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

[Wanderlust]

27 minutes ago, NorthBank said:

We recently sold Ethan Erhahon to Lincoln City (who you play first game of the season) for allegedly £350k plus add-ons. I am not making a direct comparison here however Baccus is now a first pick for the Aussie national team and at only 25 is at his peak and has several good years in front of him. Unfortunately we have a habit of selling good talent for peanuts so maybe you'll get him in a cut price deal. I'd be gutted though at such a low price but I am now used to it. Best of luck in the season ahead but hopefully for us, without Baccus.

And I am probably being jealous here but the money being spent on players in England is crazy, however they seem to want players playing in Scotland for next to nothing. We had Thiery Small on loan from Southampton for a few months last season and at 18 you can see the guy has talent but he was sent off twice in his short time with us and made mistakes all over the place yet Southampton allegedly paid £3m for him. Yet we'll accept maybe £400k for a full internationalist in his prime. Frustrating.

Feel that - we are also a club that sell good players for peanuts and always have been - which was a contributor to our eventual financial ruin. Gary Cahill to Chelsea for £7m when we were in the Prem for example. What was worse was when we were bought by an asset-stripping b*****d who sold all our senior players for a song, so we had to put out the U18s in League 1 for a few months - they lost 5 or 6 nil every week in front of 10k fans and I've never seen Bolton fans so much behind the team - a team of kids. When they got a 0 - 0 draw with Coventry it was like we'd won the cup. And because they made a fight of it the vultures even swept in and picked off the best of them - Rob Holding to Arsenal and Luca Connell to Celtic.

I agree the money being payed in England is daft - even in League 1 where last season we had to compete with the huge budgets of Ipswich, Derby, Sheff Wednesday and the like - but it goes to show you can be competitive without splashing the cash as neither Plymouth (champions) or we did. The previous season Wigan spent the best part of £50 million to get promoted - despite having low attendances and having just been relegated back to L1 they were days of liquidation - but the lucky sods were bought last week for a local billionaire rugby fan - for £1.

It would be good if we can come to an equitable agreement for Baccus but if the fees too high it won't be possible.

[Wanderlust]

Is that him?

[Ric]

5 minutes ago, btb said:

That's where I disagree, it's not a  sellers market and it's certainly not a market that favours clubs of our size. Players (driven by their agents) want to maximize their income and that means moving on to a bigger club and a better deal - the money the selling club receives is bottom of the list of priorities.

Baccus downing tools is probably less of an issue to the club than getting a reputation for being difficult to deal with. 

I take the point you are making but it's a seller's market because (a) he is still under contract, and (b) we don't need the money.

Now, obvs, we are a selling club and will make a point of picking up players, developing them, then moving them on. In fact, it is to our benefit to show that you can use us as a stepping stone to larger clubs. Would the money be useful? Hell yes. Has Baccus shown, at least publicly, a desire to move on? No, not that I'm aware of.

 

[Doonhame Buddie]

4 minutes ago, Wanderlust said:

Is that him?

Looks very like him. 

[Ric]

4 minutes ago, Wanderlust said:

Is that him?

Baccus? That doesn't look like him, he's thinner, shorter and the last time I saw him a few weeks back he had much less hair.

[Ric]

2 minutes ago, Doonhame Buddie said:

Looks very like him. 

Er, it doesn't.

Edit: Obviously the image isn't all that clear, and I fully accept I could be wrong, but to me it doesn't look even close. I also should say I am not in the slightest ITK, so I am making no judgement on whether he goes to any other club, let alone Bolton, this Summer.

Edited June 23, 2023 by Ric

[DukDukGoose]

7 minutes ago, Ric said:

I take the point you are making but it's a seller's market because (a) he is still under contract, and (b) we don't need the money.

Now, obvs, we are a selling club and will make a point of picking up players, developing them, then moving them on. In fact, it is to our benefit to show that you can use us as a stepping stone to larger clubs. Would the money be useful? Hell yes. Has Baccus shown, at least publicly, a desire to move on? No, not that I'm aware of.

 

That's the same line of thought that McInnes had and led to us struggling to replace players.

[Ric]

1 minute ago, DukDukGoose said:

That's the same line of thought that McInnes had and led to us struggling to replace players.

Heh.. thankfully Robinson is no McInnes.

Like btb's post, I take the point you are making. It's a gamble, and maybe the smart money is allowing him to move on now, my main point is that our destiny is in our own hands. We aren't looking at a huge tax bill needing cleared, or an ex-director wanting money for shares, etc, etc.

[djchapsticks]

21 minutes ago, Wanderlust said:

Is that him?

Nah, guy in the picture looks too dark skinned and round in the face to be Baccus. Also looks like he has a bit of a stubble/beard.

Edited June 23, 2023 by djchapsticks

[NorthBank]

19 minutes ago, Wanderlust said:

Is that him?

Not a clear image but I would say no.

[DukDukGoose]

5 minutes ago, Ric said:

Heh.. thankfully Robinson is no McInnes.

Like btb's post, I take the point you are making. It's a gamble, and maybe the smart money is allowing him to move on now, my main point is that our destiny is in our own hands. We aren't looking at a huge tax bill needing cleared, or an ex-director wanting money for shares, etc, etc.

It's not the making money, it's having money to replace with a similar value of player.

If he continues to improve and runs his contract down then he becomes impossible to replace without a lot of luck. Say he's paid £2k a week now, but leaves for £8k a week. You're trying to replace that quality of player with his wage he agreed to 2 years beforehand. 

[Ric]

7 minutes ago, DukDukGoose said:

It's not the making money, it's having money to replace with a similar value of player.

If he continues to improve and runs his contract down then he becomes impossible to replace without a lot of luck. Say he's paid £2k a week now, but leaves for £8k a week. You're trying to replace that quality of player with his wage he agreed to 2 years beforehand. 

Which suggests we should keep him, as we won't get the sorts of money to find a suitable replacement, and in turn (and in this scenario) he is improving to the point where his contributions result in the club profiting more than the money we would get for selling him now.

It is totally not in our interest to sell him for the less than our valuation. What is the club's valuation? Now that is the question that needs answered, and if he does move we'll find that out pretty soon.

[Ric]

14 minutes ago, djchapsticks said:

Nah, guy in the picture looks too dark skinned and round in the face to be Baccus. Also looks like he has a bit of a stubble/beard.

I really don't want to go there, but I hope.. desperately hope, that people don't go "well he's black and that Baccus bloke is black, so it has to be the same person"

I doesn't take a few seconds to compare any media images of the lad to that of the picture taken, even with the picture not being too clear.

[pozbaird]

I don’t think there’s ever going to be a ‘50 million’ McGinn transfer. Best bet was after he initially impressed at Villa, maybe tempting a mental swoop by Man Utd or Spurs. I just don’t see it now. Not at 28, 29 in October. The daft money goes on your Declan Rice or James Madison types down there. I can see McGinn finishing his English career as a Villa legend - before returning to St Mirren for a swansong, doing a Thommo’, and captaining us to a Scottish Cup win.

Bookmark it.

[Wanderlust]

Sorry about the picture - suspect it was a Wigan fan winding us up

Apparently the extra finger gets in the way of spelling "signing" correctly

 

Edited June 23, 2023 by Wanderlust

[FTOF]

2 hours ago, NorthBank said:

We recently sold Ethan Erhahon to Lincoln City (who you play first game of the season) for allegedly £350k plus add-ons. I am not making a direct comparison here however Baccus is now a first pick for the Aussie national team and at only 25 is at his peak and has several good years in front of him. Unfortunately we have a habit of selling good talent for peanuts so maybe you'll get him in a cut price deal. I'd be gutted though at such a low price but I am now used to it. Best of luck in the season ahead but hopefully for us, without Baccus.

And I am probably being jealous here but the money being spent on players in England is crazy, however they seem to want players playing in Scotland for next to nothing. We had Thiery Small on loan from Southampton for a few months last season and at 18 you can see the guy has talent but he was sent off twice in his short time with us and made mistakes all over the place yet Southampton allegedly paid £3m for him. Yet we'll accept maybe £400k for a full internationalist in his prime. Frustrating.

We don't really.

That's a myth purported by people who believe what they read in the media.

It's true that we haven't always received what fans perceived as a decent fee, but we've sold several players who have.

Edited June 23, 2023 by FTOF

[glenburn bud]

I wonder if we are about to announce another signing. I’m not in the know btw, just hopeful. 

[NorthBank]

Scott Burns now reporting Baccus going to Bolton with significant add-ons and an undisclosed 6 figures.

[Div]

 

[Norrie82]

Yea hats brilliant maybe we will get those add ons for David McNamee and Burton o Brien while we’re at it. Add ons don’t enhance our mangers budget