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

[smellthepaw]

10 hours ago, scam75 said:

Possibly controversial, but I don't rate Strain as a defender, he doesn't have 90 mins in him, and has a poor injury record. On the flip side he is fantastic going forward, and with a dead ball, a maverick at the onion bag end of the park. I'd absolutely love him to stay but don't think it's too far fetched to see him staying, albeit only a slim chance.

Baccus on the other hand is a terrier with a great engine and no injury issues. He'd cruise it in any English Championship side or any of the big payers in our league. 100% will move on.

Whatever happens both have been top drawer for us and we can only hope we replace one or both with other hidden gems.

Baccus actually does have a niggling injury which prevented him going to Bolton last summer.

[bishoptonbuddie]

Delighted with the news that Gogic is staying. He has been the epitome of a warrior for us regardless of where Robinson has deployed him. He has the odd mistake in him – but if he didn't he'd be at Barcelona.

Strain will be away and I echo what someone else said previously in that he clearly has some flaws defensively. There was  a drop off in his performances at the beginning of the season compared to last year, but that said, I would have him over Elvis every day of the week. If Strain goes, Elvis isn't the answer, but I have the utmost faith in Robinson to find another diamond in the rough.

I had almost forgot about Baccus until his cameo at Dens. He was superb and I want him to stay. Does him being out the team improve our chances, probably not, but fingers crossed an agreement can be found.

[Ric]

Strain will be a loss because when he's fit he is excellent but perhaps we need to look at the silver lining here. If he does go, Robinson is likely to bring in someone less injury prone. Maybe less quality but more consistency wouldn't be a bad thing.

[Coventry Saint]

4 minutes ago, Ric said:

Strain will be a loss because when he's fit he is excellent but perhaps we need to look at the silver lining here. If he does go, Robinson is likely to bring in someone less injury prone. Maybe less quality but more consistency wouldn't be a bad thing.

I hope we are at least asking Shaun Rooney the question. Proper wingbacks are hard to find.

[Ric]

5 minutes ago, Coventry Saint said:

I hope we are at least asking Shaun Rooney the question. Proper wingbacks are hard to find.

After his time down in the English leagues, would he not be looking for a bigger wage than we can offer?

[Coventry Saint]

10 minutes ago, Ric said:

After his time down in the English leagues, would he not be looking for a bigger wage than we can offer?

Nah, we're absolutely massive now.

[bishoptonbuddie]

1 hour ago, Coventry Saint said:

I hope we are at least asking Shaun Rooney the question. Proper wingbacks are hard to find.

One thing that can be said about our current squad is that there is absolutely no egos involved, and the players repeatedly talk about this group as a family and that they have all bought into what the club is trying to achieve.

Not casting any aspersions, but Rooney has always came across as the complete opposite of that and it doesn't feel to me that he would be a good fit. Plus, Robinson seems to come up with players we have never heard of so another reason that it might never happen.  

[smellthepaw]

1 hour ago, bishoptonbuddie said:

Delighted with the news that Gogic is staying. He has been the epitome of a warrior for us regardless of where Robinson has deployed him. He has the odd mistake in him – but if he didn't he'd be at Barcelona.

Strain will be away and I echo what someone else said previously in that he clearly has some flaws defensively. There was  a drop off in his performances at the beginning of the season compared to last year, but that said, I would have him over Elvis every day of the week. If Strain goes, Elvis isn't the answer, but I have the utmost faith in Robinson to find another diamond in the rough.

I had almost forgot about Baccus until his cameo at Dens. He was superb and I want him to stay. Does him being out the team improve our chances, probably not, but fingers crossed an agreement can be found.

It would be great to keep Baccus, though very unlikely. He was on the verge of a move to Bolton last season before it broke down due to injury. There was an agreement in place when he signed that we would not stand in his way if an opportunity arises to move down south. He has more than proved himself on the national stage and has been a top performer with us over the last couple of years.

As Kwon was brought in when Baccus was away on international duty, in all honesty it didnt feel like we had lost quality as Kwon performed quite well in his absence. If we could get him back next season, which is more likely than Keanu signing and extension then.

[flyingscot]

I would be delighted if we got Kwon back, thought he was excellent in the games he played. 

[btb]

4 hours ago, McG said:

Kibble have been excellent for st mirren, Gillespie is a shrewd operator and making a massive difference at our club.

The Gogic deal shows we are planning for next season already, hopefully we are establishing a "virtuous cycle" and will be able to establish ourselves as a natural top flight club again.

[medals]

2 hours ago, btb said:

hopefully we are establishing a "virtuous cycle" and will be able to establish ourselves as a natural top flight club again.

Hopefully we are.

It is a tall order though retaining top 6 level :

Surely Aberdeen and Hibs will improve and Utd might do a Killie and have a great season.

Dundee might also improve and I doubt Hearts will implode either.

We will need to lose less points against the bottom teams too.

Our battle next season for top 6 is likely to be harder than this season has been.

That said, we ought to have better funds, pitches and plenty continuity to build upon... and if we can replace players with the kind of quality upgrades of the last 2 seasons, then we are up for the battle.

Now a win on Saturday, and a keeper signing will do nicely for starters.  

[Buttocks Brown]

23/24 starts in the league:

Strain - 14

Baccus - 15

Gogic - 35

Would obviously love to keep Strain and Baccus but Gogic was the big one for me. Would have been extremely difficult to replace him.

KB and RS? If I'd been told at the start of the season that they wouldn't be starting over half our league games, I would probably have written off top 6... actually we've a great chance of top 5. They shouldn't be too big a loss.

 

[TPAFKA Jersey 2]

32 minutes ago, Buttocks Brown said:

23/24 starts in the league:

Strain - 14

Baccus - 15

Gogic - 35

Would obviously love to keep Strain and Baccus but Gogic was the big one for me. Would have been extremely difficult to replace him.

KB and RS? If I'd been told at the start of the season that they wouldn't be starting over half our league games, I would probably have written off top 6... actually we've a great chance of top 5. They shouldn't be too big a loss.

 

Hmmm, I’d say we’ve coped fine without relying on Baccus as we have a reasonably strong midfield, but I think our form suffered pretty badly without Strain. That’s no disrespect to Elvis who I think has been fine, but it’s only since Ryan came back that you can really see what he adds to the team. 

[AW saint]

We clearly dropped in performance once Strain got injured. He is superb when fit. 

I don't get the comments on Elvis. I think he has the makings of a really good player. He is quick and good at getting forward. Perhaps not as effective as Strain but he should get better. 

Baccus leaving and keeping Kwon would soften the blow. 

Hopefully Robbo can unearth a few gems. 

[GAD]

Strain is probably one of the highest paid players at the club, and for all he's quality, I wonder if the club don't consider him great value. He's injury prone (and always has been), he's not a 90 minute player and he can only really play one position, quite a specialised one at that.

In saying that he was a huge factor in our early season good form and was mostly fit in his first season. It will be interesting to see where he ends up. I'm not sure it will be a massively higher level

[Dagdagh]

I get folk saying that we'll be lucky to replicate this years position, that Aberdeen and Hibs will be stronger and United back up etc.

I think the league will be stronger next year but I think we will be too.  We're on the cusp of European football after a season where Strain and Baccus have been largely absent, O'Hara has had a mare and the defence has been shaky (not terrible but not as solid as you'd like).

If someone had said at the start of the season that Baccus, Strain and O'Hara would have little impact how many of us would have believed that fifth chasing fourth after the split would have been realistic?

I get the pessimism (it's us after all) but I'm actually hopeful that the 2020's will be a decade we all look back on with fondness.

[pozbaird]

Can’t see there being much between St Mirren, Killie, Dundee, Motherwell, and Aberdeen next season. Uglies and Hearts likely 1-3 again, who really knows what Dundee Utd will be like, and let’s see what transpires between Ross C, St Johnstone, Raith Rovers and Airdriebank / Partick.

Hopefully Hibs don’t bag Blofeld fae’ the Spectre movie, and remain inconsistently shite.

[Ric]

I mention this only because I saw the link in the Dundee United thread.

Furthermore, Jack Walton, Jordan Tillson, Alex Greive and Sam McClelland have returned to their parent clubs, Luton Town, Ross County, St Mirren and St Johnstone respectively.
(source)

His contract is up, and I very much doubt Robinson will think he's made a mistake by not offering him a new one.

I think we all liked Greive. He seemed honest and hard working but, as I said in the Dundee United thread, the drop down a league didn't make him stand out any better. I mean you could argue it's an Olusanya situation where he didn't contribute much to the 1st team then was loaned out to the Championship and that didn't work out for him either, but yeah, I wish the lad all the best and with a couple of international caps he'll maybe pick up a gig elsewhere.

[medals]

28 minutes ago, Dagdagh said:

I get folk saying that we'll be lucky to replicate this years position, that Aberdeen and Hibs will be stronger and United back up etc.

I think the league will be stronger next year but I think we will be too. 

I get the pessimism 

I was not trying to be pessimistic, just acknowledging things aligned in our favour with Hibs and the Dons, and Utd will likely be better than Livi next year.

Like you I hope we will be stronger, but I think we will have to be just to grab 5th or 6th.

No club knows who all they'll sign and how fit their players will stay, but I believe that we do have a better base to start from.

[pozbaird]

1 minute ago, Ric said:

I mention this only because I saw the link in the Dundee United thread.

Furthermore, Jack Walton, Jordan Tillson, Alex Greive and Sam McClelland have returned to their parent clubs, Luton Town, Ross County, St Mirren and St Johnstone respectively.
(source)

His contract is up, and I very much doubt Robinson will think he's made a mistake by not offering him a new one.

I think we all liked Greive. He seemed honest and hard working but, as I said in the Dundee United thread, the drop down a league didn't make him stand out any better. I mean you could argue it's an Olusanya situation where he didn't contribute much to the 1st team then was loaned out to the Championship and that didn't work out for him either, but yeah, I wish the lad all the best and with a couple of international caps he'll maybe pick up a gig elsewhere.

Agree wholeheartedly with this. Greive tried his hardest, he was far from a dud, and I think we did all like him. There’s a player in there, definitely. Actually wouldn’t mind him as a squad player, if he came back.