RickMcD

Shull, you've again got me laughing over my Ulster fry. Where are all the Old Firm religious followers supposed to go when they f*ck off? I hope you believe I'm a genuine Buddy now. From Glenburn,not Lochwinnoch. And I was truly humbled to be welcomed to the club by a stalwart like you.

Thanks for the warm welcome in response to my first ever post. Bluto, I reiterate what I said that any fan who goes to a match is entitled to shout whatever he pleases. I just wish that during matches they would get 100% behind the team. One of my closest pals still goes to every match and he's on the players' backs from the first minute unless we cruise the game. And you know how often that happens. Boo them at the end of the match or bleat about them in this forum but shout them on even when it's not going well. I didn't intend to proscribe anything. Free speech and all that. I see Marrez posted today saying that some fans were shameful last night. It was always the way at Love Street. I don't suppose it will ever change. Incidentally, your advice about the forum is helpful. Bear with us virgins until we find our feet. If you were at Cathkin for the 8-0 game then you must be from roughly the same era as me. Tommy Bryceland told me years later that every Third Lanark player backed Saints that night. Hard to believe but he was convinced it was true. Shull, I have been reading you posts for years and I don't mind admitting you are one of the guys who can usually give me a laugh. But it's never very difficult to to guess how you are going to react. Mr.Consistency. I didn't know the asterisks came up automatically until I did my post. I should have guessed, I suppose. I'm afraid I still think it's a bit childish but I can live with it. I didn't think for a minute that you would shed many tears if r*ngers go down the plug-hole. You will be singing from the same hymn sheet as a lot of c*ltic fans, but not all of them. A lot of them recognise that Scottish football would be considerably poorer without either one of them. And no,Shull,I'm not from Lochwinnoch. I'm a buddy through and through although I now live in Bangor in Co.Down. The only thing I can remember liking about Lochwinnoch was Struthers' scoosh! Bluto, forgot to mention that I have been at stacks of Saints v Old Firm games. Over the last five years or so I have been at I think 5 games v r*ngers. Haven't actually been at a c*ltic match. It costs me an absolute mimimum of about £100 to go to a match and that's assuming I can cadge a bed for the night somewhere. And that don't include my food and beer. I never said anything about not hating old firm fans. I just don't see why it has to mean that anyone has to hate r*ngers or c*ltic so much that they wish they didn't exist. I may well not post again but I will continue to enjoy reading all that is posted.

I've been a member for around 18 months and have been visiting the site for a lot longer. I have never posted before and partly that's because I'm not sure I want to be associated with the levels of personal abuse, threats of violence and many comments which contain at least an element of religious bigotry. I think,Div, your post is timely and I hope some of the members take note and take a right good look at themselves. I see that a lot of members have never posted and while I am sure there are many reasons why they don't, I would be surprised if quite a few don't share the same reservations I have. One thing that gets me down is the gratuitous bad language. Now I know that bad language and football go hand in hand and I confess here and now that mine is pretty foul at times. But I don't think four letter words need to be added to written posts. I'm not referring to 'bloody hell' or 'useless bugger' but I think we can do without the two four letter words which can cause most offence. I enjoy the craic (that might give some a clue to where I live, and also explains why I can't get to many matches) and I regularly end up in stitches as many of the posts. But would it detract from anyone's enjoyment to cut back the bad language just a bit? And what is all the C*l*ic and R*n*e*s nonsense? Does anyone think that's funny? And is it absolutely compulsory to hate every team apart from our beloved St.Mirren? If so, count me out. There are some clubs I dislike but there are many I have always liked and admired. And as I have mentioned r*ngers, it certainly looks like they are in real financial diffs. But anyone who thinks Scottish Football wouldn't be impoverished without either of the Old Firm needs to get a reality check. I have always maintained that the paying football fan once he gets in the ground can shout what he pleases but I have also always felt that a fairly high percentage of St.Mirren fans prefer to shout abuse from the first minute. It has always been so. Giving away my age a bit, I remember the abuse Jim Rodger got when he came to Love Street in the 50's. They called him Nancy. But they didn't when he became a fast,strong right winger who could cross the ball when running full pelt. Now there's an art which has all but been lost in modern day football. How many of you out there were at a mid-week match on a miserable cold night when he scored four goals? Some of us need to get off Danny's back. He is still surely on a learning curve. I have some criticisms of my own. For the matches at Inverness and against Hibs last Saturday, the team should have been so pumped up that that they should never have been beaten. I'm not convinced he is a motivator. Last night's result is inexcusable, both in the let-down to the fans and the resulting financial loss. But give Danny a lot more time. I think he deserves at least that. We're all St.Mirren fans. We have all had to live with the agony that goes with the territory. Keep the faith. I genuinely believe that I got more pleasure from our two Scottish Cup wins that I saw and our promotion winning games, than many Old Firm fans got from years of more or less continuous success. And please keep the posts coming. I'm a bit of an exile and I'm not the only one. The Virtual West Bank gives me so much pleasure.