Lex

Yeah? Well i certainly never wanted Harkins in and said so at the time! I said at the time i'd have much rather kept Carey than sign Harkins, and so it has proved. i've said already, i'd prefer we went down the experienced route this time. There are experienced managers out there who'd jump at the chance to manage us. I don't think you should be embarrassed no, i never said that. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and i respect that. My point is i can't see a case for him to be given a new deal. Can you? We are currently below Partick Thistle in the league. This is a team who are in their first top flight campaign for god knows how long. They have a manager who not only is in his first season at this level, but in his first full season in management. Most of their players have little or no experience in this league, they have a smaller budget than we do. Compare their set up and squad with ours. We have an experienced manager and squad and in our 8th consecutive campaign. How on earth can us being below them be spun as good enough? It's frankly shocking that they are anywhere near our points tally, never mind above us. Most/all public polls i've seen favour getting rid, this private one is very close and the lead changes every time i look at it. My choice and many other peoples is an experienced manager like Levein. He's succeeded at every club job he's had here, Cowdenbeath, Hearts and Dundee United. He has a proven record of developing young talent and a wide network of contacts. Why is it not the time from starting from scratch? When is? After another 4 years of scrambling around the bottom 6? If that's what you want, give Danny a new deal. Personally, i'm sick of self confessed underachieving. I think we can and should be achieving more, and Jim Goodwin agrees.

Rhubarb is doing fantastic this year because of the mild winter. On my third crop already, still not sick of rhubarb jam though Gooseberry bush and blueberry bush also showing good potential, no fruit yet though.

No, i believe there is better qualified candidates than him who want to be our manager.

I am very surprised at that, shame it isn't a public poll and we can't see the votes! If you want consistent self confessed underachievement, Danny is your man. If not, let's get a new manager in. As of the final whistle at the Hearts game, Danny's effectively no longer our manager. He simply becomes one of many well qualified managers who'd love a contract to manage our club next season. Do the people who voted yes genuinely believe he's the best candidate available? Even when taking all his recent signings into account?

He came out last week and said he wanted to stay. With the way the BoD are messing him about though, I wouldn't blame him nor would I be surprised if he walked away.

What are the board playing at? Why can't they make a decision now? Seems like they're deliberately trying to wind Danny and the players up. Our preparations for next season must start ASAP. If this is going to be under Danny, back him now. If it's not, start the recruitment process of a new manager now. This needless time wasting is hurting the club.

Disappointed in that. More due to the fact that if Danny doesn't get a deal, he won't get the chance to get a proper farewell at the weekend.

A safety net of a team being deducted 15 points. If it wasn't for that we'd be going into the last game with a chance of finishing 11th.

2010/2011 The infamous summer of Beath. Danny comes straight from the 2nd Division and seems to believe the players who done a job for him there will do a job for him in the big league. Not surprisingly, the result is a disgrace of a campaign and failure in both cups. A combination of Michael Higdon and a terrible Hamilton side somehow keep us above 12th. 2011/12 Danny seemed to have learned his lesson in the transfer market, and recruits some top players. Thompson, Carey, Teale, Hasselbaink, Tesselaar all arrive and succeed to some degree, McLean comes onto the scene. However, the team continues to underachieve. We can't get near the top 6, much less in it, and we flop at home to Ayr United in the League Cup. 12/13 We regress alarmingly in the league, going from 8th and comfortable the season before to 11th and nervous. The attention from this is diverted by 5 games and a glorious cup win. The glory and performance levels in the cups goes further to highlight the infuriating lack of consistency the team is displaying. 1 week we are losing 4-1 at home to Ross County, the next we are beating Celtic at Hampden. 13/14 Danny's cup win grants him a stay of execution and one last chance at taking the club forward. He fails. A complete mess of a summer transfer window sees us lose 5 of our first 6 games and crash out the league cup to lower league opponents. He goes someway to rectify his mistakes in January, punting all but one of his summer duds out the door, at the clubs expense. Not surprisingly results improve. For the fourth season running we are nowhere near the top 6, and spend most of the campaign in or around 11th. Thankfully we turn it around in 5 crucial end of season games and secure our safety for another season. However, our captain regards it as yet another season of underachievement. My conclusion is that, apart from the Cup win, Danny's reign has been a failure. We are regressing not progressing. I really can't see how any Buddie thinks he has a case for a new contract.

Jeez, undecided isn't an option! There's no case for Danny to get a new deal, and i'm not surprised most fans who've voted in this and other polls want him out.

There's no chance of Bollan getting it. If we are going to to go down the lower league route it will be either Murray or... Stephen Aitken. Aitken has quite a similar CV to Danny Lennon when he was appointed. He's taken Stranraer up from League 2 straight into the League 1 playoffs in their first season, where they beat Dunfermline 2-1 last night. They're the only two viable lower league candidates I can see. Personally I'd much prefer the experienced. Levein has a fantastic track record at our level, and he would be my pick.

Danny must go. Last season we were below Ross County. This season we are below Partick Thistle. Why do smaller teams keep coming from below and over taking us? Because of our manager. He HAS to go.

Our worst defender tonight was Darren McGregor. It really amazes me how people think Cheesy was worse. Darren gave Chris a short back pass on a wet pitch twice in about 20 minutes, and his distribution was awful, at one point in the first half he just passed it directly out the park. He's the weak link in that back 4 and he needs replaced in the summer. The team should have been changed before the match. That 11 have played a lot of football recently and a drop off was inevitable.

Next manager of who?

Basically he never backed Danny. Said words to the effect of they'd take a lot of factors into account before making the decision, and the board would meet tomorrow. When asked what his own opinion was, he avoided answering.

We played poorly tonight, no getting away from that. Hard to blame the players though. They've just had four high pressure intense games, and in each one they've stood up and delivered. Now the pressure was off it's human reaction for there be a little bit of a drop off, and there was. That's why I was surprised Danny didn't freshen up the team. Well that's us behind Thistle and back in 8th place, could yet finish 10th...

Stewart Gilmour very very non committal on the subject of Danny's new contract on the radio at the moment. Discussion happening tomorrow apparently.

Same team, surprised at that. Oh well let's go and win, why the devil not!

I would mix it up a bit tonight, give Thommo and Goody an early pre season, they've earned it. I'd go: Dilo Vanzy Naismith Cheesy Kelly Newton McGinn Teale McLean Wylde Magennis 1-1 draw IMO.

But we were never close to being a top 6 side, the split happens after 33 games. How long is half a chance? Another 4 years?

A Partick Thistle fan on Bauben.

Was a reasonable ambition though. I don't think I'm being unreasonable by expecting him to get close to his own ambition.

He's worked wonders with Dumbarton and has managed at a higher level than Danny had when he came. He wouldn't be my first choice though, I'd like us to go for an experienced manager. I don't necessarily think we should be a permanent fixture in the top 6, but I think we could and should be a solid mid table side, who finishes between 4th and 8th whilst staying out the relegation scrap. I just want us not to underachieve every year, that's all. Don't think it's expecting too much really!

Comparing apples and oranges there. 2 of those managers are managing in the top flight for the first time. 1 had a transfer embargo and a points deduction and is in his first full season, 1 took over almost half way into the season and 1 is in his second season at this level. This is Danny's 4th season. He has been at our club for longer than 4 of those managers combined have been at theres. If this was his first season of course it would be harsh to regard him as a failure, it isn't though. He has been given ample chance to take us forward and he hasn't done it. Here's an article from November 2011, when Rangers and Hearts were still in the league. Danny had just signed the extension which is now about to expire. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/st-mirren-extend-manager-danny-1087664 Danny's self stated ambition then was to make us... And I'm quoting him here ' A regular top 6 side '. Since then Rangers have died and Hearts have went into admin, in the process making 2 additional top 6 places available for teams like us. It is actually easier to get in the top now than it was when Danny's ambition was to make us top 6 regulars! Not only has he failed in his self states ambition of making us 'top 6 regulars'. We haven't even been in contention for it once, never mind actually getting there. We could be a St Johnstone or a Motherwell or an ICT in league terms. These teams are no bigger than us, infact two of them are smaller than us. They're 'top 6 regulars' we aren't. Why? I know people will now say yeah yeah but we won a cup. We certainly did, and what a win it was, the 4th greatest day in our clubs history. What a team we had last year, and we seen how good they could be in the cup. We had Isma, who moved on to play for a team who's recently played in the last 16 of the UCL. We had Dummett, who is now a first choice player for a team in the top half of the EPL. Thompson and Teale were both Scottish internationalists, they both said they felt they were playing some of the best stuff of their career last year. Add all these players to our fine young midfield and it's no surprise we won the cup, we had the potential to be a fantastic team, and we showed that potential in the cup. Our squad last year was far better than it is this year IMO. All the more surprising therefore, that we finished 11th last term. Apart from those 5 games last season our campaign was an absolute disgrace. Cup win aside, that team underachieved on an industrial scale. Nothing's changed this year, Jim Goodwin admits we've underachieved yet again. Only this time we don't have a cup run to take away the pain. Therefore, if consistent self confessed underachievement, being in a relegation scrap most of the time and in the bottom 6 all of the time is what you want from St Mirren, Danny is your man. He's done it for 4 years, he'll do it for another 4 if we let him. This is what he does. If you'd like to see us move on and maybe even challenge for the top half one year (it's not an unrealistic ambition, promise), then we need a new manager.

Great gesture again.