Rory Whittaker

[jeffers]

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Guessing your point is Rocky shouldn't start over Hanlon? Cause subbing Whittaker for Megwa was about the only right call of today, the laddie was spent.

No though I’d never start Rocky over Hanlon, but having started him I never saw the point in then taking him off when he wasn’t injured. I thought it was poor management dropping Megwa in the first place and starting Whittaker.

[Onceinawhile]

Airdrie obviously need a right back, can we maybe send him out there?

He's obviously got something, but at this moment he isn't good enough and Montgomery is absolutely not helping by putting players who won't track back in front of him.

[JohnM1875]

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No though I’d never start Rocky over Hanlon, but having started him I never saw the point in then taking him off when he wasn’t injured. I thought it was poor management dropping Megwa in the first place and starting Whittaker.

Agree about dropping Megwa, but to my eye Whittaker was absolutely spent by the time he was subbed off so the sub made sense.

[SaulGoodman]

Development is being ruined due to being the current incumbents vanity project.

[SON OF PADDY]

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Montgomery is going to absolutely ruin the laddie playing him when he’s clearly not anywhere near the level, especially keeping him on as long as he did in such a toxic atmosphere today

I concur, we need to protect these young laddies.

[BoyledEgg]

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What a lot of rubbish!!

Rory was excellent today, he was woefully exposed by Taveres, then later Yoan in front of him.

Anyone criticising Rory Whittaker, needs to give themselves a serious shake!!!

Can’t pass, can’t tackle, not got much pace. Play him where he should be playing for the next 2/3 years, and get him away from the first team. No where near ready.

[LeithMike]

When he first played, he played in midfield. I don’t know why he then went to right back. He has ability but it doesn’t look to me that he knows the position he is being asked to play. Full back is a very specialist position and not an easy position to play as Delferriere shows.

Stand to be corrected but I’d be hugely surprised if he’s played as a defender in the youth team.

That’s not on him, that’s on the manager.


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[andrew70]

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When he first played, he played in midfield. I don’t know why he then went to right back. He has ability but it doesn’t look to me that he knows the position he is being asked to play. Full back is a very specialist position and not an easy position to play as Delferriere shows.

Stand to be corrected but I’d be hugely surprised if he’s played as a defender in the youth team.

That’s not on him, that’s on the manager.


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He played right back for the 18s in the games I’ve seen.

[Vault Boy]

Completely agree with the OP. Absolutely no slight on our youngest ever player, he’s been given a mammoth task and it’s simply before he’s ready for it. There’s nothing wrong with that, he’s got years to develop. But it’s on the football department to recognise that, protect him, and plug the gap that he’s filling.

Clearly that hasn’t happened yet.

[Since452]

Being hung out to dry by Montgomery. Said it when he was appointed that I was worried about how much he was taking about playing youngsters and got the feeling he was going to shoehorn them in. That's fine if they're good enough and ready. Rory isn't either.

[LaMotta]

Spoke to a boy recently who played with Hibs youth team last season - now released an doing well at another team. He said the boys he knows at Hibs all cant believe that Whittaker and Landers have been given a chance in the first team.

Worrying take.

[Gettin' Auld]

Promising 16 year olds should get the occasional run out when the team is doing well, like his first appearance from the bench. Unless he's strong mentally, his confidence must be shot to bits and that's down to the manager. It doesn't help that he gets little protection from the wide players in front of him either.

[Fuzzywuzzy]

Did the same not happen with Cochrane at hearts? Career took him down the leagues

[hibee-boys]

I’ve seen nothing from this lad that has led me to believe he was ready for first team football, irrespective of his age. Introducing him so early seemed more like a desperate act to try and endear himself to supporters. Fine, stick him on right midfield with a few minutes to go when we’ve got a game sewn up but to have put him in the spotlight has had the opposite effect. The fact he’s compounded the problem by playing Jair in front of him is even worse. Get him back in the under 18s or this could have a serious impact on his future chances.

[LewysGot2]

A couple of things about this.

Who let this situation transpire? That's the actual question we need an answer to.

We knew at the start of the season Cadds was out. At that time Miller wasn't an international so maybe wouldn't have been seen as likely to be away for these unfortunately timed Asian international things but as soon as he started getting selected for Australia someone should have been all over the strategy for getting through the Christmas period and January/early Feb.

What we ended up with was 2 kids, one only 16 and the other only 19 to somehow shore up a defence that leaked goals from crossed balls for fun. On top of that we had the prospect of one CB being away to sit on a bench for 6 weeks in Cote d'Ivoire. Another CB who is only 20 himself...its a dereliction of squad succession planning and continuity planning.


Whoever thought relying on an outfield defence of average age of just over 21 years
would work in a Scottish league rammed full of players like Gogic doesn't understand Scottish football.

St Mirren are succeeding points wise because they all know their jobs, they have a simple football philosophy, they all work hard, can be aggressive and streetwise when need be, understand the manager's plan and just get on with it.

What they don't live with is the pressure of expectation.
What they also don't live with is a plan that can't adapt.

I thought this morning I'd feel better but I don't.

[Forza Fred]

Those that shout "play the youngsters, they can't be any worse"hopefully now realise they can be.

Not Rory's fault...he's being left hanging out to dry.

The youngsters need to be blooded...not slaughtered.

Think it best for Rory's development if he has a loan spell at a club who are not fighting for survival...like we are at the moment.

[Stubbsy90+2]

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Let’s be serious, he’s not a decent player(yet) is he? Not knocking him he’s a young boy who could go on to have a good career but he should be nowhere near hibs starting 11 if we want to be where we should be.

This.

He’s probably a League Two player at this point in time. That’s not to be sniffed at, that’s a high level for a 16 year old. He shouldn’t be anywhere near our team at this point though and the fact people have held it up as a positive about Montgomery is incredible. He’s going to ruin the young lad whilst also ruining our team.

[J-C]

Young lad who should be nowhere near our 1st team yet, promising youngster but we need to be careful not to ruin him and his confidence.

[erin go bragh]

His lack of pace is shocking and playing him at right back is crazy.

[EVENTUALLY]

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Young lad who should be nowhere near our 1st team yet, promising youngster but we need to be careful not to ruin him and his confidence.

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His lack of pace is shocking and playing him at right back is crazy.

Rory will be a very good player in time, but not as a full back. I don't think I've seen him win a race with an opponent yet. He has composure and decent passing ability with lots of energy however he is simply not ready yet to be an effective 1st team player. The manager has exposed him and drawn criticism his way.

[The Modfather]

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Being hung out to dry by Montgomery. Said it when he was appointed that I was worried about how much he was taking about playing youngsters and got the feeling he was going to shoehorn them in. That's fine if they're good enough and ready. Rory isn't either.

To be fair I think there’s A LOT that can be labelled at Montgommery but shoehorning youngsters isn’t one. His options the last few games have been either Megwa or Whittaker at RB. It was a mistake not to play Megwa yesterday. However we’ve seen the likes of Landers and Rudi drop out of the squad once players have been returning. I expect the same of Whittaker, and possibly Megwa, once Miller returns and Cadden is fit enough to play.

[LunasBoots]

Was hung out to dry by the management team and Jair yesterday, hes got a lot of potential to be a good player for us but is still at development stage, if hes part of the team fair enough keep him in amongst the first team so he can grow into a better player but i dont think hes at all ready to be starting games.

[MKHIBEE]

I felt sorry for him yesterday. Playing in a crap team at such young age doesn’t help him or us. Nobody giving him protection and nobody showing for a ball in front of him, it was a ball backwards or hoof forward for the most part. Not his fault, he is not ready for the first team, especially one as bad as this

[MKHIBEE]

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Did the same not happen with Cochrane at hearts? Career took him down the leagues

That is my worry about Rory, he needs nurturing and developing, not hung out to dry

[hibsbollah]

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Totally. He's a 16 year old boy so he's never going to be a decent player for this level. Was honestly shocked when I seen him starting today.

Still clapped the laddie when he was subbed off. Won't blame him at all for that today

I was dreading him coming over to the East for a throw in because the atmosphere had got pretty toxic. To be fair he got a decent reception because most fans aren’t stupid and know he’s still young (6 months younger than my boy in fact, crazy).

[The Modfather]

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I was dreading him coming over to the East for a throw in because the atmosphere had got pretty toxic. To be fair he got a decent reception because most fans aren’t stupid and know he’s still young (6 months younger than my boy in fact, crazy).

Can your boy play central midfield? Or defend crosses?

[NC1875]

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To be fair I think there’s A LOT that can be labelled at Montgommery but shoehorning youngsters isn’t one. His options the last few games have been either Megwa or Whittaker at RB. It was a mistake not to play Megwa yesterday. However we’ve seen the likes of Landers and Rudi drop out of the squad once players have been returning. I expect the same of Whittaker, and possibly Megwa, once Miller returns and Cadden is fit enough to play.

That’s where his insistence on 4 at the back lets Nm down though. We only have 2 young boys at right back, none of them are ready for the first team.

He could have went to 3 at the back, put an extra man in midfield and I actually think we’d have been a better team for it.

But we know he’s not going to change it. And it will, eventually see him emptied.

He sees giving Whittaker his debut and continual playing time as some achievement when it’s clear to everyone the boys not ready for first team football.

[Smartie]

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That’s where his insistence on 4 at the back lets Nm down though. We only have 2 young boys at right back, none of them are ready for the first team.

He could have went to 3 at the back, put an extra man in midfield and I actually think we’d have been a better team for it.

But we know he’s not going to change it. And it will, eventually see him emptied.

He sees giving Whittaker his debut and continual playing time as some achievement when it’s clear to everyone the boys not ready for first team football.

I passionately disagreed with and criticised the decision to play Whittaker yesterday... but in Monty's defence, we're not yet ready to start Cadden and Miller is away on International duty. With another game on Wednesday I'm assuming he didn't want to play Megwa too much therefore rotated his squad a bit.

As I say - not a decision I agreed with, but arguably had a bit of logic behind it, same if none of our new CMs are actually fit to be starting games (although given our desperate need for points right now, questions maybe need to be asked as to why we're signing anyone that isn't going to be able to make an immediate positive impact from the start of games).

Re 3 at the back - how does he do that with only really 2 fit CBs, unless he plays either Obita or Stevenson in the back 3? And does that give you any more in midfield than Newell / Levitt deep and Marcondes ahead of them, which is what we had anyway and didn't work?

[hibee1875]

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Spoke to a boy recently who played with Hibs youth team last season - now released an doing well at another team. He said the boys he knows at Hibs all cant believe that Whittaker and Landers have been given a chance in the first team.

Worrying take.

Reeks of bitterness tbh

[The Modfather]

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That’s where his insistence on 4 at the back lets Nm down though. We only have 2 young boys at right back, none of them are ready for the first team.

He could have went to 3 at the back, put an extra man in midfield and I actually think we’d have been a better team for it.

But we know he’s not going to change it. And it will, eventually see him emptied.

He sees giving Whittaker his debut and continual playing time as some achievement when it’s clear to everyone the boys not ready for first team football.

Going 3 at the back isn’t without issue though. Who would we have played at right wingback yesterday? Also given our weakness for defending basic crosses I’m not sure leaving space behind wingbacks would serve us well. Did we even have 3 centre backs available yesterday? Whatever way you cut it, short of throwing in the unfit new signings, it’s a grim set of options whatever you do.