Kmcalpin

Absolutely. It smacks of the Dundee United situation some years ago, when some "philanthropic" fans gave United several million pounds out of the goodness of their hearts with no strings attached. Their fans vigourously, no in fact aggressively, rebutted criticism or scepticism from others, who were making the very points you're making now. We all know that the s**t hit the fan when the truth came out later......these so called philanthropists took a hefty cut of some big transfer fees that came in. Guess what? The United fans went ballistic when the truth came out.

That's my understanding. It doesn't matter how good he is, he's no use to us sitting in the stands. Any signing is a risk of course, but we need to minimise that.

Almost but not quite as bad as us for sacking managers. At least they showed Robson some patience.

Whoever we do bring in, its vital that they have a good injury free record. The last thing we need right now is more permacrocks. That doesn't guarantee, of course, that they won't get injured in their first training session.

Aye, and thats changing too. The days of cuddly wee junior clubs are well and truly over. Kelty Hearts and Bonnyrigg Rose anyone? Even the junior game has become much more professional and ruthless. Many of those teams are living well beyong their means.

Yes. Whats the next stage and there will be a next stage? The Dundees of the world will change their name to something like Burnley Scottish? What after that? Burnley become a feeder club for Manchester United and so on. An interesting footnote: Burnley's population is roughly half that of Dundee's.

Agreed. However, maybe a reduced offer is more realistic and reflects what he's worth? All pure conjecture of course. What we don't know we make up.

Agreed Sir.

Yes it is Grizzly. Couldn't have been better. Now it's up to us.

I'll go for Stevie Hammell.

I suspect that its a % of any profit over and above the base fee.

I'd say 2 strikers as an absolute minimum. Bair + one other is far too tight with our injury record. Maybe a LWB depending on Monty's situation, and a centre back?

I have no idea of respective wage levels in Paisley and at FP, but St Mirren do seem to have cash to burn just now, and wherever its coming from its not their gates.

P &B Rumour: Blair Spittal offered a PCA with St Mirren

Aitchison scored for Exeter.

Some, but not very many, would take issue with that. Part of the problem, and I'm not blaming him, is that Liam Kelly isn't good in the air. That means that his central defenders must compensate for him, which they cannot do. It doesn't help also that we're weak defensively on the flanks. As far as Saturday is concerned, it's hard to predict any outcome, as we may well see new faces arriving. Killie will score but we can score more; but will we?

The next few days could well go along way in defining our season. We need to bring in 2 strikers and maybe another defender. Easier said than done at this time of year to get the right men.

I get what you're saying about Spittal's positioning, but Considine is clearly nearer the line than our number 7. I can only assume that the VAR camera's positioning is not quite perfect or human error is responsible.

I thought the referee's performance and St Johnstone's antics warranted a separate post. Colin Steven was never in control of the game and quite bluntly St Johnstone took the p**s. He was too easily conned and made a constant stream of inconsistent and erroneous calls. How Phillips wasn't sent off I'll never know. The incident near the end when he went down injured, told to get up and go off and then fell down a yard or two from the touch line! Farcical. Craig Levein's influence all over that! Am I right in thinking too that players are not allowed to harangue the referee during the VAR process? Not completely one sided though as Butcher should have been carded. He spoiled the game and made one serious wrong call that affected the result. St Johnstone were as we thought they would be....cynical streetwise and physical. Gamesmanship started even before kick off. The piutch was bumpy and heavy. Why then heavily water our goal (the lowest part of the pitch and where water drains to btw) before 3pm? This sort of practice should be stopped by the SFA. Also one of the more eagle eyed members of our group spotted a wheeze with the ball boys several times. The ball goes out of play for a throw in; ballboy A collects it and passes it to ballboy B 10 yards further up the pitch who then throws/places the ball on the pitch for the St Johnstone player to take the throw in thereby sneakily gaining 10 yards. Rant over.

Very much my view. I went to the game with very limited expectations and was pleasantly surprised. We controlled much of the game, were the better side, even playing against a pretty strong St Johnstone team (injury wise), with a long injury list and only one striker. We also played some nice football, when we kept it on the deck. We would have won deservedly if we'd had a cutting edge up front. The defence lost a very soft but controversial goal and I was pleased that we lost it early on. We got the obligatory gift out of the way at the start. I thought the defence had some shaky moments from time to time, although McGinn was a vital steadying influence in the middle. Butcher coming back onto a game. Kimpioka caused tham some uncomfortable moments at times. I thought the midfield played pretty well, especially going forward, although maybe the line up wasn't quite right. The best I've seen them play for a while. Halliday was quietly effective and brought some much needed experience to the engine room. Davor had a decent game although the referee took an instant dislike to him. Paton played well although he looked a little uncomfortable in such an advanced role. Corner kicks aside, Spittal played well too although his lack of pace was a little evident. If he was quicker, he wouldn't be with us. SOD and Gent, especially, did very well on the attack not so much defensively. I was a bit concerned when Miller entered the fray but he came through unscathed. Nicholson looks to be a good acquisition and he was bright in flashes. Looking forward to seeing him when fit. Up front, Bair played pretty well on his own and took his goal well. Suffered from lack of support at times, as we all knew he would. I'm more optimistic this morning.

I take the opposite view on this issue. Considine is the nearest player, and very close, to Kelly, right? So, he's "potentially" offside? As the ball is being kicked he obscures or, at the very least, restricts Kelly's view. Surely thats interfering with play? if that isn't enough he makes an attempt, albeit unsuccessful, to help the ball into the net. That surely is also occupying Kelly's attention. Quite plainly interfering with play in my view and a very poor decision - one of many. All that said, poor defending at the free kick and a soft goal to lose.

A very good question. Our fans and St Johnstone fans are very different and our expectations are very different. Levein is a very good fit for Saints in that he's continuing established traits, if not results. They are a cynical, physical and streetwise team, no in fact club. Solid with few errors. Those traits are unacceptable to our fans, who like to be entertained, but not St Johnstone fans. As far as they are concerned they have 2 simple golden rules, based on the Alex Ferguson and Matt Busby approach to football. Just do it and don't get caught. Winning is everything. Win at all cost.

Agree 100% Gazzy. Sometimes the trolls are not the ones who are supposedly identified. If someone genuinely holds views that is not trolling.

I genuinely don't know and I've tried. He committed 3 bookable fouls and was booked for none. He could and should have been red carded by the 23rd minute. Appalling officiating.

McGinn for me. Did nothing outstanding but 100% solid and reliable. Just what we need. Gent wasn't far behind.