Championship Title Push 25/26

[Linky]

Looking forward to our Championship title push next season with this squad currently contracted!

                                                                  Rae

Essel                             Sanders                               None                     Raymond

                           Franczak                         Holt                  Steven

                            Sidebeh                        Ikepazu             Kirk

SUBS

Sinclair

McPake

Or will the manager sign some more wonderful players who struggle to make the grade in the Albanian and Latvian leagues?

 

[Havana Saint]

Rae is not good enough to win the title next season. Today confirmed that.

[RandomGuy]

This meltdown and claiming Mikulic isn't up to is absolutely wild to me, he's nowhere near the problem.

[Linky]

36 minutes ago, RandomGuy said:

This meltdown and claiming Mikulic isn't up to is absolutely wild to me, he's nowhere near the problem.

No meltdown here. Mikulic has been a poor signing.

[RandomGuy]

Just now, Linky said:

No meltdown here. Mikulic has been a poor signing.

I don't agree at all, to me he's quite comfortably our best CB and an improvement on Neilson/Cameron/Sanders. 

[Tattie-bogle]

A title push is a long way a way if it ever happens again

[templeofsaints]

15 minutes ago, RandomGuy said:

I don't agree at all, to me he's quite comfortably our best CB and an improvement on Neilson/Cameron/Sanders. 

Hes a solid player but I think he's struggling with the pace of the Scottish game - far too content to square the ball about in defence rather than press forward. Even in the first half early on Raymond was in acres of space on the left but Bozo just went for the safe square ball.

[Northern saint]

If we can't get players in to remarkably avoid the drop, we need to bring back our loan players who potentially will be with us next season.  We need to know whether or not Parker, Olufunwa, Steven, Cocks could potentially make the grade.  Fran, Max more game time so we know whether or not they can be successful.  I know youth and lack of leadership is a major problem but farming loans from other teams doesn't prepare us for next season.  

Benji will be away.  Adama will depend on whether he performs.  If he doesn't, who'll take him?  

We need power and creativity in our midfield.  

I think it telling that today's team would have no representatives in the team which beat Dundee 7-2 at Dens at new year.  If only we had half with the ability of that midfield.

 

[Linky]

49 minutes ago, RandomGuy said:

I don't agree at all, to me he's quite comfortably our best CB and an improvement on Neilson/Cameron/Sanders. 

I disagree. Sanders is better. But also, it’s not hard to be comfortably our best CB when we only have 2 at the moment.

I just think this stuff about Simo only being able to play with the squad he has, inheriting Levein’s mess etc. only goes so far. I really want Simo to do well, but I don’t think even a Davidson team or a Levein team for all their huge faults (& they were huge) loses 3 goals like that to a team like Dundee in 20 mins. Let’s be honest, they only didn’t score more because they knew they’d won and eased off.

Under Davidson and Levein we were boring, uninspiring and poor. Under Simo we’re starting to look like a joke. We can’t dump another manager and he’s got to be given time, but this needs sorting and quickly.

[RandomGuy]

6 minutes ago, Linky said:

I really want Simo to do well, but I don’t think even a Davidson team or a Levein team for all their huge faults (& they were huge) loses 3 goals like that to a team like Dundee in 20 mins. Let’s be honest, they only didn’t score more because they knew they’d won and eased off.

Under Davidson and Levein we were boring, uninspiring and poor. Under Simo we’re starting to look like a joke. We can’t dump another manager and he’s got to be given time, but this needs sorting and quickly.

This is patent nonsense and verging on the xenophobic stereotypes Sportsound are going on. Under Davidson we got ****ing leathered by Livingston at home in much the same way (3 goals in 30 minutes). We conceded 3 in 30 minutes against ****ing Alloa this season under Levein.

Just because they're boring and Scottish, and Valakari is foreign, doesn't mean they played solid football and he's some maverick who can't set a team up. The team he's using is levels below what either of they had for the majority of their spells. You're comparing a Levein side that have Mitov v Valakari with Rae, for starters.

[Linky]

7 minutes ago, RandomGuy said:

This is patent nonsense and verging on the xenophobic stereotypes Sportsound are going on. Under Davidson we got ****ing leathered by Livingston at home in much the same way (3 goals in 30 minutes). We conceded 3 in 30 minutes against ****ing Alloa this season under Levein.

Just because they're boring and Scottish, and Valakari is foreign, doesn't mean they played solid football and he's some maverick who can't set a team up. The team he's using is levels below what either of they had for the majority of their spells. You're comparing a Levein side that have Mitov v Valakari with Rae, for starters.

Wow. I’m xenophobic because I think Levein’s teams were more defensively organised than we were in today’s game, that’s…quite a jump. None of this is to do with nationality in any way whatsoever. 

[RandomGuy]

1 minute ago, Linky said:

Wow. I’m xenophobic because I think Levein’s teams were more defensively organised than we were in today’s game, that’s…quite a jump. None of this is to do with nationality in any way whatsoever. 

It's not based on what we actually saw under Levein anyway.

Staggering how many people are forgetting how bad it was under him. He had a better squad playing as bad.

[Linky]

1 minute ago, RandomGuy said:

It's not based on what we actually saw under Levein anyway.

Staggering how many people are forgetting how bad it was under him. He had a better squad playing as bad.

Right, that’s fine. I’m very happy for you to disagree with me on the qualities of various managers. There’s quite a difference between that and suggesting my view is based on some form of xenophobia.

[RandomGuy]

14 minutes ago, Linky said:

Right, that’s fine. I’m very happy for you to disagree with me on the qualities of various managers. There’s quite a difference between that and suggesting my view is based on some form of xenophobia.

I'm probably just vexing on you because it's everywhere tonight. Levein apparently a solid manager who had us well organised and knew the type of player you needed, while Valakaris ripped it apart, made us gung-ho, and signed shite soft players.

Heads gone reading it.

[Linky]

1 minute ago, RandomGuy said:

I'm probably just vexing on you because it's everywhere tonight. Levein apparently a solid manager who had us well organised and knew the type of player you needed, while Valakaris ripped it apart, made us gung-ho, and signed shite soft players.

Heads gone reading it.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I think Levein was a decent manager, who completely messed up last summer’s recruitment due to many different reasons, some of which were beyond his control. I genuinely believe if a few things had worked out differently, injuries to Ikpeazu and McClelland, the Craig Gordon saga, etc, then we’d be sitting 9th or 10th, and be dull but fine.

I also think Simo is a good manager. But his recruitment (or lack of) so far has been poor. He’s made some poor game management decisions which have cost us points. I think he’ll bring us back up at the first time of asking.

[Saints17]

If we are in the championship next season which now looks almost a certainty, do people think Valakari is the right man to lead a rebuild? 
 

I’m honestly not sure, it’s really hard to judge him properly under the current circumstances. It feels like traditionally it requires a certain type of player and approach to get promotion from that league. Does Valakari have the knowledge of these players and the league to get us out of it, and are many of his contacts and knowledge of players and leagues going to be as relevant if we are in the league below as we are unlikely to be able to sign many of them.

Some difficult decisions to be made as the rebuild needs to start as soon as possible under the right person. 

[Cagey]

17 minutes ago, Saints17 said:

If we are in the championship next season which now looks almost a certainty, do people think Valakari is the right man to lead a rebuild? 
 

I’m honestly not sure, it’s really hard to judge him properly under the current circumstances. It feels like traditionally it requires a certain type of player and approach to get promotion from that league. Does Valakari have the knowledge of these players and the league to get us out of it, and are many of his contacts and knowledge of players and leagues going to be as relevant if we are in the league below as we are unlikely to be able to sign many of them.

Some difficult decisions to be made as the rebuild needs to start as soon as possible under the right person. 

We will see where we are at the end of the season"not league position"😭 but can't see the owners sacking Valakari after 3/4 a season without his own players.

[RandomGuy]

25 minutes ago, Saints17 said:

If we are in the championship next season which now looks almost a certainty, do people think Valakari is the right man to lead a rebuild? 
 

I’m honestly not sure, it’s really hard to judge him properly under the current circumstances. It feels like traditionally it requires a certain type of player and approach to get promotion from that league. Does Valakari have the knowledge of these players and the league to get us out of it, and are many of his contacts and knowledge of players and leagues going to be as relevant if we are in the league below as we are unlikely to be able to sign many of them.

Some difficult decisions to be made as the rebuild needs to start as soon as possible under the right person. 

Thats why Gus MacPherson has such a prominent position. Hes the one heading up recruitment and responsible for getting the deals done, its not Valakari writing out the contracts.

[MySpazz]

What kind of fight and belief do we possess with absolute pish threads started like this one.

Get a grip, like you win nothing for being top at Christmas I'm fairly sure you are not relegated at New Year for being bottom.

Simo is a breath of fresh air, with a tin pot squad, having taken over from one of the worst managers in St Johnstone history.

By the way, anyone heard how that community centre the Browns were building is going....takes time right!

Simo on sankari. Simoon luotamme.

Edited January 5 by MySpazz

[rickardo]

4 hours ago, Linky said:

No meltdown here. Mikulic has been a poor signing.

You been on the evo stick ? Best saints player by miles sticks out like a sore thumb .

Would keep him and Sanders possibly Carey and would get rid of the rest , there you go.

[MySpazz]

Lots of points to play for. Which games are they coming from....

How many points give a team safety in the scottish premier league

The number of points required for safety in the Scottish Premiership varies slightly from season to season, depending on the competitiveness of the league. However, historical trends suggest:

1. Safe Points Threshold: Typically, accumulating around 36-40 points is considered sufficient to avoid relegation. This range has kept teams safe in most seasons.

2. Relegation Points: Teams finishing 11th (relegation playoff spot) and 12th (automatic relegation) usually have fewer than 36 points, although there are exceptions.

Recent Examples

• 2022–23: Kilmarnock (10th) stayed safe with 40 points. Ross County (11th, playoff spot) had 34 points.
• 2021–22: St Johnstone (11th, playoff spot) survived relegation playoffs with 35 points. Dundee (12th) was relegated with 29 points.
• 2020–21: Hamilton Academical (12th) was relegated with 30 points. Kilmarnock (11th, playoff spot) had 36 points.

Key Factors

• The "split" after 33 games means the bottom-six teams primarily face each other in the final five matches, often creating direct relegation battles that can affect the points threshold.

Rule of Thumb

Aiming for 40 points is a safe target to avoid both the automatic relegation spot (12th) and the relegation playoff (11th).

When a team is bottom of the Scottish Premier league at New year, what percentage of the teams survive relegation
Since the move to smaller leagues in 1975, data indicates that the team at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership at Christmas has finished bottom 73% of the time. However, this statistic specifically refers to finishing at the bottom, not necessarily relegation, as the league structure has changed over time, including the introduction of a play-off system for the team finishing 11th.

 

Given that the team at the very bottom of the league is automatically relegated, while the 11th-placed team enters a play-off, the survival rate for teams at the bottom at New Year (or Christmas, as a proxy for New Year) would be lower than 27% because not all teams finishing 11th win their play-off.

 

Therefore, based on the available data, it can be inferred that less than 27% of teams at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership at New Year survive relegation, though exact percentages would require more specific historical data on play-off outcomes.

 

source: GROK & OPENAI

[MySpazz]

Brutal results. Still a legend!
 

 

[Linky]

8 hours ago, rickardo said:

You been on the evo stick ? Best saints player by miles sticks out like a sore thumb .

Would keep him and Sanders possibly Carey and would get rid of the rest , there you go.

Carey spent most of the match giving the ball away yesterday and shouting at his teammates 

[Linky]

9 hours ago, MySpazz said:

What kind of fight and belief do we possess with absolute pish threads started like this one.

Get a grip, like you win nothing for being top at Christmas I'm fairly sure you are not relegated at New Year for being bottom.

Simo is a breath of fresh air, with a tin pot squad, having taken over from one of the worst managers in St Johnstone history.

By the way, anyone heard how that community centre the Browns were building is going....takes time right!

Simo on sankari. Simoon luotamme.

Over the last 6 seasons, four of those who were bottom at Christmas were there at the end of the season. Not sure how many were behind by the number of points we are. 

[blueheaven]

12 hours ago, Saints17 said:

If we are in the championship next season which now looks almost a certainty, do people think Valakari is the right man to lead a rebuild? 

Personally I think Valakari has to answer that question between now and the end of the season. I have no appetite at all for yet another change of manager, and I really want to see Simo succeed as he ticks so many of the right boxes, but ultimately if the second half of the season is a complete disaster with us getting thumped every week, and he doesn't make any decent signings in the current window to give us a glimmer of hope that things can get better, then we're probably going to end up having to make a change yet again for next season.

There are a good number of people who I see as culpable for our situation and Valakari's name is way, way down that list for me. This club has been stumbling in this direction for a long time and it's perhaps surprising we've managed to dodge the drop for as long as we have. But I do think some of the tactics and team selections over the last month or so have been really poor, and it's a worry that the players seem to have completely stopped playing in the way they were when he first took over.