Rusty Shackleford, Tue 08 Oct 14:31

I have a number of competing thoughts:

1. McPake has no doubt made mistakes with contract extensions - the most obvious being Mehmet - which has had a negative impact on budgets.

2. He`s also naturally pragmatic/cautious.

3. So are our soon-to-be-ex-owners. That`s quite a toxic combination when things aren`t going well.

4. The injury situation was simply awful for a huge chunk of last year and it does no-one any credit to play it down. It was just the most awful situation I can recall seeing since I started watching in 1988.

5. He deserves credit for getting out of League 1 with one defeat.

6. But he`s also presided over some all-timers in terms of performances and defeats. Not quite Hafnafjordor in Perth levels of despair but some of our performances and results at home have been stinking.

7. I think he`s really suffered with losing progressive/difference-making players to injury at crappy times. Todd, KRH and to a lesser extent Otoo have had their development hampered by injury. There`s so little between the teams in this league that we could be in a fundamentally different place with even a little bit more luck. Laterally Tobi as well.

8. Calling folk happy clappers or willing to accept mediocrity is terrible patter.

Is he still or was he ever the right guy for the job? Maybe not. Increasingly looking like a probably not situation. Is a change in management a silver bullet? Try asking Raith that. Is going for one of the fashionable next-big-thing bosses a silver bullet? Try asking Airdrie that. It`s really, really difficult. Running a football club is a nightmare.



Post Edited (Tue 08 Oct 14:32)

onandupthepars, Wed 9 Oct 13:45

Yes.

In different circumstances, no.

But the circumstances provide mitigation.

The Boss, Wed 9 Oct 15:06

Rusty Shackleford, Tue 08 Oct 14:31

I have a number of competing thoughts:

1. McPake has no doubt made mistakes with contract extensions - the most obvious being Mehmet - which has had a negative impact on budgets.

2. He`s also naturally pragmatic/cautious.

3. So are our soon-to-be-ex-owners. That`s quite a toxic combination when things aren`t going well.

4. The injury situation was simply awful for a huge chunk of last year and it does no-one any credit to play it down. It was just the most awful situation I can recall seeing since I started watching in 1988.

5. He deserves credit for getting out of League 1 with one defeat.

6. But he`s also presided over some all-timers in terms of performances and defeats. Not quite Hafnafjordor in Perth levels of despair but some of our performances and results at home have been stinking.

7. I think he`s really suffered with losing progressive/difference-making players to injury at crappy times. Todd, KRH and to a lesser extent Otoo have had their development hampered by injury. There`s so little between the teams in this league that we could be in a fundamentally different place with even a little bit more luck. Laterally Tobi as well.

8. Calling folk happy clappers or willing to accept mediocrity is terrible patter.

Is he still or was he ever the right guy for the job? Maybe not. Increasingly looking like a probably not situation. Is a change in management a silver bullet? Try asking Raith that. Is going for one of the fashionable next-big-thing bosses a silver bullet? Try asking Airdrie that. It`s really, really difficult. Running a football club is a nightmare.



Post Edited (Tue 08 Oct 14:32)

Try asking Raith? That’s madness comparing the two. They sacked Murray after he guided them to second in the league, putting up a great challenge to United and playing some good football. Also winning 5 consecutive derbies. I think most fans were shocked at this and most would agree that was totally unfair.

I don’t think it’s unfair or unreasonable for us to be questioning McPake after more than two seasons of awful football, dire results, early cup exits and pretty miserable signings. You can’t defend him forever. Something will have to give eventually.

wee eck, Wed 9 Oct 16:06

Imagine being told you were being sacked about 6 months into your third year of employment based on the results for the whole period despite the fact that you`d achieved the targets you`d been set in years 1 and 2. I don`t know about you but I`d be raging, especially when my bosses had frozen my budget at the start of year 3 and had only restored it recently so it was too early to judge how well I`d spent the money.

LEGEND85, Wed 09 Oct 15:54

Results are poor have been for ages.

The football on offer is dreadful and what worries me is both McPake and Hamilton both think Saturday was somehow OK or a step in the right direction.
The only positive was we didn`t get beat.

I`m really struggling to understand how on this forum some people seem positive.

The Boss, Wed 9 Oct 16:16

LEGEND85, Wed 09 Oct 15:54

Results are poor have been for ages.

The football on offer is dreadful and what worries me is both McPake and Hamilton both think Saturday was somehow OK or a step in the right direction.
The only positive was we didn`t get beat.

I`m really struggling to understand how on this forum some people seem positive.

Exactly this. I’m not sure if they just do it for attention to be honest. I think every other club in our division would have chased him out the door by now.

wee eck, Wed 9 Oct 16:27

`That`s football management. Poor performances and results lead to you getting shown the door. We have been rotten and only survived last season because Arbroath and ict were in the league and were worse than us.`

Your memory`s let you down again, cammypar, just like it did re injuries. There were four teams below us last season, not two. I suppose Dundee United were lucky to win the league because all the other teams were worse than them! 😂😂😂

It`s quite amusing, if it wasn`t such a serios subject, to see how McPake`s detractors twist the facts to support their case, even including two seasons where he achieved the targets he was set. Are you related to Donald Trump by any chance?

wee eck, Wed 9 Oct 16:36

It`s as I said yesterday. There are so many posters on here who are so convinced they are right they can`t believe anyone who disagrees with them has a genuinely-held opinion but are just mischief-makers.

wee eck, Wed 9 Oct 17:10

`Facts are the facts` you say but I just pointed out that one of your `facts` was wrong and you`re now making a totally irrelevant point about losing more games than we won! You`re so blinkered you just move the goalposts any time somebody points out your lack of logic.

Go on bleating away but I don`t think anything will happen while there is uncertainty over the club`s ownership.

wee eck, Wed 9 Oct 17:41

First of all I have never said McPake should keep his job. I said to a friend after the QP game that the only thing saving him is the current uncertainty over the ownership of the club and I`ve repeated that on here. Needless to say this forum has a habit of misrepresenting people`s views.

We seem to have yet another criterion for success now - winning more games than we lose. Obviously that would be great but I don`t remember it ever being set as a target. On average you would expect the teams in the bottom half of a league to fail to meet this target each season. Are we to expect all these teams to sack their managers? The failure rate of managers is high enough already without pushing the bar even higher.