January Transfer Window Thread

[so72]

I would have had Dixon and Miller but both will be Falkirk players.

Dixon was good, not sure he is up to it now. Could come back to bite me but he certainly looks like an expensive risk.

[vikingTON]

Paul Dixon was last good about five years ago and gubbins, left-sided defenders really aren’t a priority.

[dunning1874]

Jack Ross didn't exactly get off to the best start with the squad of players he inherited.

 

Aye, Ross' start at St. Mirren was considerably worse than Johansson's with us. He started with six consecutive defeats, with the turnaround only coming in February after the January signings started settling in and he'd already had 15 league games in charge, which is what Johansson will have after Saturday. After his first 15 games were W2 D4 L9, the remaining 13 of the season were W7 D4 L2, so the turnaround which he was able to achieve with a window was massive.

 

I'd say the big difference though is that the squad Ross inherited at St. Mirren was indisputably the worst in the division and was already bottom when he took over. He was inheriting a total shambles of a squad in terrible form which he had to turn around, much like McIntyre at Dundee, Kearney at St. Mirren and of course McKinnon at Falkirk have all had to do this season.

 

Comparing those managers' starts to Johansson's record so far, it's back to the point that no one disputes

the squad has glaring flaws which obviously aren't his fault, but there's no way the squad is as bad as our current results. There are things which can't be helped, it obviously wouldn't be challenging for the title under any manager and many of these deficiencies would have been exposed under McKinnon if he'd stayed longer than five minutes, but no one can seriously argue that overall our squad is poorer than Falkirk, Partick or Alloa. Yet over the last six games we're worse than all of them, comfortably so in the case of Falkirk and Alloa.

 

Jack Ross inherited a team in relegation form and it took him months and a transfer window to get them out of it. Unlike Ross (or McIntyre, McKinnon and Kearney) Jonatan Johansson didn't take over a team in relegation form. He took over a team that was fine and continued to be no worse than mediocre for his first couple of months, and that side has then plummeted into relegation form on his watch. It's not a problem he inherited, it's one he created.

 

That's why the argument that he just needs a transfer window and has to be trusted with a mid-season rebuild doesn't sit right; maybe with a transfer window and the kind of players he wants to fit a system he wants to play (whatever that might be, because there's no hint of it so far) will be all he needs to turn it round, but unlike those other examples of clubs in a rut he's the one who put us in it. The only reason there's a shambles to be turned around it's because he created it by doing an extremely bad job. That being the case, isn't there a risk that giving him the transfer window will only allow him to do even more damage rather than just being what he needs to find his feet?

 

Honestly, I'll be delighted if come the start of February people can quote this post and laugh at me for hysterically over-reacting because a few good signings have us challenging for the playoffs and the last six games turn out to be a blip rather than a true reflection of Johansson's managerial ability, and no one wants the club to go through the expense and upheaval of needing a third management team in one season. However if we lose tomorrow then we're right in the relegation battle and giving him a window will smack of delaying the inevitable while making it even harder for any successor if it comes to that. If we wait until we're actually in the bottom two before acknowledging that we've somehow sleepwalked into a relegation battle, then unlike Johansson that new manager will be inheriting a mess which like St. Mirren, Falkirk or Dundee will take time to turn around, and if that's in March then it's time we might not have.

[SpoonTon]

I'd argue that the squad Ross inherited wasn't actually that bad. It was underachieving, had some players who were finished and others who were underperforming, but also had some decent players about it. He made two or three very good signings and a couple of other capable signings and ended up with a very good squad. The key thing after that was that he was able to get the very best out of them.

 

JJ hasn't shown himself to be capable in that way yet, and there are one or two worrying signs, but I'm certainly not going to rule out him turning things around. It often takes a manager a while to get things going.

[vikingTON]

And how often does it take a club and fanbase ‘a while’ to work out that a complete novice new manager is completely out of his depth and needs to be emptied?

 

A: Much more often than this current wishful thinking exercise works out in practice.

[vikingTON]

Any manager who took over the comfortable position that we were in in September and now has us looking over our shoulders at a relegation battle going into this laughably overrated transfer window is not of the required standard going forward. You can’t sign your way past a complete lack of ability on the training ground and in the dugout with our budget and reach any of the realistic aspirations for this club.

[Mr Toon]

I think 'comfortable position' is something of an exaggeration. We were out of two cups and had a league record of two wins, one draw and one loss.

 

Far too early to judge how we were going to do. The squad is and was clearly unbalanced and we have had a number of injuries. Denny, from whom so much was expected has never been available apart from a fleeting few minutes.

 

We will never know if McKinnon would have done better with the same set of circumstances but already those on here who predicted that Falkirk would be ahead of us by Christmas have been proved wrong.

 

I frankly don't know if JJ will cut it as a manager only time will tell but suggesting that he should be sacked at the moment is daft.

 

A couple of decent signings could make a huge difference.

 

Edit to add...

 

And JJ has never once criticised the players or moaned about the quality of the squad he inherited while The Rat has on a weekly basis basically said 'none of this is my fault, it's all down to what was here when I came' with the implication that he'll sort it in January. He may do so but I hope not.

[JimJam]

Heard yesterday that Serge Atakayi was on the JJ radar. 

[EanieMeany]

I think 'comfortable position' is something of an exaggeration. We were out of two cups and had a league record of two wins, one draw and one loss.

 

Far too early to judge how we were going to do. The squad is and was clearly unbalanced and we have had a number of injuries. Denny, from whom so much was expected has never been available apart from a fleeting few minutes.

 

We will never know if McKinnon would have done better with the same set of circumstances but already those on here who predicted that Falkirk would be ahead of us by Christmas have been proved wrong.

 

I frankly don't know if JJ will cut it as a manager only time will tell but suggesting that he should be sacked at the moment is daft.

 

A couple of decent signings could make a huge difference.

 

Edit to add...

 

And JJ has never once criticised the players or moaned about the quality of the squad he inherited while The Rat has on a weekly basis basically said 'none of this is my fault, it's all down to what was here when I came' with the implication that he'll sort it in January. He may do so but I hope not.

 

If Johansson said anything close to that effect he would never get another manager's job. If he even thinks that he should resign his current one. He hadn't inherited a Page, Wallace, Cham affair, if he can't make the players there better than they have been under him then he's failed, simple as that.

[Madton]

Edit to add...

 

And JJ has never once criticised the players or moaned about the quality of the squad he inherited while The Rat has on a weekly basis basically said 'none of this is my fault, it's all down to what was here when I came' with the implication that he'll sort it in January. He may do so but I hope not.

Was saying the same thing yesterday. Classic deflection tactics from the snake. That terrible squad has took points off Ross County, beat Inverness and Dunfermline so must have something in their locker. You see managers taking over teams struggling and changing them for the better fairly often but all he does is blame the squad and talks about January every week. If I was a Falkirk fan I'd be seriously questioning if he was the right man, but most still blame Hartley it seems!

 

Sounds like he will be allowed to spend a fortune in Jan to move loads out and replace with "better quality" hopefully it has the same ending as what happened to us with Kenny Shiels rather than what Jack Ross did with St Mirren.

[Mr Toon]

If Johansson said anything close to that effect he would never get another manager's job. If he even thinks that he should resign his current one. He hadn't inherited a Page, Wallace, Cham affair, if he can't make the players there better than they have been under him then he's failed, simple as that.

I was making the comparison between him and McKinnon. I think it is also reasonable to point out in response to your comments that most of the pundits and also the bookies rated the Falkirk squad much more strongly than ours at the start of the season.

 

So which of the managers is doing better so far?

[JimJam]

I was making the comparison between him and McKinnon. I think it is also reasonable to point out in response to your comments that most of the pundits and also the bookies rated the Falkirk squad much more strongly than ours at the start of the season.

 

So which of the managers is doing better so far?

 

If you think McKinnon is that bad, why do you even care?

 

Just be happy that he's gone mate.

[EanieMeany]

Since pretty much nobody takes the rent-a-goons who make up newspaper predictions at all seriously, I won't be using them as a barometer of success.

[Jamie_M]

 

And actually think the bookies even look at the squads and signings at this level when opening the odds.

 

[BluebirdTon]

Apparently we’ve spoken to Rangers regarding Myles Beerman, although the Maltese mob want to keep him.

[TheGoon]

Apparently we’ve spoken to Rangers regarding Myles Beerman, although the Maltese mob want to keep him.

The Maltese mob he’s barely getting a game for? I normally trust you BBT but we’re stretching here.

[TRVMP]

He seems to come off the bench most weeks. He's made just one league start, though, a month ago.

 

The mob in question is the one that beat Hearts a couple of seasons back. That was a laugh. 15,000 of them at Tynecastle to see them lose to a bunch of fishermen and smugglers*.

 

*I assume. Not racist.

[TheGoon]

I’d murder for the chance to see us lose to some fishermen and smugglers, Malta’s great.

[TRVMP]

I've never been, as part of my long-standing policy of not visiting countries whose alphabets have the letter H with a line through the top. Ħ just looks wrong and I won't have any part of it.

[JimJam]

I went to Malta once for just over 4 hours.

 

Don't ask, long story.