Radford 72

There were two French trialists who played against Bradford in Preston's testimonial. Don't think @templeofsaints even managed to find out their names though, which is saying something! The Ecuadorians were just targets that never materialised. They were Wellington Sanchez (44 caps) and Juan Carlos Burbano (18 caps). Think Clark even flew across the Atlantic to watch them. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Sánchez https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Carlos_Burbano Could have a whole other thread out of old trialists and targets!

Manuel Exposito Presseguer was his name: http://us.soccerway.com/players/manuel-exposito-presseguer/149675/ Regarding Lomas and West Ham, I remember Ross Cunningham asking Steve Banks about being on the bench for West Ham at McDiarmid in 1992 (Imre Varadi played for Saints) and he had no recollection either.

Wright said in his very first interview of pre-season (the one where it looked like someone had taken his last Rolo) that Coulson wouldn't be back and that the club were tying up the loose ends on his release.

The PA ran a story yesterday with Alistair Stevenson talking about the new intake, which includes five players from Perthshire. He concedes it will again be a young and inexperienced squad this season. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/local-sport/perthshire-footballers-sign-full-time-10782065

Fixtures for the 2017/18 SPFL Development League have now been confirmed, with the new season getting under way w/c Monday 21 August. Saints open away to Hamilton, with a first home game against Partick Thistle the following week. The season runs until mid-April. Fixtures: http://spfl.co.uk/docs/067_324__spfldevelopmentleaguefixtures17_18_1499786504.pdf There will be no more blank weeks as Rangers, Inverness and Dunfermline have withdrawn from the league, so the 14 remaining teams (11 from Premiership, plus United, Falkirk and St Mirren) will play 26 games. Saints U20s will be looking to improve on last season when they unfortunately finished bottom of the table. Based on previous seasons, eligible players are those born on or after 01/01/1998 but a maximum of five players of any age are permitted in the matchday squad of eighteen. From last season, Ben Mackenzie, Aaron Comrie, Jason Kerr and Greg Hurst have stepped up to the first team squad, leaving another young group for Alec Cleland to work with, including nine new faces from the successful U17 squad: Ross Sinclair, Ben Quigley, Jack Wilson, Nathan Brown, Ciaran Brian, Euan O'Reilly, Cameron Ballantyne, Jamie McKenzie and Shaun Struthers.

I was going to add Beattie to your list but see that it's been done in the post above this one. I don't think the budget has ever recovered to the level it was at when McInnes left. It's a different chairman now but you can see why Wright has a grievance as having come in when McInnes headed south, he'll be aware of what we were paying back then. I thought I'd look at the numbers and see how many senior players we've had making up the squad each season since promotion. With what seems like the most number of younger players now involved, the trend was pretty much as expected and shows what TW is having to work with. I used players aged 22 or over to define senior and stuck to it but it when you compare the ones at 21/22 now (Gordon, Gilchrist etc...) to guys like May, Davidson and Hasselbaink (who along with Fisher are only really notable players under 23 to make an impact) then the actual squad size in some of the previous seasons would be one or two higher maybe. I took the number as being in the autumn of each season (i.e. before January transfer business). Couple of other things worth noting are there would be players on First Division contracts in 09/10 especially and Wright is currently trying to lose Watson from this season's squad. 2009/10: 23 senior players 2010/11: 21 senior players 2011/12: 22 senior players 2012/13: 20 senior players 2013/14: 19 senior players 2014/15: 18 senior players 2015/16: 17 senior players 2016/17: 20 senior players 2017/18: 18 senior players I think that represents what we already know about the movement of the budget since promotion. It was at its highest in 2011/12 (we signed five strikers alone in the summer), Lomas took a hit then jumped ship when it was going down again. Wright enjoyed a slight increase last season (confirmed by chairman) but what happens now? Steve Brown says he's prepared to back the manager so surely we should expect another two or three established arrivals?

The programme that @RandomGuy talks about is Wyscout. Aberdeen, Celtic, Hibs, Killie, Thistle, Saints and St Mirren are the affiliated Scottish clubs. I don't think it's cheap by any means. https://wyscout.com

Virtually agree with the team @Ali91 posted but would stick with Gilchrist, who'll be better prepared for the experience after dealing with their attackers first-hand. Alston, Scougall and Wotherspoon are all interchangeable and having five in midfield, does that not negate the need for the full backs to push on as much (not that Easton managed it much after about the fifth minute anyway), meaning we can be a bit more rigid back there? Feel a lot better about this tie now than I did on Thursday evening.

I do think that the end of August is the time to really make a judgement but would say that Saints take in well over £1 million for May and O'Halloran and TW doesn't see a penny of it really, yet Thistle sell Liam Lindsay for £300k and Archibald is sanctioned to go out and buy Niall Keown from Reading. There's no doubt there hasn't been a huge upturn in crowds off the back of recent success and that must frustrate Steve Brown but it's a bit of a cycle as some fans will IMO see a lack of ambition, which can harm as much as success can aid. Everyone would have loved all the new signings in for Europe but it was never going to be that simple and a lot of that is out of Saints' hands. See where we are come the end of August though.

Looked like the starting defence was Comrie, Gordon, Gilchrist and Easton. Not sure what that tells you about Thursday...

Allan was hyped up massively at Dundee United but got his move when he'd started just four SPL games. He ended up at Hibs after two years, four clubs and little over 30 games in England. He did well at Easter Road but as pointed out, he was playing for a very big club in the second tier. He's started 6 league games since leaving Hibs two years ago. It could be a good signing for Dundee and I wouldn't be shocked if it was but if Saints are chasing Scougall then we weren't in a position to go after Allan at the moment. On Spittal, where does he fit in to the criteria of player Wright was looking for? To me, he's far too similar to Wotherspoon and Alston.

If Scobbie leaves, I suspect it could be this time next year before we know how big an impact it has. He's the go-to man if one of the first choice players are unavailable and has always seemed to accept that role in the squad. There's a mistake in him but he's pretty reliable on balance. If he stays he'll continue to offer the manager that option next season but where does it leave the four young defenders he has coming through? If Scobbie goes it should open up a pathway for them (depending on what happens with Watson) but what if they don't shape up as required? Even allowing, if he does leave then I hope TW at least takes the risk on the young guys and doesn't bring in another experienced defender.

If Scougall goes to Hearts then so be it. Bigger club, more money etc... etc... Not convinced at all that it's the move he needs though. Walker and Nicholson have hardly thrived under Cathro and look what happened to Swanson at Tynecastle.

If Saints were bringing in Simon Murray to replace Cummins or Kane, then it's a signing I'd have been happy enough with but I was hoping we'd be looking for a bit better, although appreciate there isn't much in our predominant market of out of contract Scottish players.

I'm really keen to see us get Scougall. He's obviously still keen to make something of himself in England but he also talks about his need to play and you can't help but feel Saints would be a great fit with him. He's not going to be going in somewhere with a manager having to work out a role for him, there is one waiting for him at McDiarmid with Swanson's departure. These guys that TW builds things around get their big moves. If his motivation really is to play and get back on track, I'm not sure there will be many better options than Saints.

I have some sympathy for Alston, since he was shunted out to the left today. Has he ever played there before? Wotherspoon does alright out there now but looked lost too when TW first started asking him to play there. His mistake for the second goal was worse than Easton's but the latter should really know better and and I'm probably more disappointed in his part in it. The first goal showed the quality Kenny Miller still has. There were good parts to our performance and we've forced their goalkeeper into a few good saves. Would have been nice to get the win but it doesn't detract from another very good season.

What a takedown on Steve Brown by @rik2304 above. The disappointment has dissipated over time but the missed opportunity of 2014 shouldn't be forgotten, especially when he takes a pop at our crowds. Not backing the manager was bad enough but the inaction over season tickets was unforgivable. In fairness, he's realistic about the kids go free policy and it's the long game with that. It will pay off in time. I'll always support that even if it comes at the expense of other fans but there's no doubt that £23 is an issue. Maybe it's time to see if something can be done on that front, hard as it might be.

I don't know the guy McMillan but maybe worth noting that Cummins scored 59 goals in 75 games for Cork and Waterford in Ireland. I think Cummins and Kane are good third/fourth choice options in the squad but we should be striving to find better this summer (hence not too keen on Graham) and not sure we can afford a risk on a part-time player in that case. Would prefer someone more proven in the senior UK leagues.

I know some folk think some fans get too caught up in a piece of fabric but it'd be nice to have a strip that wasn't mercilessly mocked by supporters of other clubs. If Alan Storrar, who has been a great sponsor, is renewing his deal (which would be great) then hopefully they can put their heads together to come up with something a bit better for the shirt. I had a quick look at the Joma stuff for next season and this shirt without the white sleeves would be pretty decent, yet a bit different, IMO. It'll no doubt be the anaemic blue again but that's obviously Joma's shade they use.

Some interesting on replies here to @garydavidson post. On the regional academy, I either heard or read elsewhere at the time when they were creating another two elite spots that the SFA tried to push Saints and Dundee (who were both applying) together to create a Tayside academy. How many elite clubs are there at the moment and how often do Saints get to play them, if at all?

Bit of a doing in truth. Often moan about us not putting in a tackle at Celtic Park; today we couldn't get close enough to make them. A few players out but starting team and system put us up against it. When we changed shape and Cummins moved left, we did better in last 15 minutes of first half but think it was always a matter of time before Celtic ran away with it. Can't see anyone getting close to them whilst Rodgers is at the helm. Our goal was a decent one to pull a positive, good touch and switch from MacLean, smart pass from Swanson, quality cross from Foster and then good composure from MacLean after Gordon makes a wonder save from Cummins.

Disappointing season with just the five wins but certainly appears noticeable that the youngest players in their first year full-time have played a lot more football than those of a similar age in past seasons; the full backs Thomson and Lumsden especially who must've played in 90% of the games? Greg Hurst and Aaron Comrie have contracts for next season and will step up to the first team squad and Jason Kerr will surely follow. Decisions have to be made over the rest of the 1997 players: Ben Mackenzie (G) Paul Simpson (M) Connor McLaren (M) Danny Jardine and Greg Page are the only 1998 players in the squad so it'll be a young group of players again next season, unless they supplement it with players from elsewhere. Seems unlikely though with a significant number of the U17s ready to step up I believe.

The forum software no longer allowed me to close the poll itself, only the thread unfortunately. It was stated from the outset (a fortnight ago) when the topic was pinned that it closed on 30 April. The votes were counted this morning and I let Ghostie know the result. Clearly not ideal that folk can still vote but if you click the number next to each player, you can see when votes were cast and that by the end of play last night, Clive Smith had recorded the highest number. Hopefully that addresses your concerns.

I think it's New Central Park, Kelty that the game is scheduled for?

Your We Are Perth Young Player of the Year 2016/17 is Clive Smith. Thanks to everyone who took the time to vote and hopefully the award will be a good reminder of his time in Scotland for the player.