Kyle

12 minutes ago, jhq said:

What have Dundee United got to do with it?

Tommy confirmed that Dundee United approached Saints first about Mathers;

“He agreed a new contract 10 days ago after interest from Dundee United, who acted with total professionalism.”

1 minute ago, Markinch Saint said:

It's also on the official site with BINN announced as main sponsors, MKM as back of strip sponsors and A+B taxis also involved. New strips to be revealed on Monday and available to buy on Tuesday. Hope that covers all main aspects of negativity towards club regards sponsors and strips availability......

It seems to be the away kit that's being revealed on Monday which is a bit unusual. Can't wait to see it though - hoping it's a complete monstrosity. 

15 minutes ago, Smarmy Arab said:

I would absolutely accept lies on both sides, but there were some whoppers central to Salmond's case, not least of which........Yes told us we would better off, they lied.

The No campaign told us a Yes victory would unleash a generation if austerity......the SNP  after 2 years of reseach now admit this is a certainty.....project fear?  

The SNP also know their prospectus will be a hard sell this time....hence their antics last week, they have lost the argument and are now a wrecking ball....on the outside of the tent p*ssing in barely begins to describe their current demeanour. 

Yet they're 13 points clear in the polls after 11 years of Government, still hold more than half the seats at Westminster and won the most recent council election. 

I haven't denied that yes lied but I'm not part of the yes campaign and didn't agree with their sunshine and butterflies promises they dished out in the white paper. Scots are naturally pragmatic and want to be faced up with honestly. They have that in the growth commission and there's no surprise that people are by and large far less turned off by it than they were the white paper. I'll always favour independence for the reasons I outlined before.

Of course the parliament walk out was a stunt, but so is all the 'No 2 Indy ref 2' guff from the Tories. The SNP picked up about 9000 new members after their stunt, Murray Foote declared for yes and even Chris Deerin seems to be softening his view on independence, the Tories picked up 12 more seats at Westminster. It's politics - no where and no one is immune to that kind of behaviour.

The no campaign were equally cavalier with the facts and have equally been shown up as brazen liars too. 'If you vote no, you will be in a partner in a union of equals'. David Mundell himself last week - the secretary of Scotland - said that we're in fact NOT a partner, but a part of the UK. There's countless examples on both ways so I don't think it's fair to paint one side or the other in that manner. The Brexit referendum was exactly the same - all soundbites and bluster, facts lost in amongst the muck each side tried to chuck on each other. 

I know  that things would have been tough in an independent Scotland and voted in the face of that. It's not because I'm a flag waving identity politics nationalist who hates the English as you seem to be implying yes voters are, but I wanted my vote to actually mean something and for us to forge a way in the world that I'm comfortable with. We're in a situation right now where it doesn't matter how we vote - we just get the preferred Government of another country or get dragged out of the EU against our will or end up going to war despite the vast majority of your MPs voted against it. We don't even have the power to really control our own economic policy in any real effective manner and, beyond a wee soundbite here or there, have no say on our foreign or  home affairs which seems wrong to me. I'm under no illusions that Scotland is a small country and I'm not interest in being part of an all conquering world power. I don't think there's anything wrong with being a small, independent country with very little influence globally. Plenty of other countries who don't have the natural resources we have thrive in exactly those conditions, and they do so without trying to police the rest of the world.

I don't think the SNP are alone in perpetuating the 'neverendum'. The Tories certainly gain a lot from keeping the constitution at the front and centre of Scottish politics as it distracts from their dreadful record at Westminster and the unfolding Brexit shambles. The gains they've made in the last 3 elections in Scotland (I'm including the council election) are a clear kickback by unionists but I'm not convinced that's based on anything other than the risk of a second referendum. Equally, a lot of yes supporters seemed to either take their eye off the ball or became disillusioned by the SNP prior to the last general election and stayed away from the polling stations. Ruth Davidson has performed well but I can't help but think she's had a pretty Tory friendly environment to operate in. She's done well to disassociate herself with a lot of the worst of what comes from the central office which has clearly helped her case too.

In terms of the SNP's record in Government, I'm not saying it's been fantastic but I don't think it's been too bad either. There's room for improvement absolutely everywhere but for a Government apparently obsessed with Independence and politicising culture and language (I don't see a problem with protecting what is our ancestral language but can see the other side of that too) I think they're functioning relatively well. The BBC reported on the 11th of June that we're seeing a record high in terms of foreign investment into Scotland as well. If I had to vote in a Scottish election tomorrow, my x would be going into the SNP's box again and it wouldn't just because I support Scottish Independence. I don't want Tories running our Parliament and labour are still a pretty nothing alternative just now and I'd be as well chucking my ballot in the bin than voting for the Lib Dems in Glasgow.

1 minute ago, Honest Saints Fan said:

Saints have tweeted 25 times since 1st June. Falkirk as an example have tweeted 30 times in the last 24 hours or so. 

4 times since last Wednesday. Once with the fixtures, a retweet for strathearn saints, answering a query about hospitality and the Lotto numbers about 45 minutes ago. Pretty much every club in the senior leagues are putting our social media game in the shade.

35 minutes ago, Honest Saints Fan said:

Agreed.

Motherwell have shown that it only takes employing the right person to improve PR. Even Falkirk had a great PR day yesterday, getting their fans excited about potential new signings, keeping them guessing and doing various announcements throughout the day.

I genuinely don't understand Brown's thinking. He moans at the lack of fans but has there been a single mention of season tickets since they went on sale?

They obviously advertised for a new media person but they have needed them for over a year now. We are weeks before the season starts and the fans know **** all about what is happening from pre-season, to strips, to potential signings. We hear from the manager today but only a rant about our goalkeeping coach being poached by another club.

100% this. I'm guessing Stoke have been above board regarding Callum Davidson because his move hasn't even been mentioned yet.

It wont be long before the chairman is in the paper moaning about a drop in season ticket sales, but this summer the club has done literally nothing to encourage people to buy one or to excite the fans ahead of the new season.

For example, the last twitters posts about some of the important summer issues at Saints;

Last squad news from the club - 24th of May to announce Anderson, Tanser and Mark Hurst's new contracts (we already knew about Anderson and Tanser for a couple of weeks by that stage, but Hurst's new deal was at least fresh information). Our last (and only) new signing was announced the 9th of May, prior to last season finishing. I appreciate new signings can take time and I'm not too concerned by that at this stage, but it would do the support a lot of good to announce a new signing to try and get people up for the new season.

Last time the club advertised season tickets - 4th of June (the packs arrived on - what - the 31st of May at people's doors) The retweets about watching terrible football in freezing temperatures will help the sales too I'm sure, but they came before the 4th.

Kits - 31st of May to announce BLK would be making them. No mention of when they'll be out or what they will look like  or even who our new sponsor will be.

Pre-season - May 17th(!) after Berwick announced we were playing them. We haven't been told when pre-season begins (presumably it'll be either at the end of this week or the beginning of next as everyone else seems to be starting up now) and we apparently have a pre-season tour of Austria arranged with a game against a Croatian team sorted, but the club haven't felt the need to tell the fans. I wouldn't have minded looking into a wee trip to Austria as I'd assume the location of the game would be easy enough to find.

We do, however, get a weekly tweet about the Saints Lotto numbers, so there is that.

9 minutes ago, Smarmy Arab said:

If only this were so HSF.  Referenda are supposed to settle constitutional questions, this has not been the case in recent times.  We had a 2 year campaign around independence, the most fantasticist, wonderfulist expression of democratic  engagement in the history of democratic engagement (allegedly), the issues were covered ad nauseum, the turn out was record breaking, the losers have never accepted the result, and have been agitating for another everyday since.  If we held another and the Remain side won the Scexiteers would simply go for a 3rd and 4th till we got it 'right'.

 

Look at the mess over Brexit......recent experience tells me that referenda are divisive and deeply damaging and fail to yield the promised 'settled will'.  I may well be somewhat misanthropic about direct democracy, but I have yet to see it deliver progress.

Why would people who have devoted their political lives to Independence stop just because of what is in effect a setback? I'd be much more concerned about someone's intentions if they just shut up all together as they clearly didn't believe in it all along. The record high turn out and discussions (heated a lot of the time) show that political engagement has never been higher in Scotland and that surely can't be considered a bad thing. Of course there are nutters on both sides who take things too far but I think any sane minded individual can have a political debate with someone on the other side - surely that's what a democracy gives us and what it's for. 

With regards to the a second referendum, I'm quite happy to sit and wait just now - the Tories are doing a fine job of cutting the union's throat on their own. I'm not convinced we'd win at this stage and, with a proper election strategy, I'm fairly sure the pro-independence parties will hold a majority in the Scottish Parliament after the next election too. There's no rush.

Theresa May's hilarious assertion that the 'country' (meaning the UK) is more united than ever during the last election campaign is mega lolz though. That really couldn't be further from the truth and I'm not just talking in relation to Scotland. The Tories have caused most of that themselves as well.

Can we not stretch the net a little wider than coaches that have previously played for Saints? Albion Rovers conceded more goals than most in the Scottish leagues last season as well.

1 hour ago, The ghost of Jim Morton said:

It was a joke based on his  previous comments regarding how he did business..  Sorry it went over your head..  The bit about signing  horses ( Sutton, Johnstone etc) was not though.  We always sign a horse last minute and this season will be no different

Agree with the general point, but Sutton was signed in the middle of June. He was the manager’s first choice. Johnstone not so much. 

1 hour ago, RandomGuy said:

TW has shown great faith in youngsters. Clark, Tanser, Shaughnessy, Kerr, Kane and May all regulars under the age of 23.

Not all young players are good enough, no matter how much you play them,or how much you fawn over them. 

Lets face it though - Caddis, Brown (league 2) and Thomson (league 1) should all be first team regulars by now.

44 minutes ago, shiresaint said:

So we told him at the beginning of last year he was free to find another club yet he went on to sign a new one year deal. Something not adding up there for me. 

He signed in a new contract in April or May and was told to find a new club in August. He featured in pretty much all the pre-season games and started away in Trakai, although he did drop from sight prior to signing his last deal with us the season before.

With regards to his pay cut, he wasn't the only one offered such terms. Scobbie turned his (a 35% cut) down and I'm sure I read previously that Mannus took a pay cut too. I suppose a combination of limited availability/lack of game time and general diminishing returns from all 3 contributed to that.

44 minutes ago, St Mikey said:

Love for midge. Great. Nobody remember he was happy to feck off to the other side of the world then come back with the tail between the legs for a new contract. 

Hes been great but we need younger faster players in central midfield. 

Probably because he gave us 10 years of service during the most successful period in our entire history. He came back and signed the contract on the first day of pre-season and, if rumours are true, turned down more lucrative offers elsewhere in Scotland to do so. For all intents and purposes, he was on a 4 week unpaid holiday.

14 hours ago, mainstand said:

If you had known about the price a month ago would you have bought it a month ago.

Personally I always waited until the very last day that it was possible. On the basis of the money is better in my bank than saints. 

Maybe they are planning the announcement of a marquee signing to coincide with the pricing announcement.

It is obviously planned as the promotion photos were obviously done before the end of the season. 

Why shouldn't people have the option to buy them earlier if they want to though? I had overtime money that was begging to be used for a new season ticket, but I've spent that elsewhere now. I'll still be getting one, but there's plenty of others out there who might think again if they don't have the cash at the time.

The club have done a decent job of trying to give us news every week since the season ended with the only thing missing being a new signing since the season finished and I hope you're right about a marquee signing, but I'd rather just get my season ticket bought.

53 minutes ago, mainstand said:

Just called the Club and they intend having the information sent out within the next 2 weeks,

Bev was on twitter yesterday saying information would be released this week, so I'd imagine we'll get the prices etc this week and renewal forms sent out in the post to chase it later.

12 minutes ago, Jad said:

Jezzo, one minute folk are moaning about a lack of communication etc and now there’s issues about job and the scale! LAUGH OUT LOUD

I'm not complaining at all - it's a very positive step. It is an exceptionally hard job for someone though, especially as it's a 35 hour week and there's an expectation that you'll attend all home and away games. Add in video editing, school visits, interviews and evening events, it's going to be a time consuming job.

A brilliant job, but it'll take someone who really cares about the club to do it IMO.

5 minutes ago, garydavidson said:

"• Responsibility for maintaining, developing and improving Club address databases and ensuring the Club is compliant with all aspects of the GDPR Regulations."

Some list of duties! 

I remember after a meet the manager/chairman event, the mantra was 'Ross will deal with it'. Whoever the newbie is seems to have the same remit! Hard job.

7 minutes ago, Kyle said:

Which is the kind of thinking that holds Saints back at times.

This kind of thinking will hopefully help Saints move forward significantly and quickly if we get the right person in. Fingers crossed.

22 minutes ago, garydavidson said:

Maybe the club just deleted all their data so they don't have to worry about GDPR.

Which is the kind of thinking that holds Saints back at times.

No doubt we'll either not send emails at all or send them before this becomes an issue. The opt in sounds too much like forward thinking to happen at Saints.

9 minutes ago, Smarmy Arab said:

Take over to be confirmed in the next few weeks...but then I have been hearing that for a while.  Can't see Czaba lasting the summer, the pitch forks are out big time.   Rumours that Robbie Neilson is being lined up.............and a certain TW may be approached....again.

I'm sure that'll be as successful as the last time. And the time before that.  

I hope we go for something completely off the wall. BLK look willing to provide that so I’m game! 

1 minute ago, Cagey said:

I know that through rumour & those in the know.

My point is ,it should be coming from the club.

The club posted an article on it a couple of weeks ago. Named the released players and we've gradually been sorting through the ones not named since. Only the loanees have been left off, but Wright has said he wants to sign Williams permanently and keep Willock if possible in interviews. Johnstone is the only one with a big question mark beside his name but given he wasn't great and is currently injured, I can't see us making him an offer to stay.

Looks like one of your young lads has earned a trial at Liverpool.

1 hour ago, Cagey said:

I wonder if the club will let us know who is signed & who are leaving .

Maybe it is a secret & only the secret 7 will be told.

The only players we don't know about know about now are McKenzie, Hurst and Anderson. The rest have either signed new deals or we've confirmed they've been released/left the club. I think we can safely assume that the 3 loanees are gone. Johnstone wont be back, Willock might be back on loan again next season if that can be sorted (although his tweet read like a goodbye to me) and Williams might be back permanently (his tweet above starts like a goodbye, then finishes like he's expecting to be back in pre-season so goodness knows what's happening there).