Double Winning St Johnstone FC Thread

[Kyle]

I know it's a highlight reel,  but he looks a very capable footballer. The kind of player I'm always jealous of other teams having.

[Shaggy Jenkins]

Pft not been the same since Harry Curran 

[PSJ.84]

On 21/07/2023 at 20:56, PSJ.84 said:

 

[Radford]

Led to believe our former HoR likes ALL the business we've done this summer.

[shibbydoo]

The guy has 19 caps at 23.

Let's just focus on that.

That's a coup for St Johnstone FC.

[The Real Saints]

Two years ago today, we took the lead at ten-man Galatasaray. They say ‘what goes up must come down’. Without realising at the time, after around a decade of consistent success, this would be the peak of our journey. A two-year decline followed and the club is unrecognisable now.

There isn’t a massive gap between the non-OF clubs. We are back to basics, we have a shell of a squad, and we are trying our best to turn things around with more of a long-term strategy. It might take many years, but you never know, maybe we can reach those heights again. The next chapter starts today.

[PSJ.84]

What an utterly batshit crazy 7/8 months that was. Beyond the wildest of dreams of any St. Johnstone supporter. 

[FrankChickens1]

While we were always up against it we only needed to play a wee bit better and get a bit more luck against LASK and we could have made that lower group stage. Easy to say now but it genuinely wasn't lightyears away. Sure is now. 

[Fife Saint]

55 minutes ago, PSJ.84 said:

What an utterly batshit crazy 7/8 months that was. Beyond the wildest of dreams of any St. 

No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride...and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well...maybe chalk it up to forced consciousness expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten.

[gingermunkie]

2 hours ago, Radford said:

Led to believe our former HoR likes ALL the business we've done this summer.

I can’t see why he gets all the hate he got. It was so obvious the few players he highlighted didn’t get a chance and the ones that came from Davidson’s proper fitba pals are the ones that got the time. 
 

he also quit after one window so he def doesn’t deserve the ire.

[Zamora Fan]

14 minutes ago, gingermunkie said:

I can’t see why he gets all the hate he got. It was so obvious the few players he highlighted didn’t get a chance and the ones that came from Davidson’s proper fitba pals are the ones that got the time. 
 

he also quit after one window so he def doesn’t deserve the ire.

Ventured on to We Are Perth the other day and saw a post saying Steve Brown, Davidson, Flaherty and Grieve got us into the position we’re in at the minute. Just seems a bit bizarre to me to group Grieve in with the others (maybe harsh on Flaherty too?). 
 

He recommended targets, the club didn’t have to sign them. And still feel the signings that have hurt us the most are Davidson ones.

 

Like the sound of Matt Smith but folk are going to have to be patient with him. Even in that highlights clip it looks like pressing at that level is basically non-existent — completely different game up here. An attacker who can play “anywhere across the front three” is needed and then we start to look passable.

[SJFCtheTeamForMe]

@Zamora FanI'm not itk or anything but I reckon Flax was partly to blame for the financial mess. Not solely as his boss had to oversee and didn't evidently but he surely had to know the wage budget and football cost was out of control and unsustainable. 

Signings, I'm sure he was trying to do all he could to give the manager what he wanted! Someone had to start saying no eventually though. 

I wondered if he was moved on due to the financial shambles but also it could just have been because there was no role for him due to Stan being there full time. 

Re Grieve, he certainly recommended them, what we don't know is how many of the signings were his recommendation beyond Theo and likely Eetu. I think his leaving was less to do with the signings and more it just not working. The manager don't being keen on his approach and I don't think Grieve was overly keen on the managers either. Heard chat from employees about others not being keen on Grieve as well. Again, who knows how true

Good luck to the new analyst. Seen his Mum tweeting about the excitement of her son's new role, which was nice!

[Radford]

6 minutes ago, SJFCtheTeamForMe said:

Good luck to the new analyst. Seen his Mum tweeting about the excitement of her son's new role, which was nice!

A look at his LinkedIn will show just what an opportunity this is for him.

[Zamora Fan]

8 minutes ago, SJFCtheTeamForMe said:

@Zamora FanI'm not itk or anything but I reckon Flax was partly to blame for the financial mess. Not solely as his boss had to oversee and didn't evidently but he surely had to know the wage budget and football cost was out of control and unsustainable. 

Signings, I'm sure he was trying to do all he could to give the manager what he wanted! Someone had to start saying no eventually though. 

I wondered if he was moved on due to the financial shambles but also it could just have been because there was no role for him due to Stan being there full time. 

Re Grieve, he certainly recommended them, what we don't know is how many of the signings were his recommendation beyond Theo and likely Eetu. I think his leaving was less to do with the signings and more it just not working. The manager don't being keen on his approach and I don't think Grieve was overly keen on the managers either. Heard chat from employees about others not being keen on Grieve as well. Again, who knows how true

Good luck to the new analyst. Seen his Mum tweeting about the excitement of her son's new role, which was nice!

Yeah I think that's fair on Flaherty. He didn't address the financial spiral when it was his job to try and do so. 

On Grieve, it sort of just seems like it wasn't working out and he wasn't a fit with the set-up. From the players he recommended I get the sense he wanted to go for complete gambles when Davidson wanted the opposite. 

I always assumed the Grieve signings were Cleary, Mahon, Eetu, Bair and Gallacher. Cleary was fine but obviously unfortunate what happened there. Mahon/Eetu/Bair didn't work out, but Gallacher might still. 

[John Bonham]

Does anyone really think we’ll see McClelland and Dare starting today? Neither of them can have had a pre-season so cant be fit? I’m all for chucking them in if fit but if they are not some fans haven’t exactly been sympathetic towards players lately  hanging them out to dry doesnt seem like the best idea

[mizfit]

1 minute ago, John Bonham said:

Does anyone really think we’ll see McClelland and Dare starting today? Neither of them can have had a pre-season so cant be fit? I’m all for chucking them in if fit but if they are not some fans haven’t exactly been sympathetic towards players lately  hanging them out to dry doesnt seem like the best idea

Depends on who’s available. 
 

genuinely believe our medical team needs to be thoroughly investigated however because not a chance do the same players keep suffering the same niggles. 

[SJFCtheTeamForMe]

1 minute ago, John Bonham said:

Does anyone really think we’ll see McClelland and Dare starting today? Neither of them can have had a pre-season so cant be fit? I’m all for chucking them in if fit but if they are not some fans haven’t exactly been sympathetic towards players lately  hanging them out to dry doesnt seem like the best idea

Dare at right back maybe. Brown unfit too.

Will depend how much he wants McGowan in midfield.

[RandomGuy.]

7 minutes ago, SJFCtheTeamForMe said:

Will depend how much he wants McGowan in midfield.

I can't see him not having him in there tbh, Phillips hasn't shown enough to be trusted as the holding midfielder and theres nobody else.

Do wonder if he'll go to 4-3-3 for this. McGowan/Ballantyne + 1 (I'd have Phillips being more aggressive, but unsure thats what will happen) with May either left and Jephcott up front or May alone up front with Carey playing. Probably depends how fit Carey/Wright are.

[Valentino Bolognese]

8 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

I can't see him not having him in there tbh, Phillips hasn't shown enough to be trusted as the holding midfielder and theres nobody else.

Do wonder if he'll go to 4-3-3 for this. McGowan/Ballantyne + 1 (I'd have Phillips being more aggressive, but unsure thats what will happen) with May either left and Jephcott up front or May alone up front with Carey playing. Probably depends how fit Carey/Wright are.

Risky starting either Brown or Dare as a RB (are either fully fit) and we know Wright doesn't work there and McGowan isn't great either, and it takes away the midfield option. With that in mind I think we might see a back 3 to let Wright and Gallacher be WBs and bring McGowan into the middle to hold and Dan to do box-to-box.

Ahead of that no idea but I' think that Carey, May and Jephcott would be the option.

If we get the WB's high enough up the park (we know Drey can do this but less sure about Gallacher) that doesn't need to be as negative as it looks on paper.

Edited August 5, 2023 by Valentino Bolognese

[shibbydoo]

27 minutes ago, Zamora Fan said:

Yeah I think that's fair on Flaherty. He didn't address the financial spiral when it was his job to try and do so. 

On Grieve, it sort of just seems like it wasn't working out and he wasn't a fit with the set-up. From the players he recommended I get the sense he wanted to go for complete gambles when Davidson wanted the opposite. 

I always assumed the Grieve signings were Cleary, Mahon, Eetu, Bair and Gallacher. Cleary was fine but obviously unfortunate what happened there. Mahon/Eetu/Bair didn't work out, but Gallacher might still. 

Think only Bair is a complete huddy out of that lot (although Motherwell may prove us wrong),the Irish boys seemed to want to get away from Davidson ASAP, Gallagher is decent and we will never know about Eetu.

Don't think we can blame Grieve.

But Callum, the more I look back at it, was useless at recruitment, keeping players happy and playing them in the correct positions.