Tannadeechee

There won't be. At Q&A Neilson stated he wanted 5 players, "could be 4, could be 6 depends on budget, but I want 5". Mark Ogren, I think it was , said the investment in January was to avoid having start again and gel a brand new squad. Simply not happening at all.

It was £150000 for both Sow and Pawlett

How many of his other clubs thought the same? MK Dons fans thought he was part of the medical team he was in the treatment room that often. He has no pace, while I do see a player there Neilson has a major blind spot. If rumours are true we have paid a major (6 figure) fee for Sow and it shows with him played no matter what his form or fitness is. Shouldn't play again until fit. IMHO

That's it over. Blown it with being too negative and possibly too nervous. The pressure got to them. On to next season. One thing though if I hear one more person going on about us being a "Premiership club" I'm going to hunt them down!!!! In all seriousness it's doing my head in. We are heading for our 4th Championship season. How many seasons down here does it take before we are a Championship club? We ceased to be Premiership when we were absolute crap and finished rock bottom. This whole attitude for me is an albatross round our neck. We have signed players from higher "standard" leagues than the Championship the whole time we have been here. The attitude of "we're a Premiership club" seems to translate into players playing within themselves as they think they are better than the opposition, treat it as a forgone conclusion and then can't up the pace when required, the opposition teams get riled up by the attitude and are absolutely determined to get one over us. It also seems to create massive pressure that ultimately causes the team to wilt. For two seasons now we've seen League one winners compete for promotion, in one case Livi got promoted. Both cases with far, far smaller budgets. Why? Pretty much because they built a team. They had players who would give everything on the pitch, play for each other. Other than Shankland, neither had a major standout in any position, but were a sum greater than their parts rather than us who seem to be less than the sum of our parts. The other thing for me is we need to send a team out to win. This sending them out not too lose as to stop. Give the opposition something to worry about and play with pace, rather than dicking around at the back before aimlessly launching it up the park. One more thing Sow and Pawlett should never appear again UNTIL fit. Playing unfit players when they are not capable is bad for the team and the individuals confidence.

Game day, it is here, will we make it to the Premiership, or another season in the Fundeslega? My feelings and mood summed up with this...

I'm really not sure where to start with this. The owner has owned more than one sports club so is not going in with his eyes closed. Also has people with decent footballing knowledge and experience. He backed Neilson heavily in January. From Tuesday's Q&A the investment was to stop a major change in the summer. The direct quote from the Chairman was no promotion was "not the end of the world". Four player are ready to be announced no matter the league we are in. The owner has stated that money has been invested for the academy, available for the playing side, commercial side, etc. He has stated his plans for the club. They are not unachievable. There is no Gretna-esque fantasy. Really do not understand why unconnected fans, ignorant of statements or full facts rabbit on on their own made up fantasy. Like all clubs we have fans that blindly follow and give it large about owners, just like Morton do as we are all aware. Having said that I've not met any United fans personally that have, there have lots of questions asked and to be fair still are being asked of the new regime.

I suppose with his height Siegrist should win most crosses, but not sure of his finishing!

My thoughts in last night from a United point of view It was great to see that many fans at Tannadice again. I thought we were noisier against ICT, but the goals in that game help lift things. It was obvious Neilson had told them to keep it tight, while I understand that we are a better team when we attack quicker. This passing along the back, Siegrist to Reynolds, to Connelly, to Reynolds to...anybody as its an aimless punt (or Connelly to Reynolds to Connelly etc) is bloody infuriating. The number of times we ignored someone in space and turned back into trouble was annoying too. Osman Sow, the man, the enigma! You can see the ability at times at others enough said. However as my mate at the game pointed out when Sow went off that was the start of St. Mirren getting more of a foothold, or at least use putting less pressure on them. When he was on the ball was played to his feet or chest mostly, where held on to it and found a team mate. When Safranko came on the ball was launched in the air almost everytime where it seem to come right back to us. While I hope Safranko starts on Sunday we need to be less predictable. Pawlett was poor in an attacking sense. Too many clever passes or flicks that didn't come off. He did however seem to be playing a lot deeper than I would like helping out Robson. He won his fair share of tackles. This was noticable when Stanton replaced him as we lost that dig that Pawlett had. Watson has been receiving some criticism, but I thought he was OK. He is a centreback playing rightback so is naturally more defensive minded. Some of the criticism has been that he should have been driving forward more, but on these occasions McMullan was standing beside his marker making no run at all when he had space to do so and Watson was obviously wanting him to do so. He was wary of going forward because there were a few times he was left with his and McMullan's man. McMullan should never have been moved inside. I though the last 20 minutes was some of the worst play from us in the last couple of months, BUT I've softened a bit since last night. Neilson playing the long game knowing a defeat at home could be game over, I sensed a lot of nervousness from our players, which they might not feel away from home. I know we can play better, St Mirren fans probably feel the same. The 2nd leg surely won't be as cagey as no one would want to settle it via penalties? On to Sunday and lets hope they give everything they've got.

I was very confident in 94 & certainly the folk I knew and went to the game with were. Maybe also my particular circumstances leading up to that game too but certainly felt that way to me. Either that or it was Ivan's velvet tongue!!!

I must admit I am feeling nervous. I am also confident, not hugely but I do feel confident that we'll do it this year. The reason for this is for all the SC finals before 94 there was a buzz, confidence, but this nagging doubt. 1994 and 2010 were different, there was a belief, a feeling it was our time, something that 2014 did not have. The playoffs last year and year before didn't have that belief, even with the large crowd at Tannadice against Accies. This year feels a bit like 94 and 2010, when you speak to folk and on line etc. The United fans will probably know what I mean. There is always the caveat though, the Eddie Thompson final had the same buzz, but it wasn't to be, so I'm fully aware that the above may come back and bite me on the arse! Never the less roll on kick off.

Ha ha. Sometimes the questions that get asked are like those asked at a clubby committee meeting. I know what the lad was on about, better facilities and layout for the catering areas, but it sounded like a bet as to how many times he could say "cup of tea"!

I was holding off on that one, it was such in important issue. It was though a cup of tea, because when you have a cup of tea, there is no place to put your cup of tea down, so your left holding your cup of tea....

Jerry Kerr stand now open for home fans. Thats some effort fellow Arabs.

Potentially yes. Robbie's full description was he wanted 5 players, it maybe 4 it maybe 6 depending on budget, but he was looking for 5. Tony Ashgar stated later on that they had spoken with 4 players who had bought into the clubs plans etc and after a meeting about players/budget/recruitment earlier that day it had been agreed that the budget would be moved about so that irrespective of league they would still be here. No worries, happy to help.

The way it was said I would assume so. It was mentioned that part of the decision making and recruitment in January was to avoid wholesale changes.

That's how I understood it.

Robbie is looking for 5 players. These are to improve the 1st team. 2 preseason games already arranged, looking for 5 in total BetFred Cup is to be taken seriously Robbie wants to do well in it 4 players have bought into United's plans and should be announced after season's end, irrespective of league Academy is going for Elite status, ambitious, looking to be the best in Scotland and then beyond. Looking to concentrate on local talent. Boca Juniors tie up isnt just looking for players, it will be coaches going there/coming here learning how each other works, commercial ideas etc New catering, local produce. Installing new POS throughout the stadium to help speedup serving times. Not the end of the world if promotion is not gained according to Mark Ogren, Don't want to be just be in Premiership, looking to be in Europe Pavol Safranko was brought up, Robbie repeated what he's said before, he's an Aalborg player, they'll surely want to get a look at him, they've spoken and will do so again once seasons finished

The very last section of seats in the Shed next to the St Mirren fans is left unsold. They seemingly have to leave it empty for segregation purposes,this was mentioned at the Q&A. This means there were more seats available in the Shed than there was against ICT.

Too be fair both Ray and Laszlo had big budgets too. While budgets help, it does give access to players others can't bring in, not every expensive or higher paid player is better. You can have all the money in the world, but you've got to be able to use it, and on the other side a good manager can make a good team ( see Livi). Being able to make signings in January is very useful, St. Mirren 2 years ago as an example, but it doesn't always work, again manager's ability has to come into it to get it to work quickly. Bit of fence sitting there I know but its not always easy to say who is the best, but Robbo like Butcher does seem to work at ICT.

Fair doos, just picked you up wrong.

It is the nickname of the team. Been called that for decades. Could understand it if he called us "The Arabs" as that isn't the team or the club, that refers only to the fans.

Toss up between that and the game against Hibs the first year we were down.

Cheers. Hopefully we do, I hope in the next games we can play without the nervousness we seemed to show in the first leg and the 1st half last night. If we can then I'm confident, or as confident as I can be, that we'll do it. Seems to be a decent attitude in the squad at the moment.

There is, this season's average hit by the Laszlo effect. Was an upturn once Ogren came in and the new signings in January. Apart from a couple of games, there certainly more 2nd half of the season.

So what's been your fan's excuse for last 30 years?