The St. Mirren FC 2022/23 thread

[smellthepaw]

9 minutes ago, pozbaird said:

Again, what are the issues you are still experiencing that affect us, the fans. We know you have issues. Start explaining exactly what they are. Why are they ongoing, why hasn’t Tony, or anyone addressed them? You told us they were long standing, they shouldn’t have come as a surprise to you. Since Obika relegated Hearts, what have the club been doing in the lengthy period between then and now to avoid the current roadblock between club and council with the season already underway?

Why do you keep saying stuff about ‘once Holyrood relaxes restrictions’…. They fcuking well HAVE relaxed restrictions, that’s why a League 1 club with only three stands will have 3,500 fans. Motherwell and Hibs about 6500. Junior clubs on a par with us for fan figures - a top flight modern stadium club, and the Old Firm on about 22,000 heading to FULL stadiums?

Start writing your next statement for the St Johnstone game now, without using the words ‘long, standing, issues, Tony, Council, frustrated, First, Minister, hopefully…’. Go on, do it.

They need to address to the fans this week that they are working towards getting three full stands for the St Johnstone game, nothing less. If Glasgow City Council can sanction full capacity grounds in a city that was in a longer extended lockdown than the rest of country, Falkirk for example and the juniors being sanctioned bigger crowds, how to f**k can we not get on this level?????

[djchapsticks]

37 minutes ago, Buttocks Brown said:

Looks like the Main Stand won't be open to fans for the St Johnstone game on August 28th. The Chairman in today's PDE:

 

That's fucking embarrassing.

'I'm as frustrated as any fan' is disingenuous pish from someone who is in a position that he'll attend every week without question.

This cloak and dagger nonsense really needs to stop. The issues in the main stand have almost taken on a life of their own in terms of speculation if they are so devastating that they can't be clarified.

It also seems to put to bed that it's a 'training ground equipment' or 'red zone' issue as surely something as simple as these can be resolved easily and definitely by the St. Johnstone game (given the red zone should no longer exist by then) which we've already written off the main stand for.

So they need to get to answering.

[buddie06smfc]

Even at this stage I’m sure the club could just say - all season ticket holders can get entry.

Main stand ticket holders go to north stand.

2,800 split between 5,000 seats seems about the same ratio other clubs seem to be having.

In theory yes but then we have the issue of a seat behind the goal being significantly less in terms of cost than those seats in the main stand. I can’t remember by how much but the south stand tickets don’t include old firm games which won’t give a fair comparison.

There’s no timescales on how long the main stand will be shut off for. I’d be fine attending behind the goals as id like to get back to matchdays, for now at least. After that we’d really need back to our own seats if the go ahead is given by the council to house supporters as St Mirren see fit.

I’m only comparing the pleb seats in the main stand, there’s the comfy arse brigade on top of that who would stand to lose out more. Not least the comfort of a padded seat.

[Bobby_F]

15 minutes ago, buddie06smfc said:

In theory yes but then we have the issue of a seat behind the goal being significantly less in terms of cost than those seats in the main stand. I can’t remember by how much but the south stand tickets don’t include old firm games which won’t give a fair comparison.

There’s no timescales on how long the main stand will be shut off for. I’d be fine attending behind the goals as id like to get back to matchdays, for now at least. After that we’d really need back to our own seats if the go ahead is given by the council to house supporters as St Mirren see fit.

I’m only comparing the pleb seats in the main stand, there’s the comfy arse brigade on top of that who would stand to lose out more. Not least the comfort of a padded seat.

I was just meaning for the Hearts game.

After that, all 4 stands should be available for home/away fans.

[ZingaliMan]

12 hours ago, djchapsticks said:

You seem to be spoiling for an argument with me here. I was replying to FTOF who provided a link on how to login and I was thanking him for providing it as I hadn't had the chance to actually do anything with it before now and wasn't even aware of what needed to be done.

I don't appreciate you insinuating I'm pulling an 'I'm alright Jack' attitude given I've been vocally ultra critical of how the club has handled the entire seating scenario in the last 2 or 3 weeks.

Not al all sorry you see it like that. 

[FTOF]

24 minutes ago, buddie06smfc said:

In theory yes but then we have the issue of a seat behind the goal being significantly less in terms of cost than those seats in the main stand. I can’t remember by how much but the south stand tickets don’t include old firm games which won’t give a fair comparison.

There’s no timescales on how long the main stand will be shut off for. I’d be fine attending behind the goals as id like to get back to matchdays, for now at least. After that we’d really need back to our own seats if the go ahead is given by the council to house supporters as St Mirren see fit.

I’m only comparing the pleb seats in the main stand, there’s the comfy arse brigade on top of that who would stand to lose out more. Not least the comfort of a padded seat.

As one of the "comfy arse brigade", I could just about put up with the North stand , if other clubs weren't being granted full capacities and we had received a suitable explanation as to why the Main Stand can't be used for the Fakes game.

I decided I'd fucking had enough and fired off an e-mail to the club voicing my concerns. Not that I'm expecting a reply mind you. 

Edited August 5, 2021 by FTOF

[tree house tam]

From the outside looking in, like every fan trying to get in to your mainstand, this all looks very tinpot.

[pozbaird]

Just now, FTOF said:

As one of the "comfy arse brigade", I could just about put up with the North stand , if other clubs weren't being granted full capacities and we had received a suitable explanation as to why the Main Stand can't be used for the Fakes game.

I decided I'd fucking had enough and fired off an e-mail to the club voicing my concerns. Not that I'm expecting a reply mind you. Especially since I've just received an undeliverable message for one of the addresses on the Official website!

My e-mails to the club went unanswered. My mate’s e-mails to the club went unanswered. I did however get a prompt, clear, and explanatory reply from the SLOs, who, unlike the club, appear to understand the concept and importance of communication. 

[buddie06smfc]

6 minutes ago, FTOF said:

As one of the "comfy arse brigade", I could just about put up with the North stand , if other clubs weren't being granted full capacities and we had received a suitable explanation as to why the Main Stand can't be used for the Fakes game.

I decided I'd fucking had enough and fired off an e-mail to the club voicing my concerns. Not that I'm expecting a reply mind you. 

I suspect the concourse issue will be the reasoning behind it - I would imagine your best bet of getting a reply would be if the BBC Scotland reporter at the game on Saturday manages to get an interview with one of the board. 

Incidentally, does anyone know if match day hospitality is allowed? They don't make use of the concourses within the main stand there so if allowed they should be able to house some supporters and it would have pub-like restrictions indoors? Or has that succumbed to the red zone as well?

[djchapsticks]

1 minute ago, pozbaird said:

My e-mails to the club went unanswered. My mate’s e-mails to the club went unanswered. I did however get a prompt, clear, and explanatory reply from the SLOs, who, unlike the club, appear to understand the concept and importance of communication. 

Which prompted a lengthy twitter debate with myself and a former board member on Saturday. (Which to be fair, several others later had their tuppence in).

The general jist was that I'd mentioned SMiSA is supposed to have a pretty deep and diverse pool of people and they'd always said that in certain circumstances, they'd draw on people within that group. I'm sure if the club put out official confirmation that they were looking for a volunteer or two to arrange a system that could book seats in as groups, the fanbase would have replied in kind.

The former board member then said 'if you think something could be done better by yourself or someone else, email the club with your suggestions' which prompted a lot of laughs given the debacle of folk waiting 3-4 weeks for a reply regarding season tickets.

Josh Magennis (a guy who has had his fair share of run-ins with the club) then weighed in and said that he'd actually gotten in touch and would have been happy to help set a seating arrangement out (even showing in diagrams how you can double seat uptake in a small area without breaking any guidelines) and funnily enough, it got completely ignored.

The person in question took a bit of umbrage at me suggesting that those running the club weren't trying hard enough to resolve this and I was assured that they were working as hard as they can. I used Motherwell as an example and got told 'they have a larger admin staff', I used Dundee as an example and got nothing back. I'm guessing they and Falkirk also outstrip us for administrative employees...

But seriously, what else are you meant to think? It's not been a good look for anyone involved and it honestly wasn't a difficult fix, given clubs with far less scope to do so than us are managing it.

[pozbaird]

1 minute ago, buddie06smfc said:

I suspect the concourse issue will be the reasoning behind it - I would imagine your best bet of getting a reply would be if the BBC Scotland reporter at the game on Saturday manages to get an interview with one of the board. 

Incidentally, does anyone know if match day hospitality is allowed? They don't make use of the concourses within the main stand there so if allowed they should be able to house some supporters and it would have pub-like restrictions indoors? Or has that succumbed to the red zone as well?

As a Denver Broncos fan, since Peyton Manning retired, I’ve endured multiple seasons of red zone woes causing me grief. Never thought it would happen in Paisley too.

[pozbaird]

10 minutes ago, djchapsticks said:

Which prompted a lengthy twitter debate with myself and a former board member on Saturday. (Which to be fair, several others later had their tuppence in).

The general jist was that I'd mentioned SMiSA is supposed to have a pretty deep and diverse pool of people and they'd always said that in certain circumstances, they'd draw on people within that group. I'm sure if the club put out official confirmation that they were looking for a volunteer or two to arrange a system that could book seats in as groups, the fanbase would have replied in kind.

The former board member then said 'if you think something could be done better by yourself or someone else, email the club with your suggestions' which prompted a lot of laughs given the debacle of folk waiting 3-4 weeks for a reply regarding season tickets.

Josh Magennis (a guy who has had his fair share of run-ins with the club) then weighed in and said that he'd actually gotten in touch and would have been happy to help set a seating arrangement out (even showing in diagrams how you can double seat uptake in a small area without breaking any guidelines) and funnily enough, it got completely ignored.

The person in question took a bit of umbrage at me suggesting that those running the club weren't trying hard enough to resolve this and I was assured that they were working as hard as they can. I used Motherwell as an example and got told 'they have a larger admin staff', I used Dundee as an example and got nothing back. I'm guessing they and Falkirk also outstrip us for administrative employees...

But seriously, what else are you meant to think? It's not been a good look for anyone involved and it honestly wasn't a difficult fix, given clubs with far less scope to do so than us are managing it.

If multiple e-mails to the club went unanswered, but I got a good response from the SLOs, then I would understand it if anyone posted here telling me ‘ignore the club and just contact the SLOs in future then’. I would understand that view, but surely that isn’t the answer. Maybe it’s me, but if I feel the need to contact any organisation about an issue, I try to go to the appropriate person, or department. I thought an issue as big as the club’s Covid affected situation merited contacting the club directly. I feel for the SLO guys if they are getting absolutely everything dumped into their in-box. Mind you, should give Tony & Co more time to speak to the local authority about getting fans in, and cracking on with sorting these unforseen infrastructure issues in the stadium. No way they could be fixed if time was wasted answering questions from greetin’ faced supporters.

Edited August 5, 2021 by pozbaird

[Spam_Valley]

I'm stunned that anyone is the slightest bit surprised at how badly the club have handled this. You just have to look at the array of COVID protocol's we didn't adhere to last season and come to the understanding that the club is being steered by utter amateurs. Tony Fitzpatrick included. Nice guy but hopeless at his job.

The club has been ran in a shambolic nature for as long as I can remember and it looks like our new friend Mr Needham is going to continue that trend. He needs to tread carefully because his rapport with the support could make or break him early on and he's losing at the moment.

[djchapsticks]

SLO communication earlier - am I wrong that this has boiled my fucking pish?

We can't even get our own b*****d house in order and yet the BOD will still take time to discuss how to displace even more fans to fit in 2 stands of OF fans?

Fucking hell.

[Hendo]

27 minutes ago, djchapsticks said:

SLO communication earlier - am I wrong that this has boiled my fucking pish?

We can't even get our own b*****d house in order and yet the BOD will still take time to discuss how to displace even more fans to fit in 2 stands of OF fans?

Fucking hell.

I'm not surprised given Gillespie is a blue nose and McMillan a Celtic fan.

[andrewh]

What chance of myself and my son  (not a wheelchair user) being able to attend and gain disabled access as St Johnstone fans? It was difficult enough pre-covid.

[Spam_Valley]

2 minutes ago, andrewh said:

What chance of myself and my son  (not a wheelchair user) being able to attend and gain disabled access as St Johnstone fans? It was difficult enough pre-covid.

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[smellthepaw]

 

4 minutes ago, andrewh said:

What chance of myself and my son  (not a wheelchair user) being able to attend and gain disabled access as St Johnstone fans? It was difficult enough pre-covid.

I can't see us allowing away fans back in until we have full capacity granted again.  Season ticket holders obviously will take priority, then we will most likely for the time being NOT apply for above the 5k suggested by scotgov. Around 3k season ticket holders plus 2k pay-at-the-gate.

[andrewh]

1 minute ago, Spam_Valley said:

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As optimistic as that? Wow! Having said that, if the game was in Perth I couldn’t answer you if you asked me the same question. I’d hope we can all sort something soon.

[andrewh]

Just now, smellthepaw said:

 

I can't see us allowing away fans back in until we have full capacity granted again.  Season ticket holders obviously will take priority, then we will most likely for the time being NOT apply for above the 5k suggested by scotgov. Around 3k season ticket holders plus 2k pay-at-the-gate.

Fair enough on the home fans if restrictions still in place. We are not permitted any Motherwell fans on Sunday due to the council’s conditions. What a muddle. Councils free to impose conditions without reference to what others are doing will create havoc.