antrin Posted August 22, 2021 Report Share Posted August 22, 2021 8 hours ago, jaybee said: it would seem the rest of article is behind a pay wall 1 hour ago, 3 moffat buds said: The full article is shown in earlier.posting above. Aye, don’t be lazy, jaybee…. Read the full threid, afore moaning. Like I did. And many thanks 3 moffat buds!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybee Posted August 22, 2021 Report Share Posted August 22, 2021 3 hours ago, antrin said: Aye, don’t be lazy, jaybee…. Read the full threid, afore moaning. Like I did. And many thanks 3 moffat buds!!! erm eh ! well; mmm I did find it eventually, thanks everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W6er Posted August 22, 2021 Report Share Posted August 22, 2021 6 hours ago, jaybee said: erm eh ! well; mmm I did find it eventually, thanks everyone. Well, do me a favour and link to it, please! 😉 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybee Posted August 23, 2021 Report Share Posted August 23, 2021 7 hours ago, W6er said: Well, do me a favour and link to it, please! 😉 ye ken theres nae need tae git teknikal ye know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybee Posted August 23, 2021 Report Share Posted August 23, 2021 7 hours ago, W6er said: Well, do me a favour and link to it, please! 😉 an ah prefer square anyhoo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antrin Posted August 23, 2021 Report Share Posted August 23, 2021 6 hours ago, jaybee said: an ah prefer square anyhoo. You’re a silly sausage! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJ McG Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 On 8/21/2021 at 6:36 PM, 3 moffat buds said: Full text from the article - sorry about the big gaps. I was going to paste this without comment - that was bfore the crap strip arrived and this afternoon's debacle. FOOTBALL | GRAHAM SPIERS St Mirren chairman: We recognise our position. But we can still thrive if we continue to get it right John Needham made his dad proud by becoming the new chairman, writes Graham Spiers John Needham remembers being five years old and crying at the window of his Paisley home as his father departed, as he did most Saturdays, to go off and watch St Mirren. It wouldn’t be long, though, before Needham was deemed big enough and old enough to join his dad on his trips to watch the Buddies, a routine the new St Mirren chairman has pursued virtually every week over the 55 years since. These are fascinating footballing times in Paisley. St Mirren are now in the majority-shareholding clutches of their supporters, and Needham, who had risen to the top of RBS in an impressive 40-year career, was the overwhelming choice by the fans to become, first, a club director, and now chairman. His father, Ian, now in his late 70s and still going to games, can hardly believe that the little boy who used to weep at the window is now St Mirren’s top man. “He could scarcely believe it when I became a director and I think he’s now beside himself with pride that I’m chairman,” Needham says. “As for me, the euphoria of taking on this role quickly wore off. I now very much feel the weight of responsibility on my shoulders. In my business career I learned how to maximise opportunities and get the best out of people, so I hope I can offer St Mirren something good.” To this day you get shysters and con artists getting their claws on football clubs for their own gain . . . Needham most certainly is not one of them. A polite and diligent figure, his rise through the ranks of RBS to become an executive director of a company employing 150,000 people rarely got in the way of his other great passion: going to watch his football team. Needham was marked out for the role of St Mirren chairman in this new era, not just for his impressive career CV, but also because of his sheer authenticity as a supporter. “When my parents finally allowed me to start going to watch St Mirren I saw a few games back in 1966 but season 1967-68 was really my first full campaign watching the team, and that was the year we ran away with the old Second Division title — we scored something like 100 goals and conceded only 23,” he says. “For a kid like me it was fantastic — you were watching your team winning week after week. Back then I was beguiled into thinking this was how life was with St Mirren, but the years since taught me otherwise. “I watched St Mirren win the Anglo-Scottish Cup in 1980 — the only Scottish club to lift the trophy — when we beat Bristol City home and away in the final. In that competition I saw George Best play for Fulham at Love Street. “I also travelled with friends to St Mirren’s first ever European away tie in 1980, when we played Elfsborg in Sweden and won 2-1. It was one of those typical Scottish football fans’ trips abroad: we laughed all the way from the minute we left to when we got back. I remember playing football with fellow Saints fans on the front at Felixstowe before boarding the ferry. It has been a brilliant — and testing — journey being a St Mirren fan.” Needham has very fond memories of watching Jimmy Bone lift the Anglo-Scottish Cup in 1980 EVENING TIMES Needham comes into his chairman’s role bearing big ambitions. While he recognises the size of St Mirren in the wider scheme of Scottish football, it has not stopped him from viewing the potential of his club as “enormous”. “There are a lot of areas here where I see an opportunity for improvement,” he says. “St Mirren has made great progress over the last ten to 15 years, from being almost bankrupt at one stage, to a position now where we are much more stable. “St Mirren’s supporter base has been increasing steadily. We need to maintain that and keep it going, but everyone knows it is a challenge. We need to hold our position among the St Johnstones and Motherwells of this world in the top flight. But football, as you know, is a very fickle business. Kilmarnock have proved recently that you can be in a very strong position only to then find yourself being relegated. “There is a lot of progress and growth we can still make as a club. Renfrewshire is a fairly big catchment areas for us and I believe we should be getting more bums on seats. “I know it was a different age but I can’t help looking back to when Alex Ferguson was the St Mirren manager. When he had a really good team back then St Mirren could get crowds of close to 10,000 for home games. So I believe there is still headroom for us to increase our core support. “The fans we have are very loyal and, in fact, we’ve just surpassed our best-ever season ticket sales, with over 3,200 being bought. That is tremendous but I think there is scope to increase that further.” Ever since the St Mirren Independent Supporters Association (SMISA) started campaigning to get fan-ownership, Needham was a willing and regular financial contributor. But not everyone, he recognises, can blithely stump up, so different tiers of fan-contribution have been set, with supporters paying £25, £15 or £5 a month to the cause. “We’ve had a fantastic season on the park under Jim Goodwin — probably our best since the 1980s,” he says. “So now we have taken a position as a board to invest a bit more in the playing squad to try and drive more onfield success. Hopefully, that will then get a response from the local people. “The number of fans signing up to help the club through SMISA — over 1,300 of them I think — shows how well embedded this club is in the community, the passion that there is for the club, and how much potential we have. “The other thing is that, now that SMISA have purchased their shares, their money will now go straight into the club. From the money raised, a tranche will go into the club for the team, another tranche to our youth academy — that will be about £50,000 per year — and the rest to our smaller causes and charities. But all this is ‘new money’ which is going into the club. It’s quite significant, because that extra money would be quite hard to come by. McGinn, right, is one of a number of well-known players who gained valuable experience with St Mirren BILL MURRAY/SCOTTISH NEWS AND SPORT “I see real headroom for growth at this club: both at bums-on-seats level and in terms of success on the park.” In Goodwin, who is Covid-struck and will miss today’s trip to Glasgow to face Celtic, Needham believes St Mirren have yet another gem of a manager, whose way of building and developing his team fits precisely with the club’s ethos. St Mirren have recently improved their coveted manager’s remuneration, as well as tightening his contract so that, if Goodwin does eventually leave, the club will be suitably recompensed. “Jim is hugely impressive,” Needham says. “He’s made the transition very quickly from a player to a manager, and since coming to St Mirren he has done a very good job. “He is very good in how he recruits and attracts players. He also has an eye for how a team can be put together, and how you establish a kind of pattern of play. Under Jim, we now look like a team which knows what it’s doing. Jim has attracted a higher quality of player to the club than we’ve had for many years. “He also conducts himself incredibly well publicly with the press and the fans, and is very highly regarded. We needed to increase his reward for how well he did last year, and we did so. That was a recognition of how quickly he had developed our club. We want him to stay for as long as possible.” St Mirren have a recent, highly impressive tradition of rearing their own: such players as Kenny McLean, John McGinn, Lewis Morgan, Kyle Magennis, Stevie Mallan and others have all been nurtured at the club before leaving for bigger stages. It is a model Needham wants to see continuing. “We recognise our position in the hierarchy of things: we will always be a club which will hopefully produce excellent young talent and move it on. That applies to St Mirren managers as well. But we can still thrive if we are judicious in the way we go about things. “We’ve done that with players — John McGinn being a great example — and now Jamie McGrath is one they are all looking at. He is attracting a lot of interest at the moment. We can live with that fact. We can still thrive as a club if we continue to get it right.” Be realistic and hold our position amongst the st.Johnstone’s and Motherwells of this world ffs, we are a far bigger club than st Johnstone. This club was making massive strides under Gordon Scott, have a feeling we will be wishing he was still running the show very soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott-Leeds Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 Be realistic and hold our position amongst the st.Johnstone’s and Motherwells of this world ffs, we are a far bigger club than st Johnstone. This club was making massive strides under Gordon Scott, have a feeling we will be wishing he was still running the show very soon.Agreed. Whilst we all accept during the transitional period there will be grey areas until clarity is established on many issues.My concern is that it seems control of the club has actually been relinquished and doesn’t have any fan owned signs.The communication is appalling and definitely regressing.The strip issue is so apparent and is being sidestepped as opposed to someone at the club saying to new company, enough is enough, we will take the hit and stop disrespecting the fans with full whack and offering substandard products.There’s maybe other issues but all we have is speculation, and don’t blame the club statements.Very poor show which is costing the club lots of money.If Covid hasn’t taught football clubs anything? It should have taught them FOOTBALL NEEDS FANS ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 24 minutes ago, JJ McG said: Be realistic and hold our position amongst the st.Johnstone’s and Motherwells of this world ffs, we are a far bigger club than st Johnstone. This club was making massive strides under Gordon Scott, have a feeling we will be wishing he was still running the show very soon. Said it all along, fans running clubs is a disaster! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beyond our ken Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 26 minutes ago, JJ McG said: Be realistic and hold our position amongst the st.Johnstone’s and Motherwells of this world ffs, we are a far bigger club than st Johnstone. This club was making massive strides under Gordon Scott, have a feeling we will be wishing he was still running the show very soon. What, exactly makes, us "far" bigger than St Johnstone? They have excellent non-football earnings, a bigger and better stadium, fan-friendly facilities outside and inside the stadium, an extended run in the top division and considerable recent cup successes. Saints have made big on-field improvements in recent years but time will tell if we are as consistently good as St J. I'd say that we are roughly of a size with Motherwell, who seem to be consolidating and strengthening their relationship with fans as opposed to Saints who have not done enough recently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W6er Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 3 minutes ago, God of war said: Said it all along, fans running clubs is a disaster! 17 minutes ago, Scott-Leeds said: Agreed. Whilst we all accept during the transitional period there will be grey areas until clarity is established on many issues. My concern is that it seems control of the club has actually been relinquished and doesn’t have any fan owned signs. The communication is appalling and definitely regressing. The strip issue is so apparent and is being sidestepped as opposed to someone at the club saying to new company, enough is enough, we will take the hit and stop disrespecting the fans with full whack and offering substandard products. There’s maybe other issues but all we have is speculation, and don’t blame the club statements. Very poor show which is costing the club lots of money. If Covid hasn’t taught football clubs anything? It should have taught them FOOTBALL NEEDS FANS ! So, we've been fan-owned since July 27th, i.e. less than a single month, and you two have already decided that it hasn't worked and all the problems are the fault of the new owners? Aye, there are definitely teething problems. I have recently been frustrated by the club shop not having a phone (all queries are supposed to be submitted by email), which is ridiculous, however I'm prepared to give it a wee while yet before passing judgement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 3 minutes ago, beyond our ken said: What, exactly makes, us "far" bigger than St Johnstone? They have excellent non-football earnings, a bigger and better stadium, fan-friendly facilities outside and inside the stadium, an extended run in the top division and considerable recent cup successes. Saints have made big on-field improvements in recent years but time will tell if we are as consistently good as St J. I'd say that we are roughly of a size with Motherwell, who seem to be consolidating and strengthening their relationship with fans as opposed to Saints who have not done enough recently. Motherwell are a bigger club than Saints. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W6er Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 (edited) 14 minutes ago, beyond our ken said: What, exactly makes, us "far" bigger than St Johnstone? They have excellent non-football earnings, a bigger and better stadium, fan-friendly facilities outside and inside the stadium, an extended run in the top division and considerable recent cup successes. Saints have made big on-field improvements in recent years but time will tell if we are as consistently good as St J. I'd say that we are roughly of a size with Motherwell, who seem to be consolidating and strengthening their relationship with fans as opposed to Saints who have not done enough recently. All good points. How does one determine the size of a club? I would say the number of supporters would be the primary factor; at least prior to TV revenue that was the biggest source of income for a club. Prestige comes from success, but there's an obvious correlation between support and the number of trophies win. St. Johnstone are punching well above their weight at the moment, whilst Falkirk and Partick Thistle are underachieving. We need to look at what Livingston and St. Johnstone have done and try to emulate them. Edited August 24, 2021 by W6er Removed the 'e' from Livingston! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott-Leeds Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 So, we've been fan-owned since July 27th, i.e. less than a single month, and you two have already decided that it hasn't worked and all the problems are the fault of the new owners? Aye, there are definitely teething problems. I have recently been frustrated by the club shop not having a phone (all queries are supposed to be submitted by email), which is ridiculous, however I'm prepared to give it a wee while yet before passing judgement. I am saying we have had vague statement and no responsibility Nobody is claiming it has worked Where are the positive signs of communication to the people who matter? The fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W6er Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 6 minutes ago, God of war said: Motherwell are a bigger club than Saints. I'd say we're around the same size. I'd rank us alongside: Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Partick Thistle, Falkirk and Dundee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W6er Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 1 minute ago, Scott-Leeds said: I am saying we have had vague statement and no responsibility Nobody is claiming it has worked Where are the positive signs of communication to the people who matter? The fans. Taking over an operation like St. Mirren will not be a simple endeavour. Have a bit of patience, please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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