Grant

Ian Hunter no longer a director according to companies House. 

37 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

I think implication of match fixing might go abit far, 

In terms of pushing gambling with the suggestion of winning, I’m not sure there’s any particular line here that’s been crossed that the entire industry haven’t been doing in various forms since day one.  Maybe like in other areas of social media it will become required to note that tweets are sponsored.

Tipster accounts have always looked dodgy, you can genuinely beat the bookies, it’s about finding where they’ve got the maths wrong and it’s bloody difficult to do given how much is put into getting it right. If you can do it the bookies have plenty staff/software looking out for someone with an edge on them, if they even suspect it they stop taking bets from you.  If you have found an edge then sure as **** you don’t share it publicly just out the goodness of your heart

Aye, I made a decent amount from bet365 over a few years so I now no longer get promos from them. They used to do loads where you could get bet credits fairly regularly, turning them into actual money wasn't all that difficult. 

Surprised we haven't gone for an early bird discount. 

2 hours ago, SanguinePar said:

Someone asked him that? FFS, pretty rude question to ask a professional manager IMO.

Aye. He asked three questions on the trot. 

Verbatim I'm sure it was

"Have you heard of a high press, James?" 

Followed by 

"What about playing with wingers" 

The last question was about playing a striker with genuine pace like Burrell. 

Tbf to McPake he gave an interesting answer to all three of the questions. The essence of the questions was fair, we are very bad at pressing, we haven't played with wingers and our strikers aren't quick. The questions themselves were just very short. 

17 minutes ago, Rossmcno1 said:

Thanks for this Grant, appreciate the effort, and these are excellent notes.

 

Some things stick out for me and people can feel free to put me right, as I’m out the country just now so possibly picking up more on mood music than fact some of the time.

is there a feeling of distance between many of the core support and the club?  Could more be done from the likes of Cook to bring this onside?  Reading comments on this and other forums over the last year, there seems to be a niggling, lingering doubt about how he comes across to fans and therefore is causing some alienation?   It’s clear that there is more of a commercial input in some facets of club operation, but a couple of examples from last night just don’t seem to sit right. 
 

The toilets at the NW were raised as an issue that could be improved, the response came across as quite dismissive to a couple of folk who were there.  Secondly the resale of tickets from the North west for reserved seating for games was mooted, and was completely shut down and termed that it’s not possible.  Well that’s completely untrue, other clubs do have resell platforms in place so fans can resell seats if they can’t go to games, and surely there could be a commercial benefit to the club done this way, if the want was there.
 

look these are two really wee issues in the whole overall view, i get that. There are indeed bigger issues, recruitment being my big bug bear from this season.  But I’m asking  if the impression that I’m picking up is indeed felt by others, or if I’m wide of the mark. 

On the resell I've maybe not been fair, David Cook said we couldn't sell because we didn't have a resell platform, he didn't say it was not possible. I didn't get the feeling we were getting a resell platform tbf. 

I didn't get the feeling that toilets were a priority, but maybe they will be now. 

If we were better at football it would go some way to bridging the gap, but at the moment we're not great at football, while posting big losses and repeatedly losing out to our neighbours and rivals who we've always though ourselves bigger than. 

1 hour ago, SanguinePar said:

Agreed, but 'roll the dice' just seems like a phrase loaded with connotations of it being now or never. Maybe it's just me :-)

I get you mate, it's maybe not the best worded, but then again neither was my question last night about it. 

42 minutes ago, SanguinePar said:

That's a weird thing for him to have said - does it imply that we will only really have one decent shot at it so we need to pick our moment to even try? Or that when they think the moment is right they'll splash the cash to maximise the opportunity?

Strange.

It's not a bad way to operate in theory, if you've got Dundee United down do you spend every spare penny you have knowing they've got a much larger turnover, and as well as that are willing to overspend? Or do you spend a decent amount but maybe keep a bit back because next year the league gets weaker? It's not saying you're not trying every year, just that some years you realise you have a better chance. 

2 hours ago, Grant said:

Some notes from last night, it’s not a verbatim account of what was said, I think the meeting took about 1 hour and 45 minutes and I’m perhaps doing McPake especially a bit of a disservice, he spoke at length on a good few subjects.

 

It started off with the top table giving a quick brief starting with David Cook who said the following.

It’s our highest average attendance since the 05/06 season, David Cook thanked the fantastic support and said it wasn’t taken for granted.
It was a decent season for revenue, we were up in revenue on most metrics, however costs are also up
He was chuffed with the Astro being open at Rosyth and us starting to use it, with the weather improving Phase 2 of the project is going to commence with us putting down the modular facilities, as well as improving the grass pitches.  He said he wasn’t going to give a timeframe on the building.
The kit is about to leave Italy with the home kit being out by the end of the month, the away kit to be out for the Fan Zone and a 3rd kit as well.
The season cards they hope to have finalised by the end of this week/next week so they should be out soon.
We’ve currently sold 2000 tickets for the Euros fan zone, with 1400 of them being for the Germany game.
He spoke about it being the toughest season he’s had in football, referencing the injuries throughout the season.
 

James McPake then spoke-

The objective was to get to 40 points and stay in the championship then see where they were.
Was clearly disappointed with the away Airdrie game, spoke about how everyone from the management to the players didn’t do well that day and how it effectively ended our promotion playoff hopes.
Talked about how the young players have developed, with the season being tough emotionally, as well as physically.
Said that during the injury crisis, he and David Cook would be talking on a Friday with them not sure who they would have available tomorrow, sounded like a nightmare.
He finished off by saying he wouldn’t shy away from any questions which he certainly lived up to.
 

That then brought the questions on.

Q – How is Deniz?
A – He’s good now, said it was a massive worry at the time and that he had a defibrillator attached to him. His Partner was following the game so was a bad experience for her. All good now though and Deniz is going on holiday tomorrow. They are still trying to find out the cause with them narrowing it down to two potential reasons, the first one was that he potentially got a head knock in the first half and that Deniz was feeling a bit ill at half time, the other was that it was possibly a viral infection.
Q – Have we learned anything from the injuries with regards to cause/preventing them in the future etc?
A – The started a big review in January and they’re expecting the results soon however there isn’t one silver bullet that’s going to cure all. He did say he could’ve handled Bene better with him having two recurrences with the one at Starks being particularly vexing. JMcP said that stat wise he was reading fine but JMcP blames himself for not considering the emotional impact of going back to his old club and how that could’ve impacted it? Between KRH, Bene and Todd we lost 352 training days between them which isn’t ideal. We’ve got a new physio in who’s doing well, not mentioned at the time but he was at Arbroath.
Q – Hamilton and Benedictus as a partnership
A – The question confused me because I wasn’t sure how often Hamilton and Benedictus actually played together, McPake spoke about how key both were to the team though and said that Hamilton for him is as equally good at centre back as he is in centre mid, however he does see him as more of a midfielder as well as saying that he thinks Otoo is more of a midfielder with his box to box qualities. However he reckons that Hamilton and Otoo could get into any team in the league at centre back or centre midfield. Talk about how we were better as a team when we had Bene at centre back and Hamilton and Otoo in midfield.
Q – Improving the derby record with Falkirk coming into the league next year, and progression for next season.
A – Was pretty clear that the derby record really irked McPake and he’s determined to do better next season. He said he didn’t think out with the Scottish Cup performances that the performances were that bad, however it’s all about results and fair play to Murray who will be delighted with the twelve points. He pointed out that while we’ll be desperate to rectify the wrongs of last season with Raith, that Falkirk will feel similar with us after the League 1 campaign.
Q – What players are expected to leave, any expected to come in?
A – In discussions with players at the moment, news should be out in the next week with regards to retained players. With regards to players coming in we have identified players and we had a player at the training ground a couple of weeks ago to show them around. We wanted to know for certain what league we were in before sending offers out, whereas Raith & Inverness have offers out dependent on what league they were in, different ways to do it.
Q – Loan players coming back
A – We done well last season with bringing back loan players, Fisher had an interesting offer from QP apparently and KRH had a couple of offers but both chose to come here based on there time on loan. MFW has been getting scouted while he was here, I got the impression that we are interested however we won’t be the only team.
Q – Toilets at EEP
A – Need to balance what we can afford to do, but it’s something they’ll look to pick away at.
Q – We don’t score a lot of goals, is it down to cautious play-style, do we need to take more risks?
A – McPake agreed with the point the questioner that we need to take more risks, put more balls, and get more bodies into the box. Said it has been an issue for a while and we got away with-it last season in a lower tier. It was a fairly long answer, but he spoke about the Airdrie game at home where we lost 2-0, but we had enough chances in the first half hour to be 3-0 up which I agreed with. He said it was something that needs rectified and they’re looking at that through training, as well as through recruitment. He pointed out how Kane had made a difference in this regard and how good Brian Graham is with regards to getting your 15-20 goals a season.
Q – Is Josh Edwards leaving?
A – McPake spoke about how he believed that Edwards is the best full back/wing back in the league (agreed imo) and he doesn’t expect him to leave and they expect him back for the first day of Pre-Season, however with the caveat that every club is a selling club and if an offer does come in that’s too good and the offers good for Josh then he could be away. He also mentioned that he didn’t throw his toys out the pram after not getting a move in January.
This is purely my opinion with this, but I’m not sure the confidence of Edwards coming back quite ties in with us looking at Lewis Stevenson.
Q – A couple of questions for Chris Hamilton about how he dealt with being injured, his position on the pitch and whether his upbringing as a Pars fan can perhaps lead to frustration and maybe a couple of yellows
A – Hamilton answered this really well and it’s so easy to forget that he’s only 22, being born in 2001. (I also couldn’t believe 2001 was 22 years ago but hey ho). He spoke about how frustrating it is when you are out injured and how all the players feel that, particularly during that period where allot of players were missing, saying that players were still coming into training to try keep spirits up. He said throughout his career he was always a CB/RB at Hearts, Cowdenbeath and Berwick Rangers, it was only when he went to Arbroath, he played in centre midfield so with that he still has allot to learn, with that he sometimes feels more comfortable at CB just due to the experience he has there. He told an amusing story about how his partners family are all Raith fans so he’s desperate to get a win over them, but that all the players are frustrated, and get frustrated when things aren’t going well.
Q – Have you ever thought of a high pressing game, James?
A - Back to McPake and he agreed that our pressing needs work, and how other teams have done it better this season talking particularly about the first Ayr game where we lost 1-0 but it could and should have been a scudding. Talked about the balance of our shape and how we haven’t quite always got it right, we’ve played with two 10’s behind the strikers, played with Todd as a second striker etc, but for allot of last season we just didn’t get the balance correct. He did say, and it wasn’t an excuse but missing KRH and Todd for large parts wasn’t helpful in that regard, two players who are good at the press.
Q – Playing with Wingers?
A - JMcP did say we looked more threatening against Ayr with the two wingers, however sometimes we looked better with the back three with Edwards and KRH pushing high. He took the blame a bit for saying that he maybe didn’t get it right often enough. It led onto another part where he talked about game management and how as a squad, including the coaching team they weren’t good enough at it. Said the 4231 did look promising but they need to work on it, especially with regards to the press.
Q – Could we do with a different type of striker, one who’s lightening quick? (Mentioned Burrell)
A - McPake didn’t really seem to agree with them needing a lightening quick striker, he brought up that Kane had come in and improved us, with his game knowledge of knowing where to be and what runs to make. He spoke highly of Burrell, but I didn’t get the feeling he would be at the Pars next season.
Q – Is there money for transfer fee’s or are we more likely to be pursuing the free contract movement?
A – Dave Cook answered this, said that we’d be more likely to maximise the wage contribution, however, did say we had paid a very small fee for Fisher so you never know if the deal was right.
Q – Fan disturbances at the away Raith game
A – Cook again answered this one, said he was disappointed and frustrated at the arrangements at Starks, the fans were meant to go separate ways to the game, however that decision got changed on the morning of the game for whatever reason.
Q – Empty seats in the North West yet unable to buy more tickets
A – Cook said that we don’t have a platform that we can re-sell a ticket that been sold, he did say though that another 100 seats are going to become available in the North West.
Q – Do we have loan stipulations in place with regards to playing time for loan players?
A – It was said that some clubs do have stipulations in place with regards to minutes played, however we’re not a fan of them and we have turned down loans in the past which have had this. There are financial stipulations with some clubs though and it was mentioned that Harry Sharp for example cost less when he played, and it is something that we have also done with loan players. They said the loan market has changed in the past few years and clubs maybe aren’t using it so much as a player development tool, and instead are using it as a finance raising tool, was brought up that clubs get bonuses for example when you get promoted, Cook thought this was a bit unfair on the players as it happened when we won the league.
Q – State of the pitch and USH
A – Cook answered this one, said he had been doing some amount of research on grass over the past year and one of our biggest issues has been the rainfall in August and September which didn’t allow the roots to get deep enough? Ideally we’d be chucking a million pound at a hybrid pitch but that’s not going to happen. We are looking at other options with regards to pitch protection, with blankets and covers maybe being more cost effective.
Q – Greig Shields replacement
A – We’ve had a number of classroom, and pitch based interviews.
Q – Player movements, letting players go and bringing more in?
A – It was reiterated that funds are there to improve the squad, with regards to players leaving it is easier to move players on if there’s an interest in them however, we haven’t had any contact with regards to our players.
 

 

 

There was more said, McPake for example spoke at length about his thoughts on football and how the sport deals with head injuries which was interesting, but I wouldn’t be doing him any justice to try type it out. He spoke really well and even if the question was a bit pointy he answered it fairly and with respect. He came across well, as did Hamilton at various points. I don’t think there was many things very controversial said, it maybe would have been nice to be a bit more bullish with regards to next season to try and get the optimism going for next season. But there’s time for that over the close season.

 

 

1 hour ago, Raymie said:

I think most people could have predicted the replies from DC? To be fair, it's probably the same stuff that get's rolled out at many other clubs?

Aye there wasn't allot said, nothing bad tbf but nothing that's burning a hole in my head. 

I asked a question regarding this post by Ian Hunter on LinkedIn 

For anyone wanting a link it can be seen here - 

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dunfermline-athletic-football-club_it-was-great-to-welcome-a-number-of-our-club-activity-7175506262657249283-xo15?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android

I perhaps didn't word it well but I was interested to see what "rolling the dice" would look like, and if it's determined by other teams in the Championship (which is fair), then next year is surely a great opportunity? 

I wasn't proposing for us to start throwing silly money around, just interested what rolling the dice infers. 

16 hours ago, livipar2 said:

I’d say Fisher can without a doubt.  And Breen although he needs to stay fit and prove himself at this level.

I've got plenty of doubts about Fisher in a back three tbh. How do you see him with regards to overlapping the rwb, or driving into midfield to try commit players and create overloads? He's got a nice long range pass but if we persist with a back three and play Fisher at RCB our build up play is going to continue to be laborious and slow. 

Just to be clear, I like him, he's a good player with potential. But he's nowhere near the levels of being a wide centre back as say Otoo is. 

I see Crawford as a bit of a worst Todd, would've been handy for squad depth though. 

I wonder if Partick getting Crawford means they aren't taking McInroy? I'd absolutely be in for him. 

1 hour ago, Eastendtales said:

I wonde if McPake fancies Bene, Breen and Fisher as his first choice 3 at the back next season. 

Hope not. None of them have the required ball progression abilities to play as the wide centre backs. 

9 minutes ago, Yorkiepar said:

A thousand more tickets sold could amount in real terms to diddly-squat if most of them are concessions or kids. I’d be very surprised anyway if the income from ticket sales makes much of a difference in terms of underpinning / financing squad purchases. 

 

Like it or lump it (unless we want to run the risk of heading back to administration) we’ve got to accept that it may take a few more seasons before we are a viable force both on and off the field and able to mount a sustained challenge. 

Couldn't disagree more with that mate, You'd be surprised if the income from ticket sales makes much of a difference? 

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/scottish-championship/besucherzahlen/wettbewerb/SC2

We get over double the amount of spectators than half the league, within that aswell we have one of the larger Hospitality facilities in the league which also helps, but it won't make much of a difference? If that's the case then slash the prices and let everyone in free. 

I disagree with the final paragraph aswell, why should it take a few seasons to be a viable force on the field? Raith went from 7th last year to genuine title contenders, the only reason it should take a few more seasons to be contenders is if we're mis-managing the football side of the club. 

3 hours ago, Andycarp said:

Money as always will decide what happens. 

You are correct, and it's what annoys me the most tbh. 

Next year there's every chance we'll have the highest amount of ticket revenue, we average over a thousand more tickets sold than most sides in this division, this should also mean that commercially we meat parity, if not more revenue than the other sides? 

So why would we not have one of, if not the biggest budget in the league? If it's about money then why are we not challenging for the title? We can't even claim it's due to financial doping by rich owners if we're posting seven figure losses, where's the money going? 

The main thing is that I hope Mehmet is OK, it sounded incredibly worrying. 

From a football perspective it was pretty dissapointing to chuck a two goal lead in the second half, it's caused us to drop from 5th to 6th. That's a decent amount of money to have lost from another insipid half of football. 

It also means that out of all the teams who have won promotion from League 1 as title winners since the playoffs began, we're the second worst. There's going to be some job on the club's hand to galvanise the support and get season ticket sales going. 

1 minute ago, Superally said:

Twitter says Mehmet is getting medical support. Must be very serious

It didn't look good. 

I thought he had a leg injury but according to the commentary team he ended up unconscious. Really confusing incident on the stream. 

Mehmet in a bad way here. 

Sutherland with a chance there but he looked to go down far too easy. 

Fisher is having a absolute nightmare here. 

4 minutes ago, the saline hill puma said:

Good scoreline 

Wouldn't say we've even played all that well. Just taken the chances we've had. 

Thought we've looked better going forward tbf. Chalmers having a good game aswell. 

Lovely! Hopefully we get 5th.

Just now, the saline hill puma said:

Look a couple yards off .. but ayr TV angle is rotten 

I wouldn't trust what the commentators were saying, they're idiots. 

It looked like the defender who was furthest back was the one trying to block the shot. 

1-1

Would need to see that again, if Holmes is offside then it's absolutely criminal from him. 

That's absolutely dreadful from Fisher, it was never the goalkeepers to come for and he does nothing to try and shield the player. 

It's not great from Mehmet to even bother coming for it, just daft.