Widge

I'm looking forward to the players trying out any new system, i.e marking from corners, etc. whilst keeping apart by 2m!

That'll be the squad who isn't allowed to even be near each other until next week? I don't get this rush to get someone in, the squad is already in place with coaches who know them and the set ups that work. Even if a new manager has new ideas, they aren't going to be implemented immediately. Plus right now we've probably saved circa £10-15k by not having a manager which right now isn't an insignificant amount. I'd much rather the club focus on keeping us in a good, financial, healthy position and takes their time to get the right manager, than rush into things and appoint another Connelly or Stark just to appease fans who want something to happen now! This apparent need for information and action from the club immediately is ridiculous, given they're probably working with 20% of the normal staff and there's a lot more going on in Scottish football right now to devote their time in telling the fans what Liam Craig had for breakfast. Do I want a manager to have as much time with the squad as possible, sure. Is there maybe someone already lined up and agreed, but not announced, sure. Do I think the players will become amateur and rubbish, forgetting everything they know simply because there isn't someone else shouting at them, absolutely not. We could go into a new season with the squad and coaching staff we have and be fine, simply by playing the same as we did for the second half of last season.

But saints didn't know about the streaming thing until last week! They had already figured out what they were wanting to do regarding season tickets and all of a sudden this crops up. It's not as simple as changing the form and small print, this is an added complication in all this which has set saints back in releasing information. Again that's not their fault, I'd rather they do it correctly and properly and in the end don't make a hash of things like Celtic have. Motherwell's proposal has the right idea, but they'd already figured their stuff out months ago as they were willing to sell an unknown product to their fans. I don't think any criticism can be levelled at saints for this, in my mind they've 100% done the right thing by waiting and selling an absolute, as opposed to a hypothetical.

Saints were clear that they weren’t willing to sell season tickets to fans without knowing what product was even on offer. I’m absolutely fine with that, as others have said other clubs who have sold season tickets are now having to come up with compromises and other ways around it. Saints should now be able to offer people an exact product and not potentials.

I mean maybe not a Dundonian one....

Given the amount of negativity and moaning you do, it's any wonder you get one in the first place given how badly saints are run and engage with fans! FWIW I agree with the notion a 26 game split isn't going to do the league any good and I don't see this one getting any further than all the other suggestions.

I mean RandomGuy has made some very fair points in this argument, whereas you seem intent on bashing a kid in his first season playing first team football. As RandomGuy has pointed out players take time, Anderson being the prime example. He was a useless right back as a kid and never had any pace, who turned into our record appearance holder as a centreback, give the guy a chance. As for the continual shoehorning or Kirsten Robertson into every post, it’s getting boring. We get it, you don’t like her, but like it or not she’s not going anywhere right now, especially when the club needs as many hands as it can get to restore some normality.

Why do we need cover? Why not just change the shape to a back 4, just because you play a certain formation doesn't mean you need a direct replacement for every position. You've got Rooney, Duffy and Wotherspoon who've all played at right back/right wing back for saints before. You've also got Kerr, Gordon, McCart, Duffy and Booth who've all played centreback for the club. Don't get me wrong I'd like another defender in there for back up who can play both sides, but it's not exactly a priority when you look at the players available to the club.

Well he got a straight red card this season against Aberdeen, so I don’t think you did.

Wait so any player that has a career is classed as a journeyman. Utter bollocks, the guys making a living and the fact he’s had 2 clubs by 25 makes him less of a journeyman than thousands of players.

In a time where everybody is working from home, the vast majority of St Johnstone staff are being furloughed and are not allowed to work, let's not mention the global pandemic and frankly more pressing concerns for the club, such as surviving all this. You'll forgive me for telling you to get a grip and some perspective, the fact they're not updating you every minute of every day should be the least of your worries. If you're a St Johnstone fan, you'll be thankful you still have a club after this, as a lot of fans possibly wont be able to say that. Now give it a rest and deal with the fact there's other things going on at the club right now and a press release every day isn't going to happen! There's bigger things at play that telling you each and every detail from the club.

As others have said, given the choice I’d have kept Wright purely for entertainment value, some of his flicks and tricks were superb and his work rate was excellent. However, his output in terms of stats was non-existent and isn’t exactly a loss. It may be that he’s replaced by a less exciting player, but one who puts the ball in the net every so often and as such contributes more to the team. Did I like Drey Wright, absolutely I’d go as far as saying I’m possibly one of his biggest fans and I’ll be sad to see him go, but in this instance saints decision and stance is very much justified. All of this speculation about offering a new deal and lambasting the board is very amusing. Tommy Wright stated ages ago that they were trying to open talks with Wright's agent who wouldn't speak with them. This offer to him 48 hours before his deal runs out sounds like saints saying "here take it or leave it" as he and his agent had been unwilling to compromise or agree prior. Lets face it, his stats put don't put him anywhere near the top of our wage budget and in a way I'm glad he's going as it'll mean a fairer spread of the wages throughout the squad. As I said previously I'd have loved to have kept him, but not at the wage he wanted. These are unprecedented times for football as a whole, you just need to look at the likes of Livingston losing their best player for nothing in Lawless, even Celtic are releasing guys who'd I'm sure they'd have held onto if non of this had happened. Scottish football is going to be a very different place next year and despite not having a manager we pretty much have a full squad capable of winning games, plenty of other teams cannot say that.

Player of year - Ali McCann. Whatever hasn't been said about the lad isn't worth saying at all. He's been superb and easily our best player, putting a lot of the older heads to shame especially early on in the season. The fact that we've got him signed up on a longer term deal is great work from saints. Young player of year - Technically the correct answer is Ali McCann, but in the interest of fairness I'll give it to Callum Hendry. Simply due to how he's grown as a player and improved from a disastrous spell out on loan last season. He may not be the finished article, but he's good fun to watch and certainly doesn't lack confidence, plus he can finish a football. Best goal - Hendry vs Hamilton. Not taking away from the brilliance of the finish, to take down a cross and slam a half volley into the top corner on your weaker foot; however for sheer importance it has to be, which is why I'm going to keep this simple and say it would win the below category as well. It kick started our season and gave Callum the confidence he needed, plus who doesn't like a striker blasting the ball top bins! Most important goal - As above. Honourable mention to McCann vs Hamilton, Kane vs Motherwell or Wotherspoon vs Kilmarnock. All these goals were important for various reasons and at different stages of the season. Best game - Nobody is going to convince me that the 2-2 vs Hibs in the glorious August sunshine with a last minute equaliser in a game we deserved more from wasn't the best scenes. It may have been early in the season, but it was an excellent advert for Scottish football. 2-2 vs Rangers ran it close, as did the 1-0 vs Celtic in the cup, not for the result, but for the way the players stood up and were counted, a brilliant team performance and on another day who knows, we might have grabbed something and what a fitting way it would have been.

And what about Michael O’Halloran, who’s dad is still a youth coach at Celtic this day?

We already have that in place, Macron was a 2 year deal, so all you’re looking for is a new set of strips. All the training gear will be off the shelf stuff and probably already done. I’d say a couple of weeks to design a kit is probably an acceptable amount of time if they’ve already got templates. Let’s face it you’re only going to need to produce 40/50 strips originally for the players to wear and then the replicas can follow later on once mass produced.

Given the length of time they’ve now potentially got, they really shouldn’t screw this up. Why not ask fans for suggestions or put it to a poll. We’re not going to be playing until at least August, and presumably the production, distribution and manufacturing can happen right now so it’s not already been done.

Problem with using places like Livingston is that they're not really near anyone else and there isn't any parking or decent amenities around (bar the shopping centre, which won't be happy to have folk parking). Falkirk would work since it's just off the motorway, has a big car park out the front as is an astro pitch.

Already been articles that saints are discussing a new deal for Davidson, especially since he hit the number of games required under his contract to trigger an extension, so it'll most likely be at least a years deal.

What Hearts want and what they get are two very different things. Tommy isn’t going to be in a rush to get back to football and he certainly isn’t going to take a job before Northern Ireland figure out what they’re doing. if you check the Hearts forum, 3/4 of them hate the man for some reason and would hate him to get the job. Plus there’s not a chance he’d work with Budge at the helm, if he thinks he’s had bust ups with Brown over stuff, she’d drive him insane.

I mean it’s about 10 times that?

All this speculating from fans, journalists and the likes is getting silly, nobody but the man himself knows the truth. It would seem however that Tommy knew he was leaving 6/7/8 months ago, this was always his last season. A lesser man would have quit when we were bottom of the league, but he hauled us to top 6 once again. He had known he wanted to leave before Kirsten Robertson set foot in the door. It was the constantly being away from his family, his friends, his home. The 24/7 nature of the job, he feels it’s a younger mans game and I for one don’t blame him. As Ive said, we got 7 years of the great man, which was 5 years more than we should have gotten and nothing can ever touch or taint that! Had he left for the N.I job immediately then none of this would be an issue or even discussed. He’d merely have gotten his dream job. Things need to change to move forward occasionally, do I think he was the man to continue absolutely, but there’s no saying a new face with fresh ideas won’t be just as good. Take Aberdeen for example, a lot of their fans want change and are getting tired of McInnes, saints never did that, but it doesn’t mean that a new leader won’t bring a period of success as well, or at the very least maintain it. What is saints ultimate goal, the same as it’s always been, avoid relegation. Anything above and beyond that is a blessing. So I’ll say this, thank you Tommy Wright for bringing 7 wonderful years of football to my club and thank you for all the wonderful memories you’ve created. It’s been a hell of a ride and I don’t think any of us would change it for the world. I just hope that you get to come back to McDiarmid Park soon when it’s open again and see just how much the fans loved you and get to see the send off you deserve.

Given he’s been back in Ireland for approaching 2 months now with his family and not on his own, you’ve got to imagine he’s just realised he’s not getting any younger and is wanting to spend more time with them in his home. Plus he’s seen the way things are going in Scottish football, budget cuts and even more tightening of purse strings are inevitable. Especially with our board and thought enough is enough. Not sure anyone actually thought this day would come, but we’ve had 7 glorious years of the man which is about 5 more than we should have had. He’ll always be welcome in Perth and can leave head held high knowing he’s left us in a brilliant position. Good luck whoever has to replace arguably our greatest ever manager.

Skybet paid out on my Raith Rovers & Cove double the day the leagues finishes were announced. Unexpected, but knew there would be others who tried to weasel out of it.

Ohh and I know the website was playing up, so here it is in full.

https://www.perthstjohnstonefc.co.uk/news/post/club-statement-furloughing-staff Saints statement from today, correct decision. Albeit interesting that we've not furloughed all the players. Guess we've got enough in the bank/budgeted to continue to pay for some of them in the playing budget. From a slightly selfish point of view, by not furloughing some of the playing staff and paying them the same wage, it puts saints in a good light if you're a potential target/agent. Although who the ones not furloughed are and why is anyone guess. If we get to the end of April without a resolution to the league or a clear idea of where it's going, suspect those players will be furloughed as well. Hopefully the next statement about how fans can aid saints and help them is a good one. Cause I suspect there's plenty of fans on here and worldwide who are keen to help in any way they can.