Robo

Fine by me. Where's the fun in 'no nonsense'?

If not, let's make football a summer sport
Then we can wear our 50 quid Saints tops every match instead of just a few times in August and not again till April.

No funny Doaky!!!
Anyway, l would like a roof on St Mirren Park to make it an indoor Stadium.
In fact, if we're going to keep football as more or less a winter sport, then let's make all Stadiums indoor.

Demolish it and move back to our spiritual home.

I'm not interested in whether this guy can tackle or head a ball. I just need to know if he is 'nonsense' or 'no nonsense'.

I'm not interested in whether this guy can tackle or head a ball. I just need to know if he is 'nonsense' or 'no nonsense'.

Duh! Of course we are in financial trouble.
It's because we spend every penny which comes in without creating a rainy day fund.
Crowds have dropped away so it should be no surprise whatsoever to find that we are struggling.
Spending every penny and leaving no room for slack is a disastrous business model.
Is there ever going to be a point where fans start to get how clubs are run?

I'm not interested in whether this guy can tackle or head a ball. I just need to know if he is 'nonsense' or 'no nonsense'.

I'm not interested in whether this guy can tackle or head a ball. I just need to know if he is 'nonsense' or 'no nonsense'.

I'm not interested in whether this guy can tackle or head a ball. I just need to know if he is 'nonsense' or 'no nonsense'.

I agree with everything he said in fairness.
Paisley is a shitehole
Has social problems and high unemployment
Our fans don't sing much, but do swear a lot
We are passionate
We place football above most other things in our lives
Scottish football is fast and brutal
He broke his nose a few times
He wants a new challenge as he's sick of getting booted around
Tynecastle is a good ground
Ours is shite

I think what the ice hockey club have achieved in such a small space of time is terrific. Crowds of 3000+, they have captured the imagination of the people and don't just rest and accept that's as good as it gets, they are constantly thinking up new ideas to keep the public interested. Tonight Greg Hemphill is a special guest.
Now I understand the Clan may have a larger catchment of people from Glasgow to target and obviously it's down at the shopping centre but Ice Hockey has never been anywhere near as popular as football so it hasn't been an easy job to get to this stage where theor crowds are bigger than ours!
I think our commercial and marketing dept should invite the Clan's equivelent along to greenhill road so they can learn how they go about promoting the ice hockey team and all the inventive ideas they have to get crowds in. All things we are spectacularly lacking in!!

I'm getting brave now, my first topic for discussion.
As it stands the Scottish leagues still have no sponsorship. I wonder if this was a missed opportunity for the SPFL to get some positive media coverage and look to promote some of the many charity organisations out there, a bit like Barcelona did with UNICEF.
I accept that there might be heated discussions about who they may pick but there are always solutions, for example, how about
DEC Scottish Premiership, DEC Championship etc
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), that would keep many charities happy.
Another option would be to have a different charity for each league.
I appreciate that the SPFL wouldn't get any monetary sponsorship (no better than we are currently), but it might draw in some additional advertising revenue as companies want to be associated with something that is sponsored by a favourable and well meaning organisation.
If our club wasn't so short of cash I'd have liked us to go down that route with our shirt sponsorship. May be it is just pie in the sky, but I'd be interested in peoples views.

Time to get over it guys.
Sold for too little in my opinion and will be a phenomenal bargain from an Aberdeen perspective, but time to wish him all the best and move on.
No player is bigger than the club. The timing is rotten, but we have a real fight on our hands to stay up. If Kenny didn't see himself as part of that fight then that is his prerogative and fair play to him, it's a short career after all.
Time to get back behind Saints and their current players...

Totally agree with this and the chances of this charade being repeated look pretty high. Has Mcginn not already knocked back a contract? His head was spinning after a day at a Sheffield United game. If these young guys and their agents don't help the club recoup the investment made in them then we are stuffed and these guys should think about that. The injuries to McLean at every window did work against the BoD but surely we need to learn some lessons from this. The BoD have to flush out the guys that want to leave and then punt them when it suits the club.

Drew's perfectly correct - you don't need a paid PR guru to draft Dundee United's statement - you simply need someone in the boardroom to realise selling two top players to a rival you are facing in a cup final will not sit well with the supporters, and to spend about an hour or so drafting a well worded statement explaining the club's position clearly to the fanbase.
It really, really, really isn't rocket science. Under the circumstances, to your customer base who's continued custom you really need - it is a courtesy, one hour of their time.

Yes we have been naive but what makes you think it's a lesson learned?
We have been a small-minded club for quite a considerable time when considering we have one of the biggest potential fan bases in Scotland - and don't give me the nonsense about being too close to Glasgow. Even Aberdeen and the Dundee teams sadly lose potential fans to the Old Firm.
Are we unique in Scotland in being forced into selling players at less than a quarter of their worth?
The more small minded we are, the more players of any ability will hold the club to ransom.

Nail on the head there. But (at the risk of going off topic) I often wonder, are we a small parochial team because we believe that to be the case and that it always will be so? Do we, as a club and as fans, have a small team mentality, and is that what stops us growing?
Maybe we should look upon being close to Glasgow as an advantage rather than a disadvantage. We're situated in the most densely populated area of the country, and yes there's a great deal of completion, but surely we should be trying to market ourselves to people in the greater Glasgow area, or even further afield, who are turned off by the old firm (there must be some people). That's never going to happen when we're using slogans like "one town, one team" and "St Mirren is Paisley, and Paisley is St Mirren". Personally, although I was born in Paisley, I didn't grow up there so my reasons for supporting Saints have nothing to do with civic pride. Yet, it seems like the club are only marketing themselves to people who might wish to come to games because they're from Paisley - surely these people already are going to games.
As I'm typing this, I'm realising that I'm not even sure what I'm suggesting should be done, but maybe if we see ourselves as something bigger, then we might start to attract people from outwith Paisley, and even Renfrewshire. Accepting that we are small time will only lead to others accepting the same, and (to try and get back on topic) maybe we're seen as a soft touch in the transfer market for that reason.
(By the way, Original 59er, I'm not suggesting you in particular hold any of the above opinions!)

This is a statement from Dundee United this morning, addressing their supporters, and explaining their position in the wake of the closing of the January transfer window:
"Club Must Always Come First
February 3, 2015
Following the close of the January transfer window last night, The Board of Directors of Dundee United Football Club believes that supporters of the club should have a complete understanding of the Clubs current position.
Firstly, the club has brought in six new high calibre signings. Henri Anier, Paul Dixon and Ryan McGowan are all internationalists with Ryan having played in all three of Australias games at the most recent World Cup in Brazil. Additionally, our ongoing commitment to identifying and developing the best young talent in the game continued with the signing of one of the countrys top scorers, Simon Murray, Scotland youth international striker, Robbie Muirhead, and an extended deal for Nigerian U23 internationalist, Ola Adeyemo.
Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong left for Celtic FC and while we understand the initial negative response in some quarters to their departure from Dundee United, it is very important to keep this in context.
Firstly and most importantly, it is the Boards duty to balance the short, medium and long term interests of the Club at all times. While being an emotional wrench for the club and the players, the transfer of Gary and Stuart was reluctantly, albeit undoubtedly, the right thing to do in the circumstances.
Those circumstances, for absolute clarity, are that both Gary and Stuart made it clear to management that they wanted to leave Dundee United to further their careers elsewhere. Gary had signed a pre-contract agreement with Celtic. The Board had no desire to sell the players however when it was obvious that they both viewed their futures elsewhere it is the Boards responsibility to do the right thing for the Club. That then meant ensuring that the Club realised optimum financial value for the players one of whom had only 17 weeks left on his contract.
It should also be appreciated that in reality, players decide where they will play and not their current clubs. Dundee United has no control over their destination club. On this occasion the lure of European football and increased personal financial reward and security are major draws to young players. Both players ultimately go with our best wishes.
Such deals are negotiated at all times in the longer term interests of the club. This is also a very important point as the Club remains focused off-field on being debt free. The transfer fees received will have the incidental effect of assisting the Club to become completely debt free ahead of schedule.
On-field we are still challenging on three fronts and have no intention of being diverted from our short term aims for this season. We can say that safe in the knowledge that the Manager himself is happy with the result of this transfer window and fully supported the Boards actions.
We have some of the best players in the country and we have the best management team for attracting the best young talent. We trust in the Manager, his coaching staff and the players as an entire squad.
As a Board, we are optimistic about the Clubs future as we know the structure of the Club and the personnel that are committed to the Club, both on and off field, are acting in the best interests of Dundee United at all times.
Finally, the Board of Dundee United Football Club has been made aware of media reports suggesting Dundee United is interested or is involved in talks to buy a football club in Australia. We can categorically state that Dundee United has no intention of purchasing any other football club."
Well done United.
How hard was that, I wonder?

Maybe with Kenny gone we will see Mallan, McGinn. Osbourne and our new boy boss midfield. Yes Kenny is a loss , he was a great player for us this season but I am not going into this " we are doomed " crap. We have won 3 out of last 4 aways, we have a clean sheet, we have Thommo back, this new lad, Arquin back. Cheesy and Goodwin playing well, and talent like Mallan, McGinn for rest of season.
It was always going to be a tough ask after TC, but I think boys have been brill since GT took over.

As mentioned before the club has frequently sold their best player to another club and quite often a Scottish one at that.
It's the nature of the beast. We are a small parochial team over-shadowed by the two big beasts in Glasgow which historically have drained Paisley of prospective supporters every Saturday as they drove down Glasgow Road / Paisley Road West and London Road in pursuit of something that I've never quite understood.
Saints as a team must sell their best players when they can otherwise their contract runs out and they can move eventually free of cost. It's simple logic and mathematics.
As for my fist sentence:
George McLean
Tottie Beck
Frank McGarvey
Jim Clunie
Gerry Baker
Tommy Bryceland
Denis Connaghan
Archie Knox
Paul Lambert
Barry Lavety
Frank McAvennie
Gordon McQueen
Frank McDougall
Iain Munro
Willie Telfer
.................. Kenny McLean
Need I add to this list?
The Club will survive, the club will move on and the club will develop new talent. Yes it's a great pity we've lost him at this stage in the season, but if he signed a new 2 year deal with the Saints and managed to get an escape clause written into the deal, then that's to his and his agent's credit for achieving that, and also perhaps credit the club with the fact that without that clause he may not have signed a contract and we may have got diddly squat for the player when he eventually moved.

Jeeso, that's a horrendous thing to come out with, even for someone with a track record like yourself.

This last sentence, so f**king much.

Where on that statement does it say "no release clause"?
It only says agreements were made. It doesn't say whether they were verbal or contractual.
If Kenny agreed in summer to sign a new deal on the agreement that if a bid of a certain amount comes in for him, then he is free to go, fair enough. If it was a contractual agreement, then there is f**k all we could do about it. If it was a verbal one, then we would have been complete cunts to have gone back on our word.

Very disappointing. Can't get it to add up. It's a total steal from Aberdeen.
I wonder if we were faced with losing him in the summer said that if he re-signed and someone came along offering the compensation value we'd not stand in his way. We then got McLean for an extra 6 months.
Feel for Teale, he's got a hard job now.