codfish

Yeah - pre-pandemic there was always around 500 tickets for Centre and Court 3 put on Ticketmaster 48 hours before play. Got Centre tickets that way about 5 years ago, cracking experience. Queue is also an option, but an overnight camp is needed for a show court.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’m a South Stand season ticket holder, so I’m intrigued what the renewal price will be and what the associated terms are. Makes the survey a bit pointless mind you…

Interesting mass email from the club/the chairman this evening: - Season tickets on sale from Monday (23 May) - 3 week early bird window for existing ST holders - Family ticket deal now includes up to 3 under 17’s rather than up to 2 under 13’s - Unemployed now part of concession rate - Survey coming out on giving the Family Stand to the Old Firm - SMISA members, existing ST holders and registered purchasers will be included - prices increasing this year, but figures not mentioned

With the exception of ten minutes at the start of the second half, that was pretty comfortable. Delighted for Main getting his goal - hopefully that builds confidence, as the last couple of games have shown there’s a player in there. Wasn’t sure about Erhahon coming in to play alongside Gogic - thought it would be too defensive - but it seemed to work really well. Couple of mistakes from Ethan, but made up for them immediately each time - he seemed to take on the role of spoiler, and it seemed to allow Gogic to be more box-to-box. Dundee, for all their effort, looked like a Championship side. Sadly, Charlie Adam’s a shadow of the player he was - as others have said, I’m not sure he has a season at the level below in him. Young keeper looks decent though - some save in the first half, and no chance with the goals.

Not from last Saturday, Ronan was playing deeper. Dropping Kiltie back there would be a waste, and we don’t have another fit ‘number 10’ in the squad.

That’s almost what I was thinking - don’t think we need two sitters at home to Dundee, so maybe Flynn’s the closest we have to a ‘direct’ replacement for Ronan. Other possibility is Brophy in for Greive, but I’d be inclined to stick with last week’s pairing and bring Brophy back in for Livi on Wednesday.

Amazing how quickly you can go from wanting Everton to win, to considering whether they should be liquidated.

Usually when both sets of fans think the referee was awful, neutrals would say he’s probably had a good game. Not the case yesterday - looked like he’d won a competition to be there, and you were just waiting for the next howler to come.

Only one team winning that today - both managers have said on Sportsound that there wasn’t a lack of fight from the Saintees, but it sure looked that way to me. On the flip side, we were up for it from the start, Main and Gogic in particular were outstanding. There’s decent individuals in the Saintees team, but far too many are gutless. Ciftci a prime example of that - absolute wage thief.

The optimist in me says Main is due a performance…

I personally hope we snatch all three points with the most offside goal that there’s ever been in the 5th minute of stoppage time. Or win comfortably, but that’s far less likely.

£10 on a home win and it’ll pay for the match ticket… No faith whatsoever in this St Mirren team pulling a result out the bag - it’s as if the United game at home sucked the remaining fight out the players, and Robinson will throw at least one ‘interesting’ selection into the mix. Only saving grace is that St Johnstone fans could easily be saying the same thing. Two really poor sides on current form - eye-bleeding 0-0 or 1-0 a certainty.

It’s when the club announce the building of a ridiculously out-of-proportion away stand that I’ll start worrying…

Played my first round of the year at Blairgowrie today on the Wee Course. I’m not exactly ‘good’ at golf (I like exploring the scenery…), and previous scores of 113 and 101 didn’t bode well. Add in a finger injury from a few months ago that’s not heeled 100%, and expectations were low. Seems that being scared to grip the club tightly, and slowing my swing down to compensate worked wonders - struck the ball well throughout - particularly 5-iron - and lipped out on 18 for an 89 (I’ve never come close to breaking 90 anywhere). Typically, my next round will likely be back in the 100’s. Stupid game…

Aberdeen on the last day is a 12 noon kick-off. Hopefully a meaningless one (for us, anyway…).

The only certainty from this season is that four teams are going to be saying almost exactly that in a few weeks time. Missed opportunities galore.

First half, United were as threatening as Aberdeen were last time they visited - about as comfortable a half as you’re likely to see as a St Mirren fan. Biggest issue was not pressing home the advantage. Credit to Courts though - double sub and change of shape turned the game completely, and even though Robinson eventually changed things to counter it, we’d completely fallen out the game by that point. I’m not certain about Alnwick’s red card, but from the family stand I was convinced he was off as soon as the whistle went. Wasn’t the first time he’s ended up in no man’s land today, uncharacteristic but ultimately costly. Beat Motherwell in a fortnight and at least we’ll know what we need to do in our last game pre-split. Just can’t see us beating Motherwell though - feels a bit like we’ve blown top six (and a shot at Europe) from a position of strength. On the plus side, had my 5 year old son at the game today and he wants to go back. f**k knows why…

If you look closely, you can see Gillespie in the reflection of the cabinet behind Robinson, holding a pistol and looking menacing. Maybe.

For me, that’s fine - in 30 years it’s only happened twice, so if the new manager (or returning manager) becomes the third it means he’s delivered some success.

Looking at those in a job within Scotland at the moment, there aren’t any names that inspire me - mixture of usual suspects and unproven managers that aren’t setting the heather alight. Timing would also likely rule out a wider search a la Kearney’s appointment - it’ll either be a short-term end-of-the-season appointment or a free agent on a longer deal. I can’t really see past Jack Ross, unless we put faith in McManus and Langfield until the summer. Ultimately, it’s a positive to be doing well enough to lose a manager to a ‘bigger’ club, it’s a horrible time to be actively looking for one.

It makes a change seeing St Mirren managers performing well enough to do that - prior to JR, who was the last one to move on to better things? Rae, Murray, Teale, Craig, Lennon, MacPherson, Coughlin, Hendrie, Fitzpatrick and Bone all sacked in my lifetime, JR and (I assume) Goodwin the only two who’ve taken ‘bigger’ jobs, Kearney moving back home through choice, and the ill-fated Stubbs experiment post-JR. What a shitlist of managers we’ve had!

It’s very ‘if your auntie had baws…’, but had we held on against Motherwell we’d be in fourth, 9 points behind Hearts with a game in hand against Dundee. To Lex’s point, the nature of the league this season seems to be that finishing anywhere from 4th to 10th is realistic (so much for last season’s mega hue being our best chance at top six…). There’s nothing to fear from the sides around us, particularly the ‘big’ clubs like Aberdeen and Hibs - if we can add a few more goals to our play, it could be some finish to the season…

Well, he did complain about something - almost spot on! Cliche alert, but the second goal absolutely turned the game - seemed like St Johnstone went from looking reasonably composed to panic stations in an instant. Decent enough watch, although fucking freezing in the south stand! St Johnstone penalty a stonewaller, ours awaits trial by Sportscene, and the cross absolutely makes Greive’s goal. Probably sums the game up that the two moments of real quality - that goal and Cammy MacPherson’s effort in the first half - both fell in our favour. Maybe a sign that luck is with us this season.

Another midweek, another home game. Despite patchy home form, it’s a huge chance to close in on teams above us… usually means we’ll drop points. Frustrating that we’d be one point off fourth had it not been for Tait’s brain-fart last Tuesday… Imagine Gogic will come into the starting line-up, but can’t see many other changes unless Tanser’s fit again. Otherwise, the back four picks itself and we’re not exactly blessed with viable alternatives to Greive up top. Saintees look to be turning things around a little - how big a miss will Hallberg be?

I thought the team looked far more balanced tonight, and it was nice to feel like there were options on the bench that wouldn’t be square pegs in round holes. My hope is McCarthy comes in for Dunne when fit, in which case the balance and squad depth looks even better.