The St. Mirren FC 2023/24 thread

[pozbaird]

Apart from the club not realising a long standing infrastructure issue existed and no-one bothered to service a generator, and no-one realising emergency lighting needed fixed - with this seemingly being in great part the reason we could only allow a risible 1039 fans into the ground while others had far, far more…. Apart from an utterly shambolic completely closed main stand ‘red zone’, situation it’s all good isn’t it? No, hold on, the annual season ticket fuckwittery, still not in posession of an actual season ticket, Digby Brown patches ironed-on over Skyview ones (hold your new shirt up, you can see em’), the annual ‘no St Mirren strips on sale while kids run around for weeks in the latest Old Firm, Barca, or EPL shirt’, it’s all good, isn’t it? No, hold on, there’s no catering in the stadium, no away fans, a shambles as we exit the busy car park after the St Johnstone game in the opposite direction to every week in over twelve years. There’s the erection of too-high barriers on the vomitory tunnels that make a ‘fit for purpose modern stadium’ suddenly have restricted view seats, it’s all good, isn’t it? No, fcuk, forgot about the long ball hoofball, the pumping at the hands of an ugly sister, no wins, no threat, no coherent game plan, the stupid sendings off, the sending a young talent with a goal in him on loan to a rival, and Main running around like Obika - but without the threat of Obika or the good song, and a team assembled, mostly, it seems, because they are players who have been around the league and are reasonably well known names. Apart, from that, it really is all good. Oh, apart from GLS’ statements about the work that went on delivering an ‘enchanced matchday experience for our supporters’… WhatTheActualFuck is that…my matchday experience so far at two league games has been even worse than usual. Black painted vomitories and a St Mirren logo stuck on the side? Oh aye, I nearly wet my pants with the excitement of the experience. It’s all good though. Now, admittedly, in the interests of fairness, a few things probably blind-sided the club in regard to shirt sponsorship or Interstadia (were shit for years though and clearly should have been replaced)… but whoever was to blame it ultimately still affects us as fans.

Shambles of a club at present.

Edited September 1, 2021 by pozbaird

[Billy Jean King]

Having just read the last 100 pages of full on drama queen knicker drenching all I can say is thank the lord I went to bed at 11pm. What a state to get into over something that didn't actually happen.

[sergie's no1 fan]

1 hour ago, GAD said:

Kept our best player, signed a midfeilder, which we needed, and unloaded a squad player who has shown nothing to suggest he'll be anything other than that in the 80 odd appearances he's had for the club (but he never gets a chance!!!). I think some of you made a bit of a c**t of yourselves last night over some Twitter rumours and have just decided to double down.

Thankfully I was asleep and missed all the drama unfold.

Keeping McGrath is a bonus for me, was way too late in the window to replace him. 

Scott Allan + a speedy headless chicken and some cash would have softened the blow but I'd rather have kept McGrath and shafted JR for once (waiting for the club to tweet this morning that the deal went through last minute, so JR gets the final laugh again).

Things are a shambles just now but we have kept McCarthy and McGrath and signed another Irish baller by the sounds of it.

[glenburn bud]

5 hours ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

Apparently you are in for Sherwin Seedorf

Is he currently a free agent ?

 

[sergie's no1 fan]

1 hour ago, houston_bud said:

If you're unhappy about our transfer window and want cheering up, head over to the St Johnstone thread. 

Aye that's crazy. 

For all the talk of McCann's value of at least 3million starting price, and Ric reeling a few in with his McGrath chat   kind of ironic.

Obviously we should focus on our own woes but it could have been far worse.

[Ric]

I am going to start this post with Goodwin is far more experienced and (presumably) a far better football manager than I ever would be.

However, and now the window is shut, the only addition I am genuinely positive about is Tanser. The rest of the additions are particularly uninspiring. Main is, to be charitable, ineffective. Kiltie looks lost. Dunne is a bit of a gamble, and Power is just another "enforcer" that is ageing, losing pace and will become a liability. We'll need to see what Ronan will be like, but I'm not holding my breath.

I also do not understand why we are willing to prop up our rivals. No offence, but f**k both Hibs and St Johnstone, we should not be dealing with these teams unless it's players we want to come into our club. Sending MacPherson out to the farmers is quite simply one of the stupidest decisions I've seen Goodwin make. It's not that he's such a great player that we can't lose him, but he's far from shit and it definitely improves their squad.

McGrath not going in the window is fine as far as I am concerned, it looks very likely that we'd not get the money we needed to replace him, but the "McGrath pregnancy" continues, it was either going to be terminated or we are in for 9 months of annoyance. The PCA talks will start 'kicking' in about 6 months time.

I'll finish this post by saying Goodwin knows better than I, but he's making it pretty difficult to get behind "his vision".

[houston_bud]

12 minutes ago, sergie's no1 fan said:

Aye that's crazy. 

For all the talk of McCann's value of at least 3million starting price, and Ric reeling a few in with his McGrath chat   kind of ironic.

Obviously we should focus on our own woes but it could have been far worse.

Anyone that thought they were getting £3m up front for McCann is deluded. There might be a decent sell on (there certainly should be), which is how clubs like ourselves and St Johnstone will operate. I'm also not convinced the two cup wins would have added that much to any St Johnstone player's value for teams in England. They'll look at what a player has done over a period of time and make a judgment. Hence why Edouard still went for a good fee despite being pretty poor recently.

As for our window, most people were content to get a lot of business done early, we signed some reasonable players with experience of this division. I wonder if we'd brought in Power, Main, Tanser and Kiltie at 11pm last night - rather than a month ago - if everyone would've been happy and excited.

I agree that there are areas where we are lacking and I'm still to be convinced of 3-5-2, but I don't think we're anywhere near panic stations.   

[Ric]

I really hope, when the shit hits the fan, and we're St Mirren so there is not a season where the fan 'remains unshitty', that Goodwin doesn't use the excuse of "if only he'd managed to get [xxxxxxxx] (insert some player here, probably Kennedy) then things would be better", because he's had a fucking long time to sort out this window, he was bumping his gums in April about how he had a masterplan and when we saw three players announced very early it looked like he did.

There is still the free transfer market, and Goodwin being Goodwin, I fully expect some "random Euro jobber"™ to rock up in Paisley at some point.

[buddie06smfc]

12 minutes ago, Ric said:

I really hope, when the shit hits the fan, and we're St Mirren so there is not a season where the fan 'remains unshitty', that Goodwin doesn't use the excuse of "if only he'd managed to get [xxxxxxxx] (insert some player here, probably Kennedy) then things would be better", because he's had a fucking long time to sort out this window, he was bumping his gums in April about how he had a masterplan and when we saw three players announced very early it looked like he did.

There is still the free transfer market, and Goodwin being Goodwin, I fully expect some "random Euro jobber"™ to rock up in Paisley at some point.

I think shit hit the fan a long time ago this season already. I don't think it is in Goodwin's nature to complain like that, we had the debacle involving Magennis this time last year which dealt Goodwin a worse hand than he has now, as we lost a player, & he got on with it then. He has been well backed again and has made obvious moves to fill the gap we currently have on the right wing. Hopefully there is a free agent out there we can pick up within the next month to assist us for the season. 

Jack Ross, however, is a p***k. I will take great delight in seeing it fall apart for him at Hibs. 

[ZingaliMan]

We are missing pace concerning that's not fixed. McPherson I'm happy for hope he goes and shows what he is capable of doing as he is not getting a chance under Goodwin.  

[Ric]

4 minutes ago, buddie06smfc said:

Jack Ross, however, is a p***k. I will take great delight in seeing it fall apart for him at Hibs. 

I don't blame Ross specifically, but he must know that constantly returning to the St Mirren well is fucking over the club who, in part, are responsible for his success. What's more we shouldn't be entertaining him, unless it's for premium value.

That said, it's the loan move to Perth for MacPherson that really rips my mittens. What the actual f**k are we doing by sending players who are clearly capable of playing in the Premiership to our rivals? Untried youth player? Ageing player with contract running out? Fine. A youth prospect who is more than capable of coming back to haunt us (although not specifically in games against us) and who, I would guess, has a point to prove is not the sort of player we want in the same league.

[Lex]

I really hope, when the shit hits the fan, and we're St Mirren so there is not a season where the fan 'remains unshitty', that Goodwin doesn't use the excuse of "if only he'd managed to get [xxxxxxxx] (insert some player here, probably Kennedy) then things would be better", because he's had a fucking long time to sort out this window, he was bumping his gums in April about how he had a masterplan and when we saw three players announced very early it looked like he did.
There is still the free transfer market, and Goodwin being Goodwin, I fully expect some "random Euro jobber"[emoji769] to rock up in Paisley at some point.

Given your prediction of ‘death by a thousand cuts and relegation’ last season your latest predictions of doom have me quite cheered this morning.
After all that caper and counter caper we signed one first team player and lost none. Not a bad month at all in my opinion. Does mean McGrath will be signing a PCA with someone in January and either leaving for nothing or peanuts, but at least he will be here for a few more months. McCarthy is in the same situation.
I think overall our squad is slightly stronger than the one we had last year. The one big loss is Durmus but Tanser has already shown he can be a regular provider of assists on the left and he offers more defensively. We will need one of the strikers to provide regular goals the way Obika did, none of them have started the season well which is a slight concern.
It is a stronger league this season so I can’t see us improving on 7th, we will be doing well to match it. Think we will have enough to keep our head above water though, which in itself would be a good season for us. Not something we have done often in recent times.

[Coventry Saint]

That's Cammy done at St Mirren. He's out of contract next season and there's no way he'll be extending after this. 

Great move for him; being given a chance to prove himself in a better team for a better manager. If he does well, they might offer him a PCA. If he struggles, I'm sure he'll still get a top flight gig next season. 

Or maybe Goodwin's replacement will try to recall him in January, if that's even an option

[GAD]

Do people really think MacPherson is going to Perth to do anything other than sit on the bench unless there are a few injuries? He isn't going to play ahead of Craig and Davidson.

[NorthBank]

Great news we have kept McGrath and hopefully Ronan can take over the JDH role although if we continue with the hoofball then we do not need someone who can bring the ball out from the back.

Disappointed but not surprised about Cammy. If I was sitting on the bench every week realising Erhahon was getting a game ahead of me I'd be off as well.

[Mainstand Sweary Mob]

Is he currently a free agent ?
 

As far as I know he is as wasn't extended at motherwell. Didn't see him play. He is fast, not sure on end product and if he can play RWB as that is what we fucking needed. Haha

[Coventry Saint]

Just now, NorthBank said:

Great news we have kept McGrath and hopefully Ronan can take over the JDH role although if we continue with the hoofball then we do not need someone who can bring the ball out from the back.

Disappointed but not surprised about Cammy. If I was sitting on the bench every week realising Erhahon was getting a game ahead of me I'd be off as well.

On the plus side, Ronan will hopefully keep Ethan on the bench now (when Power's available.)

[Ric]

1 minute ago, Lex said:

Given your prediction of ‘death by a thousand cuts and relegation’ last season your latest predictions of doom have me quite cheered this morning.

Just for clarity, the comment was made when we were rooted the bottom of the league, suffering numerous call offs due to covid and had to bring in Zlamal. We'd had a run of bad luck the type that's normally associated with a relegation season. What's more, it was a "fear of" more than a prediction, and once the situation improved I was happy to accept it wouldn't be the case.

These comments are all in this thread, feel free to double check, but please do not misrepresent a very contextual comment.

1 minute ago, Lex said:

I think overall our squad is slightly stronger than the one we had last year. The one big loss is Durmus but Tanser has already shown he can be a regular provider of assists on the left and he offers more defensively. We will need one of the strikers to provide regular goals the way Obika did, none of them have started the season well which is a slight concern.
It is a stronger league this season so I can’t see us improving on 7th, we will be doing well to match it. Think we will have enough to keep our head above water though, which in itself would be a good season for us. Not something we have done often in recent times.

Tanser, yes, good. In terms of overall, with McGrath staying I'd say it's comparable. I understand taking on Kiltie and Dunne, both I would wager are seen as gambles for different reasons. Main is mistake though. You don't add to a front line that contains no goals, a man who is known for not scoring goals.

The jury is out on Ronan, we'll just need to see.

You've not mentioned what you think of the MacPherson loan, or the late window hawking of McGrath.

 

[Ric]

7 minutes ago, Coventry Saint said:

That's Cammy done at St Mirren. He's out of contract next season and there's no way he'll be extending after this.

One of our rivals gets to have one of our players without a transfer fee, and possibly with us covering some of his wages.

Brilliant bit of business.

[glenburn bud]

2 minutes ago, Coventry Saint said:

That's Cammy done at St Mirren. He's out of contract next season and there's no way he'll be extending after this. 

Great move for him; being given a chance to prove himself in a better team for a better manager. If he does well, they might offer him a PCA. If he struggles, I'm sure he'll still get a top flight gig next season. 

Or maybe Goodwin's replacement will try to recall him in January, if that's even an option

In truth the only signing to start well and impress has been Tanser.  Power has been a liability thus far Kiltie a ghost, Brophy & Main get no service other than the odd hoof ball so it’s difficult to judge them with the system Goodwin is attempting to play.