The Original 59er

you were right on one count, but on the other.......ahem, out by 3 goals

I will probably regret this comment....................... I know that Shankland is being touted as an ugly sister's recruit and having scored a few in the last 10 games or so but I said before he carries too much weight and is a petulant child if things don't go his way. I would take a point if offered just now, but I live in greater hope 🤞

Back to the "squinty door" reference I once had the dubious pleasure of standing at that door (hoping that the lean wouldn't suddenly become a replica of the leaning tower of Pisa at that moment) face to face with our recently deceased monarch and her Ma (long since passed)! A wee bit like John Peel in the presence of his many musical heroes I somewhat froze at the moment and gazed her out, totally speechless...... one of the lasting memories was to remember to try and clean my teeth twice a day as her Ma had the worst set of molars I had ever set eyes on!

As long as he wont be a "Return to Sender" in a few months time!

I wan't necessarily referring to the "Squinty Door", but the fact that sandstone does have the tendency to absorb acids in the air resulting in the face of the sanstone spalling and becoming less watertight...... tho' the 12th century monks obviously found some good well cut sandstone from somewhere! P.S. I suppose I should add that the main addition to the building is as follows: "The transepts and choir were to remain in ruins until the late 19th and early 20th centuries when they were restored to create one of the finest churches in Scotland", so technically not 12th century sandstone, but it still has lasted well given the filthy air around Paisley through the last century!

They probably haven't analysed that particular construction detail yet (probably hoping for the best that they got away with it!) so maybe with a bit of luck, we might see total demolition in the next 12 months

Sadly, concrete becomes harder and more durable as time passes, as opposed to cut sandstone which erodes with the weather. Come to think of it didn't the "intelligent Council Planners within the said building" suggest that their pride and joy should become a listed building a few years ago (stating that the concrete monstosity was a good example of its kind! )? Only in Paisley could Councils (Regional and County at the time) could come up with such a ribbed monstrosity opposite such an iconic 10th century building as a set off to show the Abbey in its best light!

He suggests that he was a positive influence in him coming here

I beg to disagree, we played better last night than we did against County, where we certainly deserved to lose, but last night we were wasteful over the 98 minutes, where we created quite a number of chances, but you could see last year's problems re-surfacing where the so-called strikers were far from being accurate. Then along came the last minute and we panicked! We didn't however, over the 99 minutes played, deserve to lose. I agree with your overall summary that the quality of the teams below Celtic and Rangers is very, very poor and if any one side has a reasonable player, they stand out against any of the other 9 in the league. It somewhat sums up why we managed to get so high in the league and we are still up there, despite having a run of pretty poor results. I would like to think that the league is better than the 4th tier of English football, but from what I've seen both live and on match highlights, it's not that much better!

What I've seen of Bolton doesn't suggest a nightmare waiting to happen, he is perhaps not as quick footed as Taylor but he seems to clear his lines when the ball comes his way in the back line. Maybe he doesn't inpire total confidence to his Manger in training, or show that he has the ball playing ability to the same degree as others, but so far I haven't seen a waste of a salary. I agree that Gogic has been solid at the back and 8 times out of 10 he reads the game well, and occasionally he gets beaten for speed, but his game management makes up for that so I would leave him at the back. As an aside, a player I have watched this year is Yan Dhanda at Ross County and I like him. He plays with a no. 10 on his back and plays like one. He is creative and I think if he was in the right team, he could certainly be an asset and do some damage to the opposition.......... just a thought!

It was a very painful 96 minutes or so. Painful as the spectacle that was described as football was maybe a misdescription, in that the ball was in the air probably 60 to 70% of the game and hardly any good one-touch football was in evidence. Where has our composure gone? It has been missing for a few games now. Against Hibs were were really lucky to get anything out of the game and against the other Saints our first 35 minutes or so was just like Tuesday evening. We got away with it against Livi, but that approach failed us against County as their backs were generally bigger and more robust then our forwards. Mandron certainly didn't impose himself to particularly bother them. In fact the only point when I thought we kept the ball on the ground and tried to get something out of the game was in the final 10 minutes when it was played into Ayunga's feet. Really disappointing as I thought we had more confidence than that display. All I can hope for is that it is a form blip and that for every good run a poor one can come along, or injuries catch us out. I'm not overly concerned as I'm sure SR can turn it around and that the so-called free-scoring forwards start firing again. 🤞

This season is another case of getting better crowds and more income and so far optimistically the Club is looking up rather than down (other than at those behind us in the league). So I would say a good step in the right direction, but success brings its own problems, as both the terrible twins will testify, success breeds success and failure to replicate it brings different pressures which in our case will be difficult to consistently replicate. So let's all enjoy this moment when we can and as we all remember the debt that built up in the 80's trying to keep up with the Jones's left us with a headache that we were lucky to get out of.

An optimistic prediction, not without reason given our start to the season, but generally hopeful. Perhaps the addition of a couple of extra players in the window and more consistency between the back and the middle of the park would give me some of your optimism that it might be possible!

White Elephant and Joanna's in Bath St. Glasgow were my preferred haunts........ I had left Paisley by then and Glasgow had a wider pool to draw from.

Whilst I liked the photos, especial;ly the one with the Barshaw Bandstand and seating, Showaddywaddy weren't exactly my cup of tea by that time