AVOIDING RELEGATION

[Guest Aboynamedsue]

We must stay up this season & on our own merits

so lets all STOP RELYING ON GRETNA ON BEING OUR SAVIOURS

[+Gringo]

Difficult to do in the present climate I would say.

[RednBlackComeback]

Has it not occurred to anyone that come January it's Gretna that will have the big bucks to spend, while we on the other hand have Brewster !!!!

[RiG]

Has it not occurred to anyone that come January it's Gretna that will have the big bucks to spend, while we on the other hand have Brewster !!!!

Will they have big bucks to spend? I am not so sure. Anyway, can you trust Irons with his keen eye for a bargain? Again, I'm not so sure. We will be safe this season. Next season will be interesting.

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

Complacency is our biggest enemy. We need to graft for points.

Craig hopefully will start admitting mistakes fairly soon to raise morale. He should take some of the blame for Bayne's sending off because from where I sat the referee was adamant Bayne was fouling left right and centre. Bayne should have been taken off at half time. Rossco should have been taken off or hammered for regularly niggling McGarry although McGarry acted brilliantly on a number of occasions.

Rossco was the first to attack after Well scored.

These guys need better man management as well as better self discipline.

Relegation is a real possibility and our friends over the Bridge must be anticipating easy derbies again unless something happens to pull things together. The Brewster bounce is in danger of becoming the Dundee United Mark II disaster but even worse.

[Kingsmills]

I'd much rather we avoider relegation on our own merits. However the reality is that come May we mayall be more than happy to have Gretna as a buffer between ourselves and the First Division.

[CaleyD]

With a large portion of our budget having been blown on one player I think we'll find ourselves having to pick at the dregs come the transfer window, with players having to move out to make space for ones coming in.  There's also the very worrying fact that Brewster was quoted in the P&J recently as having said he hadn't even thought about the January Transfer window yet.

Chances of us getting anything other than loan deals come January are very slim and with these guys likely to have been warming benches elsewhere I'm not sure how able they will be to hit the ground running.

What we have has worked for us in the past, and other than a couple of "must gets" I think it's more important that we sort out the problems which have upset the current squad as opposed to adding more to the mix.

[chris123]

I think we'll find ourselves having to pick at the dregs come the transfer window,

Its what we dae best.

On another note, anyone see our own David Sutherland was numero 56 on this years football rich list.

[Johnboy]

I think it's more important that we sort out the problems which have upset the current squad as opposed to adding more to the mix.

Could the unrest in the current squad be connected in any way with the fact that one of their members is currently earning at least 3 times what the others are?

[CaleyD]

I don't think anyone could deny that such a thing would perhaps play on the minds of some players, but I don't think it is the root cause of the issues which run much deeper IMO.

I also don't want to get involved in creating some conspiracy theory surrounding the whole thing, the evidence of unrest is there for all to see and it is glaringly obvious that problems exist off the park as well as on it at the moment.  Doesn't take a genius to figure that out.

[Caley Mad In Berks]

[

Could the unrest in the current squad be connected in any way with the fact that one of their members is currently earning at least 3 times what the others are?

Surely not this old chestnut again.  If I were boss and I thought players were not performing because of wage structure issues, they would 'be down the road' before they could wink (yes, I did say wink!!)'  I think there must be more to it.

[davieB]

Could the unrest in the current squad be connected in any way with the fact that one of their members is currently earning at least 3 times what the others are?

Why are you so obsessed with what Marius earns?? :017: I assume you were pleased to see Bayne ahead of him yesterday then? And you'll now be pleased that Dennis has gone back to being ***** since Graham's started alongside him the last 3 games?

And do you honestly think the way we played yesterday, and the complete shambles we witnessed on the pitch, is all down to the higher wages of one man?

If the problems are all down to Marius's wages then it's embarrassing. And those players can get to feck, because they might well want to maintain the small team mentality which'll probably see us drift back down the leagues, but personally I'd like to see us get better, and bigger. If they're not good enough to acheive that, get rid of them. Mediocrity might be fine for some players and fans, but for some of us it isn't.

[Johnboy]

Surely not this old chestnut again.  If I were boss and I thought players were not performing because of wage structure issues, they would 'be down the road' before they could wink (yes, I did say wink!!)'  I think there must be more to it.

I don't think anyone could deny that such a thing would perhaps play on the minds of some players, it could even be the root cause of these issues.

Doesn't take a genius to figure that out.

[Caley Mad In Berks]

Could the unrest in the current squad be connected in any way with the fact that one of their members is currently earning at least 3 times what the others are?

Why are you so obsessed with what Marius earns?? :017: I assume you were pleased to see Bayne ahead of him yesterday then? And you'll now be pleased that Dennis has gone back to being ***** since Graham's started alongside him the last 3 games?

And do you honestly think the way we played yesterday, and the complete shambles we witnessed on the pitch, is all down to the higher wages of one man?

If the problems are all down to Marius's wages then it's embarrassing. And those players can get to feck, because they might well want to maintain the small team mentality which'll probably see us drift back down the leagues, but personally I'd like to see us get better, and bigger. If they're not good enough to acheive that, get rid of them. Mediocrity might be fine for some players and fans, but for some of us it isn't.

Well said davieB, my sentiments exactly

[Johnboy]

Why are you so obsessed with what Marius earns?? :017: I assume you were pleased to see Bayne ahead of him yesterday then? And you'll now be pleased that Dennis has gone back to being ***** since Graham's started alongside him the last 3 games?

And do you honestly think the way we played yesterday, and the complete shambles we witnessed on the pitch, is all down to the higher wages of one man?

I had Niculae/Wyness in the Team for Motherwell thread... 

I think he should be on from the start in every match we play - hopefully his fitness might improve, and hopefully, at some stage he will demonstrate that he is worth at least some of his inflated salary...

I'm not suggesting that yesterday's shambles is entirely due to that one factor - but something is clearly going badly wrong -

What do you think is the root cause of the problem?

[davieB]

I'm not suggesting that yesterday's shambles is entirely due to that one factor - but something is clearly going badly wrong -

What do you think is the root cause of the problem?

I agree that something is wrong, and I don't know what the problem is. I can't believe for one minute though that the players aren't professional enough, or ambitious enough, to accept that in order to progress as a club we need to be continously raising the bar.

We'll all agree I'm sure, that Marius hasn't set the heather alight yet, but there's no doubting the man has talent, and it's no coincidence that Dennis has played the best football yet since his return to the club when he's played alongside Marius. The bloke doesn't exhibit any hint of arrogance, and from what I've seen of him, gives 100% every week. This nonsense that he's lazy etc is just that....complete nonsense.

The club should be applauded for showing the ambition in recruiting someone of Niculaes stature (regardless of how he's performed) rather than continually being knocked.

To me there are obviously problems at boardroom level, but the cause root of the current problems, in my opinion, have nothing to do with a particular players wages, but go back to the appointment of a manager who was out of his depth.

Much as I like Charlie, and everything he's done for the club, he clearly wasn't the man for the job. The losing of vital players (Brown, Dods, Dargo) and the failue to replace them was stupidity, and the board must've known it'd be harder even than it normally is to attract players north with CC at the helm, than someone like Brewster, as an example.

Even that's harsh, blaming most of it on CC, but I believe that his appointment is far more the cause of our current problems than the signing of a Romanian player ever was.

[CaleyD]

It's been a culmination of things IMO, some of them controllable, some of them not.

What bothers me most is that little seems to be happening to rectify the matter.  Things happen in all walks of life that cause problems and the true test of character and strength is the ability to pick up the pieces, put things right and move on.  I just don't know if we have the right people in place to achieve that at the moment.

[Johnboy]

For me, the loss of Brewster the player has been a major setback...

We can debate his managerial strengths and weaknesses all day long - I've been watching the guy as a player ever since he signed for Dunfermline - apart from his obvious skill and ability to read a game - he is a superb motivator of those around him (when playing)

Thing will get better once he has learned how to transfer that aspect of his game to the dressing room & dugout - not just on the field -

[canuck]

Right on davieB! R

[Alex MacLeod]

There is not one player who is affected by what Marius does or doesn't get. They all know that at any other club there will be players on differing wages. They also know that if they perform well, and are deemed to be an asset to the club, they will be able to negotiate better contracts next time around.

These players also know that there monthly paycheck increases when they win games so they know that winning pays.

The trouble is, in my opinion,  more about management and leadership. Grant Munro is not a good 'on the park' leader. He doesn't rally his troups. Other things appear to be going on at management level, that some on here have hinted at, that seems to be affecting team selection and teamwork on the park.

And by management level I'm not focused on CB and DP, though it remains to be seen what they can achieve, but more on the backroom brigade.

We go on about losing Dods and yes he did hold his team together but one man doesn't make a team and those players who are performing badly just now are mostly the same ones that we've seen perform brilliant on another day.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

There is not one player who is affected by what Marius does or doesn't get.

If he performed and played - Correct.

[TheresNoEsInBlack]

I think we'll be ok this year, its next year I'm worried about.

[Caley]

I think we'll be ok this year, its next year I'm worried about.

It's a very good point and one which has not been broached so far. It's all very well fannying about this season safe in the knowledge that Gretna are doomed to relegation, but when Hamilton/Dundee/St Johnstone/Morton come up we cannot afford to do that.

[RiG]

It's a very good point and one which has not been broached so far. It's all very well fannying about this season safe in the knowledge that Gretna are doomed to relegation, but when Hamilton/Dundee/St Johnstone/Morton come up we cannot afford to do that.

Morton?

[caley100]

There is not one player who is affected by what Marius does or doesn't get.

If he performed and played - Correct.

If he was played he could, with Bayne out (hopefully) we can resume the Marius/Denzil partnership which has proved to be a bit more successful.