Accies: Properly run football club!

[Davie Hogg]

Great bit of business from the club imo. We raked in several million that will go straight back into the youth system, we didn't waste any money on unproven players and because we are safe from relegation we can afford to blood the young players that hopefully will keep us in the SPFL for 2015/2016. As a fan for 35+ years I remember the bad days and this season has been our greatest ever season - we are traditionally a bottom half of the 2nd tier division with very low crowds and thanks to Ronnie & Les we are punching above our weight. We might still finish top 6 and that would be beyond our wildest dreams. Thanks to Ronnie & Les we have the best youth set up in Scotland and we can now sell players in the £1m + bracket.

Anyone who grudges a player a big move is not a true Accies fan. Anyone who thinks we should be spending money on signings is not a good businessman. Accies are a business whose remit is to bring through young players to sell. If we didn't sell players then they would never sign for our youth teams. Thanks to the board we have a terrifically run and successful business that has also given us a top 6 team when our expectations were fighting relegation. We will never win the league or get into Europe so fans need to keep their heads out of the clouds. Just remember its not so long ago we were in the 3rd division. That is how far we have come. Remember we have avoided relegation this season. That was our aim.

We need to keep the faith and trust, and get behind the club. Get behind Canzo and the rest of the team!

Accies Til We Die!

[accie]

Couldn't agree more.

[H9crx]

Spot on.

It would also been nice as a fan to buy some one during a window.

C mon the young boys top six.

[Whiskeytown]

Agree with almost everything except the "we'll never get into Europe" part. St Johnstone and Queen of the South have managed this, why not us? Cup success one day shouldn't be a pipe dream, or even finishing fourth this season. Unlikely now but we always knew this scenario was likely, although maybe not manager and star player in one go!

[Davie Hogg]

Agree with almost everything except the "we'll never get into Europe" part. St Johnstone and Queen of the South have managed this, why not us? Cup success one day shouldn't be a pipe dream, or even finishing fourth this season. Unlikely now but we always knew this scenario was likely, although maybe not manager and star player in one go!

Nobody expected those teams to either. If there's one thing Accies have failed on is a cup run but it's clear our priorities are to bring through and sell players to keep funding the youth academy. We cant do that by wasting money on players. And by gosh it's working! Best season ever.
A cup win and getting into europe via there would be fantastic but we're not at that level yet. But next season we might have a few kids ready to step up and get us there.

I see no reason why we couldn't win the League or Scottish cup eventually; but we will do it the Accies way and not going into debt like Dundee or the other financial 'cheats' using money we don't have.
It's pretty galling seeing Dundee in the top fligt after two administrations and still splashing the cash. But it will catch up with them again like it did before.

[redandwhite1874]

Don't disagree with anything. Agree 100%

However, the club is not immune from observations and comments. We have lost Neil, MAC and Andreu from the team over the last few weeks and at this time they have not been replaced. Experience is crucial to bringing through young players and I think you can still support the club 100% but point out that it has been a mistake and a failing not to have delivered a solution.

[YeOldeHamiltonian]

Happy Clapper central on here.Many long standing Accies fans are disgusted at the lack of decent recruitment as our dream of European football died in a whimper.

Thing is,with Dundee United and Inverness weakened,it wouldn't have taken fortunes to get back fighting for third/fourth place,but the heralding of unknowns from Eastern Europe shows how they have badly misjudged the mood of the fans.If this wasn't the case we would not have had The Gettysberg Address earlier on the official site.

Once the crowds start dropping due to this penny pinching,they will realise they made a costly error not spending even one per cent on recruitment.A club with no ambition is what many are saying......are they wrong?

This feels worse for many than the dark,homeless days in the Seaside Leagues.To see fans turn from hope to anger and despair on many forums shows all is not well,despite the proclamations to the contrary.

Interesting that the Billionaire ex Hamiltonian from The Carribean is now involved across the Clyde.Stories he approached Accies but was rebuffed.Not a surprise if true.

[redandwhite1874]

Happy Clapper central on here.Many long standing Accies fans are disgusted at the lack of decent recruitment as our dream of European football died in a whimper.

Thing is,with Dundee United and Inverness weakened,it wouldn't have taken fortunes to get back fighting for third/fourth place,but the heralding of unknowns from Eastern Europe shows how they have badly misjudged the mood of the fans.If this wasn't the case we would not have had The Gettysberg Address earlier on the official site.

Once the crowds start dropping due to this penny pinching,they will realise they made a costly error not spending even one per cent on recruitment.A club with no ambition is what many are saying......are they wrong?

This feels worse for many than the dark,homeless days in the Seaside Leagues.To see fans turn from hope to anger and despair on many forums shows all is not well,despite the proclamations to the contrary.

Interesting that the Billionaire ex Hamiltonian from The Carribean is now involved across the Clyde.Stories he approached Accies but was rebuffed.Not a surprise if true.

Is it possible for a club to be at its highest position in a lifetime and yet still have no ambition?
As for the billionaire model - that really works well at other clubs doesn't it?

[Davie Hogg]

Happy Clapper central on here.Many long standing Accies fans are disgusted at the lack of decent recruitment as our dream of European football died in a whimper.

Thing is,with Dundee United and Inverness weakened,it wouldn't have taken fortunes to get back fighting for third/fourth place,but the heralding of unknowns from Eastern Europe shows how they have badly misjudged the mood of the fans.If this wasn't the case we would not have had The Gettysberg Address earlier on the official site.

Once the crowds start dropping due to this penny pinching,they will realise they made a costly error not spending even one per cent on recruitment.A club with no ambition is what many are saying......are they wrong?

This feels worse for many than the dark,homeless days in the Seaside Leagues.To see fans turn from hope to anger and despair on many forums shows all is not well,despite the proclamations to the contrary.

Interesting that the Billionaire ex Hamiltonian from The Carribean is now involved across the Clyde.Stories he approached Accies but was rebuffed.Not a surprise if true.

and many fans seems happy or just dont care and want to support their team on a saturday. This has been our greatest ever season yet you complain? Ive heard rumours too; that he didn't approach accies and didnt give a toss about us. But its all rumours. If he had wanted to buy Accies he would have been mouthing off in the press.
There used to be rumours about douglas park wanting to buy accies but guess what; when the club were in trouble he didnt step forward and ronnie did. We should be thankful as hes given us our most successful period in the clubs history.

Some people are never happy and just want to moan and they claim they are the true fans representing the real fans. Plus we can still finish in the top four. Everyone get behind the team.

[accies1874]

January has been a disaster, not a success! Ok so we made some money this month from 22 and Neil/Frankie but what's the next step? A dome? I want to see the best players at NDP, the same as everyone else. I want young players blooded through our youth system, the same as everyone else. Why can't people accept that we can buy a player or 2 yet still stick to our "ethos"? Some people always want to complain? Well that's just not true is it?

[Davie Hogg]

January has been a disaster, not a success! Ok so we made some money this month from 22 and Neil/Frankie but what's the next step? A dome? I want to see the best players at NDP, the same as everyone else. I want young players blooded through our youth system, the same as everyone else. Why can't people accept that we can buy a player or 2 yet still stick to our "ethos"? Some people always want to complain? Well that's just not true is it?

Offering more than £30,000 for a striker that we can get on a free pre-contract would be silly. We are safe from relegation and can afford to blood young players now. That is our "ethos". Signing players that don't work out would be far far worse. This ethos is how we got into the top 6. Keep the faith.

[YeOldeHamiltonian]

Thing is the Accies fans were not wanting fortunes spent.We know that there are not fortunes available,but refusing to put a decent bid for the likes of Rory Loy,to try to replace Neil and Andreu and not have any replacements at hand is a sign of no plan B.

Accies are not a wee mid table First Division club anymore,but an SPL club and some folk on here need to get out of this "poor wee Accies" mindset.If the players had this mindset,we would not have won the games we have,starting from the play offs.

A couple of reasonable signings would have ensured our top six place and they didn't have to cost much either.There is a big difference in the cash split also.Talk of old has beens and squad players from sides fighting relegation are not the sort of players an aspiring top six club should be pinning our hopes on.

[Accies999]

I'm quite happy with the club ethos of bringing young players through the ranks and letting them move on to bigger and better things. It's been successful so far. It worries me though that we have too many youngsters now and not enough leaders to help the youngsters on the park. For a small club like ourselves, surviving in this league is a success I agree. It's such a shame though that we've gained enough points to survive and now seem to have given up on trying to go further. It's been our most successful season for a long long time, only if we retain our top 6 position. With Dundee further strengthening their squad it's highly likely they may overturn our points advantage.

My suspicions, and I hope I'm proved right, are that the new players, surprise us and turn out to be equally as good, maybe better than the players who have departed and secondly, the club have a couple of aces up their sleeves and bring an experienced player or two who are out of contract.

Time will tell. At the end of the day it's all part of the adventure.

[Davie Hogg]

All the money does go back into the club. I'd far rather we kept improving the youth academy than waste money on transfer fees. It makes business sense. It keeps us from being a 2nd tier team.
Some fans need to get things into perspective. And it would seem most people on this board agree with the club.

[accies1874]

All the money does go back into the club. I'd far rather we kept improving the youth academy than waste money on transfer fees. It makes business sense. It keeps us from being a 2nd tier team.
Some fans need to get things into perspective. And it would seem most people on this board agree with the club.

"Waste money on transfer fees"? Rory Loy is a goalscorer. I can guarantee he wouldn't have been a waste. How would spending money on a player or 2 automatically make us a "2nd tier team"? I have put things into perspective. Our story up to now has been a fairytale which looks to be ending due to tightfistedness. We are financially well off, what better time to spend a bit to help us compete for Europe?

[Alexander the Great]

the money that accies have spent on players in the past was money wasted apart from one who would not sign a contract and we ended up not getting a penny in return.

[Davie Hogg]

the money that accies have spent on players in the past was money wasted apart from one who would not sign a contract and we ended up not getting a penny in return.

Exactly! plus Europe was never a realistic ambition after losing Alex and Frankie. This is a great opportunity to play youngsters with no pressure of relegation so we can stay up next season as well and cement us as a mid-table club hopefully which is us punching above way over our weight.

[YeOldeHamiltonian]

So basically,no ambition then.Funny,but small provincial clubs like Motherwell and St.Johnstone to name but 2 have achieved top six statuses,Cup Finals and Europe recently without spending fortunes.

I think if those on here looked at other forums and on Social Media,they will find their view is a minority view,but hey some folk want to aspire to challenge and others settle for third-never mind- second best.

Part of the reason why Accies crowds have been low since the 1960's onwards was the people in the area perceived Accies as a club with"no ambition" and who didn't want promotion.There used to be real big crowds at big games and it is only this season's team that has bucked the trend.
To see defeatist comments on this forum after the start we had and the chance of finishing the BEST ever Accies team,fills me and plenty others with sadness.Opportunity lost,probably not to be seen again.

[Davie Hogg]

So basically,no ambition then.Funny,but small provincial clubs like Motherwell and St.Johnstone to name but 2 have achieved top six statuses,Cup Finals and Europe recently without spending fortunes.

I think if those on here looked at other forums and on Social Media,they will find their view is a minority view,but hey some folk want to aspire to challenge and others settle for third-never mind- second best.

Part of the reason why Accies crowds have been low since the 1960's onwards was the people in the area perceived Accies as a club with"no ambition" and who didn't want promotion.There used to be real big crowds at big games and it is only this season's team that has bucked the trend.
To see defeatist comments on this forum after the start we had and the chance of finishing the BEST ever Accies team,fills me and plenty others with sadness.Opportunity lost,probably not to be seen again.

We have to live within our means and not jeopardise our finances. We splashed out on Cerny only to lose out when he was freed. I'm glad the club is learning from our mistakes. There is every chance that by blooding young players this season under no pressure could lead us to selling them for good money in the close season or next january and again more money is given to improve the youths again ensuring that we stay in the SPFL.
We have to be self-sufficient or we end up like Rangers, Hearts or Dundee. We should be thankful we are in such a great place. Brophy might score lots of goals and become the next star player if we give him games since Jason wont be able to play 90 mins every game. The only way for kids to develop is regular first team football and to do so with no threat of relegation is the best chance.
If we sign a player it should be for a nominal fee under 30 grand for a young player with big resale value. It's how most teams work and how it should be. The days of transfer fees should be over for small clubs. The Accies way is the only right way.

[Davie Hogg]

Still can't believe there are a few people who don't trust the club when we are in the middle of our greatest ever season. We should be happy the club is being run so well after the Watson years when we really had things to worry about. Those were disastrous years. Enjoy the good times while we have them; we earned them!