The Original 59er

Spade and shovel come to mind!

Yes the BoD's have reacted much more quickly than in TC's reign, but that doesn't get away from the fact that they have hardly shown themselves up to be prudent custodians of the club! I repeat the question:"what good self-respecting person would want to take this gig"?! I'm not convinced that the mistakes the Board have made and the rumblings coming from the way that all this has been handled make us a likely target for any aspiring manager who sees us as a step up and provides them with any form of job stability any longer than 1 year (near enough our average length of time through 7 managers since 2010)

When you interview and get to a point of thinking "this is the best person for the job", it is incumbent on you to then do your homework on their CV and get more than one bit of feedback on a range of their managerial qualities, especially if you are going to offer them a 3 year contract! Football is such an open forum these days and someone, somewhere from Everton, Hibs or Rotherham should have been able to give our BoD's the low-down on his man management, dressing-room feel and his effectiveness at the training ground that would have allowed them to fully consider the appointment before any offer was made.................. Do you think our Board went through that process ?

That will rule him out of tomorrow's line up then!

I posted an extract from this one previous year................ it looks wholly appropriate for this year also : And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people, maybe more People talking without speaking People hearing without listening People writing songs that voices never share And no one dared Disturb the sound of silence Fools, said I, you do not know Silence like a cancer grows Hear my words that I might teach you Take my arms that I might reach you But my words, like silent raindrops fell And echoed in the wells of silence

Respectively they were in the Premier League for 10, 8 and 7 years and at times during these periods each 'punched above their weight', which no doubt gave them each a feel good factor! As for Watford yes they are touching the sun a little bit at present as are Crystal Palace to a degree and yes in each case they will get burnt at some stage. I watched the Fulham game the other day and wow was that good to watch. This being a team with a bad start yet you could see the attitude on the park was right. I appreciate Leicester were a complete one-off, but as far as feel good factors go................. of course they too managed to replace their Manager pretty quickly! I firmly believe Something's rotten in the State of Denmark!

My point in another post. However sticking to the theme of this post, I don't want AS to fail, in fact I don't want any Saints Manager to fail when they are appointed, and given we have had 29 Managers since 1961 each lasting under an average of 2 years that is a lot of Managers I have hoped would do well. I have seen quite a number of Saint's teams flounder over the years and it has been more common than having a successful year. That having been said I have seen us challenge at the top end of the league right up to Christmas and also if you take the Watford example of a well organised team getting a good start in the league it makes for lot's of positives all around the place both on and off the field. Last year you could see the feel-good factor on the field and each player played their part in what turned out to be a slightly unexpected, very successful season. This year I almost see the opposite. Yes they are virtually a new set of players or at least a different group trying to play together, but I don't see that tell-tale gelling on the park. I suspect that the character of AS isn't the same as JR and he hasn't the same approach with the players. Oh to dream of a Watford feel good factor!

Dear LPM, where do you buy your rose tinted spectacles?

In answer to the above; "When we did play them I seem to recall that they scored 4 against us. " - at least we had shots on goal and scored some last year! The wider issue that concerns me here is the fact that our signings seem to have been random and (on the face of it) unplanned. I accept that the move up from the Championship to the PL necessitated a change in personnel in certain areas, but unless you can be assured that the replacements are better than the ones that are going, then don't throw the bath water out too early! In a perfect world you have a system where you (as Manager) presumably see a gap in the team set up and discuss that with the coach, general manager and chairman and then draw up a potential list of target replacements. You attempt to get the best but the 2nd or 3rd targets should still be a better option than what you already have. So far I have seen maybe one possible incomer that gives me hope, otherwise I get the firm impression that the policy has been to sign up players on the back of their agent's videos / best bits (on the field) and on the strength of these clips they have moved to Paisley either on loan or signing up for at least a year and probably two. The agent's clips, by the way, don't show lack of effort, long periods on mundanity, or glaring misses in front of goal. What happened to good old scouting and checking a player out for a few weeks before you made the approach. I would happily draw up dossiers on target players, watch them perform on the park and comprehensively report on any player that we intended signing. That of course isn't happening with AS and whilst JR could see what he needed to bring in, to achieve the escape and then the promotion, AS hasn't got that same savvy and the recruitment policy has been all over the place. I see a long bumpy ride ahead of us again this season. i.e. a slow ever so painful

Now, now boys, settle down, it's only a game of football!

I'll start with the Statistics: • Match Stats Home Team Aberdeen Away Team St Mirren Possession Home63% Away37% Shots Home23 Away7 Shots on Target Home12 Away2 Corners Home6 Away2 Fouls Home12 Away9 • Match Stats Home Team Rangers Away Team St Mirren Possession Home59% Away41% Shots Home11 Away6 Shots on Target Home8 Away1 Corners Home5 Away4 Fouls Home11 Away18 • Match Stats Home Team St Mirren Away Team Livingston Possession Home51% Away49% Shots Home5 Away13 Shots on Target Home0 Away8 Corners Home5 Away6 Fouls Home9 Away9 I can accept that the possession against Aberdeen was always going to be difficult, but against a 10 man Rangers it was poor and from all accounts from those who were there it was 2 goals against which could have been 6. The really worrying stat is shots and shots on target. Over three games we have had 18 shots of which 3 have been on target, whilst the opposition have had 47 shots of which 28 have been on target. It doesn't take a mathematician to work out that if a team has only 3 shots on target in three games there is a disastrously worrying aspect in the team that is missing and it's not just that we lack a goal scorer, we also lack players that can put the ball into the danger areas that allow shots on target. 47 shots against, also suggests that between midfield and defence we are in for an extremely long season. I'll now turn to the Lies: 1) We have a team of players that is playing for the manager or the coach. 2) The Manager and coach have developed a feel good factor in the dressing room. 3) We will finish in the top 6 - given current form and team formations. 4) The Manager and coaches have scoured the market and brought in players that have obviously improved the squad and are capable of holding their own in this league. 5) We are a team that has made advances on and off the field since last season I am extremely disappointed in many aspects relating to the start to this season and I am already deeply worried that if this form and level of statistics continues we will be deeply mired in the relegation spots long before Christmas. I personally don't think that a Kenny Miller signing is the real answer. He brings baggage, he is in his very late 30's and has stepped down from a management role to continue playing. If this is the best AS can do, I could well stop coming to watch this season. Panic and desperation are setting in at such an early point in the season!

I actually don't think Livi are better at building from the back, but I will agree that they seem to encourage a system that has tall, bustling players in the back 4 and when it comes to playing at the opposite end of the pitch, especially in set plays, they crowd the box with these tall players and hope to get something out of the panic that ensues. I actually don't mind it as a tactic, it is faintly amusing as it takes football back to yesteryear and tells me that in some cases not much has changed! Personally I don't see how that is 'building from the back'.

I see the quality of debate is rising rapidly within the B&W pages.............................. I often wonder what the inventor of the internet had in mind when he opened Pandora's Box?

Probably, there was one that stood me up one time and I called her all names under the sun so it was probably her!

Burtons Corner just to the left where you met the 'burd' at 6:00 or 6:30 on the Saturday to go to the La Scala

Before Hollywood got hold of her and characterised her as a blond bombshell, she was regarded as one of the best (and I mean world best) jazz singers. Listen to 'S Wonderful' and you get a hint of what the Band Leaders lost when the film industry came calling.

In the 60's I took part in the Paisley Scout 'Gang Show', from memory it was in the West or South School

Not the jail! And also not sky dishes on the front balcony....................... loudspeakers to quell the baying public!

When High Streets were High Streets and shopping was shopping!

Probably a football team arriving to play one of the bigot brothers!

Yes and when the trams got to the roundabout at Linwood (where there was a depot) the conductor came along and switched the back of the seats so all the seats pointed towards the direction of travel and they trundled off back up to Glasgow.

She's still going strong too............!

Watches don't make these noises any more, unless, of course, you have a grandfather clock