Hendo

Game on 18th December now postponed due to Celtic playing in the Premier Sports Cup Final the following day. Suits me as I have tickets for the panto that day.

It sounds like you have carried out extensive research on the subject. I look forward to seeing your thesis, which I'm sure will be pee-er reviewed.

I heard Paisley Panda asked Broxi Bear if he would like a currant bun, but was misheard by Sammy the Tammy who reported him to the SFA and there's now an investigation going on. This is why he's not been at the stadium. It's all very hush hush, Kibble are trying to keep it quiet so it doesn't affect their reputation.

The figure he gave was £120k for three home old firm games. I have to say I don't think it's worth it. It is not mega money we are talking, and could be compensated by making a big push to sell out the family stand with home supporters. This season we can also still do pay per view if its not on Sky (I believe the Celtic game at least won't be) which could mitigate against losses.

Signing for Livingston when he gets out of prison apparently.

So the decision to move to a recruitment style process, rather than an election, happened as part of the deal for Kibble to become involved. Now, at one level i understand Kibbles reasons for wanting this - they are a business and wouldnt want to be associated with some undesirable type whom they have no say in the appointment of. Better for them to have control of the outcome. The legitimate worry is this may also be used to stop someone being appointed who may challenge Kibbles apparently increasing influence. And yes Baz, i do know that technically its the SMISA committee who make the appointment recommendation, with absolutely no influence from the St Mirren board or any lf its representatives. I'm sure none of this at any time will be ran past McMillan or Gillespie 😂

Trust is earned. The last few months have been a monumental shambles, compounded by a lack of transparency. So trust in the board, and SMISA, is pretty low now. A lack of democracy in appointments leaves more than a whiff of a stitch up, with the likely appointment not being someone who will challenge the way things are being done.

Maybe there is some Kibble employee who isnt a SMISA member interested?

Its actually scary that not only have you typed that, you dont see anything wrong with it. Democracy in Britain may not be great, but at least at elections we have a few eejits to choose from, not just one.

A democratic vote would mean more than one candidate being put forward, not a preferred candidate to be ratified. There should be criteria for eligibility, such as not having a dodgy criminal history, but otherwise anyone who is a member should be able to stand. Its called democracy.

Just had an email from the SMISA committee, "welcoming" applications for a vacancy on the board for a SMISA rep. Now, as we are now fan owned, i thought we might have a bit of democracy, you know, anyone who fancies it puts their name forward, makes their pitch and then we all vote. Apparently not. The committee will interview applicants, settle on their preferred candidate and then put the annointed one before the fans for ratification. All seems perfectly above board and not corrupt in the slightest 😂

Lockdowns may not have gone away, my wife works for DWP and everyone has just been told to work from home indefinitely.

And therein lies the worry. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. From the description above, it seems we are getting all the benefits and Kibble very few. If anyone believes this is so Kibble can send us kids to get work experience, when they already run Kibble Works, are expanding into early years and have a mass of contacts nationally, then you better make sure those buttons are done up at the back. All the "great bunch of lads" chat from the club, while not giving us any specific detail on how the relationship with Kibble works, adds to the suspicion. My experience of the Kibble professionally is they are good at what they do, and generally care packages they provide for young people are some of the best. However, Kibble never do anything unless it benefits Kibble most.

Totally agree, SMISA should invite kibble. I'm not interested in a blame game - i've worked a lot with kibble over the years and they have done some very good work with young people - but in my experience their business is paramount, and the justifiable concerns is they are making decisions based on kibbles best interests rather than the clubs, despite attempts to claim otherwise. Concerns are made worse by the lack of transparency over how their involvement works, and the constant "great bunch of lads" patter from the club.

My take on tonights meeting. 1. John Needham doesnt really have a handle on how the club is run. So many times tonight he said he was unaware of things, it had never come to the board, "Tony and his team decided that". I know its early days for him but he needs to get a handle on it pretty damn quick. 2. Who are these mysterious figures in Tonys "team". 3. Tony may be a club legend, but he doesnt have the specific skills needed to be a CEO. Thats not his fault, however i believe his "team" who may, coincidentally, have connections with Kibble, have sniffed this out and are manipulating Tony to make naive and possibly dodgy decisions. 4. We're going to continue to sell our players on the cheap. All in all, we're in a bit of a mess and confidence in those in the position to sort it, based on tonight, is low. However, we need to give Mr Needham time to sort it - a good first step would be to scrutinise everything and not just leave it to "Tony and his team".