Ian Durrant being named on the BBC as the next rumoured manager.
The only Fergie I'd want is Alex. I'd maybe get 5000-1 on that! As for the Barrie one! - no disrespect, but the only folk I know who have ever actually rated him as either player or manager, are the blue nosed ones with the red wine coloured spectacles. Still, at least he's kept Clyde out of the Lowland league so far !
Ian Durrant being named on the BBC as the next rumoured manager.
Trust our BoD to be scrapping the barrel.
Certainly been mentioned in the press but wouldn't say that Durrant is a shock candidate, well he hasn't been a manager in his own right but he was a player at Rangers and Kilmarnock, been a Scottish internationaland has been a first team coach at Rangers and in charge of the Under-20s. He's not long turned 50 years old.
Cresswell, I've only just had the opportunity to read your reply.
As always, - (or at least most of the time) you use common sense and I agree with your comments on the financial problems that Scottish football face. However, I never for one minute suggested that Barry Fergusson would be a good fit for Queen of the South, - I have my eyes set on a far greater prize! Whether he is a potential candidate remains to be seen, but I made reference to him in a previous post.
Regardless of who is appointed, whether it is Lord Sugar or Basil Brush, the only way we can hope to compete is by having a squad who are fitter both mentally and physically than the rest of their competitors.
Queens can never hope to have the luxury of 10000 season ticket holders like Hibs, or a Chinese or Russian billionaire, hence my continual reference to this one obvious factor, - which seems to be so readily overlooked.
At the moment in the Championship, Morton are the team who we should aspire to be like; - they have no ultra talented players, apart from Quitongo, but they are an extremely fit and agile side, who are able to bat the opposition aside - simply because they know they are stronger and are able to outrun their opponents.
Jardi, I have absolutely no problem with your comments. I believe absolutely that money is the deciding factor when it comes to success in football particularly when one team has a budget that is very substantially more than its nearest rivals (as is the case with Celtic in Scotland). I also made the point in another thread that Queens can't compete with teams like Hibs whose attendance on Saturday was around 12,000 more than Queens can hope to achieve: so I support your view that where we cannot match these teams in the quality of players that we can attract we should outmatch them in terms of fitness. I also make the point in another thread that the ability to manage a football team and the ability to play football are two entirely different skills and I cite Henrilk Larsson as an example of one who had the latter skill in abundance but not the former skill with the team he is currently managing having been relegated. Part of the problem in Scottish football is that, whilst there are exceptions, a disproportionate number of players are, to put it euphemistically, intellectually challenged. When they come to the end of their playing careers they have no qualities or qualifications to pursue a reasonable career outside of football so they almost inevitably drift into coaching/management without any apparent talent for that either - but the "jobs for the boys" culture prevails. Thinking outside the box takes imagination and courage, qualities that are are in short supply in Boards of Directors who almost inevitably opt for what they consider to be a safe pair of hands. I am sure that we all remember how disastrous this policy was when Queens appointed Gus MacPherson whose safe pair of hands saw us relegated. Perhaps the time has come for Mr Hewitson and his Board of Directors to think outside the box.
In my profession, I always think outside the box........however, although I have much sympathy for your logic, - and believe that you have a strong argument for considering appointing someone from a different sphere of influence, - (hence my reference to Lord Sugar and Basil Brush) the Board of Directors would be on a hiding to nothing if they did consider such an approach.
Why? - Firstly, in my humble opinion, I don't think many players would take too kindly to a non-footballer telling them how to approach the game, so a lack of respect would mean that a novel approach would wither on the vine.
Secondly, the fans would be up in arms as soon as the results didn't materialise, - so we will continue to do the same things over and over again, as no-one has the patience to see if the new thinking pays dividends.
Twenty years ago, I brought Yoga techniques into my coaching; including diet, balance, twisting and stretching for example and was all but lynched by several parents! Only relatively recently are such factors seen as beneficial.
I suspect that you and I will be long gone before real out of the box thinking is considered in Scotland, - but by then, sadly so will Scottish football!