Radford Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 If I had any belief that all this was about building something then it would be something but there are just no signs that it is the case. Shy of having the ever regressing Mitchell on the right of the back three, the team he put out at Motherwell when he returned to the back three was decent as it was largely square pegs in square holes but since then we've had to contend with injuries and suspensions and there has been absolutely zero flexibility despite not having the players available to make that system our most effective option. Brown at LWB or LCB, Hallberg too deep, McClennan as a centre forward, Carey full stop. None of those work yet he continually tries it because, to him, the system is the most important thing. We are going backwards under Callum Davidson, wherever we finish this season, and eventually that will become tangibly evident in the level we find ourselves playing at. Those defending him right now will forever be remembered as being on the wrong side of history and forums and social media preserve it for us. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marly Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 19 hours ago, Bonksy+HisChristianParade said: One positive for me is Drey Wright’s been pretty decent since he came back. I wasn’t that keen on his return at all but he’s been almost player of the season tbh. There are a few good players in the squad to work with - I feel with a competent manager we can get rid of some of the deadwood and build a decent side around the likes of Phillips. Never happening with Davidson. I've said this before, but I never understood the way people reacted to Wright's return. He was excellent for us in his first spell here. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Saintee Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 It's bizarre these little hints that keep getting dropped in that the implosion last year was somehow all on the transfer guy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Saintee Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 18 minutes ago, The Marly said: I've said this before, but I never understood the way people reacted to Wright's return. He was excellent for us in his first spell here. He was far less impactful and had been pretty awful for Hibs. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 (edited) 27 minutes ago, The Marly said: I've said this before, but I never understood the way people reacted to Wright's return. He was excellent for us in his first spell here. I was against it, even as far back as last January when he was first linked, im sure. I saw a guy who'd be commanding a massive wage and who we'd never seen score or assist regularly at either ourselves or Hibs. Its the type of deal that also makes me, and still does, worry that very little thought actually goes into identifying folk. Almost all our signings in the Summer were ones the manager didnt need to scout to know about, and the loanees were all ones that were getting offered about by agents rather than being identified. Phillips will fit into the second category too. Its why i worry about this Summer too, and struggle to have any confidence theres some grand plan in place that means we're going to see a raft of younger signings who can come straight in to contribute. It feels like itll be yet another Summer of him just hoping he can find 4/5 experienced players to come in and make up for what we lost, with another batch of loanees plugging gaps, and if it goes wrong then its not his fault. Honestly half think its why hes punted so many 2/3yr deals at ageing players, as it means he doesnt need to try and identify replacements. Edited March 20, 2023 by RandomGuy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radford Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 Wright was a nice footballer first time round but there was never anything to show for it, akin to being married to a chef but them never cooking for you. His time at Hibs didn't bother me, and Tommy Wright had used him at wing back a few times latterly where he looked decent. He's never going to be the best defensively and Davidson regularly plays him with shackles on but despite that his return has obviously been good and should have been even better given some of the chances he's missed, but I'm never going to criticise him for that. So yes, good recruitment and good signing. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mizfit Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 The only time I’ve been frustrated with Wright was the Hibs away game. Apart from that he’s done well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zamora Fan Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 It’s been better than last season but I’m increasingly leaning toward the idea we’ve had a lot of luck, where last season we had very little. e.g, our return of 9 wins in 29 games all season is pretty unacceptable IMO given what’s been invested. But look how lucky we’ve been to even get that. 1-2 at Motherwell - good first half, then sat back and concede inevitable late equaliser. Jammy/resilient last minute winner. 3-0 v St Mirren - good win 2-1 v Rangers - great, famous win. If I was being an arsehole I’d say it needed a James Brown screamer for it to happen … 0-2 at Dundee United - good win against a dreadful side 1-0 v Killie - pretty poor against a team who haven’t won away from home all season. VAR stopped us from going a man down. Win’s a win 1-2 at Hibs - shockingly bad until they got a player sent off from nowhere, then turned it round 1-2 at Ross County - as above 0-2 at Motherwell - played really well. Motherwell at a low ebb and sacked their manager few days later 1-2 at Dundee United - let them have all the ball, scored a good counter goal then sat off them until the inevitable equaliser. Got the win thanks to a goalkeeper brain fart. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tree house tam Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 2 hours ago, Radford said: akin to being married to a chef but them never cooking for you. It now makes perfect sense..... Radford is Ghosties missus. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Real Saints Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 Did Callum Davidson have a say in the departures of McCann and Kerr? I'm sure he said that it was partly his decision at the time, but not sure where to locate those quotes now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSJ.84 Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 1 hour ago, The Real Saints said: Did Callum Davidson have a say in the departures of McCann and Kerr? I'm sure he said that it was partly his decision at the time, but not sure where to locate those quotes now. https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/7648560/st-johnstone-davidson-couldnt-blocked-mccann-kerr-transfer/amp/ Doesn’t quite answer your question but I thought it was quite interesting to compare some of the quotes in this to the absolute garbage he comes out with now. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Saintee Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 1 hour ago, tree house tam said: It now makes perfect sense..... Radford is Ghosties missus. Ghostie isn't a chef. He's a dinner lady. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tree house tam Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 53 minutes ago, The Saintee said: Ghostie isn't a chef. He's a dinner lady. That'll definitely not be what his tinder profile says when Radford eventually leaves him. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloPerth Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 16 hours ago, The Real Saints said: Yeah, I worded that badly. But I'm not entirely sure that Callum Davidson would consider himself a struggling manager. I get the impression from his interviews that he's quite satisfied with how things are going. I feel that his signing policy shows a lack of care for St Johnstone's long-term future. I feel like the way he freezes out players and calls them out in public shows a lack of concern for St Johnstone's reputation. He has previously said that Saints don't have a right to be in the top league. All of these things don't strike me as the actions of someone who particularly respects the club. I believe he has some character flaws which result in his perseverance with a failed system rather than attempting to change things. If he had self-awareness or integrity, I believe he'd try to amend these things OR he'd realise the rift which has been caused between himself and a large section of the fanbase and he'd walk away. Anyway, Chris Millar has now joined the mob in my Twitter replies. Not particularly enjoying this. Might hibernate until next spring. I agree with you TRS that he’s not good at the media game, and could massively improve his standing by making more effort in that regard. I think the club as a whole has deserved the criticism regarding this aspect, we’re sometimes not even told about players being fit or injured etc. I don’t personally think Spoony has been frozen out, I just think the manager has a blind spot with experienced pros he’s brought in and loses sight of what’s happening before his eyes. Crawford and now Carey. Bryson and Conway to an extent beforehand. Having favourites/ villains isn’t unique to Callum, when Tommy Wright decided you weren’t for him you vanished from sight! I do feel we should be far higher in the league, but let’s be honest 7th -9th in the Premiership is not a disaster for us at all. I would accept it if there was progress or a bit of entertainment along the way. That’s the big failing. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Costanza Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 On the experienced pros point Paulo I agree with you but it is difficult to get a much more experienced pro than Spoony! We all know what he has achieved etc, no point repeating that. If his abilities had completely deserted him them then I'd understand it more but on the (admittedly brief) evidence of Saturday he still offers a calmness and assurance that would improve the team. It just comes across as piss poor man management, of which there were a few examples on Saturday alone. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie_B Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 Some of the fuckwitted replies I’ve had on Twitter are incredible. Just total drivel and all obtuse as you like, completely missing the point. So Saints were shit 40-50 years ago and Dunfermline and Falkirk are shite now, so you should be happy to be wildly underperforming. Just crazy. I don’t trust the manager’s eye for a player and the big concern is we start another season with him, the quality in the squad degrades even further and we end up at best in the playoffs next season. That is absolutely not an inevitability and fatalism about what the story was the best part of a half century ago shouldn’t mean we just drift into that position. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 (edited) I could accept a 10th placed finish and shite football if you could see some form of planning being put in place. Total sympathy that virtually a full rebuild needed to take place over the past 2/3 years as, even without the cup wins, a lot of the younger players were always going to leave within that time period while other ageing players (Craig, Muzz, Wotherspoon) are coming towards their mid/late 30s. Its not as if McInnes and Wright didn't have a shit season as they tried to rebuild. Wright arguably had two? It always felt like you could see something being formed though. 14/15 maybe the closest to this in terms of shite football + no real planned long term signings, but even then we finished 4th and TW was heavily handicapped by the board refusing to let him spend the May money, in comparison Davidson is stumbling to a 9th placed finish despite being able to launch 2/3yr deals about. Its the fact we have shite football, shite finishes, and its hard to see any real rebuild coming. McCart replaced by Considine, Kerr replaced by McGowan (Davidsons words, not mine), Wotherspoon feels like hes being replaced by Carey, Hendry replaced by Clark. These are stop gap signings but theyre tied down for years and its rare for Davidson to move away from an ageing player he "trusts" The good young signings are Wright, MacPherson and Phillips, and even then. MacPhersons injury record has the chance of holding him back and Wright was an obvious, easy, one. Phillips is a perfect signing for a club like us though and the 2yr deal was both brave and smart looking. The other young signings have either been shite, completely frozen out, or both. Edited March 20, 2023 by RandomGuy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tree house tam Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 It has come to my attention that a pre-season friendly away against Millwall is in the offing. Callum can stay till that's all signed and sealed, then off you pop pal. TRS I'm kipping* in Martin's bed for a few nights. *that's if I actually make it to bed. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJFCtheTeamForMe Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 London here we fucking come 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSJ.84 Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 Perfect opportunity to decide who we want on loan for next season 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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