Double Winning St Johnstone FC Thread

[RandomGuy.]

Just now, Costanza said:

Can you elaborate on his fairly comprehensive account of the May saga please Paulo? Thanks!

I heard it was "Vine is a..." and then a lengthy list of insults.

[Templar]

24 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

then leaves. 4 goals in 20 second half minutes follow.

You are allowed to dream because that will not happen. I will be happy if he scores 1.

[Derry Alli]

[PauloPerth]

Stan Harris spoke about the finances.  

We lost about £190k or so last season. The two Dundee teams out the league costs us around £150k I think they said.  The only slightly heated debate of the evening was a couple of Saints fans desperate to pimp out the three sides of the ground to The OF to make us an extra £300k or whatever a season. Starting a sentence with I never ever go to games against The OF, but I think we should give them 3 sides of the ground is a bit of a brass neck in my honest opinion, but each to their own I suppose.  Stan and Broon were fairly non-commital on this issue, but I think it's something that's been discussed every so often.

The cup game against Celtic at home last season there were only 1065 Saints fans there out of a crowd of 5600 or something.

But Celtic smashed 58 seats, and it took us a bit of time to get the money off them, so pros and cons.  The club don't run to the press for various reasons about keeping good relations with them, for young players etc.

Our leccy bill is between £12 - £18k a month. Water bill £12k.  The club have looked at solar panels on the roofs - not cost effective.  Wind turbine - but McD sits in a bowl so wouldn't produce enough to make it viable, and water capture system, but the steelwork of the stands is not strong enough to hold them.  They keep looking at opportunities to save on bills.

Marketing - they have given flyers round all the new estates in Perth area. Bertha Park etc.

We had the 14th highest average home attendance in Scotland last season.  But our wage bill was 8th highest on an average of £48k per first team player. (Excluding bonuses etc!)

more..

Edited August 29, 2019 by PauloPerth
Typos galore

[Radford]

I was impressed by Sam Denham against Cove Rangers, and also Michael McFarlane, who has also come from Celtic. A very quick winger. Denham looks like a modern centre back, athletic and happy enough with the ball at his feet. 

[steviemay17]

2 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

Stan Harris spoke about the finances.  

We lost about £190k or so last season. The two Dundee teams out the league costs us around £150k I think they said.  The only slightly heated debate of the evening was a couple of Saints fans desperate to pimp out the three sides of the ground to The OF to make us an extra £300k or whatever a season. Starting a sentence with I never ever go to games against The OF, but I think we should give them 3 sides of the ground is a bit of a brass neck in my honest opinion, but each to their own I suppose.  Stan and Broon were fairly non-commital on I think, it's something that's been discussed.

The cup game against Celtic at home last season there were only 1065 Saints fans there out of a crowd of 5600 or something.

But Celtic smashed 58 seats, and it took us a bit of time to get the money off them, so pros and cons.  The club don't run to the press for variousness reasons about keeping good relations with them, for young players etc.

Our leccy bill is between £12 - £18k a month. The club have looked at solar panels on the roofs - not cost effective.  Wind turbine - but McD sits in a bowl so wouldn't produce enough to make it viable, and water capture system, but the steelwork of the stands is not strong enough to hold them.  They keep looking at opportunities to save on bills.

Marketing - they have given flyers round all the new estates in Perth area. Bertha Park etc.

We had the 14th highest average home attendance in Scotland last season.  But our wage bill was 8th highest on an average of £48k per first team player. (Excluding bonuses etc!)

more..

SB delayed the Stevie May signing for 2 months to pay for the leccy until the season started 

[PauloPerth]

On the youths, the club feel they now have a good relationship with Man Utd, who were very complimentary about the set up here and want to develop it further. Talk of a couple of games per season at different age groups.  They spoke well of the standard of several of Saints young players.

The hope is the relationship can be developed further (possibly them sending a reserve/ under 23 side for pre-season game, maybe loaning players etc.

[Radford]

10 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

But Celtic smashed 58 seats, and it took us a bit of time to get the money off them, so pros and cons.  The club don't run to the press... 

I have heard this before. Toilets regularly trashed at various grounds etc... but clubs told not to publicise it as it would only likely increase the damage the next time! Is that the fucking world we live in? 

The decision over what stands to give them isn't one I envy having to make, very tough for them. Would be interesting if they tried to gauge the opinion of the 2,000 or so that do attend these games. 

Great stuff on summing the evening up, widely appreciated I'm sure. 

Edited August 29, 2019 by Radford

[RandomGuy.]

I'd be giving them as little of the ground as possible tbh.

But I don't pay the bills. I know of a Director at Saints who encourages the ticketing staff to sell home end tickets to Old Firm fans anyway, as, in his own words, "we need the money".

[Kyle]

What a man PauloPerth is btw. 

2 full backs and nothing else is a slight disappointment but understandable I suppose. If we could get a player who can cover at least one full back and play centre mid then that would be ideal but obviously not particularly easy to do. 

Sounds like the bulk of fans who attended were quite supportive of the board? Goes to show what an echo chamber the banter page in particular is.  

Edited August 29, 2019 by Kyle

[PauloPerth]

SB was asked why we don't get players in for pre-season, why we always wait until season had started and he said it was completely the managers choice.  There's no stipulation from the club about that.  

Again agents are a nightmare. He spoke about Zander Clark re-signing and changing to Jackie Mac as his agent.  He joked he let Tommy do the negotiations initially but that barely lasted a week.  Said Macnamara knew he had the power as Saints weredesperate to protect their investment in Clark so we wanted get him tied up a few years and can get a good fee if he's sold, so that all makes for a stronger hand for the agent.

Someone asked why players don't overrule their agents and he said you very rarely see that. Some players barely know which club their agent has got them signing for.

He showed list of 1st team players and when their contracts are up. A lot of key ones next summer.  He was asked about trying to tie up Kennedy and Wright now, he said we will be trying but Kennedys agent will be trying to tout him round the bigger clubs so will hardly listen to us just now, and when asked why we didn't try to extend Drey in the summer, similar, his agent wouldn't even have talked to Saints, and if he finds form clubs down south will be all over him.

He mentioned a few times how much Tommy is involved in deals, and reckoned more than at most clubs.  He joked a few times about how stubborn TW is at pushing for what he wants.

Someone asked if Tommy was pinched by another club tomorrow if he had an idea who he would try to get as a replacement, and SB was quite quick in saying yes.

The board said Paul Smith is leaving , off to pastures new. They thanked him for all the work hes done for the club.  Paul was in attendance.

[kingjoey]

8 minutes ago, Radford said:

I have heard this before. Toilets regularly trashed at various grounds etc... but clubs told not to publicise it as it would only likely increase the damage the next time! Is that the fucking world we live in? 

The decision over what stands to give them isn't one I envy having to make, very tough for them. Would be interesting if they tried to gauge the opinion of the 2,000 or so that do attend these games. 

Great stuff on summing the evening up, widely appreciated I'm sure. 

I would like to see all clubs make public all damage done by all opposition fans. It may shame clubs who are regularly guilty and having to shell out money to rectify the damage. 

[Dons_1988]

Good luck to stevie may.

He’ll be seen as a failure with us but a thoroughly likeable player and guy and hope he succeeds again with saints. Obviously not against us...

[PauloPerth]

Continued...

SB was asked about the Jim Spence article about how we are run. He wasn't scathing, just said it's from someone who's never had to run a club, so doesn't really understand the complications.

He said talk of a DOF etc .. we run the same structure we've done for the past 8 (?) years or so, our most successful period in our history and people only mention stuff like that when the team is struggling.

He said Hibs have 4 full-time staff in charge of recruitment and they've just spent £250k on a striker that's barely had a shot at goal yet. Not to slag them, just to point out there's no guarantees.

As an aside, sounded like Hibs were keen for Shaw to come to us right up until the weekend, But Saints have heard nothing from them since the draw on Saturday.

 

We have 1624 season ticket holders (approx) which is 80 up on last season.

 

Bev the Supporter Liaison Officer talked about the Scottish football fans survey. 284 Saints fans replied last season.its open just now (I think on our website?) for another couple of weeks.

They are really keen for as many Saints fans as possible to complete this as it's really useful info for the club.  

 

More...

[steviemay17]

8 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

SB was asked why we don't get players in for pre-season, why we always wait until season had started and he said it was completely the managers choice.  There's no stipulation from the club about that.  

Again agents are a nightmare. He spoke about Zander Clark re-signing and changing to Jackie Mac as his agent.  He joked he let Tommy do the negotiations initially but that barely lasted a week.  Said Macnamara knew he had the power as Saints weredesperate to protect their investment in Clark so we wanted get him tied up a few years and can get a good fee if he's sold, so that all makes for a stronger hand for the agent.

Someone asked why players don't overrule their agents and he said you very rarely see that. Some players barely know which club their agent has got them signing for.

He showed list of 1st team players and when their contracts are up. A lot of key ones next summer.  He was asked about trying to tie up Kennedy and Wright now, he said we will be trying but Kennedys agent will be trying to tout him round the bigger clubs so will hardly listen to us just now, and when asked why we didn't try to extend Drey in the summer, similar, his agent wouldn't even have talked to Saints, and if he finds form clubs down south will be all over him.

He mentioned a few times how much Tommy is involved in deals, and reckoned more than at most clubs.  He joked a few times about how stubborn TW is at pushing for what he wants.

Someone asked if Tommy was pinched by another club tomorrow if he had an idea who he would try to get as a replacement, and SB was quite quick in saying yes.

The board said Paul Smith is leaving , off to pastures new. They thanked him for all the work hes done for the club.  Paul was in attendance.

To be fair with Drey Wright as well, His injury could easily becoming a recurring problem or he might not get back to the same level so for us to hand out an extension to a long term injured player would be incredibly risky. Wonder if all goes well if he would want to show some loyalty and sign a new deal so we get a fee or if he just sees us as a stepping stone.

[RandomGuy.]

1 minute ago, PauloPerth said:

SB was asked about the Jim Spence article about how we are run. He wasn't scathing, just said it's from someone who's never had to run a club, so doesn't really understand the complications.

He said talk of a DOF etc .. we run the same structure we've done for the past 8 (?) years or so, our most successful period in our history and people only mention stuff like that when the team is struggling.

Disappointing that he seems reluctant to learn from this Summers mistakes then, especially since hes also hinting he'll move more into the background.

[Dick Van Dyke]

Echo what others have said, cheers for posting all this @PauloPerth. Interesting to read what was said this evening 

[Radford]

Glad the Paul Smith issue was addressed. That's probably what I'd have raised. I believe he deals with all the football administration, which we've seen can catch clubs out in the past. Are they confident they can replace him with another administrator as competent as him and Stewart Duff before him. I hope so. 

[PauloPerth]

infrastructure

the car park remains a big H&S issue. They spend £150k on doing just the top bit, and they will continue to work on it. 

We have had an upturn on commercial income with the road behind the stand being open, e.g. From catering and funerals etc.

The website will likely be another outlay as its needing updated. 

On that, with the e-ticketing system introduced, all 4 stands are now kitted out with wireless coverage. This is with a view to being able to pay by card (app?) in future and make kiosks far more efficient.  Even if we had 10000 at a game, we are very limited to what we can take in by how many kiosks we have and the time to serve folk in a limited 20 minute window.  By moving to more folk paying without cash the hope is that we can generate more income.

The merchandising is an area the club want to improve massively, particularly online. There has been an issue with some sizes of the macron kit but hopefully sorted soon as it's a new supplier thing.  BLK were abit of a nightmare.  We've already sold more of the macron kits I'm pretty sure Stan said.  It's going to tie in with the new website.

Other areas needing money are the hospitality lounges as they bring in a lot of income but are looking very worn. Between £30-£50k.

Finally, and quite fittingly, we just had to spend £20k on a new tractor for the groundsman. 

 

 

[Kyle]

Only a right back and left back to come but it sounds like the club are still interested in taking Shaw. I think there will be more than just full backs before the deadline to be honest.