mizfit Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 Changed days. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Saintee Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 52 minutes ago, mizfit said: Changed days. Didn't manage to stop relegation though in the end. Made some profit on Dodds though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DukDukGoose Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 1 minute ago, The Saintee said: Didn't manage to stop relegation though in the end. Made some profit on Dodds though. Didn't realise how soon he signed for us after signing for you. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloPerth Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 Didn’t Paul Wright have a long term injury around that time? Memory is hazy but isn’t that why we went and splashed out on Dodds? Don’t think we saw much of Wright and Dodds playing together, but what a strikeforce that could have been. Arguably better than anything in the country right now. Going and buying your rivals’ star player halfway through both clubs being involved in a relegation battle was Saints basically standing on the little guy. Must have been a tough one to take. Then doubled our money 5 months later. Ultimately two goals shy of survival though.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Saintee Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 2 minutes ago, PauloPerth said: Didn’t Paul Wright have a long term injury around that time? Memory is hazy but isn’t that why we went and splashed out on Dodds? Don’t think we saw much of Wright and Dodds playing together, but what a strikeforce that could have been. Arguably better than anything in the country right now. Going and buying your rivals’ star player halfway through both clubs being involved in a relegation battle was Saints basically standing on the little guy. Must have been a tough one to take. Then doubled our money 5 months later. Ultimately two goals shy of survival though.. Yeah. And we might have caught Killie if I remember correctly but Alex Miller played a very weakened side against them on the last day. The damage was done a long time before that one result though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theyellowbox Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 3 minutes ago, PauloPerth said: Didn’t Paul Wright have a long term injury around that time? Memory is hazy but isn’t that why we went and splashed out on Dodds? Don’t think we saw much of Wright and Dodds playing together, but what a strikeforce that could have been. Arguably better than anything in the country right now. Going and buying your rivals’ star player halfway through both clubs being involved in a relegation battle was Saints basically standing on the little guy. Must have been a tough one to take. Then doubled our money 5 months later. Ultimately two goals shy of survival though.. What I hadn't appreciated was just how close so many teams were that season. I remember Killie were the team we could realistically catch, but a single win away from joint 6th and getting relegated is nuts! Still hold a grudge vs Killie and Mark Hateley to this day. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Saintee Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 55 minutes ago, Merkland Red said: Didn't realise how soon he signed for us after signing for you. Yeah. He was just here about 6 months. £800,000 to you guys and then John Inglis as well for £500,000. Crazy days. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radford Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 2 hours ago, PauloPerth said: Didn’t Paul Wright have a long term injury around that time? He certainly did. I'd need to look back properly but I'm fairly sure he picked up an injury in the autumn and Sturrock went out and signed Ian Ferguson (possibly his first signing) then of course he brought in Dodds and the other bloke. I remember them starting together in a 2-2 home draw with Hibs that Wright got injured in (22 January) so they can't have played together more than a couple of times as the only game between was a 1-1 draw away at Raith Rovers. I have a feeling that Gunni Torfason of all people scored an injury time equaliser? We really just drew too many games after Sturrock came in and not enough players other than Dodds and, to a lesser extent, Ferguson scored goals. I think, including cup games, Dodds was about 1 in 2 for goals, so he did his part. We only actually lost to the Old Firm, Aberdeen and, crucially, Kilmarnock (twice) in 27 games under Sturrock but only won 7 matches. Given the number of draws and that five of the defeats were a single goal, I think it's safe to assume a fit Paul Wright would have kept us up. But then Sturrock built a pretty special team down a level... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Costanza Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 That would be my recollection on Wright as well @Radford Can remember there being much anticipation before a midweek evening game at Starks Park as Dodds, Wright and Ferguson all started. We were poor though and went one down, with late Torfason equaliser (sure it was a penalty). Hibs at home was the Saturday and think both Dodds and Wright scored, it was all looking very positive. Then injury struck and ultimately survival hopes, we would have stayed up comfortably with that strike pairing (and Ferguson too if required). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggy Jenkins Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 3 hours ago, PauloPerth said: Didn’t Paul Wright have a long term injury around that time? Memory is hazy but isn’t that why we went and splashed out on Dodds? Don’t think we saw much of Wright and Dodds playing together, but what a strikeforce that could have been. Arguably better than anything in the country right now. Going and buying your rivals’ star player halfway through both clubs being involved in a relegation battle was Saints basically standing on the little guy. Must have been a tough one to take. Then doubled our money 5 months later. Ultimately two goals shy of survival though.. And done by league reconstruction back to a 10 as well? Or am I miss remembering? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mizfit Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 Jamie Walker away down south. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radford Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 They loved mucking about with the size of the league in that period. Went up to 12 for 1986 to 1988, back down to 10 for 1988 to 1991, up to 12 for 1991 to 1994, then back to 10 again between 1994 and 2000. I'm sure it was suggested we only went back to a dozen teams in 1991 because Hibs were bottom at Xmas. Certainly the restructuring wasn't planned in advance of the 1990/91 season. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theyellowbox Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 2 hours ago, Radford said: They loved mucking about with the size of the league in that period. Went up to 12 for 1986 to 1988, back down to 10 for 1988 to 1991, up to 12 for 1991 to 1994, then back to 10 again between 1994 and 2000. I'm sure it was suggested we only went back to a dozen teams in 1991 because Hibs were bottom at Xmas. Certainly the restructuring wasn't planned in advance of the 1990/91 season. Am I right in saying that the current set up is the longest there has been since the start of the Premier league? We must be pushing 20 years of the split? I remember the starks Park game and feeling optimistic that we had a really good team built up. Did we not miss some really good chances in that game? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marly Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 3 hours ago, Radford said: He certainly did. I'd need to look back properly but I'm fairly sure he picked up an injury in the autumn and Sturrock went out and signed Ian Ferguson (possibly his first signing) then of course he brought in Dodds and the other bloke. I remember them starting together in a 2-2 home draw with Hibs that Wright got injured in (22 January) so they can't have played together more than a couple of times as the only game between was a 1-1 draw away at Raith Rovers. I have a feeling that Gunni Torfason of all people scored an injury time equaliser? We really just drew too many games after Sturrock came in and not enough players other than Dodds and, to a lesser extent, Ferguson scored goals. I think, including cup games, Dodds was about 1 in 2 for goals, so he did his part. We only actually lost to the Old Firm, Aberdeen and, crucially, Kilmarnock (twice) in 27 games under Sturrock but only won 7 matches. Given the number of draws and that five of the defeats were a single goal, I think it's safe to assume a fit Paul Wright would have kept us up. But then Sturrock built a pretty special team down a level... Aye, Dodds was great but I always thought Wright at his best was the best striker I've seen at Saints. That relegation was the unluckiest we've suffered I think. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Costanza Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 53 minutes ago, Theyellowbox said: I remember the starks Park game and feeling optimistic that we had a really good team built up. Did we not miss some really good chances in that game? We might well have done but my memory of it is that things didn't really click with the three up front and we ended up lucky to get a point thanks to Torfason who at that point think everyone just assumed would no longer be involved. £100k paid for him!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Costanza Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 1 minute ago, The Marly said: Aye, Dodds was great but I always thought Wright at his best was the best striker I've seen at Saints. That relegation was the unluckiest we've suffered I think. Wright was pure class, I'd agree he was better than Dodds in his pomp. That goal Wright scored at Tannadice on the turn was sensational. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloPerth Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 3 hours ago, Radford said: They loved mucking about with the size of the league in that period. Went up to 12 for 1986 to 1988, back down to 10 for 1988 to 1991, up to 12 for 1991 to 1994, then back to 10 again between 1994 and 2000. I'm sure it was suggested we only went back to a dozen teams in 1991 because Hibs were bottom at Xmas. Certainly the restructuring wasn't planned in advance of the 1990/91 season. That’s right. Saints were supposed to be the whipping boys and head straight down, and did start out poorly against the weaker sides, before that famous run 5-0 v Aberdeen, 0-0 at Celtic, 3-2 win away to Hearts, 0-0 v Rangers and 2-1 win at Tannadice. At Xmas we thought we had a chance at Europe but collapsed a bit. But once it was established that Saints weren’t going to be the relegated side, Hibs , st Mirren and a few others around the bottom pushed for reconstruction and it got voted through. To his credit, Geoff Brown voted against it even though he did want the league extended to 12, on the principle that they were moving the goalposts mid-season. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloPerth Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 13 minutes ago, The Marly said: Aye, Dodds was great but I always thought Wright at his best was the best striker I've seen at Saints. That relegation was the unluckiest we've suffered I think. 11 minutes ago, Costanza said: Wright was pure class, I'd agree he was better than Dodds in his pomp. That goal Wright scored at Tannadice on the turn was sensational. Aye another vote here for Paul Wright being the most technically gifted striker I’ve seen play for us. Didn’t make it at QPR, but if he was around now wonder what he’d be worth. Think we paid and received about £285,000 for him. Is there a better striker in the Premiership right now? Genuine question… 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mizfit Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radford Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 This is the longest run of the same size of top division in the last century at least. Crazy when you think about that. 1922-39 (17 seasons): 20 teams 1945-55 (10 seasons): 16 teams 1955-75 (20 seasons): 18 teams 1975-86 (11 seasons): 10 teams 1986-88 (2 seasons): 12 teams 1988-91 (3 seasons): 10 teams 1991-94 (3 seasons): 12 teams 1994-00 (6 seasons): 10 teams 2000-22 (22 seasons): 12 teams Just looked up the teams that played Raith Rovers and Hibs after Dodds signed: Raith: Rhodes, McGowne, McAuley, Ramsey, Deas, McGinnis, Ferguson, Turner, Wright (Torfason), Dodds, Curran. Subs: Donegan, Cherry. Hibs: Rhodes, McGowne, McAuley, Ramsey, Deas, Cherry, Ferguson, Turner, Wright (McMartin), Dodds, Curran. Subs: Donegan, Torfason. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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