Coventry Saint

At first glance I was unsure but it quickly grew on me. I prefer it to last season's. It's still no 2012-13, though. I think this is the first one I'm getting for my boy, though, so glad it's ok.

We took a long hard look at the Slovakians so something must not have added up. That's interesting about Beltrame. Looks like we missed out there - unless we were never really in the chase.

I'd forgotten about him. I'd also forgotten about those Slovakian lads. I wonder where they ended up?* I'd love to see an exhaustive list of every player we've had in our squads over the past four years. I reckon it'd be scary reading. I'm busy at work this week pre-holiday or I'd have a stab at it myself. Fake edit: Malec has scored four in 15 for FK RFS in the Latvian league, apparently.

I dunno, I reckon Elvis has a point. Rare I'll say that, granted. Most of the clubs in the top flight would have taken Hladky, and any of the bottom six would have had Popescu. If we strike gold in Eastern Europe just a couple more times, then other clubs will be watching what we're doing very, very carefully. Reminds me a little of when Newcastle signed a few amazing French players for relative peanuts and suddenly Alan Carr's dad was the hottest thing in football scouting. That said, you do get the impression the previous regime was leakier than a sieve, and now things have tightened up, basically nobody is ITK any more. I'm inclined to assume that's because Gus is in charge of identifying targets, he's a seasoned professional and his job is riding on bringing in targets in relative secrecy. It's probably a good thing on balance, but it's dull as hell for the rest of us

Thought he had the makings of a decent wing back, but I'm hoping we won't be playing five at the back next season tbh.

I mean, if you cut out the faux-bravado you get on forums (there are examples on this thread...) then very few Saints fans have got unrealistic expectations. Most of them know our natural place is somewhere between 9th and 16th depending on how badly we've fucked up our latest managerial appointment, with an occasional cup run chucked into the mix. Aiming higher than that is fine; expecting higher than that is batshit.

It's far from ideal. I mean, on the face of it, it does no real harm, but then you hear that Robbie Neilson's reasons for pulling out the interview process last summer* were related to unrealistic expectations, and you begin to wonder. I just can't shake the feeling that he perhaps shouldn't be our chief exec. I want a role for him at the club - ambassador, or something - but he has to tone this stuff down. I don't get why he can't say 'the aim has to be to start challenging for a top-six finish', which would be a perfectly reasonable ambition (but not an expectation), albeit one not based on any league tables from the past 35 years. * Obviously with hindsight I'd rather be where we are than where he is, but still, he'd have been a much better shout than Stubbs.

Yeah, agree on them. I'd say there's a 9/10 chance Hodson will come back, 5/10 for Popescu and 3/10 for McAllister*. But I hope Kearney is battering Lampard's door down as we speak. *If Jack Ross is still at Sunderland, I bet they'd go in for him.

12 gone, and I'd say eight played a significant role this season, if not necessarily as a first choice player. We just don't do boring transfer windows, do we?

He seems a good guy (and has a strong Coventry connection). Looked like he was really feeling it in that last game against us, and he had you in way better nick than I was expecting. Right, I'm going to leave your thread alone now - see you in the Premiership in 2020.

Think that was me you were quoting there. Sorry, I should have elaborated - namely that we were in a bit of a mess at the club, expectations were high after scooshing the Championship, and the squad wasn't in great shape. It was more following the job that Ross had done for us, more than following Ross as an individual.

I was surprised to see the Courier being so convinced Goodwin had the job. Surely the paper can't have form for that sort of thing, can it? What? Two years ago today, you say?! https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/sport/football/dundee-fc/438584/analysis-dundee-target-jack-ross-paul-hartley-mk-ii/ Imagine being the journalist who dedicated 1,000 words to profiling a manager who hadn't signed on yet. What an absolute rag

I'm finding the Goodwin situation a little weird - bear in mind he withdrew from the race to take over the Saints job last summer, too (though possibly knew Ross would be a tough act to follow). On the surface, the Dundee job looks pretty desirable - he'll have a larger budget than most of the rest of the league, but isn't being asked to step up a level in terms of what division he's in, even though expectations would rightly be higher. He'd be given the chance to f**k United, and to f**k Morten again. What's not to like? I refuse to believe he hasn't got the hunger to go full-time. Then I keep seeing the 'Oran's away' rumours refusing to budge and I do find myself wondering if JG's hanging out for that job. Even then, if it's true he didn't want to work under a DoF @ Dundee, then I've got some bad news on that front, too...

I think it could come down to whether WGS is in it for the medium-long term. Sounds similar to our situation pre-Gus joining as DoF. If football oversight is what you need, then it needs to be in place regardless of who the manager is. Presumably Jimmy Nicholl (if the rumours are true) would be doing the hand-holding while Strachan would be more strategic. It definitely makes sense to me.

On a related note, Ferdinand says Hladky is the best keeper he's played with (see comment on below). I think we're really going to struggle to keep this guy. Someone's going to have to show us the money, though.

Yep. He is so far from being the 'snake' that Chris Sutton claimed. McGinn saw what was wrong and, if it took going behind Stubbs' back to fix it, then fine. I know who I trust and believe more. Legend.

Fair enough. I get the impression Nicholl has contributed well without being essential/irreplaceable. I suspect he'd be of more use now to Goodwin in his first full-time role, now that Oran has found his feet. Would be interesting to see what profile of assistant Kearney would go for next. Experienced or younger.

holy shit @Dele Any team that employs Jim Goodwin becomes my de facto second-favourite team. Hope he's as much of a legend for you as he is for us by the end of this spell at Dens*. * Excluding any potential cup and/or playoff encounters with us.

Alright guys? I know Minding The Gap was very important to you you all during seasons 2015-16 and 2016-17, so thought I'd give you all an update now the dust has settled on this season. I'm sure you'd hate for that gap to go unminded. We scraped together a very poor 32 points in the top flight, which we add to the 25-point gap between yourselves and Ross County, giving us an overall Mind the Gap rating of 57 points. Choo-choo!

1. Celtic 2. Rangers 3. Aberdeen 4. Heart of Midlothian 5. Hibernian 6. Kilmarnock 7. Motherwell 8. St Johnstone 9. St Mirren 10. Ross County 11. Hamilton Academical 12. Livingston 1-2 - I've got a sneaky suspicion Rangers could be a lot closer next season, and possibly even edge it. Will await transfers before deciding. 3-6 - finger in the air job for these positions at this stage, but I can't see anyone from this year's bottom six troubling them. I think Killie will suffer from the loss of Clarke but will still be comfortably in the mix for the boring half of the split. I also might swap Hearts and Aberdeen, but will depend on transfers. Hibs a stick-on for 5th, IMO. 7-8 - can't see past these two for those positions. 9 - We finally became something other than a complete pushover in the final quarter of the season (partly owing to the split, admittedly, but we did do well against Hearts and Dons prior to that, too). I think we'll be pretty stodgy next season (dat Gus McPherson influence), and I have a feeling it won't be pretty, but at least we'll not just be handing three points to anyone who wants them. It's a sound approach and will give us a platform to build on. 10-12 County will spend, and will need to, and it will be enough to make them safe. It's Accies' turn to beat United in the playoff next season. Sorry Livi, but I think this is the end of one of the more remarkable stories in Scottish football of the last few seasons.

Folk on here putting us in 11th place just 72 hours after the most stressful game I've ever endured can get in the fucking sea

Nah, his social posts indicate he's away.

I'd forgotten about that. I know I always defend Jim, but that was genuinely a 50/50 that went horribly wrong for Severin.

He really wound those fuckers up, for some reason