Grow a Pair

[St.Ricky]

Having watched St Mirren since 1974 , I have experienced some ups and a number of downs. Cup Wins,  League Titles and European Football.   Narrow squeaks where we just avoided going down to the third league in Scotland.  The comments on social media and the forum  appear to show a club in meltdown rather than one which won their league last season and who are currently 3 points off 3rd Place in The Premiership. One too,  which incidentally, made more progress this season,  than last in the League Cup.  The board handled the difficult situation of losing their successful manager and with that, any momentum in the transfer market.  Enter Alan Stubs.  Appointed as manager after a full interview process.  Arguably,  a more experienced manager than the one we lost.  Different in style and personality,  that's true.  He has a 3 year contract and is in the process of building a squad.  Some players appear to have difficulty in accepting the changes -.tough. That's life in football.  Get on with it.  Fans and supporters need to grow a pair and face up to the fact that the step up was never going to be easy.  Any who thought we would have beaten Aberdeen in the League Cup or be sitting in 3rd place or higher should seriously think again.  Time to grow a pair and support the board and manager and that includes the players.  Will this post make me popular..... Absolutely not. 

[Stegman]

Wibble.

[DLBud]

Yawn

[St.Ricky]

2 hours ago, DLBud said:

Yawn

Perhaps go to bed a bit earlier?

Grow a pair. Support the Board and Manager.

 

[St.Ricky]

4 hours ago, Stegman said:

Wibble.

At least I am not showing a wobble.

GAP

[DLBud]

Perhaps go to bed a bit earlier?
Grow a pair. Support the Board and Manager.
 

I’m all for supporting the BOD, the manager and the players (you missed a bit).

It’s another overly long, tedious, post with the same viewpoint on a brand new thread that I’m not a fan of.

There’s a 27 odd page thread running that you’ve already contributed more than most to yet you feel the need to start another one to say the same things.

[Magic Monkey]

The phrase 'grow a pair' is f**king nasty enough at the best of times for a whole host of reasons that I can't be bothered to go into now (in a nutshell it's offensive to women and damaging to men).

However, I'd suggest it's especially insulting to a manager who survived testicular cancer.

[faraway saint]

9 minutes ago, DLBud said:

 

I’m all for supporting the BOD, the manager and the players (you missed a bit).

It’s another overly long, tedious, post with the same viewpoint on a brand new thread that I’m not a fan of.

There’s a 27 odd page thread running that you’ve already contributed more than most to yet you feel the need to start another one to say the same things.

 

He did mention the players................."Time to grow a pair and support the board and manager and that includes the players." 

 

[Isle Of Bute Saint]

8 hours ago, St.Ricky said:

Having watched St Mirren since 1974 , I have experienced some ups and a number of downs. Cup Wins,  League Titles and European Football.   Narrow squeaks where we just avoided going down to the third league in Scotland.  The comments on social media and the forum  appear to show a club in meltdown rather than one which won their league last season and who are currently 3 points off 3rd Place in The Premiership. One too,  which incidentally, made more progress this season,  than last in the League Cup.  The board handled the difficult situation of losing their successful manager and with that, any momentum in the transfer market.  Enter Alan Stubs.  Appointed as manager after a full interview process.  Arguably,  a more experienced manager than the one we lost.  Different in style and personality,  that's true.  He has a 3 year contract and is in the process of building a squad.  Some players appear to have difficulty in accepting the changes -.tough. That's life in football.  Get on with it.  Fans and supporters need to grow a pair and face up to the fact that the step up was never going to be easy.  Any who thought we would have beaten Aberdeen in the League Cup or be sitting in 3rd place or higher should seriously think again.  Time to grow a pair and support the board and manager and that includes the players.  Will this post make me popular..... Absolutely not. 

Totally understand where you are coming from Ricky and admire you for it. Having experienced in recent years the Murray, Craig , Rae which nearly took our club to oblivion still runs in my head. Like you I have been going to Saints since 1967. I have seen home gates of around 1,500.  If we ended up relegated under Rae that's the way we would have went.  The similarity of names mentioned are too close for comfort for me. I honestly think for the board also as the coming weeks will prove. 

[oaksoft]

28 minutes ago, Magic Monkey said:

The phrase 'grow a pair' is f**king nasty enough at the best of times for a whole host of reasons that I can't be bothered to go into now (in a nutshell it's offensive to women and damaging to men).

However, I'd suggest it's especially insulting to a manager who survived testicular cancer.

Offensive to women? Damaging to men? Insulting to the manager?

Away and have a word with yourself FFS. 

[cambiebud]

Well said Ricky. Based on this site, a casual observer would think that St Mirren have the most negative fans in Scotland. Fortunately it is only a tiny minority who post on here. Some of the abuse directed at our new manager is totally out of order. Some people need to have a long hard look at themselves. COYS

[Magic Monkey]

8 minutes ago, oaksoft said:

Offensive to women? Damaging to men? Insulting to the manager?

Yep.  All of those things. 

[proudtobeabuddy]

St Ricky you have a different opinion. I don’t think Stubbs is up to the job and I’m trusting my instincts. The title of the thread is at best patronising, whatever floats your boat.

[proudtobeabuddy]

I should add I’m happy with the BOD. They’ve made a mistake this time but we all makes mistakes it’s making sure you learn from them that’s important. I’m sure our BOD will do that.

[proudtobeabuddy]

I was actually for Stubbs he seemed as good a prospect as the rest.... unfortunately I don’t think we’ve made the right decision. As I said the BOD have made a mistake and they’ll have to fix it, I’m sure they will.

[southsidebud]

10 hours ago, St.Ricky said:

Having watched St Mirren since 1974 , I have experienced some ups and a number of downs. Cup Wins,  League Titles and European Football.   Narrow squeaks where we just avoided going down to the third league in Scotland.  The comments on social media and the forum  appear to show a club in meltdown rather than one which won their league last season and who are currently 3 points off 3rd Place in The Premiership. One too,  which incidentally, made more progress this season,  than last in the League Cup.  The board handled the difficult situation of losing their successful manager and with that, any momentum in the transfer market.  Enter Alan Stubs.  Appointed as manager after a full interview process.  Arguably,  a more experienced manager than the one we lost.  Different in style and personality,  that's true.  He has a 3 year contract and is in the process of building a squad.  Some players appear to have difficulty in accepting the changes -.tough. That's life in football.  Get on with it.  Fans and supporters need to grow a pair and face up to the fact that the step up was never going to be easy.  Any who thought we would have beaten Aberdeen in the League Cup or be sitting in 3rd place or higher should seriously think again.  Time to grow a pair and support the board and manager and that includes the players.  Will this post make me popular..... Absolutely not. 

Ironically one of the most liked posts of the last few days

Good post btw.

[Isle Of Bute Saint]

2 hours ago, cambiebud said:

Well said Ricky. Based on this site, a casual observer would think that St Mirren have the most negative fans in Scotland. Fortunately it is only a tiny minority who post on here. Some of the abuse directed at our new manager is totally out of order. Some people need to have a long hard look at themselves. COYS

I'm against personal abuse on that I agree.  Can I ask if you are contented with what you see on the pitch ?  Stubbs has been building a team with his own players. With each game I see these players losing confidence with each game. You expect the manager to notice this with him and his back room staff to find a fix. The fact most of these players are of poor quality adds to the problem. I really fear our next two games. 

[cambiebud]

I'm against personal abuse on that I agree.  Can I ask if you are contented with what you see on the pitch ?  Stubbs has been building a team with his own players. With each game I see these players losing confidence with each game. You expect the manager to notice this with him and his back room staff to find a fix. The fact most of these players are of poor quality adds to the problem. I really fear our next two games. 

No IOBS I am not. However we are 3 games into the season and the squad is not either complete or settled. Let’s see how things pan out in the next couple of months. Slagging off young players and the management team will achieve the square root of fa.

[Dibbles old paperboy]

12 hours ago, St.Ricky said:

Having watched St Mirren since 1974 , I have experienced some ups and a number of downs. Cup Wins,  League Titles and European Football.   Narrow squeaks where we just avoided going down to the third league in Scotland.  The comments on social media and the forum  appear to show a club in meltdown rather than one which won their league last season and who are currently 3 points off 3rd Place in The Premiership. One too,  which incidentally, made more progress this season,  than last in the League Cup.  The board handled the difficult situation of losing their successful manager and with that, any momentum in the transfer market.  Enter Alan Stubs.  Appointed as manager after a full interview process.  Arguably,  a more experienced manager than the one we lost.  Different in style and personality,  that's true.  He has a 3 year contract and is in the process of building a squad.  Some players appear to have difficulty in accepting the changes -.tough. That's life in football.  Get on with it.  Fans and supporters need to grow a pair and face up to the fact that the step up was never going to be easy.  Any who thought we would have beaten Aberdeen in the League Cup or be sitting in 3rd place or higher should seriously think again.  Time to grow a pair and support the board and manager and that includes the players.  Will this post make me popular..... Absolutely not. 

While I agree with some of what you have posted here, I would have fancied last year's squad to have lost to Killie, beaten Spartans, beaten Queens Park, and beaten Dumbarton in the League Cup and also progressed from that group. Stubbs had two years at Hibs and a few months at Rotherham as a manager - Jack Ross was a No.2 at Dumbarton, had about 9 months as Alloa manager and then 20 months with us before moving to Sunderland. I don't see how Stubbs is more experienced, Jack has also not had a long period out the game between his time at Dumbarton / Hearts Academy / Alloa / St Mirren / Sunderland.

The bit I disagree with most of "some players have difficulty in accepting the changes - tough. That's life in football. Get on with it". If that's aimed at last year's squad I think it is misplaced. I am sure even a young-ish St Mirren player like Jack Baird will have had something like 5 or 6 St Mirren managers he has worked with in his time at the club, never-mind players like Stephen McGinn, Paul McGinn, Gary MacKenzie, Craig Samson etc who have been used to moving clubs every couple of seasons and working in different environments and leagues and with various managers. Some of the players in the squad who see to have the biggest difficulty in accepting the changes are Stubbs own signings - Heaton, King, Cooke all getting used to playing full time football and being in a professional first team.

I think Stubbs seems like a nice guy but has possibly wanted to compensate for failing at Rotherham and show he can spot young players and develop them and is out to prove that point at St Mirren but there has been a real lack of balance to our activity in this transfer window. I think last year's squad needed some old heads aged 27-32 to join them and help them step up, and Stubbs signings have gone the other way and they need experienced pros to help them - some of them are living away from their parents for the first time as well as getting used to Scottish football.

I don't think anyone who thought that if we added 4 or 5 good signings to last season's squad thought this season was going to be easy and can't think of one person who reckoned we would be sitting "3rd place or higher". What I will say is that Livingston came up via the play-offs perhaps not even expecting to get promoted until they were and seem to be in far better shape to stay in the division despite losing 2 managers since we lost Jack Ross and are making signings while we are "hopeful of maybe" adding a few, and Livingston have also integrated their new signings alongside the core of last year's team. One of their players spoke about their togetherness on the pitch and they all spend day offs together as a group as well; i.e. they have bonded and will fight for each other. At the minute we look ramshackle and more likely to fight with each other than fight for each other!

[St.Ricky]

23 minutes ago, Dibbles old paperboy said:

While I agree with some of what you have posted here, I would have fancied last year's squad to have lost to Killie, beaten Spartans, beaten Queens Park, and beaten Dumbarton in the League Cup and also progressed from that group. Stubbs had two years at Hibs and a few months at Rotherham as a manager - Jack Ross was a No.2 at Dumbarton, had about 9 months as Alloa manager and then 20 months with us before moving to Sunderland. I don't see how Stubbs is more experienced, Jack has also not had a long period out the game between his time at Dumbarton / Hearts Academy / Alloa / St Mirren / Sunderland.

The bit I disagree with most of "some players have difficulty in accepting the changes - tough. That's life in football. Get on with it". If that's aimed at last year's squad I think it is misplaced. I am sure even a young-ish St Mirren player like Jack Baird will have had something like 5 or 6 St Mirren managers he has worked with in his time at the club, never-mind players like Stephen McGinn, Paul McGinn, Gary MacKenzie, Craig Samson etc who have been used to moving clubs every couple of seasons and working in different environments and leagues and with various managers. Some of the players in the squad who see to have the biggest difficulty in accepting the changes are Stubbs own signings - Heaton, King, Cooke all getting used to playing full time football and being in a professional first team.

I think Stubbs seems like a nice guy but has possibly wanted to compensate for failing at Rotherham and show he can spot young players and develop them and is out to prove that point at St Mirren but there has been a real lack of balance to our activity in this transfer window. I think last year's squad needed some old heads aged 27-32 to join them and help them step up, and Stubbs signings have gone the other way and they need experienced pros to help them - some of them are living away from their parents for the first time as well as getting used to Scottish football.

I don't think anyone who thought that if we added 4 or 5 good signings to last season's squad thought this season was going to be easy and can't think of one person who reckoned we would be sitting "3rd place or higher". What I will say is that Livingston came up via the play-offs perhaps not even expecting to get promoted until they were and seem to be in far better shape to stay in the division despite losing 2 managers since we lost Jack Ross and are making signings while we are "hopeful of maybe" adding a few, and Livingston have also integrated their new signings alongside the core of last year's team. One of their players spoke about their togetherness on the pitch and they all spend day offs together as a group as well; i.e. they have bonded and will fight for each other. At the minute we look ramshackle and more likely to fight with each other than fight for each other!

Fair comment in the main.  I wasn't pointing a finger at any particular player or group.  Transition isn't easy.  Livvy though are different in style and approach.  Firstly,  Martingdale is still there and has overseen  recruitment.  Their style of play is one a number of our fans disparaged last season but which translates well into the Premiership.  High tempo,  quick and direct.  Looking for corners and set pieces.  Win a lot in the air and compete physically.  A few in our group thought them better prepared for the top league despite not finishing top.  Having said that,  it's early days.  I won't be panicking just yet.  A time to hold our collective nerve if there ever was one. 

Edited August 29, 2018 by St.Ricky

[Dibbles old paperboy]

4 minutes ago, St.Ricky said:

Fair comment in the main.  I wasn't pointing a finger at any particular player or group.  Transition isn't easy.  Livvy though are different in style and approach.  Firstly,  Martingale is still there and has overseen  recruitment.  Their style of play is one a number of our fans disparaged last season but which translates well into the Premiership.  High tempo,  quick and direct.  Looking for corners and set pieces.  Win a lot in the air and compete physically.  A few in our group thought them better prepared for the top league despite not finishing top.  Having said that,  it's early days.  I won't be panicking just yet.  A time to hold our collective nerve if there ever was one. 

My prediction is we'll be one of the clubs who make the least amount of signings in the premiership this week and Stubbs will also be left hoping to unearth some out of contract players like Andy Webster and Alan Gow in years gone by.

[billyg]

4 minutes ago, Dibbles old paperboy said:

My prediction is we'll be one of the clubs who make the least amount of signings in the premiership this week and Stubbs will also be left hoping to unearth some out of contract players like Andy Webster and Alan Gow in years gone by.

I'd hope the reason we don't make many , if any signings , is because the BOD have seen sense , and won't let the muppet blow anymore cash !

[northstbuddie]

Surely no-one on here thinks that things are going as well as expected or to plan.

On that I think we are all agreed (for once). I doubt however that the solution is to "grow a pair".

Whilst the negativity expressed on here is understandable, would it be fair to say that not everyone on here wants Stubbs to succeed at St Mirren?

How we the fans react to adversity is crucial, but the answer is not to man up, rather not to fall into the trap of wallowing in negativity, (.aka the Murray and Rae era).

We need to give the new set-up (post JR) a chance to develop and (eventually) to succeed.

It seems that whoever we try to sign at the moment is not taking the bait - I wonder why.

[faraway saint]

6 minutes ago, billyg said:

I'd hope the reason we don't make many , if any signings , is because the BOD have seen sense , and won't let the muppet blow anymore cash !

So, on one hand you boast of your support for the club yet you would hope we remain in this situation where we could well find ourselves in a relegation fight just to massage your ego? 

Brilliant. 

[billyg]

6 minutes ago, faraway saint said:

So, on one hand you boast of your support for the club yet you would hope we remain in this situation where we could well find ourselves in a relegation fight just to massage your ego? 

Brilliant. 

We're in a relegation fight already , and the nugget in charge is not the one to get us  out of it . Nothing whatsoever to do with my ego , more to do with a realistic view on proceedings !