It Must Be Love Street

 It's The Saints! 20/21 End Of Season Awards Highest league finish in Scottish football (7th) since 1989; first time in almost 40 years we managed to reach the semi finals of both national cup competitions; the only Scottish team to defeat Rangers over 90 minutes this term; most points (45) in the top flight this century... It has been an impressive campaign, albeit tinged with lingering regret for what might have been - a trophy, chiefly, although our first top 6 finish since the introduction of the split was agonisingly out of reach too. Nevertheless, the curtain call signals the time for prizes to be given out, so let's tell the story of the season through some awards: Golden Boot Winner: Jamie McGrath (17) The Simeon Jackson Award For Best Penalty Taker Winner: Jamie McGrath (10/11) A stellar showing from the Irishman, who didn't quite hit the ground running pre-pandemic in the same manner as compatriot and fellow January recruit Conor McCarthy but has more than made up...

 Tale Of The Tait: Game Winning Subs & Switches vs Ross County Jim Goodwin wasn't able to set foot in the dugout on Wednesday but that wasn't necessary for him to influence proceedings up in Dingwall. Watching on in the stands, he would doubtless have been impressed as his St Mirren side transformed a match, threatening to meander into a dull and dreary affair, into a full throttle exhilarant. Tactical tweaks and superb individual displays ensured St Mirren were able to turn the screw, to such an extent that Ross County became ragged and lost their composure as they desperately tried to grab a precious equaliser. Perhaps defeating John Hughes in a battle of strategic nous isn't the steepest of challenges in the SPFL Premiership, as even Yogi questioned in post-match whether his team had been too 'gung-ho'; yet the ability to rectify mistakes and then significantly improve the team is a real feather in the cap for any manager. This article will take a look at how...

Possible New St Mirren Signing: Erion Hoxhallari  St Mirren have been no strangers to venturing into the European transfer market in recent years, experiencing successes (Hladky, Durmus, Popescu, Muzek), failures (Djorkaeff, Chabbi, Corbu), unknown quantities (will Peter Urminsky ever play a game for us?) and really unknown quantities (Duckens Nazon - a delightfully peculiar and enigmatic international footballer who was, rather endearingly, a bit crap). However, with the pandemic, Brexit, and Jim Goodwin's fondness for signing players from the League of Ireland, it looked unlikely St Mirren would be dipping their toes into continental Europe for new recruits anytime soon. That was until Richard Wilson posted this tweet  suggesting Albanian international defender Erion Hoxhallari would be joining the club: Like the rest of you, I had never heard of Erion Hoxhallari before this weekend; unlike the rest of you, I am sad enough to devote hours of time researching him and pon...

  Looking At St Mirren's Narrow Failure To Reach The Top 6 After 33 games, played over 8 months in unprecedented circumstances, St Mirren fell short of the stated aim for this season - top 6 status - by 3 goals. Level on points with League Cup winners St Johnstone is no mean feat considering how impressive Callum Davidson has been in his rookie year as a manager; yet there's undoubtedly a lingering sense that the Buddies have let a very promising opportunity slip between their fingers. The league table, which is essentially a large spreadsheet, shows how tantalisingly close the two sides were but let's dig a little deeper behind the numbers. Goalscoring Goals For: St Johnstone 34 (6th best in division)  St Mirren 30 (10th best in division) If you've spent much time this season on social media, or discussing the team in person with other fans, you'll probably have noticed St Mirren supporters have a tendency to bemoan their lack of goalscoring prowess. Yet again, th...

 Unsung & Underrated - In Praise Of Marcus Fraser Somewhat quietly, sandwiched between clashes with the Old Firm, St Mirren managed to go on a 5 game unbeaten run. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't scintillating, and at times it was actually very fortuitous. The penalty we were awarded against Ross County, for instance, granted us our only victory in that sequence - and that should not have been given. We have looked tired, uninspired, and our performances have lacked somewhat in skill, pace, and guile. This was to be expected considering injuries and our punishing schedule. Eight games in the shortest month was taxing enough; all of our opponents were fired up too. There were no dead rubbers with Aberdeen and Livingston both gunning for Europe. Similarly, Motherwell, Hamilton, and Ross County are desperate to avoid the relegation zone. Playing some of these games - Aberdeen and Livingston especially - in appalling weather conditions meant our style of play was less important com...

 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...