Radford 72

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Everything posted by Radford 72

  1. We'll see but I'd be surprised if O'Reilly, Munro and Hamilton don't play for their loan clubs in this competition.
  2. The rules last season were U21s plus two overage players. Depending on who plays at Celtic Park, you are looking at potential involvement for, I assume, anyone born in 1998 or later. That's Duffy, McCann and McClean from the first team squad. Hendry just misses out but could play as one of the aforementioned overagers obviously. Then from the reserves, Sinclair, Wills, Struthers, Ballantyne and Northcott aren't out on loan yet. Not sure there are any more in that group? The rest will be U18s.
  3. I've only been on two of the trips as well, Luzern and also Vaasa in 1999. Both incredible experiences and, as said, we were about as lucky as you could be in getting to visit somewhere as beautiful as Lucerne. The scenes when MacLean scored and then the buses back into town after the game were memorable. Finland really was a step into the unknown (although scary now that was 28 years after last playing in Europe and we are now 20 years since the Clark campaign) but again, incredible memories. Only a couple of hundred Saints fans but the centre of the town - and O'Malley's bar - seemed to be taken over by blue and white.
  4. I don't understand the claim about the budget either, unless we we're either significantly over it last season (possible) or it's been reduced significantly (less likely, although not impossible). What I'd say there is there are clearly players earning far too much if little over 20 pros and a handful of kids is swallowing up around £1 million. Getting shot of McMillan would help but that will still leave us just three strikers. If we don't get Stevie May, I really worry about what we'll end up with. It'll be another Morgan or Johnstone but this time we don't already have the players at the club to get by.
  5. Abysmal performance from St Johnstone and a throughly deserved win for Montrose, who were, by a distance, the better team. A result that goes down in the annals as one of the poorest in the club's history, it's potentially the first time we've lost to a team from two leagues below us as a top division team. It seems a long time ago that we used to have no problem in these fixtures under Derek McInnes. Forget excuses about the pitch, the injuries, not having a game on Saturday, that just wasn't nearly good enough from those selected. I'd almost have excused Wallace Duffy but then he screws up for the winning goal. Ali McCann tried his best in a struggling team. Full backs were unadventurous, wingers didn't adapt to the conditions and the two fit strikers we have are hopeless, although one at least still has age on his side and scope to develop. Situations like this can be the making of players but Hendry has wilted and McMillan has shown himself to be hopeless. Folk don't like Chris Kane but he's miles ahead of both. It was really a mix though of established stars (Foster, Tanser, Davidson) not doing enough and fringe players (Callachan, aforementioned strikers) not taking their chance and leaving questions over their claims for a place. Sunday is now a knockout tie for us but one which we are woefully underprepared for. The level by which the performance will need to be improved is almost unquantifiable.  Nice summer evening at least.
  6. I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of August things have fallen into place with the squad. Does that make everything alright though then becomes the question. For some, the answer will be yes but I guess it comes down to whether you care about how you get to the desired result. I don't think anyone would doubt or question that Steve Brown tries his very best for Saints but there are areas where the club could improve and we need to try and break this cycle of every summer having a spell of negativity surrounding the squad building. The manager has a part to play in that as well. His comments about not believing what he said in the press yesterday morning was negative is naive. For years supporters have moaned about marketing etc... and not much has changed. That has long been an area where we can improve and on that front you'd say the club/chairman could do better. It's a bit like the end result conundrum above; just offering the kids/family prices isn't enough, you need to get the message about it out there. In regards to the question, he's still doing a decent job, on balance, for me. And it's undoubtedly a very hard and unrewarding job.
  7. Think he was struggling to get in the team at the turn of the year. The club should have had another defender signed by now (i.e. before the injuries), it's poor.
  8. I liked Shaughnessy and hoped he'd sign a new deal but we have to move on, even if it's cutting off a bit of our own nose. I'd usually welcome a player back but, unless it's been kept under wraps, his side have made no attempt to reopen discussions with Saints, so he's clearly looking to move on.
  9. Saints were really good for 50 minutes tonight. The passing, the movement, the tempo - Morton couldn't live with it. A real step up from the Irish games. Morton then reverted to what you'd expect from a David Hopkin team and went very direct to Sutton and you have to admit that it rattled us for a spell. The game calmed down again and we saw it out. For eight outfield players to get 90 mins at this stage of pre-season speaks volumes for their fitness as well. Imagine Duffy, Gordon, Callachan and Craig will get the same on Friday night.
  10. The manager set out a couple of months ago what he was looking for: a goalkeeper, a striker and a couple of defenders. He knows exactly what he needs/wants and is now trying to make sure he signs the right options.
  11. Can you tell us the name you heard now? Guess this isn't happening? Had hoped it might have been someone to work with the strikers.
  12. I heard the same, although it was - and I'm not joking - the sports scientist playing centre back. Is that the guy MacFarlane? Assume there were no team lines kicking about?
  13. I thought Marcus Godinho of Hearts had a good game against us back in January and I see he's likely to be surplus to requirements at Tynecastle. Would hopefully push Foster a lot more than Comrie and has the potential to improve. Would be similar to when we signed Joe Shaughnessy.
  14. If either of you guys have Twitter, I'm sure @SJFC_SLO will sort out packs for you, although there isn't much of interest in it this year and you can download a form from the official site.
  15. Based on the way the fixtures have been in Group B in the previous three seasons, we'll be at home to Brechin City, as well as County, so away to Forfar and Montrose again. Obviously can't guarantee that but the fixtures have always been the same, although not in any set order.
  16. 18-year-old midfielder Jack Hodge joins Hibernian after leaving Saints.
  17. Who is the coach? @dave mc Hopefully someone to work with forwards. Feed the Goat.
  18. I understand the financial viewpoint here. I also get the sporting advantage issue. I think something else to consider though is would it put existing supporters off going to these games? Surely a primary concern of any business is looking after your current customers?
  19. Whether you agree or disagree with the idea, the club would have had to mention it in the renewal pack. All it says is the Ormond Stand patrons will be moved for some games. Be interesting to know what the uptake on bringing a friend for £10 to Old Firm games was like. Anyone?
  20. That's a great stat. Did you do that yourself or is from another source? @garydavidson
  21. I thought Saints worked the ball into really good areas repeatedly but the final ball was atrocious. For me, it was nothing like the performance in February in that sense. We must've had a dozen really good opportunities but lacked the quality in the final ball. The two young centre backs maybe do need to improve on dealing with teams that attack in that manner but they are young players who hopefully will learn. No interest in seeing us become a team that just shell the ball forward at the first opportunity. A long way to go but the manager is building a new team and hopefully there will be further improvement next season.
  22. Good luck to all the guys released and thanks to @sevcozombie2 for the insight he's given us this season. Do the U18s have a new coach, as I see Andrew Steeves has jumped ship to join United. Not sure if this is good or bad news?
  23. I thought Davidson had his best game in a while and looks like he's benefited from wee spell out of team. Was getting around the pitch really well. Centre backs were fine (although Gordon didn't help Clark when it came the equaliser) and was encouraging to see a bit more from O'Halloran. Hopefully another couple of performances like that, then he can hit the ground running in pre-season. I also thought Chris Kane did well and if he'd managed to score that big chance early in the second half, it would have capped off a good performance.
  24. The Old Firm can afford to go without it. They have the finances to travel south or abroad or host big teams at their training grounds every week or other one. Rangers did it for a year or two before this one. It all comes down to finance, rightly or wrongly. In the case of Saints, I don't think any change in structure would reverse the club's position. Steve Brown simply thinks we have too many full-time professionals. Those are his words. I liked the Challenge Cup as a tournament but it's already been bastardised, so I'd be open to going down the same route as the FL Trophy and creating a group stage with a colt team in each section. Maybe bring more focus back on the regional cups as well, where FT clubs use colt teams. There are enough international breaks that those could be filled with Forfarshire/Stirlingshire/Glasgow etc... cup ties.
  25. Another super decision when they moved to the reserves from the U20s, they moved back to allowing teams to play at training grounds, like the old U19s league. A great environment to develop players and prepare them for the first team.