Shipa

When Davidson was assistant under Tommy, you could see him in the dugout, speaking to the players and speaking to the boss; you knew there was a sub coming because Callum had the paperwork out. Macca under Davidson was often standing off to the side with his arms tightly folded, seemingly little communication. That suggests to me that their attitudes, and their ideas of how to get the best out of the players, were often not aligned.

It means Too long:didn't read. It was first used to criticise posts which were too long and boring, but in this instance I've used it so that if someone found it such, and scrolled down, they would see a brief summary.

Pretty much a soft no for Macca as manager. When Callum came in it seemed like a positive thing, but there were clear risks on both sides. For the club, they got someone they knew, a club legend, who seemed to have done well as coach/assistant manager, the obvious risks being that he had no experience as manager in his own right. For Callum, he was going to a club he knew well, with a settled, fairly successful squad, most of whom he knew well, the downside of that being that he was taking his first management role at quite a high level, with much expectation on him. Also, a little in his defence, he came in during covid, following his predecessors unexpected departure, and in a time where, we now all realise, there was a lot of change and unrest going on behind the scenes at the club. As for Macca, if he gets the job going forward, as others have suggested, I will give my full support to that, but the risks I have mentioned about Callum's appointment stand true, maybe even more so, this time. Personally, I'd prefer Macca to spend more time, at Saints, in a coaching/youth development role, and/or to spend a couple of years managing in the lower leagues, to prove himself, as it feels to me that he has even less experience than Callum did when he took the job on. TL:DR I see Macca as a future Saints manager, and will fully back him when that time comes, just not sure now is the right time for either party. ^The above is a copy/paste of what I posted on another forum; I'll add another couple of points I missed: As many have said, would CD have us safe now, with two games to spare? Maybe he would have done it, but I doubt it. When Macca was given interim role, my first thought was that 'He'll put a (much needed) rocket up their arses!' and that seems to have happened. Although Macca, eh, seems, eh, a bit, eh, nervous, eh, in his interviews, he talks properly about what he has in mind, and also doesn't seem to shy away from criticism where it's due. We are safe, but he still wants us to win the remaining games. I like that positivity. He has said the young players will get a chance - if they earn it; that's a good attitude. My TL:DR summary above still stands, I can see Macca as a future manager, he looks like he has what it takes, but maybe just not there yet?

When Callum first came in, he seemed determined to play his system from the off, with the existing players, forcing square pegs into round holes. My thought at the time was that surely you play the current squad to their strengths and then, when bringing players in, build a squad to suit your system. Here we are, three years down the line, still trying to play a system which doesn't work, having built his own squad which doesn't fit the system. Meanwhile, there are players in/around the squad who have potential, but are being stifled. Got a lot of respect for Callum as a player, but he's no manager; I was about to say it's becoming a joke, but there's nothing funny about it. Would hate to see him getting the sack, leaving on bad terms, but if needs must...

2-0 Saints, top of league on the night. Cue claims that this vindicates the decision to stick with CD. Wheels to fall off completely next week!

Rumour on P&B that Cleary may be leaving.

Were they as bad as these?

It feels to me very much like we are still playing catchup from last summer. I wasn't as annoyed as some seemed to be at the manner of Kerr and McCann's departures, but more at the fact that the club must have known, as everyone else did, that they would be away sooner rather than later, but seemed to do very little about it. They should have had proper replacements in place, and if they had not left when they did it would have given the replacements time to bed in before that time inevitably came. This led us to the situation in January where, knowing Zander was unlikely to stay, and that Rooney and McCart were likely also to leave, instead of aiming to talk to/sign/PCA their replacements we were still scrabbling around for players to make up the existing squad. Roll forward to now and we needed a big window just to get back to the point where we should already have been, but in spite of a few signings coming in it still has a feel of running around in a panic trying to find the players we desperately need right now (ideally by Tuesday.) As for proactively building for the future...

Bryson apparently off to Stenhousemuir.

Was worried that we have to play Aberdeen and Hibs after the split, but then realise they're in the bottom 6 for a reason. Won't be easy, but if we put today's result behind us and get back to recent form, we might stay up. If not, it's a while since I had a day out in Ayr!

Jack Wills also extended to 2024.

Cleary announced, deal until summer 2024.

I really hope they do. There's talk of Eetu not being used to how we play the Scottish game, only way to get him used to it is to get him playing it!

A lot of folk complain about Hampden's location, access etc. Train station 600m away, big matches they pretty much run a 5min service. Massive coach park on site. Local buses also a few hundred metres away. The issue of getting home to north of Perth/south of Kilmarnock is an issue with the transport system rather than the stadium! Personally, and understanding it'll cost millions, I'd like to see them flatten the current Hampden and totally rebuild. They could have a modern, 60-70k stadium, great view from every seat, in pretty much the current footprint. Getting back on the thread topic, I really don't think we played badly on Saturday, but we didn't play brilliantly either. That applies also to our opposition. Was a pretty scrappy game, they took their chance, we didn't, sound like every Saints game! Wasn't gutted to lose 1-0, went there half expecting a pumping, but looking now I wonder, were they there for the taking? And we didn't.

Which Aberdeen ground? I thought they'd started building at Westhill, but keep seeing plans for the beach area with stadium a big part of it. There are a few cities in Europe where teams with fierce rivalries share stadia, (Rome and Milan being the obvious), why not Dundee? A combined one could be big enough to hold internationals?

No-one gets near Steve Broon's biscuit tin!

The Aberdeen situation seems quite bizarre. They seem to be sticking very strictly to everything, and were apparently checking vaccine passports/negative tests before they even became law (as, I believe, Scotland were at Hampden). They then seem to have restricted Hearts to about 700 tickets, bearing in mind they brought 3.5k to McD on an absolutely shitty Wednesday, just to keep below 10k and not need to do these checks. Was at Murrayfield Saturday (I know, should have been at Tannadump) but 32k crowd, stewards asked if we had vax passport, my mate got his paper copy open, I didn't even get the app open on my phone, stewards say okay on you go. Also saw a Celtic fan mention on P&B that steward at Parkhead was being strict, walked round a bit and another steward let them in. Heard similar about nightclubs, some being strict, those who aren't are benifitting. Generally sounds a total mess and just your luck how the venue/staff member is interpreting the rules.

They got beat Saturday night, sack Nuno yesterday, Conte flies in today to 'finalise' an 18 month deal. Someone more cynical than I might think it was planned well before Saturday!

BBC reporting police have charged Griffiths in relation to reckless and dangerous conduct.

May be totally wrong on this, but I think (hope) we'll be ok on that front for most of this season. I suspect potential suitors will want to see that last year wasn't just a flash in the pan.

That one aged well! Sorry to see Kerr go, but think he's probably achieved what he will at Saints and deserves to move on to bigger and better things. I can see Wigan being a first step on the way, not sure how much of a step up it is in footballing terms, but all being well should put him in a bigger shop window. All the best Jason!

I'm an East Stand ST, and have not objected to being moved in the past, giving them the 3 stands. However, we already have significantly more ST's than before, we have more money from that and also from Europe, and fitting the ST's in will be more difficult. The financial difference between giving them both ends and the away section of the main, and giving them the 3 stands is maybe 2000-2500? seats, at £28 would be 56-70k. Take extra stewarding and police, extra damage to the stadium, and loss of goodwill from the home fans, is it worth it?

Go back to England and tell your masters there that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our back 3!!! More seriously, I worry that if clubs down south are worried about not getting EU players finalised in time, there might be a sudden rush tomorrow to get guys from Scotland. You would hope, if that happens, that it's a seller's market, so we may (hopefully not) lose 1 or 2, but not let them go cheap?

Just came on to say that, commentary a bit ahead for me

Another tough choice, so many absolutely giving everything, but Muzz is just outstanding right now!