Kyle

4 points clear of County and their last game before the split is against Rangers. Bit of a free hit for us against Kilmarnock next week as I don't see Rangers dropping points in that one. 
 

Massive win. Mitov pulled out some excellent saves in the second half and Sidibeh was terrific too. That goal against Dundee has done his confidence the world of good as he looks a real threat in front of goal and a general nuisance in the build up. 

On 2/26/2024 at 8:27 PM, Aitchy said:

The rot set in when Davidson and Brown started coming out with stuff about us “just being happy to be in the league” and “avoiding relegation would be a bigger achievement than winning two cups”.
 

An organisations mindset is set by those at the top. Coyle, McInnes, Lomas and Wright were always looking for us to be more ambitious and push us on to the next level.

 

This for me is where pretty much all of our problems stem from and it's seeped into the players and the club. I think Maclean tried to shift that in his brief spell in charge (but wasn't a good manager) and Levein has given it steroids. 
 

I backed Levein's appointment as felt we needed a steadying hand and a fresh start. Being honest I feel like I'm watching Callum Davidson's team during the 10 game losing run all over again so whilst I think it was probably the right type of appointment in terms of experience, it's probably not the right individual. 

If the club don't want to see a massive drop in season ticket sales then I think they'll have to get rid of Levein. People are disgruntled enough with VAR, awful football since the double (and even the season we won the double we only scored 9 home goals) and other factors, I think the football on display currently and the prospect of another year of that will be the final straw for a lot of people. 

9 hours ago, RandomGuy said:

Mahon, MacPherson, Vertainen, Bair and Clark were all fees.

I think we paid money to get Gallacher and Crawford too but unsure so be aswell saying they were free.

Its comfortably over £250k spent regardless, maybe tickling £500k if you include any clauses.

We got Gallacher for free but with a big sell on (LAUGH OUT LOUD), and Bolton couldn’t believe their luck that they were getting shot of Crawford so he was free too I think. 
 

Fees in your next post aren’t quite right but the overall amount isn’t far off, think it may be slightly more overall. 
 

Not signing a player because they’re too good for you. 

I’ve heard it all now, honestly. 

RandomGuy has explained previously what he was doing for the club, I don’t think he needs to tell the whole story again (unless of course he wants to) 

RandomGuy’s version of events tie in to what I’d heard previously. Very much a team effort but Davidson always had the final say on who we spoke to and then ultimately who we signed. Some of the players the manager brought to the table were signed, some of Grieves were too. I don’t think we’ll ever be any the wiser who’s responsible for what signing (although you can probably make educated guesses based where some of the players were sourced from). 

It’s all academic now anyway, Davidson is still here, Grieve is away. We’ll see soon enough if Davidson can muster up a good window this summer without Grieve’s help (a solid if unspectacular start with the 2 signings made already, in my opinion). Whatever happened, the appointment clearly didn’t work in the way any of us hoped it would. Wright always talked about wanting a head of recruitment, so maybe Grieve just came a bit too late to have the kind of impact that he could’ve had under different stewardship. 

1 hour ago, Linky said:

There is a rumour that I very much hope is true, but doubt, that Morton are asking about Ali Crawford. This might be where the link with Jack Hamilton comes in.

Hamilton Is out of contract so if that is true, I doubt the two are linked. 

14 minutes ago, Shipa said:

As our first 2 home games are on Sky, does this mean we will not get them on Saints TV with our Season Ticket?

Pretty much. No live Sky games available I don't think.

7 minutes ago, RandomGuy said:

Did he actually play that much for us?

He played for Burnleys reserve side once.

He played quite a few times in his first season. I'd say he'll have 10+ appearances for us, although he looked pretty finished when he did.

Davidson will have had leverage in the contract negotiation. No doubt it's been agreed he'll get to add players if he is to take on the job. We look light on numbers in midfield so I suspect that's where the new bodies will be added.

Wow. Looks like we have someone very ITK. 

Motherwell have also signed Jordan White from ICT apparently but haven’t announced it. I really can’t  understand why people are getting so uppity about us not ‘officially’ announcing the Rooney signing. He’s done an interview confirming it, Wright confirmed he’d signed in an interview, Cleland had a full article about him in the Courier last week, and chairman said he’d signed in yesterday’s PA. Its clearly happening/happened. 

I think people are seeing what the want to see in respect of Robertson. She's been given a remit and she's just following what she's been told to do, I haven't seen anything that I've been concerned about from her to be honest.

I think the Saints support being in one stand has worked out quite well so far. Club are making a decent amount of money from it and our support is huddled together and making a bit of noise as a result.

This has been a success IMO - I'd imagine it'll be a permanent arrangement as of next season and wouldn't be surprised if East Stand season ticket holders are allocated west stand seats for these games going forward.

McGlynn also said he's out injured for another 3-4 weeks. A one legged Ando at right back up against Christie/Forrest/one of a number of other horrors that Celtic can throw at us.

22 minutes ago, St. Paddy said:

Adding in the season ticket holders who didnt attend?

If that is the case, that's a huge number of no show season ticket holders.

Swanson's just out of favour I think. You often see him in the background training in Wright's saints tv interviews and he ocassionally pops up on the bench.

I really don't understand why anyone would want us to sign Kenny Miller. He's 40 and just been released by the worst club in the championship.

If this was 2010 then maybe.

1 hour ago, Linky said:

BBC Sport suggest that the most important thing we need to do in the January transfer window is play Hendry from the start. In some ways I would agree.

We've all been saying who we want to sign, but what do we actually think will happen?

I think we'll move on Callachan, but I think we'll struggle for anyone to take Swanson. Vihmann may go back, although it depends what the rules of the loan are.

I think we'll sign Jack Hendry permanently (I don't think we're allowed more than one loan from a single club) and a striker on loan (perhaps Oli Shaw from Hibs or Scott Wright from Aberdeen). Hearts & Rangers will be looking to offload players too, although I'm not sure that Tommy would go for any of them.

I would hope that we're starting to look toward pre-contracts for the positions we need to fill next season, whether that be Holt & Ralston or others.

I like forthrightness but one or two things;

Scott Wright is out for the rest of the season with an injury. I've thought that Jack Hendry might be an option too but there's no way we'd pay a fee for him and it seems there's league one clubs in England who want to loan him. Plus he's only 24 so probably not the experienced player that we need.

Oli Shaw seems to be well out of the picture at Hibs right now. Might be worth enquiring to see if he's available for transfer and not just a loan? Still not keen on the idea of developing other club's young players to be honest. Holt is a bit different because he's out of contract in the summer and we could theoretically pick him up then (although I don't think we'll be able to afford his wages).

11 hours ago, RandomGuy said:

His old defensive partner at Livingston, Ricki Lamie, is out of contract in the Summer.

26yo left sided CB, who can play LB, and has 100 games in the Championship, and nearing 50 in the top flight.

Surely someone like that is a no brainer to approach?

Good shout. Definitely someone I'd like to see Saints approach.

Centre back and a striker who can put the ball in the net would be lovely.Suspect we'll get the former but not the latter.

I love Macca but I don't think he's the answer. I'll be very worried if we bring in Whittaker - we need better than a guy who seems to have become a joke figure at the club where he made his name.

Edit: I'd personally be looking for another right back so that we can pack Ralston back off to Celtic. He's been a very poor signing.

Oli Shaw as well for striker.

Wright said recently on Saints TV recently that he targetted Gallagher and after that fell through, 'circumstances changed' in respect of the budget available for a centre back. Not sure what those circumstances might be - possibly the new deals for Kerr and Clark? - but I think you have to take the manager at his word. 

You have to remember that at one point we were trying to sign Gallagher and Shaughnessy still had an offer on the table to stay. Those players signings/staying on probably mean no VIhmann or Duffy and probably mean no Holt too when you look at how many other options we have in the centre of the park.

It's hard to know what's happened and why the summer window turned into such a farce. At this point it doesn't really matter as long as things are fixed in January.

Looks like O'Neill is staying in charge of NI for their final two qualifiers against Germany and the Netherlands and, if NI end up in a play off for Euro 2020 in March, will be in charge for that game too.

Nae luck Tommy haters - it seems he'll be sticking around for a while yet.

Why would you be excited about the most successful manager in our history leaving the club?

I don't understand why we're running with a squad of over 11 to be honest.

1 hour ago, mainstand said:

If he had scored with his chances on Saturday would you have still been posting this?

From what you and @RandomGuy have been posting I can only assume you would have. 

Isn't that kind of the point though - he didn't score the chances. He has a highlight reel of terrible misses and he only seems to add to it every time he plays.

He's nowhere near good enough with his finishing to justify a regular spot in our team. If he's to be either the main striker or the second choice behind May, we really should be looking to see what else is out there next summer as right now there's not much in Kane's game that makes him indispensable.