JohnMc

Charlie Miller didn't come close to fulfilling his potential, he was genuinely one of the best players in the world when he was a schoolboy. Barry Ferguson did, but I doubt he would have if Advocaat hadn't taken over when he did and chose to build a side around him. Of the players you've mentioned above I suspect only Bailey Rice has a real chance of making it with us. The rest will get some games but I can't see them become first team regulars, I expect they'll move on when their contracts are up. Lowry still has a chance, but his inability to secure a starting berth in a poor Hearts side suggests to me he's still missing that something required to become a top professional. We hear the same platitudes about pathways and opportunities trotted out time and again, but I honestly wonder if we should bin our youth set up and simply focus on our first team. Indeed I'd go as far as to say all professional football clubs in this country should.

I think McKenna will peddle whatever the hierarchy down London Road way tell him. I've never seen much capacity for original thought.

Add me to the 'not sure why we didn't buy Shankland' camp. He was the best forward on the park yesterday, scored one, created Hearts best other chance and held the ball up really well all match. He's 6'1", 28 years old and scored 24 goals last season in the league we play in. I suspect he'd have cost way less than either Lammers or Dessers too. He's also Hearts captain which suggests he has some presence around the dressing room too. Buying the best Scottish players available has worked well for us in the past. Shankland's experience of our league, ultimately the one we need to win every season, could have made him a real asset. It's all moot, but I'm a t a loss to what our football department saw in some of our summer signings but didn't see in Shankland or indeed Nisbet. As for yesterday I thought it was going to be one of those days we've become so used to in recent seasons. That it wasn't might be very important, or might be a blip, time will tell. Hearts tactics were so defensive, it was a grim watch. I don't think Mr Naismith will be in the job for long if that's what his side are displaying every week. We huffed and puffed but didn't look like blowing them down until we did. It was a better performance than many we've seen this season, Clement has improved us, but ultimately it's the same players and there's only so much you can do with them. A fully fit Cantwell and Danilo will make a difference, it was also good to see Dowell make the bench, if Lawrence and him can stay fit then who knows. Even with that we need more goals in our team. If only there was a proven goalscorer in our league we could consider...

I gave it to Cantwell, he kept driving us forward and was the one creative spark while on. It's funny how we all see the games differently. I thought Davies was given a torrid time by Shankland, who constantly got the ball ahead of him, held it up and laid it off while Davies seemed to be a yard behind him.

Have Celtic banned English and McLaughlin? I didn't know that, very interesting. I see the 'flags' story is the lead on the BBC Scotland web page this lunchtime. How it's even 'news' is beyond me, far less the leading story. Who cares what flags they choose to wave. Another bizarre editorial decision.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s Rangers used to train in public places, like West Of Scotland Cricket ground and Jordanhill College grounds. You could go along and watch them and I occasionally would. I witnessed a bounce game once where you'd have sworn Peter Huistra was the finest football player on the planet. His close control, touch and dribbling were literally unbelievable, he simply couldn't be dispossessed. The speed with which he'd make a fool of anyone stupid enough to try and tackle him was incredible. Mikhailachenko and Trevor Steven played in that match too and were close in ability, but Huistra was simply outstanding. Come a Saturday though Huistra was a nearly player. He'd some very good games, and some good moments in games but he wasn't the player I saw in training. Professional sport is 90% ability and 10% mentality. If you don't have that final 10% the other 90% isn't enough. Barker, I suspect, is similar. I think Matondo is another one. It's why so many talented young players simply don't make it.

That's a big post, Bluedell. I'm going to quote you on the podcast shortly as 'an insider'...

McCausland showed enough in his cameo to retain a starting place ahead of Wright or Lammers. You could replace pretty much every one of the rest if we had anyone to replace them with.

Sima, a limited player at best but at least kept trying last night and took his goal well. This is a bot like being asked which part of your body you'd like stabbed in first.

Who else could he play? Roofe probably isn't fit enough to start, everyone else is injured. Cifuentes has been poor recently, Jack must be injured again, then we're into untried boys.

I actually think the support will give a manager, any manager, time if we can see progress. Beale's problem wasn't that we lost to Celtic and PSV, it was the manner of those defeats. The side had regressed, there was no discernible style of play, we were passive when we should have been aggressive, we were naive when we should have been knowledgable. Gerrard got time because we could see progress, despite setbacks. His style of play was attractive, the gap between us and them was closing, the players we had were better and continued to improve. There's more realism in our support than we get credit for. We want to win, we want to win the league, but we'll accept defeat if we beleive the side has given everything and is on the right path. In my opinion.

Muscat's time in Belgium was undoubtedly a failure by any measurement. The only mitigation you can make is Sint Truiden are a funny club. At one time a feeder for Charlton Athletic they're now the play thing of a Japanese entertainment company who have installed Japanese corporate management and signed a plethora of Japanese players. While most Belgians speak good English I doubt Muscat speaks much French or Flemish or went in with much knowledge of the Belgian second tier. It strikes me he got the job because of his exposure in Asia while managing in Oz. Interestingly despite this blip he left Belgium for a pretty impressive spell in Japan. In truth I don't know who I want, but I know who I don't want. Some of the names on that list would drive me to watching Junior football of a weekend.

I'm pleased the board have acted, they should have done it a few weeks ago but at least this wasn't dragged out any longer. With his entire backroom team going too I don't think it was realistic to bring in an interim manager from outside the club. We've two big games coming up this week, having a temporary manager who doesn't know any of our players would simply create more chaos. Davis, while inexperienced at management level, at least knows the bulk of the squad well and will already have informed opinions on each of them. Davis might well prove to be a wonderful manager but I suspect this job has come to soon for him and that it is indeed a temporary appointment. If he excels in the coming weeks there might be a clamour for him to get the job until the end of the season, but I'll need some convincing that's wise. Davis was a wonderful player, my favourite of the 21st century, there's very little he's not achieved as a player, so he can speak with authority and should command respect in the dressing room. I'm happy to give him my full backing. I'm a little surprised at Rae coming in as his assistant. Do they know each other well? They didn't play together as far as I can tell. Rae's coaching career isn't stellar, it strikes me he's available, knows the club and won't cost too much. He does feel like an interim appointment by the club rather than who Davis asked for. I've no idea who I want as the permanent manager. I've seen various names bandied about, many of who I've never heard of and so can offer no opinion on. That there isn't a stand out candidate means whoever comes in will need to win over at least a section of the support. There's not an obvious Scottish manager, surely our first consideration. McInnes burnt his bridges last time, Martindale has to much baggage, the Aberdeen manager is inexperienced as well as being an ex-Celt and Naismith is also too inexperienced as well as polarising many in our support. Kettlewell is doing OK at Motherwell, but not so well he'd be considered for us. Stephen Robinson is doing well at St. Mirren again this season. He did well at Motherwell too. I can't imagine his is a name that will get many in our support excited, but we'd be remiss not look at his record and knowledge of the league we ultimately need to win. Beyond that I'm just hoping we don't go for someone like Lampard or a big name former English player, hoping lightning will strike twice. There is a big argument to go for experience this time. Rangers job is different from most in football. You're expected to win every match, that's not the case almost anywhere else. Not everyone is able to manage in those circumstances. I saw Brighton got hammered at the weekend, if that happened to Rangers we'd be demanding heads, despite the wonderful things the manager has achieved beforehand.

Nah, we beat them 3-0 at Ibrox last season. Surely someone else has beaten Motherwell at home since then.

I was at that Osasuna match. It rained so hard that night the Clyde Tunnel was closed due to flooding. Funny the things you remember. It feels great to have won, and on balance I think we deserved it. We were disjointed and struggling to find any rhythm in the first 30 minutes or so but from around then onwards we were the better side, I thought. I think we're all agreed that Butland had a very good match, arguably our man of the match. I thought our defence played well, Goldson was immaculate and the other 3 stuck to their task and came out on top more often than not. Still not convinced we're good enough mid to front, yet. Perhaps it'll gel and come good. there were patches of decent football last night, but we still give up possession too easily. Lawrence going off is a blow, hopefully it's nothing serious.

This. They know how important qualifying is, other than that I don't think they care much. It's an organisation focused on making money, and they're good at that to be fair.

I'm old enough to remember when everyone thought Peter Ridsdale was a genius for how he was running Leeds Utd. I mean David Murray was a visionary at one time! Brighton are this season's darlings, it was Leicester City a few seasons ago, it'll be someone else in a few more. There is clearly something in the whole Moneyball, data led, analytical insights driven club structure. Much easier to impose it on a club where there are no expectations than it is on a club where not winning the league is viewed as failure. I'd be surprised if there's a professional club at the top level that's not using data on players, I suppose it's how that data is understood that's the clever bit. I quite enjoy watching a smaller club stick one on the English mega clubs, but this is the guy who bought Union Saint Gilliose in Belgium too. He's not some benevolent owner, he's making money and he'll use any club to do it. I hate the concept of feeder clubs and multi-club ownership, it's as bad as that Super League nonsense he says he's so against.

Even an out of form Rangers should scud this St Johnstone side. They're abject and in terrible form. So are St Johnstone...

Thanks. Agree about Cantwell and Lawrence, even Wright to an extent. Rice and Devine as well as King and possibly Cole McKinnon will probably come in too then.

Is Dowell a long term injury? Only 4 midfielders catches the eye. Can we add young players to this, I seem to remember that was allowed although I might have made that up.

The second a director goes on the record either backing or criticising Beale the story will magnify enormously. Currently there is no story, it's largely discontented fans on forums or social media sounding off. Every PR person worth anything will advise the directors to say nothing, whatever their thoughts are. With no game this weekend there are no press conferences scheduled anyway, so any kind of statement, on or off the record, will simply give oxygen to something that will probably fizzle out naturally in the coming days. Whatever failings our directors might have, they surely understand that. I'd say the lack of comment or briefing suggests they don't want to publicly back Beale, which suggests they're not happy with our start either and know that unless there's a big improvement in the coming games there is only one way this ends. Clearly they've decided to give Beale more time, results will decide how long that is. Personally I'd make the hard decision now, (or 5 days ago) but I can see why they've decided to wait a bit longer. That might yet prove to be the correct decision, we'll see.

While the board have the benefit of seeing what's going on behind the scenes and speaking with the management team and players and so seeing a fuller picture than we do, they're also well aware of supporter sentiment plus are watching the same performances we are. I've no inside information but I'd be astonished if directors haven't discussed it, even informally. They know Beale is under pressure, Beale knows he's under pressure. I doubt anything will happen in the coming days, but I do think he's only a couple more poor performances away from the board deciding this can't go on. Beale doesn't have credit in the bank, it would be hard for any board to simply ignore supporter sentiment for an extended period. If Rangers can somehow find form and start winning with some style then Beale will be fine, the challenge the board have is whether they think that scenario is likely.

Gerrard was shown patience, even in the face of a number of disappointing results, because most of the support could see progress. We could see what Rangers were trying to do, we could see improvement on and off the pitch. We'd a style of play most of us enjoyed watching, we'd signings that improved the starting 11 and so after a disappointing result, while there were moans and annoyance, the majority of our support backed Gerrard because we could see what he was building and felt it would come right. The difference now is I can't see what he's trying to build. I don't know what style of play we're nurturing and so far only our keeper looks like a new signing that's improved our starting 11. Whatever faults GvB might have had Colak, Tillman and Lawrence all started their careers well, even Davies looked like a good addition early on. Supporters can be quick to judge and we're prone to extremes of emotion. But, we're not blind at the same time. Our pre season matches were concerning, our defeat to Kilmarnock was a worry, our victories in the league have been welcome, but not without nervousness. We did well against an out of form Servete, then were played off the park, twice, by PSV, a side we bested 12 months ago, then turned in a very poor performance, at home, against as weak a Celtic side as we've faced in 3 seasons. Seriously, can you point to something that mitigates Beale, something that points to better times to come?

The Kevin Muscat link is interesting. I've heard and read quite a few dismiss him fairly quickly. One criticism seems to be that 'we'd be copying them'. If it works, who cares? That aside there is some truth in that he's an Australian who has managed in Melbourne and is now managing Yokohama in Japan, very similar to the current manager of Spurs. He won the league with Melbourne and has now won it in Japan. Muscat has also been an assistant coach for the Australian national side, under the management of the current Spurs coach. So there are clearly parallels. Muscat also had an unsuccessful spell managing in Belgium for a side I'd never heard of. It seems clear that the standard of Japanese domestic football is higher than in Scotland. When you add in the huge cultural differences he must be experiencing then I think it's fair to praise what Muscat has achieved there. He's not some rookie, he's managed 3 club sides, winning the league with 2 of them. Another thing is Yokohama are part owned by the City Group, who own a plethora of clubs around the world, most famously Man City. I personally hate what they're doing to football, I'd outlaw multi club ownership and sports washing, but I'm not in charge so it is what it is. My personal animosity apart, City do seem to know what they're doing. Having billions at your disposable certainly helps you build a good infrastructure, and it seems they not only look for players, but also coaches too. Either way they seem to rate Muscat. His time at Rangers didn't ingratiate him to most of our support. He was a limited player at best, with a reputation for thuggery, he passed through fairly quickly without making much of an impression on me. Being a limited player has no bearing on whether you might be a good coach of course. So in his credit column he does have some experience of the club and the league. I've no clue if the link with Muscat is real or not, but it's not a ridiculous link. I suspect he's within our budget, as an Australian he'd have little trouble settling here, he knows the club and what's expected and he might view us as a good next step in his career.

I was speaking with friends earlier about the Amazon documentary on Manchester City that came out a couple of years ago. I watched it as I curious to know more about Guardiola. I'd expected lots of talk about overlapping, inverted false 9s and venn diagrams of spacial awareness and xG. In actual fact you discovered that 'Pep' is actually a bundle enthusiasm and energy who, when speaking with players, spends most of his time psyching them up and getting the side wound up to go out and play. It was a slightly more sophisticated version of 'get stuck right into them from the first whistle, lads'. Now I'm sure there's a lot of false 9s and inverted overlaps and all that stuff going on in training but the sheer simplicity of what Guardiola does was a surprise but afterwards I realised that's what all successful managers do, they fill their players with belief and desire. It's a room of young men full of testosterone, there's no need to make it complicated. I've been thinking about it this week. I wonder if we underestimated how important Gerrard's simple communication was. Everyone said Beale was the brain, and that might be so, but when Gerrard said "let's go" on his unveiling as our manager we all responded positively. Gerrard is passion and desire, as a player someone other players admired and listened too. Beale seems a much more considered and thoughtful person, but does he instil passion in our players? I suspect Gerrard's final words in the dressing room carried more weight than Beale's do now. The great Brian Clough, who won titles with Derby and Nottingham Forest as well as two European Cups had a well documented poor spell at Leeds Utd in between those two jobs. What's often overlooked in his time at Leeds is his long time assistant, Peter Taylor, didn't go to Leeds with him. Clough's 'magic' didn't work at Leeds. He didn't win over the dressing room and he left after only a few months. At Forest he was once again joined by Taylor and the rest is history. Clough famously rarely visited the training ground, he'd watch training but never took part. His thinking was if his players heard his voice too much they would stop hearing what he said. Yet for all his genius, without Taylor, Clough's style didn't work. When him and Taylor fell out and Taylor left Forest they went into a terminal decline that ended with relegation. Having watched us this season, not just Wednesday and yesterday, I worry we've given Peter Taylor our manager's job. Our performances have lacked cohesion and style, i've no idea what formation and type of football we're meant to be playing. Yesterday we seemed to be playing a long ball to the big lad up front, I've not seen that tactic for over 20 years, I certainly didn't expect to see it yesterday. We had a speed merchant in decent form on one wing and never gave him the ball. They'd two rookie centre halves and we never thought of putting Matondo through the middle to see if that might make them drop deeper and create more space for our midfield who were being overrun for most of the first half. When we did make changes we took off the two forwards who both scored, albeit chalked off, and left on the one who looks short of fitness, sharpness and possibly confidence to the disbelief of almost the entire support. I'm not one who turns on managers easily. A search of my posts will show I was in favour of persevering with GvB until close to the very end. I was very disappointed when Le Guen left, I felt he should have been backed. But I lost faith in Pedro after the second Old Firm hammering, months before the Progres fiasco. Unfortunately I've lost faith in Beale. I could just about accept the new players struggling to settle and adapt. But both Cantwell and Raskin are shadows of the players we saw last season, what's happened to them? I know it's early in the season, but I feel I've watched this film before and I know how it ends. It's just a question of when and for all concerned it should be sooner rather than later.