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DreamOakTree

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Posts posted by DreamOakTree

  1. Just now, DreamOakTree said:

    He made 1 appearance in 74/75, he established himself in the team in 75/76, so I was still wrong. I

    I'm sure he signed at the same time as Bobby Street. Could it be it took Bobby 7 years to get into the first team?

  2. 13 hours ago, Cet Homme Charmant said:

    It was 2 years. Signed in 72, debut in 74. 

    Probably best to do a bit of rudimentary research before making up stories :)

    He made 1 appearance in 74/75, he established himself in the team in 75/76, so I was still wrong. I

  3. On 1/29/2024 at 6:57 PM, TAFKAC said:

    You said "I later told my close friend since teenage years, John McMaster, and he told me it took him 7 years to get into Aberdeen’s first team." 

    According to McMaster's book and Wikipedia "McMaster signed for Aberdeen in 1972 at the age of 17, and was loaned out for a full season to Peterhead in the Highland League.  He broke into the Aberdeen first team in the 74/75 season and then played 21 games in the 75/76 season, when he was 20." 

    Who are we to believe?

    I just checked and you are correct. I don't know where I got the 7 years from then, so I'm obviously mistaken if it was 4. 

  4. 18 hours ago, TAFKAC said:

    McMaster signed for Aberdeen in 1972 at the age of 17, and was loaned out for a full season to Peterhead in the Highland League.  He broke into the Aberdeen first team in the 74/75 season and then played 21 games in the 75/76 season, when he was 20.  

    You should read his biography, McMaster and Commander.  An interesting read, co-authored by my old man's cousin.  

    If a kid can't play one touch football in a controlled environment, then they're not getting beyond park football.

    I have a signed copy from Johnny, with "to a fellow spammer" on it. Yes it was a good read. I was playing football wity him the day he signed for Aberdeen. His timber house overlooked the Gibshill football pitch, and they sent a message down for him to come up to the house as Bobby Calder was waiting to speak to him. Johnny came back down with his copy of the signing on form, absolutely chuffed to bits as you would imagine. 

    And Johnny's point was they tested all players in that way, not that they set up training for one trialist as someone suggested.

  5. 7 hours ago, Cet Homme Charmant said:

    Tell me DOT, did you lack attention as a child?  image.png

    The answer to that is yes, 100%. My survival instinct told me to always give 100% to everything I did from then on. Unfortunately that’s exactly what I didn’t do at Den Haag. I got frustrated at the 1 and 2 touch 7 a side games and asked why we weren’t doing anything else, like a full eleven a side game where I could show what I had and be judged on that. I later told my close friend since teenage years, John McMaster, and he told me it took him 7 years to get into Aberdeen’s first team. He said they were just testing me to see if I would stick with it without complaining, therefore I failed badly in terms of commitment, probably for the first time in my life. I greatly regret that I didn’t persevere, so instead of the Roy of the Rovers poster, it should be a violin!

  6. On 1/25/2024 at 2:13 PM, Cet Homme Charmant said:

    DOT, I don't know the best way to tell you this, so I'm just going to come right out with it. Nobody cares. 

    Anyway, tell us about the time you nutmegged Johan Cruyff at the age of 40 straight after the nightshift.

    Well I suppose as this is a general nonsense thread, and I'm being ridiculed for being ridiculous, then I might as well give you the even more ridiculous truth about what happened the night Den Haag asked me to trial with them. Might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb as they say.

    I'd always played up the right side of the pitch, mostly as a right back, but occasionally right mid or right wing. That night at Den Haag I started on the bench, but our centre forward was taken off injured after about 20 minutes. Our coach came over and asked if anyone could play centre forward and I put my hand up. I'd been watching the good service to the centre forward and thought I could do a half decent job, despite being only 5ft 6 and the Dutch as far as I know are the tallest people in Europe. I went on and the highest ball I received all game was about chest height. I played out of my skin, scored a 20 yarder, hit the bar from 30 yards and kept holding the ball up till my team mates got up the pitch.

    I'd never possessed a lot of skill so relied mostly on speed, strength and energy, so skill wise I must've played the game of my life that night. When our coach said after the game that the manager wanted to speak to me, I said "manager of who?", when he said "Den Haag" I couldn't believe it. Sure enough though it was the Den Haag Manager, who turned out to be Co Adriansse.

    I know my age at the time has been mentioned but my last game of football was in 2018, at 63 years old, which was the first time I ever got injured on a football pitch, a sprained ligament on an astroturf pitch. I took ages to recover and have never played since. I still go to the gym 3 times a week though so I am still pretty fit, which perhaps explains why I was so fit at 37.

  7. 2 hours ago, Toby said:

     

    I saw this on Wednesday night, but having spent an hour or so writing a match preview for Saturday, for the first time in my life I couldn’t handle the thought of talking about Morton any longer, especially with you.

    I might get back to this at some point, and might not- dare say that if I do, I’ll argue that you’re talking shite and we’ll bat it back and forward.

    You’ve bored me into submission for the time being.

    Well I did do gave you the courtesy of spending the time finding examples of the previous consensus I was referring to. I wasn't expecting you to all of a sudden start agreeing with me, and that's fair enough. Anyway that's my search complete so make of it what you will. 

    • Downvote 1
  8. To complete my response to Toby:

    thehustlerPosted September 16, 2023 (edited)

    Very poor decision. Release young, talented player and sign a perennially injured player from a lower league club. Some might think Imrie is deliberately ruining our season....see signing of a useless, finished centre back.

    SpoonTonPosted October 2, 2023

    I think the point is that there are those who think Imrie has been wrong about players like Strapp, McGregor, Lyon, etc and think he's not gone about things in the right way. He can support McGregor, dislike Imrie, and still like Morton. 

    AlibiPosted October 2, 2023

     
    "If Lewis is bitter about Imrie, it doesn't mean he's suddenly going to hate the club that he has played with, developed as a player, and given great service too, for several years.  Still think Imrie was wrong to let him go and it does seem he may have some issue with our youth academy players generally."

    Dougie Imrie: Greenock Telegraph December 2, 2023

    “I’ve always been a believer if you’re good enough you’re old enough. I’m not scared or frightened to play the kids.” 

    thehustlerPosted December 4, 2023

    "I figure DreamOakTree has some validity in his opinions"

    AlibiPosted December 4, 2023 (edited)

    I think there was a widespread perception that Imrie was preferring more experienced players over some of those who had come through our youth system - Mcgrattan being the most obvious example, but also to an extent King, Lyon, McGarrity etc, and others, even including Strapp.  However recently there does seem to have been a bit of a sea change, and I think that's maybe a tacit admission by Imrie that we have been held back by at least a couple of our regular starters and that he has been perhaps too cautious in his team selections. 

    I don't know Dream Oak Tree and have no wish to be drawn into an argument with those who don't seem to have any time for him, but I think he's maybe just been a bit slow to realise that our management team might be taking on board some of the valid criticisms that have been made about the younger members of our squad being ignored or not used to their full potential.  

     

  9. 26 minutes ago, SassenachTon said:

    Show me.

    Edit = Oh, wait. I found it. "Dougie Imrie vs. home-grown young talent". Either you didn't read it, or you somehow misunderstood the fact that the entire thread was created to dispel and disprove your pish rantings. Clue = your name's up in lights on the very first line. If you think that I was one of 'the few' who even remotely agreed with you, then you're a fucking mile off. But because I'm a decent bloke, I'll accept a public apology from you on here for completely misrepresenting me.

     

    You made it onto Dougie’s “THE FEW” shortlist not because you devised the above thread, but due to your following post:

    SassenachTonPosted September 20, 2022

    Apart from the insanity of Blues starting every game, the greatest team selection mystery to me is why Lewis Strapp is being used to keep the bench warm. I thought he was arguably our most solid player last season.

    if you disagree then take it up with Dougie.

    • Downvote 1
  10. 8 minutes ago, Cet Homme Charmant said:

    Very cynical if I may say so. I mean, what's so hard to believe about a near 40 year old being called up for trials to Eredivisie club Den Haag, solely on the basis of what their manager saw at an amateur works match, only to be personally coached by the world famous Rob Rensenbrink, who himself had only just retired from an illustrious footballing career, including appearances in two world cup finals? 

    And yet some still suggest he's a fantasist. 

     

    I was 37. I've been advised the coach was likely Rob Ouwehand and the manager was definitely Co Adriaanse. Also for your information  works football is a big deal in The Netherlands and Germany. I worked at Keppel Verolme (but didn't play for them) and they reached the final of the European works teams tournament, where they were beaten by a major German works team. Their stadium was also very impressive with a clubhouse, bar and restaurant. 

  11. 10 hours ago, Toby said:

    No, your point was about his policy towards youth academy graduates in general, not about how he got along with individuals or about whether he decided to select/keep on/release said individuals, which the quoted posts relate to.

    I haven’t said some of them are tame- some of them are really harsh on Imrie, and I’m sure that in hindsight, some of the posters will have a different stance now. But none of them are relevant to your argument.

    You’re just throwing everything you can at this, hoping something will stick.

    No, my point was that other posters were voicing similar concerns as myself regarding academy players. The posts I've copied specifically show exactly that, as I've missed out the generalistic posts you're talking about for that very reason. If you believe in smoke without fire then:

    a) Why did SassenachTon start a new thread entirely devoted to that subject?

    b) Why did Dougie recently refer to "THE FEW" who questioned his policy on academy players? Other posters have said he reads this forum (which I first refuted), so what posts would he be referring to if not those above?

    Those posts had a similar tone to mine at the time, i.e. an open question on whether academy players were getting a bit of a raw deal, with a caveat that we trusted Dougie to get everything else right. Here's an example below which may be even more tame than the other posters.

    DreamOakTreePosted September 21, 2022

    "I thought Strapp was our most influential player by far. I was one of many who was worried we’d lose him and was delighted when he signed on again. Imrie has my backing but this looks a strange decision."
     
    I first changed the narrative with the post below, where I directly questioned Dougie's attitude. It was at this point I started getting kickback from other posters. This grew to the point when I lost the plot with my outrageous personal rant towards Dougie.
     

    DreamOakTreePosted April 15, 2023

    I find it a bit stomach churning that Dougie would tell our possibly best player that he’s got no future at Morton, while he’s trying to recover from a long term injury. Imrie has a very good ratio in improving players who were unpopular with the fans, plus his new signings. I wonder if he has something against popular home grown players such as Strapp, McGrattan, McGregor, Lyon etc. If so I’m not sure why this would be the case. 

    It was relatively recently that Dougie started to rectify his attitude towards our academy players. You were citing evidence from within that recent time frame of a couple of months compared to the references I’ve made starting well over a year ago. I don’t know what it would take to make you admit your recollection of that time frame which shows that Dougie has completely turned around his approach to our Academy Graduates.

     


     

     

  12. 22 minutes ago, Toby said:

    Tell you what, stick a link to every post and I’ll red dot them accordingly, will that make you feel better?

    I’ve responded as you requested. Your point was that I was always the lone voice with concerns over Dougie’s attitude to our academy graduates.
    My point was that wasn’t always the case, though it did become the case several months back. If you think those examples of such concerns above are a bit tame, then they later ceased to exist altogether, to the point no decision Dougie made could be even remotely questioned.

     

  13. Hang on though, some of those comments are the type of thing I’m absolutely hounded for, apart from my angry rant. Have you actually read them? 

    “It just seems pretty jarring to be so completely ostracising the player who was absolutely crucial to the initial run under Imrie”

    “I think that's got to be pretty demoralising for the likes of McGrattan and King, even leaving Lyon aside.”

    “If we see Blues starting again on Saturday ahead of King or McGrattanafter the comments about repeated errors, it'll be hard not to see it as a rare example of poor management from Imrie.”

    “Pretty shambolic recruitment and decision making from Imrie in the market this summer.”

    “Dougie not wanting him, wtf.”

    “not even making him an offer is a baffling decision.”

    “It was not that long ago we were being told a crucial element in the financial viability of the club was through rearing young talent to sell on.”

    “I am astonished at Dougie's attitude.”

     

  14. 11 minutes ago, Toby said:

    Every manager in the world is questioned by fans on matters such as team selection and who is brought in and released.

    Your post alluded to many other posters voicing concerns about Imrie’s policy towards the club’s academy, not whether or not they agree with every decision a manager has made that concerns certain players.

    You’re really clutching at straws if you think some of these posts are questioning his policy towards the youth academy in general, rather than simply disagreeing with particular decisions.

    After waiting the best part of 48 hours for all these posts questioning his policy, this is quite a let down.

    I meant to say that’s only the first batch. It’s very time consuming and I’m only halfway through one thread. 

  15. FTAO Toby:

    The evidence you requested that several posters apart from myself had similar concerns over Dougie's policy towards our academy graduates:

    EanieMeany:  Posted September 4, 2022 

    It's a structural issue that isn't going to go away as long as Blues is in the team even if another player can cover sufficient ground to mitigate it, so complaining about another player not following instructions when that exists and impacts on the other player’s decisions is somewhat myopic and at the very least it was surely worth giving Lyon one last shot alongside Gillespie and Crawford to see what he could do with real footballers around him before booting him out. If that didn’t work, so be it, but we’re in no position to write off a player that was very justifiably given an extended contract months before.

    Whilst there's not much point dwelling too much on Lyon and there's a risk of getting into the "Griffiths could still be a 20 goal a season striker" Celtic Da territory by spending too much time talking about him - it has to be acknowledged there's a bit of a recurring theme with him, although in doing so there's also other factors there such as previous managers being utterly fuckin shite - I think it just seems pretty jarring to be so completely ostracising the player who was absolutely crucial to the initial run of under Imrie that ultimately proved decisive in the end whilst Blues gets to play every minute of every game no matter how bad he is, and then getting rewarded with a new contract especially when Imrie is always talking about repeated errors. I think that's got to be pretty demoralising for the likes of McGrattan and King, even leaving Lyon aside. 

    The overwhelming majority of what Imrie's done and is doing has been and excellent and taking the Lyon situation in isolation, I'd be more than willing to trust his judgement being right even if I think it's a shame it's turned out that that way, but when you put in the context of a far, far worse player playing every minute of every game at the expense of others (again, McGrattan has more than earned a go in his place), getting a new contract and even getting the captaincy for a game, it's not quite so clear that it's being handled correctly. If we see Blues starting again on Saturday ahead of King or McGrattan after the comments about repeated errors, it'll be hard not to see it as a rare example of poor management from Imrie and compounding a far from convincing transfer window, and unlikely to do much for the moral of other options. You can't maintain high standards when you keep allowing one and only one player to get away with failing to meet them.

    SassenachTonPosted September 20, 2022

    Apart from the insanity of Blues starting every game, the greatest team selection mystery to me is why Lewis Strapp is being used to keep the bench warm. I thought he was arguably our most solid player last season.

    DumfriesTonPosted September 30, 2022

    Assuming Lithgow misses out we're going into tomorrow with 1 fit centre back and 1 fit striker. Lyon and Garrity loaned out. Be about 4 players on the bench  Pretty shambolic recruitment and decision making from Imrie in the market this summer. 

    RossMcC1874: Posted January 5, 2023

    Surprised at McGregor as he is still young and looked quite decent anytime I saw him but again was barely getting any game time thought a loan would be good idea but obviously Imrie knows what he is looking for. Does leave us quite light in terms of bodies but I would imagine we would have some incomings surely. 

                                                                       EanieMeany  Posted January 5, 2023

    As for McGregor, obviously we don't know the full story but on the face of it I feel like he's been a wee bit hard done by this season tbh. It'd be quite hard to argue he's not shown enough any time he's got on the pitch to merit getting off the bench ahead of Kabia more often, at the least. Will be interesting to see where he ends up, if anywhere.

    Greacen2000, Posted January 5, 2023

    Mcgregor is a bit of a strange one for me - definitely a player who I though had a lot of potential every time I’ve seen him play.  He won’t have been earning a huge amount so isn’t exactly freeing up loads of cash to spend on reinforcements.  On the face of it I would have thought loaning him out to get game time at a lower level might have made more sense.
     

    ScottPosted April 8, 2023

    https://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/sport/23442707.lewis-strapp-set-leave-morton-12-year-stay/
    I’m a bit surprised Imrie has told him he won’t be here next season. I’d have hoped to hold on to Strapp, but can’t grudge him a move. Hope he does well wherever he goes. 

    MadtonPosted April 8, 2023

    Dougie not wanting him, wtf. 

    ScottPosted April 8, 2023

    He’s been told he’s not in Imrie’s plans. Expected him to move on but thought we’d at least try to keep him 

    dunning1874Posted April 8, 2023

    It's not been hard to figure out from some public comments that Imrie and Strapp don't get on well off the pitch, and he was always near certain to have better offers this summer anyway so I didn't expect him to stay. Regardless of having no confidence of keeping him though, not even making him an offer is a baffling decision. There is almost no chance of us getting a replacement of the same calibre, and in the unlikely event he doesn't have top flight or English offers then we'll look extremely daft if he ends up at Ayr or something while we have an inferior player at left back. Get an offer on the table and if he doesn't take it then so be it.

    Posted April 8, 2023

    This. A player of his calibre …… what ‘plans’ does he not fit into, exactly? Jeez-o.
     

    HamCamPosted April 8, 2023

    While I always assumed Strapp was off at the end of the season it is head scratching to hear the decision was effectively made for him. It was not that long ago we were being told a crucial element in the financial viability of the club was through rearing young talent to sell on. Lyon now Strapp look are not going to make the club money, leaving us with McGrattan and King as the next 'projects'. Concerning then to see both players getting less game time especially as they were an integral part of the squad that performed so well up to the beginning of the year. 

    GiGiPosted April 9, 2023

    Think it's clear they just don't get on.

    vikingTONPosted April 13, 2023

    Waters is a downgrade on Strapp IMO and is not the answer if we have serious ambition to compete in the promotion play-offs. 

    AlibiPosted April 13, 2023

    Unless it's a matter of cost control, or Strapp himself is desperate to leave (which impression I don't get from the statements made), why would we want to downgrade?  Based on Strapp's performances over the last few seasons, I think we would find it hard to upgrade.  I don't have any problem with Waters as he seems to have done OK for us, but Strapp is a big loss to us and I am astonished at Dougie's attitude.  I think if Lewis can get a gig that pays significantly more, then yes, he would be daft not to take it, but to just tell him he's not wanted at Morton for footballing reasons seems ridiculous.

     

     

  16. Hi Admin, I see I no longer have the reply facilities on the main Cowshed Chat forum. 

    Fair enough if that's what you've decided based on my rants, as I probably brought it on myself. However I was searching through previous threads so that I can respond to Toby's request for evidence that there were several posters with similar concerns to myself regarding youth development at Cappielow. I would need to click on "quote" in order to accurately copy the post with the poster's name. Would it be possible to have my access restored temporarily until I complete my response on this thread, and then block my access again on Cowshed Chat?

    • Downvote 2
  17. It’s just suddenly struck me that the guys on here who I always thought were intellectuals with a great insight into what’s going on at Cappielow, are perhaps just good at putting paragraphs together and making sure their spelling and grammar are immaculate.
    Perhaps they have degrees in subjects such as philosophy or psychology, where their exam results are based on how they express their opinions, rather than actually having to deliver tangible results, Just a thought……….

  18. 3 minutes ago, Toby said:

    You’ll be able to return the courtesy that I afforded you when I outlined how many minutes Imrie had given young players by citing each of these posts from yourself and others from well over a year ago, then?

    The floor is yours.

    Give me some time to search back over them then, for the sake of clarity. 
    As I said though, Dougie has resolved that (only) missing part of his tick list of managerial attributes. And please don’t be misled that he’s only made that u-turn for the benefit of Morton. He’ll have been aware that he’s been overlooked for several managerial vacancies and will have realised that no club would have touched him with a barge pole if he didn’t have a positive attitude towards youth development, let alone being completely against the idea. Now that he’s added that attribute to his CV, watch his name start to appear on managerial short lists going forward.

    • Downvote 2
  19. 4 hours ago, Toby said:

    He was giving youths their chance before your foul mouthed outburst, as I detailed at length about a month ago, as per your request, perhaps?

    It was well over a year ago that I and several others started being concerned over Dougie’s youth policy. He’s addressed it now with interest, but you’re getting too obsessed with a particular post you made a month ago to allow yourself focus on the events.

    • Downvote 3
  20. Just now, Cet Homme Charmant said:

    No one, literally no one, has even remotely suggested Dougie has changed his policy on playing youths, let alone on the basis of a one-man crusade by a deluded fantasist. 

    Then if you’re so clever, please describe what else could have possibly happened?

    • Downvote 4
  21. 7 minutes ago, Toby said:

    “No other club would take the wee rancid chino-clad self-obsessed piece of shit, so we need to sack the wee pathetic fucker to rid the club of his development player hater, old pals’ lover mentality, before it’s too late. Although IMO it’s already too late as the wee addictive rat has already royally fucked up our club structure,and from where I’m looking, has taken great relish from doing so. Get to fuck ya wee puny imposter!”

    I’ve already admitted several times that I was completely out of order with that drink fuelled rant, adding that there is nothing that could excuse it. 
    It was an online post though, which is different from vocally discouraging your own players at the actual match. 


    I’m genuinely amazed to find that Dougie reads this forum, and as such I will find a way to apologise to him in person. If people are genuinely suggesting that he’s turned his policy around to such an extent that he had 6 academy players on the pitch, due to my one man crusade for a better approach to our academy players, then that would be a far better achievement than my trial period with Den Haag, by a country mile!

    • Downvote 7
  22. 23 hours ago, LargsTON said:

    Guys like Blues have to remember that fans will be shelling out a lot of money for consecutive home games at the time of the year when it's usually most tight.  Disappointing to hear this though I wasn't there today.

    Guys like Blues have to remember nothing about so called “supporters” dishing out abuse. Some Morton “fans” have the patience of an XL bully, even during our tenth consecutive game unbeaten! Blues has just gone up on my estimation if he stood up to that abuse on behalf of his team mates. Well said Bluesy!

    • Downvote 7
  23. 22 hours ago, Cet Homme Charmant said:

    Dougie having a wee dig at an Eredivise superstar and Rob Rensenbrink prodigy 

      

    Dougie said “it will hopefully shut a few people up”. At the time of my initial post on the subject, Dougie’s correct in saying there were several of us making the same point. I don’t know why but I ended up as the lone voice in support of our academy graduates. My most recent observation was that I applaud the fact that Dougie has turned that policy around for whatever reason. His statement backs that up 100%. 

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