As others are saying on other threads, our prospects of promotion a few short months ago did not look very promising.

Now we are looking like a very solid unit, and are probably the bookies' favourites (I haven't looked yet) to go back up.

TB and MM obviously deserve a lot of credit for the dramatic turnaround. What did they do? Was there any one thing you can think of that they changed which has got us to where we are now?

As others are saying on other threads, our prospects of promotion a few short months ago did not look very promising.

Now we are looking like a very solid unit, and are probably the bookies' favourites (I haven't looked yet) to go back up.

TB and MM obviously deserve a lot of credit for the dramatic turnaround. What did they do? Was there any one thing you can think of that they changed which has got us to where we are now?

I think it was a case of they never stopped believing it could be done and once the team gelled into place as it has now they had the team to carry out what they believed in.

Butcher lost his Scotland job.

He stopped picking Stratford and Eagle.

He settled on a 4-5-1.

Also the fact Rooney was given an extended run in the team and this allowed him to start finding the net, his goals like the one today have been huge for us.

I think its all down to a number of rookies coming onto their game at the right time coupled with a very good balance of youth and experience.

More than half the starting eleven changed from last season. The biggest change in our personel since Pele took the reins in division three. It was a gamble which now looks as though it may very well pay off.

or maybe the other teams in the league are sh*t :021:

Rooney up front on his own and he's got 3 players supporting him have made a big difference this season. I think we have finaly found attack we could keep every game (Which we have). Thats the key to our great form.

I think when Terry stopped the Scotland job, he startedthinking about how to make this lot work, and by golly he has. He has got all the new lads working well together, and stuck the old stagers in. It is his insight and work that made this team gell. I applaud him.

Also the fact Rooney was given an extended run in the team and this allowed him to start finding the net, his goals like the one today have been huge for us.

Yep Stevie I too think this is the key factor.

Both Brewster & Butcher (until October) didn't give Rooney a decent run in the team, I don't think it's a coincidence that our fortunes have changed since that time.

Hypothetical, I know but I remain convinced that Rooney could have kept us in the SPL given the chance, but hey that's in the past !

Russell Duncan replaced Stratford at the same time as our season turned, that too must be a major factor.

Too many new players thrown in at the start, and lets be honest, some of them just weren't good enough....Tel had the balls to admit this and make changes.

Above all though, we've the best player in the division....Foran, and he's been played in the right role.

The team that's been playing for the last few weeks contains no fewer than 5 of the squad that was promoted in 2004 - Tokely, Proctor, Munro, Golabek and Duncan. In Esson and Foran we also have experienced campaigners and strong characters. Add to the mix the youthful vibrancy brought by Rooney, Hayes and Cox and we have a really good blend. The formation is also very well balanced and can be adapted to attacking or defensive football depending on the situation. But the most adaptable tool at our disposal has been the manager. He started the season with a very different team playing in a very different formation and he saw that it wasn't working and (eventually) made the neccessary changes. Since then, the team have grown in confidence, and with that has come the steel to go and win 1-0 at Firhill, something we would never have done in the first half of the season.

I reckon the fans backing after the killie game clicked us into second gear, combine that with the comments mentioned above and its proved to be a winning formula.

Did anyone see Russel Duncan today after we scored and at the end of the game? He epitomised the word passion in a football context.

Butcher found a good formation

He played the best players instead of the ones he liked and Rooney started playing games instead of having 15 minute cameos every few weeks.

I think the capability was always there, it was just the fact that there was so much chopping and changing that it would take time for folks to gel, they have gelled and now we are TOP OF THE LEAGUE!!!

Think it is a combination of a few things namely -

1. Butcher lost his Scotland job
   
2. Extended run in the team for Rooney
   
3. Players taking time to gel, just look at the link up play betweem Foran, Hayes, Rooney now compared to the season start.
   
4. Settled formation that plays to our better players strengths.
   
5. Russel Duncan - cutting out the silly mistakes & showing us how good he really is.
   
6. Tokely moved to Centre Back has been good for him & Granty
   
7. Butcher & Mo signing new contracts has boosted confidence
   

We are the form team in the league now & with only 7 games to go it's ours to win!!

Edited March 27, 201016 yr by Cattach

I agree with almost all the comments above. For me, we started to show some promise, allied to a wee bit of consistency when Russel Duncan became a virtual first pick. That was around mid-October.

I also think TB must have spelled it out to the guys around that time, that their future careers would be in serious jeapordy, without more meaningful effort, committment, character, spirit, etc.,

They are a terrific bunch of guys, and they certainly haven't let him, or anyone else down - the transformation has been remarkable.

Barring a bad run of injuries, suspensions, etc, I now believe we are destined to go back up. In fact it will be really interesting to see just how far this team can go.

I believe!

The ironic thing is that we have been relegated for people to understand the importance Russell Duncan has to the team, he was a key player for us in the SPL not noticed until he wasn't there then we missed him. Russell has not been a total revelation for us this season he has always been there but perhaps somewhat unnoticed

Edited March 27, 201016 yr by stevico1

The ironic thing is that we have been relegated for people to understand the importance Russell Duncan has to the team, he was a key player for us in the SPL not noticed until he wasn't there then we missed him. Russell has not been a total revelation for us this season he has always been there but perhaps somewhat unnoticed

Russell has been a bit of an unsung hero for years.

It's a combination of things, I think, most of which have been covered above, but the single biggest thing is that the team has had to learn how to play in this league. Today, in the first half in particular, the players looked far more aggressive and determined to be first to every ball that they did at the start of the season. Butcher has had to accept that his initial judgements about certain players and about his best line-ups were wrong, and he deserves a great deal of credit for doing so before it was too late. Certain players also seem to have developed greater self-belief as the season has gone on - Rooney is the most obvious example, but I think Foran is also playing better than he has ever played for us before, and both Duncan and Cox have been inspirational in the past few weeks.

Some of the guys who come on here and moan after home games because we haven't won 5-0 should have been at that game today.

We gave them a lesson in the first half but didn't kill them off, just like the game earlier in the season. McCall did his usual at half time and they had loads of possession and almost passed us off the park at times.

But we restricted them to a few half chances as everybody was willing to throw their head and body in front of the ball for the 3 points. It was absolutely inspiring and you should have heard the roar at full-time.

IMO, it is because of 2 things, the backline and strikers.

At the start of the season we were conceding daft goals and losing also because of the strikeforce, who now probably look like scoring most weeks (not certain for sure as i haven't seen any of our games this season due to work :( ) and also looking solid at the back (4 clean sheets in a row).

The team that's been playing for the last few weeks contains no fewer than 5 of the squad that was promoted in 2004 - Tokely, Proctor, Munro, Golabek and Duncan. In Esson and Foran we also have experienced campaigners and strong characters. Add to the mix the youthful vibrancy brought by Rooney, Hayes and Cox and we have a really good blend. The formation is also very well balanced and can be adapted to attacking or defensive football depending on the situation. But the most adaptable tool at our disposal has been the manager. He started the season with a very different team playing in a very different formation and he saw that it wasn't working and (eventually) made the neccessary changes. Since then, the team have grown in confidence, and with that has come the steel to go and win 1-0 at Firhill, something we would never have done in the first half of the season.

I go with that - Verbatim!! With a little bit of " BELIEF". Believe!

For me, I think it has to do with the fact that Butcher has now managed to undo most of the damage that was done by Brewster and we are back to having a squad who are out there battling just as much for each other as they are for themselves......we finally have a team playing with a bit of heart and self belief again.

We are, once again, tapping in to that "extra something" that allows a team to become more than the sum of it's parts.

What a lot of bollox written above

There is only one thing that has turned our season around and that is Wilsononourwing.............utterly fan tastic

Im just delighted that we are playing so well. The league is ours to be lost.

It was always goin to take time for Butcher to get the team to the way he wanted and there was never goin to be immediate success as the boys he brought in had never played first team football. Fortunately he realised this, brought in some experience nd hey presto a team that looks like a championship winning team. It shows real determination to grind out results but not only have we been doin that but we have showed some real class at times too. Our front three and rediculous right now. They dominate each game start to finish and i think foran deserves a lot of credit for our form this season because he is a truely class player. Any man who runs his heart out for the whole game nd sets up the goal but still comes back to defend constantly, like yesterday at partick, is a man i would want in my team. Lets hope the boys belief remains because they have deserved to lead the championship with their current effort

2 words. Simple. TERRY BUTCHER. Far too many people on this forum slated him at the start of the season. All this s***e about it was his team selections that put us down was hilarious. He did a superb job with what was left for him by that arse brewster. We unfortunately just fell at the last hurdle.

But then the slating continued when we didnt have the best of starts to the season. I just wish that everyone had opened their eyes and realised that he had to rebuild the whole team. He has made some very shrewd signings along with some gems like jonny hayes. Add to that, he has set the team up in a way that is very difficult to beat but still allows when they have the ball to really attack and swarm all over teams. Its no surprise to me that they have gone on such a long unbeaten run. He just needed time and he is really leaving his mark on the team.