Radford 72

Sorry, I should have been clear, those quotes weren't from Callum Davidson.

McLennan sounds like a younger version of the current O'Halloran, maybe without the pace, i.e. the one redeeming thing. In his earlier days, Connor could occasionally look "unplayable" - recall his performances turning deficits at home to Livi/ St Mirren into wins, then there was the cup replay goal at Ibrox. He would still have matches where it seemed his laces were tied together, but some put that down to typical erratic wide player and most were okay with him getting an extended deal in the latter McInnes days. Nowadays though, all he seems to do is run into the back of players and foul them, or miscontrol it and let the ball run of play. He's gone backwards at an alarming rate of knots, but maybe this move will revive him. ----- His brain and feet aren't connected, he can run about a bit but more likely to trip over the ball than have any end product. ----- If you could somehow tap into the player that broke into the side a few years ago you might be into something. He never had the greatest quality but through sheer directness and aggression on the ball he could provide a spark to a pedestrian performance. His instinct was always to either beat his man or get a cross in early. Unfortunately he lost that at some point, he went back to playing safe, more likely to lay it back to his full back then get the ball in the box or beat a man. His touch can be very poor, he’s not the quickest either. He will give you work rate and will track back but loads of players in Scotland can do that. If he’s coming into to add quality and goals in the final third I suspect you’ll be disappointed. ----- Fast and strong but with a poor first touch and not a great football brain either. I think he'd make a better striker than a winger but my honest opinion is he'll drop down the leagues. ----- Personally I think McLennan is more a Cove Rangers type player than a St Johnstone one. He will probably do one or two good things in a game but he usually runs into defenders or tries to beat 2 men when 1 would be enough. ----- I always got the sense Derek tried to coach him too much. If you give him a ball and tell him to hit the byline then he's more than capable. We started cutting back and then crossing the ball in. He was always on his week foot or didn't have a chance to cross so would play it back to the defender.

Have you considered moving abroad every Saturday afternoon using VPN Airways? The international version of Saints TV is just £12.99/month if you did happen to find yourself outside of the UK...

Millwall have a young striker who has scored 25 goals in 59 starts out on loan over the past couple of seasons. Olaofe is his name... He presumably tried a flick or didn't run around pressing enough, since Callum Davidson shipped him back south after a few weeks.

The article on Trott is in a Bermudian paper, they just quote the Express. Suspect it's literally old news. Not even Davidson could sign a second loan keeper.

I think with the players we have now, the 5-2-3 and 5-3-2 can become quite fluent. If MacPherson and Carey are involved then it gives Hallberg that license to get in the box, which I think will be really important this season. So other than bringing Bair in and restoring Gordon if he's fit, I wouldn't change too much from last Saturday. Bair has to get himself between the posts though. Almost an outbreak of positivity there.

How did Sandford in particular look?

Even in 2020/21, we had a weakness in that central area in front of defence, and that was with Ali McCann in there. It was alleviated a bit when we started playing three in midfield more often but the plan this season looks like going back to a two and this time with no McCann. The fact Davidson is never asked, or makes any attempt to explain, his thinking doesn't help. WHY does he think we don't need a new CDM?

A reason things unravelled for Sandy Clark was his scattergun approach to signings, losing a left back, then signing a striker etc... Unfortunately seem to be seeing much the same just now. The manager obviously feels the (only?) problem last season was in the attacking midfield areas and that if we rectify that, everything will be fine, which seems overly hopeful and optimistic. He's gambled on Drey Wright (a winger, with questionable injury record) being able to replace the talismanic Rooney, with another winger (O'Halloran) presumably being viewed as additional cover to James Brown, who is a more orthodox full back type. John Mahon came in back in January and along with Considine are presumably viewed as replacements for McCart. That seems acceptable business. Butterfield, Bryson and Craig played 30 games between them and are all gone. MacPherson will be expected to feature more (although is already suspended) and Hallberg will be deployed deeper given more advanced signings. Ballantyne has returned from loan but I'd question if he's suited to any role in the 5-2-3. I'd have thought a new signing would have been identified for this area of the park but clearly not on the agenda? Clearly squad has improved in attacking midfield with two new signings (plus manager quoted as Wright and Montgomery being options there) and return of Kucheriavyi. Loss of overrated Middleton definitely offset by arrivals. The improvement here is what I feel we probably needed in every area of the park. Chris Kane remains without a definite timescale regards a return, leaving us with two strikers, having lost Callum Hendry. Theo Bair didn't start a game for Saints last season and Stevie May has 3 goals in his last 64 games. The manager spoke about 5 outfield signings, a number he's now reached, although thankfully he seems to be moving direction on that now. Surely a striker is on the list? But if they haven't been looking for one up to this point? Oh, and we still don't have a goalkeeper despite knowing for months and months that Zander Clark was leaving. Unfortunately, I genuinely feel the longer we just carry on like this, the more damage we are doing and the longer it'll take to recover.

Assume any footage of the MacPherson challenge will be single camera, which I doubt will be enough to support any appeal. Waste of time and money. On Ross Sinclair, I wonder if part of reason he isn't involved is because it would limit him to playing for just one other club this season. If he doesn't feature for Saints, they can reassess any loan in January and fix him up somewhere else if needed/desired. Maybe with two of our four natural CBs unavailable, the manager might display this new flexibility he promised us at the start of the summer...

Then ultimately wasn't sacked quickly enough to reverse a slump that led to an embarrassing relegation... There are definitely echos of 2001/02 looming.

The potential emergence of Kucheriavyi in particular is potentially one ray of light. Other than Danny Swanson, the real game changers for Saints over this period in the top division have been players brought in at a young age or home-grown, the sort we couldn't otherwise attract or afford. The manager has spoken about players that can go past a man and Kucheriavyi maybe fits that description? It's obviously a huge pressure to put on a young player but Ali McCann managed to emerge from a group that weren't in a great position in 2019, so maybe history can repeat itself?

Was going to post this in the predictions thread but thought it best that be left for exactly that. So instead thought it might generate some discussion on its own merit. For me, at the moment, we are certainly hoping at least one other team has a stinker next season. We picked up points at the same rate as the rest of the pack outside of our horror run before Xmas but hard to make a case that we weren't still the second worst team in the league, the table rarely lies. County have obviously lost Hunbgo and Charles-Cook and that will definitely hurt them but is it worse than losing Clark, McCart, Rooney and Hendry? We are left with a group that scored 10 league goals between them last season. I'm not sure how many more players the manager wants to sign but we need some real quality in attack and obviously a goalkeeper that is going to perform to at least expectations. Have very bad vibes about the season ahead at the moment unfortunately but prepared to be patient in anticipation of these remaining signings. Intrigued to hear from anyone who is optimistic about the upcoming campaign?

I think it shows where we've been this season that the first half probably could be viewed as decent. We at least managed a few passes but then were heavy in midfield with both strikers dropping in rather than being in dangerous areas. We still didn't have nearly enough width. If you look at the five shots we had in the first half, they were all from outside the box. We had one touch inside the Hibs box (and it was unsuccessful) yet, I can't disagree that given our standards, that first half seemed alright. What a poor reflection that is on Saints.

I like to believe that Steve Brown has watched enough football to surely realise how bad this current fare is. Forget results, he can't actually be enjoying what he is watching? I think the only remaining support for this manager is from the uber loyal and contrarians. You can't rely on the running any business when you have reached that stage.

When you look at what has been a success for Saints, there is a template. Young coaches with new ideas who have played at various levels in both England and Scotland and have the contacts to match. Obviously Tommy Wright bucked that trend but he offered continuity at a real high point for the club when we had just finished third. I don't think anyone can argue that isn't the scenario we are in at the moment. A name that jumps out at me is Steven Naismith, who ticks those boxes and has hands on experience under his belt now.

I would sack him this morning. Craig, MacLean and Cleland until the end of the season. I fail to see how that reduces our chances of staying up.

Not to be conflated with thinking it'll be easy but one of the main reasons I don't fear relegation is the idea that, obviously under a new manager, we can build a team around guys like Vertainen, Kucheriavyi, Ballantyne etc... down a league. More energy, more flair, more attacking intent. Yes, that bubble will be burst when Morton win 1-0 at McDiarmid at September but for now, we can dream...

I can fully acknowledge if people don't feel now is the time for change. There are good points that have been made in that regard. I would even accept a change is probably no more likely to keep us up but that's kind of my reasoning, we are just treading water until hopefully making a proactive decision in a few weeks. But why not start moving forward now? There isn't an argument to be won or lost on timing because there is no right answer. But he can't be manager next season. Saying that doesn't diminish his place in history or if people want to call him a legend. But equally, as someone else pointed out, no one is bigger than the club.

I think there is a strong case to change now. Kelty was obviously the nadir, our reaction after going behind as cup holders was pitiful and screamed of a side not playing for the manager. Much has been made of the scenes afterwards and they possibly triggered a personal reaction in some players. Results have obviously been better but I really don't see it in performances generally. Livingston away was a good performance and beating Hearts obviously took something but that apart, it's been more of the same, the difference being we have had decisions go for us rather than against us, the back three is a bit more settled (McCart improved) and we have a striker with a real point to prove to a manager who has wasted his talent and cost us a good player. Does losing 7-0, allowing Celtic to break records for passes made, show a team playing for a manager? Did they look like a team motivated by their leader? Does his reaction of it being "disappointing" and "not nice" convey the right message? Usually you'd expect to a reaction from such a defeat but such is Davidson and this group, I wouldn't bank on it as things stand. A change isn't just about getting an immediate bounce though, it would allow a new man to assess the players that are here moving forward, although most of them should have big marker pen black crosses next to their names in any case. I don't really understand the logic that he stays on if he keeps us up but goes if not. I do accept managers should be judged over extended periods but there also has to be an element of discretion and what has been served up and presided over this season hasn't been good enough, whatever the end result. He shouldn't be in charge next season, so why delay the inevitable if you don't believe Callum Davidson will have any influence over whether we stay up or go down?

Angry and deflated at that. It was pathetic. A performance that encapsulated the personality of our manager. Folk will point to the battering we took there under the previous manager but, whilst I will never make lengthy excuses for losing 7-0, the two defeats by that scoreline at Celtic Park are very different in my opinion. Yesterday was a disgraceful performance with absolutely nothing to cling to. I don't even trust this manager and group of players to give us a reaction. The opening day defeat a couple of seasons ago came after a bad, injury-hit summer that Tommy Wright got very wrong. Duffy and Vihmann were so far below standard but a major contributor was the performance of the goalkeeper, who had one of his worst days and one that set the tone for the next 18 months unfortunately. At least four of the goals were from outside the box and should have been dealt with better. A glimmer of light came out of that game though in the second half performance of Ali McCann. Tommy Wright took the opportunity to offer a young player some minutes. Callum Davidson left John Mahon and Charlie Gilmour benched to bring on Jacob Butterfield because he had friends in the crowd. More important than staying up or going down, from a purely football point of view, is getting rid of this manager and his collection of sub-standard dross. We've played 41 games this season, I reckon he's got a performance out of the team in about half-a-dozen of them. Change needed and there is an argument it should be right now because you need to look at it longer-term. Staying up or going down with this manager. Are we not just delaying the inevitable? And are we really better placed come, say, October, if we scrape survival and let him work his magic over the summer? And in terms of what could go wrong if we sack him now, if this group are so behind the manager that we definitely won't get a bounce, then they are doing a good job of disguising it. The player that has really stepped up since January is that one that wants to stick it to Callum Davidson. Surviving via the play-offs won't be a cause for celebration if it just leads to more of the same going forward.

For me, now is the time for change. It's not about yesterday or even about staying up any more. Are Saints really better placed for the long-term or the next manager if we scrape survival and let Callum Davidson work his magic over the summer? Even if still in the Premiership, we could be in a far worse position come the World Cup than we are right now. When you can't see how the club moves forward with a manager, why do you continue to back him? Be brave please, Mr Chairman.

Alternatively: Marshall, McConalogue, Tait, Hannah, Hardy, Rutkiewicz, Moore and Webb.

Dopey, Doc, Bashful, Sneezy, Happy, Grumpy, Sleepy and Sean Webb.

He can play tomorrow, then will miss Livingston. If you pick up a (sixth) booking that generates a one-match ban, it is served 14 days after that booking is picked up.