Down Down Down
Posted: Wed May 12, 2021 9:37 pm
So now we know short of a 9 goal victory over Killie, we are relegated. Three factors IMO have contributed to our demise viz the squad, the manager and injuries. You can put your own weight on which was the most influential but for me it’s about taking account of the whole season.
1. The Squad
We assembled possibly the weakest squad of our 7 seasons in the Premiership. With the smallest budget, retention and recruitment has to be spot on yet we persevered with the likes of McKenna, Fjortoft and Cunningham from last season despite ample evidence suggesting they should have been released in the summer freeing up wages. We promoted 6 youth players to the first team and whatever their potential, none of them have established themselves this season despite the club congratulating itself because we played young players for more minutes in the Premiership than any other team. The other teams of course haven’t been relegated! Then there was our summer recruitment. We paid a nominal fee for Tunde who obviously didn’t impress Rice as he only made 7 league appearances and 6 of those were substitutions. Next Justin Johnston, 5 league appearances of which 4 were substitutions. Not surprisingly he was released as was Tunde. Another example of our speculative punt approach to signings Ben Stirling. Why? I acknowledge the success of Odoffin and Callaghan and I’m not downplaying the likes of Jamie Hamilton who came good this season and Fulton who proved to be less of a disaster than anticipated but the negatives far outweigh the positives. The lack of depth in the squad was exposed in November when the injury crisis really hit. We had to resort to signing out of contract players (Thomas and Martin)who weren’t match fit not having played since the previous season so their impact wasn’t anywhere immediate. And come January when we usually sign a few to bolster our escape act we signed ONE player all be it initially a reasonable striking option in Anderson.
2. The Manager
I don’t know about his win ratio but as he has overseen our relegation then for me Rice has a worse record than Canning. When he arrived I think the majority of us thought he was going to be a success. Last season dissuaded me and many others of that notion, as the football quickly resorted to form. This season showed no improvement and the humiliating losses to Annan and Stranraer followed by the 8 - 0 Rangers thrashing would have seen most managers shown the door but not Accies. Ronnie and Co. show remarkable loyalty to managers, particularly when they play the youngsters even if it’s only 15 minute cameos. Rice looked a broken man post Rangers and after the Midden cup game I genuinely feared for his mental health. At the end of the day he oversaw the assembly of that squad, he is responsible for the coaching, tactics and team selection and he has failed in his tenure to date to improve the first team. In fact he has overseen their relegation. Will he be there next season. Well we know the answer to that.
3. Injuries
First of all when we sign players who have an injury history whatever their providence there is a high risk that that there will be a reoccurrence or fresh injury and so it proved with Temps. Even before the season began we had 3 long term injuries on the books I.e. Oggie, Easton and Collar. By the time Collar had returned he obviously wasn’t part of the managers’ plans and was released after half a dozen performances. When we have players who have been out with a serious injury we probably rush them back too soon as they don’t last e.g. Oggie and Martin. As for the others too numerous too mention was it the pitch, our training methods or just random bad luck. I honestly have no idea. Even the players we signed in November when they were judged match fit have been lost to us for large periods. Nathan Thomas made his first appearance 4 weeks after we signed him and then was largely absent since December with a knee injury.
Taking all the above into account is it really a surprise this was the season the chickens came home to roost? I will acknowledge coved hasn’t helped either finances or football operations and that’s an understatement but every club has been similarly affected and I hold up exhibit A, Livingston Fc. Not much of a player budget more than us but look what they achieved so our relegation wasn’t inevitable had we recruited wisely, and sacked Rice. Que sera.
1. The Squad
We assembled possibly the weakest squad of our 7 seasons in the Premiership. With the smallest budget, retention and recruitment has to be spot on yet we persevered with the likes of McKenna, Fjortoft and Cunningham from last season despite ample evidence suggesting they should have been released in the summer freeing up wages. We promoted 6 youth players to the first team and whatever their potential, none of them have established themselves this season despite the club congratulating itself because we played young players for more minutes in the Premiership than any other team. The other teams of course haven’t been relegated! Then there was our summer recruitment. We paid a nominal fee for Tunde who obviously didn’t impress Rice as he only made 7 league appearances and 6 of those were substitutions. Next Justin Johnston, 5 league appearances of which 4 were substitutions. Not surprisingly he was released as was Tunde. Another example of our speculative punt approach to signings Ben Stirling. Why? I acknowledge the success of Odoffin and Callaghan and I’m not downplaying the likes of Jamie Hamilton who came good this season and Fulton who proved to be less of a disaster than anticipated but the negatives far outweigh the positives. The lack of depth in the squad was exposed in November when the injury crisis really hit. We had to resort to signing out of contract players (Thomas and Martin)who weren’t match fit not having played since the previous season so their impact wasn’t anywhere immediate. And come January when we usually sign a few to bolster our escape act we signed ONE player all be it initially a reasonable striking option in Anderson.
2. The Manager
I don’t know about his win ratio but as he has overseen our relegation then for me Rice has a worse record than Canning. When he arrived I think the majority of us thought he was going to be a success. Last season dissuaded me and many others of that notion, as the football quickly resorted to form. This season showed no improvement and the humiliating losses to Annan and Stranraer followed by the 8 - 0 Rangers thrashing would have seen most managers shown the door but not Accies. Ronnie and Co. show remarkable loyalty to managers, particularly when they play the youngsters even if it’s only 15 minute cameos. Rice looked a broken man post Rangers and after the Midden cup game I genuinely feared for his mental health. At the end of the day he oversaw the assembly of that squad, he is responsible for the coaching, tactics and team selection and he has failed in his tenure to date to improve the first team. In fact he has overseen their relegation. Will he be there next season. Well we know the answer to that.
3. Injuries
First of all when we sign players who have an injury history whatever their providence there is a high risk that that there will be a reoccurrence or fresh injury and so it proved with Temps. Even before the season began we had 3 long term injuries on the books I.e. Oggie, Easton and Collar. By the time Collar had returned he obviously wasn’t part of the managers’ plans and was released after half a dozen performances. When we have players who have been out with a serious injury we probably rush them back too soon as they don’t last e.g. Oggie and Martin. As for the others too numerous too mention was it the pitch, our training methods or just random bad luck. I honestly have no idea. Even the players we signed in November when they were judged match fit have been lost to us for large periods. Nathan Thomas made his first appearance 4 weeks after we signed him and then was largely absent since December with a knee injury.
Taking all the above into account is it really a surprise this was the season the chickens came home to roost? I will acknowledge coved hasn’t helped either finances or football operations and that’s an understatement but every club has been similarly affected and I hold up exhibit A, Livingston Fc. Not much of a player budget more than us but look what they achieved so our relegation wasn’t inevitable had we recruited wisely, and sacked Rice. Que sera.