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St Mirren's New Manager Is Tommy Craig


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My first reaction on hearing the news was 'FFS I knew our tired and finished BoD would go for the cheap option, but I thought it would be Murray.'

Having sat down and thought about it - Tommy Craig is a respected coach who is now being trusted to make the decisions himself and be his own man. He knows the players, he knows the club... and here's what makes most sense to me. Teale and Goodwin - now officially a link between dressing room and manager. Teale and Goodwin can learn from the auld head in charge, cut their teeth as coaches and gain experience... with a view to taking over in their own right.

It hardly excites me, I'll be honest, but by the same token it doesn't scare me nearly as much as Jimmy Calderwood or another untested young manager would.

Teale and Goodwin's dynamic within our club changes overnight. Given time, this could be a good move by the BoD. Continuity and promoting from within.

Good luck to Tommy, Gary, and Jim. All the best guys.

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My first reaction on hearing the news was 'FFS I knew our tired and finished BoD would go for the cheap option, but I thought it would be Murray.'

Having sat down and thought about it - Tommy Craig is a respected coach who is now being trusted to make the decisions himself and be his own man. He knows the players, he knows the club... and here's what makes most sense to me. Teale and Goodwin - now officially a link between dressing room and manager. Teale and Goodwin can learn from the auld head in charge, cut their teeth as coaches and gain experience... with a view to taking over in their own right.

It hardly excites me, I'll be honest, but by the same token it doesn't scare me nearly as much as Jimmy Calderwood or another untested young manager would.

Teale and Goodwin's dynamic within our club changes overnight. Given time, this could be a good move by the BoD. Continuity and promoting from within.

Good luck to Tommy, Gary, and Jim. All the best guys.

Similar to my feelings. Was yet to hear one name that excited me and the Teale/Goodwin combo does at least intrigue me!

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I echo the thoughts of those who say we now have a management team and should all get behind them in the hopes that they do the good job that we surely hope they will (unless some of us are volunteering to suffer to be proven right!).

I can see how some people think this is less risky than other managers we could have perhaps pursued, but there is a risk in everything and I think the board is taking one here. It may seem 'safe' to employ from within, but our board will already know from their own experience than this can work and that it can fail. So, it is still a 'risk' even if it is a 'cheap' one (though I would also hold my hands up and say I don't know the sums on this!) and it could backfire on the board - they have still taken a big chance here. On the whole, they have usually done right by the club, so I guess we just have to hope they have got it right here. Might all have been handled a little better, as many have said, mind you.

Edited by MarkCorrigan
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If he is a recognised "expert" what is he doing at St Mirren ?

Tommy was the coach of the Scotland Under 21 team. I think that is a good credential on your CV. And he iis at St Mirren as he is now the manager :)

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Sorry am I missing something here. A player who spends far to much time sitting in the stand suspended another who was injured for most of the season and hardly kicked a ball and not any experience between them coaching. Please let me what you find so exciting?

And this seasons ironic name award goes to.........

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Don't know if it's been mentioned elsewhere but on STV news tonight Stewart Gilmour was seen running from the media to the main car park. He returned shortly afterwards with a group of 4 businessmen in a people carrier. Reading between the lines could they be new owners. Possible that this appointment of new manager and coaches has been their decision.

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Don't know if it's been mentioned elsewhere but on STV news tonight Stewart Gilmour was seen running from the media to the main car park. He returned shortly afterwards with a group of 4 businessmen in a people carrier. Reading between the lines could they be new owners. Possible that this appointment of new manager and coaches has been their decision.

Yeh, the sale of the club was riding on Tommy Craig getting a 2 year contract....... Not :P

Edited by davidg
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On the new appointment. The board failed to give Danny a new contract presumably for cost cutting reasons or they did not rate him as a manager. What I'm struggling with is that when the brown stuff was dripping from the fan earlier this season why didn't they get rid then and just appoint TC as manager if that was the plan all along, as it now seems. It was a big risk to allow Danny to continue in the post if they didn't rate him as relegation looked a real possibility.

I feel sorry for Danny Lennon as a person as to how this has been dealt with here. I did believe that it was time for change however but this looks more cost cutting than anything else. The only positive he has is that he doesn't have 'sacked by St Mirren on his CV'.

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It's definitely growing on me.

We will get fresh coaching ideas and contacts from Teale and Goodwin. We will retain and perhaps enhance our relationship with Newcastle United, along from benefitting from Tommy's large network.

I think we could be onto something here :)

Oh....FFS!

Only positive I can see from this is we have freed up a wage that hopefully can be used on a decent striker to partner Thommo.

Yep, that's pretty much the only one.

Have to say I feel for Danny Lennon, this was a hell of a long drawn out saga just to punt him and replace him with his assistant.

My feelings, exactly.

I think Danny left because a couple of important relationship break downs and his failure in the transfer market more than on pitch performance.

I imagine the board couldn't trust him to rebuild this summer after the mess he made of it last year, and their lack of trust is completely justified.

Now we have a new man with the final say on transfers and some fresh ideas on the coaching side.

You think...

You imagine....

Now... No one has a clue what may happen. There isn't an upside, a fresh face, new ideas, new futuristic plans for the team....

For those miserable basturts that (on here) were hounding DL out of his job, nothing has changed.

It's a cowardly cop-out.

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Yeh, the sale of the club was riding on Tommy Craig getting a 2 year contract....... Not :P

Maybe being wooshed here but what I am saying is maybe these guys are making decisions just now through the current board before formalities are concluded .

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Guest TPAFKATS

Are you saying that the board are clutching at straws in wanting Lennon sacked?

No, I thought Lex was clutching at straws trying to big up the appointments; and that he was doing so due to wanting Lennon sacked for so long.

The predictive txt on phone kinda messed up my post...

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.

For those miserable basturts that (on here) were hounding DL out of his job, nothing has changed.

In your opinion.

The best example of nothing changing when an assistant was appointed to a managerial position and a senior player promoted as his assistant coach is Tommy Wright at St.J.

Oh wait.................................

Edited by FTOF
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In your opinion.

The best example of nothing changing when an assistant was appointed to a managerial position and a senior player promoted as his assistant coach is Tommy Wright at St.J.

Oh wait.................................

Aye.... I'm waiting....

That's the longest, most ineffective edit in this forum's history.

What has changed for ST MIRREN?

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What's new for St Mirren? What's new is that Danny Lennon was the manager, taking decisions about many matters. Tactics, team selection, substitutions, and many more. Now Tommy Craig makes those decisions.

Now, as Danny's assistant he would certainly have had input, and would have in effect stuck his tuppenceworth in, but perhaps as No1 he would have done things differently. Different positional decisions, different set-up, different substitutions.... different signings?

Maybe the BoD trust Tommy to make better choices in many areas. Maybe now Tommy has the final say, the BoD think he's more savvy than Danny and will do a better job.

The only thing that is certain is that we won't know until we see how Season 2014/15 pans out. Until then, time to watch the World Cup!

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After all this I don't really know what the board didnt just sack Lennon at some stage this season. It looks like this was a fait accompli going back some time.

The boards actions have been a bit bizarre here regardless of the rights or wrongs of this. The board meeting with apparently no decision taken, then this one this morning, just looks all a bit shambolic and for absolutely no reason whatsoever. If something wasnt right behind the scenes then why not just ditch Danny? Was the penny pinching and getting to the end of the seaon the driving force here?

Odd.

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Because we live within our means?

Although I did hear that Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink expressed an interest....................................

Fine to live within our means but not to the detriment of ambition and aspiration. Both these are not dependent on how much money you spend.

I hope I'm proved wrong but the appointments today don't fill me with hope for next season.

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After all this I don't really know what the board didnt just sack Lennon at some stage this season. It looks like this was a fait accompli going back some time.

The boards actions have been a bit bizarre here regardless of the rights or wrongs of this. The board meeting with apparently no decision taken, then this one this morning, just looks all a bit shambolic and for absolutely no reason whatsoever. If something wasnt right behind the scenes then why not just ditch Danny? Was the penny pinching and getting to the end of the seaon the driving force here?

Odd.

I don't doubt it for a minute. They didn't want to pay Danny off. There can be no other rational explanation. Gilmour speaks of the professional pride of the players getting them over the line. I suspect they had the prayer mat out in the board room, hopng that the players had this in spades.

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You sack him because "its not working out", with maybe six months of contract to cough up for or whatever it happens to be. Fine. You get the new lot in and hope they keep you in the league.

Naw. It looks like our board decide to let the manager carry on, in spite of knowing "its not working", and also looking like they have decided exactly how things are going to roll for next season as far as the management team goes.

I cant really understand why they didn't sack him before the end of the season if they felt it had gone horribly wrong? Looks like they were prepared to gamble on it all just falling into place. Lets be honest, we were in some trouble going into the business end of this season.

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I don't doubt it for a minute. They didn't want to pay Danny off. There can be no other rational explanation. Gilmour speaks of the professional pride of the players getting them over the line. I suspect they had the prayer mat out in the board room, hopng that the players had this in spades.

It would have been a case of paying him up til the end of his contract regardless though. That was being honoured regardless of whether he stayed on or was sacked.

I think this is just bonkers frankly. The board went into the run in when it wasnt clear if wed get out of a play off spot and entrusted the guy they were going to bin regardless in the summer while ALL the new management team were at the club anyway and could have been in place for the run in..

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It would have been a case of paying him up til the end of his contract regardless though. That was being honoured regardless of whether he stayed on or was sacked.

I think this is just bonkers frankly. The board went into the run in when it wasnt clear if wed get out of a play off spot and entrusted the guy they were going to bin regardless in the summer while ALL the new management team were at the club anyway and could have been in place for the run in..

Aye, but they would have had to pay his replacement at the same time, so still cheaper to keep him on.

I am not sure that they would have risked the backlash of bagging him and promoting his No.2 during a mid-season slump. It is more palatable now that we are safe, and folks can be a bit more philosophical/forgiving. If they did sack Danny mid-season,Ii think they would have had to look elsewhere for a replacement.

Just a hunch, of course. Anyway, as you say, it is all academic now.

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