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Q And A Night With Alex And David


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Both came across very well. There were a few critical questions and even some relating to how things were before they came on-board. Its all about looking forward with the new management team and judging them on their abilities.

I did notice on Saturday that David Longwell was out at half-time with the players, which obviously states that he has listened to the fella that complained about the subs doing bugger all during the break.

Seems like an attitude thing which led to McMullan leaving.

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Both came across very well. There were a few critical questions and even some relating to how things were before they came on-board. Its all about looking forward with the new management team and judging them on their abilities.

I did notice on Saturday that David Longwell was out at half-time with the players, which obviously states that he has listened to the fella that complained about the subs doing bugger all during the break.

Seems like an attitude thing which led to McMullan leaving.

... what does it say about Thommo's management / assistant management credentials that we have to send a youth team coach out with our subs to stop them, in the words of Alex Rae, "fannying about" at half time, when other clubs players seem perfectly capable of doing drills at half time by themselves? Thommo's now 37, and it looked like he'd rather watch adverts on the big screen at half time than warm up properly.

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They better be good at managing clubs cause I don't think either of them will make it as after dinner speakers.....:rolleyes:

The information was alright. At least it seemed frank and honest. Most of the stuff I'd agree with and I was certainly interested to hear Alex Rae's comments about Hamilton's Community set up. It's interesting that he thinks the development of players through the system is down to the coaching set up when I'd argue it's much more to do with the scale of the operation and a kind of self fulfilling prophecy where better players will go to Hamilton just because people like Alex Rae think that's where there best results are coming from. At Hamilton, like anywhere else, it's really just a numbers game. If the operation is big enough you're going to get a higher number of gems coming through. Their Community operation is bigger than the pro youth set ups at clubs like St Mirren and that works because they've got a large number of rather average kids who will never make it as footballers paying their weekly subs into the set up while St Mirren rely on grants and fund raising to finance their set up where even the "shirt fillers" aren't required to pay their way. The same is true when you look at clubs like Mill United, Hutchison Vale, Tynecastle Boys Club, Stein Thistle, Cumbernauld Colts etc where they've often got more than one side playing in each age group.

I'd also say that if they are signing players where the homework has been done they should know exactly what they are getting and they shouldn't have a situation where they worry about giving a player a contract for more than 12 months incase they want to move them off the payroll for next season.

Other than that I'd find it difficult to argue with anything that was said.

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I feel a bit nervous about admitting this, but am I the only one who doesn't give a monkeys about leaving players up when we're defending a corner? The management team are the pros, will decide how the team should be set up to defend corners, and I find it impossible to get excited about.

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I feel a bit nervous about admitting this, but am I the only one who doesn't give a monkeys about leaving players up when we're defending a corner? The management team are the pros, will decide how the team should be set up to defend corners, and I find it impossible to get excited about.

Same....people just have their own bug bears. I'm surprised there wasn't a question about "jessie" boots. Rae and Farrell were quite right. Different opponents will provide different threats from set pieces. You have to adapt as required.

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I feel a bit nervous about admitting this, but am I the only one who doesn't give a monkeys about leaving players up when we're defending a corner? The management team are the pros, will decide how the team should be set up to defend corners, and I find it impossible to get excited about.

The manager said he would leave players up when he thinks it's ok and will bring everyone back if he thinks he needs to, his choice and i wouldn't complain about it unless it became a problem again.

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Just watched it. Alex Rae is everything I like in a manager . Can put folk in there place and is hard but fair

Would love to know who the senior player was he gave a rollicking. I'm guessing it was gow as his attitude stinks in my opinion

Maybe I picked it up wrong but did he not refer to one of the younger ones being on the receiving end of something, and that led to the senior player getting it?

My memory goes back to training ground incidents of note in relatively recent history. I may be wrong and being unfair though. 2 + 2 don't always equal 4!

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Always very reluctant to read anything into really anything a manager says in public. You just need to go back a few months to Ian Murray's Q and A and you'll see a thread full of people on this forum saying how well he came and Spalding came across. Then he was the worst manager in the history of the football club. These things really don't matter.

However, Rae doesn't only talk a good game. He's clearly made a huge difference not only to the team since his arrival, but the football club as a whole.

I confess i didn't know much about him when he was appointed and was, at best, sceptically optimistic. I thought he was a bit of a nut job and we would see touch line and post match meltdowns and him being sent to the stand on a relatively regular basis.

He doesn't seem to be like that at all though. He's clearly a pretty smart guy who knows his stuff and he comes across in a calm, rational manner.

His primary objective when he arrived was to keep us in the league. We were right in that relegation mire when he arrived, now we are 8 points clear of 9th with a game in hand. We are - barring an almighty collapse - pretty much safe.

Anything he achieves beyond that would be a bonus. If he somehow gets us in 4th he should be up for manager of the year.

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I watched the QOS TV highlights and, though it's not much to go on, especially in view of comments that we're still not playing that well, I thought there was a big difference in attitude. In previous matches I've seen, a lot of what we did seemed to be ponderous - almost half-hearted. In the QOS game I got the impression that players were trying to join attacks quickly and also busting a gut to get back behind the ball in defence. Anyway, I hope that's a correct impression as we'll win matches that way and better football should hopefully follow on as confidence grows. Perhaps I should switch this to the optimism thread!

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Watched the full video last night and was so impressed.

Not only did I agree with his every word, but it was obvious he commands respect from everyone.

I was underwhelmed at his appointment but holdmy hands up... I got that well wrong.

Pretty much my thoughts as well.

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Personally thought Rae spoke utter shite on the youth football side of things, how can players develop into a decent standard and learn to pass the ball if the first team manager just wants it lumped up the park. It's dinosaur attitudes like this that is why Scottish football is rank, no wonder D Longwell is leaving...

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I feel a bit nervous about admitting this, but am I the only one who doesn't give a monkeys about leaving players up when we're defending a corner? The management team are the pros, will decide how the team should be set up to defend corners, and I find it impossible to get excited about.

totally disagree, if u leave no players up u invite more of the opposition players into your box with a chance to score, leave one or two up top they need two or three players back to defend thus reducing the risk of you losing a goal. U also have no out ball there asking for pressure.
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Not sure "lumping it up the park" is fair to Alex Rae. He may feel that in the position he inherited, the best policy for now is to get the ball away from your goal , either up or off the field which at least gives the defence time to regroup. I think he has talked about "not fannying about at the back" which can lead to mistakes, interceptions and, unfortunately, goals against. There's a big difference between playing about at the back (which we seem to have done in recent years to our cost) and playing out from the back. I'm all for teaching the youngsters to play out from the back as long as the emphasis is on getting up the field quickly - if you haven't seen the video of the under 13's against Hibs, have a look. It looks like they've been taught to pass and run into space for a return. That philosophy should continue post-Longwell and I think it will under Alex Rae. I also think we'll see it start to appear in the first team if we can get further away from the bottom of the table, but we need to have players capable of doing it - and grafting too!

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Personally thought Rae spoke utter shite on the youth football side of things, how can players develop into a decent standard and learn to pass the ball if the first team manager just wants it lumped up the park. It's dinosaur attitudes like this that is why Scottish football is rank, no wonder D Longwell is leaving...

coming from you that's quite something lol
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It’s easy to buy into a summary of events, rather than listening to what Rae actually said.

Must admit I wasn’t keen on the guy at first, but there’s no denying he has a certain quality about him. The combination of Rae and Farrell seems to be well trusted. Rae the more vocal of the pair, with a strong idea of where he wants to take the club. Farrell is a bit of a silent assassin, fully behind Rae and clearly knows his way of thinking.

The dynamic in the dressing room must be entirely different now. Players know that if they don’t perform, Rae and Farrell won’t hesitate to swing the axe. Got to have respect for that no nonsense approach. Messrs Gow, Howieson and Agnew might be on a shaky peg come summer.

Impressed by his approach to the first team. Football is a results business. Winning brings confidence, confidence brings good football. “Tippy tappy pish” at the back has never impressed me at St Mirren, but I do like to see fast, direct football going forward. I don’t believe Rae means he wants to play hoof baw – rather, he just feels that direct football is the way to get results in this division. It’s difficult to disagree with him on that.

As for the development team, there is an argument to be made that it’s not ideal preparation for the first team. But every team is in the same boat with no B team or reserve league in Scotland. Hope he doesn’t attempt to change the way our development squad plays as I feel this could damage our tremendous reputation for bringing through young talent.

Overall, very impressed! Hope to see his words translate on to the pitch.

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Like the previous poster, I wasnt keen on this managerial appointment,but as results appear to have picked up (admittedly from a very low point)I suppose the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Having only heard Alex Rae on radio, he struck me as being like Lennon,Craig,Macpherson in that he is pretty inarticulate and ought to be kept away from microphones for his own good. However its likely that modern footballers would be unimpressed if Stephen Hawking gave the team talk, so if a certain amount of cajoling by Rae and his hand picked assistant gets the players moving, its not such a bad thing.

Until things go wrong - and by that I mean defeat tomorrow - Rae has the Frogs temporary indulgence, which is more than can be said for anyone over the last few years.

Whilst still on my one man campaign againt admission prices at home, I am tempted to go to QOS tomorrow to pass judgement on my teams progress, or otherwise.

Now, back to find a cold damp place under my rock.

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As demonstrated by his predecessors who could not manage a home win between them, Raes blunt approach seems to be just the tonic we needed. I will be honest when Alloa went one up I thought, we are down. The 80 mins that followed plus the QOS game has shown 2 wins 4 goals and 6 points, we now look up rather than down.

I am also not naïve like some here that we go from total Murray shit to Barca in a few weeks. Fact is OUR players now know they can win at home, our players are getting win bonuses, our players can see a play off promo rather than a play off drop zone, and our fans can actually think we might win this, rather than we wont.

We got 9 wins and 26 league losses last season, add to that 10 losses last season. Thats 36 defeats in 14 months of football months

Since Rae has come in we have had 4 wins in 7 weeks, trhats quite a mindset turnaround. Of course we are not playing silky flowing football but now if we get to 4th after the Murray car crash that will be IMHO a success and something to build on

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Not sure "lumping it up the park" is fair to Alex Rae. He may feel that in the position he inherited, the best policy for now is to get the ball away from your goal , either up or off the field which at least gives the defence time to regroup. I think he has talked about "not fannying about at the back" which can lead to mistakes, interceptions and, unfortunately, goals against. There's a big difference between playing about at the back (which we seem to have done in recent years to our cost) and playing out from the back. I'm all for teaching the youngsters to play out from the back as long as the emphasis is on getting up the field quickly - if you haven't seen the video of the under 13's against Hibs, have a look. It looks like they've been taught to pass and run into space for a return. That philosophy should continue post-Longwell and I think it will under Alex Rae. I also think we'll see it start to appear in the first team if we can get further away from the bottom of the table, but we need to have players capable of doing it - and grafting too!

Nah I think Rae and Farrell will stick to the style that served him well throughout his playing years. Neither were silky players, neither ever played for football clubs that played silky football. Both achieved great results and all their success through playing basic simple football where there was always an tendency to play the ball long and to be as organised as possible at the back.

Who cares though? If it gets results St Mirren fans will love it regardless.

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Nah I think Rae and Farrell will stick to the style that served him well throughout his playing years. Neither were silky players, neither ever played for football clubs that played silky football. Both achieved great results and all their success through playing basic simple football where there was always an tendency to play the ball long and to be as organised as possible at the back.

Who cares though? If it gets results I will love it regardless.

You do care. whistling.gif

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