HALLS ANGEL

We don’t have a clue how to create a chance. Never mind score a goal or defend. This is the least optimist I have ever been in decades of following Saints. That includes 75/ 76 11 points, at least we had some decent players that other clubs wanted. Jeanfield have a committee that’s committed we have people running the club that don’t seem to care. Steve Brown should never appoint a manager three weeks before he departed and been man enough to wait until the club was sold before resining, Instead he left the selling to his eighty year old father. This is the mess you get in with one person owning the club and having directors that don’t seem to care. When Geoff Brown took over the club he was a young man with a board of directors who were interested in driving the club forward. Saints were in a mess at that time but at least the fans knew Alex Lamond cared and did what was best for Saints and stepped aside. It is a sad day when the fans don’t look forward to the next game and wish the season was over. Let’s face it we wouldn’t beat Elgin 6 - 0, that’s how bad it is. Does anyone think we can win on Wednesday?

MacLean doesn’t seem to have any personnel skills and doesn’t seem popular with players. You have to have a manager that attracts players to the club and that players want to play for. Have we got that man?

Look at today’s results of the teams in our League Cup Section and that sums up how bad we are. The fans aren’t daft and can see where things are going wrong. The players also know what’s wrong and know where the weaknesses are. The problem is how long is it before both become disillusioned. As a supporter you usually think that was poor today but never mind we’ll get a result next week. This isn’t the case presently and very much reminds me of season 1975 / 1976 which took us eleven seasons to recover from. The little excitement there is, is can we keep a clean sheet. We are at stage we hardly create a chance and a goal seems as likely as White Christmas in Australia

Time to buy a G S Brown house the chairman having a wobbly and may sell £400,000 house for £100,000. Another couple of kicks in the teeth for season ticket holders after the debacle of sale of tickets for the LASK match. How does he expect Callum Davidson to continue working miracles. Managed to drive Tommy Wright out and now seems intent in doing the same with our current manager. There seems to be no forward planning, in my opinion should have strengthened before season started and taken a gamble on progressing in Europe for the big money. Sums it up when one of the clubs main announcements is Roddy Grant becomes full director.

If Saints win on Thursday night and qualify for the group stages do they offer a package for the three home matches. Is the ticket system able to cope with that ? Or the current first to see the notification and quickest on the keyboard scenario for each game. If the latter is chosen how many people will turn out for a last home game that is meaningless. Back to the two or three thousand hard core I would think. Another point is there seems to be no allowance made for older or disabled people who have supported the club for years but don’t have access to the internet or are unable to use it. The club seems to think that everyone has up to date technology at their finger tips. I would have thought they would be more understanding when their own system seems along way from perfect. My preference would be to buy a ticket package for all three games. I am not suggesting a discount say £75. 00 adult and £45.00 for a concession.

A kick in the teeth for season ticket holders who pay their money upfront season upon season.The same people who were asked not to take a discount for the incomplete 2019-2020 season, which the vast majority complied with. Steve Brown asks for loyalty from the season ticket holders but shows no loyalty back. Could we not have been given even 3 hours to buy our seats before an open sale. The reason I buy a season ticket is to be given priority at times of scarcity of tickets etc.

The main selling point of season tickets was that priority to let people into games.would be given in order of purchase.I would hope they honour this pledge. I would not hold my breath though and think that this will cause a lot of ill feelings. Human nature being what it is people like to be popular with their friends so those in the know are more likely to be successful. This time though season ticket holders were given a number at the time of purchase, which makes it more transparent and know when other people bought their tickets. So make sure the allocation of tickets is fair Saints or you run the risk of losing season ticket holders who are loyal and bought two or more tickets from the same address, even though they knew one would do to give them access to Saints TV. I have had season ticket for fifty years in a row but think it would have been better if no fans were allowed to the Cup Final. As this threatens to sour the atmosphere of the most fantastic season I have ever witnessed. In reply to Yellowbox I also did not get a ticket for the Inverness Cally Cup Tie in 1992. This was an open ballot and not exclusively for season ticket holders. Although I know of a family of four who miraculously received eight tickets consecutively numbered. My response to this was to downgrade my season ticket.

In reply to Blueheaven’s post regarding Scottish Cup semifinals. The semifinals of 1968 Scottish Cup were St Johnstone v Dunfermline and Hearts v Morton. Still one of my greatest disappointments supporting Saints not making the final that year.

What I have noticed they are very fit and play with a lot of energy. When they are in attack they get plenty players in the opposing teams box. In midfield they seem to outnumber the opposition, same in defence. In short they look as if they are playing with two extra players. I don’t think that they have any real star players, competent yes but no individual to be frightened of. I wonder if teams think that they should beat them and don’t give them enough respect, so play into their hands. I will leave it up to Callum to decide what tactics to use in both games.

Derek McInnes is no dummy so would not be taking Callum Hendry if he didn’t rate him. I am disappointed that he has left, but glad it’s just a loan deal. As I would be sick as a parrot if he starts scoring goals and we had let him go for free. I remember reading that Willie Cunningham said he tricked Bobby Brown when signing Alex Ferguson from Saints in swap for Dan Maclindon , by mentioning other players first then saying oh well I would take Ferguson then as if he was doing Saints a favour. The upshot of this was he seemed to score against us every time we played Dunfermline including a hat trick at Muirton. Then sold to Rangers for £66,000. Dan Maclindon scored Saints goal in 9 - 1 defeat to Rangers then a few weeks later transferred to Partick Thistle..

Neil Diamond on singing Sweet Caroline BBC 4 how can we lose.

For a Saturday afternoon match the under soil heating would have to be switched on at the latest onThursday morning, when it is an on going cold spell. The problem is that frost penetrates slowly deeper into the ground. The temperature from 22nd December to Saturday had been below zero almost every night and not much above freezing everyday, with Friday night being about -8c. The under soil heating gives a very gentle heat as not to damage the grass roots. So if the ground is frozen below the surface down to heating system it is a slow process to reach and defrost the surface. As for rescheduling the game for 5pm the temperature was only 2c at that time so a decision would have had to be made by say 3pm as whether the match is on. Which is unlikely as you would need a temperature of about +6c to have a significant thaw.

I know Derek McInnes is an ex player and manager of Saints but I find him quite objectionable. His comments on Sportscene how the penalty was justified because it was handball before, when it was obvious it was never a hand ball. Could he not have just said we were lucky to get the decision..In the cup semi final he moaned on about Saints equaliser as he wanted a foul for a high boot. In the new Saints book Derek McInnes is rated above Paul Sturrock and Alex Totten , how I don’t know. As for Alan Muir the referee smirking away after he had given the penalty, no wonder players loose the rag Saints had a good claim for a penalty when Ash Taylor bundled Liam Gordon over at a corner but as others have said our players aren’t vocal enough. I have been going to see Saints for over sixty years and the one thing that would put me off is is the standard of refereeing . To sum it up I really grudge the money paid to other clubs when I feel we are blatantly cheated. So I suppose the answer is don’t give them the cash to make them stronger and pay for referees who are weak human beings.

There’s far too many changes, a manager should know what his best player is for each position. I doubt if any fan could guess what the team selection is for any game of the season. People will argue that it is the modern way of squad rotation. That is fine if you have twenty odd great players. We often seem to do better when we are down to the bare minimum with injuries and suspensions. You should try and play your best players, the ones that the opposing team know are good and are frightened of, not leave them on the bench. On Saturday we coped with Connolly very well he goes off we take Wetherspoon off and McAllister runs riot on our left side. Has anyone else noticed we seem to do better when Murray Davidson is out injured, not that I think he is a bad player and am always disappointed when he gets injured. But allot of our good runs of results seem to coincide with him being injured. As for tonight there were spells in the match when we played not too bad. Callum is maybe playing all the right players but not necessarily in the right places. Anyway to all Saints fans have a Merry Christmas and remember we have had worse teams and worse times.

New Biography for Christmas. Neil Lennon Celtic Manager. By Willie Last

I’m sorry to hear of his death, Jim Townsend is a player that I remember well. Signed from Port Glasgow Athletic in 1961 at the age of Sixteen after impressing in the Saints reserves made his debut in a 1-0 win against Partick Thistle 7/4/62 retained his place for the final two games of the season a win over Third Lanark 2-1 and the defeat by Dundee which relegated us . He starred the following season in the Second Division scoring 11 goals and helping Saints reach the League Cup Semifinal and winning the Second Division Championship. In season 1963-1964 he was first choice right half until his transfer to Middlesbrough for £20,000 in February a record transfer fee for the club. Jim played in some memorable matches for Saints fans of that era including the 4-1 League Cup quarter final win over Q.O.S., the 5-5 comeback draw against Stenhousemuir and the 1963 Christmas victory over Rangers. He returned to St. Johnstone in the Summer of 1966 after two and half seasons at Middlesbrough making 67 appearances for them and scoring 6 goals, the fee for him was £9,000.. At this time he still is only 21, a far cry from today’s Saints youngsters. Highlights of that season for him was a great goal against Rangers in 1-1 draw at Muirton, the 5-2 Christmas Eve win at Easter Road and also played in Fred Aitken’s first match and John Kilgannon’s last game. He was also picked for a Scotland XI squad which toured the Far East, Australia and Canada at the end of 66/67 season, winning all 9 games. Bye this time he was a Hearts player, sold for £20,000 just before the seasons end. I was really disappointed at losing what I thought was our best player, however we needed the money. Jim Townsend was a stylish creative midfielder who could also tackle and would walk into our present team. Thanks Jim for all tha memories a true St. Johnstone Legend ’

All games on Friday night to give Scotland more time to prepare for their match on Thursday night. Might be better for Saints financially if game is not on Sky as I think they would be able to show the match on Saints TV and charge £17 to Celtic supporters. So could be worth a considerable amount of money.

Aberdeen Aberdeen cannae keep to Quarantine !

Tony Watt at Mcdiarmid Park Now apparently.

What a difference Callum Hendry makes when he comes on. It should be one of Saints priorities to sign him on a longer contract. I think the manager has his favourites and not sure if Callum is one of them.

Who Steve and Tommy our own Laurel and Hardy. In Another Fine Mess

Must be a Water Polo internationalist.

This reminds me of when I was at school and it was suggested that we would should start a penny a week fund for Saints to buy Jimmy Jack from Arbroath. At school you were supposed to bring in a penny every week which I think was either for the school or donated to charity. This was the Penny A Week Fund where the idea came from.

Stevie May on the bench tonight for Aberdeen.

Deveronvale 0 Aberdeen 2 May did not score substituted in 64 minutes at 0 - 0. Aberdeen goals 83 and 93 minutes Ross and Ruth penalty.