This has screwed us since Warburton kicked off against Hamilton. We all underestimated the problems involved in finding quality in the bargain bin. I certainly did.
We ALL hoped we would now have a spine, and some excellence around them, but again I'd bet my house on 10-12 out, and same in.
Of the quality we do have I think we will sell Alfie. And he is the forward line, all of it.
The filth have same issues but have stronger spine and squad. £900,000 for Alfie was outrageous luck and is very hard to replicate.
We're no nearer adding 3 or 4 than August 2016. I can't see how we get the investment in that we need....can we do more as fans?
Disagree. This was always going to be an incremental process to catch them.
Warburton was a shyster. He had no football philosophy that worked and focussed purely on attacking flair. That was good enough for the championship (just) but we were just not at a level to jump straight to that in SPL and were found out badly.
His knowledge of English youth football was limited to a very narrow time frame but did help us get some players in Tav and Wes who were better than we should have been able to attract at the time. And he lucked out inheriting MacKay.
Pedro, for all his many many faults had a better footballing philosophy and tried to build a competitive spine. He was unfortunate that Jack got injured. And - to a degree - that his Latin defenders failed. Both had good pedigrees. But he was going for a more solid unit. He lucked out getting Morelos.
Gerrard has built on what Pedro tried and with a lot more success. We actually have a credible defence for the first time since administration. I’m not sure i’d play any player from any other side in our back 5. Gerrard lucked out on Morelos too. But building the side around him makes perfect sense. We’ve yet to see how he and Defoe can play together. Gerrard has been unlucky that Lafferty has not worked out as an understudy. Candeias does exactly what we expect him to. Kent has been immense at times. We have decent defensive mids in McCrorie and Jack. Our problem is the other 2 midfielders as we have completely failed to find individuals or a pairing who can stamp authority on games and dictate play. Morelos compensates for our complete lack of advanced midfielders.
We now have most of a spine and flair players easily up with the best in the league. Our problem is a degree of consistency, the lack of 2 quality midfielders and the fact that, without those midfielders, we cannot cope without Morelos.
Shagger through Goodson, McCrorie/Jack and Morelos is a hugely strong spine. Kent and Tav are flair additions at the top of the SPL. Barisic and Candeias are starters for anyone else with the possible exception of the filth. Katic or Worrall or McAuley are as good as anyone else in the SPL. Our problem is a lack of strength in depth and the absence of the 2 players missing from my list there.
But that is not far off at all.