Double Winning St Johnstone FC Thread

[PauloPerth]

59 minutes ago, Kyle said:

Maybe we should bring in a director of football or something similar. We seem to be wasting more and more money on senior players who are just totally out of the picture. Over the last 2/3 years, Millar, Scougall, Watt, McMillan, Anderson and Callachan have all been on longish contracts with us and have spent large chunks of that frozen out of the first team squad. 3 of those were marque signings and another 2 are cup winners who would've been on high wages as a result of that.

Had heard from someone who knows a board member well that Anderson and McMillan are two of our biggest wages. Not sure how accurate that is.  Throw in Swanson and Callachan (and Vihmann?) and that’s a lot of wages on players who’ve probably got a combined 20 league appearances or so for us over the past 18 months.

[Kyle]

10 minutes ago, tree house tam said:

Oh I have no doubt that a crippled Stevie May is the best striker at the club. Giving Kane his new contract was an eye opener to say the least.

Not just a new contract - a 3 year contract.

[PauloPerth]

22 minutes ago, Mr Positive, sometimes. said:

The Crocked Stevie May has at least scored a couple of goals though. If we hadn't brought him in our main Striker of Kane would still be sitting on zero goals. 

Whens the last time Kane did actually score come to think of it!

Difference being Stevie May has had a number of ineffective performances for us but remains a guaranteed starter.  Kane or Hendry play poor and they’re  dropped the next game.

Can understand that we want to get May firing and upto speed, but I don’t think it’s a straightforward comparison in terms of output.

[Kyle]

3 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

Had heard from someone who knows a board member well that Anderson and McMillan are two of our biggest wages. Not sure how accurate that is.  Throw in Swanson and Callachan (and Vihmann?) and that’s a lot of wages on players who’ve probably got a combined 20 league appearances or so for us over the past 18 months.

I can quite believe it. Anderson would've been captain, our longest serving player and still playing to a decent level when he last negotiated a contract. McMillan uprooted himself from Ireland and gave up his career as an architect. Both have been complete wastes.

Wouldn't have been buttons for Watt either.

[Muzza81]

1 hour ago, Kyle said:

In terms of transfers, how can we go from Declan Gallagher to Wallace Duffy? A player with a vast amount of experience in the top flight to a boy who had literally never kicked a ball in his professional career and, frankly, will likely end up plying his trade about 3 divisions below where he currently plays.

Wot?

[Valentino Bolognese]

1 hour ago, Kyle said:

The defence really shouldn't be as big as shambles as it is ...

 

Agree with all of that Kyle.

The Wright situation is difficult. Both heart and head seem to say he's the man to sort it out. But, he's the man that has caused it. 

If football management was like any other job you'd have to say that if after 10 years in the same gig and you start to see a dip in performance from a previously good employee, it's time to think about the personnel. I'm certainly not suggesting that TW has 'lost the dressing room' or anything like that, but after such a long time you're bound to run out of ideas and freshness in any job. 

It does have the 'end of an era' feel now though, whether we finish bottom or top 6. 

Looking back, it's still a season of 'could have beens' where we've deserved more out of a lot of games. But most teams will probably say that this year, and with Hibs away and Hamilton home we needed last minute goals to grab the points. I still maintain we were unlucky to play Hibs when we did but over the piece we deserve to be where we are. 

I think that idea of a DOF is a good one, and a despite being an extra wage could well save far more in expensive mistakes, and perhaps if all Tommy has to worry about is coaching and team selection we'd get more out of him.

 

 

Edited November 11, 2019 by Valentino Bolognese

[Valentino Bolognese]

14 minutes ago, Muzza81 said:

Wot?

The first part of the comment concerns the fact that we were in the running to sign Gallagher but failed to do so. The second notes that Wallace Duffy is a relatively poor option for this level. 

(Harsh in my opinion, hard to say what he really is as he's been thrown in the deep end). 

[Kyle]

33 minutes ago, Muzza81 said:

Wot?

It's pretty self explanatory but I'll run through it for you, seeing as I am an amiable chap.

We were linked with and apparently very close to signing Declan Gallagher in March/April. He eventually chose Motherwell over us which is fair enough. He's a proven top flight player, can play right back and centre back and was an excellent solution to us losing Joe Shaughnessy, who covered the same areas of the pitch. We went from targetting him to targeting Wallace Duffy without anyone else in between as far as we know - a 20 year from Celtic who plays the same positions as Gallagher/Shaughnessy but without any of the experience. He's played much more football so far this season than what we probably expected him to play with Foster leaving and Gordon out injured long term, but he's only proving that he's no where near the required standard, and I doubt from the early evidence that he ever will be. 

The manager talked about scouting players since summer 2018 for the window just passed. We ended up signing a youngster who hadn't kicked a ball in a senior team, a player on the evidence of one match against Northern Ireland, a player we'd had before, 2 goalkeepers (one who 'lived locally' and another so we could loan out our 3rd choice), 2 players on loan from the old firm, Ralston and Holt. It's fair to say I'm less than impressed with Ralston and Holt can't get in a struggling team ahead of a 19 year old, who has been our best player.

Omnishambles.

 

Edited November 11, 2019 by Kyle

[Kyle]

6 minutes ago, Valentino Bolognese said:

The first part of the comment concerns the fact that we were in the running to sign Gallagher but failed to do so. The second notes that Wallace Duffy is a relatively poor option for this level. 

(Harsh in my opinion, hard to say what he really is as he's been thrown in the deep end). 

I don't think it's harsh. We went from signing one of the best performing defenders in the league (and apparently we were very close to getting him) to signing a 20 year old with no experience instead. It's not a reflection so much on Duffy but on the shambles that was our transfer policy in the summer past.

[Valentino Bolognese]

1 minute ago, Kyle said:

I don't think it's harsh. We went from signing one of the best performing defenders in the league (and apparently we were very close to getting him) to signing a 20 year old with no experience instead. It's not a reflection so much on Duffy but on the shambles that was our transfer policy in the summer past.

Yes, was meaning it was a bit harsh on Duffy, which I thought was the original comment. It's ,ore the situation that he's been put into than a comment on performance or even potential.

So I'm agreeing with you. 

[RandomGuy.]

I have to admit, I fully endorsed his decision to sign Holt and May. Parish as second choice was also something I understood, experienced at this level and cheap.

I also understand the idea of signing Duffy as a cheap gamble to sit in the stands, provide emergency cover and develop.

I'll even say that Foster was never expected to leave, and the situation we were in at the stage he left meant we couldnt go too long without a right back so its understandable in a way we've ended with a poor option there, thankfully only on loan.

I dont understand why hes never moved for an experienced CB. That and that alone is the problem I have with his business this year. 

[Mr Positive, sometimes.]

Going off in a tangent slightly but also fits into the discussion around our poor defence.  YET AGAIN we lost a goal within 30 seconds of us having the ball in or around the opponents box. 

Killie at home. 

(Twice?) against Rangers (I think)

Hibs first goal. 

Simply not learning  from the same mistakes. Its infuriating, same or similar mistakes time after time. 

[Kyle]

Hamilton at home too. The number of long, harmless punts that we end up conceding from is insane. As soon as I saw the trajectory of that long ball on saturday i knew we were in trouble. Kerr doesn't ever seem to go for the 'safety first' approach in these situations and sometimes he takes the ball away from the striker and looks spectacular doing it. At other times, he wins the header, falls on his arse and in effect costs us a goal, as he did on Saturday.

 

[tree house tam]

3 hours ago, Kyle said:

Not just a new contract - a 3 year contract.

I AM NOW FUCKING SEETHING.

[Mr Heliums]

Looking at the conveyor belt of mince we've signed (up front, it goes all the way back to 2014), it's tempting to fantasise that a director of football might be the answer. But it's no guarantee: don't Hearts and Hibs have DoF roles that would, you'd think, attract a better quality of talent-spotter than we could? And yet look where they are, and look at the expensive shite they've signed. 

That said, I don't know the answer; only that Tommy's focus on signing ex-players has gone badly wrong.

[tree house tam]

A lot of Tommys work is based on trust so it's understandable he goes for people he's had trust in and not been let down by before. He is now being let down by people he's trusted, we will now see what the real Tommy Wright is made of....

[Melanius Mullarkey]

1 minute ago, tree house tam said:

 we will now see what the real Tommy Wright is made of....

Tommy Sauce IMO

[akuram]

There had to be a big centre back in the championship say, who had played lots of games who would have fitted in. A big shouter and bully as we are too soft.

[Mr Positive, sometimes.]

On the subject of a central defender. Why wait till Jan? 

I'm sure we can bring in a free agent now. If TW can identify someone who is a good fit then go out and get him. 

Is the hope that Gordon returns and solves all the problems?

[RandomGuy.]

12 minutes ago, Mr Positive, sometimes. said:

On the subject of a central defender. Why wait till Jan? 

I'm sure we can bring in a free agent now. If TW can identify someone who is a good fit then go out and get him. 

Is the hope that Gordon returns and solves all the problems?

Only free agent who springs to mind is Ambrose, who youd assume would be expensive. Maybe completely wrong but hes never seemed the type to lead a defence either.

I doubt even Tam expects Gordon to solve the issues completely, although theres zero chance he'll be as naive as Duffy, so who knows?