The St. Mirren FC 2023/24 thread

[houston_bud]

6 minutes ago, Leith Green said:

Dundee Utd are imo out of it due to who they play.

Although both teams playing fairly well at the mo, us and the perth tories might well nullify each other so I think a draw is likely on Saturday.

That was long winded but I pretty much concur with your assessment.

I agree, and Dundee Utd have a much worse goal difference too. It would be possible for them to take 4 points and if we lost our 2 games to draw level on points. They'd also need a 10 goal swing. Seems pretty unlikely. 

I'm pretty confident 1 point will be enough but obviously you'd like to take more and like has been said, it's a nice position to be in knowing that we're be pretty comfortably away from the dog fight at the bottom. 

[Lex]

I think we will lose to Rangers this weekend, United will draw with Celtic and St Johnstone will draw with Hibs.
If that set of results happens the race for top six will be over, and we will have won it.

[Doctor Sanchez]

TINFOIL HAT ON

I'm seriously thinking about lumping on Saints to get something at Ibrox.  SEVCO will be staining their jammie bottoms dreaming about winning the title against a managerless C*lt*c at the piggery on 21 March.  

If we do lose on Saturday, watch Utd get something at Tannadice on Sunday.  Celtic won't want lose their 10IAR (lost before christmas, but you know what I mean) and pass the league trophy over to the zombie club in Celtic's own back yard.  

RIGHT, TINFOIL HAT OFF

Aberdeen will still have enough to beat Utd and I'd think that Hibs will have a point to prove against the Fakes after their 3-0 doing in the LC semi final last month.  

I agree with the points above that the next few games are to be enjoyed and not stressed over and regardless this will have been a season where we've continued to consolidate our position as an established top division side.

We deserve top 6.  Jim deserves top 6.  The squad deserve top 6.  And Tony Fitzpatrick deserves a massive 'f**k You' spelt out in roses, delivered to Tom English et al  for the abuse he got for talking ambitiously at the start of the season.  

[Ric]

In the grand scheme of things I don't really care about either 6th or 7th. Sure for the club it would be money, but I cannot imagine they started this season budgeting for a top six finish. Plus without fans at the games, it's not as if you get the "bumper" OF crowd. Also, this season it looks like the title race will be over pretty soon anyway. Nice for the kudos and nice for Fitzpatrick to have called it right, but as I say I'm certainly not that bothered which side of the split we end up on. The main thing is we are well clear of the relegation nonsense.

The GD between us and the farmers is a side issue really, but if it is to come into play we've got to be very careful with the Rangers game. The Hamilton game will pretty much take care of itself, we will be in control of our own destiny at that point, but either side of the OF can easily decide to rack up four or five goals if they feel like it. You never know, we could take something from that game. We've beaten them already and we've now had a break while the Ibrox club played midweek.

[monthelie']

4 hours ago, djchapsticks said:

A lot of stress going on here. 

I'm not getting it. This is in no way angst inducing for me. Maybe it's because for a change, we're not looking over our shoulder for other teams to do us a favour. Maybe it's because the idea of potentially missing top six isn't anywhere near as troubling as finishing in the bottom two places. 

Either way, we're going to finish anywhere between 5th and 8th this season. Even in the worst case scenario, we've made 

It's been a few seasons since we've had a fairly relaxed attitude to the last few games of the season. Even in the league below it was either scrambling to stay up or winning  the league. Surely this will make a big difference to our recruitment for next season, as we know very early, which league we're in next season.

[AllyM]

3 hours ago, Lex said:

I think we will lose to Rangers this weekend, United will draw with Celtic and St Johnstone will draw with Hibs.
If that set of results happens the race for top six will be over, and we will have won it.

I'd like to say that then we could "rest" our players against Hamilton for the cup tie at the same place a couple of weeks later. Except, I don't think we've got anyone else much to bring in.

We could play Lyness, Finlayson and the two kids. Maybe just go with our subs on Saturday and play 9.

[Ric]

1 minute ago, AllyM said:

I'd like to say that then we could "rest" our players against Hamilton for the cup tie at the same place a couple of weeks later. Except, I don't think we've got anyone else much to bring in.

We could play Lyness, Finlayson and the two kids. Maybe just go with our subs on Saturday and play 9.

The problem with that is it opens up the claim that we are somehow assisting Hamilton by not fielding our strongest side when they are deep in the mire of a relegation battle.

[Gareth_Glasgow]

I would love us to get top six but I’d also be happy with 7th, that would be our highest league finish in my lifetime I think and would be a great achievement considering what the club has dealt with this year.

Having said that, it’s completely in our hands so it would be gutting if we didn’t beat Hamilton if it turns out that it’s needed.

[Coventry Saint]

13 minutes ago, Ric said:

The problem with that is it opens up the claim that we are somehow assisting Hamilton by not fielding our strongest side when they are deep in the mire of a relegation battle.

For years I've wanted to be one of those mid-table teams that is playing in flip-flops by early March. 

[Coventry Saint]

5 minutes ago, Gareth_Glasgow said:

That would be our highest league finish in my lifetime

It's nuts, isn't it? I'm 42 and have no memory of us finishing any higher.

[Ric]

7 minutes ago, Gareth_Glasgow said:

..that would be our highest league finish in my lifetime..

1 minute ago, Coventry Saint said:

It's nuts, isn't it? I'm 42 and have no memory of us finishing any higher.

 

Ha! Think how I feel, when I first really started following the club they only finished out of the top 6 twice in about a decade, regularly finishing 3rd, 4th and 5th!

It's been a fucking long journey between then and now!

Edited March 4, 2021 by Ric

[Ric]

2 minutes ago, Coventry Saint said:

For years I've wanted to be one of those mid-table teams that is playing in flip-flops by early March. 

Yeah, it's an interesting position to be in. Normally we'd be the ones bitching that other teams were playing weakened sides against our relegation rivals.

[Coventry Saint]

10 minutes ago, Ric said:

Yeah, it's an interesting position to be in. Normally we'd be the ones bitching that other teams were playing weakened sides against our relegation rivals.

Over the past few years I've really carried Saints' relative fortunes around with me - probably a symptom of relatively fragile mental health, especially over the past 12 months (certain I'm not alone there). Since 2016 in particular I've been finding the losses weight on me a bit heavier/have influenced my general state of mind a bit. Sensible part of my brain knows its daft, but the other part ignores it and pisses me off anyway.

This respite from a relegation battle - arguably only our second such season since 13-14* - has been very, very welcome. 

 

 

* I was counting 15/16 as a relegation battle in that we struggled a lot under Murray and were looking awful, before ending up fairly comfortable after Rae came in.

Edited March 4, 2021 by Coventry Saint

[Ric]

21 minutes ago, Coventry Saint said:

Over the past few years I've really carried Saints' relative fortunes around with me - probably a symptom of relatively fragile mental health, especially over the past 12 months (certain I'm not alone there). Since 2016 in particular I've been finding the losses weight on me a bit heavier/have influenced my general state of mind a bit. Sensible part of my brain knows its daft, but the other part ignores it and pisses me off anyway.

This respite from a relegation battle - arguably only our second such season since 13-14 - has been very, very welcome. 

Two things really.

1) Sorry to hear the first bit, hope things mellow out for you.

2) I've become a lot more zen about this whole thing. My anger was palpable regarding Davie Hay relegating us the year after winning the cup, it set in motion a series of never ending "nearly but not quite" moments of stability. Sure there were stellar seasons such as Hendries 99/01 or wee Gus' 04/05 but ultimately that high was tempered the following seasons shitfesting relegation battle with all the nerves and nail biting that brings (normally starting within the first few weeks of the season because you knew what was to come!). As I say, I clearly remember us being a very stable top 6 side showing no fear, but once the rot set in, it's hard to shift the anger.

However now? Meh...we get relegated, we'll get promoted, I no longer wear the club on my sleeve alongside my heart. It's not that I care less, I've maybe just seen the movie too many times to get my jimmies rustled.

Edited March 4, 2021 by Ric

[GAD]

I'm pretty much the same as Ric. To be honest, I think the Cup Final we don't talk about was such a gut punch that I don't think a mere relegation could come close anymore. Also, when I got really into supporting St Mirren through the 90s we were genuinely shite, being in a relegation battle in the top league would be barely imaginable heights back then, and apart from the 99/00, that was pretty much it until Gus took over. We never really even went on cup runs.

I actually think, considering we support a diddy team, we've been pretty lucky. In my lifetime we've won a league 3 times, had a couple of great escapes (which may not be much of an achievement, but those league run ins are fucking amazing) won the diddy cup and won the league cup. There are plenty of similar sized teams who've had nothing like the days we've had.

 

[monthelie']

31 minutes ago, Ric said:

Two things really.

1) Sorry to hear the first bit, hope things mellow out for you.

2) I've become a lot more zen about this whole thing. My anger was palpable regarding Davie Hay relegating us the year after winning the cup, it set in motion a series of never ending "nearly but not quite" moments of stability. Sure there were stellar seasons such as Hendries 99/01 or wee Gus' 04/05 but ultimately that high was tempered the following seasons shitfesting relegation battle with all the nerves and nail biting that brings (normally starting within the first few weeks of the season because you knew what was to come!). As I say, I clearly remember us being a very stable top 6 side showing no fear, but once the rot set in, it's hard to shift the anger.

However now? Meh...we get relegated, we'll get promoted, I no longer wear the club on my sleeve alongside my heart. It's not that I care less, I've maybe just seen the movie too many times to get my jimmies rustled.

I would agree with that. Years ago there would be too many Saturday nights cancelled and weekends ruined because of a shite result. These days I don't get too bothered.

[glenburn bud]

I’m one of the older guys who was lucky to have been a youngster in high school when Fergies furies were doing wonderful things back in the day. The team who finished 3rd back in the old style premier league, were probably the best team never to have won the league. 

Those were incredible days of top six finishes cup semi-finals European nights and an Anglo Scottish cup win. I feel privileged to have been part of that successful era. As GAD says for a diddy team we’ve done better than most over the years. 

[btb]

When lockdown ends I look forward to my se7enth decade of supporting Saints (in person), I was lifted over the turnstyle to see our infamous 1-0 win over the Dead Team in in November68 as a 5-y-o. Fell away in the early 70s but went back to watch Fergies Furies in 76/77 as a solo delinquent...

Sometimes I think back to my return and wonder if I could have been a more rounded person if I'd chosen another pastime, but fuck that it's been a glorious if at times bumpy ride.

Non, je ne regrette rien.  

 

PS - Obika Day Minus Se7en...

Edited March 4, 2021 by btb

[flyingscot]

1 hour ago, Coventry Saint said:

For years I've wanted to be one of those mid-table teams that is playing in flip-flops by early March. 

I remember under Danny Lennon in 2012 we were pretty comfortable in Feb/March. Think we played out something like 5 draws in a row and had the cigars out. That side finished 8th I think but could have done so much more. 

[btb]

Just now, flyingscot said:

I remember under Danny Lennon in 2012 we were pretty comfortable in Feb/March. Think we played out something like 5 draws in a row and had the cigars out. That side finished 8th I think but could have done so much more. 

That squad...Thomson, Teale, Goodwin. Paul McGowan, Kenny McLean, Graham Carey to name a few, we were even able to use Aaron Mooy as an advert for Peleton...