Double Winning St Johnstone FC Thread

[Theyellowbox]

3 minutes ago, Valentino Bolognese said:

In terms of knicker-wetting, I'm moderately damp at the moment but the closer we get to real games the more the huggies pull-ups come into play.

I guess what's bothering me most is that I'm not really understanding the reasons for the lack of market activity. As a club that's up for sale there will be big pressure on cutting operational costs to make the books as attractive as possible. But, we've shed an awful lot of playing wage bill - so you have to think that would have freed a good amount of headroom. It may well be that we were carrying so much wage cost it was putting us into operating loss, but that would be veyr unusual for us.

If it's more the case that McLean is being extremely picky then that's fine and much needed after CD's scattergun approach but surely we're at the stage now where something has to happen. The big worry is that we're just not an attractive place for talent any more, which could easily be the start of a proper tailspin.

If we get to the end of the league cup groups without at lest 4 signings I'll be at the 'need to wring them out' stage. But then again, that's normal for this time of year with this club. Actually there's barely been a dry day for the last couple of years.

I think it is that MacLean is probably being very picky. He is trying to do thinks as differently from Davidson as possible, so no scatter gun signings and looks to be giving youth more of a chance. But, this is tricky from a squad position where we have been very poor the last 2 seasons and what is left, as decent as some are, is lacking in quality.

Gut feel is that we will have a couple in before next weekend, although not ready to play the first game and another couple before the league season starts, but that may be about it, unless he shifts another couple out. 

I suppose he may want to be wanting to kick off a new era and sees a lot of the youth players as his opportunity to mould the club for the next period. We have possibly the most successful group of young players we have ever had at the moment, so if ever there is a time to do it, then it is now.

 

[RandomGuy.]

11 minutes ago, Valentino Bolognese said:

If it's more the case that McLean is being extremely picky then that's fine and much needed after CD's scattergun approach but surely we're at the stage now where something has to happen. The big worry is that we're just not an attractive place for talent any more, which could easily be the start of a proper tailspin..

Both, maybe?

MacLean being picky as he witnessed the issues Davidson had scattergunning, and knows he has limited budget.

But the players hes wanting are also every other bottom half club want, and whats our selling point now?

Club up for sale, 2 relegation battles in a row, squad being turned over every Summer, and a rookie unproven manager in charge of a rookie unproven squad.

Why pick us ahead of Kilmarnock or County?

[Valentino Bolognese]

1 minute ago, Theyellowbox said:

I think it is that MacLean is probably being very picky. He is trying to do thinks as differently from Davidson as possible, so no scatter gun signings and looks to be giving youth more of a chance. But, this is tricky from a squad position where we have been very poor the last 2 seasons and what is left, as decent as some are, is lacking in quality.

Gut feel is that we will have a couple in before next weekend, although not ready to play the first game and another couple before the league season starts, but that may be about it, unless he shifts another couple out. 

I suppose he may want to be wanting to kick off a new era and sees a lot of the youth players as his opportunity to mould the club for the next period. We have possibly the most successful group of young players we have ever had at the moment, so if ever there is a time to do it, then it is now.

 

Agree with that assessment on quality. I would say that we need to bring in at least 4 starting players and you could argue that they would have to be our 4 best players. We do have good youth but they are pretty much unproven, particularly at this level. I agree that's the base we need to look to build on but after 2 years of flirting with relegation, to me it's very high risk. We might not have a choice though.

[Valentino Bolognese]

3 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Both, maybe?

MacLean being picky as he witnessed the issues Davidson had scattergunning, and knows he has limited budget.

But the players hes wanting are also every other bottom half club want, and whats our selling point now?

Club up for sale, 2 relegation battles in a row, squad being turned over every Summer, and a rookie unproven manager in charge of a rookie unproven squad.

Why pick us ahead of Kilmarnock or County?

The only reasons I can think of are that we're not based in Kilmarnock and our manager's not a racist.

But a fair point.

[Theyellowbox]

16 minutes ago, Valentino Bolognese said:

Agree with that assessment on quality. I would say that we need to bring in at least 4 starting players and you could argue that they would have to be our 4 best players. We do have good youth but they are pretty much unproven, particularly at this level. I agree that's the base we need to look to build on but after 2 years of flirting with relegation, to me it's very high risk. We might not have a choice though.

Agree. The players we bring in, cannot be 'project' players or squad players. They all have to be seen as starters. We don't need a Dailly or Sandford punt, nor do we need a Murphy 'can add something on his day' player. We need guys who are mid career, hungry and looking to dislodge a few that are probably in that starting 11 at the moment. That way, it increases the performance of the existing players too.

Have to keep in mind that in his own career MacLean never saw himself as anything but the main man and when he was seen as just a squad player, he moved on. 

[Widge]

I think I’m in agreement with all the above statements. I think we’re going to be in a struggle this year on paper, not saying for definite as we don’t know what will happen, but it’s going to be 12-18 months to undo most of the damage still. 
 

If the lack of bodies is as a result of MacLean being thorough and waiting for the right people then that’s fine. After the last few seasons, taking time and trying to get the right person in is the way forward. What we can’t afford to do is put all the eggs in one basket, which I’m sure we’re not, but we need bodies in and quickly. Even a couple of loans to kick things off would be a welcome start. As a fan base, we’re still struggling with the doom and gloom from the previous campaigns, they need to give us something to get excited about at the very least! Pictures of the pitch isn’t going to matter a whole lot when you know the players out on it are going to struggle all season! 

[RandomGuy.]

55 minutes ago, Valentino Bolognese said:

The only reasons I can think of are that we're not based in Kilmarnock and our manager's not a racist.

But a fair point.

Its worrying. 

To everyone we'll look like a sinking ship and if we're back to paying less than those around us, the pool of players choosing us over others is tiny. Add in the lack of scouting set up, the lack of planning that couldve gone into this window due to how late things happened last season, and that pool gets even smaller.

We're genuinely in a situation where we need to hope a player pops onto their radar who can instantly improve us, or we hope a youngster can step straight in and improve us.

If not we could easily be relegated before the split, IMO. The defence needs about 3 starting quality players added alone.

[derektaylor84]

1 hour ago, Valentino Bolognese said:

 

I guess what's bothering me most is that I'm not really understanding the reasons for the lack of market activity. As a club that's up for sale there will be big pressure on cutting operational costs to make the books as attractive as possible. But, we've shed an awful lot of playing wage bill - so you have to think that would have freed a good amount of headroom. It may well be that we were carrying so much wage cost it was putting us into operating loss, but that would be veyr unusual for us.

If it's more the case that McLean is being extremely picky then that's fine and much needed after CD's scattergun approach but surely we're at the stage now where something has to happen. The big worry is that we're just not an attractive place for talent any more, which could easily be the start of a proper tailspin.

If we get to the end of the league cup groups without at lest 4 signings I'll be at the 'need to wring them out' stage. But then again, that's normal for this time of year with this club. Actually there's barely been a dry day for the last couple of years.

I just wonder if the reason we haven’t seen any new signings early in the window is when we sacked Davidson in April would have been a key moment in getting in contact with agents/players for the following season if not earlier than April. Any work that Davidson will have done in that regard will have been scrapped. We are now playing catch up as any contract talks were shelved until we were safe. I am certain  Davidson would have had different targets in mind than Macca will have.
 

Also I don’t think it is coincidence that Hearts seem to be in the same boat as us as they sacked Neilson about a week before, although the manager situation is very different in that we all know who to call the manager at Saints. 

www.youtube.com/@DerekTaylor84

[Saint DBL]

I predict an exciting week, one to rival the Madis Vihmann/Stevie May arrivals.

4-5 superstars to join the squad, a comfortable top half finish. This time next year we’ll be worrying about which Macedonian hotel to book rather than which diddies we’ve got in the league cup.

But if that doesn’t go to plan then f**k it, it’ll be a laugh either way. 

[Sconesaint]

As mentioned, agree with all. We are a hard sell now, McLean could be picky, we are tightening our belts etc etc but in essence as a club we are totally at a standing still stage now while other clubs are being proactive. 

Another take perhaps. Could the lack of movement maybe indicate a takeover is ongoing behind the scenes? I’m likely clutching at straws here but potential new owners could be wanting a say on recruitment  while current owners don’t want to spend. 

Any potential sale would be probably be known to us though. I do wonder if there is ‘politics’ going on somewhere though as I can’t remember such a dour summer 

[SJFCtheTeamForMe]

 

 

[Bonksy+HisChristianParade]

2 hours ago, Valentino Bolognese said:

In terms of knicker-wetting, I'm moderately damp at the moment but the closer we get to real games the more the huggies pull-ups come into play.

I guess what's bothering me most is that I'm not really understanding the reasons for the lack of market activity. As a club that's up for sale there will be big pressure on cutting operational costs to make the books as attractive as possible. But, we've shed an awful lot of playing wage bill - so you have to think that would have freed a good amount of headroom. It may well be that we were carrying so much wage cost it was putting us into operating loss, but that would be veyr unusual for us.

If it's more the case that McLean is being extremely picky then that's fine and much needed after CD's scattergun approach but surely we're at the stage now where something has to happen. The big worry is that we're just not an attractive place for talent any more, which could easily be the start of a proper tailspin.

If we get to the end of the league cup groups without at lest 4 signings I'll be at the 'need to wring them out' stage. But then again, that's normal for this time of year with this club. Actually there's barely been a dry day for the last couple of years.

I reckon the 2023 financial year is going to be pretty bad based on the squad size we had last season. 100% we’ll have a big operating loss.

[perthsaint1977]

34 minutes ago, Bonksy+HisChristianParade said:

I reckon the 2023 financial year is going to be pretty bad based on the squad size we had last season. 100% we’ll have a big operating loss.

Massive loss

[RandomGuy.]

2 hours ago, Sconesaint said:

As mentioned, agree with all. We are a hard sell now, McLean could be picky, we are tightening our belts etc etc but in essence as a club we are totally at a standing still stage now while other clubs are being proactive. 

Another take perhaps. Could the lack of movement maybe indicate a takeover is ongoing behind the scenes? I’m likely clutching at straws here but potential new owners could be wanting a say on recruitment  while current owners don’t want to spend. 

Any potential sale would be probably be known to us though. I do wonder if there is ‘politics’ going on somewhere though as I can’t remember such a dour summer 

I think we'll be waiting years for any takeover to happen. 

[tree house tam]

2 hours ago, perthsaint1977 said:

Massive loss

Bulletproof, Flax and Cal, the three amigos.

[Savage Henry]

Is it just me, or are you guys always next to last in getting your new kit released?  

[RandomGuy.]

2 minutes ago, Savage Henry said:

Is it just me, or are you guys always next to last in getting your new kit released?  

Im fairly sure we played our first competitive game a few years back without the full kit available for the players

[PSJ.84]

8th September 2020 was when the away kit was released that season 

[Saint DBL]

14 minutes ago, PSJ.84 said:

8th September 2020 was when the away kit was released that season 

Even the home kit was less than 24 hours before the first game that year.

[tree house tam]

Aye but what a season.