It Must Be Love Street

 Thoughts On The Week On Monday evening, I was in attendance at the SMiSA meet the manager event held on Zoom. Jim Goodwin and Tony Fitzpatrick were on top form and did a fantastic job of answering the questions put to them (no need to take my word for it, the SMiSA social media accounts have uploaded the footage). What elevated the night from entertaining to fascinating, in my mind anyway, was at the end when Jim decided to show the Powerpoint he had prepared for his interview to become Buddies boss back in the summer of 2019. There were numerous themes which kept cropping up when the vision for the club and, by extension, Jim's foundational principles of football management were discussed. A key one, to get an early talking point for this blog going, was the emphasis on running . Players who didn't have the required enthusiasm, work ethic, athleticism, and pace, to suit this new St Mirren side would simply not be signed in the first place. Less than 20 months isn't enough...

 How Much Will St Mirren Miss Jamie McGrath? The Liverpool legend Bill Shankly once said to an injured Tommy Smith, one of his most important players, "What do you mean your knee? It's Liverpool Football Club's knee." The story might be apocryphal, however, watching Jamie McGrath be substituted after a quarter of an hour against Celtic midweek with a dislocated shoulder, Jim Goodwin could have been forgiven for thinking "That's not just your  shoulder, that's St Mirren's shoulder." If the St Mirren player of the year awards were being dished out today, my podium for player of the season would consist of Jak Alnwick, Jake Doyle-Hayes, and Jamie McGrath. Any of them would be valid recipients of top spot, in my opinion, but when assessing the trio - and the squad overall - it's hard to reach any other assessment than Jamie McGrath being our most important player. After all, Dean Lyness deputised ably for Jak Alnwick against Hibs and Kilmarnock r...

A Love Letter To Team Goals I don't know if Jak Alnwick plays golf but, at a shade after quarter past 3, he got out the pitching wedge at Parkhead. Stationed 40 yards away on the right touchline was Marcus Fraser, who was deliberately avoiding the cover of Odsonne Edouard. The chip wasn't quite perfect which, in its own way, was absolutely perfect for St Mirren. Fraser ups his pace from a casual walk to a near sprint, acutely aware that Callum McGregor is being dragged further up the pitch, as if being gradually sucked into the ball's orbit. He decides that the floor is lava, volleying a pass inside. Surely, one of St Mirren's four central midfielders will be available? Cammy MacPherson is freed from the shackles of McGregor; yet he needs to show even more urgency than Fraser did. Ismaila Soro is rapidly descending. There's no time to think. Act only on instinct. The ball goes where it should - forward. Green and white jerseys are not structured at all; there's...