Desnold

I'd question you as a Newcastle fan if you didn't wish us the worst, the feeling is mutual. Hopefully we're playing each other next season! 

Rae was hardly my favourite, Teale was a case of we will never know if he could have become a decent St Mirren manager given the mess he inherited and the fact he spent most of the January transfer window as a caretaker boss of a club subject to 2 different takeover bids and was promoted to interim boss just in time to be told we were selling Kenny McLean on the final afternoon of the transfer window.

Yes, part of our revamp was the link up between juvenile clubs and senior sides. The thing that sticks with me is a comment from Pat Nevin mentioning his days on the Motherwell board, where there were concerns the Scottish national side would hit decline in the 2000s. He brought these worries forward but the SFA ignored them and didn't make any changes to the youth system. This was the same period Belgium were hitting decline, but they knew it was coming. A lot of work was put into finding out what was successful and what wasn't across Europe, and a plan was put into place to give us a good future for the national team. They completely overhauled the youth training inside out. They also looked into giving us an exciting national team as we had always been the "defensively organised" team. 12 years of absence followed as we went into our expected decline, but the production line of talent came good in 2012 when qualifying started for 2014. The national league has gained from this too, with Belgium now 9th in the UEFA co-efficient. The worry we have now is the number of players leaving at 16/17 who have unfulfilled potential. Romelu Lukaku was playing in the Belgian league and was the overall top scorer at 16, while gaining Europa experience with Anderlecht. De Bruyne played for Genk. They were getting better experience from this than some players who are leaving young and ending up in the English U23 leagues. This is the next step to negotiate. Back to the SFA, it pains me that the SFA could have acted and didn't. Even now the lack of action is ridiculous, all you have to do is look at Belgium's overhaul of the youth system to see the potential for smaller countries to thrive.
Your point regarding "20 passes along he back line" is spot on. Possession football can be important but has to be utilised correctly.  Again with Belgium, we start off with smaller teams and smaller pitches. As the kids go up in age we increase the size of the team and pitch. Training them in smaller teams means each player is getting more of the ball so they can develop individually. Pitch size encourages them to pass and move and avoid humping the ball forwards. Our national team plays possession football but there's a determination to get forward quickly and heap the pressure on. The players we have have grown up being used to tight spaces and quick passing so it's not issue to them.

I don't think Rae ever said Academies were a waste of space or said he wanted a place for old pros to kick youngsters about. What I do remember him saying in a Q&A session was that the kind of football that the St Mirren Academy was teaching kids to play wasn't effective in the world of senior football. He's right in many ways. It's all very well to teach kids to build the play from the back but if they don't have the skills to do it effectively and the defender keeps giving the ball away to the opposition striker to score goals because of it then it's not preparing these kids for life in the first team. 
I haven't studied the youth system in Belgium particularly closely but I do remember watching an interview on TV a number of years ago where one of their top coaches was talking about how in Belgium they restructured their game so that all juvenile clubs were affiliated to senior teams. The senior teams would help with the coaching and development and everyone was sharing resources around a local area. It stuck with me because what he was saying was more or less aligned with my belief at that time of how the Scottish game should be structured also. He talked about how being a small country meant they had to make the most of limited resources. It was a brilliant interview and I wish I could find it on the internet again but I can't even remember who it was who was talking. 
I don't think it's Rae's attitude that has damaged Scottish Football Internationally. I think it's been the serious wrong decisions made by the SFA in terms of youth development and where to put the financial resources available to them. We had a system that worked in the 60's, 70's and 80's when we were punching above our weight as a nation. Kids played football for fun - in the street, on concrete, in parks with jumpers for goalposts, and for their school team and perhaps a local youth team. They played loads of football. 
Today we've got kids who start out in love with the game. They play for fun wherever they can. Their parents get them into a juvenile club where they play and train with their friends and they have fun. Then somewhere between the age of 8 and 12 we have senior football clubs that recruit "the best" of those kids into their academy systems - often spinning parents and the kids some bullshit story about how much fantastic potential they think the kid has. The kid signs up, and is told he can't play football for anyone else without the clubs permission limiting their time playing football. The pressure is piled up on the kid with each friendly match. One bad performance and they might be the next youngster to be dumped out of the system and replaced. Even if they play well if they happen to put on a bit of weight whilst waiting on the next growth spurt as kids tend to do or they fail to grow as quickly as their peers, they might be dumped out of the system. And they're expected to travel ridiculous distances to play matches in the "elite" leagues and all of the enjoyment they used to get from the game gets sucked right out of it for them. The Academies teach them possession is all important so you see kids getting into the senior team happy to play 20 passes around the back line with no pressure on them than to develop the play and to get the ball forward and we see the international side where game intelligence tells them at 1-0 down with five minutes to play it still makes sense to deploy a slow build up hanging on to possession. 
Last night was a classic example of pragmatism by Alex McLeish. He knew this squad was essentially too weak so he set his team up to be as stuffy and as organised as possible rather than to get at the opposition and Scotland never opened up because of the fear that Peru would destroy them if they did. 

It’s increasingly difficult to see past Mark Yardley. 

"You've heard of Paisley?"
"No"
"You've heard of Glasgow?"
"Yeah, of course".
"Well Glasgow is a wee place on the outskirts of Paisley".

Helpmaboab,   This guy sounds like a Sevco bigot. Change the name it offends me!!!!
I know lets call ourselves the Politically Correct Paisley Kicksphere team.    Foot-ball is so incorrect. Foot sounds like something from the bottom and ball has too many gender connotations.
We can't be named after a  Monk that got one over on the King. I mean Monks make Buckfast and Royalty encourages true blue sectarian shit. Being named after a Monk that shafted the king is  a definite no-no.  We'll have to change the name of the Greenhill Road too because it might offend the true blue sections of Paisley.
Then again if we did all that, SMTID wouldn't mean a thing.
Helpmaboab
What a terrible thought
St Mirren is fine in my book

If you see Billy Davies whilst at Asda please walk up behind him and pish down the back of his leg.  Tell him that was from auld Tam. Good lad 

It's hardly anything worth panicking over. If we get a cut, great, if we don't, we carry on as normal.
Little point in getting excited about money we might never get.

Maybe the board made their decisions based on this type of post: (My responses are in Red)
"Firstly people cannot always afford a season ticket.
Ticket prices and average wages are in line with prices in the 1970s when Crowds were Growing in the Ferguson Era.
Secondly they have other things in their life and cannot attend every home game.
Of course they do. This is a discretionary spend item. One that's nice to have but not necessary. See below.
Thirdly, where, exactly are these extra fans going to come from?
Fourthly, we, quite simply, are at the top end of our regular support, unless that dafty Tony is right and we get into the Champions League.
Numbers have grown steadily over the past three seasons. We have been promoted to the Top League. What's not to like?
We've been in the top league before, nothing to suggest we will improve on this seasons despite you banging on about seeing better players."
Strange really that attendances are higher as you move up the leagues in Scotland.
No disrespect to our title winning squad but Jack Ross intends to Improve on it - Result - Better Players in Saint's Jerseys
I saw few, if any, international players in opposition teams last season - I will see many in the next season - Playing My Team Live.
I find these two points attractive - Going back to Priorities - People tend to Prioritise What they Enjoy Most once family duties are covered.
As the club now say - We were on our way - Now were here to stay.
Back the Buds and be there I say.
(You might disagree)
 

Best of luck in your new career John Sutton, and thanks for Motherwell 2-3, plus many other great memories. Hope your time in charge of Morton’s development squad sees them retain their position as the second-best development squad in Renfrewshire.

Also find it strange. 
Again,  I would incentivize season ticket sales... Not just on price alone.  
I would fill West and Main Stands First. 
(This may be the intention or outcome) 
I would then consider selling South Stand season tickets without the OF games being included. 
But posters on the forum have largely been profits of doom regarding attendances so I find it difficult to be too critical of the board. 
Edited:See the next post by Eric Arthur Blair, a popular poster, as an example of negative PR by fans. 

Either Paisley has moved to the Caribbean or you need to get rid of the predictive text Ricky.

Poza 
No argument from me on the matter of principle involved. I have received criticism from some people on the forum who seem to think that selling out our 3 stands was an impossible dream.
I don't but it would require continued good PR and Marketing allied to inventive pricing.  Even without selling out all 3 stands I suggested that it might be difficult to get a Saint's ticket for some games. Again some doubted that assertion.
I have also had stick (fair enough as it is about opinions) when posting information which shows rising attendances in Scottish Football and in particular in the Premiership.
Some have also criticised posts giving information on season ticket initiatives by other clubs such as a Season Ticket for 1 pound and others. 
When asked to come up with ideas to boost attendances I am told that we have peaked,that there are too many old firm fans in the area, that the catchment area isn't big enough to grow the support any further etc etc
Hardly a surprise then that the board read it in a similar way if they read the forum. Talk about creating your own negative PR and ensuing  problems!
My suggestion deals with how things are now but leaves the door open for Season ticket sales expanding to the South Stand and filling it if demand is there. 
A bit convoluted I know.
 

I think Captain Fantastic does that job. In fact he is one of the most subtle ‘enforcers’ I have witnessed with us. Stephen gets away with lots of wee fouls by using his intelligence and always doing it on the blind side of the referee. Very effective and more lower profile that Goody ever had.
 

I'd imagine the board must think it's cost affective given the upheaval it causes for our supporters. 
On the same subject and slightly hypothetically speaking- what will happen if we're having the season of seasons and the demand for tickets outweighs what the club can give the home support. Will they be turning away supporters? 

My point exactly on this and other threads. 

Absolute shitfest of wankup in sceptic pish of a decision.
 
We're on our way, one town one team, in this together.....that is until a few quid gets thrown at us.   
So kids we would love to see y'all at the paisley 2010, come on down kiddies,  your so welcome toddlers, kids and teenagers alike.  Come on young un's and support your local team...oh hang on a few bigot quid is to be made, sorry kids get yersels tae buggery.  Oh do come please when we play lesser teams not but when we play the important ones who sell tickets to bigots, on those days you can hand around a street corner, we have bigots to pander to.
 
Annoyed and ashamed, annoyed and ashamed indeed.

Some overreaction here, like I said previously I generally sit in the south stand and I like many others don't attend the bigot games, but as far as I am aware we are only giving the south stand for the bigot games when attendances in the south stand are down anyway. There is no reason why we couldn't still promote and sell out the stand for other less uncomfortable and unpalatable games.

Can't do anything but agree with this but again come back to the fact that forum fans own PR has been downbeat on this topic.  Many coukdnt or wouldn't / can't  or won't envisage a position where it would be difficult to get a ticket for a game in the coming season.  The board has listened to them.  The result is a compromise.  The same doubters are now unhappy with the board's solution.  Said earlier and say again that I would put season tickets on sale for both the Main and West Stand.  Once sold.. Sell the South Stand on game by game basis.  That means around 4500 season tickets.  Leaves room for home fans  to come on an hoc basis without moving people about. 

Perhaps Div (the hunted webmaster whose true identity must remain highly secret) needs to take some form of action against this Chinese/Korean state sponsored terrorism.  I would suggest that Div shuts down the forum to new members for an unspecified (that will fool them) amount of time, just long enough for our communist overlords to identify a new target and move on.
 
If any of our Asian communist fellow planet dwellers are reading this, I suggest that this forum IS NOT for you.  No you want to move onto other forums where your ideals will not only be welcomed but actually embraced.  So if you are reading this get yourself onto full attack mode and scour the internet for any forum connected to the following
 
1) Glasgow Rangers
2) Glasgow Celtic
3) Greenock Morton
 
Those people are ripe for brainwashing and yearn for something more, they are disaffected and may grow to love a bit of communism.  The biggest decision you (as the brainwashers) have to make is....are you pushing Proddy communism or Catholic communism?  Perhaps you could call your Scottish Communist party the "We are the people party".
 
Div'll fix it. Div'll fix it indeed
 
  
 
 

We hadn't even hinted at a legitimate promotion challenge for years prior to 99/00, and the lack of any pre-season expectation whatsoever makes it different from the other title years.
It was the first proper Saints bandwagon season for a generation of fans who may have witnessed good sides in the top flight, but had yet to see a Saints team win most weeks, dominate a title race and take hordes of fans everywhere we went. All completely out of the blue. 99/00 reset expectations that had long since waned about what a St Mirren team ought to be achieving.
When we had a good sides under McFarlane, Miller, etc, I used to love a good Scottish Cup tie, away from home against a diddy outfit, with thousands of travelling fans on hand.
99/00 was like a whole season's worth of cup ties away to diddy sides.

Uproar? 1600 tickets for a stadium that only holds about 8,000? What grounds for uproar would the 2012 Tribute Act have?... Can just imagine them unfurling banners.... ‘1600 seats - we deserve better’. 

I occasionally pop over to P&B for a wee read (yes, I know....), and have been surprised at some of the posts from Saints fans suggesting that Morgan needs to 'bulk up/hit the gym'.
Lewis did just that before the start of season 16/17, now has considerable upper body strength, and is in no way a lightweight.
This notion that he could get bullied on account of his stature doesn't really cut it for me. He might get a bit of treatment, but that will be because he is a very good player, not because he is a wee wimpy laddie (he clearly isn't!).
Whilst out injured, Kyle Magennis 'hit the gym' and came back looking much bigger in terms of his physique.....too big, as it happened. He lost mobility and pace as a result, and had to lose some of the muscle mass he had developed.
The lad Quitongo at Morton has a similar issue. Too much time in the gym, and not enough practice with the final ball, in his case.
Morgan will always be subject to physical challenges, as that is usually the only way to effectively stop him getting past you, and putting on a bit more bulk won't alter that fact.  As it is, he isn't easily out-muscled or 'bullied'.  He just needs to keep doing what he is doing whilst further developing certain aspects of his game, such as knowing when to release the ball and when to use his pace and trickery a bit more effectively to create space for others.