PedroMoutinho

The other point is in my view we will not be getting anywhere close to the home support we are getting this season if we’re only competing at the lower end of the championship (and therefore not winning many games).

More than happy to keep McGlynn on if we go up. However, ideally I’d have waited until promotion is guaranteed or close to it- hopefully at 5pm next Saturday. There are still 14 games to be played and the gap at the top could be 5 points next week (clearly we all hope not). With all respect, I don’t think other clubs are going to be banging down his door for getting Falkirk out of the third tier at his second attempt.

Ryan Flynn was then re-signed and sold for a higher sum. The current model would not have prevented Wallace from coming through.

As I have said, the club should be making sure there are as many options as possible for people to contribute to the club. FSS should be one part of that. I’m also not sure how the closure of the academy prevents us selling players. Vaulks, Taylor, Wallace and Flynn have all been sold without coming through our academy. Will be controversial but another thing I would do to stop the gap becoming any bigger is to cap academy spending at current levels until we are established in the premier league. There is a danger imo (which the board have done well to avert to far) that you have coaches and fans understandably wanting more investment and you end up as an academy with a football club attached again. The current approach also frees up resources to take gambles like Yeats, Lawal and Adams.

This season, as well as increased FSS subscriptions, we have had substantially increased attendances, sponsorships and hospitality numbers. In my view, it is disgraceful to suggest that fans who have put additional money into the club in this way don’t care simply because they have chosen not to join the FSS. I just don’t get the obsession with the gap needing to be closed through FSS memberships alone. To me if a supporter is choosing to put more of their hard earned cash into the club (whether that be through FSS, hospitality, merchandise or whatever), they should be thanked for that. It makes no sense to me to suggest they “don’t care enough” simply because they are choosing to do that via a medium others than FSS.

The point is people contribute to the club in different ways based on their preferences and ability to do so. It is not as simple as saying FSS members are “stepping up” more than non-FSS members. A non-FSS member who is an ST holder, buys a programme/50-50 tickets, merchandise, drinks at the South Stand bar and hospitality once or twice a season could easily be putting more into the club than a lot of FSS members. To me it is ludicrous to suggest they are stepping up less than someone giving a tenner a month to the FSS simply because they are doing so via different mechanisms.

Are they?

How is an FSS member paying £10 a month ‘stepping up’ more than an ST holder who buys a programme and some 50-50 tickets every game (£7 x 22 games=£154) and goes to hospitality once a season (£90)? Why is the fan who contributes £120 via FSS more deserving of special privileges than the one who contributes £244 via other means?

Not necessarily- a hypothetical non-FSS member could easily contribute more to the club than an FSS over a season. The point is that every fan is different and has different abilities and desires to contribute to the club. You therefore cannot say that those in the FSS are somehow superior and deserve more rights than others.

I don’t see how there is any more certainty of income from the FSS than from other sources. FSS is simply a monthly donation mechanism. People could stop donating at any time- as they might for example if a managerial decision was made that they disagreed with. The point is FSS should be seen as one income stream amongst many. I also think the idea that someone donating £10 a month to FSS is somehow morally superior to another donating the same via programmes or 50-50 tickets needs to be ditched.

To me there is far too much focus on the FSS ‘needing’ to raise a particular amount. Now that the FSS isn’t buying shares, funds raised are effectively a donation to the club. To me it makes little difference whether this additional sum is raised via FSS, ticket sales, hospitality, merchandise or sponsorship. It is all going into the same pot. To say a fan contributing £10 a month is carrying more financial burden than another buying a season ticket, strip, programme and hospitality once or twice a season is just nonsensical.

Sorry, not that simple for me. If it is established that Ultras members/St Mirren ultras who have formed some sort of alliance were involved, the ultras have to take responsibility. I have also seen a number of Ultras members on social media trying to minimise what happened, which isn’t acceptable imo. In my view, they are going to leave the club with very little option if they are not careful.

There are posts on the ultras’ instagram page hinting at some sort of link with St Mirren ultras.

I wouldn’t be looking at collective punishment at this stage, but would definitely be issuing strike 1 of 3 with the hope that’s the end of the matter. I would also be saying that the social media stuff needs to be toned down.

Not for me- there’s a reason McGlynn signed Mackie and has tried to get him in the team on a number of occasions. For now he has clearly decided that McCann’s attacking ability outweighs Mackie’s defensive strength (which is fair enough given the opposition we are currently facing. But that equation could well change a league up.

Surely it’s just common sense (irrespective of the TNS game) that we will need improved quality in some positions if we have aspirations of challenging in the championship? Some seemed to have the idea that our current starting 11 would go up and swat teams aside, which is just not going to happen. I would offer McCann a contract, but I’m not sure it would be on a first choice basis. He reminds me a bit of Tommy Robson who was very popular with sections of the fanbase- good in an attacking sense but vulnerable defensively (which could be problematic in a higher division).

Really good statement from the club. Hopefully they can work together to identify the perpetrators and get them banned. I hope the ultras will be co-operative if only for their own sake as the club can’t continue to facilitate them if incidents keep occurring. Have to say some of their social media content/comments doesn’t do any favours in that regard.

I agree with the first part of your comment- I’ve no idea what the individual removed did but I did think the steward and police response was heavy handed and unnecessarily antagonistic. However, given what subsequently happened did happen and has subsequently gone viral, I do think the club need to issue a response. The ultras have been a great boost to the atmosphere this season, but clearly scenes like last night cannot continue and need to be nipped in the bud.

Don’t agree that they were an inferior football team. It was hardly the case that we had them penned in but were unable to make the breakthrough- we didn’t create enough at all. They are not a swashbuckling side but that is not required to be a good tesm. They are clearly well drilled and effective at playing the way they do.

Thought we were pretty poor tonight- too many just not at it at all. Lots of misplaced passes and lack of dig, which is not like us at all this season. TNS were no world beaters but were disciplined and well organised. Would much rather this performance happened tonight than in a league game, but I do think it’s a bit of a reality check all the same for those claiming the current squad could go and tank championship teams. We would require improvements in a number of positions imo should we go up. However, a lot of work still to do before that is guaranteed.

Quite happy with our business- mainly keeping key players but also two new additions who look promising. I would like to see another centre half brought in on loan if possible.

They are claiming to be- I guess we will have to wait and see what happens

I see a few sources now suggesting Morrison will be away today. Would be a disappointing one as for me he is our most important player. Agyeman and Ross have something to offer but not convinced they would be an adequate replacement.

I was against the decision to close the academy completely but in my view it was bonkers to be spending the sums we were on youth development while the first team was floundering. We are first and foremost a professional football club and the academy has got to support the first team (not the other way round). I get the impression the current board have that exactly right. Not sure why you criticised the previous regime for spending money restarting youth development yet are now wanting funds diverted from the first team (which would be madness imo).

Similar claims were made a number of times by those involved in the previous set-up. I’m sure it was claimed at one point that Kevin O’Hara was going to be a superstar. Unfortunately very few of those released at the time have gone on to become great first team players at any level (accepting that those in younger age groups are not at that stage yet).