Brad Lyons

back.

I mean, we were chatting about this, on the way to a game, on Saturday, Brad Lyons, very similar, if you don't look at Brad Lyons, I'll tell you about Patrick, and I see him when he's home, because Katie, my daughter, and Leon, they're the same age, and they sort of run about together, but Patrick Kelly, at 14, and Brad to a certain extent, at younger, they wouldn't have looked, you know, players that they become I remember Patrick Kelly being put out of the I think the club and I program because he wasn't big enough and strong enough he was tiny and at that stage I was at Corain and I actually put him in the 20s that next week.

And I remember Declan, his dad phoning me and saying, John, I don't think he's physically ready.

I don't think he's this.

We wanted a creative midfielder and And I think that is Finlay Marshall.

I actually would love to see, I don't know, Lions and Marshall against lower, like, lower Premier League games.

You know, like games where you're in control of the game? Because that too, running at people, will support an attack.

Yeah.

You've gone to play at Arbroath, probably the smallest club in the championship at least from a financial perspective and have been in a team that was involved in the promotion race right up until the playoff rounds he was a star player in that side multiple goals and multiple assists and the thought that that might not have earned you at least a further contract extension and an opportunity in the first team squad just beggars belief but Yeah, I really haven't got why he didn't get that opportunity beforehand.

And again, while... have to give Robinson some due credit as well and that obviously you know Lutz may well have seen something and been recommending that he should be kept on and should have his contract extended as with the Alfies that you mentioned but you know ultimately the manager does have to put you in the team and for a manager who I've been very critical of in terms of being a manager tends not to go to the youth option that certainly wasn't the case in his latter tenure at St Mirren St Mirren were notoriously one of the worst clubs when it came to giving what we now refer to as emerging talent it seems a chance in the team And I don't think we should pretend that, I mean, a lot of this, as with anything, I mean, you can look back to someone like Scott McKenna, a lot of this just comes down to a certain element of serendipity in a world where Brad Lyons is still fit and you know, things had went better at the start in the season and you were still playing in a you know with two midfielders and an attacking mid rather than what was a flat three certainly away at Motherwell maybe that opportunity doesn't come about but the opportunity did come about and that's all that I think that's all that we're really asking as supporters is that we invest and some supporters invest a lot more than others I mean I think it's been quite high profile for those people that contribute to the uh the the the the aber dna that a lot of the drive behind that is that you know that that money gets you know reinvested into youth development and they have the board up at corbett park with all the players who have come through the the system and been open quote graduates close quote in that they get first team football aberdeen binley marshall obviously now one of those together with uh andrew fasania um earlier this season but um In terms of Finlay Marshall as a player, he's got the full package.

He reminds me a lot, maybe not completely, and again, it might be unfair to put this label on him, but in terms of his physicality, he reminds me a lot of Fraser Fife when he first came into the team, where he already has the physicality.

So he's already ready to play Manny's Fitba.

He's probably been swapping partners on a game-to-game basis in that midfield area.

He's probably looking at Brad Lyons to help him out as far as the amount of workload he's got in the middle.

But saying he's been inconsistent, I think generally speaking he's been rather good this season.

Against Rangers I thought he was the best player on the pitch for ourselves.

And he was actually singled out for praise by the manager post-match as well here just for the kind of energy that he brings into the midfield area.

And it feels like he's got that spot locked down, at least for the foreseeable future.

Until Brad Lyons is available.

But once Brad Lyons is back, we're winning the lot.

I

think though for that side of it though they're probably two contrasting players in terms of style wise but it's an interesting point you know you make are they competing for one jersey when Brad Lyons becomes available again like we've already discussed on the show but I think you know You're right to highlight Connor Ronan, who I thought was excellent last night, and a player that I've also been critical of and frustrated at, especially in terms of the deliveries and balls into the box he's offered.

So it was good to see an improvement from that.

But I don't really see much in the way of... changes the only one that I would like to see based on because hips have Grant Hanley is possibly a Malua now Dusty Old Panda says that he'd prefer Malua to start and Olasanya to come on and create chaos if we need it but you know just actually when those words were leaving my mouth, reminded me of the chaos that Tuosiola Sanya caused Grant Hanley in the game at Pataudry at the back end of last season, which resulted in Grant being sent off.

oh fair play yep could we have a Lewis Ferguson moment again when they'll have their win

do we have another home player for us right now Brad Lyons is Northern Irish that's close enough

probably probably Paul Mayo used to play for Rangers yeah

he probably is yeah interesting

But, um, if you were saying, you know, he, he loses next two game and you're out the door at the international transfer window, you're, you're doing that at a point where you've literally just changed the entire makeup of the squad to be at least partially made up of players that have been at least partially identified.

And, and in many respects, you know, the likes of Toyola Sanya, Chris Cadden, Brad Lyons, specifically earmarked by Steven Robinson to play for a Steven Robinson team.

So you're, you're not just bailing on the manager, but in many respects you're probably, you know, starting then at looking at an- an- another m- mini rebuild of a, rebuild of a squad in, in the, in, in, in the January transfer window.

So yeah, from my perspective- Yeah, you'd like, you'd like to be giving the manager at least a year.

We didn't turn up.

The only player really missing is Brad Lyons.

I'm sorry, Lyons.

No. Lyons comes into that team I don't think it makes any difference to that scoreline.

But the fact that...

Marshall came on and did alright might put himself into the manager's thinking because I don't think they're getting a lot out of what they've been doing and it's this kind of throw shit out the wall until it sticks situation with the attacking players because it's just like an endless carousel of the same 6-7 guys being rotated around and thrown on until somehow something sticks Where do you go from that? Obviously when Brad Lyons comes back the heartbeat of the team that will all change but until then who knows? There's always this sort of

particularly around more progressive coaching there's that sort of always the question of how does will the manager get the players to buy in to play football and to have more of the ball and use it better very rare you get somebody asking about a Steven Robertson style manager will he get the players to buy in I'm not convinced that there's any difference between those two different scenarios like again there's guys in that team who are capable footballers at a minimum and like It was particularly like seeing Stuart Armstrong's like last minute corner for his half and was up and kind of half clips a ball towards the 18-yard box, towards the six-yard box, which is immediately absolutely bloated away by about 40 yards by a Kelly player who's just gone nothing off.

Well,

Maybe not as long as I thought it was, but it's a long old journey to air.

Who knows what could happen? And of course, Brad Lyons will not be available again.

We start off basically 1-0 down.

Yeah, when you think about it, today's actually quite a good result, eh? Thanks, Gav.