northstbuddie

During the Murray, Rae and Ross reigns, most (but not all) on here thought that they were not bad appointments (initially at least) and were willing to give them a chance. As time passed and our deterioration continued at a pace not witnessed on the playing field, opinions changed with the benefit of hindsight and like all managers of St Mirren in recent times they were then written off as abject failures and 'bad appointments'. It could be argued that only Hendrie and MacPherson have achieved any semblance of success in the past 20 years or so, and in the previous 20 or so years to that a certain Alex Ferguson, Ricky McFarlane and Jim Clunie, could claim likewise. In fact since 1970 (when Wilson Humphries was manager) we have had 22 managers over a period of 46 years - an average time in charge of 2 years per manager. Gus McPherson enjoyed nearly 7 years in charge and kept St Mirren at a level we can only dream about now. In the 6 and a half years since then we have had 7 managers (if you include Allan McManus) - with an average time in charge of less than a year over that period. Also during that time we moved to a dinky wee stadium appropriate for junior football (or 3rd tier senior football) and we have ended up playing that grade of football. We now have a situation where (in 2 months time) the likes of Ross County, Hamilton Accies, Patrick Thistle and Kilmarnock, could be 2 leagues ahead of St Mirren - the club from the largest town in Scotland outside the city clubs. We all have our opinion as to who is to blame for our current predicament but one thing is for certain IT IS NOT JACK ROSS! Yes he can shoulder the blame (along with the senior players in the squad) for the current run of poor results but he must be given time to turn things around and I personally believe he has the potential/ability to do that along with James Fowler. Unfortunately we may have to drop down to the third level before things start to improve.

Job done TC now give the guy (and us) a break.

How we have adjusted our aspirations as this season has progressed (regressed?). No-one realistically believed we would win the Championship outright but most of us thought a play-off spot was not out of the question. We then talked of mid-table safety and then after that it was steering clear of the bottom. Now most of us are resigned to relegation to the third tier of second-rate Scottish football. We have seen very little this season to make us believe we are not where we deserve to be and are seriously asking when will the rot stop? What is perhaps more pertinent is to ask when did the rot start and who saw it coming? The answer to that is April 2013 and many of us were baffled by the sweeping clear out of the cup winning team over the following season or so and were concerned at that time by their replacement by second/third division players rather than using the nucleus of the 2013 team and building on that. Instead the BoD pursued a policy of harikari in the interests of protecting their investments. Who can blame them?

And they said that the Championship was a hard league to get out of. We are proving everyone wrong!

I think it is becoming clearer by the day where our season is headed - Dunfermline now 2-0 up on Raith - the others are pulling away from us and we are becoming more stranded at the bottom. We have been lampooned on 'Only an Excuse' and are the butt of ridicule as a result of mismanagement by the previous BoD since our brief minute of glory in 2013. Like our hogmanay performance we have made an art out of losing from winning positions. Unless Jack Ross and the team turn things round immediately in terms of results we are really going to have to rely on Donald Trump to make us great once again. Wait a minute I was only joking - but what if Gordon Scott had a word in Donald's ear about backing St Mirren to the tune of $M??? in the transfer window - what an opportunity for some positive publicity in the UK for Donald by supporting a good charitable cause in a deprived area of Scotland?

Quite true Stu - I can quite honestly admit that I have never once in my life associated vanilla (or any other flavour) with "good honest opinion".

Like a certain young Tony Fitzpatrick - captain at the tender age of 17?

The results have been disappointing but perhaps you have forgotten just how bad we really were. We matched Dundee United for most of today's game but just did not enjoy the rub of the green as happens to teams in our position. If we persevere and keep the faith we will achieve the great escape but we will have to pick up the points soon.

Watched the game on a poor internet connection in Lewis but saw enough to confirm that the corner has been turned - what an improvement in performance from Rae's time in charge. Whether we have turned the corner in time is another matter. TC's usual rant against Ross cannot be justified in the real world.

Your comments are a typical example of what my original post was about. If you played football yourself you would not want 'Hendo' as a supporter.

No room in your midfield then for someone like Jim Goodwin, Bobby Holmes, John Grieg, Billy Bremner, Dave McKay or Roy Aitken? But maybe you're too young to remember what a "non-footballer" midfield player looked like.

THAT was the only poor pass by a Saints player this season?

Like so many other players who did not produce their best form or potential at St Mirren - yes you could argue the playing budget was wasted over Hutton. But with a bit of encouragement there is a player in there somewhere.

Maybe what it does say about Jack Ross is that Hutton was so vilified at St Mirren that he possibly considered that he would benefit from a loan spell elsewhere.

I have been saddened recently about the sarcastic and moronic comments made about Kyle Hutton on this forum. In the games I have seen him play for us he was certainly not our worst performer yet most of the flack was directed his way. Granted he is not a silky, skilful midfielder, but with the emergence of the Four Ms in recent weeks, what we are screaming out for now is an industrious, defensive midfielder as we cannot rely on Quinn to avoid injury for any length of time. Hutton always seemed to me to be a willing and committed midfielder who made himself available to help out colleagues but suffered more than most from the air of negativity surrounding the club for a while and experienced an obvious drop-off in confidence as a result. With the current more up-beat atmosphere at Greenhill Road, we could do worse than recall Kyle into the squad for the second half of the season and give him the chance to prove himself. The Four Ms and the Three Kyles between them could provide the midfield we require to get ourselves out of our current mess.

Merry Christmas all Saints fans. 2017 is going to be a momentous year for us - one way or the other!

Everything black or white in your eyes Shull. Is there ever the potential for just a wee shade of grey now and again?

That's the Christmas spirit Shull!

Pleased to hear it. However this thread has been given 4 times as much comment as the one on tomorrow's game which is critical to our survival.

Children, Children! Family squabbles are not uncommon but this thread must take the biscuit! While the patient is seriously ill, this family of so-called St Mirren fans, take their eye off the ball and forget that what they have to unite them is so much greater than what divides them. Merry Christmas everyone and COYS!!!

From day one you were an evangelical atheist!

If this is not St Mirren's darkest hour what is? Nothing short of a miracle will save us from relegation to the third tier of Scottish football, which is third rate in itself. On the bright side, things can only get better. Someone was saying to me earlier what a difficult league the Championship is to get out of - however we have disproven that!

It is sobering to realise that just over 3 years ago we were able to defeat Celtic on merit in a semi final (and win the final) and then, through bad stewardship, disrupt the stability of our player pool by wholesale changes in the interests of seeking a "new direction". Today we can't beat the second worst team in the second tier at home and our journey is now onwards and downwards - not the direction we had anticipated!

If you had been at the game, you would appreciate that the performance today was a vast improvement but the result arose from a combination of a clanger by the goalkeeper and some poor finishing. All of the players involved were not signed by Jack Ross, but he does have the team playing better than under Alex Rae - the defence was solid and the midfield was more influential than previously was the case under Rae. The other plus point is the fact that our own youth players are now being given a chance - and they did not let us down today.

Firstly; we were marginally the better team today - which we can argue for the first time this season in the second division of Scottish football which in general is at an all-time low. Secondly; although he made one fantastic save before his accustomed clanger, Langfield made one mistake too many today and should no longer be first choice keeper. Thirdly; the overall performance was better (than what?) and our young players did produce the only glimmer of hope for better things to come. Fourthly; Jack Ross will have to be given time to turn things round but this will likely not prevent us dropping down to the third division of Scottish football based on our current performances - we are where we belong on merit in this second division.