Do we have a BOD?

[Pinchermartin]

Another week and nothing from the board!

[Bann Joe Strinnge]

Is us spending £1.5m for a glorified indoor fives pitch "living within our means"?

I could perhaps understand it a little if it was a full size pitch, but its not. We have an artificial surface that can be used in all weather, if we really must keep our players dry we can use the likes of Ravenscraig or Toryglen. The "dome" solves an issue that simply isn't there. (I am well aware these facilities cost money, but they are a drop in the oxean in comparison, are full size, and can be shared, thus reducing cost.)

Re-investing the Hendrie money (£400k - £1m) into the youth system is in line with the ethos of the club, using the Neil and Andreu money (reported to be £1.25m) to invest in maintaining performance on the park, leading to being a mid to bottom end premier club for the coming years would be the right thing to do.

Nobody expects the club to bankrupt themselves trying to get pumped out the Europa League on away goals by B36 Tórshavn, but i think it is reasonable to expect them to reinvest wisely, in a way that compromises neither the standard of the club, nor the future of the club itself. Ringfencing £1.5M for a roof, for a club our size, compromises the standard of the club imo, as witnessed by the last 9 games.

Totally agree. Apart from anything else, being in the top division on a consistent basis must make for a more predictable cash-flow model and allows budgets to be set for such things as playing staff and training facilities - needed or not - and 'living within our means'. On the dome, why is this needed? As TiG has stated, there are loads of training facilities relatively close at hand if needed, but as far as I recollect, skin is waterproof. If it's cold, run faster and wear gloves!

[redandwhite1874]

Living within your means is fine, but as I understand it, there was a bit of superfluous cash from the Neil/#22 moves down south, and with the apparent financial stability the club has achieved over the last couple of years, I would have thought there would have been the means to bring in a coach/mentor/temporary manager to assist/instruct canning in a new craft.
I fail to see the logic of r&w1874 - the uber results he refers to should be the benchmark, but the set up and approach which created the success does not now exist - a significant part of it is in East anglia. I would suggest the last decade as an example has not been relative success, but has been the yo yo effect of the cyclical process I referred to in my last post - effectively boom and bust - which is what we are seeing this season.
Youth and inexperience develops in to maturity and experience, which is sold on, to be replaced by youth and inexperience etc etc.
As I say, the situation need not perpetuate if a succession strategy is developed whereby the youth and inexperience is bolstered by a shrewd purchase or two and an appointment of an experienced coach to steer things along - there is no shortage of candidates who could fit the bill at this level.
I would like to see regularity in our performance season on season, competing as a premier division club, winning as much as we lose, but competing. Yes, a great buzz when we get promoted, no, not pleasant when plummeting down the league in free fall - perhaps that is the rough with the smooth when supporting the accies, but it need not be that way as evidenced by the first part of the season. The loss of a manager is usually due to sacking when results are poor, resulting in a new manager bounce, we have a new manager with literally no experience and instead of bounce, we have deflated the ball.
Where is the logic....perhaps some wiser posters than me can explain?

Fair enough; although the addition of experienced players and/or coaches does not come with any guarantees either. Why did we not see a bounce? - for me its primarily because we lost the 4 hardest to replace people at the club at the same time. Not sure any club could survive that.

Plenty of examples down the leagues of clubs of Accies size who have bust and bust to worry about with no boom! Plenty examples of clubs with ambition who spent too much. We can focus on the youth but the club has also recently spent decent money on guys like MAC and Scotland to complement the youth and brought guys in like Jesus and Tony both of which have worked for different reasons.

I can't see any logic in not perceiving the last decade as successful both on and off the field - I am certainly not aware of another decade of such achievements? Particularly when the starting point was almost total bust with debts all over the place.

Clubs banking on staying in the top league via ' so called investment'(as if money in = top division) has proven to be folly time and time again across all the leagues; but in the current light financial planning and good training facilities (repeatedly identified as the major things holding the game back in this country) are now seen as bells and whistles when they are absolute fundamentals. The 'first team' only and performance at all costs attitude from fans has driven many clubs to oblivion.

If you don't agree with this approach now, then you didn't agree with it in September or May but I didn't see many critics then. There may well be a cyclical element to it and mistakes may well have been made, but throwing money at established pros is just not sustainable.

[Bann Joe Strinnge]

You are right, there are no guarantees with bringing in experienced players, but an experienced manager is essential. I remember mccarthy's early games as a 15 year old - billy knew he was ready, but he had a number of experienced professionals supporting him, telling him to calm down and brought him on. Canning hasn't got it - yet. Could he become the man for the job - I hae ma doobts! Ali Crawford got pelters when he was a boy, but he has matured under billy and then Neil. He still has flashes of crapness, but by and large, his contributions are good and he has a bit of maturity about him...I could go on, but bottom line, the youths coming through need a bit of grey hair to guide them, off and on the park, and this what has been lost, and has not been replaced.

Accies ambition (assuming there is ambition to be other than a 'selling' club) has to be tempered by realism, the margin between top 6 and bottom 6 is where we should be pitching at. One season playing top 6, the next, bottom 6. As I said previously, a St Johnstone or a killie. There is no reason why this should not be achievable - providing there is reasonable investment in the squad, with a decent manager. The dome? What financial justification is there for that - unless the directors think charging £3 a skull for weans running about in it every night will pay back in talent identification...? The mindset of accies as a selling club, accies as a wee club, accies as a club that has no support because of the old firm, has to change. Accies can be a club that competes, that can attract a reasonable support if they put on a decent display week on week, winning and losing - not getting great support at the peak of the boom and poor support at the bust. That is not a sustainable business model.

I would concede that In connection with the last decade, it has been both a success, and a failure. It has been boom and bust, then boom, and now bust, disappointingly in the one season. It has literally been a roller coaster ride - would I prefer gentle undulations with an upward trend? Possibly. It might be a bit boring, but the exhilaration of success followed by the massive downer when watching the team fall apart is not pleasant. Consistency in the top flight, with a decent cup run every other season would be quite nice? However, you are correct, the last decade has been by and large, a great experience from a spectators viewpoint.

On training facilities, Todd is God has covered this comprehensively elsewhere in this thread.

On your last point, I have not advocated throwing money at established pros - journeymen have come and gone at accies, but a decent manager knows who is out there and who can do a job for him, or has a network - interesting MAC has gone to play for JF Hasselbank at burton Albion, where Lucas Atkins plays. It is all about connections.

Incidentally, I wasn't a poster on this website in September or I would have voiced an opinion, but hey, we are all fans that want to see our club succeeding - I just hope the board look at this forum as well and listen to the chat.

[Park Materson]

#### THE DOME.

Admin: Edited for profanity. Please read and follow the rules when using this board.

[Gaspode]

FCUK THE DOME.

Ah, quality post! Your input is insightful and informative.

[Montrose Week]

Q - Do we have a BOD ?

A - Yes

[Pinchermartin]

Q - Do you know where they are hiding?

[redandwhite1874]

Re the 'Selling club' point - is there any club in Scotland that is not a selling club?

[Chase Outlaw]

Q - Do you know where they are hiding?

IT takes time to count £1.3 million.

[H9crx]

We have now chucked a two goal lead at home to a bottom 3 team!

Canning must go!

[Uncle Junior]

Well there has been a fairly strong trend since Neil left.....of losing practically every game, of not scoring (or getting even close to scoring) in most games, and also - criminally - of doing the same thing over and over .....and expecting different results. If it ain't working, then shake it up - be it the team or the coaching staff. And it certainly ain't working here.

[Pinchermartin]

Two weeks since I first asked the question 'do we have a BOD'

Still not a whimper!

[Gaspode]

Two weeks since I first asked the question 'do we have a BOD'

Still not a whimper!