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

[billyg]

3 hours ago, MenstrieSaint said:

Think he only ever played one game , then we bought Billy Thomson . If I remember right Ally McLean played for Ayr United and Aberdeen .

Four games Griff , shut-outs v Motherwell in the Anglo-Scottish , Dumbarton in the League Cup and Rangers. Conceded one v Motherwell in the league , went to Firhill as a makeweight in the Thomson transfer !

[MenstrieSaint]

11 minutes ago, billyg said:

Four games Griff , shut-outs v Motherwell in the Anglo-Scottish , Dumbarton in the League Cup and Rangers. Conceded one v Motherwell in the league , went to Firhill as a makeweight in the Thomson transfer !

That makes sense . Was away from Paisley for all those games . First game that season for me was Bristol City away .

[Arch Stanton]

8 hours ago, billyg said:

Four games Griff , shut-outs v Motherwell in the Anglo-Scottish , Dumbarton in the League Cup and Rangers. Conceded one v Motherwell in the league , went to Firhill as a makeweight in the Thomson transfer !

He also played in the friendly v Hamilton, Saints won 8-3 with Bobby Torrance scoring 5.

[Kempes]

Just wanted to say that I thought the team played well on Saturday. When we lost at Montrose, only a few players were decent. It’s clear that we need everyone to play well. If they do, we can beat any team in this league. If they don’t, we’ll struggle to best anyone. Interesting to compare Saturday’s team with the side that lost to Montrose. One (or two?) notable absences.

[pozbaird]

Is that SMiSA ‘design a new strip’ competition still open?

 

[Arch Stanton]

From today's Record...

Baccus on Bolton deal collapse

St Mirren ace Keanu Baccus reckons the collapse of a summer move to Bolton Wanderers was a blessing in disguise following the Saints' superb start to the season.

The Paisley side made it two league wins out of two after defeating Dundee which followed up an opening day victory at Hibs.

Australia international Baccus eventually turned down a move to English League One side Bolton in the summer and opted to stay with St Mirren.

And he has no regrets about the decision. He said:

"I always want to do my best to progress and get towards that dream of mine to one day play in the English Premier League. There was a chance there to perhaps take another step in that direction with Bolton, but it wasn’t meant to be in the end and it didn’t work out.

There was a bit of personal reasons why it didn’t happen and I also spoke to my club here and it felt like there was a bit of unfinished business. The move didn’t really go too smoothly and I’ve learned from situations in the past that when things go smoothly that’s where you’re meant to be and vice versa.

"Nothing against Bolton at all, but when a team really wants you they’ll do most things to make it happen. I was upset for a week but I’m over that now and I’m grateful to be at St Mirren and for the way the club have treated me.

I’m keen to just keep going here now for however long that might be. We’ll see what the future holds and I’m sure the right opportunity will present itself at some stage. But for now I’m happy to be settled here and back playing injury free. The point is St Mirren are the ones who gave me a massive chance to come over here and showcase my abilities and that’s unlocked a few things for me regarding the national team.

We’ve lost a couple of players but also recruited well and I think we’re going to be a driving force this season and do even better than last year."

[Ric]

There is value in our market. Players like Robertson and Tierney shifted the "ignorance needle" of our 'friends' down South and now with newer talent, along with our international form, Scotland isn't seen as a backwater. I mean it should never have been thought of as that, but we had no control over the capricious media.

 Baccus shouldn't be looking to get some gig lower down the leagues and hope for promotion or being noticed, if he continues to do well for his national side, while getting regular good press domestically, I can see a more direct route.

Obviously money is a huge pull, as is the challenge, but is his goal going to be enhanced by playing in League One against teams like Scunthorpe or Hereford, while he could be competing against Champions/Europa League teams.

 

Edited August 14, 2023 by Ric

[Arch Stanton]

30 minutes ago, Ric said:

There is value in our market. Players like Robertson and Tierney shifted the "ignorance needle" of our 'friends' down South and new with newer talent, along with our international form, Scotland isn't seen as a backwater now. I mean it should never have been thought of as that, but we had no control over the capricious media.

 Baccus shouldn't be looking to get some gig lower down the leagues and hope for promotion or being noticed, if he continues to do well for his national side, while getting regular good press domestically, I can see a more direct route.

Obviously money is a huge pull, as is the challenge, but is his goal going to be enhanced by playing in League One against teams like Scunthorpe or Hereford, while he could be competing against Champions/Europa League teams.

Haven't been League One level for decades.

[Ric]

6 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said:

Haven't been League One level for decades.

Fair point, although I still think an increase in the external opinion of Scottish players (or players who play in the Scottish leagues) has happened.

[RandomGuy.]

Brexit just made the abroad market smaller for EFL clubs so they have to look up here.

[Bobby_F]

21 hours ago, Stu said:

Looking at the stats on Soccerbase it was the last time we scored a second half league goal at home, and we usually shoot towards the north stand in the first half, so it is almost certainly correct.

Had to laugh at Thommo claiming on Sportscene Greive's shot was so far over the line it was in the airport - wrong end for that!

Prestwick Airport.

[Bobby_F]

On 13/08/2023 at 10:05, Div said:

Motherwell fans were really quick to tell us how bad Mikael Mandron was.

4 goals in 5 appearances now.

Have you got any other duds you'd like to give us lads?

Aye, but only one of them in the league.

Okay, so it's only from one appearance, but still !

[jaybeee]

22 hours ago, AW saint said:

I was of the same opinion about another striker but who would you drop? 

Mandron looks better than Main so far, Toyosi has improved no end, Grieve is full of running and was robbed of his  second goal. Nahmani is yet to come into his own, Ayunga will be back by October and Jamieson has looked impressive in bit parts. 

Do we actually need another striker. You could even class McMenamin as a forward. 

I would love another midfielder who is full of running and can create. Another O'Hara type. 

We need energy in the middle. We have enough forwards imo. 

That is absolutely spot on, forwards need good feed from midfield, and we do have a surfeit it would seem of (for St Mirren) good strikers, for me a midfielder would make more sense, but what the hell do I know, I would have binned Olisanyo and truth be told was not overly keen on Mandron either, so perhaps the gaffer knows what he is doing, well there is a novelty  it would seem.  COYS

[btb]

On 11/08/2023 at 18:43, Billy Jean King said:

Only if the likes of Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs regularly reach the group stages. As soon as we lose the 5th place via coefficient (quite possibly next season) and no longer get guaranteed group stages they won't be making the sort of money to disappear into the distance. 

How would that help us, it's more likely that one of the big city clubs (probably Hibs) would become detached from the other two.

[Billy Jean King]

2 minutes ago, btb said:

How would that help us, it's more likely that one of the big city clubs (probably Hibs) would become detached from the other two.

Point I was making is I honestly dont see Hibs, Hearts or Aberdeen getting a bigger financial advantage (specifically via European football) than they already have. Direct access to group stage football for our 3rd place team is likely to end unless this season's clubs do well.

[TPAFKA Jersey 2]

54 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

Point I was making is I honestly dont see Hibs, Hearts or Aberdeen getting a bigger financial advantage (specifically via European football) than they already have. Direct access to group stage football for our 3rd place team is likely to end unless this season's clubs do well.

I’m happy for all the Scottish teams to do well except Hearts. 
Well, I wouldn’t say I’m happy for the OF to do well, but I’m ambivalent to it as it’ll make f**k all difference to us financially as they’re already streets ahead anyway. Anything that improves our chances of playing in Europe or makes them a bit more vulnerable to dropping league points against us is ok with me. 

[Captain_Sensible]

I actually think we could do with *two* new forwards- in an ideal world 

We don’t have another target man to compete with / cover for Mandron (although Ayunga could do when he returns)

And we don’t have a wide forward for cover / competition who can cross the ball like McMenamin and Kiltie 

Ilkay Durmus would do for the wide forward position….

[pozbaird]

5 minutes ago, TPAFKA Jersey 2 said:

I’m happy for all the Scottish teams to do well except Hearts. 
Well, I wouldn’t say I’m happy for the OF to do well, but I’m ambivalent to it as it’ll make f**k all difference to us financially as they’re already streets ahead anyway. Anything that improves our chances of playing in Europe or makes them a bit more vulnerable to dropping league points against us is ok with me. 

I’m far from ambivalent towards how the ‘OF’ do in Europe. I absolutely hope they get their arses handed to them on a plate in each and every game. In monetary terms, of course, it makes no real difference to the permanently huge difference between their income and ours. It’s not for monetary reasons I want to see them pumped. I want to see them pumped because it fcuks over their arsehole supporters.

[TPAFKA Jersey 2]

2 minutes ago, pozbaird said:

I’m far from ambivalent towards how the ‘OF’ do in Europe. I absolutely hope they get their arses handed to them on a plate in each and every game. In monetary terms, of course, it makes no real difference to the permanently huge difference between their income and ours. It’s not for monetary reasons I want to see them pumped. I want to see them pumped because it fcuks over their arsehole supporters.

Nah. I prioritise even intangible benefits to St. Mirren over those knuckledraggers being upset for a couple of days until the scud their next opponents in the league. 
All they really give a f**k about is beating each other anyway. 

[pozbaird]

14 minutes ago, TPAFKA Jersey 2 said:

Nah. I prioritise even intangible benefits to St. Mirren over those knuckledraggers being upset for a couple of days until the scud their next opponents in the league. 
All they really give a f**k about is beating each other anyway. 

I work on the theory that I could wish for 5-0 pumpings for the uglies in Europe, or I could wish them well and hope they win. Either way, my view will not affect the outcome of their matches. So, as it matters not a jot anyway, I go for the ‘fcuk um’ route.