Coventry Saint

Probably fair. Especially over the past few years. Despite winning the league, our signing record has been fairly abysmal. Ross signed a huge number of duds as well. That's clearly the reason behind the restructuring of support staff - bringing in Gus for continuity, more experienced assistants and coaches, etc. January will be an excellent early litmus test to see how it's going. I'm going to steer well clear if BAWA if we have a rubbish January, mind

Yeah, it's definitely easier to find duds than gems in our loans. I think I'd file Scott Cuthbert and Graeme Carey under 'qualified successes', too, along with Cammy Smith for his part in the Great Escape. Also Harry Davis, even though he only played about six games, he helped turn things around. That's not me trying to undermine your point - I reckon we have about a 10% hit rate with loan signings.

Jimmy Nicholl confirmed as first team coach. https://www.stmirren.com/news/club/all-news/2373-jimmy-nicholl-joins-saints-as-first-team-coach

I'd like to think we'd be smart enough to keep hold of his player registration in the event of such a thing occurring.

100% this. Sammy will also be especially aware of those weaknesses, particularly the one in bold. This just feels like the right move for everyone concerned.

Yeah, you've nailed it. That's the only reason. Well done.

Thanks, will deffo give that a listen.

Who continued to play well in the top flight for several seasons after he left us. Danny Lennon did so much for us, but also failed to get the most out of players such as Harkins and Imrie.

The other thing to bear in mind is that other clubs have made a success of this 'speculate to accumulate' model. We often moan about the way others manage to bring in big fees - sometimes for players who've barely kicked a ball for the first team. Closest equivalent that we've managed was maybe Kyle McAllister two years ago, though he did manage a fair few appearances before he went. Maybe we should just chill out and have a bit of patience, and see if the kid turns into player. Obviously, two things stand against him: 1) we're not the sort of club that can carry anyone, at any level. 2) The rest of Stubbs' signings don't indicate he could spot a player. But still, given that we've paid the fee now, we might as well just bide our time and see if he comes good.

I'm not sure if there's any precedent for a team being adrift at the foot of the Championship at Christmas, ripping up the squad in January and still surviving

McKinnon will get you out of it, surely? Ideal scenario is you and Alloa hauling in Morton.

Missed a couple off that list

Especially after all the 'one-man-team' chat. If that's what he believed, then fine, whatever, but surely you'd be looking to replace that 'one man'. Clueless f**k.

Very pleased with this signing.

Not disagreeing, but it's literally the only option we have at this stage. At the start of the transfer window, we had the nucleus of a squad that could have competed, it just needed some quality and experience adding to it. Stubbs added inexperienced unknowns. We are now, at least, trying to add those two elements to the squad. It's a huge roll of the dice, but in weird way, we're so bad at the moment that the pressure is off.

Yeah, agree on both fronts. It's 1.55am, the DJ's just stuck on Angels by Robbie Williams, and St Mirren's eyes are scanning the dancefloor for anything even vaguely acceptable - even if their best days are behind them.

That's a fair point. Could argue that their desperation now matches ours - it's finally an ideal market for us . I wonder where the fault lies there? Surely agents aren't doing their jobs correctly if their players end up without a contract at the end of the summer. I'm staggered a guy who played 38 times in the Championship (albeit at a relegated side) would have failed to get a gig, though.

They're precisely the sort of player I was expecting us to be looking at in the summer. There have been some fairly massive failings at the club in the past six months, right enough. On the plus side, whether Ferdinand turns out to be a revelation, a bit past it, or anywhere in between, he's a big name and will help to lure in other players. Call it the Thommo effect.

He played more last season as well, though, so will have found his fitness a little faster.

McShane's not even been getting picked for the reserves though. He looks to be totally bombed out. But yeah, he does seem like the obvious alternative.

Got to love it when a new striker is described as an 'unlikely scorer' in a match report!

Got any of Yardley's old shirts handy? How on earth is he out of contract? Played 38 games in the Championship last season.

yeah thats working great at dens Man City manage it ok. I can't see any tangible difference between Walker/Mendy and McGinn/Hodson

That one scout left those messages on BAWA, but the timing seemed odd. I got the impression he had jacked it in because Stubbs had been sacked. But then it became clear his advice was not being taken, so it seemed like a frustration at the club generally. If it was just the manager, you'd likely be prepared to give it one more go when Stubbs got binned. So, as @NorthBank says, you'd hope a TD will be able to smooth over some of these relationships and make sure we make better use of the resources that we are no doubt already paying for.

On the plus side, Edwards did ok out wide, I thought, and Hodson/McGinn got forward well Vs Celtic (first half, at least). Maybe we'll get away with playing narrow and relying on the FBs for width until January.