Alex Rae - Report Card

[Stuart Dickson]

Obvious trolling I know, and I'm not usually one to bite...

Got to laugh at the idea that a midfielder who has scored 11 goals aswell as numerous assists should be 'past his last life'. In the last 4 games, when his form hasn't been great... He's still chipped in with 2 goals and an assist.

2 penalties? Aye well done Stevie Mallan....

[pozbaird]

Fitba' is rather dull and uninspiring under Rae, the fitba' was rather dull and uninspiring under Murray. The fitba' was rather dull, uninspiring and treading water under Teale. The fitba' was dull, uninspiring and utter pish under Craig. Danny, bless his cotton socks, at least tried to do something that aspired to rise above dull, uninspiring shite. The fitba' under MacPherson rapidly became a dull, uninspiring dirge, the fitba' under....

Fades to distance.... Faint cries of 'noooooooooooooo make it stop' heard from my padded cell.

[TopCat]

2 penalties? Aye well done Stevie Mallan....

Indeed. Both important goals and well taken penalties.

As the only other penalty we got this season shows, scoring them isn't easy.

[Mykey]

Pass - the results are much better than under Murray

Fail - the football is still shite to watch

[Drew]

Rae has steadied the ship, and deserves credit for that. It has to be noted that it is all relative, however. An improvement on Murray isn't a great deal to shout about, but it is what was required.

The quality of football on display is largely piss poor. Time will tell if that is something that Rae can address in the summer.

[Soctty]

Huge success. Took a team who were bereft of confidence, in serious danger of relegation, and has turned it around.

We've picked up the 4th most points since he took over, behind Rangers, Falkirk and Raith but ahead of Hibs. This would be challenging for play offs form were it from the start of the season. To take a team low on morale and do that has been excellent in my opinion.

Next season will be a different kettle of fish, and he will - as Murray was - be expected to have us in the play off places. Nothing less will do. He's had the luxury of half a season now to assess his squad, and has moved a few out that were doing little, bringing in more competitive, physical players.

I was dead against Rae getting the job, but have to say results speak for themselves.

After having had 4 managers in 19 months, we surely can't afford to let go a guy who finally has us getting results?

[Soctty]

Obvious trolling I know, and I'm not usually one to bite...

Got to laugh at the idea that a midfielder who has scored 11 goals aswell as numerous assists should be 'past his last life'. In the last 4 games, when his form hasn't been great... He's still chipped in with 2 goals and an assist.

The guy is an obvious arse, obivously looking for a reaction. Nobody could seriously be as thick and annoying.

Could they?

[Soctty]

A pass, but only just.

The football remains rotten and I would say there are some good players in the squad who continue to under perform.

Not using Goodwin and Thompson is lunacy too.

The football was rotten under Murray, and we lost all the time too. First move is to stop us losing all the time, then to start us winning a fair amount of the time. We can work on the entertainment value once we're comfortable with winning games.

Not using Goodwin is annoying, but we've done well without him in the main. Thompson is done, and the only lunacy has been his ten minutes at the end of every game that looks as if it's written into his contract...

Thommo is a legend of the club, but he is a shadow of the player he was - no disgrace at his age.

[pandabreath93]

Rae has steadied the ship, and deserves credit for that. It has to be noted that it is all relative, however. An improvement on Murray isn't a great deal to shout about, but it is what was required.

The quality of football on display is largely piss poor. Time will tell if that is something that Rae can address in the summer.

Remember when we were playing great football and finished 8th in the Premiership twice and won the cup. Danny Lennon was not enough to extend his contract though because of reasons unknown.

[munoz]

Has got the results out of a very poor team , so a pass - just .

What I've seen from his style of football , next season could be difficult viewing (hope I'm wrong) .

[Howard Hughes in BlueSuedeShoes]

That's because the odds are that a move breaks down after 5 passes!

Why would you want to string 5 passes together when 50% of all goals come from a move of 1 pass or less!

Leicester City make less passes than anyone in the Premiership. They have the worst passing accuracy and the least amount of possession. They also play more long balls than any other team, most of which are unsuccessful and give the ball away more than anyone else.

But, crucially, of the passes the do make, they make a greater % in the attacking third than any other team... And its usually on the break against disorganised defences.

And they are going to win the fcuking league!

Hiya Captain! Hiya pal!!!

[nedflanders123]

Remember when we were playing great football and finished 8th in the Premiership twice and won the cup. Danny Lennon was not enough to extend his contract though because of reasons unknown.

Black and White tinted glasses mate. We played some nice stuff when Danny first got the job and that disappeared quickly. There were many dark days when we couldn't buy a win and many here were concerned about Danny's health. We had a number of long runs of despair and the cup win, although great, masked how poor we were despite having the likes of Newton, Dummet, McLean and Thommo. By the way, our form post cup win was abysmal. Danny's time was up and the Board made a right Royal f*ck up of replacing him. If they had given the job to an experienced manager then we may still be in the top tier. It was the same after we won the 87 Scottish Cup when we sat on our laurels and didn't strengthen the team under Alex Smith and you know what happened thereafter.

[Kemp]

We can work on the entertainment value once we're comfortable with winning games.

I'm not really sure that is the plan though.

Under Tom Hendrie it didn't take long before we could see entertaining, but more to the point effective, attacking football. I felt pretty confident at the start of the 99/00 season that we could win the league (as did many that took advantage of the generous odds at the bookies!)

We're not making the same progress yet and I think being "difficult to beat" will be the trademark of the Rae & Farrell approach. I'm happy enough for us to take this road, but I would expect some signs of a professional team being on the park: e.g ability to pass more than 5 yards.

ETA: I'm using Hendrie as an example as although it was a while ago, he took over a similarly struggling team in the same league as Rae.

Edited March 29, 2016 by Kemp

[DougJamie]

Hilarious post.

1. A headless chicken would have been better than last 3 managers.

2. Its March!!! We could finish 5th, get some encouraging wins

3 Its March- We could finish in 3rd tier (unlikely) however if we finish worse than 7th, its a disgraceful performance.

4. Love this pish on here that the team aren't playing better, eh they are!!! Rae has 58% Win Ratio, Murray had 12%. So therefore the team are playing better, or by some miracle all the opposition are playing crap.

5. Won 4 of last 6 home games.

This season hopefully has been a huge learning curb, Rae has potential. Many players need to up or get out. He is not playing Goodie due to contract, appearance related pay, as he will need every penny he can get to get a stronger better equipped team.

Finally I would rather win ugly than lose beautiful

[Dibbles old paperboy]

Finally I would rather win ugly than lose beautiful

I think Teale was in charge the last time we lost playing decent football!

[scottd]

I think Teale was in charge the last time we lost playing decent football!

I must have nipped out for a pish when that happened.

[scottd]

I think Teale was in charge the last time we lost playing decent football!

Kilmarnock 1-0 St Mirren

St Johnstone 2-0 St Mirren

Motherwell 5-0 St Mirren

St Mirren 0-3 Ross County

Partick 3-0 St Mirren

All fantastic losing displays under Teale :-)

[Dibbles old paperboy]

Kilmarnock 1-0 St Mirren

St Johnstone 2-0 St Mirren

Motherwell 5-0 St Mirren

St Mirren 0-3 Ross County

Partick 3-0 St Mirren

All fantastic losing displays under Teale :-)

I'm thinking of his first couple of months when we had McLean and McGinn playing and went through a run of games where key refereeing decision went against us :-)

[scottd]

I'm thinking of his first couple of months when we had McLean and McGinn playing and went through a run of games where key refereeing decision went against us :-)

The only one I can think of was Teale's first home game against Well. We played very well that day but were robbed quite frankly. Where I will give Teale credit is that when we won games we generally played some not bad football. , thinking there of the 4-1 win v Killie and the win up at Dens.

[pozbaird]

Who in Scotland IS playing 'nice fitba'? Sellik are treading water just doing enough to win the league without spending much, Sevco are shit-festing their way through the leagues, Aberdeen are best-of-the-rest but aren't exactly Holland '74 or Brazil '70.

Scottish fitba 2016 - utter shite. IMHO.

[Sonny]

Rae is doing the best he can with poor resources. He achieved the aim to keep us in the League.

If he retains most of the players that I think are poor then I will not be encouraged for next season but if he has a good clearout and brings in a decent squad then I'll judge him at Christmas when he has played everyone in the League. Anything less than being in the top five is a fail.

[nosferatu]

A clear out will probably happen but isn't always necessary.

Tom Hendrie turned us into champions with the bulk of the squad he inherited. Indeed, he lost McNamee & O'Brien. The big signing was of course Barry Lavety.

Gus Macpherson also finished 2nd and 1st with a number of the players who had fought against relegation.

And Leicester City have managed to go from fighting relegation to potential champions with more or less the same squad. The addition of a defensive midfielder probably being the main signing...

Edited March 29, 2016 by nosferatu

[Drew]

A clear out will probably happen but isn't always necessary.

Tom Hendrie turned us into champions with the bulk of the squad he inherited. Indeed, he lost McNamee & O'Brien. The big signing was of course Barry Lavety.

Gus Macpherson also finished 2nd and 1st with a number of the players who had fought against relegation.

And Leicester City have managed to go from fighting relegation to potential champions with more or less the same squad. The addition of a defensive midfielder probably being the main signing...

Aye, and we could be lucky and sign a 20 goal a season striker who would be worth an extra dozen points. Sometimes it only takes one stand-out signing from nowhere to make the difference between a shite and decent season. Such additions can spark a wee revival in fortunes, and lift the squad. Isma is the most recent example of this. Dorman was another.

[Dibbles old paperboy]

Aye, and we could be lucky and sign a 20 goal a season striker who would be worth an extra dozen points. Sometimes it only takes one stand-out signing from nowhere to make the difference between a shite and decent season. Such additions can spark a wee revival in fortunes, and lift the squad. Isma is the most recent example of this. Dorman was another.

Maybe if we'd signed Shankland before September and started him more often before October he might be a lot closer to having 20 goals this season?

[Drew]

Maybe if we'd signed Shankland before September and started him more often before October he might be a lot closer to having 20 goals this season?

Possibly, though you have to factor the Ian Murray effect into that equation. I reckon he makes an art form from turning a silk purse into a sow's ear.