Double Winning St Johnstone FC Thread

[RandomGuy.]

10 minutes ago, Grant228 said:

He was a menace, absolutely bullied defenders, won every header, rolled the Swansea back line constantly. 

However his end product was very lacking, with a bit of refinement he'd be incredible, physically he was outstanding. 

All strikers have bad days, IMO. I'm now a total fanboy of his

£250k for him was an absolute bargain, and it says a lot Luton paid that fee despite his contract expiring this Summer. All going well he'll hit the EPL in a couple of years.

[The Real Saints]

Can someone screenshot this article? It's behind a paywall for me. 

 

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19161146.seven-scottish-premiership-players-handed-shock-scotland-call-up-tomorrow/

 

Much obliged.

[RandomGuy.]

7 minutes ago, The Real Saints said:

Can someone screenshot this article? It's behind a paywall for me. 

 

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19161146.seven-scottish-premiership-players-handed-shock-scotland-call-up-tomorrow/

 

Much obliged.

Open it in an Incognito tab

[Mr Heliums]

7 minutes ago, The Real Saints said:

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19161146.seven-scottish-premiership-players-handed-shock-scotland-call-up-tomorrow/

It's just Herald clickbait. The actual headline is seven players who could be handed call-ups tomorrow.

[The Real Saints]

2 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Open it in an Incognito tab

Done that and it's still the same situation. Devastating.

[RandomGuy.]

Wonder if Melamed being Scottish based gives him any chance of making Israels squad.

[nelsjfc]

I said back in June I’d accept 10th place.

I'm wary of expecting too much next season. Covid maybe played a part but this habit we have of underperforming in the first half of the season is a nasty habit that's developing.
Davidson has clearly progressed this season though, while keeping us safe, and I think that's what everyone's hopes were.

Pretty much where I was at the start of the season. The progress has been really encouraging and it's pretty clear that Davidson has got the players to buy in to what he's doing very quickly. He's obviously a good coach; it will be really interesting to see what his recruitment will be like and if he can build on the really good foundations he's put in place.

It's not a massive surprise to see we've used the least number of players this season - only starting 19 different outfield players. Thought the squad was small at the start of the season and still think we might have really struggled with more than a couple of injuries in any one position for a period of time. The flip side is we are away from the situation of a few recent summers where we had players on the books that were either not good enough or obviously surplus to the managers requirements. There is some you think might go but no one you'd be overly surprised if they stayed.

Davidson is in a good place in that he already has the nucleus of a mid-table squad but the potential to bring his own players if he chooses.

[RandomGuy.]

24 minutes ago, nelsjfc said:

The flip side is we are away from the situation of a few recent summers where we had players on the books that were either not good enough or obviously surplus to the managers requirements. There is some you think might go but no one you'd be overly surprised if they stayed.

Davidson is in a good place in that he already has the nucleus of a mid-table squad but the potential to bring his own players if he chooses.

 

Looked at the squad yesterday and yeah, there doesn't really seem to be a "weak link" in the starting line up who you'd be desperate to replace. 

Even all our back ups are proven at this level really, except Brown.

Guess it's a double edged sword, and the sword is in the managers hands. Temptation will be to simply add depth this Summer, when really every Summer window should see us trying to improve the starting eleven.

[The Marly]

Pretty much where I was at the start of the season. The progress has been really encouraging and it's pretty clear that Davidson has got the players to buy in to what he's doing very quickly. He's obviously a good coach; it will be really interesting to see what his recruitment will be like and if he can build on the really good foundations he's put in place.



It's not a massive surprise to see we've used the least number of players this season - only starting 19 different outfield players. Thought the squad was small at the start of the season and still think we might have really struggled with more than a couple of injuries in any one position for a period of time. The flip side is we are away from the situation of a few recent summers where we had players on the books that were either not good enough or obviously surplus to the managers requirements. There is some you think might go but no one you'd be overly surprised if they stayed.

Davidson is in a good place in that he already has the nucleus of a mid-table squad but the potential to bring his own players if he chooses.

Our squad may be small but it has decent quality in depth and a lot of versatility. I'd rather that than extra numbers who are basically shite at this level like Motherwell or County.

[Mr Heliums]

It's funny how the definition of 'small' changes. Back in the 90s Paul Sturrock talked about getting the first team squad down to a core of 16.

Like many of his plans (making players train all day, job-swapping with miners etc) I'm not sure it ever came to fruition. Still, it's funny that the ambition then was to shrink the first-team squad, while nowadays most people think that 25 players doesn't leave enough cover.

Edited March 16, 2021 by Mr Heliums

[Radford]

I guess, certainly under Sturrock, there was always a good number of YTS players who he could call upon. Funny isn't it that these guys were only signed by clubs at 16 when they left school, yet you'd say are better players than a lot of the kids that come through now with "expert" coaching from clubs since their pre-teens. It's almost as if just letting kids play as much football as possible with their pals is better than having them doing passing drills in the pouring rain as the next Pep tries to implement his philosophy on a bunch of 10-year-olds. 

I digress. Sturrock maybe did manage to have a core of around what he was aiming for but then had Griffin, McCluskey, Whiteford, Davidson, Scott, McAnespie, Robertson, King etc... that he knew could play in his team. 

Saints are producing players again but even still, the manager points at Kerr going out and playing 100 games before he trusts him. We have managed to move away from signing guys like Hart, Doyle, Clancy etc... and that's good but it'd be nice to think that young players could get themselves in a situation where they can step into the team in their late teens. 

[FrankChickens1]

I'll be shocked if Rooney makes the squad but imagine in December someone had said not only were some people saying he might be in Scotland squad, but also that some of them aren't saints fans. Mind bogglin. 

Credit to him 

[RandomGuy.]

3 hours ago, Radford said:

Saints are producing players again but even still, the manager points at Kerr going out and playing 100 games before he trusts him. We have managed to move away from signing guys like Hart, Doyle, Clancy etc... and that's good but it'd be nice to think that young players could get themselves in a situation where they can step into the team in their late teens. 

Wonder if John Robertson, at 6 appearances at 19, is our most experienced teenager in terms of top flight games for us?

Ross Sinclair been hyped up for a while but has never played for us, turns 20 next year.

Northcott with 1 league game at 19, Denham with 0 at 18.

Guess Alex Ferguson is the big hope if anyone is going to be a regular before 20, but I've no idea where he is in terms of development. Looked far too light physically for the top flight against Brechin.

Even Cammy Ballantyne turns 21 this season, I'm personally hopeful he can play a part next season though.

Edited March 16, 2021 by RandomGuy.

[THE FAT MAN]

18 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Wonder if John Robertson, at 6 appearances at 19, is our most experienced teenager in terms of top flight games for us?

Ross Sinclair been hyped up for a while but has never played for us, turns 20 next year.

Northcott with 1 league game at 19, Denham with 0 at 18.

Guess Alex Ferguson is the big hope if anyone is going to be a regular before 20, but I've no idea where he is in terms of development. Looked far too light physically for the top flight against Brechin.

Even Cammy Ballantyne turns 21 this season, I'm personally hopeful he can play a part next season though.

Ross Sinclair has a fairly serious injury 

[RandomGuy.]

2 minutes ago, THE FAT MAN said:

Ross Sinclair has a fairly serious injury 

Yeah, now. He's been at the club for years now and hasn't even played a cup game for us yet.

[Mr Positive, sometimes.]

50 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Yeah, now. He's been at the club for years now and hasn't even played a cup game for us yet.

Been out on loan the last 3 seasons majority of the time (potentially cup tied when returned early anyway) and was never going to feature at the age of 16 before those loans. 

Saints unlikely to feature a 3rd choice GK in a cup either. If you're going to give game time it's going to be the next in line in any case. 

[RandomGuy.]

Just now, Mr Positive, sometimes. said:

Been out on loan the last 3 seasons majority of the time (potentially cup tied when returned early anyway) and was never going to feature at the age of 16 before those loans. 

Saints unlikely to feature a 3rd choice GK in a cup either. If you're going to give game time it's going to be the next in line in any case. 

Yeah we've ended up down a bit of a rabbit hole here with Sinclair tbh. Keeper probably the one position where everyone expects to start their career in their 20s.

[Mr Positive, sometimes.]

Not sure why so many Saints fans are surprised there's no call ups. 

Clark will show loyalty so close to the Euros and like I said last summer I don't think Kerr was ever seriously considered. Aside from the semi regulars on the edges of the squad I'd be willing to put money on the likes of Welsh, Findlay & even the likes of the lanky Harry Souttar to get a call up ahead of Kerr. Not because that's necessarily my opinion of the players, but what I believe the manager thinks. 

 

[andrewh]

Not sure why so many Saints fans are surprised there's no call ups. 
Clark will show loyalty so close to the Euros and like I said last summer I don't think Kerr was ever seriously considered. Aside from the semi regulars on the edges of the squad I'd be willing to put money on the likes of Welsh, Findlay & even the likes of the lanky Harry Souttar to get a call up ahead of Kerr. Not because that's necessarily my opinion of the players, but what I believe the manager thinks. 
 

I’m in the odd position of not caring about Scotland in the slightest but wanting our players to be recognised.

[RandomGuy.]

1 hour ago, Mr Positive, sometimes. said:

Not sure why so many Saints fans are surprised there's no call ups. 

Clark will show loyalty so close to the Euros and like I said last summer I don't think Kerr was ever seriously considered. Aside from the semi regulars on the edges of the squad I'd be willing to put money on the likes of Welsh, Findlay & even the likes of the lanky Harry Souttar to get a call up ahead of Kerr. Not because that's necessarily my opinion of the players, but what I believe the manager thinks. 

 

Yeah, Kerr is about 11th/12th choice, yet I'd only have about 3 in our team ahead of him.

Mad that people still don't think the club you play for matters in terms of a call up. Hendry playing well for a mid-table Belgian side is only more impressive than Kerr playing for a mid-table Scottish side because one is contracted to Celtic.