houston_bud

I thought Div's comment was out of order actually. I assume I must be missing something and Jeff King's tweet had something to do with St. Mirren, but even still. As for Edwards, he came to the club, tried hard, it didn't work out for either party. He wasn't great, in fact he was infuriating at times, but some of the comments were over the top. Fans should have had the good grace to wish him well (and many did). The embarrassing tweeting directly to Josh Heaton irked me a bit too. I didn't see too much in his comments to get worked up about really. Fair enough if commenting on a thread to say you don't think someone is up to it or the club should get rid, but sending tweets directly to a player to have a pop is a bit embarrassing. Doesn't give a great impression of the fans or the club.

I think he's played his best games in midfield. Against Motherwell he was excellent.

There's hardly any of the squad still here! Stephen McGinn and Jack Baird are the only regulars from last season who are playing this season. Magennis and Mullen would both have played more if they were fit. McGinn has done ok, had a few decent games. Baird hasn't been our worst performer by any stretch but, put it this way, there won't be a queue of Premiership teams wanting to sign him if he was to leave.

Sad to see Smith go, but he's not made a huge impact, in fact he's had no impact at all really. I still feel he's not been given a fair crack of the whip. He was one of the best players in the Championship last year, arguably the best. I thought he was ready to make the step up. Part of me thinks it he'd had a good run of games he might have been able to get up to speed. I just hope this doesn't come back to haunt us. I can just imagine what will happen in a playoff against Dundee Utd.

I would hope so, although Heaton is tried and tested at that level and by all accounts did well. I'm not sure King has played many games anywhere and Kpekewa has only a handful of appearances for about 6 different clubs. They could well be harder to find clubs.

Suggests that he probably won't be playing for us next season.

That's total guess work from me by the way. I'm not in the know at all. He would be a very good addition to Falkirk though. He'd be a good addition to most teams in that league.

Was there not a fair bit of excitement when he signed? What happened?

I'd guess McShane, Falkirk need some proven players to dig them out of this mess and he's a very good player at that level.

Or maybe no one would take him permanently on the type of money we're paying. Hope it works out for him and he comes back able to play. There's some absolute dross masquerading as footballers in the Championship right now at the likes of Thistle and Falkirk, surely he'd get a game there.

I think Kearney does deserve credit. It was clear to everyone (with the except of Stubbs and Jackson) that we desperately needed a winger, a centre half and a striker, and that we were awful short of experience. Outside of a transfer window he brought in Ferdinand, Hammill, Jackson, and Lyness. We can argue over how successful each has been but he addressed areas of the squad that needed it. I'd argue that Hammill alone is the reason we aren't bottom of the league, he's scored or been involved in just about every goal since his arrival. Ferdinand has been decent and Jackson has chipped in with a couple of goals too. Lyness looks much better than Rogers. Whilst there is also plenty you could criticise Kearney for, he's done alright overall and I have confidence he can bring in some decent players when the window opens.

What are they supposed to do? It's the managers job to sign players. Imagine if the board told Kearney he wasn't allowed to sign certain players in January.

Surely no one would pay for him. It must also likely that he'll go back to English non league, so will be part time. Can't see many folk walking away from 3 years full time work without compensation, and nor should he. As for Cammy Smith, he should only be allowed to go if there is someone better lined up to replace him. He's not done as well as expected this season but he did well off the bench against Motherwell and I thought he was ok against St Johnstone.

Heaton was being tracked by Middlesbrough I'm sure, and we apparently had competition to sign him. I wonder how it's been so bad. I reckoned there must have been a player in there and after a wee loan spell he might have done ok. An awful, awful piece of business that sums up Stubbs' short tenure.

I don't think loan signings have a higher or lower success rate that permanent signings. Some work out, some don't.

Samson is the best keeper we've had since Campbell Money. I don't really care how shite he was for other clubs, he has been very good for us. Sure he's had a few howlers for us, but we are St. Mirren we can't afford to sign top class keepers. It's also still possible to love the club, yet take a job with a higher salary and more prospects for the future. I love my job, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't take a better paid job if I was offered. Good luck to him, he's been a great servant to the club.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if we don't see Kpekewa again. He's 22 and already at his 6th club (a couple of loans admittedly) and hasn't made more than a handful of appearances for any team. That suggests there's maybe an issue with fitness or attitude or something. As someone said earlier Stubbs hing him out to dry by continuing to play him when he was clearly struggling. Hopefully he can get his head down and improve as he did look promising in his first game at Kilmarnock.

Wonder if Kpekewa and Brock Madsen will be permanently out the squad?

Gus McPherson was a very good St. Mirren manager. He took us from utter dross to 2nd place, then won the division the following season. I think bringing him in as technical director is a pretty shrewd move, he knows the club and Gordon Scott very well, he'll also have good knowledge of the lower leagues. I don't really see what there is to complain about here.

Surely this 'one man team' patter is a story that has grown arms and legs? I struggle to believe anyone would be as stupid as to hit out with something like that.

His body language after the defeat to Livingston was more akin to a teenager who's parent had just told them they had to turn the X-Box off and tidy their room, rather than a top flight football manager losing to a close rival. at home It was clear he wasn't happy in the job, neither were the players by the looks of it, and the fans certainly weren't.

That him and Darren Jackson don't get on with many people at the club. I also heard that he doesn't speak to his players but gets Rice or Jackson to do it. It's a combination of things, or at least seems to be. Things that are undeniable are that he got rid of players that did us a job, and telling more that they could go, then replacing them with poorer players or not replacing them at all. His man management appears to be awful, he subbed Kpekewa 3 mins into the second half against Livingston (why not just take him off at half time?), he dropped Cammy Smith then gave some mealy mouthed interview about whether Smith was staying or not. His tactics were baffling, and his attitude on the touchline was stinking. Sacked after 4 league games on the face of it seems ridiculous but what we saw was dreadful, and the rumours that he doesn't get on with anyone appear to be true. You can't continue with a manager who doesn't get on with the squad.

Damage could already be done. Signed some amount of shite. It's early days, but the lack of a decent centre half is frightening. Jack Baird is far and away our most competent centre half at the moment and we all know he's prone to the odd blunder. Other than that I think, whilst light in cover, we have some reasonable players. It's a big job for McIntyre or whoever takes over but we're not down yet.

It's the right decision all round to get rid of him. Timed well too with the international break for the new manager to get a bit of time with the squad so fair play to the board for being decisive. Can't help but think the board need to shoulder some blame for an appointment to go so wrong though.

The money paid suggests that Stubbs thought, and probably said, Heaton would go straight into the team. I can't see the board making those funds available for a guy who could be a regular in 6 months or a season's time. I would imagine £75k would have been a season's wage for a decent player at this level. I realise that there's a lot of guess work here but I can understand why the board aren't prepared to give him any more money. Stubbs needs to prove these guys can do a job before the board lets him sign anyone else.