pondsman

Thanks, hmb, gave me a really good chuckle reading that. As for this Saturday, we really need to beat Dumbarton. Despite what's been said about them being well organised etc., they were relegated at the end of last season, while we were promoted. Just like Tuesday night, no excuses for a poor performance, I'm afraid.

Disappointing that the local newspaper can't feature the local club on its cover......and not the most flattering pic of Brendan!

Just watched Stubbs's interview post Queen's Park on the official website and got a strange feeling of deja vu. Anyone else notice that?

Agree with most of this. Strikers are clearly a priority, but not easy to find. In midfield a JG type would be helpful, but more than that we need some creativity. Maybe Magennis will provide that when he gets up to speed after injury. Stubbs is entitled to let players go if he feels that they are not up to the standard we'll need in the Premiership. His problem is that he has not been able to replace them with something better. Perhaps he brought the criticism on himself by talking about quality signings before the deals were done. When he was indicating that signings were imminent, the players on the horizon seemed to be Adam Rooney, Anthony Stokes and the youngster Johnston from Celtic. All of these have now disappeared from the radar for different reasons. He is now playing catch up in order to find decent players in time for the league starting. I hope he finds what he needs but doesn't speak about it before the ink is dry on the contract. As for the fans, surely we can get behind the team in difficult times. After all, we've done it for many years. Remember that last season was a blip in our history, albeit an amazingly enjoyable one!

Ricky, just to be clear, do you know that Hibs have approached St. Mirren about accepting a lower percentage of the sell-on fee or is that just speculation on your part?

Well done to the fans who travelled last night. Couldn't get there myself but watched on TV and the drum and choir made themselves heard throughout. Fine opening performance by our team. Coulson, King, Mullen and the two Cammys were impressive. Jack Baird didn't have his best game, but it's a little early to write him off at this level, I think. Kpekawa was praised on TV for some important interventions, but I thought he was muscled off the ball on a few occasions and needs to bulk up a bit to play in that position. All in all, a really good start by a team who only met each other a few days ago. If Stubbs adds the players he keeps talking about, we could do OK this season. COYS!

I agree with Sonny. It's good to take an interest in the progress of players who have moved on to bigger clubs, especially if we've played a big part in their development (and if we have a financial interest as well). My only worry is how Mallan and Morgan might perform if/when they play against us.

At this stage we have brought in a new manager, assembled half of a new team and we haven't played a game yet, so it's impossible to say how things will go. Given all that, survival must be the first target. A Cup run would also be nice, but staying in the top league MUST be the aim for the season.

I agree with most of the comments above. Players can't be retained out of sentiment and Stubbs must let them go if he thinks they won't be good enough for the Premiership. Just hope he can find better players to replace them. Having said that, three of the guys who are leaving played a big part in our success last season, so they must go with our thanks and best wishes for their futures. When I saw them play, I felt that they all gave 100% for our club. Football is a lucrative profession only for the gifted few at the top. For most, like these guys, it's a precarious business, so I hope they enjoyed the good times of last season and I wish them all luck in finding new clubs.

Celtic have a track record of making a good profit on their transfer dealings. Having got £7m for Armstrong, they won't want to part with more than half of that for McGinn. They might also muddy the waters by offering to include Scott Allan in the deal and paying less cash. If they do that, does anyone know how St. Mirren's share of the deal will be calculated?

We got 300k from Celtic AND we had Lewis' services for the remainder of last season. What value would you put on that, Shull? Seems unlikely that we could have sold him to another club as Celtic was always where Lewis wanted to go. I do agree however that some of the money being mentioned for other players is ridiculous. But as windae cleaner has mentioned, playing for the OF seems to make a big difference when it comes to prices achieved!

Thanks for the information. Will try again tomorrow.

Official website says tickets for the games in July are available to buy, but just had a look online and the webpage says 'Unavailable' for all four games. Do you have to go to the ticket office in person?

I agree with this. Gavin had plenty of time to accept the new offer before it was withdrawn. He might have shown a bit more commitment given that the club gave him a great chance to kickstart his career last season. I'd have liked to keep him and give him a shot at the premiership, but not with his present attitude. I'm sure with his record from last season he'll get another club, but I doubt that he'll be going to Sunderland. Good Luck, Gavin, and thanks for your efforts last season. In time, you might realise that you've made a bit of a mistake here.

I also renewed my ST on the first morning they were on sale and had no difficulty, though I have experienced gremlins on the site in the past and sympathise with those who are unhappy. Have just been back on the site to get tickets for Betfred Cup games and the Sunderland friendly, but they are not yet available. Anyone know when they'll be on sale? On the plus side, our stadium has now been given its correct name. I suppose that's something.

Just watched Alan Stubbs first interview at Greenhill Road. Clearly very different to what we became used to last season. He made all the right noises about the need to sign players, wanting to progress the club and not just stay up etc., but it did sound a little as if he was persuaded to take the job as much by the attraction of pitting his wits against the other managers in the division as by the situation at St. Mirren. Having said that, I am still in favour of waiting to see what he puts on the pitch before making any judgments. Happy to hear what others thought of what he had to say.

Can only echo this post. The decision has been made. It's up to the supporters to give the new manager our whole-hearted backing and I'm sure all true St. Mirren folk will do that, whether the new man was our choice or not. The heady heights of last season will always be remembered, but it will be a very different season this time round - new manager and roughly half of the team will be new as well. Success must be staying up, with some signs that we can perhaps do better in season 2019-2020.

If he wants to improve his English, maybe Paisley's not the best place to come to! Joke, by the way, before anyone goes off on one.

I admire your optimism and enthusiasm, Ricky, but I don't think we can say too much about what will happen next season until we have a manager in place. We have a good board in place, but, as we saw last season, the manager plays an absolutely vital part in the success or otherwise of the club. Perhaps you could pose the question again when we know who the new manager is (another opportunity to start a thread?). Until then, the best I can offer is to echo Sweeper's sentiment, that the goal next season must be to avoid relegation and the playoffs, and perhaps progress from there in the following season.

McIntyre and Neilson to be interviewed next week? Why has this taken so long? A quick glance at the newspapers shows that other clubs are getting on with signing players for next season. We're falling behind in that area, especially as it's now clear we need a number of players brought in. While I appreciate that the board needs to be sure to get the right man, the leading candidates have been obvious for some time. Could the board not have moved a bit faster?

Wow! Has been really interesting to see how the thread has developed. It's moved well away from my original question, but thanks to those who expressed their opinions on that. As I said at the start, the use of the letters SMTID may be a small point, but my personal opinion is that they are important and shouldn't be misappropriated. Thanks to mad saint there for bringing us back on topic. Perhaps we should leave the thread at that, and let the debate on wife-shagging continue elsewhere. I agree with St. Ricky that a forum is a place where all opinions should be expressed and considered, and most importantly, all should be done in a respectful manner. So, farewell Jack and James, and huge thanks for all that you've done for our club. Thanks for giving us a season and a half that we will never forget. All the best in your future careers!

I appreciate that this may be considered trivial as JR has now gone, but I've just read his statement on the club's official website. While I'm happy with and appreciate everything Jack says, I find it difficult to accept his signing off with the letters SMTID. Despite everything he did for the club, he was a club employee, not a supporter, someone we all knew would move on to pastures new eventually. I really think that only supporters have the right to these five letters. Did he write AATID when he left Alloa to come to us? Others may consider this trivial, but does it give us an insight to the man? I honestly wish him all the best at Sunderland, but is it not rather patronising of him to appropriate letters which rightly belong only to us? Comments, including from those who think I'm overreacting, welcome.

Like others, I'm disappointed to lose our manager, but it was always likely to happen, as JR needed to get himself a better deal while his stock is really high. Thought we might have got through the summer without losing him, but as things have turned out, it's probably best that he has gone now. The new manager will have time to make some signings of his own for the new season. On the (slightly) bright side, who knows whether Jack would have been as good at firefighting in the Premiership as he was at running away with the Championship. If he'd stayed, maybe we'd all have been calling for his head by October.

In all this excitement it seems that James Fowler may have been slightly forgotten. He has said in the past that he doesn't want to manage again, and is happy being an assistant. Don't know whether that has changed, but I hope that he either goes with JR or finds a place in the new management team at St. Mirren. He was a big part of last season's success and it would be wrong if he ends up out of a job, although I'm sure he'd find something else quite quickly. As for the manager, we will need someone with a good knowledge of the Premiership and perhaps experience of a dogfight as we will be fighting hard to stay in the league. It will be very different from last season and, with all the recent departures and no doubt new signings to come, we will have a very different team as well. All that makes me think of Jim McIntyre. Robbie Neilson might also be worth a try, but, while I like Jim Goodwin, I don't think he has enough experience yet for what we will face next season.

Is this not a bit premature? We have a manager in place. I'm sure the Board has considered the possibility of JR leaving, but surely there's time enough for supporters to start speculating on another manager when we know that the present incumbent has gone? For what it's worth, I don't think whoever comes in will give us a season like the one we've just enjoyed.