MenstrieSaint

Remember living in Hong Kong during the seventies and heading down to Starferry on Mondays to get the UK sunday papers to get the Saints score , also remember staying up til the middle of the night listening to BBC world service but falling asleep before the results came round , Living in Ingerlandshire and coming up once or twice a year for a game  and then eventually moving to Scotland and getting to watch the Saints every week

Born Paisley (in Cup winning year to a St Mirren supporting family} moved to Exeter (Still Supporting Saints) moved to Jersey (Still Supporting Saints) moved to Kent (Still Supporting Saints) moved to London (Still Supporting Saints) Moved to Glasgow & Still Supporting Saints
 

As a few have mentioned on here, the team you support is generally dictated by who your parents/grandparents/family members support.

When I was a wee boy in the early 80s, my late Dad took me to all St Mirren home matches and if they were away from home he would take my to Morton, Dumbarton or Clydebank games, whoever was at home.

I will always be grateful to him for not taking me to either of the ugly sisters.

Just out of curiousity, I thought I'd see what each striker's minutes per goal contribution worked out as, taking into account the actual minutes played. Also listed the number of starts they've had, for interest.
 
Sutton - 14 starts, 6 goals, 2 assists (Goal contribution every 157 minutes)
Hardie - 8 starts, 3 goals, 1 assist (Goal cont. every 211 minutes)
Shankland - 6 starts, 2 goals, 3 assists (Goal cont. every 146 minutes)
Clarkson - 11 starts - 3 goals, 1 assist (Goal cont. every 229 minutes)
 
Shankland has the best goals per minute ratio, with the least starts. Sutton has come into form with 4 goals in his last 6 games, but both have been doubles - hadn't scored since September before the 2 on Sunday.
 
In short, everyone has to do better, but some are getting more credit than others for contribution. Ultimately it's up to the manager to decide who he will pick, and who he'll let go.

The point I'm making is he is getting into positions to score. Take your blinkers off and ask other fans.
Shankland has been poor this season but who hasn't? He has potential and should be encouraged to reach it.

This is exactly the kind of issue that should benefit from having a fan representative on the board; someone who can directly bridge the gap between the stands and the boardroom. I would strongly urge the person in question (or any other interested person) to directly contact the current fan representative for a clear understanding of the clubs position and what assistance he is providing. If you don't get a decent/timely response then the fan rep isn't doing their job well.
The whole point of a fan representative is that we can individually contact him/her to voice these concerns and get direct information instead of gossiping in the forums and complaining. But if you haven't yet directly contact David Nicol (maybe you have, I don't know) letting him know exactly what you want/expect, then you will likely be left disappointed. 
 

In these instances where fans are  just being over enthusiastic , not aggressive , but just happy and letting their  emotions overrule their brain a yellow card should be issued along with a letter explaining the potential consequences of that type of behaviour , a second yellow card maybe resulting in a short ban . I think here has been a massive over reaction to the behaviour after the cup final , and as often happens in these instances , a genuine fan is made an example of , lots of ways this could have been dealt with sensibly , and this wasn,t one of them

I highlighted this thread to Gordon and Fitzy this morning. Obviously they were both aware of it and are working with George Adam and the Police to try and get the situation clarified and resolved as soon as possible.
I'm no expert on these things but I assume any decision on charges to made or not will rest with the Procurator Fiscal and not with the Police per se?
Anyway, hope it is sorted soon.
 

The ban has not been lifted.
We have a number of what they call policeless games.Low category games which require no police presence.
This saves the club a fortune in policing costs and part of the remit is our own stewarding polices these games
As a club we have to ensure that anyone reported by the police causing an offence is banned from the ground.
That is what happened with Josh only he has never been cautioned or charged and it sits in limbo.
Meantime the club are wary that these policeless games could be put in jeapordy if we are not seen to adhere to strict conditions.
After every home game we sit down with the police and go over any events arising from that game so in my book we have had at least 4 occasions when Josh,s case could have been discussed.My view is that this has not been the case and the club have failed Josh big time.
They have a meeting this week where i feel pressure must be put on the police to either charge him or clear him.

Thanks everyone for the support as anyone who knows me this full situation has left me devastated. 
I thought the very people at the club would try and help there fans instead of just branding me guilty before it's even been decided if it will go to court. 
Hopefully with this added pressure the club will come to there senses instead of pushing me away at every contact

There's been some overblown threads this week, describing our November games as 'must win' or 'most important in our history' etc. Blatant nonsense of course, nothing is won or lost in November.
Where things are won or lost is January, and the transfer window. We went into January 2014 level pegging with Motherwell and Ross County. They spent a fortune between them in the window, we sold our best player in McLean. As a direct result they stayed up comfortably and we got relegated. This example is repeated all over football, seasons are made or lost in the mid season window.
Given our position of adrift at the bottom of the second tier I can confidently say - without hyperbole - that this window is the most important in the football clubs history. In 139 years of senior football in Paisley, we have never graced the third tier of the Scottish leagues. Get it wrong this January and we will. What a disgraceful start to the ' SMISA/Scott ' reign that would be.
Therefore, we need to nail it. The manager and the board must be, and I'm sure will be, planning for it already. I don't know how much financial scope we have, I don't know how much GLS is willing to put up. In my punt or keep I'm going to assume he is willing to put his own capital up to secure the full time future of the football club. Maybe that assumption is wrong, we will soon see.
Here's mine, i would keep all the young fellas like Magennis, MacAllister, Stewart, McLear etc. Just talking about the more senior players here:
Langfield - Punt. Said it before. He's the worst first choice keeper I've ever seen at St Mirren. A nice fella, but an absolutely terrible goalie. Mutual consented ASAP as we can't afford a full time GK coach.
Gallagher - Punt. Another hopeless keeper, would only keep him on as number 2.
Naismith - Punt. Was a big fan of Jason when he broke through. Sadly he's lost what he had since that awful injury at the start of last season. He's not up to it anymore and we don't have time for sentimentality.
Webster - Punt. An utter charlatan. The worst St Mirren captain ever. Bye.
Irvine - Punt. An utter charlatan. The second worst St Mirren captain ever. Bye.
Baird - Keep. I like Jack. He isn't the finished article of course, but he will become a very good player at this level I'm sure.
McKenzie - Punt. He's either injured and not playing or playing and shite. Either way, he isn't what we need. Bye.
Gordon - Keep. Might turn out alright, certainly won't be worse than Irvine, Webster and MacKenzie.
Morgan - Keep. One of the few bright sparks this season, good player.
Hutton - Punt. Nowhere near good enough. A poor mans Stuart Carswell.
Quinn - Punt. Either injured and not playing or playing and shite. Either way, he isn't what we need. Bye.
Mallan - Keep. His record speaks for himself. Been poor this season, but I believe he's still our top scorer. Will get double figures from midfield again.
Walsh - Keep. Has a wee knack of scoring, useful from the bench.
Hardie - Punt. Been a big disappointment, back from whence you came lad.
Gallagher. Punt. Remember him? Nope, me neither. Still on the squad list though. Bye.
Shankland - Punt. The kindest way to describe his physical conditioning is... unprofessional. This kid clearly prefers beer and/or burgers instead of keeping himself fit enough to be an effective footballer. Fair enough, his choice, but our problem. He's stinking out our team and has been for months. First out the door for me. Bye.
Clarkson - Punt. At the end of last term, I thought Rae was going to be a success this season. I thought he was going to rinse pretty much the whole squad and build from the bottom. He didn't, he kept faith in the same failed players from last term, and that's why he got sacked.
The alarm bells started ringing for me when he gave this over the hill dud a new deal, he should have been released in the summer along with a host of others. It should surprise absolutely no one that he and Shankland have no league goals or assists between them in November. What a waste of money. Bye.
Sutton. Keep. Record speaks for himself. Has already scored more goals than Clarkson and Shankland combined this season. Despite this, he is on the bench while they both start. Bizarre. Start Sutton every game and he will get 15-20 goals a season.
I make that six senior players from the whole first team squad worth keeping. What do you think?

A team should have 11 Captains.

Certainly Hardie should return to his club. Walsh shows glimpses, and we know that Shankland has goals in him (though his physical condition is not acceptable at this level).
I'd sacrifice them all for more strength and grit in midfield, though. That would leave us light up top, however, and Sutton needs a mobile player around him. Maybe pushing Mallan up would be the answer.
You're right, though. The key is strengthening the midfield.

I think Rae was slaughtered as he had signed the player, he was apparently fit and couldn't get near the bench the he was shipped out on loan. I don't think he was slaughtered for sending him on loan, just the fact that he signed someone who's obviously not good enough.
You're right though, Ross is in a no win situation but if he thinks Gordon is good enough then that's a worry. That's all I was getting at in my original post.

Sometimes you need to step back in order to move forward. Don't want to see us relegated but after last nights 1st half performance (2nd slightly better) it doesn't look good. Players looking scared on the ball so they just kick it forward and hope for the best. No one wanting to lead on the park, trying the difficult stuff rather than keeping it simple. Seen SG standing in front of me at half-time and was tempted to give him some stick for the players  on the park.
 
Jack Ross for me needs a new goalkeeper, someone who will command his 6 yard area, a centre half who will stand up to the striker, a midfielder who isn't scared of a tackle. F@ck it he needs a whole new team.
 
This teams is almost on a par with Davie Hays relegation team

All this nostalgia fired me up to download the hits of Rafferty & Stealers Wheel...................
Wish I hadn't bothered, nostalgia is best left in the past.
After 4 tracks, deleted.

Just been spending the last hour listening to YouTube tracks of Joe Egan and Stealers Wheel , going to try and see if Europa Music in Stirling have a copy of Joe Egans Album , and also keep an eye out for a record player , music was definitely better when it came in vinyl

It's available on YouTube....
 
 

I'm good friends with Joe's son, never knew them when they were in Glenburn, but had a couple of great Hogmanay's with them round at their house in Renfrew when they were there in the late 90s / early 00s. As you say, a great family. I felt so so sad for them at their daughter's funeral last year, no parent should have to bury their own child.

Joe managed to buy a house with his royalties from SITMWY(Reservoir Dogs).Late again was written by Joe and i agree with you 100% it is indeed the stand out track.When Stealers Wheel were on TOTP,S back in the day my house was jammed full as we were the only family with a colour telly.Many a day the Egans house in Arran Drive Glenburn was the place to be as the extremely talented family would entertain everyone with their musical jam sessions.Auld Paddy Egan sitting with his wee hauf.Lovely memories indeed and a truly wonderful family.

He wasn't known as Aerial Bender until Mott. He was Luther Grosvenor in Stealers Wheel. Ian Hunter came up with the AB name because Grosvenor , on joining Mott , didn't want to change his name, but Hunter insisted saying it was part of the contract !

Like you have nearly all Gerry , Humblebums , Steeler Wheel albums. Absolutely love On A Wing & Prayer don't think it was ever available on vinyl sadly. That album was wrote during the break up of his marriage he put a lot of heart into that album. Think I might have a spare copy of Night Owl will have a look. if so will pm you. Dont want anything for it.
Got to see Gerry in the Edinburgh Playhouse front row seats, just love the guys music so talented. 

My 6 year old loves this song thanks to his papa playing over and over to him. 
 
Thanks dad!

I love typos. 
 
Hard to imagine anyone writing a song about Polo Mints...

Is Night Owl too mainstream for a nomination? I love it.