northstbuddie

Yes - every player has his weakness. One of the best players ever to pull on a Scotland shirt (despite being a blue nose) was Jim Baxter - he oozed class but was even slower than Bryceland. I recently watched the '1991 Marching In' video and in that Davie Lapsley recalled when Baxter was at Raith Rovers and Bryceland nut-megged him a number of times during the one match. That reminded me of a game at Ibrox a few years later when I witnessed this nut-meg vendetta going on between the two of them - they seemed more intent on the nut-megs than they were on the scoreline. But they were in deadly earnest - I think they both got booked that day. My memory was that Bryceland came out on top by some margin. In many ways Bryceland was similar in style and ability to Baxter but never pulled on a Scottish jersey. He even had a more successful career in England than Baxter. Someone just forgot to let the SFA know.

In the post about Bobby McKean, after reference was made to the 3-3 draw with Rangers at Love Street, I was reminded of how players like Jacky Copland never got a proper look-in at international level because of old-firm bias in the SFA. Other players that come to mind are Jim Clunie, Tommy Bryceland, Tommy Gemmell, Cammy Murray and Tony Fitzpatrick. What 6 Saints players do you feel missed out on international caps to lesser beings from the old firm?

Bobby will be one of many talented players from that era who will be fondly remembered by Saints fans. However, my favourite memory from that particular game was Jacky Copland nearly halfing hard man Tam Forsyth in two in a 50-50 tackle only for Forsyth to get booked for his typical involvement in the clash. It was (and is) typical of the bias within the SFA that players like Copland were never properly recognised for their ability at national level (Jim Clunie was another even more blatant example), whereas old firm players like Forsyth were automatic choices for the national team. No wonder Scotland have under-achieved in international football.

It does not look good. Division on here between optimists and pessimists and which of them has the moral high ground. The reality is that most of us (especially the BoD) have been kidding ourselves on for most of the season that we are good enough to stay up. I watched the excellent Tony Fitzpatrick YouTube video earlier today (strongly recommended) which makes our present plight hard to stomach. We have a very proud history and tradition as one of the founder members of the Scottish league. The Ferguson/MacFarlane/Clunie era was one when we aspired to greater things than mere survival in a very ordinary league. During that golden period we actually recorded 7 out of 8 points (when it was just 2 points for a victory) against Celtic in one season. What saddens me most on this forum is that, whilst accepting that we have no divine right to be in the top tier of Scottish football, a lot of Saints fans have adopted the limited ambition adopted by the Board and are resigned to a mere survival mentality. Unfortunately even that now seems beyond us. We urgently need some positive and creative forward planning to recover from the mess we are in now.

That was the year of the bibs when Alex Smith and Jimmy Bone brought the Scottish Cup with them. And yes we got value for money that day.

Why not try him at centre half?

Yourself included

Spoil sport

Happily I could not be at the game today but by all accounts the defence were again not up to the task. This has been the case not just this season but for at least two or three seasons before. The fans on here are totally in agreement about this failing, but Danny Lennon. Tommy Craig and now Gary Teale have simply failed to acknowledge what is apparent to everyone else. The question has got to be asked WHY ? And this is a question which has not received an answer in all this time.

All we know for certain - it was a botch-up!

I actually agree with most of your points pozbaird. I was not suggesting that being so close to Glasgow is the reason for our present state. Yes the BoD did a good job in getting us on a level footing several years ago but it has turned out to be a missed opportunity when we failed to build on that situation. Ever since, apart from the 2013 league cup triumph, (which was another failure to build on the success we had then) the impression coming from the BoD was to cut our cloth according to our means - which in the BoD's view was to be able to compete at a level below where we are at present. Agreed we have no divine right to anything - but I was just making the point that based on our potential fanbase we should be competing in the top six. There has been no ambition shown by the BoD to aspire to greater things which is why the depressing stadium at Greenhill Road has been designed for failure rather than success and why it has never been filled as pointed out by pod. Perhaps if we were situated in Dingwall, rather than Paisley, our present plight could be looked on as success.

Have we tried?

Yes we have been naive but what makes you think it's a lesson learned? We have been a small-minded club for quite a considerable time when considering we have one of the biggest potential fan bases in Scotland - and don't give me the nonsense about being too close to Glasgow. Even Aberdeen and the Dundee teams sadly lose potential fans to the Old Firm. Are we unique in Scotland in being forced into selling players at less than a quarter of their worth? The more small minded we are, the more players of any ability will hold the club to ransom.

Don't let the bugs bite.

Confirmation that Dundee United have accepted offer from Celtic of over £2M for GMS and Armstrong. Irrespective of any 'release clause' factor in McLean's departure from St Mirren for £0.275M, the BoD should hold their heads in shame at this despicable piece of business. Their incompetence is breathtaking and has made us the laughing stock of Scottish football.

Probably a lot of pundits would agree that Kenny McLean and Stuart Armstrong are of a similar calibre and ability. According to reports today Dundee United have rejected an offer of £1.6 million for Armstrong and St Mirren have accepted an offer of £275,000 for McLean. Irrespective of whether or not 'release clauses' were involved, the whole affair (from St Mirren's point of view) reeks of incompetence.

Great result and effort from the team - especially Cheesy and Goody. Now that we have given ourselves the chance of avoiding relegation, it is important that the fans play their part in encouraging the team at home matches. This would mean for instance giving John McGinn the room to shake off his current run of bad form. He is no different from any other player who goes through a bad patch. He is too good a player to succumb to lack of confidence but he is still just a young lad. So our encouragement is essential to him and the other up and coming players emerging from the development team when they hit that inevitable run of bad form. When this squad produce what they are capable of, we will be competing in the top half of the league next season and will be playing with style, unlike tonight.

Well done the team - especially Cheesy. However, we are playing as if doomed. Pick the heads up guys and play to your ability. Dayton playing well - not just his goal.

Congratulations to Gary And David - I hope it works out for them - and St Mirren. However, it would be good if they could acknowledge our weaknesses in defence by bringing in at least 2 defenders before the end of the transfer window. The Arquin and Dayton acquisitions have addressed to some extent the deficiencies up front but we still need to plug the gaping hole in our defence.

For those non-ST fans amongst you who might be feeling discriminated against at Firhill and don't have BT Sport you might want to try live streaming of the game at:- http://www.drakulastream.eu/football-live-streaming-video.html

Getting back onto the topic of this thread. Now that James Dayton has signed on until the end of the season, what should the team be against Thistle? How about :- Ridgers, Naismith, Goodwin, McAusland, Tesselaar Osbourne, Mallan, McGinn, Kelly (or Dayton) McLean, Thompson

So is a CH to partner Cheesy.

A pretty pathetic thread - get a life and grow up!

So far we've signed only one quality (?) player - Arquin - surplus to requirements at Ross County!