BIG BEN

I love the fact he is St.Mirren fan and that he came here BECAUSE HE WANTED TO! You can see how much he is enjoying playing his football for us, he is absolutely loving it and I'm loving watching the guy. He has been FAR better than I ever thought he would turn out to be. One of the very best cetre forwards our club has ever had. He is right up there with the best of them.

He lived every saints fans dream today. Good goal. Great celebration. Fantastic win. Legend!

This man, player, supporter has had many accolades but today, as if we needed any further proof, showed he is a true St Mirren great.
These comments are thrown around very easily but what this man brings to St Mirren cannot be measured.
Heard that Owen Coyle said he’s THE best signing he ever made.
Maybe Danny Lennon got lucky with him but one thing we cannot deny, a signing that is certainly one of our best and if anyone deserves a winner’s medal in March, and maybe May, this man does.
If he reads this, a wee invite to hospitality would be appreciated.

Was really worried when I heard the line up.
Seemed like such a risk - and I guess it was - but in a cup tie, it made sense to go for it.
And BOY did it work out.
Fabulous performance from everyone in the stripes - both on the park and off it :-)!
COYS!!!

Ran out of superlatives about 6 hours ago whilst describing the saints team today. Brilliant just truly brilliant.

Firstly, Carey where did those challenges come from? Goodwin lead by example, Goncalves worked his socks off, Mcginn composed beyond his years, Teale now the player we know he can be, Mcausland came of age and Thompson, i said on twitter, a St Mirren fan, a St Mirren player, a St Mirren legend and a gentleman.
Every player and the fans gave their all and got everything they deserved today, im always proud to be a buddie no matter what but today just made me that little bit prouder.

Every Saints player was superb today. Tommo got mom but amongst many hero's, Teale and Goodwin were magic, but Cheesy and Carey were immense. No left back needed

Toshie, SunnyFoxbarSaint and many others will be over the moon upstairs tonight.

I fricking knew we'd do it today! And we bloody well did! Absolutely buzzing!
My voice is almost gone and my head is pounding! Think a wee glass of wine or two is in order tonight! Cannot wait for work tomoro to laugh in the face of all my sellic supporting pupils! Hahaha!
Every single player was outstanding today! So bloody proud!!!

Just got back to the Kingdom and had to check the BBC website to make sure what I had just witnessed had actually happened. Was worried I had driven through a hole in the space/time continuum at Harthill and what I had seen took place in some parallel universe. But there is was in all its glory - Stevie Thompson's face as he ran towards the fans....
Just un - be - lievable!!!

today..I love everyone

How good was that double step over from the wee saints youth player at half time around the cellic keeper? When I saw that it gave me more belief for 2nd half!

now all the stuffings we took aff celtic the last 3 years worth it coz they players undertimated us today, even Neil Lennon said it
just thinking that 4-0 win over Mowbray was 3 days after losing in final at Hampden, never thought i'd see 2 Hampden finals in 3 years

Esmaël Rui Tavares Cruz Silva Gonçalves - by the time you finish saying his name, he's scored a goal!
Singing: Dá-lhe, dá-lhe dá-lhe, Esmaël !

Also got a bit emotional when Thommo's goal went in. My 10 year old standing next to me had never seen me go so nuts at a game, but now he knows EXACTLY why we support St. Mirren. Brilliant !!!

he thought he was suspended for the final, Chic Young had just told him otherwise.

Im so proud tonight, very emotional

Today was just unbelievable. Still can't believe we beat them. Fantastic play from the whole team today, everybody busted a gut from start to finish and really deserved the win. Brilliant goals especially thompsons, what a finish it was from a great ball from cheesy, there were tears in his eyes as he was celebration infront of us. Brilliant day and can't wait for march 17th.

Though Danny Lennon got his selection and tactics bang on.
Massive performances all over the park. Many will talk about celtic and their poor performance,they played as well as we let them.
We were superb today,the players played for those famous striped jerseys today.
Well done to all and roll on 17th march, This is our year.

Yeah, it was ok until about 7km then the clouds opened!! Was soaked through, but don't mind , all worth it in the end!!

I saw the story on the official site, went to Mark's just giving page and read it, then ended up spending hours last night reading about Rett syndrome. I have to say that the smile on his wee girl's face really melted my heart. She looks like the happiest wee girl in the world! And this in spite of the difficulties she obviously has to overcome every single day. Obviously I made a donation, but I wanted to do more than that after I read about the charity and the difficulties it has in attracting government funding and so really relying on private donations and campaigns like what Mark has done.
I contacted the charity to ask them to send me a running vest (a few of you might know from the official forum that I do a wee bit of running and have previously run for charities related to other neurological conditions), and I'm going to do some 5k's, 10k's and half marathons for the Rett Syndrome Research Trust UK starting this Sunday with the Kilmacolm half marathon. I've already set up a just giving page now which I'll be persuading my family and friends to donate to (managed to raise the princely sum of £25 so far!!), but I won't post it here as of course I think that all Saints fans should make their donations through Mark's page where he's already managed to raise a phenomenal amount! I know that whatever I manage to raise won't even come close, but hopefully it'll be enough to make a difference.
I'd like to thank Mark for opening my eyes to this cause, and if there is any other local activity or are any future local events related to the charity I'd be happy to help out in any way that I can.

I would like to again say a massive thanks to all the buddies that very kindly donated to Rett Syndrome. The kindness and generosity shown by you all has been very humbling and very much appreciated by myself and my family.
We have been amazed at the number of buddies who have donated and the monies received. When times are tough for everyone financially in the current climate ,it is even more amazing.
As I have said before my couple of years at Saints were fantastic times not only in my football career but in my life.
It was a honor to have played with a fantastic club with a great history and be part of a successful period for the club where everyone played their part from directors, management, players, staff and of course you guys,the fans.
I have memories that no one can take away, so donating my medal was the very least I could do to show my appreciation for all the kindness shown by you all.
I just wish I could give you all a medal for your generosity but I only got 2 and my good pal has the other one !
Rett syndrome is a very rare condition and I am sure that there are other children out there that have it and have not been diagnosed. There will be a cure one day and you can all be very proud that you have contributed towards funding that cure.
A special thanks to Div for the work you have put in to raise awareness of Rett Syndrome and my pal Greenhill Road and his family for their support, especially to his daughter Louise who is a star!!
God Bless you all. Mavis

Norrie has run the story on the official site for us too
http://www.saintmirren.net/pages/?p=15623
Have also asked the PDE to run a wee blurb on it.
Brian Caldwell has also been very accommodating and has offered as half time at any home game to do the presentation of the medal.
We are a truly brilliant club with a brilliant support when we are all pulling in the same direction !

The criticism of REA and the 10000hrs team is uncalled for. At least they had a plan for the ownership of the club. It is easy to sit on the side lines and pick holes in any plans yet fail to come forward with alternatives. I didn’t see any other rival fans groups wanting ownership of the club. Its worth remembering that the cic model that died was far removed from the initial ambitions of the 10000 hrs. What went wrong?
Maybe REA was initially overly ambitious of the third party funding coming through, maybe the consortium were overly greedy in their valuation of the club, maybe 10000 hrs failed to embrace enough fans, maybe it become in the end something that it was not. Who cares, the longer it went on the more despondent I became.
In a sadistically weird kind of way I was glad it failed, the thought of some of the posters on here getting near a Board of Directors put the fear of god in me. Too many petty squabbles about minutia like bar profits, churches, individuals but forgetting the bigger picture that there was a million pound business to be run and maintained.

Checking in from sunny Turkey, great to see the forum alive and well with the usual suspects in great form.
The "unnamed American" is born and bred Scottish but does not hail from Renfrewshire !
Would be interesting to know more about him and his plans for the club, particularly how he plans on getting value on his £1.5m investment ?
Will find out more start of next week when I am back.
Either way it's up to the sellers who they sell the shares to, if this bid is going to be better for the long term future of the club then personally I will be happy to support same as I am very happy to support fan ownership.
Best result for the club is what we all want, surely ?