about this season is that we could have been challenging. Falkirk have maintained a decent challenge all season (albeit that it has fallen away now) and, whenever I've seen them, I've not thought they were any better than us. Same applies to Dundee. The cup performances have been abysmal and I can certainly understand why questions would be raised on the manager's ability to motivate the squad for such matches.

 

I'm not sure I believe the assertion that we have one of the lowest budgets in the league. I believe we offered better terms to certain players who chose to join other sides instead and we paid transfer fees, however nominal, for Elliot and, if I remember correctly, Sinclair. Not really indicative of a team scraping the barrel.

 

I'd describe McNamara's season as being acceptable but with room for improvement. We've got a decent core of players in Fox, Sinclair, Cairney, Paton, Doolan and Erskine (when he's in the mood) and we've got to hope that we can hang onto the majority of them. If we can add some experience to the squad next year, you never know...

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