thewhiteman

It begins....

ya f**king dancer 3-2 saints

Thank Christ for the young lads. They might just salvage our season yet....

Me too. Couldn't wait to get to St Mirren matches back then. I don't think I could ever say I've looked forward to St Mirren matches since. 
On a slightly different topic - there were no takers for my ticket this evening. I couldn't attend but I have made a donation to Erskine Hospital regardless. Hope everyone there enjoyed their night. 

I hope this works........
 
https://www.periscope.tv/w/axB_KjF4ZUVXeFhhQm96UVB8MXJteFBib2FQVkVHTu_6Riq4SCm1v-UhD95tS6bMFKzXXt6kv11Pd3IZnLNc

The shop that sells humble pie should be doing well this evening.

The bottom line is it doesn't matter who's to blame, shifting the blame around doesn't help anyone.
Our new owners don't have their problems to seek, they need the backing of the fans to help get through to the other side. Sitting on the sidelines bitching about it won't help anyone.

I have to say I'm surprised at the general negativity and the way people saw today's game.
I especially do not get the "players aren't trying and/or don't care" line. 
Okay, obviously we're in a dire league position, but I really did not think our performance today deserved the criticism it's getting.
I only saw the highlights of the Dumbarton game, but was there today and last week, and I'd say for all three of those games we were the better team 
I'm clearly in a minority, but I've enjoyed large parts of the last two games, and feel when Morgan, Magennis, McAllister get on the ball they're doing what we've been lacking far too often in recent years - going forward.
Clearly results in the league games have gone against us, but we can either wallow in self-pity and fire out anger in every Saints-related direction, or we can support the team and management and hope that somehow we can win a game, and the talent that IS there can string a few results together - there is still a long way to go folks.

Thanks EK but I am sure plenty of others would have volunteered - I just saw the request soon after it was posted by ES.
And there are some dicks on this forum but there are also many, many unsung heroes who fully support the Club, their fellow Buds and their fellow human beings. This week some guys finishing washing down every single seat in the stadium for the Club and fellow Buds and Away supporters. A guy that sits behind me volunteered to help some veterans from Erskine last week. He is also helping to organise a foodbank collection at the stadium before Xmas. Also in the last few weeks some fans have provided expertise and money to help with the disabled platform and some offered their practical services to help a fellow Bud who had an ongoing dispute. These are just a few examples that I am aware of over the last few weeks. I can think of loads more examples of Buds helping the Club and fellow Buds. Some spend all their time bumping their gums and criticising everything about the Club but the unsung heroes let their actions do their talking for them. That is what it is to be a fan and a Buddie.

The question has been asked,the answer as i wrote above is,we were told we couldn't have meetings at the stadium because we did not have a key holder attending all our meetings. I can only guess that there is some restriction on the number of people who can hold keys and quite honestly i personally would not want to be a key holder at the moment as i would become liable for everything held in the stadium and for the conduct of everyone at meetings.I don't for a minute think anyone of the committee would do anything untoward at meetings,but it is a big responsibility which would also mean i would have to make myself available for call outs from police etc., if anything happened at the stadium in the middle of the night.
When we do become owners,that would be different because i would take it as part of my duty as a committee member to take on responsibilities and by then i would have more time on my hands because i will have retired from my daily job and will be looking for something to keep me occupied.
It's not a matter of trust it's a matter of  there being any availability for another key holder and also of someone in our group actually wanting to hold keys 24 hours a day 365 days a year.And more to the point it actually suits the majority of the group to have meetings in the town centre because they are actually walking direct from work or getting off a bus from work and going straight to a meeting and being able to get something to eat there,in my case i can walk from home to meetings after having my dinner,and on one week in five i work until 6.00pm so have to go along late but not too late as i work in the town centre as well as live there.
I have been a key holder in a previous job and can tell you from experience,it's no fun being responsible for making sure the alarm system is on and working and even less fun being called out in the middle of the night because the alarm has gone off and you have to go into every single room to satisfy police that nobody is in there,usually with the police just waiting in their car for you to do that on your own,that is if the police actually turn up,most of the time they just let you get on with it and wait for you to contact the alarm monitoring company to say you have checked and all is well.So i'll wait until i retire and can get a large feck off dug to take with me.

Firstly, Willie Bell would be welcome back anytime,he quite simply wanted to step back from meetings for personal reasons.
SMiSA are not a cash cow for the club we raise funds and ask our members what they should be spent on,which mainly so far has been to help progress the club via the youth academy and panda club,and lately to improve the experience of match days for less able fans. SMiSA are in the process of getting together the funds to pay off the previous board and then buy out Gordon Scott,then SMiSA will have the keys to the doors which allow you access to the various meeting rooms.At the moment we have no access to club premises unless we book the hospitality suite and pay for it,we can get meeting facilities free of charge elsewhere,Saporito coffee (which has an excellent large rear room) where we hold meetings quite comfortably with the ability to buy food,tea or coffee etc., Meetings at the Bull are in one of the booths which is not ideal but serves the purpose,again without cost.
The club set up the fans council and that was done by the previous board,they have a club key holder which allows them to hold meetings without any club staff having to be there.SMiSA will get the keys one day,we have asked to use the stadium for meetings but as we don't have a key holder we were told it's not possible,anyway it's cheaper and actually easier to get to having our meetings elsewhere.
I realise people probably think SMiSA should be allowed similar facilities to the fans council but as it stands they are part of the club and we are an independent group who own shares in the club,until we own a majority of shares i don't see that changing.We have and will continue to hold events at the stadium when we can.

I may be wrong but I believe a resolution to this type of matter is not solely at the discretion of SMFC. The Police and more importantly the SPFL have, I believe, policies which the Club would have to challenge. And I do agree that a public forum is not appropriate to discuss a legal matter as few if any on here even know the full story from all parties. The situation has been highlighted via this forum and several posters have all indicated a willingness to take the matter forward on behalf of the fan in question. The rest of us will have to do something else until a definite answer is forthcoming.
And B&WArmy may be 'home' to some of us but from my experience it is very much a minority. None of my mates nor those that sit around me in the stadium post on here. Maybe an official conduit has to be implemented for formal communication between the fans and the Club but at the moment it is not obvious what it is.

I would also find it entirely appropriate to expect a fan representative to read the fans forum. What I do not find entirely appropriate is for the fans representative to be expected to use the public fans forum to deal with the clubs progress on legal matters concerning a specific fan when his help in the matter hasn't even been asked for by the fan in question!
There are several fans forums, facebook groups and twitter accounts (and possibly others). It would be entirely unreasonable to expect the fans representative to keep abreast of all ongoing chatter and ensure that he is providing a timely update on all topics in these forums where his input has not even been requested. In fact, I would think that would be a big waste of his time. 
The previous board did not have any specific position to listen to and solely represent the fans. They represented the club, the shareholders and dealt with running the business. You could always email a few of them and hope for a reply, which you might get or might not. Now, we have a dedicated person on the board who should most definitely make it a top priority to ensure these emails or phonecalls are replied to and who will bring up any issue you want with the board. But first, you have to tell him specifically what you want to bring up! He can read the forums and contribute as a fan to keep on top of the general fans opinions on certain topics and these can be discussed with the board as he sees fit but if you want to find out about anything specific, then you have to ask. It's quite simple. The minutes of every meeting won't be hand delivered and read out to you in your living room each week. 
An entirely realistic scenario is that this issue has been brought up by David and he is working to come to a satisfactory resolution with the fan(s) in question, and the fact that you and me know nothing about it is completely appropriate. It's none of our business; unless Josh wants to make it our business. 

Thanks Buddiecat, a previous poster appeared to be looking to make mischief out of the situation and I was hoping that nothing untoward was happening, glad to hear it's not.
With regards to alarm call-outs I'm with you.........I've got my own business and it has other key holders but I always feel it's my business and therefore my responsibility to attend when possible.

What's wrong with those. I quite like going to Saporito and prefer it over going to the ground. Coming straight from work I can get a coffee and some food. 

This isn't the public list. I think I'm the only one who's posted on the forum. At least I haven't seen any others.

Firstly I witnessed said incident and the boy was doing nothing more than celebrating a late goal exuberantly.

Secondly Police have no right to remove people from a stadium unless they are under arrest and trust me if the boy had committed an offence he would have been jailed pronto.

I am all for stamping out offensive behaviour but the authorities seem hell bent on turning us into a bunch bland, sterile, personality ridden robots.

The club should be supporting this particular boy and making efforts to resolve the situation.

A simple layers letter to the club confirming no charges or action pending, job done. 
What this does not do however is take the sour taste of club actions away, if, the club has indeed acted in a completely unreasonable and out of scale manner. 
As usual two sides to every story , but from what I am reading it stinks of a  gross over reaction as per usual , police, club, stewarding etc.  It's just another typical  story these days about fans , their behaviour, police and stewarding controls, authorities and their institutionally held belief that most fans are just scheme trash and generic low life. 
Trouble is once the police are involved, impressions are created, accusations levelled, fingers are always pointed from all sides.  It's always a downward spiral and the ultimate a lose lose situation as far as reputations are concerned.
Crazy times 

I personally have contacted 50 members in the past week to confirm nominations for the election,another SMiSA member has been down at the stadium with volunteers the past couple of weeks to clean seats and the concrete slabs below them,and he is also consulting with hospitality to arrange member dinners (he has been doing similar stuff for donkeys years) others are dealing with the day to day running of our members subscriptions and writing monthly updates and arranging to get those online and into print and posted to our members who are not online, we have spoken to the club about all the things that supporters are unhappy with,our members are part funding the platform for our less able supporters,we collate all the feedback from members and discuss where we spend our £2 per member fund which is for improvements on and off field, we are arranging events,we meet every Monday night and are constantly in touch online throughout the whole day,we have a fans representative on the board, i could go on.
Now some of the above benefits only SMiSA members directly, but the platform,the seat cleaning,contacting the club for fans,our fan on the board,spending on youth development and the £2 member pot are things which benefit everyone who comes along to support the team.
All of the above is being carried out by "ordinary Joe/everyday supporters" who also happen to be on the SMiSA board and give the time it takes to do this freely and in the most it's after coming home from our ordinary everyday jobs and one who has a not so ordinary everyday job.
We are not working against anyone so i'd like your comments on where you think there is an "us and them" attitude and who we need to work together with to achieve "one common aim" your welcome to get in touch,as is anyone,or arrange to come to a meeting and air your views or even volunteer your services to help our club.
We do actually have one very big common aim and that is to gain control of our club within the next ten years and ensure it stays in the hands of supporters for ever.

The skill requirements I would suggest are there for guideline purposes only.

If SMISA & GLS started cherry picking who THEY wanted and not who had the most votes, then it would be a long time before the loan was paid back as I'm sure most people wouldn't pay their money every month to a dictatorship.

I'm pretty sure the person with the most votes will be elected as the SMISA Board Member.

I for one hope it's David Nicol.

i would defo buy one if available, at the end and start of the season in the main stand (catching some rays while sitting in the sun) , and then sit in the west stand when the snow / rain / both, are firing into the front 14 rows of the main stand for the other 95% of the season
alternatively rather than a 'ticket' just pay up for 'x' matches up front, go to ticket office at each home game and be allocated a ticket for an available seat at chosen stand

Back on topic. 
I think a lot of people will struggle to have a strong opinion on who should be voted onto the board. 
I'd like to see the current SMISA board and possibly GLS come make the decision between them. I'd trust this decision initially. 
After their 2 years are up the SMISA members vote based on performance to re-elect or nominate a fresh board member. 
I love the fact we get a say but I would struggle to vote on someone based on a CV. SMISA board have done a decent job so far, I'd trust them to put the right man in the chair. 

It is easy and simple. 
Absolutely no problems for Ticket Office. 
Say 10 home games left. 
Normal walk up cost - £200
Go to Office, ask for Season Ticket for last 10 matches. 
You are given a Smart Card to get you into remaining 10 matches. 
Cost - maybe £150
Nothing simpler. 
Could be done for any number of matches apart from 1.

I attend all games both home and away unless I am overseas on business.
I pay at the gate but in view of the changes made in the board, ownership plans and most recently the manager I am ready to buy a Season Ticket for the rest of the season.
I hope the club pick up on this and that other fans will join in taking this opportunity to support the club.
1,000 more season tickets sold would make an immediate and substantial difference to the finances of the club and support plans for improvements sought e.g. disabled platform and of course in preparing for the january transfer window to enable the incoming manager to make plans ahead of the time and get ahead of other clubs who may also seek to stengthen.
I would be very happy with a season ticket with no specified seat. This would make it possible for my sons, grandson and occassional friends to join me at games.
Would you buy a season ticket now to show your support for the club?
 

will chick youngs press seat still be there ?