the barrhead teacher

Typical St Mirren- great crowd turns up full of anticipation and we do not deliver. How many will be back?
Speaking to another in the West Stand who knows a diehard Dumbarton fan. He had indicated that the two centrebacks for the Sons were the 'no messing about' types but slow and could be exploited down the wings by pace. This seemed to partly explain the side we put out- initially anyway.
Could not understand why we backed off Dumbarton while they harried us constantly winning ball and exploiting the space we gave them- It was essentially Murray's team last season for God's sake.
Morgan was woeful in the first half, easily manhandled of the ball, but what a change in the second half as he grew in confidence. really caused problems down the left wing and put in some tasty crosses.
Agnew appears to only score spectacular goals, the rest of the the game he struggled to control the ball or pass intelligently- trying to hard against old team?
Gow should not even be on the bench- absolutely appalling.
Naismith's injury looks bad- very worrying as he has been very influential.
Game was crying out for Goodwin to marshall the troops. Agree with many posts that if we stick to many young lads in here we are going to have some very painful lessons this season.
I hope that Murray is learning quickly from what he is seeingin front of him when it comes to competitive matches.
McMullan is an excellent player- a little greedy at times- second half he made some excellent runs and would have been able to make more of them with more movement from others in the team. Bit like Dargo in the sense he is thinking quicker than others- will communication improve.
We are too quick to turn on the team though during matches. yes we all pay to get in and expect to be entertained, but positivity has a far greater impact on players during matches than abuse- look at the reaction of the team when we had a couple of good attacks.
Maybe I will havelost my optimism by the end of September, but two league matches in I still see hope, especially during the warm up when Langfield focussed on Ridgers handling of crosses and distribution from pass backs.

Typical St Mirren- great crowd turns up full of anticipation and we do not deliver. How many will be back?
Speaking to another in the West Stand who knows a diehard Dumbarton fan. He had indicated that the two centrebacks for the Sons were the 'no messing about' types but slow and could be exploited down the wings by pace. This seemed to partly explain the side we put out- initially anyway.
Could not understand why we backed off Dumbarton while they harried us constantly winning ball and exploiting the space we gave them- It was essentially Murray's team last season for God's sake.
Morgan was woeful in the first half, easily manhandled of the ball, but what a change in the second half as he grew in confidence. really caused problems down the left wing and put in some tasty crosses.
Agnew appears to only score spectacular goals, the rest of the the game he struggled to control the ball or pass intelligently- trying to hard against old team?
Gow should not even be on the bench- absolutely appalling.
Naismith's injury looks bad- very worrying as he has been very influential.
Game was crying out for Goodwin to marshall the troops. Agree with many posts that if we stick to many young lads in here we are going to have some very painful lessons this season.
I hope that Murray is learning quickly from what he is seeingin front of him when it comes to competitive matches.
McMullan is an excellent player- a little greedy at times- second half he made some excellent runs and would have been able to make more of them with more movement from others in the team. Bit like Dargo in the sense he is thinking quicker than others- will communication improve.
We are too quick to turn on the team though during matches. yes we all pay to get in and expect to be entertained, but positivity has a far greater impact on players during matches than abuse- look at the reaction of the team when we had a couple of good attacks.
Maybe I will havelost my optimism by the end of September, but two league matches in I still see hope, especially during the warm up when Langfield focussed on Ridgers handling of crosses and distribution from pass backs.

Just back, a long day but enjoyable overall.
The game: Overrun in the opening 20+ minutes, Rangers have some pretty decent players, pacey and the guy Tavernier looks a decent prospect, although very right footed. As much as they had possession not overly threatening then a boot in the nads with a massive bit of luck when a corner fell straight to Wallace, another decent player. Scarey next few minutes, the 2nd goal was a decent move and good finish. We seemed to settle after that and scored a great goal, superb weighted pass from McMullen and calmly slotted by Howieson. Back in it? Yes we were.
2nd half we were steady then the moment that lost us, in my opinion, a point, at least. Great run, penalty and then Thompson, who was having a nightmare, took a stunningly shit attempt at a penalty. A player who was played in a difficult position and he made is look even harder by looking like a shit past it player. (more to follow on this I see) he could hardly stay on his feet, failed to pass to a teammate when it was harder not to, and looked a shadow of the player from a few years ago. Having a nightmare was a nice way of commenting on his contribution. Possibly better games for him but I doubt it.
They took heart from this and started to create openings but another bit of serious bad luck when they scored the 3rd. Superb stop by Ridgers and cannoned of half wit Shiels.
A great atmosphere, sure they have a lunatic element, so do we, just not as many. The bile that's spouted from their support is something to behold, but we have some serious warmers who seem oblivious we have young kids in our midst, but hey ho, that football supporters for you. (Funny how our support rarely mention this?)
We have a more than decent building blocks of a team. Our team looked like 3/4 were under 21 and coped reasonably well with the situation.
As I stated before the game I never expected a pumping here as both teams are rebuilding and we have some good prospects, Baird was rightly hailed by our manager during the week at the Q&A.
Now, what's next?

Indeed.So many things could be said about that game good and bad.
Being positive to start with like for many of you above the most impressive aspect for me was the willingness to dig in and keep going. In too many games last year that fight was missing, tonight it was plain to see. I accept the standing off criticism but would suggest this was either an instruction not to chase the ball in their half early in the game or stage fright. Either way it was certainly not for lack of effort.
Negatives:
I think we gave them too much respect to start off with, but this did change as we grew into the match.
I agree the left side needs strengthened however I disagree with the character assassinations of both Howieson and Conlan. As previously mentioned Howieson doesn't appear to be a wide player and as a result tends to play relatively narrow or doesn't offer the the same protection to Conlan as a natural left sided player would. He also took his goal very well. Conlan had a tough time like in the Bradford game but never gave up. He was up against their best player for me and after the first 20 mins barring the long ball he misjudged he came on to a far better game. Answer move Howieson in one and play Morgan.
The penalty, but wasn't it well won?
Out-with that I am struggling. I can understand where the criticism of Thommo is coming from but how often did anyone get near him to support in the first half? Second half he linked play relatively well and was our only central aerial threat.
Perhaps the ease with which Wallace ran through for the second would be the other negative, but it was a good ball through...only Baird though tracked therefore who should have been marking him?
As for the positives:
The fight.
The goal.
The goal keeping performance after what I thought was a shaky game against Bradford.
The central half pairing. For all Baird had a great and committed game just as IM eluded to I also thought Sean Kelly had a very good game.
Naismith look the fittest man on the park and for all my comment about the lack of support for Conlan on the other side, he effectively gave McMullan licence to not track back most of the second half.
Midfield 5. Quiet games for Howieson (although a fantastic goal), Agnew and Mallan, but I though both Carswell and McMullen had very good games. Carswell instructing Mallan how to tackle in the middle of the second half was fantastic to see. McMullan's running - which should be the only thought in his head when he gets the ball - was fantastic.
Thommo as above not his best by a long way but had a thankless task on his own, particularly in this game given the circumstances. I don't think he's done at all, he just needs to be used appropriately and not asked to do everything...
The pace going forward that we now seem to have in McMullan, Morgan and Gallagher.
Morgan looked good as did Gallagher - although the first run as lone striker is always to the front post!
Even Gow looked much better than last season albeit he only had a short spell to show it.
All that with a very young side at the most intimidating venue, against a side who are supposedly going to romp the league.
I know I am a happy clapper yet although Rangers were always at least slightly in the ascendancy we weren't far behind them in a game we didn't play at our best. Who knows what could have happened if that ball had hit the top corner of the net and not the top corner of the stand...
ETA: corrections to a few typos and to say I'm not worried in the slightest for when they come to our patch. I think we could give them a good going over especially pressing from the front with a positive home crowd behind us.

Lots of positives to take from tonight. Ridgers had one of his best games for us and Baird and Naismith were outstanding. We were far better in the second half and who knows if Thommo had scored the penalty I feel we could have sneaked a draw. However, Blue Puke looked a fine side going forward and look like they will walk the league. They are weak at the back though and we had opportunities to really exploit this. Need to work on finishing and set pieces though. McMullan looks a real handful. Howieson- great goal but did not see a lot of him in the rest of the game (on the telly anyway).
Don't think Thommo can play the lone strike- certainly not against Rangers and Hibs anyway- woeful night for the big man even before that horror penalty.
A team in progress, but have to agree that we need to learn quickly not to stand off teams as it really sot us in the first half hour. Going in the right direction though roll on Dumbarton next week.

Lots of positives to take from tonight. Ridgers had one of his best games for us and Baird and Naismith were outstanding. We were far better in the second half and who knows if Thommo had scored the penalty I feel we could have sneaked a draw. However, Blue Puke looked a fine side going forward and look like they will walk the league. They are weak at the back though and we had opportunities to really exploit this. Need to work on finishing and set pieces though. McMullan looks a real handful. Howieson- great goal but did not see a lot of him in the rest of the game (on the telly anyway).
Don't think Thommo can play the lone strike- certainly not against Rangers and Hibs anyway- woeful night for the big man even before that horror penalty.
A team in progress, but have to agree that we need to learn quickly not to stand off teams as it really sot us in the first half hour. Going in the right direction though roll on Dumbarton next week.

Lots of positives to take from tonight. Ridgers had one of his best games for us and Baird and Naismith were outstanding. We were far better in the second half and who knows if Thommo had scored the penalty I feel we could have sneaked a draw. However, Blue Puke looked a fine side going forward and look like they will walk the league. They are weak at the back though and we had opportunities to really exploit this. Need to work on finishing and set pieces though. McMullan looks a real handful. Howieson- great goal but did not see a lot of him in the rest of the game (on the telly anyway).
Don't think Thommo can play the lone strike- certainly not against Rangers and Hibs anyway- woeful night for the big man even before that horror penalty.
A team in progress, but have to agree that we need to learn quickly not to stand off teams as it really sot us in the first half hour. Going in the right direction though roll on Dumbarton next week.

Lots of positives to take from tonight. Ridgers had one of his best games for us and Baird and Naismith were outstanding. We were far better in the second half and who knows if Thommo had scored the penalty I feel we could have sneaked a draw. However, Blue Puke looked a fine side going forward and look like they will walk the league. They are weak at the back though and we had opportunities to really exploit this. Need to work on finishing and set pieces though. McMullan looks a real handful. Howieson- great goal but did not see a lot of him in the rest of the game (on the telly anyway).
Don't think Thommo can play the lone strike- certainly not against Rangers and Hibs anyway- woeful night for the big man even before that horror penalty.
A team in progress, but have to agree that we need to learn quickly not to stand off teams as it really sot us in the first half hour. Going in the right direction though roll on Dumbarton next week.

Lots of positives to take from tonight. Ridgers had one of his best games for us and Baird and Naismith were outstanding. We were far better in the second half and who knows if Thommo had scored the penalty I feel we could have sneaked a draw. However, Blue Puke looked a fine side going forward and look like they will walk the league. They are weak at the back though and we had opportunities to really exploit this. Need to work on finishing and set pieces though. McMullan looks a real handful. Howieson- great goal but did not see a lot of him in the rest of the game (on the telly anyway).
Don't think Thommo can play the lone strike- certainly not against Rangers and Hibs anyway- woeful night for the big man even before that horror penalty.
A team in progress, but have to agree that we need to learn quickly not to stand off teams as it really sot us in the first half hour. Going in the right direction though roll on Dumbarton next week.

Lots of positives to take from tonight. Ridgers had one of his best games for us and Baird and Naismith were outstanding. We were far better in the second half and who knows if Thommo had scored the penalty I feel we could have sneaked a draw. However, Blue Puke looked a fine side going forward and look like they will walk the league. They are weak at the back though and we had opportunities to really exploit this. Need to work on finishing and set pieces though. McMullan looks a real handful. Howieson- great goal but did not see a lot of him in the rest of the game (on the telly anyway).
Don't think Thommo can play the lone strike- certainly not against Rangers and Hibs anyway- woeful night for the big man even before that horror penalty.
A team in progress, but have to agree that we need to learn quickly not to stand off teams as it really sot us in the first half hour. Going in the right direction though roll on Dumbarton next week.

Having scanned this thread this evening and the comments made at last night's meeting I am really up for this season. Yes it might take a few weeks for the team to gel. Murray will be judged on who else he brings in and where we are at in October. I do not see us getting thrashed on Friday unless we go gungho at them. Peterhead lost three on Sunday late on and surely we are a much better team than them. Would not be surprised if we come away with a draw on Friday. Whatever happens, it cannot be nay worse than last season, can it? Murray and Spalding impressed with their comments and it was refreshing to hear some of the comments from Gilmour. Do think, however, that the official website could be better employed to keep us informed on issues such as JD Sports.

Murray has concerns about Kelly and Baird too as he pointed out their deficiencies. One of the biggest jobs is to get them to communicate with each other during the game.
He believes, that under the current management team, he can improve both of these players and turn them into much better players.
He says that they will makes mistakes, but that's part of the learning process.
He's also aware that an experienced CH is necessary to provide support for Kelly and Baird and has targeted such a player, but he must get the right player, so he's prepared to wait, as long as he can.
He also says, that in his opinion, having actually watched championship games for two seasons, unlike most people on here, that Kelly and Baird, will, for the most part, cope with championship level forwards.
I'm not sure what more Murray can do on his limited budget.
I'm sure some of our resident financial and tactical experts, with their obvious experience of both running and managing a football club could come up with some suggestions.

Main conclusions from that:
Murray really talks the talk. Articulate, confident, knows what he wants. Spalding is, without question, a cutting edge 21st century football coach. Sounds absolutely obsessed with the game and its analysis, geekish almost. Baird & Kelly are our first choice centre-halves. Manager seems to think Baird, in particular, is going to be a top player.

I have to say that on the evidence of tonight's Q&A, that I am very impressed with Ian Murray. Extremely capable, professional and says it like it is.

Here I am sitting in my wee hoose; depressed by the weathe;, weans wanting to talk about their exam result;, the prospect of having to go back to work next week, when out of the 'blue' an interesting signing for the Saints!!!
I actually signed him last season after Thommo left in the huff- on Championship Manager, I haste to explain, and he scored me a barrowload of goals. So it must be a good signing. I have a sneaky, good feeling about this season and am fairly confident we will be challenging up at the top for a decent play off position and pose Hibs and Rangers some problems- here's hoping anyway. PS Pity you can't delete poor matches and replay them like you can on the laptop.

Here I am sitting in my wee hoose; depressed by the weathe;, weans wanting to talk about their exam result;, the prospect of having to go back to work next week, when out of the 'blue' an interesting signing for the Saints!!!
I actually signed him last season after Thommo left in the huff- on Championship Manager, I haste to explain, and he scored me a barrowload of goals. So it must be a good signing. I have a sneaky, good feeling about this season and am fairly confident we will be challenging up at the top for a decent play off position and pose Hibs and Rangers some problems- here's hoping anyway. PS Pity you can't delete poor matches and replay them like you can on the laptop.

Here I am sitting in my wee hoose; depressed by the weathe;, weans wanting to talk about their exam result;, the prospect of having to go back to work next week, when out of the 'blue' an interesting signing for the Saints!!!
I actually signed him last season after Thommo left in the huff- on Championship Manager, I haste to explain, and he scored me a barrowload of goals. So it must be a good signing. I have a sneaky, good feeling about this season and am fairly confident we will be challenging up at the top for a decent play off position and pose Hibs and Rangers some problems- here's hoping anyway. PS Pity you can't delete poor matches and replay them like you can on the laptop.

Unlike some I was pleased by today's performance. Scored 3, 2 chopped off and hit the woodwork 3 times. We played some good football with good passing moves. Considering their ages and experience I thought Kelly and Baird had a good partnership against two lively and big Rangers strikers.
Where it did not work for us was Thommo with Mallan playing just behind him. Most good moves broke down at the edge of the box. Thommo unfortunately is too static these days. Mallan plays better in a deeper position.
Feeling a lot more positive now that I did last week considering we should have a few more players in over the next few weeks.

He is and always will be a championship centre half at best are we forgetting he was released by Queen of the South ? Sadly the powers that be at St Mirren brought him back and even made him a regular and a captain and there was a fair degree of favouritism, yes he played well enough in some games and contributed in our famous cup winning season however we have been without a solid, reliable centre half for around a decade now which does somewhat infuriate me

Have been in Cornwall for the last two weeks...weather has been pretty good. Staying in Perranporth which has a huge beach... Yesterday it was taken over by the RFU for a schools touch rugby tournament. I woke up from an afternoon snooze to a Royal Navy Helicopter landing about 300 metres away. Just next to where we were esconced the RFU had set up an area to show off the Rugby World Cup, which is doing a tour of England ahead of the competition in August. Got some cracking pictures to show a couple of my work colleagues who have played rugby at a high level over the years. Be back in time for Bradford game and what I hope is an exciting season of football.

The difficulty seems to have been trying to keep all of the senior players happy following DL's departure. All three of GT, JG and ST are experienced pros approaching the end of their playing careers with coaching clearly on their minds. I don't profess to know anything of the inner workings of their dynamic over the past year, but appointing two rather than three to coaching roles seemed strange compounded by GT's promotion and JG then being demoted.
Whilst it would be great to keep these characters and ambassadors for our club in some capacity relegation and a constrained budget makes change almost inevitable. I would hate to be in the position of deciding who stays and who goes, but looks like difficult decisions need to be made. While knowing a bit more about the dynamic between the three would assist, IM needs to get this right and early on too.
If all 4 could work well together then drawing on the positive qualities of each could give us a young dynamic managerial team with possibly combined coaches at the back, in midfield and up front.
However it would appear that GT's playing days are over from the lack of game time this season.
I think ST is too big a commodity to lose especially with relegation and his stated will to stay at his home team. Therefore I'd get him signed with a view to a route into coaching as mutually appropriate when discussions take place.
Whilst I can understand some of the argument of JG's detractors, again I think especially with relegation he has a lot to offer on the pitch. I would therefore want JG to stay as a player next season. For me this isn't a difficult decision on a footballing basis but the question is whether there is a rift or not...and also whether JG's coaching plans have been permanently scuppered at Saints given his demotion.
GT appears to have been on a hiding to nothing. RC and Motherwell strengthened in January and we became weaker. He certainly was lauded for his coaching abilities on his appointment as assistant and also as temporary manager. Will he want to stay in a lesser role? Is there a role for him on the park? Has there been discontent between our senior players?
So for me - ST yes, JG yes and GT would like to see some role but has his position been compromised too much?
Anyway just some thoughts on the issue...

The last thing I'm going to do is to dig out some recent posts from people lauding this appointment who said a day or two ago that if Murray gets it we are going nowhere... If I did that, folk would go and dig out my posts where I reckoned I could see why the BoD bumped up Tommy Craig - continuity, knows the players, time to be his own man... so on and soforth. Tommy was no different to any new Saints boss - I wanted the best for him and therefore the team.
Which leads me into my view that this time, I am not lauding Murray's appointment as being visionary, nor am I going to say I think his record at Dumbarton isn't great and we should have went for A.N. Other. I am very much up for giving the guy a real chance - give him time. We are in the Championship anyway. We are up against Sevco / Hibs / Motherwell etc anyway. We need a rebuild anyway.... Let's give the guy every chance to move us in the right direction.
There's no desperate bottom six struggle, no grim attempt to hold onto top flight status. A fresh start for everyone - Murray himself, and the players, supporters and staff of St Mirren FC. I am encouraged that the BoD have went for a new, young, outside manager, and I am encouraged that Murray sees us as a step up. He also speaks very well and comes over well in interviews.
Fresh start indeed. The very best wishes to Ian Murray, and indeed applauds to the BoD for making a gutsy move. We are all in this together now. Let's get behind everyone connected with SMFC.

Corker of a goal from Mallan to cap an 'exciting'last twenty minutes. Did think he was very influential throughout but has picked up that old Kenny McLean problem of launching ridiculous passes at times which do not get to the player.
Thought the first half, in particular, was very much the two poorest teams in the league confirming why we were there. Finishing from both sides awful.
Wylde once more gave further evidence why he has no future at SMP. No idea when he gets near the box.
Watched highlights again tonight and McManus' challenge does not merit anything less than a red- totally horrific.
Very soft penalty.
McDonald's sending off I was unsure of at the time. Alba coverage is from same angle as I was sitting. He does appear to deliberately lead with the elbow. Would like to have seen it from another angle.
Loved the tenacity of Naismith and Morgan chasing lost cause balls in the box, especially the way it led to equaliser. Roll on next season. Hope springs eternal.

Corker of a goal from Mallan to cap an 'exciting'last twenty minutes. Did think he was very influential throughout but has picked up that old Kenny McLean problem of launching ridiculous passes at times which do not get to the player.
Thought the first half, in particular, was very much the two poorest teams in the league confirming why we were there. Finishing from both sides awful.
Wylde once more gave further evidence why he has no future at SMP. No idea when he gets near the box.
Watched highlights again tonight and McManus' challenge does not merit anything less than a red- totally horrific.
Very soft penalty.
McDonald's sending off I was unsure of at the time. Alba coverage is from same angle as I was sitting. He does appear to deliberately lead with the elbow. Would like to have seen it from another angle.
Loved the tenacity of Naismith and Morgan chasing lost cause balls in the box, especially the way it led to equaliser. Roll on next season. Hope springs eternal.

Corker of a goal from Mallan to cap an 'exciting'last twenty minutes. Did think he was very influential throughout but has picked up that old Kenny McLean problem of launching ridiculous passes at times which do not get to the player.
Thought the first half, in particular, was very much the two poorest teams in the league confirming why we were there. Finishing from both sides awful.
Wylde once more gave further evidence why he has no future at SMP. No idea when he gets near the box.
Watched highlights again tonight and McManus' challenge does not merit anything less than a red- totally horrific.
Very soft penalty.
McDonald's sending off I was unsure of at the time. Alba coverage is from same angle as I was sitting. He does appear to deliberately lead with the elbow. Would like to have seen it from another angle.
Loved the tenacity of Naismith and Morgan chasing lost cause balls in the box, especially the way it led to equaliser. Roll on next season. Hope springs eternal.