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Clark must go


Thirdwatch1965

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5 hours ago, All the Wine said:

 

I've read that quite a bit too. Just can't get enthused by it myself, when I see little or no great change in the standard of football or player that's come in 

Fair enough. I just don't see anyone worth bringing in who would be an improvement. Changes need to be made at the top first

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I don't agree with Clarks tactics and pumping long balls forward just like the JJ days. However the players we have got in is what you'd expect to get with no money. Ask a builder to build you a house for £1 you'll get something made out of broken bricks, sticks and mud. Only way the club will ever improve is getting that arsehole MJ and his puppets out and get some proper investment in. 

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Don't think there is a chance in hell in Lee Clark getting shelved before the end of the season after the Coulibaly deal.

The board may feel that they owe him every chance.

if it does end t*ts up and I hope to hell it doesn't, his legacy at Killie for future jobs application and his own PR will be ;

-against odds saved club from relegation

- no choice due to budget than to go with kids

- got club into top 6 for part of the season

- found a player for nothing who club decided to sell for near enough a million a few months later whilst avie the relegation zone

- money not invested

-relegated

i.e injustice, what more could I have done

Who can see this?

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 That's a fair summary of the case for LC. Here's one point that I haven't seen mentioned........ Clark had a goodish record with Huddersfield a poor one with Birmingham before joining a basket case of a club in Blackpool. After that he had no job and a poor reputation so he was/is desperate.

Why else would he have come here with the same (or worse) constraints and interference he had at Blackpool?

I suspect a manager in a better situation would have resigned by now and that a club with better finances would have punted him.

Can't see that he will be trusted with any transfer funds if any are available.

That might suit the powers that be very well though at least until the realities of relegation hit home.

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Clark has to make this work or his reputation as it stands will be down the toilet i.e. League 2 at best.

I'm trying to be less cynical this year and I genuinely still think Clark can make this work. I support him all the way. It would really help if MJ graciously stepped aside to hopefully allow investment into the club, but that won't happen now.

 

But Clark really needs to get a striker who actually scores goals and creative midfielder though. And ffs Jordan Jones has had enough chances, he's not got any end product whatsoever. Passes, crosses, set pieces, shots  - nothing. Some fancy footwork and stepovers don't get points on the board - its football, not f**king dressage.

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I want MJ to go as much as most fans but here we have a manager who saved us from relegation via playoffs, jettisoned (rightly in my view) many of the players who got us into that situation and decided to remain to build a team better than last year with limited funds courtesy of the Board. He brought a lot of untried youngsters in and 6 months has ditched a large number of them and returned a fee of around £1 million pounds for a player who couldn't get regular football at a meaningful level down south. Clark can only operate within the constraints (financial) set by the Board. MJ must be pissing himself that fans are targeting the manager when he is the problem.

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5 minutes ago, Mclean07 said:

Nearly every player he released last season would be in next week's starting eleven. 

Obadaye substituted after 50 mins for Dundee Utd on Saturday

Ohara in Dundee team beaten by a team from a lower league on Saturday (I thought he had something when I first saw him failed to deliver)

Higginbotham substituted after 45 mins on Saturday

Aaron Splaine now with Stranraer

Slater (wanted a move) now playing for Colchester League 2

Ashcroft now with Dunfermline

Sorry don't see any world beaters in there all showed promise but failed to deliver if I have missed a player who could realistically be valued at anywhere near £1m let me know, otherwise accept the board is the problem and the manager is doing his best with both hands tied behind his back

 

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He laid it on thick at the Meet The Manager event what a good financial deal we had got with the Newcastle youngsters.

It will not be a good deal though if they can't cut it at first-team level. He has seen how Cobain, Webb, Boyle, Burn, Waddington, Adams, Green, Smith, Jones and Bojaj - players with similar experience at U23 level - have struggled to adapt to the senior game. What makes him think these three will be different?

Yet people applaud him for trying to do something different. Something different which doesn't work still doesn't work.

The same people are scornful of players signed from Scottish clubs yet there is plenty of evidence that good teams can be constructed from Scottish signings. At least a blend of the two approaches might work better.

I accept the restrictions he has to work within and the Premiership is such a small division that there is little opportunity for experimentation. I want him to succeed but am unconvinced that he has what it takes.

My advice to him would be simple: make every signing count - no crocks, no kids who might not be able to cut it. Bring players in from England or elsewhere by all means but don't ignore the domestic transfer market. Work harder with the players you have and improve them. 

 

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Unless I'm mistaken (and that's quite possible as it is very hard to keep track) Clark's dealings in the transfer market since the summer have been as follows:

Goalkeepers
Davies - failure
Woodman - only played one game

Defence
Webb - failure
Addison - out injured but didn't impress before it
Kayode - injured since day one
Boyd - decent signing
Cobain - failure
Hendrie - decent signing
Osburne - only played one game and conceded the penalty
Burn - was ok, couple of decent games
Boyle - started ok but ended very badly so failure
Ajer - decent in his only game so far

Midfield
Smith - failure
Jones - failure
Adams - failure
Green - failure
Waddington - failure
McFadzean - failure
Longstaff - only played one game

Forwards
Coulibaly - successful, scored goals and left for a decent transfer fee
Tyson - works hard but limited goal threat
Bojaj - failure
Roberts - only played one game

 

When you look at that list it is hard to make the case that Clark has improved things at all.
With that turnover of unsuccessful signings it makes you wonder if he has any coherent plan.
As was pointed out by Skydog, given that two of his better signings have been Boyd and Ajer (so far at least) why isn't he looking more to Scotland rather than England for new players?
If he gets even some of the money from the Coulibaly sale I wouldn't trust him to spend it wisely.


 

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14 minutes ago, historyman said:

As was pointed out by Skydog, given that two of his better signings have been Boyd and Ajer (so far at least) why isn't he looking more to Scotland rather than England for new players?

 

I'm going to hazard a guess that it's a very difficult thing to ask rival sides to give you their decent players for not a lot or money.

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There are other leagues apart from the SPFL - that's where we got guys like Bryson, Wright, Nish and now MacDonald who have all been good servants to the club.
Hemmings and Stewart at Dundee are also two recent examples of players who were scouted, signed and made the successful step up.
And given the way things are these days I would imagine that there will be players who will be out of contract in the summer who could now sign on pre-contract terms.
But I suppose thinking about signings for next season is probably a bit ambitious when the current long term planning seems to be limited to signing a player through the week and then flinging them into the starting XI on the Saturday. 
 

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13 minutes ago, Fletch said:

I'm going to hazard a guess that it's a very difficult thing to ask rival sides to give you their decent players for not a lot or money.

Not in the summer, when there's dozens of free agents looking for clubs.

People turn their noses up at "the same old names" and would rather wet themselves about a boy who probably cleans the boots at an EPL club.

And who is a genius on FIFA, of course.

 

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Any decent Manager surely does quite a bit of pre checking before making permanent signings and even on loan deals would check out the basics of what the player is like and can add to the squad 

Cant find the comments but seem to recall Clark had said a couple of times last year that he had done some detailed "homework" into many of his summer signings .......---

at all levels Managers make mistakes when signing players ---- the percentage level so far of "beneficial" new signings LC has brought in though is very worrying ....hope is the ones in this window are seen to be an improvement 

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11 hours ago, Mclean07 said:

Nearly every player he released last season would be in next week's starting eleven. 

Aye really... and if your Auntie had b@ws, she would be your Uncle.

What a ludicrous statement to make.... how would they when the current manager binned them ?

With the exception of O'Hara, the rest are now plying their trade at a lower level and struggling to complete a game when chosen to play.

 

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2 minutes ago, Killiesince69 said:

Craig Slater, who admittedly jumped rather than was pushed, would walk into the team due to his ability to pass the ball 10 yards to someone in the same strip as him.

He was part of the problem in a poor team. I don't think we miss him

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4 minutes ago, azertyuiop said:

He was part of the problem in a poor team. I don't think we miss him

Disagree. Having him in alongside Dicker in the middle of the park would be a good partnership. It would certainly be a lot better than any of the players that Clark has brought in to replace him

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The players that left were ordinary. However, they were still superior the the utter shambolic collection of raw loanees who are currently holding our fate in their hands. I can assure you, if I was the manager, I would be more confident we would stay up if we replaced four current loanees with Ashcroft, O' hara, Higgy and Tope. I find it staggering that anyone would think that Jones is an upgrade on Tope,that Higgy and O'Hara would not walk into the current midfield and that Ashcroft is not better than two of the slowest crocks in football. If Clark does not make a couple of half sane signings this week I fear we are doomed. We are in total disarray in a way I've never known, and he hasn't a clue what our system or first eleven is. 

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22 minutes ago, Mclean07 said:

The players that left were ordinary. However, they were still superior the the utter shambolic collection of raw loanees who are currently holding our fate in their hands. I can assure you, if I was the manager, I would be more confident we would stay up if we replaced four current loanees with Ashcroft, O' hara, Higgy and Tope. I find it staggering that anyone would think that Jones is an upgrade on Tope,that Higgy and O'Hara would not walk into the current midfield and that Ashcroft is not better than two of the slowest crocks in football. If Clark does not make a couple of half sane signings this week I fear we are doomed. We are in total disarray in a way I've never known, and he hasn't a clue what our system or first eleven is. 

hard to disagree with this, to have something like 35 players played in a season that isnt over only supports this and does leave you wondering if he knows himself what his strongest 11 are, personally even though Tope was regularly on the receiving end of my complaining id take him over Jones, O'Hara would walk into the team just now and again Higgy was another one who frustrated the hell out of me but would still have him over the dross being served up currently,

 

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