Julian Banjos

From the journalist who broke the story nearly a week ago...

Removing Rae and Stubbs were the correct decisions. This time? We'll see. To me, the situation we find ourselves coinciding with there being a vacant position at Coleraine stinks. The whisperings about OK being unsettled go back a couple of months and came out of Northern Ireland.

Apart from the Stubbs appointment, the judgement of GS has been sound and has moved the club forward: binning Rae, appointing Ross, binning Stubbs early, appointing Oran and bringing in Gus.... That's not to mention off-field improvements to the fan experience.

Aye? You think if Coleraine had appointed a new boss a few weeks ago we'd be having this discussion? Sympathies for OK's work-life balance but we're being messed about here.

SMFC gave OK his first ever pro contract in football. Less than a year later he's struggling to decide which of the following he wants: 1. A FT PE teacher and football manager Tuesday, Thursday nights and Saturday afternoons. 2. St Mirren manager. For him to be even considering these would make me think he's maybe not the man moving forward.

Don't know about Mcinnes in Aberdeen but Gerrard certainly owns property in Glasgow. The added thing with OK is the Coleraine situation. Word has got to them from his side to wait and see. That's dubious territory to say the least.

Seems that OK led the club to believe that the commute would be a temporary arrangement. Now it's "well it all worked out so...." Very difficult one. The club feel that trust has been broken and OK feels we're unreasonable. Did Oran really think though that he could, indefinitely, be a full-time manager in Scotland whilst living in Northern Ireland? That's what I don't get...

Rogers was loaned to us because Aberdeen were able to get Tomas Cerny in. Could it be Cerny comes down the road to us if Rogers returns? He walked away from a contract offer from Thistle last summer and went on trial for a club in Europe. Failed to win a deal and ended up back in Scotland signing for Aberdeen at the end of July. Hasn't made an appearance for them and his deal runs out in a few months. Might be looking to come back south to give him security beyond this summer. His wife's from the Central Belt and their wee boy's grandparents are in Kilmarnock. A contract with us until 2020 might suit. I'd take him as our first choice right now! Lots of experience, including in relegation dog fights.

Aberdeen don't look like they'll be back in for Greg Stewart as they've just signed a striker on loan from Manchester United.

Here's one against Sparta Rotterdam (from 4:15): https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-LeFOxvTixs

Winning goal v Den Haag 3:30 into this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OOj8fRfWCB0

Was only in Poland for 3 months and didn't really get a chance: 9 of his 11 appearances were from the bench. He had a good season before in Holland's top league: 7 goals in 20 starts for a team (Zwolle) who narrowly avoided relegation is not bad. 1:10 into the video below is a goal he scored against Ajax. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MCFqf0BNP0I

£40K (if true) is some bit of business for a guy who has only made a handful of appearances above League 1 level. County have a lot of strikers on their books too, so he may not even be a regular starter.

Presuming there were no conditions in the SMISA-GLS deal covering scenarios like this? SMISA are raising £600K (through £10/month from 1300 fans) to buy out Gordon and take ownership of the club. Due to happen in 2026 but, with this sum of money coming in, SMFC could give the money to SMISA who pay off Gordon Scott. Gordon has his debt repaid earlier and SMISA get the club now!

It's not for the few. The guys in W7 have improved the atmosphere at the stadium and consequently everyone's matchday experience. They've no doubt contributed to our success on the park too. Why not build on that as well as widen the matchday experience for our fans? Give people the opportunity to stand if they want? Incidentally, Brian Caldwell and Shrewsbury opened their safe standing section at the weekend. Accommodates 555 fans and cost the club £65K to install; they have it up the back of a stand behind the goals.

On safe-standing, this was the Chairman 3 months ago: "We have also started down the road of introducing some form of safe standing area in W7. We have had discussions with Celtic, safe seating suppliers, and held preliminary talks with both the SPFL and our local council. This will not be something that happens next season but it is something we are looking at very seriously and will continue to investigate." Personally, all for it, and I think the McGinn money will probably accelerate the process. The matchday and fan experience is hugely important to the board. Would be interesting to see the response though if SMISA members were consulted....

Easier said than done... Ayr Utd have just turned down £150K for the guy generating excitement in Scottish football at the moment. Should we be offering that kind of fee for someone? No doubt the money will help Stubbs, but at the same time, any club or player we deal with will want a bit of the McGinn money. We don't want to pay over the odds. I think a chunk of the money should go towards the current team but most I'd invest in the academy and stadium.

Just caps off a great 18 months for us! Wonder what will be done with the cash... W7 as safe standing for the start of 19/20?

Some chat on Sportsound there coming out of the Celtic boardroom via Chris McLaughlin: Celtic thought it was a done deal because of noises from the "McGinn camp" and were caught on the backfoot by Villa's interest. They then outbid Villa yesterday but it came too late as Bruce had already turned JM's head. Seems McGinn has not even been into Parkhead for talks. Apparently more first team football at AV than CFC was a big factor plus Villa offered doubled the salary!

STV News reporting that the fee is "close to £3,000,000".

According to Radio Scotland, McGinn didn't train with Hibs today. At Parkhead? Looks like the whole saga is in its final throes anyway....

We couldn't have scripted this any better. Brilliant for St Mirren! I wonder what the fee is.... Can we assume it's £1,000,000 minimum for us?

Brendan R clearly pissed off on STV news earlier: "If you don't complete the deal it opens the door for other teams...... We wanted the player in here." Was talking about the McGinn deal in the past tense. Sounds like Shellic have given up on this!

You get £7 million for Armstrong, you spend little more than half that to get McGinn who will, most likely, take over from Brown to be the heart of the midfield for the next 10 years. Isn't a no-brainer?! Celtic are clearly playing on the fact that JM is a Celtic fan and think the move will get forced through. You wonder though if, despite them being his boyhood idols, McGinn himself is at the end of his tether with Celtic and is ready to go elsewhere. Offering about a quarter of what they received for Armstrong? Looks like a cash injection for Saints this month anyway!

It's been awhile to see St Mirren highlights in HD and one thing that struck me watching Sportscene was how good the ground looked! Hamilton were on before our highlights with their raised stands and advertising hoardings behind one of the goals and Rugby Park followed with its ugly pitch and thousands of empty seats. Okay, ours is a bit lego but it is a proper 21st century football ground with a sensible capacity and the W7 guys are generating a real atmosphere now.