The European football level St. Mirren FC 2024/25 thread

[Lola montez]

2 hours ago, ah-dee said:

2 hours ago, FTOF said:

Stephen McGinn has been nothing short of magnificent for us.

stephen mcginn has a great football brain and i would put money on him being your POTY. he shat the bed leaving dundee looking for a big move down south but cant fault him for trying. best of luck to you guys this season just not as much luck as us!

Stephen McGinn went to Dundee because we didn't put any offer to him which is where he wanted to go.

 

we know we're truly f&@ked when Greenock roasters come in with Ainsley Harriet and Michael Portillo on a train GIFs, they arent here yet but probably googling the pics reading some of this

[Buddist Monk]

12 hours ago, NorthBank said:

I was just pointing out that Ross only told 1 player who was in the first team squad to leave.

At this point so has Stubbs; Hippolyte.

Plus, you've decided to qualify your point with the "first team" metric, that wasn't the point being made at the start.

[Soctty]

16 hours ago, Bazil85 said:

I said I wasn’t sure. If they aren’t amateur then they certainly play at a similar level to them anyway. Does anyone actually know for sure? 

If they are part time and not amateur then I sincerely apologise. OMG it makes such a difference to the point  please let’s continue to discuss this tiny detail that will completely justify an SP, professional club, drawing with them at home...

^^^^

As advised...

[Soctty]

13 hours ago, NorthBank said:

Reilly alleges he was about to sign when the contract was withdrawn by Stubbs. Ross had offered the contract and wanted Reilly to stay (and I believe he would have signed if Ross was there at the time).  Nothing disingenuous in that. I have better things to do than argue about the merits of individuals I was just pointing out that Ross only told 1 player who was in the first team squad to leave. He did get rid of lots of young players and maybe a couple of fringe players and at least 3 players retired but out of those that made a decent contribution to winning the Championship he only told Stelios to go.  That is the only point I am making.

Reilly had weeks to sign that contract - over a month. How tragic that when he was just about to sign it, it was cruelly whipped away...

He was being linked with moves down south, which is no doubt where he saw a more lucrative future for him and his family. He got his deal at Bristol Rovers, no doubt on a good bit more than we offered him. Well played Gav.

 

[pozbaird]

From where I’m sitting, it doesn’t matter to me how many departures were Ross-sanctioned, Stubbs-sanctioned, down to retirement, wanting to go back South, returning loanees, or simply deemed ‘surplus to requirements’. Taken as a whole, add all the departures together. The major losses being Jack Ross, James Fowler and Lewis Morgan... then you have a problem. When last season ended, and the confetti cannons fired, the feelgood factor was palpable. You could touch it. For a couple of weeks after the season you could still touch it, as Jack made initial moves, season ticket sales were rocketing, and the club officials appeared on TV talking about ‘not just going up there to make up the numbers’. Then Jack Ross went. Then the managerial bullshit merry-go-round started... Guti. Kluivert. Krusty the Clown applied for all we know (he might have got it, had he applied, and brought in Sideshow Bob as his assistant). Neilson. McIntyre. The bloke from Ireland. Stubbs....here we go again.

Now, sitting here as the league season fast approaches, it feels like we took a massive step forward, then, as is the St Mirren way, have taken not two, but many more steps back. The mantra from every St Mirren manager I can recall, is that a signing ‘must be better than what we already have’. From what I’ve seen so far, aside from Coulson - Stelios, simply not the case. It feels like instead of going into this season having re-modelled and tweaked a Championship winning team, the heart and soul of it has been ripped out in one short spell. I do not recognise this St Mirren at all. It feels like starting from zero....unless I look and still see the captain’s armband on McGinn.

I hope I am wrong, but to me, through circumstance and our own choices, as a club, we have given ourselves too much to do, too quickly. If we hadn’t actually won the league, and Jack Ross’ team had been destroyed ahead of yet another ‘have a bash towards promotion’ season against Falkirk and Co, then we might have been OK. Frankly though, the prospect of racking up at Celtic, Aberdeen, Sevco, Hearts and Hibs away is giving me nightmares.... Stubbs talk of four or five signings with a couple who fans wil be excited by... there better be some substance to it, or his non-league kids and signings so far are going to have to make a massive leap forward in about two weeks. Over to you Stubbsy, Fitzy, and, erm, GLSy.

Edited July 24, 2018 by pozbaird

[NorthBank]

1 hour ago, Buddist Monk said:

At this point so has Stubbs; Hippolyte.

Plus, you've decided to qualify your point with the "first team" metric, that wasn't the point being made at the start.

Of course we are talking about 'first team' as that is what matters. You stated that Ross got rid of a 'load of players' virtually all of whom had no impact on winning the Championship except Stelios. Most were young lads and guys on the periphery like Irvine and Todd whose contribution was pretty much non existent. Ross did not dismantle last season's winning squad. And Stubbs told Reilly to go so that is 2 out the door with 3 more to go.

[Buddist Monk]

That is revisionism. However I really don't want to spend time discussing it. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

As @pozbaird says, it really doesn't matter. The bottom line is going forward from here. IMO we have a team, it's not a great team at present, but it's a team and we saw against Killie they can at least play like a team. Either Stubbs gets more players in or he doesn't, so long as he takes what is the core we have now and gels it into something more substantive than the sum of their parts. If not, then as the song goes, there may be trouble ahead.

Overall, I'm still on the positive side as we have time and money (how much is dependent on J McGinn moving). I'll be more critical (or not) come the opening game and/or the close of the window.

[NorthBank]

5 minutes ago, Buddist Monk said:

That is revisionism. However I really don't want to spend time discussing it. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

As @pozbaird says, it really doesn't matter. The bottom line is going forward from here. IMO we have a team, it's not a great team at present, but it's a team and we saw against Killie they can at least play like a team. Either Stubbs gets more players in or he doesn't, so long as he takes what is the core we have now and gels it into something more substantive than the sum of their parts. If not, then as the song goes, there may be trouble ahead.

Overall, I'm still on the positive side as we have time and money (how much is dependent on J McGinn moving). I'll be more critical (or not) come the opening game and/or the close of the window.

No revisionism from me but bend it to whatever makes you happy.

[Bazil85]

38 minutes ago, Soctty said:

^^^^

As advised...

Is it aye... 

[pozbaird]

12 minutes ago, Buddist Monk said:

That is revisionism. However I really don't want to spend time discussing it. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

As @pozbaird says, it really doesn't matter. The bottom line is going forward from here. IMO we have a team, it's not a great team at present, but it's a team and we saw against Killie they can at least play like a team. Either Stubbs gets more players in or he doesn't, so long as he takes what is the core we have now and gels it into something more substantive than the sum of their parts. If not, then as the song goes, there may be trouble ahead.

Overall, I'm still on the positive side as we have time and money (how much is dependent on J McGinn moving). I'll be more critical (or not) come the opening game and/or the close of the window.

...and despite my reservations, until Stubbs recruitment is over, and we see them in action... it could be more Killie at Rugby Park than Sunderland at the SDA. I’m hoping for more Killie-like performances, but it seems a big step to take in what is now under two weeks until kick off. A non-‘big six’ club at home, who also didn’t shine this weekend. Could tell us a lot, this one game. Best wishes to all of them, hope they shove my reservations up my arse sideways.

[Buttocks Brown]

I don't know if anyone else has read Stubbsy's book (good read by the way) but he talks a bit about Bolton being promoted to the Premiership for the 95/96 season.

Like us, they lost their manager at the end of the promotion season with Bruce Rioch heading to Arsenal. At the same time, Stubbs, as club captain, said he went to the board and told them that if they didn't invest and bring in better players then the club would be relegated. The board didn't get the chequebook out, they won 2 games August To December and the club had given up hope of survival by Christmas. They finished bottom and Stubbs left for Celtic at the end of the season.

It's pretty clear that season with Bolton was a formative experience for him.

Now with us, obviously he's determined to improve the squad and £75K for Heaton means the board are backing him. You do wonder though if his Bolton experience has made him jump the gun a wee bit with the likes of Eckersley, MacKenzie and Hippolyte.

[Buddist Monk]

So tonight's going to be a bit of a test - and it really shouldn't be.

Queens Park away could be seen as a potential banana skin for most teams, but with our last two performances it's become an absolute must win - and a must win in an emphatic manner. I don't want to see Wee Gus's team given a hiding, but Stubbs needs to send these lads out tonight as if they were playing a cup final.

 

Edited July 24, 2018 by Buddist Monk

[djchapsticks]

We might not be going for 'marquee signings' but I tell you what, we should be getting a bid in to get Lawrence Shankland back.

Shankland with us was a fat, out of shape, jaded shell. He was also this with Morton.

Since dropping a level, he's clearly grown up a bit and realised how he could quite easily be on the scrapheap if he allowed himself to be.

Get a bid in for the lad, he has a year left with Ayr. Even if it's cash plus Ross Stewart he's a player worth taking back on.

[Gareth_Glasgow]

We might not be going for 'marquee signings' but I tell you what, we should be getting a bid in to get Lawrence Shankland back.
Shankland with us was a fat, out of shape, jaded shell. He was also this with Morton.
Since dropping a level, he's clearly grown up a bit and realised how he could quite easily be on the scrapheap if he allowed himself to be.
Get a bid in for the lad, he has a year left with Ayr. Even if it's cash plus Ross Stewart he's a player worth taking back on.

I think people forget how good Shankland was at the end of his first spell with us, he scored some tremendous goals. Shame about the second loan.

[McG]

Stubbs will be lucky to see the start of October at this rate.

[djchapsticks]

This is going to cost us a lot of money, isn't it?

[McG]

5 minutes ago, djchapsticks said:

This is going to cost us a lot of money, isn't it?

A 3 year deal as well, the McGinn money will end up going towards it 

[Enigma]

This is going to cost us a lot of money, isn't it?

Told you that you should have gone for Goodwin.

[Coventry Saint]

Right, f**k it, who's up for an 11-team Championship? We might as well fucking stay down and save everyone the hassle.

This season is going to be really painful.

[djchapsticks]

3 minutes ago, Coventry Saint said:

Right, f**k it, who's up for an 11-team Championship? We might as well fucking stay down and save everyone the hassle.

This season is going to be really painful.

I'm living in hope that we have some sort of 'escape clause' written into the contract at this point because this has Tommy Craig season written all over it.