Bloomsbury Bud

Despite the name of this forum, this isn't a black and white issue. What we're talking about is the difference between the club's strategy and the team's tactics.
The fact is, our club's strategy has to be to teach young players how to play the game at close quarters, with good control, good movement, and good passing. At youth level, on pristine 3G pitches, with tonnes of space, great teach them how to pass, control and move. These players will be the ones who are worth the most in the future, and the ones who can attract transfer fees.
But tactically, the direct game is what we should be looking at. As the kids grow, move into the older age groups, they need to be introduced to a direct, faster, more exciting game. They'll be able to do that because if they can pass the ball well and find space, they've got all the right skills.
This way you breed players who can play the game, but who know how to win.
The success of Barcelona was a total freak and has totally skewed everyone's idea of what makes 'perfect' football. They never did anything for me, TBH - all that passing is tedious in the extreme. Also, they literally had the best exponents of that kind of game that have ever existed in football. There will never be a trio like Xavi, Iniesta and Messi ever again. To hear any other teams attempt to model themselves on that style is basically laughable.
Give me Bayern Munich or Real Madrid any day of the week. Great passers, yes, but not afraid to be direct when needed.
tl;dr - let the kids pass it around as it helps them develop skills, but they need to be taught to play the senior game properly when they reach 16/17.

What Alex Rae said last was he wants to play good football but his immediate priority was getting the squad into being more competitive, then take it from there. The players he has signed are a blend of good players with good physicality. The example he used was that the midfield of McMullen, Agnew and Mallan didn't have sufficient physicality.
As for the U20s his point was they are in the development business, but Rae is in the winning 3 points business. He wants to give the younger players the opportunity to play first team football but he isn't convinced the U20 league is the best preparation to breaking into the first team.
With the exception of Mallan and McGin his point on u20s seemed pretty well thought through, in my opinion.

A direct style of play means more balls in the oppositon box, more shots on goal, and more chances. It means less passing about on the edge of our own box going round in circles and inviting the opposition to take the ball from us.
At the end of the day if the team wins you never hear anyone debating the formation, the style of play or anything else. Most fans just want to see their team win and if a more direct style of play brings more wins then that is absolutely fine by me!

All in All a good night, very positive management duo who never shirked a question and took a couple of awkward questions in their stride,
Basically they want the team to move up (obviously) cannot promise 4th place but believe it is achievable although a very tough ask given we have 5 games against the blue lot, Hibs and feckin Falkirk.
They want to get a scouting system set up. They do not like playing the ball out from the back because "we do not have the silky players like Barcelona who can play it out from the back and get it up the park, nobody in Scotland has". Also added "I watched youth teams and cannot believe that they insist on playing it out only for the opposition to nip in and set up an attack" "it's unbelievable man" he says "man" quite often.
First target was a centre-half but that broke down in negotiations and after not having many other options and little time, he then opted for Gary Irvine and will be moving Sean Kelly and Keith Watson inside.
Jim Goodwin is itching to get back playing but after discussions and calming Jim down a bit they decided he needs a wee bit more time to heal properly (he has had a wee twitch elsewhere during training).
They seem to be talking long term involvement, one fan said he would not renew his season ticket if Alex and David (Faz as Alex calls him) were to be let go at the end of the season, Alex turned to Fitzy and said " did you hear that ? get the chairman telt"
They are keen to fast-track young players up through the teams, with the view that if they are good enough they will get the chance.
They don't want shrinking violets and believe we need strong players to survive in this and any other league.
They are of the opinion that the game in Scotland and in England suffers from modern day coaching and although some of it is good - "fannying about at the back is just not on man"
Thanks to all the 90+ fans who attended and donated £220 for youth development.
James Hunter from SMTV and radio filmed the event and reckons it will be available to view on Saints you tube by Monday or Tuesday.

True, but something the previous management team failed to do. Fair to say there's an improvement

Obvious wind-up, St Mirren tracksuits don't come in sizes that big.

With respect I think he knows a bit more about football than the fans!

Thats a helluva lot of goals in the 90 mins he is fit to play each season

Mallan certainly isn't the problem, he's a superb prospect. The observation that he drifts in games is valid of the entire side.
Returning to the original post, I don't think our defence is too bad, we just do too much of it and often in deep positions. Agnew hasn't worked out and both parties should acknowledge this and find an amicable way to part, Gow must be moved on; if he's not bad for team morale he's terrible for fan morale even if we lose some modest money shifting him is the right decision. Where we'll find combative midfielders right now (other than return of Goody) I don't know but there must be one or two around.

Mallan certainly isn't the problem, he's a superb prospect. The observation that he drifts in games is valid of the entire side.
Returning to the original post, I don't think our defence is too bad, we just do too much of it and often in deep positions. Agnew hasn't worked out and both parties should acknowledge this and find an amicable way to part, Gow must be moved on; if he's not bad for team morale he's terrible for fan morale even if we lose some modest money shifting him is the right decision. Where we'll find combative midfielders right now (other than return of Goody) I don't know but there must be one or two around.

I agree to a point but we did have a rainy day fund of close on £1m left when we moved stadium and the board took the long term view of investing that in Ralston rather than splurging it on players (although our wage budget the first couple of seasons after moving suggests we did spend more than we should have done on wages).
It's hard to argue with that longer term aim when you look at the likes of Hamilton who are thriving both on and off the pitch on the back of their hugely successful academy and the big fees that has generated.
Some of that comes down to luck of course, McCarthy and McArthur both came along at the same time and are both superb players but the conveyor belt continues to produce there and that isn't down to luck, it's down to a sound structure and good commercial nous to tie down the better players quickly on good contracts.
We let McLean and McGinn go for next to nothing, but aside from them the academy has not produced the real "stars" that I guess the board would have hoped for.
Punting just one player for £1 million would have created the fund on which the club could have relied on in dark times like these.
7 years on from moving, we're really not seeing Ralston producing like I think it should.

and the pools panel never thought we'd win

When I played football if the game at Love Street was off then so were our games. There was virtually no football on TV and the bloody pubs closed at 2-30 until 5pm. Long boring Saturdays. Kent Walton and Billy Two Rivers helped a wee bit.

No need, your pie and beans are back in the freezer for the next home game.
Honestly some folk think that even though the game is off they can still get their grub, tut tut !

" WHEN Alex Ferguson realised the scale of the shambles he’d inherited at St Mirren he came to two conclusions.
One, that he had to shake the place up from top to bottom, no matter how many players or directors it riled.
And two, that wherever he wanted to take the club, he’d get nowhere unless he dragged the fans along with him.Now 41 years on, a new Saints manager facing similar challenges has blown the second before he’s given himself a proper crack at overcoming the first.
It’s a mistake from which Ian Murray might never fully recover.
Because when he told the freezing band of travelling supporters who’d booed Tuesday’s scrambled 1-1 draw at Raith Rovers that “I know more about football than they do”, he lost the best allies any gaffer can have.
Ask Fergie. In his early days, when the team was rank rotten and the directors were stuck in the 1930s, he went round Paisley bawling through a megaphone to sell the idea that we WERE worth watching.
I’ve been listening to his memories of these times in the audio version of his latest book — though, to be honest, it’s all as fresh as new paint in my mind, because I was there.
As a 13-year-old, I was one of those who hung on a budding genius’s every word as he turned gates of 1,500 into close on 15,000, turned chumps into champions.
Fergie genuinely did create a 12th man. Murray, unfortunately, has left today’s side down to ten.
See, just as the self-styled office joker turns out to be the unfunniest person in the universe, and anyone who starts a sentence “no offence, but...” is about to offend everyone within a five-mile radius, a true expert doesn’t have to tell you how much of an expert they are.Yet that’s what a young guy under pressure has tried to do.
Prefixing his statement by saying he “wasn’t being patronising” only made punters feel more patronised. Later admitting he picked his words poorly only made him look desperate.
Sorry if he reads this and feels like I’m having a pop, but it’s just the way it is.
I was at Stark’s Park on Tuesday and not even the last-gasp free-kick from Stevie Mallan that rescued a point could disguise how poor a display it had been.
At times like these, a smart manager pulls the punters closer to him. He asks them for patience. He thanks them for giving up their time and their money to be there for a horrible midweek fixture.
Even if he doesn’t believe it, he tells them how wonderful and invaluable they are.
It’s either a sign of just how much pressure Murray is feeling right now, or how little he gets the situation, that he misjudged his post-match comments so badly.
As for the assertion itself, that he does know better than the fans? Well, it’s another argument altogether. And one you’d need to be a very confident man indeed to win.
I mean, how does he know who’s in the away end? How does he know he’s not being booed by a Uefa Pro-Licensed Coach?
The assumption that all fans are less educated about football than someone who happens to earn a crust from the game is a dangerous one indeed.
For instance, the previous Friday I’d been at another fairly woeful 1-1 draw, this time at home to Morton.
Within half-a-dozen seats of me were Tony Fitzpatrick and Tommy Turner, two guys who skippered the club to titles, who played more than 1,000 career games between them — and who were both raging at what they’d just witnessed.
Does the manager know better than them? Do THEY have the right to complain?
Fact is, it doesn’t take a professional to know the most basic things are going wrong; like a team going in 1-0 up at half-time, as we did against Morton, then coming back out 15 yards deeper and inviting an equaliser which eventually came.
You don’t need badges to understand this, just as you don’t need to have been in the dugout to know how meekly St Mirren went down at Ibrox on Saturday.And you don’t need the manager’s permission to shout the odds about it.
I hope Ian Murray turns things round and at the very least gets into the promotion play-offs, because the last thing we need is more upheaval.
But if he does, he’ll have to go at least as far as reading the title of Fergie’s manual on management. It’s called Leading. Not Ostracising." Bill Leckie's view in today's Sun

I considered Ian Murray to be a good appointment.
I think we've failed to hold onto winning positions in 5 home league fixtures this season.
I also think we've lost goals in the 90min point on 4 league fixtures this season.
The goals we've scored have often had good fortune, and not resulted from well worked football, last night, second against Falkirk, Alloa and Dumbarton.
At one point yesterday I watched Kelly get to the byline and then I realised how rare its been to see Saints get into that sort of position.
While the decline does predate Ian Murray he is out his depth with the job. Regrettably, I was (along with dozens of others) wrong about Murray's ability; to avoid relegation play off Murray needs to be replaced.

Replace the sixth and seventh words of this post with the words 'Danny' and 'Lennon' and there's the real question... With the benefit of hindsight obviously.

This disasterous season reminds me of an old Ripping Yarns episode titled 'Golden Graham'
Extremely relevant to how we all feel at present (although I haven't quite got round to wrecking the house,,,,,,,yet!!)

Aye, it summarises the current shambles very well indeed.
There is, however, a single word which also summarises the situation at the club: malaise.
We desperately need an injection of fresh impetus or I can only see the downward trend continuing.

Yup, for what its worth I didn't read between the lines, I was pleased with the appointment in May. The evidence is now plain as day that he's out his depth and while St Mirren's decline pre dates the appointment; Murray has failed to manage it.
I'm now, no longer selective about who gets the job next, it just needs to be someone who can salvage the damage in this season and bring a competitive spirit to the performances.

Yeah, the quarter final against Aberdeen was also a strong performance.

The cup semi against Shellick was a great performance.

I had to work the day of the Killie match, and I'm open minded to the notion that Saints played well. However, I'm less generous to accept it mattered as we were already relegated (or as good as resigned to it). The Hibs match from the season before is the last time I can recall needing a result at home and getting it.

We performed to a decent standard for the majority of the league opener at Sevco Central Park. We performed well in the first half v Falkirk. Doesn't matter a fcuk. This team have a spine made of shite and are able to collapse / snatch defeat from a winning position at any moment, any time, anywhere.

Were we not good when we pumped Killie at the end of last season? I ask because I didn't go due to being so gutted by every other home match we played being so depressing.