ascender

I like that the Board are again playing this close to their chest and there's been no leaks. Its annoying about the press coverage as they're just *hit-stirring, but they'd do that anyway and just continues to prove the point that its all about the Gers.

I'm as impatient as anyone, but with Murty around I don't think we need to panic or rush in to it.

I've no idea why Palace appointed him though, it didn't make sense whatsoever given the position they were in with the players they have. FdB could have been a great appointment for us a few years ago, could have been an ideal project for him to get us up through the divisions with a young group of players playing the way he wanted.

I still think it will be McInnes - he's the safe option in many ways and I think that's what will swing it for the Board.

So Moyes is off to West Ham, that's a relief. McClaren might have applied but I can't see him getting it.

Everything is still pointing to McInnes in my opinion, other than the fact we'd need to pay a wedge of compensation to Aberdeen which I'm sure would stick in the Board's collective throats.

I must have missed something, where did the Lennon thing come from??

Steve Clarke had a very good reputation as a number 2 and always seems highly regarded, so I think he's a bit of a coup for Kilmarnock. I do totally get what you're saying about what's he actually achieved, but if you look at the majority of clubs in Europe, there's only a very small percentage who have the level of expectation that we do (relatively speaking) and an even smaller percentage who are used to winning trophies year in, year out. So that list of managers who've been there and done it (all those things in the list above) ends up as a very tiny percentage of candidates available at any one time.

PC was a gamble and could have been a success, but if it was between him and Clarke, I'd have said Clarke every day of the week because of his experience in British football.

I don't envy the Board's job one little bit.

Very interesting reading the various different views on our next manager on this thread. Better debate and insight than any red-top or online column that's for sure.

 

Personally, I really dont have a clue who should be our next manager. I would want to see who applies, go through the list of names and their CV's, and compile a list of possible candidates to interview and see what their vision is, what their expectations are re salary and budget, and see if we can find a good fit somewhere.

 

Given Killie got a Steve Clarke (I would have called for the nurse if anyone told me that Killie could get someone of those credentials with their budget) then who knows what quality of candidate would throw their hat into the ring for our job. I am hoping to be positively surprised.

 

Incidentally, had we taken this route back in Feb/Mar, Pedro would never have become our manager. As I said at the time and have consistently restated, Pedro's CV would never have got on a long list for our job, never mind a short list, never mind an interview or appointed. That was pure cronyism and I really hope that error of our ways is obvious to our board and a repeat performance will never occur.

 

I dont mind having Murty for our home game on Saturday, but by the time we come back from the next international break, we should have the new guy in place. Whoever he is.

 

Incidentally, isn't it sad (but totally predictable) that the hacks writing about this in the papers always mention cash-strapped, skint, etc, but never that we sell out every match, have a huge and loyal fanbase, another potential windfall from a potential share issue, and our board gave Pedro £10M last summer and haven't ruled out doing it again.

The bit in bold sums up exactly how this process should work. The media line about us being skint is so predictable and inconsistent with what's actually been happening at the club, its just lazy journalism lapped-up by even lazier readers.

I have to say I did a double take when i heard Steve Clarke's name at Killie, the initial "that Steve Clarke?" Could turn out to be a very good move for them.

So apart from the occasional cryptic posts on forums along the lines of "I know something you don't know", has there been any hint of the Board's intentions or possible candidates? Or even if someone with a footballing background is advising the Board on this appointment?

Hearts will be right up for this, even moreso than usual - i hope we see a reaction from our squad. I could see a big win for either side depending which way the wind is blowing to be honest.

I'd put money on McInnes or Moyes being able to at least get the team organised on the park and get them doing the basics right.

Moyes walked in to an absolute dumpster-fire of a club at Sunderland, I honestly don't think you can hold that against him and better managers than him have failed at Man United.

McInnes - I get why people pick out performances and results against Celtic and say Aberdeen haven't really made progress, but this season Hibs, Hearts and Killie have all taken points off us at home. Celtic are on a bit of a freak run at the moment, we need to be in second place comfortably before we can seriously even think about challenging them.

Seriously, the Kenny Miller thing has got to be a wind-up?

De Boer might see it as a more appealing option now given how Crystal Palace turned out?

Would Alex Neil fancy leaving the Championship for us?

So many questions.....

McInnes, Walter, McCall: No, No, No

 

We need to look beyond our own walls. McInnes is doing a decent job at Aberdeen, but they ain't challenging Ceptic - seeming demolished the other night. He might get us a few points closer, but nothing more Essentially they are on the same level as us. Done nothing in Europe, and little domestically - how is that an improvement???

Playing devil's advocate, we're struggling to challenge Aberdeen at the moment. When Warburton was appointed I genuinely thought we'd be top four first season then challenging Celtic properly the second season, before building on that to be realistic contenders this year.

We're so far away from that its scary.

I think Walter has more than earned his retirement and we should leave him to enjoy it, but even he might have had enough of what's been going on and be available for a short term?

I think Allardyce could fall in to the safe rather than interesting camp, but its not a massively forward thinking appointment. But do we have that luxury when we're struggling to even get a proper foothold in the league and match clubs around us, let alone challenge for the title?

Manager speculation - 'Safe': McInnes, Walter, McCall | 'Interesting': Gaultier, Neil, Allardyce, Preud'homme | 'Dreaming': Gio, Favre

 

Who do you fancy?

Safe: Walter

Interesting: Allardyce

Dreaming: Gio

Biggest decision in our history (since the last one and the last one and the.....) coming up , and they cant get this wrong even if it takes months to do .

 

I have absolutely no faith in this board .

We seem to lurch from one disappointment to another with no end in sight despite some progress being made off the park.

Seeing as Walter has retired, I can only imagine its a matter of time before McLeish is mentioned in some capacity...

I do feel sorry for him, but was always a bit of a gamble for all concerned and its just not worked out.

He's still been one of our better players and at 25 could really make that position his for the foreseeable. Far more experienced players than him have done much worse. He'll (hopefully) learn from it.

Guessing games and conjecture will just have to wait for anything being announced officially.

Where's the fun in that?

Well that's some news to wake up to....

WTAF just happened??

Great article as always Frank. I know this is about the match tomorrow night, but you did ask the question....

I think I've seen a few of the same names crop up: Derek McInnes and Tommy Wright from our own league as well as names such as Sam Allardyce, Frank de Boer and Michael O'Neill from elsewhere. Of those five names do any of them really make you confident they'll bring substantial improvement on what we have now?

Honestly? I think those three would bring an improvement to the team in terms of belief, confidence and making us hard to beat again, even just through simple organisation on the park and getting the basics right.

Its been great to see the board backing Pedro, but I can't help feel that if they were looking for a new "project" to back from the ground up they'd have been better trying to get someone like Gio or DeBoer. Easier said than done, but a bit of me thinks if they compromised on that vision because their top targets weren't available, why take a risk on Pedro when they could have solidified with a safer candidate who knows British football well and would maybe have got us on an even keel in Scotland while laying the groundwork for the future?

I guess we can't have it both ways, but I do have a sinking feeling about things and a bit of deja vu when you see what some of the other Scottish clubs are doing with a much more limited budget than we have.

The Naismith one is strange, has he not been free to talk to other clubs for a while? I would have thought there would be some Championship clubs interested in him, so maybe there is truth to the rumour that he wants to come back up to Scotland? Otherwise, I'd have expected he would have signed for someone... Although if its reliant on us freeing up some money from the wage bill, that's a bit of a risk on his part, potentially knocking back other offers on the promise from us that might never appear?

Putting aside the other stuff, Naismith would be an improvement to our first XI, he'd be a regular starter for me. I don't know whether its necessarily addressing the real problem we have, but if he's available on a reasonable deal and wants to come, I'd be disappointed if we didn't go for him. And I'd be surprised if guys like Miller and some of the backroom staff haven't suggested his name to Pedro surely?

I'll be honest, I'm just being a realist. We need to challenge for the title this year and next and the next.... That should be our priority. Lofty ambition and long term aims are great, but I want to see us being really competitive and winning things domestically first and foremost.

Just looking at everything that's happened on the park since he came in is more than enough to worry about. Add in the rumours aboiut the player unhappiness and its not great is it?

I'd be much less concerned at how we're playing if he had just come in during the close season, but having had those games at the tail end of last season, I'd really expect to see a more cohesive game plan forming and certainly more from some of the players. I really hope he turns things around as I expect every other fan does, but you can't blame a lot of the negative posts we're seeing across forums - I'm really starting to dread the league games and a bit of me thinks this is all going to end up as a total train-wreck, as predicted by many.

I agree with Gribz - if this all comes to a head and the board get rid of him, we may lose a few of the foreign players he has signed, but I can't see Alves leaving and our squad is definitely stronger with Dorrans and Jack in it.

If those two signings give you more confidence, does that mean it's the current players that you have a problem with rather than the manager? I wasn't sure.

A bit of both to be honest. I think those players would improve the squad - but that squad should still have beaten those part-timers in the Europa League, even with minimal input from the manager. I still have massive reservations over some of the individuals in the squad and the squad as a "whole" given how they performed under Warburton and also under Pedro up to this point.

My judgement is out on the manager because based on what I've seen so far he looks like he might be out of his depth and I'm not entirely sure what his grand plan is at the moment.

Naismith would be a clear upgrade in what we have imo. Walker would appear to be a proven SPL player who will also improve on what we have available to us at the moment.

There's loads of ifs, buts and maybes though due to how we've been under MW and PC (in his limited time).