Widge

SaintsTV is showing it for £12, but I suspect you’ll find a stream somewhere by other means.

No, but you’d need to pay to use the car park. Outside the stadium is pretty much all on street parking.

What about our signings so far and everything MacLean has spoken about makes you think we’d even come close to considering them?

One of the only times I’ve ever laughed out loud at a football match, that was glorious. As for Ikpeazu, he’s a handful in the same mould as Nouble is. I’d say that he’d be a decent signing for most of the teams in the league, even if he does look like Bambi on ice half the time. He’s ironically, after that clip got decent feet from what I remember. I’m sure the Hearts fans will be along soon.

No you’re getting mixed up, that award goes to Mark Robertson.

Worth noting that Chris Kane was at the game and walked past me without any sort of crutches, boot on or looking like he was injured. Think he also drove to the game, so that maybe suggests that knock or strain he picked up in pre-season isn’t too bad. Not that he’ll be anywhere near sharp or peak fitness. I think yesterday showed that we still need another midfielder. The whole dynamic of the midfield changed when Phillips came on, but it’s easy to do that when you’re 3-0 up. The fact that you’re looking at MacPherson as our only other senior midfielder is worrying. Even more so the fact that I’d have him at 5th choice currently. Plus another body allows us to get Ferguson and potentially McCrystal loans for game time. The other player who is showing up well is Taylor Steven. I’m not sure he’s the most technically gifted player of the youths, but what he lacks for there he more than makes up for in fight and determination. His attitude on the pitch is absolutely spot on every time I see him.

I know people are praising Cammy Ballantyne for his all round game today and rightly so, he was very good going forward. However, he has a lot to learn on the defensive side of things. He gets turned far too easily and lets people run off him. I hat I would say, he does work his arse off to get back and hassle, but definitely an area for improving. As it stands I’d have him ahead of MacPherson, but not sure I’d want him playing as a starter. Max is a strange one. He’s got ability of that I’ve got no doubt, but he’s inexperienced with it. He’s always looking to play out and retain the ball which is great and in time he’ll learn when it’s right to do so. He was getting caught on it quite regularly though and that lack of senior matches shows. Considine is still a huge worry. All that being said, Gallacher was my man of the match, he was excellent. He got up and down the pitch really effectively and defended about as well as any of the other other defenders. I think him and Carey are starting to gain a bit of an understanding down that left hand side which is good to see.

A bit is being kind, he’s been nothing short of atrocious. Apparently every contact by a saints player is a foul!

They also worship Graham Carey, so I think they’re a different kind of delusional! But also, it’s pleasantly nice seeing a team wish a player well and say that he’s a good player, it just wasn’t the right time it team for him. Don’t remember the last time we picked up a player at a team of a similar level who didn’t automatically see us as a step down or that the player wasn’t good enough. Fingers crossed he can get scoring right away.

The best thing about signing English League 1 players is once again the chance to read some of the truly outstanding and misguided comments they can make. My personal favourite being that a move to Perth is mad, as we're apparently in the middle of nowhere and about as far north as you can get interesting take that one. Second and only just is the ever growing list of Scottish Premiership players that they know (Carroll, Richard Tait, Liam Hughes (who?)) being used as an argument for the standard of our league, despite the fact that these are clearly poor or below average players within the league. Then to top it all off is the insistence that the Scottish league is bottom League 2 standard. It's always an absolute pleasure taking these teams best players and the rage that it induces.

Fingers crossed, that’s the plan; however we saw last year with United how not having a good goalkeeper is an issue. Sinclair is still really young for a keeper and he only has to look at what happened with Clark to know he’ll get a chance. Even if we do sign a keeper on a 2 year deal who pushes and makes Sinclair a better player by forcing him to up his game, he’d still only be 24/25 at the end of that period and then you’re into the start of your career as a keeper. But if he’s good enough he’ll play it’s as simple as that.

That was my first thought when I saw it, it would be classically simple as white and look really good. The gold makes it weird, especially since it doesn't really go with the red that well when the sponsor is so big.

I think most level headed saints fans knew this was the case and were in agreement with it, Spoony can do the chase, but he can't do the recovery any more. It's probably another reason why the likes of Crawford and Carey wouldn't be signed under MacLean.

The best thing about it, is the lack of yellow in the strip. As far as I'm concerned yellow should never appear on the home kit, blue and white only from now on please. You can just imagine a Joma trying to alternate the stripes on that kit if we were with them!

Yeah that’s about as good a home kit as we’ve had in ages, could have been a disaster but has been done really well, except for the stripes on the arms kit matching up with the main body!

Pinstripes making a return……ok now I’m intrigued!

Tomorrow nights open meeting is going to be a fucking riot

You’ll need to go further back than when we won the couple double to find a time thar O’Halloran played well. He’s not been effective for a good 3/4 seasons now and I suspect thats because he lost interest. Clearly still quick, but hasn’t once improved the tactical side of his game in the 10 years he’s been in Scotland. Which makes him pretty one dimensional to defend against and if he doesn’t have 50 yards of space to run into then he’s not technically good enough to contribute. If and it’s a big if, McPake can rekindle his love of the game and spark interest again, then he can be a weapon. His pace alone makes managers and players overthink, but I’m not sure he’ll ever get back there. Dave Mackay was the right back behind him when he was at his most deadly, so maybe he holds the key.

I think I’m in agreement with all the above statements. I think we’re going to be in a struggle this year on paper, not saying for definite as we don’t know what will happen, but it’s going to be 12-18 months to undo most of the damage still. If the lack of bodies is as a result of MacLean being thorough and waiting for the right people then that’s fine. After the last few seasons, taking time and trying to get the right person in is the way forward. What we can’t afford to do is put all the eggs in one basket, which I’m sure we’re not, but we need bodies in and quickly. Even a couple of loans to kick things off would be a welcome start. As a fan base, we’re still struggling with the doom and gloom from the previous campaigns, they need to give us something to get excited about at the very least! Pictures of the pitch isn’t going to matter a whole lot when you know the players out on it are going to struggle all season!

I don't think I can recall a season as bad as this one has been for kits (both home and away). I'm genuinely dreading ours now having seen some of the designs on show!

Think what's becoming clear is the likes of Parker, Ferguson, Max, maybe even Steven have a real chance at getting first team game time this year, rightly or wrongly. I think we need to be prepared that these guys will make mistakes that will likely impact matches, but equally if they do well then they can only improve. Could be in a position next year whereby you lose all the older guys, have a new core of 19-22 guys who've played a whole season together and then you go out and get proven quality with the budget. Probably wishful thinking and we'll get relegated right now with the squad we have, but got to try and be optimistic.

The fact that I'm going to have to see that kit this season is an awful thought! I assume it'll be all white, which is going to look even worse?

It's a bit like us with Hallberg, you offer a contract and clearly want to keep the player, but they leave their options open to the point where the club has to move on and put that budget elsewhere. As you say it's a pretty tight close season and nobody has time to wait for these players to make a decision, but it also works both ways if the player doesn't actually find a club on terms they want. You've then potentially got an unfit and not match sharp player joining you really late.

Not sure who's more of a shitebag coward, him or Crawford!

I dunno what David Wotherspoon has done to offend you, but you've got saints fans on here saying they wanted to keep him in the league above you (not just through sentiment) and who have watched him over the last 10 years. Spoony's play has never been based on being dynamic or quick. It's his skill and ability on the ball that sets him apart. I won't pretend to know what formation McPake plans on playing for you guys this season, but if you play him off the left or behind a front man, he'll contribute goals and assists. His only flaw is trying too hard, other than that there are zero downsides to signing him.