Originally Posted by
The Lilywhites
There is certainly a lot of seeing only good in what the club/manager does as long as we're winning, with our supporters.
My issues are with the negative style of play and, mainly, player recruitment which is gradually going to see us regress under Perth.
I'm not going to be blind to it because he won a 2-team league and the League Cup. Would the Chris Shields suspension have happened under Kenny? Not a chance! We didn't win a game in Europe and the 6 performances were painful to watch. He said he wanted to tighten us up defensively, fair enough if that's his philosophy, but some of it has been dreadful.
Look at who we've signed since Kenny left, and what players have departed. Kenny's team are getting older now, most in their 30s or hitting their 30s, and I'd have major concerns over Perth's eye for a player. It was basically Kenny's team that won the league last year.
Dummigan (who there seemed to be a specific PR campaign for to lead us to believe he's the best right back who's never played ffs) and McKee (!) were a total waste of time and money.
Murray and Flores both very good players, we can see that when they're fit but the problem is they're hardly ever fit (that's the only reason they're with us so why bother with them). More money wasted given what they're going to contribute over a season.
He's also signed Will Patching, a "moneyball" signing (Perth's words). He isn't even related to a footballer. Nathan Oduwa who's on his 9th club at 24. There's enough in that to avoid him. Why, when spending millions a year, are we risking signing these types of players? Hard to tell on Cammy Smith (loan) and looks like he might be gone already anyway.
Perth has taken credit for signing Daniel Kelly but he was on his way to us anyway. I'll give him Leahy (although if he stood up to the owners maybe we'd still have Jarvis) and Sloggett (still need to see more of him but at least he's LOI proven and generally fit).
I just think in another year or two (if we're still splashing out on a squad like this) it's going to come back and bite us.
It's already evident Rovers have passed us, in my view, but I suppose Perth's future depends on whether the owners are happy as long as we remain in the top 2 and don't fall below that.
I'd have issues with some of the stuff he comes out with in the media too, continually saying "if I can give myself a pat on the back for a minute" etc. Constantly looking for praise and, at other times, trying to come across as some sort of prophet. It's cringe and presents someone who has a chip on his shoulder. Seems he doesn't think he got enough credit for Kenny's success.
To me it says something that Kenny never offered him a role with the Irish setup (considering he wanted Higgins and the kitman(!) with him).