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

[medals]

9 hours ago, Captain_Sensible said:

The current top 6 are the 6 biggest clubs in Scotland. As I’ve always known 

Yes and yes. This is where we should be punching. F this aim for 10th bull.

2 good wins in a row, enjoable to watch and effective.

Next 2 games must seal us there but there are points to be won and crowd money right to the finish.

If we get European money too, we need to get even better.

[AW saint]

Got to get Main to sign his deal. His team play is outstanding. Time to start the chants of Maino must stay

[Arch Stanton]

20 hours ago, Molotov said:

That is a pal of mine Reidy who was one of the few original SaintsOnlineGB posters.
He has never been allowed to forget that interview.
In fact he likely emigrated to get away from the shame.
He never posts on here or BAWA anymore. And with you bringing this up he probably never will again. 
Think he still posts on Facebook from time to time. 
Good guy. Just got carried away with a story under the camera lights.

Aye, I know Reidy as well, emigrated to south of Spain. I was his postman when he lived in Renfrew. Loves a scrappy 1-0 victory.

[TPAFKA Jersey 2]

20 hours ago, Molotov said:

That is a pal of mine Reidy who was one of the few original SaintsOnlineGB posters.
He has never been allowed to forget that interview.
In fact he likely emigrated to get away from the shame.
He never posts on here or BAWA anymore. And with you bringing this up he probably never will again. 
Think he still posts on Facebook from time to time. 
Good guy. Just got carried away with a story under the camera lights.

Aye Reidy is a lovely fella. 
Maybe he was just mixing Platini up with Johnny Rep

[Molotov]

5 minutes ago, TPAFKA Jersey 2 said:

Aye Reidy is a lovely fella. 
Maybe he was just mixing Platini up with Johnny Rep

Aye maybe…..   

Platini did play in the second leg.

 

[Molotov]

footage of both games :

 

I thought we were very unlucky in the first game. 
Great memories!

Would be great to get European fitba back in Paisley!

[Stu]

 

21 hours ago, Molotov said:

That is a pal of mine Reidy who was one of the few original SaintsOnlineGB posters.
He has never been allowed to forget that interview.
In fact he likely emigrated to get away from the shame.
He never posts on here or BAWA anymore. And with you bringing this up he probably never will again. 
Think he still posts on Facebook from time to time. 
Good guy. Just got carried away with a story under the camera lights.

Yeah, I'm friends with him on Facebook (even though I've never met him!) due to the old guestbook.

2 hours ago, AW saint said:

Got to get Main to sign his deal. His team play is outstanding. Time to start the chants of Maino must stay

The transformation in Main this season is incredible. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who'd have been quite happy if he left last summer, but he has been phenomenal. No idea how much is down to him, down to a manager who knows how to get the better of him, fitness or whatever but has been fantastic for us most of the season. There were hints of it in the first half of the Hibs game after the split last season but I don't think many folk could have seen this improvement. Would be nice to get a few more goals from him - but then if he was more prolific he wouldn't be with us.

Last player I can remember having such a turnaround after a disappointing first season was Gary Teale.

[Captain_Sensible]

On 09/04/2023 at 20:38, Dirty Sanchez said:

We had the epic 3-2 replay loss to Celtic that year, complete with controversial goals and crowd chaos. Little did we know that if we'd knocked Celtic out that night night we'd probably have done ourselves out of a place in Europe.

They way the league panned out we'd needed to have won the cup or lost the final to (champions) Aberdeen to qualify for Europe. No other outcome in the cup would have got us there, despite the 3rd place finish in the league, due to Dundee United having taken a UEFA spot with their League Cup win while finishing below us.

And that guy on the Love Street DVD wouldn't have been able to warmly reminisce about the thrill of watching Michel Platini in Paisley even though he wasn't even playing that night.

I’ve watched the 3-2 replay game on YouTube a couple of times and it turns out that none of the goals were controversial at all.

I think the problem with the Celtic winner was that the lineman put his flag up then took it down. The goal wasn’t offside and you need to play to the whistle. I don’t think the flag going up affected the outcome 

Celtic scored 3 times whilst down to 10 men. We simply blew it that night.

But, as you say, we’d have needed to win the cup to have qualified for Europe.,

Edited April 10, 2023 by Captain_Sensible

[ZingaliMan]

Mark O'Hara  running to the Saints support with half the squad shows how close the team and fans. Very enjoyable season. 

[Bobby_F]

On 09/04/2023 at 21:18, djchapsticks said:

You can't recall outside of a transfer window. I also think that would be a fucking stinking thing to do both to Inverness as a club and Jay himself as a player to deny him a Scottish Cup final appearance.

 

On 09/04/2023 at 21:19, Billy Jean King said:

I think that would be absolutely shite thing to do to a young player. A day he will have dreamed of all his life. As if it would make a shred of difference given the potential opponents. A bizarre thing to even contemplate. 

I wouldn't contemplate it either, but the possibility he could score a goal that would deny us European football did cross my mind.

Better finish above 5th then!

[medals]

50 minutes ago, Bobby_F said:

 

I wouldn't contemplate it either, but the possibility he could score a goal that would deny us European football did cross my mind.

Better finish above 5th then!

The odds of ICT winning the Cup are huge and an earlier post said we cannot recall him anyway.

We beat Killie and anything from the other pre-split game is a bonus. 

Then it's about 5 more games.

We can do 3rd, but 4 th or 5th would be fab.

[glenburn bud]

20 hours ago, Captain_Sensible said:

I’ve watched the 3-2 replay game on YouTube a couple of times and it turns out that none of the goals were controversial at all.

I think the problem with the Celtic winner was that the lineman put his flag up then took it down. The goal wasn’t offside and you need to play to the whistle. I don’t think the flag going up affected the outcome 

Celtic scored 3 times whilst down to 10 men. We simply blew it that night.

But, as you say, we’d have needed to win the cup to have qualified for Europe.,

I was at the game, both goals were offside. But it was normal service back then to give both cheeks the benefit of the doubt, just like the semi final at Hampden against the blue bigots, when Lex Richardson cleared the ball from in front of the goal line. Decision goal Rangers. 
 

[pozbaird]

On 10/04/2023 at 17:54, Molotov said:

footage of both games :

 

I thought we were very unlucky in the first game. 
Great memories!

Would be great to get European fitba back in Paisley!

Not sure what shocked me most looking back at this from 2023 - the barnets on display during the first few minutes of the video, or the fact that five or six of the challenges on display weren’t straight red cards. Imagine if VAR was involved, and indeed big jessies ‘anticipating the contact’ and rolling around like they’d been shot had been involved. Would have finished eight-a-side.

[Billy Jean King]

22 hours ago, Captain_Sensible said:

I’ve watched the 3-2 replay game on YouTube a couple of times and it turns out that none of the goals were controversial at all.

I think the problem with the Celtic winner was that the lineman put his flag up then took it down. The goal wasn’t offside and you need to play to the whistle. I don’t think the flag going up affected the outcome 

Celtic scored 3 times whilst down to 10 men. We simply blew it that night.

But, as you say, we’d have needed to win the cup to have qualified for Europe.,

Wow never knew that footage existed so went and watched it. My first ever "night" game. I was in the main stand and you are right re the infamous 3rd goal. It was never offside but the linesman did put his flag up (no one seems to know why) and we simply stopped playing. The first Doyle goal was well offside though.

That footage confirmed what I always assumed was just an urban myth. My uncle was the club accountant at the time. He came up from the office and told me that the challenge from McGrain had broken Frank Mcdougalls leg. I remember my uncle going on for years about STV editing it out and Montford putting it out it was just a knock. I assumed that was just a legend fuelled by grievance over the years but right enough the challenge from the thug wasn't shown and Montford did indeed announce there was no break and it was just bruising. Clearly the cheeks have had the media in their pockets for decades.

[Molotov]

1 hour ago, Billy Jean King said:

Wow never knew that footage existed so went and watched it. My first ever "night" game. I was in the main stand and you are right re the infamous 3rd goal. It was never offside but the linesman did put his flag up (no one seems to know why) and we simply stopped playing. The first Doyle goal was well offside though.

That footage confirmed what I always assumed was just an urban myth. My uncle was the club accountant at the time. He came up from the office and told me that the challenge from McGrain had broken Frank Mcdougalls leg. I remember my uncle going on for years about STV editing it out and Montford putting it out it was just a knock. I assumed that was just a legend fuelled by grievance over the years but right enough the challenge from the thug wasn't shown and Montford did indeed announce there was no break and it was just bruising. Clearly the cheeks have had the media in their pockets for decades.

I’m sure Aber did a crunching tackle  on McGrain in a later game. I personally never forgave McGrain for that incident that night (20/2/80).

The impact of losing Frank McDougall for the rest of that season was huge as that was the closest we came to winning the league which was Fergies first title at Aberdeen. 

Our run to winning the AngloScottish Cup was the same season.

I’d have given up winning that tournament to winning the Scottish Premier League. 

Some of the league results after the midweek ASC games were poor.

Strangely we sold Bobby Torrance to Hibs after Zico’s leg break. Torrance then scored the winning goal against us in the 3rd last game at Easter Road. 
Plus we had some exceedingly shite results against Morton. 1 point from 8.
 

Edited April 11, 2023 by Molotov

[AW saint]

Wee Jay sent off for ICT

[TheScarf]

7 hours ago, AW saint said:

Wee Jay sent off for ICT

It was pretty innocuous. The ref was blowing his whistle for every contact and his tackle didn’t look worse than any other. 

Yet another assist and his harrying of the Arbroath defender which caused the mistake and then the foul on him for the penalty. He’s a great player.

Edit- as I said on the match thread, the Arbroath players (as they always do) were rolling about and screaming like wee lassies at every contact, Sean Welsh literally 2 foots a boy from behind and he just stands there and takes the full force. I think he forgot his lines for a second. I’d happily see Arbroath relegated back down to where they belong.

Edited April 12, 2023 by TheScarf

[Molotov]

Feedback from many ICT fans is that he has been outstanding. 

It’s been suggested on the ICT thread that his agent is looking for a new contract elsewhere.

Will our club regret losing Jay in seasons to come?

I appreciate that by Saints offering a new contract it’s protects the development fee.

I personally will be sad to see us lose one of our academy graduates.

Given the size of our squad I’m sure we could have utilised Jay far more this season in the first team. 

But then the same argument applies to big Joe. Since he’s been back in the team he has made a massive difference.

Who would be a manager?

In Robbo we trust. 

[aldo_j]

1 hour ago, Molotov said:

Feedback from many ICT fans is that he has been outstanding. 

It’s been suggested on the ICT thread that his agent is looking for a new contract elsewhere.

Will our club regret losing Jay in seasons to come?

I appreciate that by Saints offering a new contract it’s protects the development fee.

I personally will be sad to see us lose one of our academy graduates.

Given the size of our squad I’m sure we could have utilised Jay far more this season in the first team. 

But then the same argument applies to big Joe. Since he’s been back in the team he has made a massive difference.

Who would be a manager?

In Robbo we trust. 

The problem for Jay is that he’s doesn’t fit into the current formation and I don’t think he can play the wingback role. Or be better than Strain.

If Robbo switches it to 4-3-3 next season, or at least on occasion, then there’s definitely a place for Jay. He’s just been unfortunate that during his time in the first team we’ve typically played 3-5-2.

[Molotov]

12 minutes ago, aldo_j said:

The problem for Jay is that he’s doesn’t fit into the current formation and I don’t think he can play the wingback role. Or be better than Strain.

If Robbo switches it to 4-3-3 next season, or at least on occasion, then there’s definitely a place for Jay. He’s just been unfortunate that during his time in the first team we’ve typically played 3-5-2.

Yeah. I totally get that. The manager has hinted he might change formation next season.

I just hate the idea of losing another decent young academy graduate. 

We have lost Ethan Erahon and Dylan Reid already this season. I was really hoping Reid would get a decent chance to play and shine in the first team before he departed. 

What we would all like to see is a terrific goal scoring striker coming through the academy.

Could Thommo’s son be as good or better than his auld man in the black and white stripes?
 

Edited April 12, 2023 by Molotov