Kyle Posted February 28, 2018 Author Share Posted February 28, 2018 Tommy's back to going on about 'big changes' again in the coming summer. Also saying that we'll be reviewing how we scout players as recruitment hasn't been good enough. Not a great message to send out to Scougall, Tanser and Johnstone and can possibly be applied to the 3 new boys in January too. I've not seen enough of Williams (who looked ok last night) or McMillan, but Willock certainly doesn't look like he'll make a great career for himself in football. As for big changes. Mannus, M. Hurst, Watson, Anderson, Tanser, Millar, Alston, Davidson, Willock, Williams, Johnstone, Maclean, G. Hurst, Hendry. 14 players out of contract or coming to the end of their loan spell. Millar and Davidson are definite keeps for me. Anderson has improved recently and Mannus (last night aside) has been fine in goal. I can see them getting offers - probably another year each. Alston has fallen well below my expectations and his output hasn't been anywhere near good enough. He plays a lot of minutes though and is young enough to improve so I think Tommy will look to extend his deal too. Tanser just isn't brave enough for me and Maclean's overall form has become a bit of a liability at times. If they improve they might get offers at the end of the season, but if their current levels continue I'd be releasing them. I'm not sure, but Hendry may already be away. He's back at home and is talking about 'big changes' ahead. The Hursts are on borrowed time now. Neither will make it at Saints and I don't want another Thomson/Gilchrist situation with them. Watson and Johnstone can get in the sea. Willock and Williams are short term fixes and will be gone. Pace, creativity, someone who can cross a ball/take a corner, and a player with similar attributes to Millar required in the summer. If Millar can't play every game - which is fair enough given his age/injury history - we can't be in a situation where all we have is cloggers waiting in the wings to replace him. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tree house tam Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Another sensible post from Kyle, you'll need to stop that shite or folk will think you're growing up. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tree house tam Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Just read this shite https://videocelts.com/2018/02/blogs/latest-news/the-strange-stats-of-st-johnstone/ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Play Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 3 hours ago, RandomGuy. said: Get the feeling Fifespud would be making celebratory t-shirts if they finish above us tbh. Only if we finish 11th 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Costanza Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Presumably Davidson is going to miss the game on Saturday? Went off with a hamstring injury apparently. More terrific news. Where was Tanser last night? Comrie is effectively 4th choice left back. Easton played an under 23 game and was meant to be possibly returning against Ross County but no sign of him. Same goes for McMillan, where is he? Hard to be particuarly positive but just need to hope we shitefest our way to staying up. I agree with folk saying Millar should be given another one year deal but even if he was do you see him signing it? He'll be off I would think. Alston is an absolutely nothing player, no heart at all and should let him go. Denny Johnstone can go and win a competition to play in somebody else's first team. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Widge Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Tanser was ill which was why he didn’t play. McMillan isn’t even back in full training so he’s still weeks away by all accounts. I suspect Easton wasn’t going to be risked and could feature versus Accies. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie_B Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Just read this shite https://videocelts.com/2018/02/blogs/latest-news/the-strange-stats-of-st-johnstone/ They are still absolutely spewing about that game. From their perspective yellows for persistent fouling should tot up across the team, not the individual. It’s quite possible to have 20 or even 30 fouls and only pick up a yellow or two if they’re all inconsequential and spread around. I notice they don’t correlate that with Celtic having over 10 fouls and only one yellow in the same game.From what I could tell at Celtic Park most of the fouls committed were nothing fouls in non dangerous areas. That’s why they weren’t immediate yellows. They are RAGING about Foster not being sent off for the incident that saw him stretchered off. It quite clearly wasn’t even close to a foul! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Saintee Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 3 hours ago, tree house tam said: Just read this shite https://videocelts.com/2018/02/blogs/latest-news/the-strange-stats-of-st-johnstone/ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 (edited) 6 hours ago, Kyle said: Tommy's back to going on about 'big changes' again in the coming summer. Also saying that we'll be reviewing how we scout players as recruitment hasn't been good enough. Not a great message to send out to Scougall, Tanser and Johnstone and can possibly be applied to the 3 new boys in January too. I've not seen enough of Williams (who looked ok last night) or McMillan, but Willock certainly doesn't look like he'll make a great career for himself in football. Out of curiosity (not a dig), what is Saints scouting/recruitment policy? Is it just TW with a phone, a notepad and a list of contacts/agents or is there a head of recruitment, scouts involved? I remember after the recent 2-0 game at Fir Park Robert Thomson was on Twitter saying Saints should maybe look to the way Motherwell do things. While that's clearly a nice compliment I'm not sure that really gives an accurate picture. The same Head of Recruitment was in place when McGhee was signing Jacob Blyth, Craig Clay and Lee Lucas as when Robinson's brought in Kipré, Aldred, Hartley, Main etc. For all the decent players we've signed we've probably signed a similar amount of dross although I'd say that's probably been less so with Robinson in charge as he seems to have a very clear idea of the players he wants. In that respect it's something we've been talking about over in our thread but the manager really is the biggest factor in terms of recruitment. Also, worth mentioning that we were supposedly in for Scougall over the summer as well. I'm guessing that Tanner was our alternative target. Edited February 28, 2018 by capt_oats 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Heliums Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, capt_oats said: Out of curiosity (not a dig), what is Saints scouting/recruitment policy? Is it just TW with a phone, a notepad and a list of contacts/agents or is there a head of recruitment, scouts involved? I remember after the recent 2-0 game at Fir Park Robert Thomson was on Twitter saying Saints should maybe look to the way Motherwell do things. While that's clearly a nice compliment I'm not sure that really gives an accurate picture. The same Head of Recruitment was in place when McGhee was signing Jacob Blyth, Craig Clay and Lee Lucas as when Robinson's brought in Kipré, Aldred, Hartley, Main etc. For all the decent players we've signed we've probably signed a similar amount of dross although I'd say that's probably been less so with Robinson in charge as he seems to have a very clear idea of the players he wants. Motherwell's recruitment policy looks excellent compared to ours; though it's easy to be swayed by current circumstances. I doubt I was thinking this three years ago. I'm not sure what Tommy is talking about when he's talking about reviewing our scouting as he's always given the impression that he's the one who's identified players and 'admired' players before signing them. The only unusual aspect of our approach that I'm aware of (other than a penchant for signing injured players) is that there's a certain type of personality we look for in addition to playing ability – ie Tommy's talked in the past about meeting the player's family etc to make sure they're a good fit. But at least he's identified that we're not getting the same sort of quality other teams are getting. Still, too early to judge Willock I think. He looked third-rate last night, but you can't really judge a player on a poor night in February when no-one else in the team is playing well either. Edited February 28, 2018 by Mr Heliums 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 (edited) Do Motherwell not have a scout based in England now? I've always been under the impression we sign players known to TW or those recommended by a scout/agent who impress via trial. This summers signings were a mix of players he previously wanted to sign (Johnstone, Scougall) and recommended players who'd been on trial (Tanser). No idea how we found out about Willock and Williams. Either way it always feels a bit all over the place, there's no real coherent strategy to it all, and the multiple absolutely nobody youths we sign every summer annoys me, it's as of they just sign any released player from down south in the hope one turns into something amazing. Edited February 28, 2018 by RandomGuy. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 (edited) 16 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said: Do Motherwell not have a scout based in England now? I've always been under the impression we sign players known to TW or those recommended by a scout/agent who impress via trial. This summers signings were a mix of players he previously wanted to sign (Johnstone, Scougall) and recommended players who'd been on trial (Tanser). No idea how we found out about Willock and Williams. Either way it always feels a bit all over the place, there's no real coherent strategy to it all, and the multiple absolutely nobody youths we sign every summer annoys me, it's as of they just sign any released player from down south in the hope one turns into something amazing. Aye, we've had our Head of Recruitment, Martin Foyle involved with the club since Baraclough was with us. Apologies for linking to The Sun but there's a piece about him from before the LC final here. Prior to that it was a guy called Gary Owers who was only in the job a short time before he left to take up a management job. IIRC it was through Owers that we signed Johnson and Moult. So all in all we've had someone with a designated job title of Head of Recruitment around since 2015. It was interesting to me that from watching the club's #content from the training camp in Tenerife during the winter break that it seemed that Foyle was over with the team and staff rather than him being some sort of remote staff member who just emails over recommendations. If you can be bothered watching chat from another club then there's some interesting stuff from Alan Burrows at the end of last season that talks about our approach to recruitment and more specifically Robinson's approach to recruitment. I've always felt it was an implied dig at McGhee and a perceived lack of engagement when he started emphasising how Robinson was putting in the hours and miles travelling to watch and meet players to get them to the club. The video is here if you want to give it a watch. Edited February 28, 2018 by capt_oats 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7-2 Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 I'd always thought the main problem about signing players was down to our financial policy rather than the scouting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Saintee Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 It seems like mostly guesswork imo 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 17 minutes ago, 7-2 said: I'd always thought the main problem about signing players was down to our financial policy rather than the scouting. I don't think it helps, as its bound to severely narrow the pool of players available. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radford Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 The problem with Saints' recruitment recently is the short-term nature of it and I would imagine/hope that is what they are looking to address more than anything. Of the last 11 signings, only 2 have been players brought in to improve the first team on permanent basis. I actually think in terms of those type of signings, the manager's record is alright. It's just that it's supplemented by too many players that come in on a short-term basis and make no discernible impact. There are maybe issues with the actual negotiation process that need looked at too. On contracts, I don't see too much to discuss at the moment. Even the guy(s) you'd like to keep can't be offered anything until we know what league we are in. That would be a stance I would agree with the chairman on. The players have been rewarded in the past when safety has been more than secured early, so they can have few complaints this time round. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fifespud Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Get the feeling Fifespud would be making celebratory t-shirts if they finish above us tbh. Good idea that. Cheers [emoji106] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tree house tam Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 5 minutes ago, Fifespud said: Good idea that. Cheers I'll be your first customer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyaccie Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 3 minutes ago, tree house tam said: I'll be your first customer. You going to be kicking about in 2075 ? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tree house tam Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 7 minutes ago, happyaccie said: You going to be kicking about in 2075 ? It'll happen one day. Although I'm not sure they've finished above us in the top league this millennium, could be wrong on that though, I'm sure a Dee will be along to correct that. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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