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The St. Mirren FC 2023/24 thread


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If it is Goodwin who seems well liked by Alloa fans and has been successful in keeping them up it is worth noting he only just kept Alloa up on the last day in a league where half the teams seemed  to be actively trying to get relegated. My team being the winners of that race to the bottom. If he does go to St Mirren I hope he does well I was a big fan of his shithousing as a player and he always seems like a reasonably intelligent guy when interviewed.

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It's easy to look at us and reckon we're a shambolic basket case, looking for our 4th manager in 13 months but in reality, we've lost one to a bigger club, one was the most monumental of fuckups by the club (every team has one at one point) and finally Oran Kearney.

From the outside looking in, it strikes as a 'what the f**k, why did they empty him?' scenario but digging in a bit, there's a bit more to it than that.

Kearney has never made any secret that he missed his family and struggled with the commute and leaving the kids behind - he spoke about this publicly on a few occasions. I think most of us had accepted that it was something that would be a work in progress and OK himself had mentioned the possibility of bringing out his family for good in the summer but had reservations about kids going to a new school and leaving pals behind.

I fully get that it's a difficult choice to uproot kids but that's the life of a football manager - particularly one who shows ambition in testing themselves in other countries...and therein lies an issue. He applied for the job twice, we didn't uproot OK, he did so willfully. He came to us in the first instance and interviewed well, just missing out. On the 2nd occasion, we apparently sent for him. If that career path is something you actively want to pursue to any decent level, you have to accept the pitfalls of the role too and that is moving about a lot.

The thing that strikes me as very, very off though and the reason I believe that OK actually was working his ticket out and left the board with no option was the almost 6 weeks of murmurings and speculation leading up to him leaving.

A gentleman on Twitter calling himself 'Irish League insider' posted  6 weeks back that Kearney was 100% going home for good and this was derided by many Saints fans as bollocks (myself included). This guy though was so certain, so cocksure that this WAS going to happen, he offered his twitter account up if it didn't happen (then reneged, the fud) The same gentleman also said that his information was as close to the source as you can get. When Kearney then announced he was staying, it sort of put him to bed and he relented.

But then other things started happening - things that with hindsight, make you wonder WTF was actually going on. Jimmy Nicholl upped sticks and went to Dundee. No prior warning, explanation, no insight as to why or if he was offered a new deal. Kearney played it off as disappointing but there was no indication from SMFC that Jimmy Nicholl did anything other than a great job.

Kearney also wouldn't answer questions on his future until a week or so after the season ended at which point he committed to not leaving. This was understandable though as he had the Dundee Utd match to focus on. A simple 'I'm happy here and have no intentions of leaving' would have sufficed though.

Then Gordon Scott's interview on STV sport - he didn't exactly exude confidence that OK was happy in his living arrangement or in Scotland and did mention that relocation is something they'd like to discuss 'in the future'...again, not '2 weeks from this interview, take it or leave it', he didn't sound confident in OK's happiness but also didn't seem to be pressing the issue publicly.

Coleraine also, were quite clearly holding off and holding off on appointing a new manager - 6 weeks now! When it seemed that OK was finally staying at Saints, they then went to Dundalk for permission to talk to their assistant and that very quickly fell apart...since then, all quiet. Chairman since saying that they'd like to speak to OK if indeed he does leave us.

The only question left is how it took 'Irish League Insider' 4 weeks longer than he expected to get to the outcome he KNEW '100%' was going to happen! The only part of his prediction yet to pass is that OK is not the Coleraine manager yet. 

My purely speculative opinion  is that OK DID plan to go after the Dundee Utd match but something changed in the intervening 4 weeks at one or both sides that made both parties happy to continue as is.....and then changed back again. leading to the events of the last 5 or 6 days which evidently became very, very embittered on both sides.

 

Edited by djchapsticks
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It's easy to look at us and reckon we're a shambolic basket case, looking for our 4th manager in 13 months but in reality, we've lost one to a bigger club, one was the most monumental of fuckups by the club (every team has one at one point) and finally Oran Kearney.
From the outside looking in, it strikes as a 'what the f**k, why did they empty him?' scenario but digging in a bit, there's a bit more to it than that.
Kearney has never made any secret that he missed his family and struggled with the commute and leaving the kids behind - he spoke about this publicly on a few occasions. I think most of us had accepted that it was something that would be a work in progress and OK himself had mentioned the possibility of bringing out his family for good in the summer but had reservations about kids going to a new school and leaving pals behind.
I fully get that it's a difficult choice to uproot kids but that's the life of a football manager - particularly one who shows ambition in testing themselves in other countries...and therein lies an issue. He applied for the job twice, we didn't uproot OK, he did so willfully. He came to us in the first instance and interviewed well, just missing out. On the 2nd occasion, we apparently sent for him. If that career path is something you actively want to pursue to any decent level, you have to accept the pitfalls of the role too and that is moving about a lot.
The thing that strikes me as very, very off though and the reason I believe that OK actually was working his ticket out and left the board with no option was the almost 6 weeks of murmurings and speculation leading up to him leaving.
A gentleman on Twitter calling himself 'Irish League insider' posted  6 weeks back that Kearney was 100% going home for good and this was derided by many Saints fans as bollocks (myself included). This guy though was so certain, so cocksure that this WAS going to happen, he offered his twitter account up if it didn't happen (then reneged, the fud) The same gentleman also said that his information was as close to the source as you can get. When Kearney then announced he was staying, it sort of put him to bed and he relented.
But then other things started happening - things that with hindsight, make you wonder WTF was actually going on. Jimmy Nicholl upped sticks and went to Dundee. No prior warning, explanation, no insight as to why or if he was offered a new deal. Kearney played it off as disappointing but there was no indication from SMFC that Jimmy Nicholl did anything other than a great job.
Kearney also wouldn't answer questions on his future until a week or so after the season ended at which point he committed to not leaving. This was understandable though as he had the Dundee Utd match to focus on. A simple 'I'm happy here and have no intentions of leaving' would have sufficed though.
Then Gordon Scott's interview on STV sport - he didn't exactly exude confidence that OK was happy in his living arrangement or in Scotland and did mention that relocation is something they'd like to discuss 'in the future'...again, not '2 weeks from this interview, take it or leave it', he didn't sound confident in OK's happiness but also didn't seem to be pressing the issue publicly.
Coleraine also, were quite clearly holding off and holding off on appointing a new manager - 6 weeks now! When it seemed that OK was finally staying at Saints, they then went to Dundalk for permission to talk to their assistant and that very quickly fell apart...since then, all quiet. Chairman since saying that they'd like to speak to OK if indeed he does leave us.
The only question left is how it took 'Irish League Insider' 4 weeks longer than he expected to get to the outcome he KNEW '100%' was going to happen! The only part of his prediction yet to pass is that OK is not the Coleraine manager yet. 
My purely speculative opinion  is that OK DID plan to go after the Dundee Utd match but something changed in the intervening 4 weeks at one or both sides that made both parties happy to continue as is.....and then changed back again. leading to the events of the last 5 or 6 days which evidently became very, very embittered on both sides.
 
So what is your point
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5 hours ago, djchapsticks said:

 

It's easy to look at us and reckon we're a shambolic basket case, looking for our 4th manager in 13 months but in reality, we've lost one to a bigger club, one was the most monumental of fuckups by the club (every team has one at one point) and finally Oran Kearney.

From the outside looking in, it strikes as a 'what the f**k, why did they empty him?' scenario but digging in a bit, there's a bit more to it than that.

Kearney has never made any secret that he missed his family and struggled with the commute and leaving the kids behind - he spoke about this publicly on a few occasions. I think most of us had accepted that it was something that would be a work in progress and OK himself had mentioned the possibility of bringing out his family for good in the summer but had reservations about kids going to a new school and leaving pals behind.

I fully get that it's a difficult choice to uproot kids but that's the life of a football manager - particularly one who shows ambition in testing themselves in other countries...and therein lies an issue. He applied for the job twice, we didn't uproot OK, he did so willfully. He came to us in the first instance and interviewed well, just missing out. On the 2nd occasion, we apparently sent for him. If that career path is something you actively want to pursue to any decent level, you have to accept the pitfalls of the role too and that is moving about a lot.

The thing that strikes me as very, very off though and the reason I believe that OK actually was working his ticket out and left the board with no option was the almost 6 weeks of murmurings and speculation leading up to him leaving.

A gentleman on Twitter calling himself 'Irish League insider' posted  6 weeks back that Kearney was 100% going home for good and this was derided by many Saints fans as bollocks (myself included). This guy though was so certain, so cocksure that this WAS going to happen, he offered his twitter account up if it didn't happen (then reneged, the fud) The same gentleman also said that his information was as close to the source as you can get. When Kearney then announced he was staying, it sort of put him to bed and he relented.

But then other things started happening - things that with hindsight, make you wonder WTF was actually going on. Jimmy Nicholl upped sticks and went to Dundee. No prior warning, explanation, no insight as to why or if he was offered a new deal. Kearney played it off as disappointing but there was no indication from SMFC that Jimmy Nicholl did anything other than a great job.

Kearney also wouldn't answer questions on his future until a week or so after the season ended at which point he committed to not leaving. This was understandable though as he had the Dundee Utd match to focus on. A simple 'I'm happy here and have no intentions of leaving' would have sufficed though.

Then Gordon Scott's interview on STV sport - he didn't exactly exude confidence that OK was happy in his living arrangement or in Scotland and did mention that relocation is something they'd like to discuss 'in the future'...again, not '2 weeks from this interview, take it or leave it', he didn't sound confident in OK's happiness but also didn't seem to be pressing the issue publicly.

Coleraine also, were quite clearly holding off and holding off on appointing a new manager - 6 weeks now! When it seemed that OK was finally staying at Saints, they then went to Dundalk for permission to talk to their assistant and that very quickly fell apart...since then, all quiet. Chairman since saying that they'd like to speak to OK if indeed he does leave us.

The only question left is how it took 'Irish League Insider' 4 weeks longer than he expected to get to the outcome he KNEW '100%' was going to happen! The only part of his prediction yet to pass is that OK is not the Coleraine manager yet. 

My purely speculative opinion  is that OK DID plan to go after the Dundee Utd match but something changed in the intervening 4 weeks at one or both sides that made both parties happy to continue as is.....and then changed back again. leading to the events of the last 5 or 6 days which evidently became very, very embittered on both sides.

 

Far, far too sensible and logical a post for a football forum!!!!! but can't do anything but agree with everything you say. As much as OK did to keep us up last season, and as much as he appears to be a thoroughly decent guy, I can't help but feel that between them OK & Coleraine tried to "play" the club one way or another. Who knows if we will ever find out if they won, lost or drew in that process, but all sides can now move on preparations for the new season and life in general, thankfully.

 

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1 hour ago, DXBBud said:

Far, far too sensible and logical a post for a football forum!!!!! but can't do anything but agree with everything you say. As much as OK did to keep us up last season, and as much as he appears to be a thoroughly decent guy, I can't help but feel that between them OK & Coleraine tried to "play" the club one way or another. Who knows if we will ever find out if they won, lost or drew in that process, but all sides can now move on preparations for the new season and life in general, thankfully.

Yep. It's a shame that both sides have fallen apart to get to the point it ended at. He should have gone with his head held high and the club's best wishes and its a shame that everything deteriorated so much that we wouldn't even offer him that. 

GLS is always going to feel the brunt of our very fickle support on this one, a sizeable section of whom believe that paying £12 a month into a kitty makes you a co-owner and entitles you to be privvy to all boardroom discussions.

He must have known this would not be a popular decision but reading between the lines, I'm not sure it could have ended any other way as it looked like the whole arrangement was on borrowed time anyway. 

Edited by djchapsticks
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1 minute ago, GAD said:

I wasn't absolutely certain Kearney had snaked us until I read his "poor wee me" statement on Twitter. After he released that there was no doubt.

I was the complete opposite- I was pretty sure there had been underhand behaviour from GS and Gus before yesterday's 2 very differing statements from Ok and the club. After reading both and logically thinking about things,  I'm now 100% convinced of where the blame lies. 

 

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7 hours ago, djchapsticks said:

 

It's easy to look at us and reckon we're a shambolic basket case, looking for our 4th manager in 13 months but in reality, we've lost one to a bigger club, one was the most monumental of fuckups by the club (every team has one at one point) and finally Oran Kearney.

From the outside looking in, it strikes as a 'what the f**k, why did they empty him?' scenario but digging in a bit, there's a bit more to it than that.

Kearney has never made any secret that he missed his family and struggled with the commute and leaving the kids behind - he spoke about this publicly on a few occasions. I think most of us had accepted that it was something that would be a work in progress and OK himself had mentioned the possibility of bringing out his family for good in the summer but had reservations about kids going to a new school and leaving pals behind.

I fully get that it's a difficult choice to uproot kids but that's the life of a football manager - particularly one who shows ambition in testing themselves in other countries...and therein lies an issue. He applied for the job twice, we didn't uproot OK, he did so willfully. He came to us in the first instance and interviewed well, just missing out. On the 2nd occasion, we apparently sent for him. If that career path is something you actively want to pursue to any decent level, you have to accept the pitfalls of the role too and that is moving about a lot.

The thing that strikes me as very, very off though and the reason I believe that OK actually was working his ticket out and left the board with no option was the almost 6 weeks of murmurings and speculation leading up to him leaving.

A gentleman on Twitter calling himself 'Irish League insider' posted  6 weeks back that Kearney was 100% going home for good and this was derided by many Saints fans as bollocks (myself included). This guy though was so certain, so cocksure that this WAS going to happen, he offered his twitter account up if it didn't happen (then reneged, the fud) The same gentleman also said that his information was as close to the source as you can get. When Kearney then announced he was staying, it sort of put him to bed and he relented.

But then other things started happening - things that with hindsight, make you wonder WTF was actually going on. Jimmy Nicholl upped sticks and went to Dundee. No prior warning, explanation, no insight as to why or if he was offered a new deal. Kearney played it off as disappointing but there was no indication from SMFC that Jimmy Nicholl did anything other than a great job.

Kearney also wouldn't answer questions on his future until a week or so after the season ended at which point he committed to not leaving. This was understandable though as he had the Dundee Utd match to focus on. A simple 'I'm happy here and have no intentions of leaving' would have sufficed though.

Then Gordon Scott's interview on STV sport - he didn't exactly exude confidence that OK was happy in his living arrangement or in Scotland and did mention that relocation is something they'd like to discuss 'in the future'...again, not '2 weeks from this interview, take it or leave it', he didn't sound confident in OK's happiness but also didn't seem to be pressing the issue publicly.

Coleraine also, were quite clearly holding off and holding off on appointing a new manager - 6 weeks now! When it seemed that OK was finally staying at Saints, they then went to Dundalk for permission to talk to their assistant and that very quickly fell apart...since then, all quiet. Chairman since saying that they'd like to speak to OK if indeed he does leave us.

The only question left is how it took 'Irish League Insider' 4 weeks longer than he expected to get to the outcome he KNEW '100%' was going to happen! The only part of his prediction yet to pass is that OK is not the Coleraine manager yet. 

My purely speculative opinion  is that OK DID plan to go after the Dundee Utd match but something changed in the intervening 4 weeks at one or both sides that made both parties happy to continue as is.....and then changed back again. leading to the events of the last 5 or 6 days which evidently became very, very embittered on both sides.

 

That's the way I see it and have wrote Oran played a blinder £100,000 over 3 years is a lot of money even a percentage pay off will be a lot of money for me this was Oran's game plan sadly. Someone  wrote at meeting Nichol telling him he was surprised at him leaving St Mirren. Nichol answered he did not want to leave St Mirren that Oran could not guarantee he would be here at the end of the season. 

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8 minutes ago, weetoonlad said:

Am sure he will be in place by end of week . Good luck to him if he does go very much his own man . doesn't suffer fools very lightly . but am 100% sure yous have finely replaced Jack Ross with someone who can take the club forward

One thing he will get is a huge amount of backing from the support. Our supporters have proven that they will back the right person to the absolute hilt, even if results aren't great, as long as they can see progress. Goodwin will be as respectful to the support as Kearney and Jack Ross were, and the fans will reciprocate.

Re suffering fools gladly, I don't think we have many at the club now, the squad is thin but they are almost all good pros. There's a couple of players - Heaton, Kellermann - who are on contracts and who will be given a short while to prove themselves, but they may well be out the door sooner rather than later. I could imagine Kellermann finding his way to the likes of Alloa if Goodwin wanted to throw them a bone, and he'd be ok at that level. 

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2 hours ago, McG said:

It’s Jim Goodwin day today.

Have met Jim a few times, including partnering him in, and winning!, the St Mirren golf day a few years ago. A really nice bloke to spend time with, nothing like his ‘hardman’ player persona, and I’m guessing here, Scott Brown and Neil Lennon would be in the same boat. Would be sound if you were talking to them. During the round at Paisley GC, Jim spoke passionately about young players and the coaching he thought they should receive. He had an aura about him that suggested management would suit him. 

Then we concentrated on our golf, won the tournament, and basked in the glory.... and good fortune that saw our team draw Jim as our playing partner. He must be about a 10 handicap player, hits a sweet ball... so if he gets the job, the fan council golf day will have a good player back on their books.

As an aside, for Accies fans - last year at Mar Hall GC, I was paired with Brian Rice. That guy is some player, must be about 8 or 9 handicap standard. So, if you guys have a golf day fundraiser too, you want your manager in your team! He was a top bloke to talk to, really friendly and down to earth. Was sad to see him leave, as any player I spoke to that day spoke highly of him. Anyway.... back on topic....

Gie’s a signing! 😀

Edited by pozbaird
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29 minutes ago, Coventry Saint said:

One thing he will get is a huge amount of backing from the support. Our supporters have proven that they will back the right person to the absolute hilt, even if results aren't great, as long as they can see progress. Goodwin will be as respectful to the support as Kearney and Jack Ross were, and the fans will reciprocate.

Re suffering fools gladly, I don't think we have many at the club now, the squad is thin but they are almost all good pros. There's a couple of players - Heaton, Kellermann - who are on contracts and who will be given a short while to prove themselves, but they may well be out the door sooner rather than later. I could imagine Kellermann finding his way to the likes of Alloa if Goodwin wanted to throw them a bone, and he'd be ok at that level. 

I think Heaton has burnt his bridges after that tweet last week about "things getting better". We all thought he'd got a new club, didn't realise he was clearly talking about Oran leaving. Very disrespectful, sooner he leaves the better.

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I wasn't absolutely certain Kearney had snaked us until I read his "poor wee me" statement on Twitter. After he released that there was no doubt.
That and his wife saying we were really looking forward to next season to, aye right. Talk about laying it on thick.

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