The Original 59er

I was once advised to write whatever I was het up about into an email and then sit on it for at least 24 hours before sending it. (Painful experience if you have a hard seat) The advice is sound, 99 times out of a 100, I've either binned the email, seriously adjusted it or at least tempered my anger. I suggest the email was written in a fit of pique, or anger.......................... under both circumstances, the advice could well have worked for the troubled employee / supporter.

I will happily send the letter to Mr Gilmour with my name attached (along with the address) and if it is accepted for the very reasons I penned it, then great. As a generality I don't see many (if any) actual names and addresses featuring on the forum, no doubt as abuse can be aimed personally to him / her or the family. The Open letter was an expression of complete frustration at the current position and apparent inability of the Board to make any decisions. I'm sure Mr Gilmour could contact me through the forum messaging system if he wants to take the dialogue further.

Shull, if I was asked to name the most positive thinking, dyed in the wool, cup half-full, ever-faithful person on this forum......................... it would be a no brainer, you'd win hands down. I only wish that all companies, shareholders, patrons, customers and general punters had your attitude, then all the managers / directors and company structures could make as many mistakes, howlers and tactical gaffes as they like and they'd survive (to make yet more). The world would surely be a better place!

I don't wear Y-fronts!

Bluto, Call it waffle if you like, I just called it as I see it and if you think that’s waffle then fine – personally I think it is pretty near to how I feel – extremely frustrated! The Board make the decisions, not you, not I. They are paid to make them (or at least theoretically get a return for making them) but the silence is pretty deafening. What do you want me to say? – “Lennon must go” – if you think that helps I’ll say it – but does it help, it’s been said a thousand times already on this site. – What I do want however is the Board to stand up to something that has been glaringly obvious to many in the stands at St Mirren Park for some time and not hide away from making decisions that might be unpopular or even unsuccessful, but at least they will have tried, where at present they are letting things glide incessantly downwards.

Interesting little article in one of yesterday's papers............................. seems that he might not be everyone's (or anyone's) cup of tea!

Dear Mr Gilmour, I have no earthly idea as to whether you ever dip into this form of media, if nothing else just to see how the fans of our beloved St Mirren perceive the club, the team, the management, the performances and everything else related to the Club in virtually every shape and form. As with all forums there is diverse opinion, both informed and also banal. At the core however is a love of the team and the desire to see the club succeed. As could be witnessed last year the fans, the peripheral supporters, the town and the Club celebrated a great cup win, (nearly as rare as hen’s teeth), - but boy how we enjoyed it. Under your stewardship the club has been pulled from the brink of financial mire through a somewhat fortuitous, but shrewd deal with Tesco which has provided the club with a neat, compact modern stadium and a training facility that will be the envy of many clubs throughout both Scotland and England. So for that, I say thank you. However, as in most open letters, there is always a “however”! There is considerable unrest within the fan base as to how the team have failed to progress on the field. The Cup win came somewhat out of character, in that the team have been under-performing now for two to three years. Don’t get me wrong, at times the team can put in an inspired skilful performance, but they too are becoming as common as “hen’s teeth”. The change in direction brought by Danny Lennon has occasionally been pleasing on the eye, but when teams quickly learn how to combat or deal with that approach, we are easy to pick off and over the past two years that is exactly what they have done. This is not aimed at Mr Lennon in particular more a plea from the heart, and I know I’m not alone in this view. There is almost common belief that the current crop of players we have should not have us mired anywhere near the bottom of the Premier League with every prospect that we will be involved in a play-off to stay in the league at the end of the season, but that is where we are. Why are we there? There are lots and lots of views, but essentially the team aren’t performing on the park and to conjecture why that is, seems to fall squarely on two fronts. Firstly a lack of recognition by the Board of Director’s that the Management team haven’t pulled the best out of the players available to them, and secondly the great uncertainty that emanates from the Board as to whether they are selling, to whom and when. Neither of these facts can be ignored in the arguments as to why we are where we are. There is a general feeling in the supporter’s ranks that if we go down this year with Hearts we are likely to be down there for much more than the one year. You would have Rangers and Hearts as well as a legion of other competitive teams vying for one assured promotion place and one other relying on the play-off slot next year alone. Yet we shouldn’t be there, not with the crop of players we have, nor with the facilities we have. So, this letter is an open plea – act before it’s too late so that we, as fans, don’t have to endure the misery of a play-off, and if defeated, the likely event of several years in a 2nd division, which should be no place for a club in our position. Yours ever faithful, The Original 59er

Line of Duty is good..................................... quality BBC drama - Saw an article recently that said great acting, good drama but lack of focus on location................. which actually got me thinking they were right. I watched the last episode (and I won't spoil it for anybody who is catching up) and I couldn't say where it is supposed to be happening. A number of dramas use the location well (True Detective being one) where the actual event is very relevant to the location and they use the setting to create the atmosphere and the background to the storyline. It didn't stop me enjoying the story or the twists as they developed, although I could see the ending in episode 4.

Sorry to hear that FS - by far the best US drama on the telly. Yes I agree slow burner but the storyline and the way it's presented by going back and forward from the initial crime to the present is really good drama. You get the fact that the two detectives were never the best partners, nor that WH couldn't get on MM's wavelength, but the flawed character in both is being developed well IMO! In saying that they seem to respect each other's detective skills. I find it very dark and pretty edge of seat stuff. On the other hand her indoors finds it all a bit slow, but she likes Elementary, where it almost always gets tied up in the one episode!

To an extent I agree Bluto, if only he had picked up the odd bit of external 'advice' along the way and strengthened the defence, particularly in the middle of the back four. Had he done that and made the defence mean in their 'Christmas present' department, my suspicions are that we wouldn't be anywhere near the bottom of the league and we also wouldn't have a thread that sits at 71 pages......................... and counting!

I've said it before and I'll repeat it for the sake of consistency...................... St Mirren's BoD's have virtually never jumped onto an experienced manager 'ship' when they have taken the decision to sack the incumbent Manager. The track record tends to suggest we will appoint an up-and-coming manager from a lower league who has cut his teeth on promotion / good cup run / getting the best out of an inexperienced squad etc, etc...................................... come to think of it, a little like the DL of 3 or 4 years ago or alternatively from within. As much as DL has had some limited success (which is obvious to the eye) he has pretty much failed in the league stats. There is a general feeling that we have a squad that should at least be competing for the top 6, but at the very worst be sitting 7th comfortably. Year on year we are making NO PROGRESS. The team has leaked important goals at the back, we seem to let certain players go then not replace them with anything better and we also lack the ability to hit any kind of consistent form. In saying all this, the BoD's have to take any punches that are aimed at them squarely on the chin, as the writing has been on the wall for a significant period and they have stuck their collective heads in the sand and hoped that the storm would pass over......................... (sorry, probably far too many idioms). Sorry this storm isn't passing over and their reticence to act when to a huge proportion of our fans the Manager is not getting the best out of the resources, means that they, probably more so than DL, should shoulder the main part of the blame as to why we are sitting 2nd bottom. I predict nothing will happen on the Managerial front until the end of the season, .................... I only pray that it won't be too late. Sweaty roller-coaster ride coming up,.............. anyone got the sick bucket?

I'm really surprised that they've never played "I'll never find another you" by the Seekers when Aberdeen come to town................. such a catchy tune and such intelligent words.............. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ga9Bs4fzSY

I might temper my wording a touch............................... but I have to completely partly agree with Shull. Calderwood is NOT the answer. Neither unfortunately is Dan any more.

I walked it with the female shapely 59er with full kit back in the early 80's................. god that's 30 years ago - yes full kit with tent and sleeping / cooking / food / waterproofs etc etc..................................... never again! We have talked about doing it again but exactly as described above - i.e. with minimal baggage and an arranged stopover each night. The great advantage is that waterproofs are now so much better and lighter. I agree with the layering system - the Americans do this extremely well and there are now lots of products that make it easier to keep warm and also to keep cool. As for boots, again don't compromise. As said above the Scottish weather and mud have a habit of getting through in the wettest of conditions. I would recommend Scarpa's for the rough stuff and a really good pair of walking trainers for the lighter sections of the walk. The section from Inveroran onwards is my favourite bit. The remoteness of Ba Bridge can be brilliant. if you are there alone on a great morning and looking east down Rannoch Moor with not a soul in sight, and then heading up over the Devil's Staircase and flirting with the Aonach Eagach. By all means slightly deviate at the top and cautiously head along the ridge - you don't need to go too far or get too exposed to really appreciate one of the finest views in Scotland. Yes do it - May or early June are good in Scotland - the stats say these are pretty well the driest weeks, but don't hesitate it is worth doing. We took a week with full pack. I suggest with lighter pack and arranged stopover you could manage it in 5 to 6 days. No point in rushing it!

I remember having to go up to the RAI (H) to see my Dad who had ripped his Achilles tendon stepping off the pavement in Wellmeadow - in these days they put you in plaster for 6 weeks and after the initial op he was bed-bound...... anyway he was in the ward on the ground floor on the left as you walked up the drive from Neilston Road, the ward with the big circular bay window and as the weather was warm and sunny the nurses had wheeled several of the bed-bound patients outside to lie / sit in the sunshine.. You can just imagine that happening nowadays ..................... jobsworth comes to mind Maybe I should invest in the flat on the ground floor with the big bay window.

I could have sworn that I saw a swallow this week in deepest Renfrewshire......................................

Don't take it personally, virtually all posters on here know that Oaksoft is a bitter, twisted, self-important, self-opinionated bully that seeks to impose his / her will, theory or hypothesis, without remotely accepting that others may occasionally have the right to their opinion, or may indeed be correct. However he / she has become all-knowing, all super-intelligent and master of all subjects on all posts throughout this fan's forum, so we should all just bow faithfully to his / her superior knowledge on all subjects.

If they can edit something within 10 seconds of it happening, why in hell's name didn't they just edit out the sweary bits. A big extended intermittent bleep would have been hilarious.

SURREAL!

One of the main problems is that wherever he travels in the Scottish game his 'reputation' goes before him. It's just like Suarez, a reputation as a diver - so anytime he goes down in the box, justifiably or not, he attracts all kinds of comment and abuse. Great player as he is, that tag is VERY difficult to shake off. Jim, sadly doesn't learn from the fact that he is being targeted and he continues with his often-used uncompromising approach. This just gets the attention and he gets booked, harangued and vilified . It's the state of the game nowadays. The players get much more protection than a number of years ago. players like Souness wouldn't last 45 minutes in the game now. Ron Harris of Chelsea wouldn't even get 5 minutes out on the pitch, it would be two straight yellow cards in the first two tackles.

I have to agree with Drew, I'm not saying that ST wouldn't want the position at some point in his career, but not when you are needed up front, playing for the jersey and then also coaching, managing and adjusting team tactics. What has troubled me for some weeks has been the lack of focus on exactly what our team tactics are. One week it's the cross field own half passing regime and build from the back, the next it's the long ball, the next it's press in mid-field. Now I accept that different opposition teams need different approaches, but a team that is struggling and being asked to change line-up and approach week on week can't get into any kind of a stride. I've said for more than a year that we lack a commanding centre half. Saturday was another glaring example, or at least that is how it appeared to me. Goodwin got bossed off the ball and a number of cross balls into the box were very poorly dealt with. I'm sadly coming to the point where I think he with the name that you say twice is a luxury we can't afford, as the reason he is here is to protect the back two................ well you need a central back two to defend in the event he is injured / substituted / dropped. The BoD's have a direct responsibility, but their decision to hold onto both DL & TC through such a dismal run will reflect extremely badly on them come May if their approach is to then hold on to both to the end of their contracts.

You don't expect a 50:50 view and a 50:50 debate on this subject do you?

Well you started to quote 'history' lessons. As pointed out by others we have spent significantly more time in the top league than we have in the other leagues in Scottish football. Your sole approach is to ridicule those who don't agree with you or find fault in your argument. So if you are going to quote history as being the basis of your argument, all I pointed out was that there have been lengthy periods when we have been a top flight team. History isn't just created over the last ten or twenty years, which is where you appear to glean your statistics.

The Yes campaign advocate EU membership as a natural progression from achieving independence, then presumably they accept full responsibility for integration into all the EU principles, laws and terms and conditions that go with it. Personally I would rather take non-membership than full integration, as per Norway and Iceland, but that isn't the route the SNP are advocating. So do I have to assume they accept the full responsibilities that come with full membership of the EU and accept they wouldn't be able to negotiate away several layers of EU rules that seem to really aggravate many, many people that currently are subject to them.

oaksoft Posted Today, 18:43 "Chances are we'll be relegated sometime - probably soon as historically we've never been a top flight side for very long. It's almost as though you don't know your history." Try checking your 'history' - between 1948 and 1967 we were always a 'top flight' team in the old 1st division, now the equivalent of the SPL. So when you put that into your pipe and smoke it, quite a few contributors to this forum do actually recall us being a consistently ranked top team and not one that was as you might have suggested, flitting between leagues. Presumably, in your limited lifetime as a 'buddie', you have seen them move between the SPL and the leagues below, thus makes you the font of all knowledge on this subject.