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A lot of people's hangovers will be wearing off today after yesterday's completion of the great escape.

 

I for one questioned the appointment of Jack Ross and I happily had a large slice of humble pie last night along with my couple of beers to get over the trauma of the season. I would like to thank Jack Ross and his staff for turning it around and Gordon Scott for backing his man in January. Could have easily told Jack to work with what he has got already.

 

Looking at the season as a whole it has been a terrible season except from the last three months.

 

I love the positivity but some of the celebrations and some of the praise for our management team heralding Jack Ross as the next Fergie as a little over the top. Yes he has acquitted himself well over the last three months and saved us from the drop but a little early to compare him to the arguably the greatest manager ever.

 

I was relieved like nothing else we saved ourselves yesterday but yesterday not a celebration and would be embarrassed to call it that. Celebrating staying in the 2nd tier of Scottish football not for me. I even heard people talking about an open topped bus for the players!!!!

 

Let reality set now. We just escaped going into the 3rd tier of Scottish football and again I want to thank Jack and the team for preventing that but as for what next season I have no idea when it comes to supporting St Mirren it's a rollercoaster ride and I love it. Will we challenge for the title, playoffs for promotion or relegation be relegated. Will Jack Ross be the next Fergie if he doesn't get off to a good start next season or being approached by bigger teams due to a flying start in the league.

 

Reality is we are extremely lucky not to be involved in the playoffs and thank god for goal difference. Please whatever happens let's not have a repeat of this season gone by.

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4 points in December. That's what we had. We were 1/6 on to get relegated. He's brought his own guys in and done the business. Agree about the open top buses, however the last 3 months have been astounding. We go again in August, his team , preseason behind him, and title challenging expectations!! In jack we trust x

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30 minutes ago, st jock said:

4 points in December. That's what we had. We were 1/6 on to get relegated. He's brought his own guys in and done the business. Agree about the open top buses, however the last 3 months have been astounding. We go again in August, his team , preseason behind him, and title challenging expectations!! In jack we trust x

100% agree with you Buddie.  Jack has been brilliant and deserves mucho praise for his magnificent achievement.

 

We start next season anew.  This time however we at last have a manager who has proven himself as a man players want to player for, we also have a new owner in Mr Scott and a new board who have also performed very well up until now (and also deserve a shot of the back slapping).  We have every reason to feel optimistic, every reason to believe that the turgid shit has finally been cast aside and every reason to support this wonderful team of ours with renewed vigour.  

We even have an official drummer boy! 

Many a false dawn shows itself to a supporter of the Saint Mirren pte ltd co first team playing squad, but this dawn feels a little bit special.  Embrace the positivity people, we don't get a chance too often!

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1 hour ago, Dave The Buddie said:

reality is we are extremely lucky not to be involved in the playoffs and thank god for goal difference. Please whatever happens let's not have a repeat of this season gone by.

 

It wasn't luck. It was hard work, commitment, guts, and tactical wherewithal.

I'm not thanking 'God' or anyone or anything other than Jack Ross, his coaching team, our BoD, and the players.

THAT is the reality!


ETA - no, I will thank others - our supporters. We should (well, most of us) take a bow also. I am immensely proud of the St Mirren support in recent months. The measure of a fitba support is how you back your club when the chips are down.

Edited by Drew
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1 hour ago, Dave The Buddie said:

 

A lot of people's hangovers will be wearing off today after yesterday's completion of the great escape.

 

I for one questioned the appointment of Jack Ross and I happily had a large slice of humble pie last night along with my couple of beers to get over the trauma of the season. I would like to thank Jack Ross and his staff for turning it around and Gordon Scott for backing his man in January. Could have easily told Jack to work with what he has got already.

 

Looking at the season as a whole it has been a terrible season except from the last three months.

 

I love the positivity but some of the celebrations and some of the praise for our management team heralding Jack Ross as the next Fergie as a little over the top. Yes he has acquitted himself well over the last three months and saved us from the drop but a little early to compare him to the arguably the greatest manager ever.

 

I was relieved like nothing else we saved ourselves yesterday but yesterday not a celebration and would be embarrassed to call it that. Celebrating staying in the 2nd tier of Scottish football not for me. I even heard people talking about an open topped bus for the players!!!!

 

Let reality set now. We just escaped going into the 3rd tier of Scottish football and again I want to thank Jack and the team for preventing that but as for what next season I have no idea when it comes to supporting St Mirren it's a rollercoaster ride and I love it. Will we challenge for the title, playoffs for promotion or relegation be relegated. Will Jack Ross be the next Fergie if he doesn't get off to a good start next season or being approached by bigger teams due to a flying start in the league.

 

Reality is we are extremely lucky not to be involved in the playoffs and thank god for goal difference. Please whatever happens let's not have a repeat of this season gone by.

 

The reality is that when the going got tough, you TC and a few others bailed on the team.

Why dont you give the rest of the support, who stayed supportive during some of the darkest days of our history, space to enjoy their moment?

Nobody needs your version of damning with faint praise.

What this group of players, management, board of directors and fans have all achieved is absolutely incredible and you have no f**king right to piss on anyones chips.

 

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2 minutes ago, oaksoft said:

The reality is that when the going got tough, you TC and a few others bailed on the team.

Why dont you give the rest of the support, who stayed supportive during some of the darkest days of our history, space to enjoy their moment?

Nobody needs your version of damning with faint praise.

What this group of players, management, board of directors and fans have all achieved is absolutely incredible and you have no f**king right to piss on anyones chips.

 

Spot on.

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A lot of people's hangovers will be wearing off today after yesterday's completion of the great escape.
 
I for one questioned the appointment of Jack Ross and I happily had a large slice of humble pie last night along with my couple of beers to get over the trauma of the season. I would like to thank Jack Ross and his staff for turning it around and Gordon Scott for backing his man in January. Could have easily told Jack to work with what he has got already.
 
Looking at the season as a whole it has been a terrible season except from the last three months.
 
I love the positivity but some of the celebrations and some of the praise for our management team heralding Jack Ross as the next Fergie as a little over the top. Yes he has acquitted himself well over the last three months and saved us from the drop but a little early to compare him to the arguably the greatest manager ever.
 
I was relieved like nothing else we saved ourselves yesterday but yesterday not a celebration and would be embarrassed to call it that. Celebrating staying in the 2nd tier of Scottish football not for me. I even heard people talking about an open topped bus for the players!!!!
 
Let reality set now. We just escaped going into the 3rd tier of Scottish football and again I want to thank Jack and the team for preventing that but as for what next season I have no idea when it comes to supporting St Mirren it's a rollercoaster ride and I love it. Will we challenge for the title, playoffs for promotion or relegation be relegated. Will Jack Ross be the next Fergie if he doesn't get off to a good start next season or being approached by bigger teams due to a flying start in the league.
 
Reality is we are extremely lucky not to be involved in the playoffs and thank god for goal difference. Please whatever happens let's not have a repeat of this season gone by.



Or.....

Jack Ross and his crew corrected five years of inertia and deeply rooted institutional turgid unambitious pish and produced a team worthy of its long suffering loyal support.

He has done fabulously well against massive odds.

Reality, never seen a title winning team or a cup winning team in football that were not lucky.

I don't think Newcastle fans will be bemoaning their appalling good luck tonight.

Sorry to be so black and white about it but it's been a fab weekend.

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At the moment the reality is We have one of the best teams in the championship and a management team we all  believe in and trust to take us forward. The reality is we all have hope for next season. The reality is

WE'RE ON OUR WAY

HOW WE'LL GET THERE I DON'T KNOW/CARE

Just trust in Jack

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The reality is that when the going got tough, you TC and a few others bailed on the team.
Why dont you give the rest of the support, who stayed supportive during some of the darkest days of our history, space to enjoy their moment?
Nobody needs your version of damning with faint praise.
What this group of players, management, board of directors and fans have all achieved is absolutely incredible and you have no f**king right to piss on anyones chips.
 

I bailed on the team. You having a laugh. Ave been a St Mirren supporter for 30+ years being a season ticket holder for half of that time.

Never bailed on my team through the years. Expressed an opinion.

I have every f*cking right to express that opinion.

Enjoy your soggy chips ave obviously p*ssed on yours
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2 hours ago, Dave The Buddie said:


I bailed on the team. You having a laugh. Ave been a St Mirren supporter for 30+ years being a season ticket holder for half of that time.

Never bailed on my team through the years. Expressed an opinion.

I have every f*cking right to express that opinion.

Enjoy your soggy chips ave obviously p*ssed on yours

Yes you do have every right to an opinion.

And I have a right to call you out on it.

When the chips were down you caved in and became part of the problem alongside TC etc.

I hope you learn something from this.

Oh and BTW many of us on here have neen supporting Saints at least as long as you have.

Now do the decent thing and leave those who remained positive in the face of hellish season to enjoy at least a few days of joy before coming back to tell is how deluded we are, how embarassed we should be to celebrate survival and how over the top we are in our praise of Jack.

Whilst you are away being embarassed, you can maybe find out how many teams have survived relegation from the position we were in during December. You can go back as far as you like.

Saints have not had a manager like this, who essentially rescued our club from disaster since the days of Fergie. Many of us have not seen performances like we have witnessed the last few months since we were f**king children ourselves.

You be embarassed if you want to. Today I feel part of a genuine family club for perhaps the first time in my life. Pride!

Edited by oaksoft
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I was sorely tempted to post last night and call out some of the negative pish that has been spouted on here over the last few months but I thought "f**k it, we're all Buds and everyone, despite how some have articulated it, has been desperate for us to stay up" and let it be.

However, this f**king tripe, no more than 24 hours after another great performance that secured our Championship status, is beyond the pale.

Aye mate, you're entitled to your opinion but it's f**king dogshit. This has been one of the best runs I can remember as a Saints fan and I've been following them as long as you.

We've played with pace, power and confidence. Have scored goals for fun and have excited and entertained the fans with a brand of football that no team in our league has produced.

It's been a wonderful journey over the last 4 months and I simply cannot understand any Saints fan wanting to take the gloss off that.

FFS![emoji35]

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4 minutes ago, DLBud said:

I was sorely tempted to post last night and call out some of the negative pish that has been spouted on here over the last few months but I thought "f**k it, we're all Buds and everyone, despite how some have articulated it, has been desperate for us to stay up" and let it be.

However, this f**king tripe, no more than 24 hours after another great performance that secured our Championship status, is beyond the pale.

Aye mate, you're entitled to your opinion but it's f**king dogshit. This has been one of the best runs I can remember as a Saints fan and I've been following them as long as you.

We've played with pace, power and confidence. Have scored goals for fun and have excited and entertained the fans with a brand of football that no team in our league has produced.

It's been a wonderful journey over the last 4 months and I simply cannot understand any Saints fan wanting to take the gloss off that.

FFS!emoji35.png

All he had to do was wait a week and let those who kept faith have their moment.

The "entitled" must have their say though apparently. <_<

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I'll never, ever be embarrassed to celebrate SMFC achieving something.

Yes, if you'd told me at the start of the season we'd be celebrating avoiding relegation I'd have scoffed at the notion. How can a club like this possibly celebrate simply staying up? 

Sometimes though, the end result is only half the story. We didn't just avoid it, we were dead.... totally gone and almost instantly, we just turned. We started getting results and played some fantastic, swashbuckling stuff in the process. In doing so we also completely changed the culture and stigma hanging over our club in the last decade. That's not just one the park, but from chairman and board all the way to fans, everyone did their bit. I've never seen or heard a team talking the supporters up quite so much as our current crop and they are right to do so. This is the celebration of finally getting to see our club move on into a new era. 

It feels like the start of something pretty special. That buzz doesn't happen too often so we're very much going to enjoy it. 

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Yes you do have every right to an opinion.
And I have a right to call you out on it.
When the chips were down you caved in and became part of the problem alongside TC etc.
I hope you learn something from this.
Oh and BTW many of us on here have neen supporting Saints at least as long as you have.
Now do the decent thing and leave those who remained positive in the face of hellish season to enjoy at least a few days of joy before coming back to tell is how deluded we are, how embarassed we should be to celebrate survival and how over the top we are in our praise of Jack.
Whilst you are away being embarassed, you can maybe find out how many teams have survived relegation from the position we were in during December. You can go back as far as you like.
Saints have not had a manager like this, who essentially rescued our club from disaster since the days of Fergie. Many of us have not seen performances like we have witnessed the last few months since we were f**king children ourselves.
You be embarassed if you want to. Today I feel part of a genuine family club for perhaps the first time in my life. Pride!


Your right it's my fault we never won a game until December. It's also my fault we survived the playoffs by goal difference. That was the problem. Have a day off.

Nobody said Jack never did a good job keeping us up but only to say it was early to compare him to probably the greatest manager ever.

There is also many times I have felt pride being a St Mirren fan and part of a real family club. Here is a couple

1987 Cup Final
Tom Hendrie's Promotion season
Gus McPherson's promotion season
2013 League Cup Win

Just because I don't want to celebrate survival doesn't make me any worse a fan.
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1 hour ago, Wilbur said:

BBC reporting Tony Fitzpatrick's opinion of JR's achievement.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39832642

As we all know Tony doesn't ever exaggerate things.

And I'm no just saying that !

 

"We're a top-six club in the Premiership, even top-four, and we'll not rest."

Good aul' Tony! :)

and I'm no just sayin that...

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I'll never, ever be embarrassed to celebrate SMFC achieving something.
Yes, if you'd told me at the start of the season we'd be celebrating avoiding relegation I'd have scoffed at the notion. How can a club like this possibly celebrate simply staying up? 
Sometimes though, the end result is only half the story. We didn't just avoid it, we were dead.... totally gone and almost instantly, we just turned. We started getting results and played some fantastic, swashbuckling stuff in the process. In doing so we also completely changed the culture and stigma hanging over our club in the last decade. That's not just one the park, but from chairman and board all the way to fans, everyone did their bit. I've never seen or heard a team talking the supporters up quite so much as our current crop and they are right to do so. This is the celebration of finally getting to see our club move on into a new era. 
It feels like the start of something pretty special. That buzz doesn't happen too often so we're very much going to enjoy it. 


Correct.
It's about celebrating through relief as much as it is in recognising a club and team re birth and acknowledging that our form and style of play since the new year has been of a standard not seen for years.
Cheers [emoji482]
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Correct.
It's about celebrating through relief as much as it is in recognising a club and team re birth and acknowledging that our form and style of play since the new year has been of a standard not seen for years.
Cheers [emoji482]


Relief is my overriding emotion.

If we keep majority of the current squad I am confident we can have a successful season and we can put this one behind us.

We go again next season
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Jack Ross said it himself in a website video - he's not celebrating finishing 7th. That's what I feel too. It's a celebration of the manner in which a great escape was achieved. The great escape will undoubtably go down in history - but it's firmly parked in the section of history with Shuggie's goal at Stirling... it's the kind of history we do NOT want to see repeated. 1987 and 2013 on the other hand...

How about a wee shot at repeating the Tom Hendrie history... I have a wee sneaky feeling we have a chance. Shhhhhh!

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I thought the thread title was about reality?

putting together a great run from late January onwards is to be commended, as is bringing in a few gems that helped the team take shape. But lets be clear Mallan, Morgan, Magennis, McKenzie, Sutton, Baird, Irvine etc were already at the club before January, as was Quinn and those guys have (not so much Quinn) played superbly throughout, whilst sometimes being lumbered with poor tactics and formation under both managers this season.

with the guys above, and those departed I do not recall anything but positive optimism before the season got underway. Rae and Farrel for whatever reason couldnt get the squad to kick on after securing safety last season, and those first league games made us look like a WW1 artillery battery shelling everything forward.

we lost gems in Naismith and McAllister, Ross won two out of fourteen up till January, and we needed that huge turnaround just to give us a chance of staying up on goal difference in the last game of the season. Had a really great day on Saturday, but have to admit that was relief rather than victory celebration as we damn near ended up in football wasteland.

so looking forward to what/who Ross can sign up in the next week or two. He has got a crucial couple of weeks start on the play off teams to get some contracts signed, persuade loan clubs to make permanent deals, and ship out his failures Todd, Storey, Fjelde etc. For me now! He has earned a clean slate, so we can judge him on the whole season ahead, and not selective parts therof.

so go on Jack, impress me/us and make us title challengers, not relegation battlers for the new season. 

Edited by Lord Pityme
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15 minutes ago, pozbaird said:

Jack Ross said it himself in a website video - he's not celebrating finishing 7th. That's what I feel too. It's a celebration of the manner in which a great escape was achieved. The great escape will undoubtably go down in history - but it's firmly parked in the section of history with Shuggie's goal at Stirling... it's the kind of history we do NOT want to see repeated. 1987 and 2013 on the other hand...

How about a wee shot at repeating the Tom Hendrie history... I have a wee sneaky feeling we have a chance. Shhhhhh!

You're spot on. People had written us off. The media especially, then there was the gloating from Morton fans about 'the gap' and old firm fans hate for our club through social media.  Ian McCall speaking of St Mirrens budget in January been to a level they could not compete with, even though his and the medias ignorance failing to recognise that we shipped out 10 players in January, with Jack and James replacing these players building 'their' squad. Morton through money at it the last time they went down and failed to get out of their predicament and people were looking at us as a similar story. It was a HUGE ask to come back from where we were in December. Remember discussions on here about how many games we would need to win, though we had only picked up our first win in December.

If we can keep together this team over the next few weeks, add a few more on top of that in the summer, then we have a solid basis to take the club to the heights we should be competing at.

 

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Celebrating survival after so many people had written us off is only natural.

It took Jack longer than he or we would have liked to get the team playing his way, even with some of the new players. McGinn was the catalyst for it all.

His signing gave us a leader on the pitch which we had lacked ever since Jim stopped featuring in the team, and his presence allowed Mallan to get into more advanced positions and do what he does best.

 With him creating stuff we had more ball time for Morgan and Magennis and this combined with the movement and intelligence of Loy and Smith made us a much more expansive, creating and attacking force.

The defence still shipped more goals than we'd have all liked but hard to criticise any of those lads for what they acheived in the last few months.

If we could re-sign Loy, Smith, MacKenzie, Eckersley and the Fish and extend the contract of Gary MacK, persuade Stelios to stick around for another season and fend off the interest in Mallan, Morgan and Magennis then we probably only need 3 or 4 players to come in to allow us to challenge at the other end of the table.

It's a big ask though, I'd be fairly certain we'll lose Mallan for sure this summer.

Hutton, Clarkson, Webster, Gordon, Quinn, McLear all look fairly likely to move on (albeit Hutton still has a year left) so there is scope to bring in a few.

If McGinn leaves Hibs for a 7 figure fee it could also create an interesting ripple effect!

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1 hour ago, pozbaird said:

Jack Ross said it himself in a website video - he's not celebrating finishing 7th. That's what I feel too. It's a celebration of the manner in which a great escape was achieved. The great escape will undoubtably go down in history - but it's firmly parked in the section of history with Shuggie's goal at Stirling... it's the kind of history we do NOT want to see repeated. 1987 and 2013 on the other hand...

How about a wee shot at repeating the Tom Hendrie history... I have a wee sneaky feeling we have a chance. Shhhhhh!

I don't think anyone is simply celebrating the fact that we avoided relegation. I think we are celebrating what is a pretty remarkable achievement to turn things round when we were teetering on the brink of the abyss.

Why not celebrate that achievement? It is, as much as anything else, the manmer in which it was achieved. Playing great football, restoring the feelgood factor at the club, and giving us genuine cause to be optimistic about the future. I, for one, won't apologise for celebrating those features of what has been a roller-coaster season.

In any event, let's not get too hung up on what should or shouldn't be a cause for celebration (or, indeed, what constitutes celebration). People celebrate birthdays - wow, you've lived another year! Folk celebrate finishing a marathon - even if they completed it in a time that the winner could have hopped it in. Wedding anniversaries? Should you celebrate managing not to break up with your other half? Rhetorical question!:ph34r:

Who cares what folk want to celebrate and how they choose to do it? Let's just enjoy the good times. As oaksoft pointed out earlier, there is no need whatsoever to piss on anyone chips over this.

 

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3 minutes ago, Drew said:

I don't think anyone is simply celebrating the fact that we avoided relegation. I think we are celebrating what is a pretty remarkable achievement to turn things round when we were teetering on the brink of the abyss.

Why not celebrate that achievement? It is, as much as anything else, the manmer in which it was achieved. Playing great football, restoring the feelgood factor at the club, and giving us genuine cause to be optimistic about the future. I, for one, won't apologise for celebrating those features of what has been a roller-coaster season.

In any event, let's not get too hung up on what should or shouldn't be a cause for celebration (or, indeed, what constitutes celebration). People celebrate birthdays - wow, you've lived another year! Folk celebrate finishing a marathon - even if they completed it in a time that the winner could have hopped it in. Wedding anniversaries? Should you celebrate managing not to break up with your other half? Rhetorical question!:ph34r:

Who cares what folk want to celebrate and how they choose to do it? Let's just enjoy the good times. As oaksoft pointed out earlier, there is no need whatsoever to piss on anyone chips over this.

 

Hopefully I'm not pissing on anyone's chips. If anyone wants the taste of piss in their mouth,  then just buy a coffee at New Douglas  Park. I would be surprised if any St Mirren fan is celebrating this season's great escape anywhere near the way they celebrated in 2013.

It's a different deal. Of course, having not attended an away game all season, our great escape run saw me feel the need to be at Falkirk and Tannadice recently, and I went as mental as anyone when McGinn scored a cracker, or when we pulled it back to 2-2 at Tannadice. I couldn't make it to Easter Road or I would definitely have went there.

A remarkable turn around in the new year, just want to forget about it now and turn my attention swiftly to who will go, who will stay, what the new kit looks like and renewing my ST for hopefully a good overall season next time out.

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