Strawman

While I’m not enjoying the football on show at present, I’m really not sure about Levein , the negative football, his lack of substitutions, his complete blinkered approach when it comes to Max and his same approach in a negative way towards Stevie May, there is also a lot of negativity from the fans which is MAYBE over the top. ( I keep the right to react horribly when we lose our next game ) The bottom 6, Livingston are gone, no way are we getting automatically relegated, in a way our management team have succeeded in that respect. 5 teams could still finish second bottom and face the play off, Motherwell and Hibs look unlikely but Aberdeen for sure could be dragged into it if the fixtures and results go that way. Just say Ross County beat Aberdeen first after split game and we beat Livingston, suddenly its panic in Aberdeen. In a way, Ross County improving and getting results could be a good thing for us. Think I’m right in saying, looking at the last game against each of the bottom 6, we’ve won against Ross County, Hibs and Aberdeen, drawn with Livingston and Motherwell, that’s got to give us hope. We know we can get points from these teams, even playing the way we have been.

I get that 19/19 is the priority, a Saints win over Aberdeen though pulls Aberdeen right into the 2nd bottom battle. Us having to go to Aberdeen three times could give them an advantage. Rangers or Celtic would NEVER be asked to visit each other three times.

My understanding was its was a sign on a house ( or shop ) directing people to the ground , would have possibly had an arrow on it showing ground was at end of street, rather than it being an actual part of the ground. Worth preserving, I d agree.

Was Martindale ever really our first choice of new manager, the fact that only Levein and him were mentioned is a worry as don’t think he’d have been a great fix either. I think every interview he does you can’t take seriously, it’s like he can’t be arsed and in his head I think he thinks he’s amusing. In his very first interview he tried to tell us he was only at the game Cleland took charge of to watch Max and that he nearly left when he realised Max wasn’t playing. Of course he was there because he was invited by Geoff so why make that wee story up. Somewhere in Levein s head he wants us to think at that Tues night game, Geoff Brown looks over and turns to Roddy : “ is that Craig Levein over there ?” Roddy : “ aye I think it is “ Geoff : “ run over and see if he fancies the Manager job, our only other option, Livingston didn’t give us permission to speak to “ Roddy : “ he says he will take it, but only if he can bring some lad called Andy and it will be Andy does all the work, he only wants to mentor Max “

Sidibeh collapsed on the pitch a few weeks ago and it felt yesterday like he had to actually ask to come off, surely he should be getting extra care. Our subs never seem ready, approaching 30 mins to go yesterday we had not a single sub warming up. That said I actually enjoyed yesterdays game, thought we showed some attacking intent although I think we should be better. At least twice yesterday, Gallagher got himself in a great position in the box, he’s not that player though and it’s shit he’s being asked to do that role.

I have zero faith in Levein but I’m at the stage I don’t care if he’s sacked or not, either way he’s not the long term solution for us. We desperately need new owners, hopefully they bring a freshness, new manager and a reset. I do believe we need to stay in top league, it’s how we keep young fans. The Ormond stand had a decent number yesterday, I know they were all free but it’s getting them interested. I bet every one of them has either a Playstation or Xbox, they go home and play as Saints and get further interested. If not top league your not on the game I don’t think. When my lad was younger, I wouldn’t like to think how much I spent on Match Attax cards, again my understanding is only top league. Back in 80s when I was a kid, Panini sticker albums only had player stickers for top league. All sounds like nothing but for kids it’s important. Levein feels like a follow up to Davidson in a way it seems like we might has well have kept Callum, and I desperately wanted rid of Callum a year before he left. The Macca period was just a lucky start followed by a disaster, in no world should St Johnstone be 4-0 down at home to Stirling Albion. My biggest hope is Levein keeps us up, he can celebrate that little success and we get new owners, fresh broom and move forward.

I thought it was sand he was throwing about, either way though I can’t see how doing it at half time makes a difference. He actually walked right through one of the kids games with the mini goals.

Craig Levein has a strange interview style, I think most of them are done very tongue in cheek and I think he thinks hes quite funny. He clearly likes both of these players and in his head, him taking the piss out of them like that by claiming they are in the huff with him is supposed to show that. Once the quote is written down though it just looks strange. The problem is when your in a position like we are, fans want him to be serious, theres a time for managers trying to be funny but when youve a team struggling to score a goal, it just doesnt work.

I have fond memories of Muirton but very hard to argue it wasn’t a shitheap by the end, only half the main stand able to be used, having to be helped by Aberdeen for a new segregation fence to allow a cup game to be paid there etc Being on the pitch when we won promotion from league 2 and the Cup quarter final against Morton are my best memories, Balavage scoring against Hibs Pre season was funny. There’s better memories but these are ones from someone my age. I don’t think we d have been even close to being as successful if we’d stayed at Muirton, it’s the move that kickstarted everything in my eyes, full time football being the main one. The atmosphere at McDiarmid isn’t always good but to say it lacks atmosphere/history but then admit you’ve never been to a game there. I’m too young to have been at any of the European games at Muirton but there have been many more European nights at McDiarmid and atmosphere pretty good. McDiarmid now has coming up 35 years of History, some great games to look back on ( granted lots of poor ones as well )

Saints were poor today, can’t blame Levein or tactics, players just didn’t perform. Thought Livingston were masters of their own downfall, if they’d came out second half and just played, they were the better team and could have got a second. Instead they chose to piss about, taking an age to do anything, time waste wherever possible and got caught out. I get time wasting ( or game management) is part and parcel these days, but not an entire half. Livi were the better team again once we scored.

Sprangly

I haven’t said he did anything “deliberately”, he clearly likes Sidibeh, why would he try to hurt the lad. Doesn’t change the fact that he’s brand new to full time football, it was obvious he was tired, the management made the decision to leave him on when we had 3 substitutes still we could have still used. I m not suggesting any deliberate intent, I think it was a poor decision and it played a part in the player collapsing. Your correct though, that is speculation on my part, there could be any number of other reasons why it happened.

I’m suprised Levein hasn’t taken more stick for Sidibeh collapsing, a player who has been full time for around a month and running him into the ground when there was no need, options on bench to replace him. I see we ve gone back to expecting fans to pay for interviews building up games again.

I wasn’t being serious, just felt no less ridiculous then the roof options and solved the old firm getting ground option.

Do we need 4 stands ? A single stand job like East Fife or Dumbarton, home fans only if we are going down new Stadium route