Saintdunc

Won 2, drawn 1, lost 2 
 
Won 1, drawn 2 and lost 1 with Phillips as captain, only booked once in those games. Small sample size but he does look a lot more disciplined when given the captaincy - the draw at Celtic Park is the one that sticks in my mind in particular. Keeps things simple in possession, doesn’t go barrelling around chasing lost causes, and for the most part, cuts out the daft niggly fouls.  
 
With regards the last paragraph, I doubt it’d make much of a difference tbh. 

Aye for me the Totten period was the most memorable in terms of exciting football.There was a great passion for the club from both players and fans that seems lacking these days.Maybe I'm just being nostalgic but i definitely felt more connected to the club than now.The heart and soul of Saints is sorely missing at the present time imo.
Think TW was one of our best managers and Davidsons success was off the back of that.I certainly echo BHs previous post that CD although ironically managing us through a double cup win then went on to blow our best chances in Europe and systematically ruin the team and waste millions of pounds on poor players.Just a shame TW was never given this money.Just imagine where we would be now.I still feel pissed off about it tbh

I think history will remember Davidson kindly. 100 years from now, if there's still a St Johnstone, he'll still be known as the manager who won the Double for Saints, long after whatever happened after that has been forgotten about.
But he also played a huge part in destroying so many of the elements that had made St Johnstone successful. We're still feeling the repercussions of the damage he did, and it's looking increasingly like we're going to continue feeling them for several more years to come. If we go down, much of the blame for that is going to be at his door.
His signing policy was atrocious, he didn't bring through a single youngster, his treatment of some players seemed unfair, he implemented the most turgid and ineffective style of football I'd ever seen at Saints, and he was too arrogant to change his ways when it was obvious he needed to. He also made an absolute pig's ear of probably the best chance this club will ever have of reaching European group stage football. 
He just completely ruined everything that Tommy Wright had built, and I still find that very hard to deal with.
 

I do think that was huge in terms of manager/squad dynamic but the rot had already set in and we'd taken some heavy defeats. The emergence of Parker papered over things a bit for a while but (under him) his expensive signings like Hartley and Lovenkrands just hadn't worked.
I remember being 3-0 down at HT at home to Motherwell at the start of a run of 13 games without and win and giving him another summer was the wrong call. The budget probably wasn't great but you've got to have more imagination than the signings you mentioned above.
Davidson and Stark weren't good for opposite reasons. The former is, in my mind, undoubtedly a good coach. What he did with the double-squad was remarkable and (despite the fact we couldn't always put chances away) we were entertaining and attacking, as well as really well drilled. Up there with the Saints teams I've most enjoyed watching.
5-2-3 was Gary Rowett's system though, Davidson was just good at coaching it. He was completely unable to adapt and identify and new way of playing when it was required. And his man-management skills seemed lacking. 
Stark though, was clearly very popular with his players, which created the problems for Connolly. I think Geoff Brown is quoted as saying he's his favourite manager in terms of personality. He just couldn't get us playing to any level of consistency or in a particularly exciting manner.
We've become accustomed to dross these days but back then that was far more of an issue after the best of Clark, Sturrock and Totten.

You'd bracket Connolly with McClelland and MacLean, mistakes that were relatively quickly rectified.
Clark, Stark and Davidson weren't necessarily dreadful managers but were allowed to carry on for far too long.
Things started going downhill for Clark in the autumn of 2000 and by the spring of 2001 they probably should have been assessing things. Geoff Brown had stepped away from Saints at the time though and I think has said he'd have acted sooner than leaving it until the start of the following season. Like with Davidson, the club were too loyal because of past achievements. I think CD probably earned a chance after Kelty (despite the losing run it was part of) but the 7-0 at Celtic Park should have ended him, the players just weren't playing for him by that point.
Stark had a knack of getting a result when he needed it which always seemed to keep our promotion hopes alive, when the reality was that we'd never have the fight to win big games if it really mattered. There was never going to be a benefit to sacking him mid-season though so the missed opportunities were at the end of his first two campaigns.
It is hard to compare the first three against the latter three but Stark was clearly worse than Clark and Davidson, by miles, so your worst four in McDiarmid-era are:
McClelland, Stark, Connolly and MacLean.
I'll let others rank them in order of ineptitude.

I'd say it goes back beyond that. This all stems from Steve Brown not doing enough to keep Tommy Wright happy. Go back in time and put that right, and Tommy would still be here and we'd still be a successful top flight club getting decent cup runs and league positions every season.

Tony Watt for Dundee Utd

A rare Jason Kerr goal for Wigan

Giving Levein a three-year contract was just the latest in a long line of laughably bad decisions made by the club ever since Tommy Wright left. Whoever was brought in to replace Macca (himself a ridiculously bad appointment) should have been told they have until the end of the season to keep us up and prove they're the right person for the job. Then the long-term contract could start being discussed.
The single biggest problem this team has had for years is an inability to score goals. So what do Saints do? They go out and head-hunt the one guy more famed than anyone else in Scottish football for his negative approach.
I've always said I don't care how we play as long as we're successful. If parking the bus gets us 1-0 wins every week and pulls us up the table then I'm delighted with that. But when being defensive makes absolutely no difference to results and we still end up losing every week anyway, surely it's time to chuck that plan out the window and accept that it's not going to work?
In my years of supporting Saints we've finished third in the country twice, and on both occasions it was done by playing aggressive, attacking football. It's a complete myth that a team of Saints' size needs to be scared of every other team in the league, but the culture of fear instilled by Davidson, unbroken by MacLean's best efforts and continued with gusto by Levein has absolutely destroyed any confidence our players ever had in their ability to actually have a go at teams. We're just a complete shell of the St Johnstone we once were and it's bloody heartbreaking to watch.
I'm very rarely in favour of sacking managers after such a short amount of time. I wasn't particularly on board with sacking John Connolly so quickly and I also felt Macca could perhaps have got a bit more time, given the circumstances he was working under. But in my opinion both Levein and Kirk should be removed from their positions immediately. Sadly, I don't think there's any chance of that happening any time soon.
 

Another ex Saint, Scott Brown, wins it for Raith. 

Quite simple isn’t it. Win, we stay up, lose, we could go down…
The only potential cause of complications is the team selection of Craig Levein. Unfortunately I just don’t see a world where he drops Considine, Carey and Max for 2 games on the bounce. I hope I’m wrong.

Benji's pace reminded me of the great Jim Kerray back in the 1960's. Not many on here will remember him!

One swallow dosent make a summer.

Same again is probably best?
Mitts
Kelts - Gowser - Gordy - Robbo
Matty - The Sprangler - Dan the man - DJ
Clarky - Kimpy

Huge result and performance.
 
It has to be backed up with another win against Livingston though.

Whilst GB still has some control of our club he has to grow a pair and get rid of Levein. Levein is a dinosaur from another era and is clearly incapable of moving from plan a to plan b when we are getting nowhere during matches. His team selections are, in the majority, baffling. What exactly is Sprangler doing in training, or does Levein just not have good memories of holidays in Austria?
We would struggle in the Championship and, unless Levein goes, and goes now, that's where we are going to be next season, and not for very long either. A continuing downward spiral will see us languishing in a division full of also rans. 
65 years since I first entered Muirton Park, and the last 2 and a bit seasons have been nothing short of a disaster. I used to travel up from Leeds 3 or 4 times a season and, although there were occasions when we lost, we were worth watching. I am disappointed to hear myself thinking that to do the same now would, not only be a waste of money, but bad for my mental health. 
We should not put up with mediocrity and that is what Levein is delivering. 
Michael Stewart is not my favourite pundit but he is right. 
 

Whilst GB still has some control of our club he has to grow a pair and get rid of Levein. Levein is a dinosaur from another era and is clearly incapable of moving from plan a to plan b when we are getting nowhere during matches. His team selections are, in the majority, baffling. What exactly is Sprangler doing in training, or does Levein just not have good memories of holidays in Austria?
We would struggle in the Championship and, unless Levein goes, and goes now, that's where we are going to be next season, and not for very long either. A continuing downward spiral will see us languishing in a division full of also rans. 
65 years since I first entered Muirton Park, and the last 2 and a bit seasons have been nothing short of a disaster. I used to travel up from Leeds 3 or 4 times a season and, although there were occasions when we lost, we were worth watching. I am disappointed to hear myself thinking that to do the same now would, not only be a waste of money, but bad for my mental health. 
We should not put up with mediocrity and that is what Levein is delivering. 
Michael Stewart is not my favourite pundit but he is right. 
 

Whilst GB still has some control of our club he has to grow a pair and get rid of Levein. Levein is a dinosaur from another era and is clearly incapable of moving from plan a to plan b when we are getting nowhere during matches. His team selections are, in the majority, baffling. What exactly is Sprangler doing in training, or does Levein just not have good memories of holidays in Austria?
We would struggle in the Championship and, unless Levein goes, and goes now, that's where we are going to be next season, and not for very long either. A continuing downward spiral will see us languishing in a division full of also rans. 
65 years since I first entered Muirton Park, and the last 2 and a bit seasons have been nothing short of a disaster. I used to travel up from Leeds 3 or 4 times a season and, although there were occasions when we lost, we were worth watching. I am disappointed to hear myself thinking that to do the same now would, not only be a waste of money, but bad for my mental health. 
We should not put up with mediocrity and that is what Levein is delivering. 
Michael Stewart is not my favourite pundit but he is right. 
 

Whilst GB still has some control of our club he has to grow a pair and get rid of Levein. Levein is a dinosaur from another era and is clearly incapable of moving from plan a to plan b when we are getting nowhere during matches. His team selections are, in the majority, baffling. What exactly is Sprangler doing in training, or does Levein just not have good memories of holidays in Austria?
We would struggle in the Championship and, unless Levein goes, and goes now, that's where we are going to be next season, and not for very long either. A continuing downward spiral will see us languishing in a division full of also rans. 
65 years since I first entered Muirton Park, and the last 2 and a bit seasons have been nothing short of a disaster. I used to travel up from Leeds 3 or 4 times a season and, although there were occasions when we lost, we were worth watching. I am disappointed to hear myself thinking that to do the same now would, not only be a waste of money, but bad for my mental health. 
We should not put up with mediocrity and that is what Levein is delivering. 
Michael Stewart is not my favourite pundit but he is right. 
 

Whilst GB still has some control of our club he has to grow a pair and get rid of Levein. Levein is a dinosaur from another era and is clearly incapable of moving from plan a to plan b when we are getting nowhere during matches. His team selections are, in the majority, baffling. What exactly is Sprangler doing in training, or does Levein just not have good memories of holidays in Austria?
We would struggle in the Championship and, unless Levein goes, and goes now, that's where we are going to be next season, and not for very long either. A continuing downward spiral will see us languishing in a division full of also rans. 
65 years since I first entered Muirton Park, and the last 2 and a bit seasons have been nothing short of a disaster. I used to travel up from Leeds 3 or 4 times a season and, although there were occasions when we lost, we were worth watching. I am disappointed to hear myself thinking that to do the same now would, not only be a waste of money, but bad for my mental health. 
We should not put up with mediocrity and that is what Levein is delivering. 
Michael Stewart is not my favourite pundit but he is right. 
 

SLF - Minister of the Latter Day Saints

Great to see a forum member now part of the media team at Saints 🤣
hopefully these two tremendous reporters will see us heading in the correct direction now. Brilliant work from the club.
 

Hi folks - Aidan Smith from The Herald here. 
I'm sure a few of you will have signed up already, but just wanted to post a link to our new St Johnstone newsletter, the McDiarmid Memo.
The newsletter has been on the go for a few weeks now and I've already had great feedback from supporters - I'm trying to show there is an audience out there for Saints content.
It is free to sign up to so please get involved if you haven't already. Appreciate it! Link here: https://www.heraldscotland.com/newsletters/sport/2607/

@Cagey As @blueheaven says I am still loitering in at various times, just a bit busy these days so don't post  

I can’t help but think many of you are dabbling in a bit of self-deception - others are just talking total pish!
We are absolutely kidding ourselves if we are saying that Theo Bair wasn’t a missed opportunity. He was scouted, bought for six figures, barely played, made to feel like a cult-joke and then tossed overboard.
He was playing and scoring in the MLS. He’s now playing regularly and scoring at Motherwell. But somehow Theo Bair is the problem. Aye right, ok then!
10 goals and 3 assists in as few as 18 starts in the Scottish Premiership is no mean feat for a guy who some on here are claiming looked like a guy who had never seen a football before! Utter cobblers!