New Contract For Lennon - Got To Be 2 Years

[ds10]

I'd say it would be impossible to make a decision one way or another without actually talking to Danny himself.

If he could tell me what went wrong this season, how he was going to avoid the same thing happening next season and how he was going to get the team back to playing decent football then I'd say yes. If I wasn't convinced it would be time to look around.

After all he does have a track record of getting the team to play well, delivering silverware, bringing through young players and keeping us in the SPL. Just not all at once. And could we realistically get someone better?

However that said, impossible to call without talking to the an himself.

[scrappy coco]

If the board do decide to move on with a new maanger, it would have to be from the lower divisions, and I think they could do worse than Ian Murray at Dumbarton, he seems to have worked wonders with limited resources in the past two seasons, and eahc time I've heard him on the radio, he's erudite and talks a lot of sense, gives an impression he knows what he's talking about.

Certainly a lot more than you do...

sorry bud could'nae resist it...

Edited May 6, 2014 by scrappy coco

[Julian Banjos]

If we want to go down the lower league route again (Danny, Tom Hendrie, Alex Ferguson) Ian Murray has worked wonders with part time Dumbarton. He's took them from rock bottom of the Championship 18 months ago, to 5th place this season and on the edge of the playoff and the quarter final of the Scottish Cup. A far more impressive managerial CV than Danny had when he was appointed.

If we want to go down the internal promotion route again (Coughlin, McPherson), guys like Thommo, Teale and even Longwell have sufficient credentials and know the club inside out.

My preferred route would be the experienced proven route. I'm sure Levein and Houston would be interested. Both have managed teams successfully at this level, Houston has a major honour to his name, Levein has experience at international level. A more outside the box line of thought would encompass guys like Alex McLeish, Owen Coyle and Billy Davies.My preferred route would be the experienced proven route. I'm sure Levein and Houston would be interested. Both have managed teams successfully at this level, Houston has a major honour to his name, Levein has experience at international level. A more outside the box line of thought would encompass guys like Alex McLeish, Owen Coyle and Billy Davies.

Outside the box = cloud cuckoo land and you can probably throw Levein in there too. Look at who the SPFL managers are and where they have come from:

Hartley (Alloa)

Hughes (Hartlepool)

Butcher (ICT)

Johnston (QotS)

Wright (within club)

McInnes (Bristol City)

Locke (within club)

Archibald (within club)

McNamara (Partick Thistle)

McCall (Bradford City)

D. Lennon (Cowdenbeath)

It will be from within, from the lower leagues or somebody unemployed who would have little chance of getting a gig at a bigger SPFL club or in the English Championship.

Houston would be a solid appointment.

Calderwood? Meh

Murray? Gamble.

Anyone within the club? Gamble.

That's what we'll be looking at as alternatives, and none are enticing.

[Froggie]

Froggie....There are plenty of candidates out there who would jump at the chance of managing Saints, if only the board would take their blinkers off.

Of course there are. But are they any better than what we've got.

If their not in a job, ask yourself why and I not talking about the one's that have managed any big clubs, we simply couldn't afford them.

Look, its just my opinion. I have been saying for a couple of years now that Lennon is a very poor manager and I`m not going to change because of a couple of results. Lennon has never either been asked, or managed to explain why his team never challenge for the top six. Instead he parrots the same type of football jargon week after week, giving fans the impression he does not know what he is doing.

I presume you know how much Saints are willing to offer another manager and also how much an unemployed manager will demand from a club ?

[pod]

Look, its just my opinion. I have been saying for a couple of years now that Lennon is a very poor manager and I`m not going to change because of a couple of results. Lennon has never either been asked, or managed to explain why his team never challenge for the top six. Instead he parrots the same type of football jargon week after week, giving fans the impression he does not know what he is doing.

I presume you know how much Saints are willing to offer another manager and also how much an unemployed manager will demand from a club ?

I presume not very much.

[Drew]

We were told that a good number of applicants of a decent calibre applied for the job after Gus departed, and what happened. As far as I am aware, Danny was the only one interviewed and he was offered the job.

Why? Who knows, but I suspect it was, at least in part, down to the fact that he was a cheap option.

[Reynard]

I think what's upsetting is that we've only really done just enough. Hard to shake the feeling that we had our foot off the gas because Hearts were adrift, and after our good spell at the back end of 2013, we looked like we were going to be in no danger of the play off spot.

It's only been as danger crept up again that we've pulled our fingers out. It's that lack of consistency that really hurts. Ok, it's nice to know we'll always do enough to be safe, but we should have been well clear of County, Thistle, Killie and Hibs long before now.

I mean, where is that team that tore into Hibs at Easter Road? When we can play like that, yet also so badly... that's what hurts.

On balance, I think we've just about shown enough to give DL another chance, but I'd be interested to see what his/the club's transfer strategy is for this summer because there's going to be a lot of coming and going.

Pretty much the same thing happened after our cup win too. We sort of coasted it in to the end of the season, results were crap, performances were insipid and the same thing happened this season when it looked like we had hauled ourselves into the comfort zone. This is maybe down to the players metality as sportsmen and the pressure can bring that extra edge to a players game (or destroy them), who knows. A lot can be down to how the manager can motivate a side but not all of it. I dont doubt the players as pros, they wont want to lose matches but when something is viewed as a bit meh and outine then you never know. Mayve in this run in they have simply self motivated and galvanised themselves to haul themselves out of bother. Maybe the manager has laid in on thick. We will never really know.

Thats probably something only those really close to things will truly know, we just see what falls out the dressing room on matchday for 90minutes.

[BaldyOzBud]

The thought of "giving someone else a shot" quite frankly scares the shite out of me. I've asked this before and not had a decent answer yet, so I'll ask it again here; who do you think we could attract, given our current standing, our current budget and our current ownership uncertainty??? This is aimed at everybody still wanting Danny out, in case Norman thinks I'm having a pop at him because I quoted him.

As for it not having been a very good season, that has, and always will, apply to at least half of the teams in this league. If we had all been asked if we would be happy with 7th at the start of the season we'd all most probably have said no - we have top 6 ambitions. But what would we have said to an offer of 'guaranteed' 7th place - against the gamble of possibly being top 6 or possibly being bottom 2?

I keep reading about Danny's disastrous start to the season, and have to say I agree wholeheartedly that the Summer signings and early results (especially QOS) were abysmal. However, a season in our league lasts 38 games and it's where we finish at the end of that programme that matters. In our case, this season, if it does end up being 7th place, I'd suggest that DL has learned from his mistakes, has things running well right now, has brought a couple of good players in recently in Wylde & McGennis, has a good defensive base with Dilo, Naismith and Kelly only going to get better and better and has a degree of confidence showing on the park that we were not showing in league form last year - even when we had just won a major trophy.

So, all-in-all, I'd say we are in reasonable shape for looking forward to the next season. I personally hope that Danny gets a two-year deal to take us forward into that next phase.

^^^^^^^^^^^

This!

[Lex]

Outside the box = cloud cuckoo land and you can probably throw Levein in there too. Look at who the SPFL managers are and where they have come from:

Hartley (Alloa)

Hughes (Hartlepool)

Butcher (ICT)

Johnston (QotS)

Wright (within club)

McInnes (Bristol City)

Locke (within club)

Archibald (within club)

McNamara (Partick Thistle)

McCall (Bradford City)

D. Lennon (Cowdenbeath)

It will be from within, from the lower leagues or somebody unemployed who would have little chance of getting a gig at a bigger SPFL club or in the English Championship.

Houston would be a solid appointment.

Calderwood? Meh

Murray? Gamble.

Anyone within the club? Gamble.

That's what we'll be looking at as alternatives, and none are enticing.

Why you think Levein is cloud cuckoo? Where's he going to get a job if not us? He's not going to get a gig in England, that's obvious. Aberdeen, Hibs, Hearts and Dundee Utd have all been looking for a manager since he's been out of work, not one of them have them have offered him the job.

So, where's he going to go? As we've seen, the bigger Scottish clubs aren't interested in him. If he's going to get back in the game he'll need to take a job like ours. You could say the same about McLeish and Coyle.

Yes appointing a new manager is a gamble, but keeping Danny is a bigger gamble IMO. We underachieved across the board this term, we underachieved in the league last term. How many more seasons of underachievement do you think we should allow him?

[bluto]

Pretty much the same thing happened after our cup win too. We sort of coasted it in to the end of the season, results were crap, performances were insipid and the same thing happened this season when it looked like we had hauled ourselves into the comfort zone. This is maybe down to the players metality as sportsmen and the pressure can bring that extra edge to a players game (or destroy them), who knows. A lot can be down to how the manager can motivate a side but not all of it. I dont doubt the players as pros, they wont want to lose matches but when something is viewed as a bit meh and outine then you never know. Mayve in this run in they have simply self motivated and galvanised themselves to haul themselves out of bother. Maybe the manager has laid in on thick. We will never really know.

Thats probably something only those really close to things will truly know, we just see what falls out the dressing room on matchday for 90minutes.

There could also be some measure of end of season "who gives a crap" from the players....

They'd won a BIG Cup, relegation was easily avoidable, many of them were certain to be moving to fresh fields and pastures new.

Not only DL would have found it hard to motivate such a squad.

I am tempted to cut the manager some slack when I consider he had to rebuild from the Cup winning squad - not just the team. Since Bosman, it's hard for a team like Saints to offer long contracts, to cash in on good players and plan for season on season. Change is now more constant.

You may now get a similar laziness/lethargy hitting this squad, now that its security is established.

I know I've lost dosh on Brentford for inexplicable reasons since they won promotion recently....

Edited May 6, 2014 by bluto

[bluto]

Why you think Levein is cloud cuckoo? Where's he going to get a job if not us? He's not going to get a gig in England, that's obvious. Aberdeen, Hibs, Hearts and Dundee Utd have all been looking for a manager since he's been out of work, not one of them have them have offered him the job.

So, where's he going to go? As we've seen, the bigger Scottish clubs aren't interested in him. If he's going to get back in the game he'll need to take a job like ours. You could say the same about McLeish and Coyle.

Yes appointing a new manager is a gamble, but keeping Danny is a bigger gamble IMO. We underachieved across the board this term, we underachieved in the league last term. How many more seasons of underachievement do you think we should allow him?

If choice is reduced to DL or Levein....

...DL is a shoo-in.

From reading the eulogies on here - DL's playing of fitba was a sight for sore eyes. Sore eyes due to having watched teams set up by the Sainted Gus. I have enjoyed St Mirren fitba in recent years and that has been a blessing.

Levein would perhaps set the team up having, say, 5 too few forwards? More?

[saintargyll]

funny that killie and hibs have money problems and cant spend big and are left with crap players and are below us

they are all at our spending level and its the saints who have got the best youth and training facilities and its working well

let danny finish the job he started

[BaldyOzBud]

Like everybuddie else on this site I have at times been exasperated, confused, and occasionally mortified about Danny's transfer dealings, team selections and tactics. But it seems to me that he's learning, and is now getting it right.

[billyg]

Just read a new article online by JG that says that the out of contract players are in limbo , not a word from anyone about deals .Their contracts run out on 31st May !

Must be something going down?

[billyg]

http://www.clyde1.com/on-air/superscoreboard/lennon-uncertainty-affects-buddies/#.U2jp1l65Qkd.twitter

[DLBud]

Just read a new article online by JG that says that the out of contract players are in limbo , not a word from anyone about deals .Their contracts run out on 31st May !

Must be something going down?

Or maybe simply that we never discuss contracts until we're safe? We only achieved this on Sunday afternoon, Monday was a holiday and we're now preparing for two games in 4 days?

Or, something may be going down........

[Magic Monkey]

http://www.clyde1.com/on-air/superscoreboard/lennon-uncertainty-affects-buddies/#.U2jp1l65Qkd.twitter

Good article. Goodwin talks a lot of sense. He'd be the first person I'd put new terms in front of.

[aldo_j]

I think anyone suggesting Houston as manager should go speak to some Dundee United fans. There's a reason why he's still unemployed.

[ds10]

Just read a new article online by JG that says that the out of contract players are in limbo , not a word from anyone about deals .Their contracts run out on 31st May !

Must be something going down?

Always struck me as a bit strange, holding off to make a decision about Lennon.

Will really have to get this sorted now, one way or the other.

Otherwise the delays will simply make it harder for the manager, whoever that might be to do his job.

[saintargyll]

Maybe just maybe

the directors are away to Asda to buy pampers for the meltdown which will occur in here when DL gets a new contract

My bad?

[Lex]

I think anyone suggesting Houston as manager should go speak to some Dundee United fans. There's a reason why he's still unemployed.

Consecutive top 6 finishes and a Scottish Cup title, all whilst developing and selling on some cracking young talent.

What don't they like about him?

[Drew]

Perhaps it is time that a bit more attention and focus was directed towards the board room.

When we were in a major slump between August and November, they neither backed nor sacked the manager. The silence was indeed deafening. A couple of bland, regurgitated platitudes regarding the sale of the majority shareholding is pretty much the size of what we've been offered regarding that side of the business ('we won't sell to the wrong people', that type of thing). Granted, they're not obliged to tell us anything else, but chucking us the odd bone would be appreciated. They've said hee haw, to my knowledge, about the situation with club merchandise, and now we await a decision on the future of the manager before any other business can even commence, much less be concluded.

Tick tock, indeed....

[Drew]

Consecutive top 6 finishes and a Scottish Cup title, all whilst developing and selling on some cracking young talent.

What don't they like about him?

I would have thought that those achievements are the least that would be expected by a club of that size and recent history.

[Lex]

I would have thought that those achievements are the least that would be expected by a club of that size and recent history.

Really? They've spent plenty of time in the bottom half of the league and even been relegated in their recent history. They've only won 2 titles in the last 30 years, and Houston won 1 of them.

He also made massive money developing and selling young talent like Goodwillie and Conway. Looking at it from the outside in, I can't see what he's done wrong.

[Julian Banjos]

Why you think Levein is cloud cuckoo? Where's he going to get a job if not us? He's not going to get a gig in England, that's obvious. Aberdeen, Hibs, Hearts and Dundee Utd have all been looking for a manager since he's been out of work, not one of them have them have offered him the job.

So, where's he going to go? As we've seen, the bigger Scottish clubs aren't interested in him. If he's going to get back in the game he'll need to take a job like ours. You could say the same about McLeish and Coyle.

Yes appointing a new manager is a gamble, but keeping Danny is a bigger gamble IMO. We underachieved across the board this term, we underachieved in the league last term. How many more seasons of underachievement do you think we should allow him?

Levein turned down an interview at ICT 6 months ago. Would he fancy us? I doubt it.

As for underachievement.... in 4 years, a cup win, highest league position in 25 years, 4 quarter finals. Them's the facts.

I think Danny probably should have got more out of this team, but 11th or 6th? Does it really matter? The main thing for us is to stay in the league. You like to compare us to St Johnstone but how about to Dundee, Dunfermline, Partick, Falkirk?

With the support we have and the money generated from that we have and will always hover around the 10th best team in Scotland. For a few years, like the early 80's we might improve on that or fall away like the 90's. We should be content just now.