PauloPerth

infrastructure
the car park remains a big H&S issue. They spend £150k on doing just the top bit, and they will continue to work on it. 
We have had an upturn on commercial income with the road behind the stand being open, e.g. From catering and funerals etc.
The website will likely be another outlay as its needing updated. 
On that, with the e-ticketing system introduced, all 4 stands are now kitted out with wireless coverage. This is with a view to being able to pay by card (app?) in future and make kiosks far more efficient.  Even if we had 10000 at a game, we are very limited to what we can take in by how many kiosks we have and the time to serve folk in a limited 20 minute window.  By moving to more folk paying without cash the hope is that we can generate more income.
The merchandising is an area the club want to improve massively, particularly online. There has been an issue with some sizes of the macron kit but hopefully sorted soon as it's a new supplier thing.  BLK were abit of a nightmare.  We've already sold more of the macron kits I'm pretty sure Stan said.  It's going to tie in with the new website.
Other areas needing money are the hospitality lounges as they bring in a lot of income but are looking very worn. Between £30-£50k.
Finally, and quite fittingly, we just had to spend £20k on a new tractor for the groundsman. 
 

Continued...
SB was asked about the Jim Spence article about how we are run. He wasn't scathing, just said it's from someone who's never had to run a club, so doesn't really understand the complications.
He said talk of a DOF etc .. we run the same structure we've done for the past 8 (?) years or so, our most successful period in our history and people only mention stuff like that when the team is struggling.
He said Hibs have 4 full-time staff in charge of recruitment and they've just spent £250k on a striker that's barely had a shot at goal yet. Not to slag them, just to point out there's no guarantees.
As an aside, sounded like Hibs were keen for Shaw to come to us right up until the weekend, But Saints have heard nothing from them since the draw on Saturday.
 
We have 1624 season ticket holders (approx) which is 80 up on last season.
 
Bev the Supporter Liaison Officer talked about the Scottish football fans survey. 284 Saints fans replied last season.its open just now (I think on our website?) for another couple of weeks.
They are really keen for as many Saints fans as possible to complete this as it's really useful info for the club.  
 
More...
 

SB was asked why we don't get players in for pre-season, why we always wait until season had started and he said it was completely the managers choice.  There's no stipulation from the club about that.  
Again agents are a nightmare. He spoke about Zander Clark re-signing and changing to Jackie Mac as his agent.  He joked he let Tommy do the negotiations initially but that barely lasted a week.  Said Macnamara knew he had the power as Saints weredesperate to protect their investment in Clark so we wanted get him tied up a few years and can get a good fee if he's sold, so that all makes for a stronger hand for the agent.
Someone asked why players don't overrule their agents and he said you very rarely see that. Some players barely know which club their agent has got them signing for.
He showed list of 1st team players and when their contracts are up. A lot of key ones next summer.  He was asked about trying to tie up Kennedy and Wright now, he said we will be trying but Kennedys agent will be trying to tout him round the bigger clubs so will hardly listen to us just now, and when asked why we didn't try to extend Drey in the summer, similar, his agent wouldn't even have talked to Saints, and if he finds form clubs down south will be all over him.
He mentioned a few times how much Tommy is involved in deals, and reckoned more than at most clubs.  He joked a few times about how stubborn TW is at pushing for what he wants.
Someone asked if Tommy was pinched by another club tomorrow if he had an idea who he would try to get as a replacement, and SB was quite quick in saying yes.
The board said Paul Smith is leaving , off to pastures new. They thanked him for all the work hes done for the club.  Paul was in attendance.
 

On the youths, the club feel they now have a good relationship with Man Utd, who were very complimentary about the set up here and want to develop it further. Talk of a couple of games per season at different age groups.  They spoke well of the standard of several of Saints young players.
The hope is the relationship can be developed further (possibly them sending a reserve/ under 23 side for pre-season game, maybe loaning players etc.

 

Stan Harris spoke about the finances.  
We lost about £190k or so last season. The two Dundee teams out the league costs us around £150k I think they said.  The only slightly heated debate of the evening was a couple of Saints fans desperate to pimp out the three sides of the ground to The OF to make us an extra £300k or whatever a season. Starting a sentence with I never ever go to games against The OF, but I think we should give them 3 sides of the ground is a bit of a brass neck in my honest opinion, but each to their own I suppose.  Stan and Broon were fairly non-commital on the issue, but I think it's something that's been discussed.
The cup game against Celtic at home last season there were only 1065 Saints fans there out of a crowd of 5600 or something.
But Celtic smashed 58 seats, and it took us a bit of time to get the money off them, so pros and cons.  The club don't run to the press for variousness reasons about keeping good relations with them, for young players etc.
Our leccy bill is between £12 - £18k a month. Water bill is £12k.  The club have looked at solar panels on the roofs - not cost effective.  Wind turbine - but McD sits in a bowl so wouldn't produce enough to make it viable, and water capture system, but the steelwork of the stands is not strong enough to hold them.  They keep looking at opportunities to save on bills.
Marketing - they have given flyers round all the new estates in Perth area. Bertha Park etc.
We had the 14th highest average home attendance in Scotland last season.  But our wage bill was 8th highest on an average of £48k per first team player. (Excluding bonuses etc!)
more..
 

Was at the meeting.  Very informative and well put together.
Steve Brown on the first team squad/ players. We've had to pay a severance fee for May so he says there's only likely to be a RB(HOPEFULLY Monday) and talking to a LB and that's it.  Unless we can shift Ando and MacMillan. Seemed optimistic we would be able to.
Foster fell out with manager and agreed to leave. Didn't want to say more as there's a confidentiality agreement.  When asked, he gave a fairly comprehensive account of the May saga.  
He says this has been the hardest window he's ever known, agents are a nightmare. He doesn't know how many more transfer windows he'll be involved in, as with brexit looming he may be thinking of focussing more on his own business. He hinted that he might not be in position all that much longer, but that might just be how drained he feels after negotiations?
Alistair Stevenson talked about the youth programme. A few very exciting players in there.  The 16 (?) yr old Denholm on the bench on Saturday was released by Celtic and the club have very high hopes for him.
Interestingly we don't sign our youngsters on a development contract at 16 as they would leave school. Saints want the players to have an education to fall back on, and get the players in a day a week as well as evenings. It does mean we would miss out on quite a bit of the development fee, but the club want to do right by the youngsters, as the vast majority won't make it.
Cant remember the lads name, Steve someone I think, gave an update on the women's football side.
more....
 

infrastructure
the car park remains a big H&S issue. They spend £150k on doing just the top bit, and they will continue to work on it. 
We have had an upturn on commercial income with the road behind the stand being open, e.g. From catering and funerals etc.
The website will likely be another outlay as its needing updated. 
On that, with the e-ticketing system introduced, all 4 stands are now kitted out with wireless coverage. This is with a view to being able to pay by card (app?) in future and make kiosks far more efficient.  Even if we had 10000 at a game, we are very limited to what we can take in by how many kiosks we have and the time to serve folk in a limited 20 minute window.  By moving to more folk paying without cash the hope is that we can generate more income.
The merchandising is an area the club want to improve massively, particularly online. There has been an issue with some sizes of the macron kit but hopefully sorted soon as it's a new supplier thing.  BLK were abit of a nightmare.  We've already sold more of the macron kits I'm pretty sure Stan said.  It's going to tie in with the new website.
Other areas needing money are the hospitality lounges as they bring in a lot of income but are looking very worn. Between £30-£50k.
Finally, and quite fittingly, we just had to spend £20k on a new tractor for the groundsman. 
 

SB was asked why we don't get players in for pre-season, why we always wait until season had started and he said it was completely the managers choice.  There's no stipulation from the club about that.  
Again agents are a nightmare. He spoke about Zander Clark re-signing and changing to Jackie Mac as his agent.  He joked he let Tommy do the negotiations initially but that barely lasted a week.  Said Macnamara knew he had the power as Saints weredesperate to protect their investment in Clark so we wanted get him tied up a few years and can get a good fee if he's sold, so that all makes for a stronger hand for the agent.
Someone asked why players don't overrule their agents and he said you very rarely see that. Some players barely know which club their agent has got them signing for.
He showed list of 1st team players and when their contracts are up. A lot of key ones next summer.  He was asked about trying to tie up Kennedy and Wright now, he said we will be trying but Kennedys agent will be trying to tout him round the bigger clubs so will hardly listen to us just now, and when asked why we didn't try to extend Drey in the summer, similar, his agent wouldn't even have talked to Saints, and if he finds form clubs down south will be all over him.
He mentioned a few times how much Tommy is involved in deals, and reckoned more than at most clubs.  He joked a few times about how stubborn TW is at pushing for what he wants.
Someone asked if Tommy was pinched by another club tomorrow if he had an idea who he would try to get as a replacement, and SB was quite quick in saying yes.
The board said Paul Smith is leaving , off to pastures new. They thanked him for all the work hes done for the club.  Paul was in attendance.
 

That's me done. 
This is just my interpretation of what was said. If others were in attendance and read it differently then please comment.
I'm not trying to pitch it from any particular viewpoint, just how i picked it up.   I quite strongly believe that things like this should be in the wider domain and are not just for the few who attend.  
Next time if the club filmed it I think it would be great. Though you might would not get the same level of openness on certain issues possibly.
Overall, very worthwhile in my opinion and well done to those who were involved in it.

That's me done. 
This is just my interpretation of what was said. If others were in attendance and read it differently then please comment.
I'm not trying to pitch it from any particular viewpoint, just how i picked it up.   I quite strongly believe that things like this should be in the wider domain and are not just for the few who attend.  
Next time if the club filmed it I think it would be great. Though you might would not get the same level of openness on certain issues possibly.
Overall, very worthwhile in my opinion and well done to those who were involved in it.

That's me done. 
This is just my interpretation of what was said. If others were in attendance and read it differently then please comment.
I'm not trying to pitch it from any particular viewpoint, just how i picked it up.   I quite strongly believe that things like this should be in the wider domain and are not just for the few who attend.  
Next time if the club filmed it I think it would be great. Though you might would not get the same level of openness on certain issues possibly.
Overall, very worthwhile in my opinion and well done to those who were involved in it.

Matty was good, but thought if any of our wide players was in with a shout for making team of the week it would be O'Halloran.

They're going to have to when we soar into third place 
(depending on what happens this week, obviously..)

Brilliant day out, and a really entertaining match.  We were the better team.
Another comeback point, especially equalising so late, can only build the self-belief and confidence of the players. The lack of fight previously was a huge worry, but the recent spirit gives a lot of hope.
Fairly even first half with Hibs having the better chances, but second half was excellent from Saints.  Great spirit and a lot of good football, mostly through the midfield, which was a revelation compared to the Livi match.
Tanser was as good as he's been, the centre halves did well overall; the two of them look like quite a natural partnership. Duffy made some errors and looked a bit unsure in possession on occasions,  but overall he did well, didn't look out of place at all, and you feel he'd benefit massively from a run of games.
Ali McCann looks like he's as close to the type of possession-keeping midfielder we've been crying out for since Millar left. In the first half he dwelled on the ball a wee bit long a couple of times, butover the 90 minutes he looked brilliant.  Sitting in front of the back 4 looks to be his best position so let's keep him there.
Michael O'Halloran was tremendous. Watching him run at players is a great sight, and his finish was top drawer.
As we've all been saying for a while, with a couple of key new players in we could be really good to follow this season.

Brilliant day out, and a really entertaining match.  We were the better team.
Another comeback point, especially equalising so late, can only build the self-belief and confidence of the players. The lack of fight previously was a huge worry, but the recent spirit gives a lot of hope.
Fairly even first half with Hibs having the better chances, but second half was excellent from Saints.  Great spirit and a lot of good football, mostly through the midfield, which was a revelation compared to the Livi match.
Tanser was as good as he's been, the centre halves did well overall; the two of them look like quite a natural partnership. Duffy made some errors and looked a bit unsure in possession on occasions,  but overall he did well, didn't look out of place at all, and you feel he'd benefit massively from a run of games.
Ali McCann looks like he's as close to the type of possession-keeping midfielder we've been crying out for since Millar left. In the first half he dwelled on the ball a wee bit long a couple of times, butover the 90 minutes he looked brilliant.  Sitting in front of the back 4 looks to be his best position so let's keep him there.
Michael O'Halloran was tremendous. Watching him run at players is a great sight, and his finish was top drawer.
As we've all been saying for a while, with a couple of key new players in we could be really good to follow this season.

In the first half, we were playing some sexy passing football without providing any cutting edge in the final third. We were as potent as a 90 year-old man. We addressed those issues in the second half and fully merited at least a draw. Matty Kennedy and Michael O'Halloran were playing at the level I'd hope and expect from them. A few sloppy passes aside, Ali McCann is developing into a mature and technically impressive young player. Liam Craig provided a lovely assist for MOH's goal. The defence looked more settled with the central pairing of Gordon and Kerr, although the former understandably took a wee while to warm into the game and made a couple of mistakes with the ball at his feet in the first half. Tanser and Duffy made very good use of the ball and I'd be happy to see the latter getting a run in the team, even if Foster eventually works his way back into contention with consistently good behaviour.
With all of the negativity surrounding the club at the moment, the players deserve a lot of credit for showing immense character once again. Sure, there were negatives that I'm glossing over somewhat. It wasn't acceptable to lose our concentration and concede a goal so soon after scoring. I mainly feel positive today, but this doesn't change the situation. With a couple of decent signings, we could do very well. Without them, we could struggle over the course of a season. This is a very tight league and there's such a fine line between achieving top six and becoming embroiled in a dogfight near the bottom.

The pubs round your way must be full some players mate. 

A lot of positives when you're not searching for negatives like I was at half time. Duffy looks far more competent than I've been giving him credit for, while Kerr looks much better with Gordon beside him. McCann continues to grow and is looking the part. MOH is definitely returning to where he was.
Can't complain about much. Sloppy goals conceded needs to be resolved quickly, but we came down from 2-0 last game, and have come from a goal behind twice today, including an equaliser with the final kick, thats purely down to the character of the players.

He may have some potential to be a decent player at this level but he's far from established. We really need someone with a bit of experience and is comfortable playing on their own at times,(most of the games probably). 
Whole thing just seems a bit like....."Get somebody! Anybody in!". 
Also, I'm really not keen on developing a player for a rival. 
Loans from teams round about you are tinpot.

That's where I'm at as well.
If there's absolutely nothing out there, or we just cannot clinch a deal with anyone we were after, then go with what we've got rather than sign a lad that struggles for games at Hibs.  Even if he does well for a few months, if he's scoring then come January Hibs will take him back anyway, and we're right back in the same place.
Give McMillan a proper turn to know for sure whether he can cut it.  He hasn't had much of an opportunity starting matches. Give Kane and Hendry a chance in a pair. Neither has done great as a lone striker this season, so play them together, or partner either with Kennedy. Matty was brilliant up front on his own against Rangers, so let's use him through the middle again.
Far from where we'd hoped, but I'd rather develop young St Johnstone strikers than Hibs ones.  

And yet most seasons we run at a loss, unless we sell a player. We haven't had much over 2500 home fans only at a game at McDiarmid for long enough.
Its just pie in the sky economics you're coming away with.
 
But that's separate from this summer's transfer business, which has been poor.

Very sad to see a small number of people on here continually trying to imply that all Tommy has done for us is win the Cup (especially when they're doing things like making up the formation we supposedly played to make him look worse). He has consistently succeeded with Saints and delivered strong league finishing positions - a better run of league positions than any other Saints manager has ever achieved. I'll also repeat what I say on here quite often, which is that every single time we've gone through a slump of bad results under Tommy, he has successfully managed to pull us out of it. When people start trying to downplay our greatest ever manager's achievements I really start to wonder about what their agendas are.
And no I don't think he should be above all criticism - but surely there's some middle ground between criticising a manager and leaping straight to the knee-jerk reaction of calling for him to be replaced.

Despite a shaky start in defence , a young Saints side took the lead in the opening minutes through Jordan Northcott.
The diminutive Hamilton & McFarlane's pace on the wings caused the Cove defence problems on a very heavy pitch.
Apart from Martin Scott, who came on as a sub. (and scored) , the rest of the Cove  players came off a 5-0 victory against Edinburgh City,
Chances were created at both ends and  Cove equalised from a cross from the left in the 27th minute. 
 Max Johnstone , making his loan debut in goal, allowed a tame header from the unmarked Brown to squirm into the net, despite getting both hands to the ball.
H/t. 1 - 1
The heavy rain continued throughout the game and it came as no surprise that the Saints guys tired as the game wore on.
Despite this , they were still creating chances on the break , notably rounding the keeper , but not able to get a telling finish from a tight angle.
Also a thundering shot from the left of goal which came crashing off the crossbar.
Cove introduced their Big Guns , Martin Scott and man of many clubs (Aberdeen , Arbroath , Brechin , Alloa , Dumbarton , Raith ) Mitch Megginsoni inthe 61st minute.
The outstanding Liam Gordon making his comeback from injury was replaced by Calum Rae in 75 minutes.
4 mins.  later Cove went in front when Park scored from close range.
Cove put the result beyond doubt when Megginson (81) and Scott (88) added to the score line.
Despite the scoreline the Saints acquitted themselves very well in front of an appreciative support.
Strength and experience told in the end.
Max Johnstone had a debut to forget , although he pulled off a few good saves.
 

That's the worst defeat I've sat through watching Saints. Kind of expected it with where we're at and with Celtic already having a few competitive fixtures under their belt, so **** knows why I went.
Celtic too quick, too strong and too good. Saints nowhere near ready for that fixture with a back 4 who have hardly played together, and a team that has struggled.
We showed no courage to look after the ball, just panicked and gave it straight back everytime. The only exception was young McCann who showed up a lot of his older colleagues with his willingness to show for the ball, be prepared to hold an opponent off, and find a pass.  He was our one positive. It's what Chris Millar did so well for us when we went there.
Absolutely no point turning on the team, heads will already be low enough amongst the players, and the chairman and manager know we need players in, so let's not dwell on this one, and see what this week brings.
A win next week, then a fortnight to shape the team and work on things.