Have to say that
I've spent the past couple of days trying to get my head round all this, and regardless what angle I'm looking at it form I have to admit the one word that keeps coming up in my head is "bonkers".
I'll also admit that other than reading the sound-bites and bits coming out from Hamilton, I know absolutely nothing about this guy at all apart from the fact he's 33, has been a manager for around 18 months and during that incredibly short period of time he has had a bit of success for a small team with very limited expectations, so I accept that I'm no oracle on what he's going to be bringing to the table - but then surely none of us are, and all the positivity I'm reading on here and everywhere is surely based on not much more than wishful thinking and us hoping for the best as I wouldn't say his achievements north of the border are any indication of success down here in a far, far more difficult league - don't forget the SPL is a shocking standard at the moment, with the likes of Hibs, Hearts or Rangers not even in the top flight.
This is a massive step into the unknown and a hell of a risk at a time when most of us had accepted that this year provides our best chance of bouncing back before our best players get poached/decide they want to leave. He might well be a huge success, he might well have a massive future in the game and he might well go all the way to the top as one of his former players has said of him, but we've got hardly anything so far to base this on as his career has been so short and has provided quite a different challenge to the one the Carra Rud gig offers.
One of the big criticisms of Adams when he got the job initially was that he wouldn't be a name that would entice some of our squad to stay with us and he wouldn't be able to attract the type of players that would take us forward, however nobody seems concerned about this at all with this chap. In fact nobody seems to be concerned at all and everyone (even Carrabuh, which I'm absolutely astonished about) seem to have bought into this already and I have to say the level of positivity flowing from every outlet rather taken me aback somewhat, though I'd also say it has left me pleasantly surprised. I say this because regardless of whether I agree with the decision I will always get behind the manager and give him my full support (I even backed the Rodent until he completely lost the plot by releasing Hucks), and I really, really hope that this does turn out to be a masterstroke by the board and Alex Neil goes on to be as big a success (bigger if possible) that Paul Lambert was, a manager that left me equally underwhelmed when he was first appointed so I guess stranger things have happened.
I just didn't expect this at all, I thought the board had learned about taking risks at this stage of the club's history with Adams and gone down the tried and tested route, especially in the short-term. Probably should have accepted that nothing surprises us any more with our club, so Mr.Neil certainly has my full backing now he has the job and I look forward to seeing what he's going to bring.
Just as a final point, I think some of the stuff written about Adams' reign is a bit OTT to me. Stuff is being written as though his time as manager was nothing but disaster after disaster and that everything he did turned to sh1t, which it clearly didn't. Absolute rubbish that is, he leaves us in 7th place, three points off the play-offs, just ten points off the top with a +15 goal difference and in a far better position to have a crack at promotion in the second half of the season than either Cardiff or Fulham who came down with us. We've scored 11 goals in our last two home games and have only been beaten once in the league by more than a single goal (away the the team currently fourth). People seem to re-writing history to make him out to be far worse than he actually was, which provides quite a dis-service to the man and what he did in the first few months of this season - it's very difficult turning a squad of players with a losing mentality into winners, I thought Neeyul was doing ok personally and find some of the stuff I've read quite disrespectful if I'm being honest. That said, I I can understand why the board made the decision to replace Adams, however I'm a little flummoxed why it has been with someone with marginally more experience (albeit at an inferior standard at a club with vastly different expectation levels/operating budget/fan base) with a heck of a lot still to prove.
Hopefully he'll prove it all with us and become a club legend, just a hell of a risk if you ask me, and this was a risk most people weren't interested in pre-season but now appear to be more prepared to swallow for some reason.
It's definitely an interesting appointment at least, let's see what happens