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My point wasn't really that we can't get decent players in loan. I agree with you, some of our best signings have been players we got on loans But what I meant was that usually we resort to loans once we've run out of other ideas..

Yeah trialists we signed like Ball worked out really well last year Agreed. Realistically it's far too much to expect for a new manager to have a clear idea what he's doing and of the players he wants to bring in. No new manager has ever managed to get things sorted quickly. It always takes at least a month to sort out an assistant manager let alone some players....

Yes we've had one or two decent loans but the vast majority have been like Bahoken or Campbell rather than Dummett or Goncalves

Don't see how we're anywhere close to having a team that can compete with Dumbarton or Alloa let alone Sevco or Hibs

FFS The more this close season drags on the further and futher behind we get Only got half a team and we're down to loans and trialists already........ Three weeks to go and we're completely unprepared for the upcoming season. Doesn't bode well, another painful season looming.... ETA. Oh and welcome to the club Paul. At least it looks like you're delighted to be here!........

Vanzy too.......

Mid table? 10 of 11 other keepers (who have played >20 games) are above him. Which would suggest around 90% of SPL starters are better than Ridgers. I didn't say he was the reason why we were relegated. I just said he wasn't very good. Which he clearly isn't according to the stats. As well as our awful strikers (and I agree with you they were apalling) we also conceded the highest number of goals in the league so the defence must also take some of the blame.

According to this Ridgers was one of the worst keepers in the SPL. So now there is statistical evidence to back up the anecdotal evidence that he's rubbish. Personally if it's an option I'd bin him. We can do better.

I see there are odds available for the next Raith manager, but not for Saints as far as I can see. Do the bookies think it's a done deal? A shoe-in for GT? And the "search" is just an attempt to get the support onside?

The £285 I spent last year definitely didn't represent value for money. Apalling football and even worse cutomer service. The club will have to do a whole lot better if they want me to part with £275 to watch them in the Championship.

Should keep Thommo, Mallan ,McLear & most of the U20s. The rest should be given the boot, starting with Goodwin and Teale who should both have been first out the door at the end of last season McGinn & Naismith should move on to other clubs.

Can it be changed so you don't have to award all the points to vote? I honestly can't think of 12 players worthy of points.

Irrespective of the in's and out's, one thing I'm pretty sure about... If the deal had gone through and fans had been in charge of running the club this season, the almost ubelievable mistakes that the BOD made (Tommy Craig; not hiring a new manager; selling Kenny without a sutable replacement; Gary Teale) would not have happened.

Personally I'm struggling to see any kind of brightside to this. Apart from the continual series of poor decisions which did the club no favours at all, the wall of silence aimed at the fans from the club was a disgrace in my opinion. To me this simply appears to be taking the fans for granted, and treating them with a lack of respect. Obviously people can make mistakes and not every decision the club makes is going to be the right one, but I would never have believed the club would treat its fans in this manner. I can't see any excuse for that and also think it has done the club serious harm.

I don't see how we can sack Teale, and don't think it would make much difference at this stage. He should never have got the job in the first place though. Having said that it's the board that has to carry the can for this mess. After the disasterous appointment of Craig, to do nothing positive over the transfer window and then sell your most effective player on deadline day, is simply asking for relegation. And all this with hardly a word to the fans. If you'd told me before the season started that this was how things were going to go, I wouldn't have believed it. And even having seen it happen I'm still struggling.

Gow is 32 and hasn't played a competitive game in a year. A good replacement for one of the best young players in Scotland? Another masterstroke from Teale, and just when I was thinking that there's no way he could compete with Danny he pulls out a signing to rival Djemba-Djemba.

SFA to do with St Mirren also.......

Agreed with the comments above, I don't see why the BOD should make any kind of statement about McLean. There's not much to say. They could let the fans know why they waited until the transfer window nearly closed before appointing a manager? Or why for the 2nd January in a row we are scrambling about looking for free agents because we made a mess of the transfer window? Djemba-Djemba back next week then.... This carry on cost Lennon his job last year; how Craig kept his I'll never understand. Communication with the fans is nowhere near good enough. As pointed out above Saints fans are very engaged customers. They put so much time and effort into supporting the club and identify so strongly with it that they feel a sense of ownership. Given that I think the very least the BOD can do is to let the fans know what's going on. Making poor decisions (like appointing Craig) is one thing. But it's quite hard to come up with an excuse for not treating the fans with respect.

Season so far has been an utter shambles. Teale failed to deliver yet again. This is what happens when you appoint an inexperienced manager with little clue what he's doing. BOD have a lot of explaining to do or we'll be seeing record low crowds for the rest of the season.

No, but to be fair if McLean has a release clause in his contract then it's irrelevant.

Actually that wasn't what I said. I wasn't suggesting playing with 10 men obviously. Plenty of players have plaid the no 10 role for and scored very few. McGowan scored 2 goals last year by this stage of the season and he's by no means the least effective player we've had in that role. The point was that Kenny's an important player for the team, and has been our most effective player which is also backed up by the stats. It's obviously a meaningless statistic, but but does illustrate the contribution Kenny had made to the team this year. As you point out another player may come in and play as well as McLean. However it's not likely we will be able to replace McLean with someone of the same calibre, and it's a big contribution to lose.

We're 3rd bottom of the league on goal difference. We're not really in a position to lose our top performer at this stage of the season. It's a big blow, and one that makes an already precarious position even more risky. As you say hardly a surprise that the is interest in McLean. And he's definitely ready for a bigger stage, and it's great to see our players in demand. However suggesting that he won't be badly missed, or that we have players in the squad just now who can adequately replace him, is nonsense. At a time when we need to improve, the team is likely to be coming out of the transfer window even weaker. If we'd been offered Arquin and Dayton for McLean in December, I don't think there would have been many takers.

I think you must be living in some sort of parallel universe.......... McLean has been a (maybe the only) brightspot in an otherwise dire season. He has scored 7 goals from midfield, and is not only our top scorer by some margin but has scored nearly half of our league goal tally (7 of 20). His goals have been directly responsible for 6 of our 18 points to date. And this ignores any contribution he has made to the team other than goals. If you subtract Kenny's contribution, we would be bottom of the league just now. We can't really afford to lose McLean. And what's more he was one of the few in the team this season who was worth paying to watch. And I seriously doubt at this stage, we will replace him with anyone, let alone a player of the same calibre.

Well thanks to the BOD for keeping us informed. I can't understand why selling the club has to be done in secret...... Why would being honest about what's going on put off potential buyers?

If I remember correctly Teale was assistant manager during that spell, so I think he has to take his share of credit for the 8 points from 15 games.