Jump to content

The St. Mirren FC 2023/24 thread


Recommended Posts

Tony Fitzpatrick, Mr St Mirren.  He always made himself available to chat with fans and I’m sure many have had the chance to be in his company over the years.  I really, really hope it was Tony’s decision to stand down and I wish him best wishes for the future. 
I suspect that after Needham hung Tony out to dry at the SMISA meeting he was always going to go
Suspicious how Needham is still in post and Tony is out.

Hope the fans let the BOD know Tony is Mr St Mirren and is a legend.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Arch Stanton said:

Why do we never use the electronic advertising boards?

Even the soapdodgers are using them tonight.

That’s been an annoyance of mine for years. An absolute no brainer of an investment which would recoup the initial outgoings and start making profit extremely quickly. When Smisa first formed and the members were asked to vote on different investments around the club, digital advertising boards was something I assumed was a given. Pretty certain we are the only club in the top flight not to use them. As you say, Hamilton, Killie and numerous others in the championship use them as well.
 

Someone said they have them for televised games but I really can’t recall ever seeing them. You could have sponsors paying more for getting their adverts shown at half time, or a premium for games on TV. Not to mention that with the adverts constantly rolling around the screens for 90 minutes there is an opportunity for more companies business. Looking around the current advertising boards, not much seems to change year to year. Paisley pubs, some local car garages and a couple of political parties, amongst other small local businesses that seem to have had their advertising boards up for as long as I can remember. Wouldn’t surprise me if some of the companies stopped sponsoring the club years ago and the sign hasn’t been removed. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 28/03/2021 at 20:18, IrishBhoy said:

Tony Fitzpatrick does genuinely seem to be an absolute diamond of a person. I know he gets a bit of stick on here with the memes etc. but hopefully it’s in jest. I mentioned it on the St Mirren thread that a friend of mine owns a small cafe in Paisley, and Tony paid a visit one day just before Covid hit. He ordered some food and a coffee and asked to speak to my friend to see if he would be interested in being part of a group of local small businesses that St Mirren were trying to put together, helping those people less well off in Paisley and surrounding areas. 
 

My friend is actually a Rangers season ticket holder who wouldn’t have been able to pick Tony Fitzpatrick out of a line up of Tony Fitzpatricks before he walked into his cafe that day, but he phoned me the minute that Tony left his shop to tell me what had happened, and was genuinely taken aback by his positivity and sheer will to help others in our community. What is even more commendable is Tony has messaged my friend 3 or 4 times since the start of the pandemic; asking how the business is coping, asking how his family are keeping, offering any assistance to him where he is able to provide it. I’m certain it’s not only my friend that Tony has kept in touch with, and that he does the same to many others, but I think that’s going well above and beyond his role as a representative of St Mirren, and a very good indicator of what a nice man he is. 

This was a post I made on another thread last year, with the news of his retirement I thought it was worth quoting. I’ve never met Tony myself but I’ve genuinely never heard a bad word said about him. I wish him well in his retirement and glad to hear he will still be staying around the club in a different role. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, IrishBhoy said:

This was a post I made on another thread last year, with the news of his retirement I thought it was worth quoting. I’ve never met Tony myself but I’ve genuinely never heard a bad word said about him. I wish him well in his retirement and glad to hear he will still be staying around the club in a different role. 

That's a lovely read, thanks for reposting. It's true: you really only do read amazing stuff about him as a man. As much as I hate the royals/honours system, he'd be deserving of an honour of some sort. Perhaps there's something more appropriate that he could be given. Freedom of Paisley or something like that.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Arch Stanton said:

Well aye, but I personally find them a distraction.

The 2 live home games we've had this season didn't have the electronic boards and, as I've said, I can't ever recall them being used for a Saints game in previous seasons.

There's maybe not room between the stands and pitch?

When we have them there's got to be like a 4ft gap between them and the stand, presumably for emergency access. Obviously they're not allowed to be on the pitch either.

48 minutes ago, IrishBhoy said:

 Pretty certain we are the only club in the top flight not to use them. As you say, Hamilton, Killie and numerous others in the championship use them as well.

 

We don't. I can't think of many clubs that actually have them tbh. 

If you're basing it on BBC Scotland footage it's them that provide it to clubs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

We don't. I can't think of many clubs that actually have them tbh. 

If you're basing it on BBC Scotland footage it's them that provide it to clubs.

I see. Do St Johnstone use them for games live on Sky, as I’m almost certain I’ve seen them at McDiarmid on TV. It seems like a pretty easy hit in terms of bringing in more advertising money, but I can’t claim to have done any actual research to back that up. If most teams aren’t using them then maybe it’s not the money spinner I’m believing it to be. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, AW saint said:

Aberdeen back in for McGrath. Could we actually do some transfer business on Monday. 

The only reason they are back in for McGrath is to get the lad Ramsey back from inside his back pocket. No danger they’re getting 5 million for him while he’s still in there. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When Tony bought the shop in Seedhill from Frank McGarvey he was pretty hands on.

As much as it was a delight to buy a paper or magazine and be served by one of your football heroes, it went to a whole new level when he opened a kitchen...Tony Fitzpatrick would make you a roll n  bacon!

If the shop was quiet he was always happy to spend time talking about the game. After a few months he was back in football (I think he got a job at Livingston) and sold the shop soon after.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Coventry Saint said:

That's a lovely read, thanks for reposting. It's true: you really only do read amazing stuff about him as a man. As much as I hate the royals/honours system, he'd be deserving of an honour of some sort. Perhaps there's something more appropriate that he could be given. Freedom of Paisley or something like that.

 

Apparently you can nominate people for an award under the UK Honours , maybe we should be looking at this ? Tony certainly falls into the MBE category of long term service to the community.

https://www.gov.uk/honours/nominate-someone-in-the-uk

Edited by budmiester1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, budmiester1 said:

Apparently you can nominate people for an award under the UK Honours , maybe we should be looking at this ? Tony certainly falls into the MBE category of long term service to the community.

https://www.gov.uk/honours/nominate-someone-in-the-uk

The honours system is an anachronistic reminder of extreme privilege and a legacy of a brutal colonialist empire.

I have no idea if Fitzpatrick is that way inclined, but I would consider putting someone forward for an honour an insult, not something positive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Urminsky deal is an interesting one. On one hand you could read tons into it, with the nod towards Alnwick leaving and Goodwin needing to see how well the lad fairs in "real competition".

It could, of course, be nothing more than us having another young keeper coming through the ranks and we are doing some rotation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Ric said:

The honours system is an anachronistic reminder of extreme privilege and a legacy of a brutal colonialist empire.

I have no idea if Fitzpatrick is that way inclined, but I would consider putting someone forward for an honour an insult, not something positive.

I get your point Ric and kind of agree, is there something else we could do to honour Tony ? There must be something we can do?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, budmiester1 said:

I get your point Ric and kind of agree, is there something else we could do to honour Tony ? There must be something we can do?

You could get him onto the pitch at half time in April time to lift the "made the top 6" trophy hes been desperate to get his hands on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No mention anywhere of the situation with Curtis Main? When he wasn't in the squad at Tannadice I assumed that his departure was imminent. 10 days on nothing... I wonder if there are personal issues going on. Certainly, with Greive on international duty, if Main is available then you'd expect him to come into the squad today.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, budmiester1 said:

I get your point Ric and kind of agree, is there something else we could do to honour Tony ? There must be something we can do?

Yeah, I fully accept you were just looking for some way to honour the lad for all he's done for the club. I'm just not sure kow-towing to Queenie is the best route.

Statue? Although, aren't statues really meant to commemorate the dead people, rather than the living. Part of the stand being renamed is always an option, although these days if you are willing to "brand" parts of your stadium, you might as well do it through sponsorship and get some cash for it.

I presume, I honestly haven't checked, he's already in the Hall of Fame, so yeah... it does seem like "obvious routes" are not really ideal. To answer your question, I don't know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...