Buttocks Brown

The first half stats for goal attempts was 2-5 and corners 2-6. They weren't particularly good, but I thought they were better than us up to the goal.

Have said it before but the parallels between up-for-sale St Mirren 2014-Tommy Craig-disinterested Gilmour board and up-for-sale St Johnstone 2023-Steven McLean-disinterested Brown family is striking. It required new ownership and a good managerial appointment (Jack Ross) to turn things round for us. There was 3-4 years of guff in the meantime.

Robinson absolutely right to say 4-0 flattered us. St Johnstone the better team in the first half. We get ahead though with a bit of class then an individual error kills a team low on confidence. McLean post-match.... oooft. Someone with a bit more about them would have taken a breath and come up with something more considered. He might actually regret that interview for the rest of his life. You could see how inconsolable Brown was after his mistake for the 2nd goal. For McLean to then talk about players being ashamed of themselves and threatening never to pick them again...... there goes the dressing room. 3 year contract? St Johnstone are in a dire place. Us on the other hand, all good! Top 6 on again and a great chance of Europe if we have a bit of luck with injuries.

90 minutes for Baccus, Greive 67, Strain 45, McMenamin 5. That's 2 full games for Baccus on his international duty. At least the travelling has just been to London and back. Their games next month will be in Australia and Algeria.

I'm counting 17 since he came on loan to us the beginning of last year: https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/alex-gogic/nationalmannschaft/spieler/225393 Baccus and Greive the closest behind on 9 and 10, respectively.

Guni was capped 4 times for Iceland when he was with us.

Alongside the on-field progress, I think that must be seen as the main positive for the club. I don't think Strain and Baccus, in their wildest dreams, could have imagined the impact that moving to SMFC would have on their careers. Hopefully that will attract others to the club and lead to continued success for us.

Both acquitted themselves well I thought, Baccus in particular. James Maddison giving Ryan Strain big hugs at the end. Both are from Coventry so maybe went to school together. Greive left on the bench for NZ. Might play against Australia next week. Hopefully Ryan and Keanu will be rested for that one!

Not St Mirren news but..... I see that the injury that Kyle Magennis picked up against us was a "severe hamstring tear". Unbelievable the run of his injuries he's had. Sidelined now for another 3 months.

I just had a listen to the VAR audio from the Tottenham-Liverpool cock-up. What a farce. Would love to hear the 3 and a half minutes of dialogue which produced the lines for Greive's goal against Hearts and came to the conclusion that he was offside. A bit more transparency and maybe the officials would be forced to raise their games.

Luke Kenny made his debut for Cliftonville tonight. Got the last few minutes from the bench having been an unused sub the previous 3 games. Fraser Taylor has started and finished Ballymena's last 7 matches.

Worth keeping an eye on the weather for this one. Storm Agnes in the vicinity around game time.

I wondered if the triple substitution yesterday was pre-planned with Wednesday in mind. Robinson also said post-match that there would be some changes for Hibs. Possible that the team that finished against Hearts will start against Hibs?

Another brilliant day out in Paisley! Injuries and the winter transfer window may well do for us, but we have a real chance of top 4/5. Listened to Robbo on the Open Goal podcast on the way to the game today. Enjoyed the detail like starting training a little later in the morning so that players can take their kids to school. Small things like that make for a happy workplace. Interesting too that when asked about his future it didn't take him long to mention Northern Ireland. Odds on that he'll take over when Michael O'Neil departs again. PS get a new contract in front of Goga pronto.

1. v Kilmarnock (2023) = 7937 2. v Dundee Utd (2019) = 7732 3. v Kilmarnock (2009) = 7542 4. v Hearts (2023) = 7537 5. v Aberdeen (2023) = 7492 6. v Aberdeen (2022) = 7349 7. V Rangers (2019) = 7337 8. v Celtic (2018) = 7288 9. v Hibernian (2023) = 7253 10. v Hearts (2023) = 7249

Struggling to think of the last time we signed a player from the lower leagues in Scotland? Tiffoney, Turner and Deas have all made the step up from the Championship this season but not much to get excited about there. Seems like the financial disparity between the 2 leagues is leading to a widening gap in quality.

Very detailed minutes put out by SMISA this morning. Some of the key points: 3664 season tickets sold at the end of August. SMISA has £324K in the bank and 1221 members. The new scoreboard and LED advertising boards arrived at the club last week. Work on 3 executive rooms in the main stand to start imminently at a cost of £70-80K. Will pay for themselves within 18 months then start making profit. The club's income for June/July was well up on the same period last year. 4 candidates were interviewed for Gordon Scott's position on the board. Preferred candidate to be announced shortly. Alan Wardrop's stadium ban will likely be lifted once he removes his threat of legal action against the club. Club not considering safe standing areas at the moment.

A bit of a puzzler how he'd been playing in Northern Ireland until the age of 28. Viaplay had Iain Dowie in the studio and he said McMenamin was the best player in that league "by a mile".

Most of Conor's caps have been from the bench. After tonight, I think he'll be one of the first names in the starting 11.

He's been outstanding. Giving the Slovenian left back a torrid time.

McMenamin starts for NI in Slovenia. 7th cap

BBC reporting that Hibs will interview 5 candidates. As you say though, Montgomery looks like a shoe-in. Maybe they've just put that out to keep him on his toes.

Looking back through the records, I think that the last time we opened a top league season with 2 wins and 2 draws was 70/71. Didn't lose any of our first 6.... then went on to get relegated!