Prospects For The Club .

[Stuart Dickson]

That's the whole crux of the matter nothing will change with the take over we don't have any money now and there won't be any after a take over so basically nothing is going to change we will still be in the shitter

If you continue to do the same things after a takeover then yes indeed the club could be in the shitter. New owners could also change things for the worse and never mind the shitter the club could get flushed round the U-bend and into the sewage system. Then again new owners might just be able to come in with fresh ideas, fresh logic and with a large number of people who might be actively willing to donate a little of their time to help push the project forward. Lets face it one way to save a huge amount of money at the club every season would simply be to stop making so many poor recruitment decisions.

[buddiecat]

That's the whole crux of the matter nothing will change with the take over we don't have any money now and there won't be any after a take over so basically nothing is going to change we will still be in the shitter

We will have people who have ideas on increasing revenue and who will search out and get the most competitive quotes from suppliers, all aspects of income and spending will be reviewed and if possible bettered. The ambition is there and waiting on acceptance of the proposal.

[elvis]

So will there be a proper commercial manager instead of someone who tries his best but is not a proper commercial manager

[windae cleaner]

What were the close tie ins with Glennifer Thistle?

What criteria regarding membership in SMISA do you belong to?

Something happened between St Mirren and Gleniffer Th

Your bowling club mate could tell you the real story

[buddiecat]

So will there be a proper commercial manager instead of someone who tries his best but is not a proper commercial manager

That's a point for you to raise at the meeting we will arrange if and when the proposal is accepted.

[elvis]

If I'm home.

[buddiecat]

If I'm home.

Well i'm sure i could ask for you then.

[elvis]

That would be good of you I will let you know lol

[dastardly77]

If I'm home.

Shat it!

[oaksoft]

By all accounts, well certainly according to certain media chats hosted by AR, the manager believes he was sold a right crock when it came to the squad.

Rather than a good squad of players looking for direction, he believes he has inherited a squad of part-timers, wasters and cowards.

The experienced pros, Goodwin excepted, have been told to get the finger out. One has been told to leave his ego at home and start using his experience or ship out.

In truth, with the exception of Mallan and a couple of other youngsters, AR doesn't rate the younger players. No genuine work ethic.

Despite SG's belief that 4th place was not beyond us if AR could get the team going, the manager believed mid-table was best we would achieve.

Having no assessed the squad he's not overly confident that we're good enough to avoid the relegation play-off position.

He now realises that radical surgery is needed and time/money is against him.

Very worrying.

So given your lack of evidence I think we can safely say that this is yet more tedious ITK pish.

You do have to ask yourself why fans post stuff like this when they know full well it isn't true.

It's all a bit pathetic and attention-seeking really.

Edited January 25, 2016 by oaksoft

[WeeBud]

elvis, on 24 Jan 2016 - 19:06, said:

So will there be a proper commercial manager instead of someone who tries his best but is not a proper commercial manager

That's a point for you to raise at the meeting we will arrange if and when the proposal is accepted.

Not to be a stick in the mud, and I'm very keen to hear and consider the plans and whether to get involved when they're ready, but the wee bits quoted above is one of the concerns I'd have around "collective fan ownership".

Any business needs business foundations in place, in St Mirren's case the board employ Brian Caldwell to all but run the business under their guidance and instruction. The idea of individual members, in this case Elvis, being given the floor to question individual members of staff's performances at a meeting to discuss buy-out plans and to discuss financial arrangements to fund the buy-out gives me the heebie-jeebies. It would, in my opinion, set the wrong tone for the whole process moving forward.

[div]

I think with regard the sale of the club that if someone is holding out hope that a new owner comes in and pumps millions into the club then they are going to be sadly disappointed. I love this club to the bottom of my heart but when all said and done we are a small club, operating within a market with very little opportunity to turn any sort of profit.

A showcase for selling players on would be the only viable model I can imagine any prospective "external" bidder finding possible which is the sort of thing Claude Anelka tried at Raith Rovers. We all know how that one went.

Whilst the club is permanently seen as being "skint" and "tight", it's really the case that we operate within our means. If a new board can increase the commercial activity around the club, and thus the income, then the playing budget would benefit but let's be honest here the club isn't sitting on an untapped goldmine here. Any increase is going to be through hard work, imagination and probably a bit of luck. The people who already invest in the club every week are not a bottomless pit of money and the surrounding area is hardly awash with huge successful businesses.

We have to be realistic as well as being ambitious.

The club has wasted a lot of it's financial resource over the last few seasons. Removing dud managers and terminating dud players contracts early doesn't come without a financial cost. If we were a little bit more successful with our recruitment then we'd start seeing more value out of the money we do have rather than squandering it on trying to repair the damage of previous failures.

Football is always very short term. A "results driven business" we are always told, and that is partly true, but there has to be a time when you look at the longer term picture too and understand that a club of our size is going to take some time to recover from the mismanagement of the past. Hopefully Rae & Farrell start making incremental improvements to the squad in the same way Gus did when he inherited a similar situation, and we start seeing results and performances gradually improve.

[Isle Of Bute Saint]

Good post Div as always balanced and realistic views.

[Drew]

The absolute imperative and priority for this season is to stay in this league.

Poor as we are, I believe this outcome will be 'achieved'. We then must stick with the current management team. The club has had a torrid time of it (mostly of its own making) in terms of turnover of management and players in recent times, and we desperately require a period of stability as soon as Rae and Farrell have completed their clear out and recruited to their squad.

We can never hope to attract world beaters, nor hang onto talented young players, but we need a relatively solid core if progress is to be made.

I think many of us had hoped for considerably better this season, but it has been absolutely abysmal. We, not unreasonably, expected a few home wins, and to be playing without the spectre of relegation hanging over the club, but, sadly, it wasn't to be.

It is now a case of stabilise, consolidate, and build. Inevitably, the last requirement is a longer term process, but lets hope we witness the occasional exciting performance and convincing victory along the way.

[thomsons dropped it]

Shat it!

What Elvis meant to say (I think) was that he would attend if he was not Offshore at Work....

We worked together many years ago and I can assure you that despite the negative spin Elvis is a very

passionate Saints Fan.

There you have it....

[Buddy Marvellous]

So since the 50s throughout these glory years how many seasons have we been in the top division?

You're being a tad over dramatic. We have been here before and will bounce back. Except this time we have a modern stadium, no debt, dedicated training facilities etc.

Wait a minute, these are all the things that are supposed to help the club improve both on the park and off it.

I often hear folk saying "well at least it can't get any worse", but guess what it can get worse, just look at Dunfermline who are only now showing signs of recovery.

Or take the bankies, a club on a par with our own for many a year! The OP may be a little dramatic but the point he is making is valid. If our current situation continues it will have a knock on for years, perhaps forever.

Remember all the current die hards won't be around forever and the young kids are not interested in St Mirren. My own boy (8 year old) should be a future die hard but last season when those foundations were be put down he was burdened with 12 games, zero wins and three goals.

Folk really need to waken up to the position we are in and the potential future success (or lack of) at St Mirren.

[DougJamie]

We seem to be surprised that we find ourselves in this downward spiral. Our recruitment of management and players is appalling, and we have a rudderless ship. Our young talent is not mentored and we hang on to deadwood rather than create new shoots. In can get a lot worse.

Let be honest, we are going to play Alloa- Yes Alloa, on Saturday, its a 6 pointer and shows just how far we have plummeted in 2.5 years.

We had a chance in the last Jan window 2015 to sign, who did we sign a Ross County Reject. Who have we signed so far in 2016? As Ross County excess to their needs? Yes that's Ross County?

We need to stop hanging on to what we have had in success's and address first what we have.

It was not that long ago, that some on here, said we had a great/ better squad than last year. Some muppets even hang on to the notion that we are still going to challenge the play off positions? Geez. Maybe that is just the drugs kicking in?

We are in a dreadful run of form, extending all the way back to 2013, we have no clue how to attack teams, hence why we are so dreadful at home and the best we can hope for is for a team to play even worse than we are. Our 4 wins have been against QOS, Alloa, Morton and Livi. QOS were in a slump, Morton by all accounts had their worst performance of season. Livi totally out played us second half and Aloa have no right to be plying their trade in the championship.

In saying that what odds a Saints win?

Alloa make it hard for teams, they defend and break, the have beaten Raith, Should have beaten Morton and gave Falkirk and Hibs close matches.

Are they better than us? Well, I hope not, but certainly it appears they have more structure and fight.

Very half full I am sorry, but this situation is sucking the life out the club. BOD please accept the offer. It would be a start

[linwood buddie]

I won't be renewing my ST's next season ,the last couple of seasons have been very poor IMHO to the extent that even though I have purchased two ST's each season I hardly go along , Next season I will pick and choose games or if the current downward spiral continues won't go at all ,on the other hand if thing improve It will cost me more , but I will take that chance.

[Seaside Nipper]

Unfortunately, we have not kept up with the rest of the teams who have moved on. When you are comprehensively outdown over the best part of a decade by teams with far smaller fan bases (at least it used to be that way-ours is diminishing fast) then it looks far worse than a lapse into the lower leagues. We are not producing the youngsters that will bring us on and we don't have the income to buy in experience. It is really hard to see how the club can attract any kind of quality. We need to stay in this league and have a close-season cash injection to get us into title contention next season, if the current or proposed boards can't furnish this then I'm afraid we become a firm fixture of the lower leagues. I see the fan ownership as a side issue, unless you are a really big club then I am afraid it offers little more than survival, I am hoping that IF the SMISA/GS deal goes through then it does not preclude any subsequent sale of the controlling interest to someone and that it is a vehicle to merely stabilise the club and get it into shape as a viable football-based business that is ready for an upward surge.

..............nail squarely on head.............

tbh that's it , my sentiments about our prospects.

Hopefully I'm just a galss half empty sort and I'll get a re fill , but I'm not holding out much hope for a refresh sesh any time soon

[div]

I always try and remain positive, which is not always easy. I think I'm what's commonly known as a "happy clapper".

We've been on a downward spiral almost since March 18th 2013. The worst hangover in history.

I wouldn't blame anyone for giving up their season ticket based on what has happened in the three years since we lifted that trophy, it's not been a whole lot of fun especially at home games.

Was talking to my mate at the u-20s game yesterday and we ended up going down memory lane and remembering the fun we at at Love Street as we grew up supporting the team and the amazing season of 99-00 which I can't imagine will ever be bettered in terms of the sheer enjoyment of every game. The bond between the team and the fans, and the management at that time was really special and the board were doing amazing things WITH the fans to help get us promoted with the construction of the PDE stand even though we were financially f**ked.

Whether we'll get a season quite like that again I doubt, but the good times WILL come back, I've absolutely no doubt about it. Just got to stick with it and be there when it does turn and we start winning games again.

Those good days are what make all the million shite days in between worthwhile and why I was a bubbling wreck at the cup final when Newton smashed home the third goal :-)

[Bud the Baker]

Was talking to my mate at the u-20s game yesterday and we ended up going down memory lane and remembering the fun we at Love Street as we grew up supporting the team and the amazing season of 99-00 which I can't imagine will ever be bettered in terms of the sheer enjoyment of every game. The bond between the team and the fans, and the management at that time was really special and the board were doing amazing things WITH the fans to help get us promoted with the construction of the PDE stand even though we were financially f**ked.

Whether we'll get a season quite like that again I doubt, but the good times WILL come back, I've absolutely no doubt about it. Just got to stick with it and be there when it does turn and we start winning games again.

Those good days are what make all the million shite days in between worthwhile and why I was a bubbling wreck at the cup final when Newton smashed home the third goal :-)

My favourite season too and what we have to remember is that it was our eighth season in the old div 1 and really came out of the blue as we were eighth favourites with the bookies to win the division that season IIRC, certainly not one of the fancied teams - but the bubble didnae burst!

As Curtis Mayfield so righteously said keep on keepin' on...................

Edited January 25, 2016 by Bud the Baker

[Sonny]

I won't be giving up my ST but it is a hell of a chore to attend matches these days.

The difference between success and failure is a very fine line. We f**ked up badly twice in my opinion. Recruiting Craig and then recruiting Murray - I honestly thought keeping Teale was a better option with far better credentials for the job but that is water under the bridge now.

Right from the off I was not impressed with Murray's signings as I have stated on many threads before. The signing of Gow told us all we needed to know. It is no surprise that Rae wants rid of most of the squad. After watching our first game against Livi I thought Livi would struggle to take two of our players straight into their team as they appeared miles ahead of what we had. The last few years show how crucial it is to get even a semi-decent manager in.

Maybe we have bottomed out but I do not think that is a foregone conclusion. Most of the players are not good enough for the Championship and we have no money and little time to repair Murray's disaster. 3rd bottom would be the best we can hope for then clear the decks and start again. I do see improvements under Rae however the quality or potential is not there for him to work with.

[Isle Of Bute Saint]

I won't be giving up my ST but it is a hell of a chore to attend matches these days.

The difference between success and failure is a very fine line. We f**ked up badly twice in my opinion. Recruiting Craig and then recruiting Murray - I honestly thought keeping Teale was a better option with far better credentials for the job but that is water under the bridge now.

Right from the off I was not impressed with Murray's signings as I have stated on many threads before. The signing of Gow told us all we needed to know. It is no surprise that Rae wants rid of most of the squad. After watching our first game against Livi I thought Livi would struggle to take two of our players straight into their team as they appeared miles ahead of what we had. The last few years show how crucial it is to get even a semi-decent manager in.

Maybe we have bottomed out but I do not think that is a foregone conclusion. Most of the players are not good enough for the Championship and we have no money and little time to repair Murray's disaster. 3rd bottom would be the best we can hope for then clear the decks and start again. I do see improvements under Rae however the quality or potential is not there for him to work with.

Wont be giving up my season ticket ether though I understand why so many are disillusioned given the past few years. Christ there was nothing worse than going home after a game getting soaked going to Gilmour street , waiting 20 odd min for a train then sitting miserable on the ferry thinking why am I doing this its a hard slog. Next home game I would be back for more punishment. Have seen a few games under Rae and can see shoots of hope we are defiantly better organized and keep a shape. Have said to myself at long last we have a real football manager just pray this guy is given time.

[Sonny]

Wont be giving up my season ticket ether though I understand why so many are disillusioned given the past few years. Christ there was nothing worse than going home after a game getting soaked going to Gilmour street , waiting 20 odd min for a train then sitting miserable on the ferry thinking why am I doing this its a hard slog. Next home game I would be back for more punishment. Have seen a few games under Rae and can see shoots of hope we are defiantly better organized and keep a shape. Have said to myself at long last we have a real football manager just pray this guy is given time.

Although I live in Ayrshire (Rugby Park is closer than Greenhill Rd) I often travel from Millport for games as I have family over there. So I can sympathise with rain and ferry crossings for just attending home games (hence the big being pissed off when home games are cancelled with 3 mins to kick off! ).

[magnus]

I always try and remain positive, which is not always easy. I think I'm what's commonly known as a "happy clapper".

We've been on a downward spiral almost since March 18th 2013. The worst hangover in history.

I wouldn't blame anyone for giving up their season ticket based on what has happened in the three years since we lifted that trophy, it's not been a whole lot of fun especially at home games.

Was talking to my mate at the u-20s game yesterday and we ended up going down memory lane and remembering the fun we at at Love Street as we grew up supporting the team and the amazing season of 99-00 which I can't imagine will ever be bettered in terms of the sheer enjoyment of every game. The bond between the team and the fans, and the management at that time was really special and the board were doing amazing things WITH the fans to help get us promoted with the construction of the PDE stand even though we were financially f**ked.

Whether we'll get a season quite like that again I doubt, but the good times WILL come back, I've absolutely no doubt about it. Just got to stick with it and be there when it does turn and we start winning games again.

Those good days are what make all the million shite days in between worthwhile and why I was a bubbling wreck at the cup final when Newton smashed home the third goal :-)

The club that shat itself when confronted with success. How the BoD felt we could afford to release players like McGowan, Carey, Harkins, Samson, Imrie on top of the class loan players like Newton and Dummet is a complete mystery. It's easy to blame Ian Murray but he inherited a complete mess. The pre-season friendlies this season reminded me of a new start amateur club - loads of walk ons who played a few minutes and we're signed on the spot or released. None turned out to be good enough. How could we spend a decade in the top flight and have absolutely no foundation to build on? Zero succession and no pipeline of talent. Let's hope lessons are learned by this BoD or the next and we get a team that at least gives a shit. The memories will live forever but the current reality is totally dire.