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

[Coventry Saint]

29 minutes ago, FTOF said:

Best passer on the pitch was Alnwick. I watched the warm up and he was pinging the ball out to Urminsky on the wing. During the game he did it 3 or 4 times when Tanser had space.

Pretty sure he dropped one onto Fraser's chest at one point, too. Fraser barely had to adjust his feet.

You're right, though, we need to mix it up more. I'm all for a bit of direct play, but if we become predictable we'll become very easy to contain.

[AW saint]

We need our Midfield to be combative and secure or Adam will boss it on Saturday

[Mainstand Sweary Mob]

I sure hope so. He would thrive in our set up

Would he? Is he a wing back? Thought he was way more attacking than defence?

[Buttocks Brown]

Anyone else becoming a part-owner of St Mirren FC tomorrow?! 

We've crept up to the day that SMISA buys out Gordon Scott to become majority shareholders. Has been a long road going back to Reg Brearley nearly taking us into the void, Stewart Gilmour and co. saving the day, the failed 10,000 hours bid and then the return of Gordon Scott with SMISA in tow. Full credit to them to sell the vision to the former owners, persuade the fans to pay the £12/month year after year and then see it through to the end. One of the most historic moments in the club's history and a relief given the current financial climate for clubs.

Be good to see lots of positive press ahead of the start of the league system. I think that makes it two fan-owned clubs in the top league (us and Motherwell) with Hearts following soon.

[billyg]

20 minutes ago, Buttocks Brown said:

Anyone else becoming a part-owner of St Mirren FC tomorrow?! 

We've crept up to the day that SMISA buys out Gordon Scott to become majority shareholders. Has been a long road going back to Reg Brearley nearly taking us into the void, Stewart Gilmour and co. saving the day, the failed 10,000 hours bid and then the return of Gordon Scott with SMISA in tow. Full credit to them to sell the vision to the former owners, persuade the fans to pay the £12/month year after year and then see it through to the end. One of the most historic moments in the club's history and a relief given the current financial climate for clubs.

Be good to see lots of positive press ahead of the start of the league system. I think that makes it two fan-owned clubs in the top league (us and Motherwell) with Hearts following soon.

[djchapsticks]

1 hour ago, Buttocks Brown said:

Anyone else becoming a part-owner of St Mirren FC tomorrow?! 

We've crept up to the day that SMISA buys out Gordon Scott to become majority shareholders. Has been a long road going back to Reg Brearley nearly taking us into the void, Stewart Gilmour and co. saving the day, the failed 10,000 hours bid and then the return of Gordon Scott with SMISA in tow. Full credit to them to sell the vision to the former owners, persuade the fans to pay the £12/month year after year and then see it through to the end. One of the most historic moments in the club's history and a relief given the current financial climate for clubs.

Be good to see lots of positive press ahead of the start of the league system. I think that makes it two fan-owned clubs in the top league (us and Motherwell) with Hearts following soon.

Meanwhile, fan owned Motherwell will have 6,500 fans (4,500 home, 2,000 away) in for their league opener against Hibs at Fir Park whilst we still await a rational and satisfactory answer from the club, Renfewshire Council, SMiSA or SLO as to why we only had 1,000 home fans yesterday and by our own CEO's admission, we're likely not going to be allowed any more for the Hearts game.

[buddie06smfc]

Meanwhile, fan owned Motherwell will have 6,500 fans (4,500 home, 2,000 away) in for their league opener against Hibs at Fir Park whilst we still await a rational and satisfactory answer from the club, Renfewshire Council, SMiSA or SLO as to why we only had 1,000 home fans yesterday and by our own CEO's admission, we're likely not going to be allowed any more for the Hearts game.

I heard some of the rationale behind so few fans being in. I’m sure Fitzpatrick said that if they were to open the main stand to fans it would allow an additional 50 fans. Baffling.

What’s more baffling is that the main stand is shut off to house the press. The subs, despite spending all their time mingling with the rest of the squad inside, have to be scattered around outside - ridiculous. The press should be put in the away stand while restrictions apply - no saints fans have a ticket for there, no one will be affected by that.

[djchapsticks]

We should genuinely be making more of this 1,000 fans debacle to be honest. It's borderline scandalous. There seems to be no real issue on 30%, 40%, 50% filled grounds at this point where we seem to be either moping about how sad it is fans aren't getting back in numbers we'd like, or saying f**k all.

The fans have an absolute right to know who is making these decisions, why they are being made and why the club aren't fighting tooth and nail against any decisions made on 'social distancing' guidelines given that these don't appear to apply nearly as stringently to many, many other clubs very local to us.

Fir Park will be 47% full on Saturday...St. Mirren Park was (allegedly) only allowed to be 12% full yesterday and only 12% full next Saturday.

Dundee, a city that had the outright highest infection rate in Europe until only a couple of weeks ago have applied for and expect to be granted increased capacity for our match on Saturday. And rightly so, who can blame them? So why is Fitzpatrick showing up on Radio Scotland yesterday sounding like a beaten man when it comes to more supporters being let in?

[djchapsticks]

10 minutes ago, buddie06smfc said:

I heard some of the rationale behind so few fans being in. I’m sure Fitzpatrick said that if they were to open the main stand to fans it would allow an additional 50 fans. Baffling.

What’s more baffling is that the main stand is shut off to house the press. The subs, despite spending all their time mingling with the rest of the squad inside, have to be scattered around outside - ridiculous. The press should be put in the away stand while restrictions apply - no saints fans have a ticket for there, no one will be affected by that.

The stand holds 2,200 people. That's a shocking statement from Fitzpatrick and totally untrue. 

[FTOF]

8 minutes ago, djchapsticks said:

The stand holds 2,200 people. That's a shocking statement from Fitzpatrick and totally untrue. 

We have no idea what level of restrictions Renfrewshire council are imposing on the club, so it could easily be true.

I have sent an e-mail to my councillor asking them to explain the process of how fan numbers are being worked out. It certainly looked to me, that more fans could be accommodated in all three stands yesterday. Probably another 1000 IMO.

[djchapsticks]

3 minutes ago, FTOF said:

We have no idea what level of restrictions Renfrewshire council are imposing on the club, so it could easily be true.

I have sent an e-mail to my councillor asking them to explain the process of how fan numbers are being worked out. It certainly looked to me, that more fans could be accommodated in all three stands yesterday. Probably another 1000 IMO.

According to our own SLO, 1m SD applies (which I also find iffy given that there was far more distance than even 2m from what I saw yesterday).

That surely does not make as few as 50 extra fans even in the most stringent circumstances of keeping press and subs and officials away from the plebs and dregs we no doubt are.

[elvis]

Glenafton  had  1000 people in at the weekend for a junior game go figure.

[FTOF]

According to our own SLO, 1m SD applies (which I also find iffy given that there was far more distance than even 2m from what I saw yesterday).
That surely does not make as few as 50 extra fans even in the most stringent circumstances of keeping press and subs and officials away from the plebs and dregs we no doubt are.

I would say in the west stand yesterday, the folk around me were 1m socially distanced. However, in the North stand about half of it looked totally empty.

[aldo_j]

11 minutes ago, elvis said:

Glenafton  had  1000 people in at the weekend for a junior game go figure.

Yes, heard similar at junior games close to us. And no masks for supporters.

[FTOF]

20 minutes ago, aldo_j said:

Yes, heard similar at junior games close to us. And no masks for supporters.

 Although you had to wear one to get in to the ground yesterday and if you moved about the stadium, very few people sitting watching the game were wearing masks. Rightly so, as we were all at least1m socially distanced, and sitting in an extremely well ventilated area.

[Buttocks Brown]

Here's a summary of where the club will be tomorrow (put together to get it sorted in my own head). Feel free to correct or add anything significant I've missed.

• Largest shareholders will be SMISA (51%) and Kibble charity group (27.5%)
• The club's spending will continue to be determined by its income
• A board of 8 will continue to make the big decisions but may choose to refer some decisions to the SMISA members e.g. the club kit decision which occurred recently
• The board will consist of: Chief Executive, Secretary, 4 SMISA representatives (initially Gordon Scott, Alan Wardrop, John Needham and David Riley) and 2 Kibble representatives 
• Gordon Scott will remain as Chairman through the transition period 

The future of SMISA:

• SMISA currently has 1181 members and a cash reserve of £150,000
• SMISA membership will now be in 3 tiers: Entry (£5/month), Standard (£12/month) and All Plus (£25/month)
• 50% of SMISA membership fee income will be used to build a cash reserve with the aim of £400,000 by 2024. This will provide financial security but could be loaned or donated to the club, subject to a member vote
• 30% of SMISA membership fee income will go to the club's youth academy
• 10% of SMISA membership fee income will go to the "£2 pot" for member votes e.g equipment for St Mirren TV and refurbishment of the training ground
• 10% of SMISA membership fee income will be donated to the SMFC Charitable Foundation

[aldo_j]

56 minutes ago, FTOF said:

 Although you had to wear one to get in to the ground yesterday and if you moved about the stadium, very few people sitting watching the game were wearing masks. Rightly so, as we were all at least1m socially distanced, and sitting in an extremely well ventilated area.

The ticket did imply that a mask was to worn at all times. It’s never going to happen, especially in that heat. 
 

I listened to Fitzy on the radio (had to fill the time) and was quite surprised by his response, seemed almost defensive. We’ve lost seats as they are using the main stand for the players during the week (ralston being done up) and that’s why. Can’t understand why, it’s not like they are using the same entrance.

Edited July 26, 2021 by aldo_j

[Thenorthernlight]

Any of you Saints fans heard of Aberdeen interest in Connor McCarthy? 

[billyg]

1 minute ago, Thenorthernlight said:

Any of you Saints fans heard of Aberdeen interest in Connor McCarthy? 

Any interest we have heard is from England. Going by what JG was saying about the chances of both McGrath and McCarthy leaving , I think 300k would probably get McCarthy !

[Thenorthernlight]

16 minutes ago, billyg said:

Any interest we have heard is from England. Going by what JG was saying about the chances of both McGrath and McCarthy leaving , I think 300k would probably get McCarthy !

Aye, I read about Rotherham taking the piss with an alleged £100k.

Would any of Dylan McGeouch or Matty Kennedy be needed/wanted by Saints? You have a few centre mids so probably not McGeouch.

Would £250k & Kennedy be considered?