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St Mirren's New Manager Is Tommy Craig


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So no surprises there then!

As previously posted Saints often look to within to appoint a new manager, and they have done so again.

There have been numerous posts saying that this is a cost cutting exercise and that DL has had a bad deal...................... sorry I don't get that argument. DL proved time and again that whilst he had many qualities they were limited in terms of being able to take the team forward and his signing policies left huge amounts of question marks. If you want to talk about wasting money, then look no further than many of the players that have been signed then very quickly shown the door without doing any worthwhile work for the club.

If you think back to the era of Ricky McFarlane............... who would ever have thought that we would appoint our Club physiotherapist as the manager, but that is what we did............. can you imagine the vitriol if the BoD's had done the same today? Just as an added bit of interest here is a summary of the 1982/83 season during his term of office:

1982-83

Saints visited the Isle of Man prior to the start of the season and played a glamour friendly against Sunderland. Goals from Lex Richardson and Frank McAvennie gave Saints a great 2-1 win.

Richardson continued his scoring exploits when the competitive action started with a hat-trick in the opening League Cup tie against Ayr United in a 3-1 win. That set Saints up for anther crack at a quarter final, but after a 1-1 draw in the first leg they lost 2-1 to Hearts in the return.

Again it was the Scottish Cup that kept the interest going through the season with Dundee United, Morton and Airdrie knocked out, setting up a semi final with Rangers. For the second season in a row a replay was needed following a 1-1 draw. In the replay Rangers were awarded a very controversial goal when it was not clear if the ball had actually crossed the line. Saints players on the line claim it was cleared and TV pictures appear to back up that argument. However saints were out again in controversial circumstances!

League form remained unspectacular and again a top five finish was achieved.

The final sentence sums it up rather well - a TOP 5 finish but the league form was unspectacular yet by August '83 we had yet another manager - even a top 5 finish isn't good enough it seems! - I seem to remember that Ricky also had his profession to fall back on and that in many ways he didn't mind going back to that as opposed to managing a football team - even tho' it was a successful team at the time.

No DL had his chance, he provided a fantastic day at Hampden but ultimately his inability to take the team onwards in the league and his errant policy in signings have been his undoing. I do not like some sections of the press saying that we have been harsh or dealt with DL shabbily. It wasn't as tho' we cut his contract from under his feet, it wasn't as tho' we didn't give him the chance, - in this day of football manager's being binned at every opportunity (e.g. Fulham or Tottenham Hotspur's approach) we actually gave him 4 years to progress the team - I would argue that in overall terms we have made limited progress in that time.

I'll support the team no matter who is manager - I don't forget the dark days of the 60's and 70's when we had a variety of manager's, crappy teams and floundered in the 2nd tier of Scottish football, but I still supported them throughout and still do fervently to this day. So good luck Tommy, Jim & Gary, enjoy the roller coaster! thumbup2.gif

Not quite true Ricky left his job as he was uncomfortable with the media exposure, interviews etc and went back to running his business which a family member has been looking after

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Is anyone else noticing that the media - or, to be more specific in this instance, the BBC - seem to insist on referring to Tam Craig's age whever they refer to him in a sports bulletin.

'St Mirren's newly appointed manager, Tommy Craig has......... The 63-year-old replacement for Danny Lennon, blah, blah, blah.'

A bit uncalled for, really.

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Is anyone else noticing that the media - or, to be more specific in this instance, the BBC - seem to insist on referring to Tam Craig's age whever they refer to him in a sports bulletin.

'St Mirren's newly appointed manager, Tommy Craig has......... The 63-year-old replacement for Danny Lennon, blah, blah, blah.'

A bit uncalled for, really.

The problem is that I don't believe Tommy has been a replacement for 63 years.

I am sure he is a recent replacement.

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I thought this quote from Stewart Gilmour was interesting:

" I want to be in the position where we can sit down with a talented young player's parents and convince them that St Mirren is the place for him to be."

I take it from this that SG no longer considers Kenny McLean to be young?

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Is anyone else noticing that the media - or, to be more specific in this instance, the BBC - seem to insist on referring to Tam Craig's age whever they refer to him in a sports bulletin.

'St Mirren's newly appointed manager, Tommy Craig has......... The 63-year-old replacement for Danny Lennon, blah, blah, blah.'

A bit uncalled for, really.

Is anyone else noticing that the media - or, to be more specific in this instance, the BBC - seem to insist on referring to Tam Craig's age whever they refer to him in a sports bulletin.

'St Mirren's newly appointed manager, Tommy Craig has......... The 63-year-old replacement for Danny Lennon, blah, blah, blah.'

A bit uncalled for, really.

Agree Drew as I wondered at that myself as you don't normally see the age of new managers plastered over the press. St Mirren should counter this with a PR spin job. No Age Discrimination at St Mirren Football Club

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Tom English's article on the BBC website mentions that the club had briefed the media mid-season that DL was finished:

"Lennon has shown great strength this season. He has been pelted with flak for much of it.

Some of it he has deserved, but credit to him, he has never once responded to it. Never once shown anger or resentment. He has been dignified amid a maelstrom and part of the maelstrom was set in motion by folk from within his own club.

This is where you have sympathy for Lennon. Earlier in the season, people in power at St Mirren let it be known to journalists that Lennon was finished - or as good as finished.

The information was that he might not last another game. Lennon had to put up with leaks and reading and hearing about how he was a dead man walking.

He never griped at the disloyalty from within. He kept at it and got St Mirren safe. He has a right to leave the club with his head held high.

His remit was to keep St Mirren in the Premiership and to keep producing young talent. He succeeded. But the goalposts in football management change all the time. That is the reality of this world."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27385424

Yet some would say there has been no back-stabbing in this affair

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Anyone heard who the 4 men who appeared with gilmour at the stadium yesterday were?[/quote

Squad for 2014-15...?

And the management/coaching staff?

No on stv news last night gilmour was seen running away from the cameras then reappearing with 4 businessmen who got out of a vehicle. All very undercover!

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I thought this quote from Stewart Gilmour was interesting:

"There is a big picture here. I want to be in the position where we can sit down with a talented young player's parents and convince them that St Mirren is the place for him to be."

I'm not sure if this is meant to imply that there was a problem with Danny's dealings with young player's parents. "I want to be in the position..." surely implies that he's not in that position now.

.

Well picked up, that's exactly what it implies. Danny had fell out with a young players parents. Sure you can guess what one.

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Yeah but nobody has told us who the 4 businessmen were and what they were there for. The news were implying that something was going on that gilmour was hiding from the news team

There are always guys in suits hanging around the stadium. Invariably, it means nothing of any interest.

ETA: no inappropriate suicide gags, please....

Edited by Drew
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New St Mirren manager Tommy Craig has vowed to produce an entertaining team for the club's fans after insisting there was no rift between him and former boss Danny Lennon.

Craig, who was assistant manager to Lennon for three seasons, was appointed as his replacement just 24 hours after the Buddies board announced they wouldn't renew Lennon's contract.

The 63-year-old has worked as a first team coach at Newcastle United and then served as assistant to John Collins at both Hibernian and Charleroi.

His only time as a first team permanent manager was Charleroi when he succeeded Collins but he left the Belgian club after only 19 matches in charge.

However he believes the experience he's gained will stand him in good stead to turn his vision for the Paisley club into a reality.

He told STV: "We owe it to the fans to produce something that is worth watching. You'll never take away the competitive side of the game in the Premier League in Scotland but what you can do is add to it by playing in such a way that the fans go home and say 'I enjoyed watching that today'.

"I've worked with Bobby Robson, Ruud Gullit, John Toshack, Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness to name but a few. The biggest thing I've taken from all of them is the style of football that they've wanted to play.

"It is very near and dear to my heart how I want the game played. It's not easy, it is very risky but it is something we will pursue.

"I'm hoping we can build on this season. The form was very up and down and Danny and I recognised that.

"Hopefully we can give them [the fans] a place they want to be and get higher up the league. Secondly I really want them to enjoy coming to St Mirren and expecting to see a bit of football."

Craig revealed he had called Lennon before taking up the offer of the hotseat in Paisley and says the relationship between the pair remains strong.

He said: "I spoke to Danny when I was offered the job and I spoke to him just after I decided to take it and he has wished me all the best and hopes that I can build on the foundations that he left."

Craig will be joined by player/coaches Jim Goodwin and Gary Teale and the new management team aim to sit down with the existing players to discuss the future before aiming to add to the squad.

He added: "Recruitment is going to be the big part. We need quality players in if we are going to progress from where we finished last season.

"We've got to get our skates on because the season is going to be here before you know it.

"At this moment in time we don't want to see anyone going out the door. Football being football anything can happen."

"I'll be talking to Steven Thompson tomorrow [Thursday] on a one-to-one basis because he's got a special place at this club and I want him to very much feel a part of what is going on."

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Well picked up, that's exactly what it implies. Danny had fell out with a young players parents. Sure you can guess what one.

New alias, same old stupidity and muck spreading.

SG was talking about this in the context of allowing Kenny to move on.

The idea being that if young people saw Kenny nurtured, given a chance and then allowed to leave for a big club when he was ready then they'd be willing to trust Saints on all of those counts.

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Yeah but nobody has told us who the 4 businessmen were and what they were there for. The news were implying that something was going on that gilmour was hiding from the news team

Four of them eh?

Were they on horseback?

If so, we're fooked.

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