The Saints Are Coming - A 2019 Story

Europa League - October Update

2 Europa League Group Stage matches in October as Saints continue the search for group qualification.

Standard (A) and Sporting(A)

Standard were up first. St Mirren would raw first blood with a 4th minute Magennis strike, only to be pegged back 2 minutes later. Standard would take the lead in the 11th minute to make it 2-1. St Mirren wouldn't equalise until the 79th minute through Lewis Morgan, only for hearts to be broken in the 89th minute where Standard would retake the lead. 3-2.

95th Minute, substitute full back Ballo-Toure would find a small pocket of space, and with a desperate last minute attempt, he squeezed the ball under the Standard goalkeeper to ignite the flame of a top 2 spot, and qualification from the group. Standard 3-3 St Mirren.

Sporting were dead-set favourites to win the group outright, but found themselves struggling in 3rd place behind Standard and St Mirren. A 22nd minute penalty for St Mirren was converted by Super Stiker Lawrence Shankland to give St Mirren the advantage. Sporting would take advantage of slack Saints defending to level the scoring 5 minutes later.

Shankland would strike again in the second half to make it 1-2, and young starlet Maragh (currently keeping McGinn out of the team) would be on hand to make it 1-3 minutes later.

It wasn't to be though as slack defending allowed Sporting 2 goals to level the score and end the game 3-3. Saints stay in second - just.
 
Award Season - October Update

A plethora of awards would come St Mirren's way for September.

Player of the Month - Lewis Morgan
Goal of the Month - Cammy Smith
Young Player of the Month - Kyle Magennis (2nd Keiran Freeman) (3rd Greg Taylor)
Manager of the Month - Scott Dickson

Other Notable Awards

Championship Player of the Month - Jeff King, Moussa Haddad (3rd)
Championship Young Player of the Month - Haddad (2nd)
 
The League - November Update

St Mirren were hungry for revenge against Aberdeen, who put them out the Betfred Cup. A 27th minute Shankland goal would see that revenge realised with the score ending 1-0.
 
Team Fixtures - November Update

St Mirren played 5 fixtures during the month of November - 3 in the League, and 2 in the Europa League. The 2 fixtures in Europa League would determine whether or not I would see my team through to the next round. St Mirren last competed in Europe in 1987, after winning the Scottish Cup.

During the 80's St Mirren frequently qualified for the UEFA Cup and European Cup Winners Cup.

In 1980-81 St Mirren finished 3rd in the league - their highest ever league finish. Their first game saw the Paisley side play IF Elfsborg. A 2-1 win at Ryavallen was enough to see them through after a 0-0 draw at Love Street, setting up a second round game against Saint Etienne. Another 0-0 draw at St Mirren followed by a 2-0 defeat saw St Mirren exit their European Debut.

In 83/84, St Mirren once again qualified through their third place league position. Their first round saw them play Feyenoord - littered with a plethora of Dutch internationals. St Mirren lost 1-0 at home and 2-0 in the second leg, exiting Europe in a 3-0 aggregate loss.

85/86 a 5th place finish saw St Mirren enter Europe for the third time in their history, this time being drawn against Czechoslovakian side SK Slavia Prague.A 1-0 loss away from hope preluded a 1-0 win to set up extra time at Love Street. St Mirren went 2-0 up in extra time to advance with a 3-1 aggregate win to set up a second round tie against Hammarby IF. The first leg ended 3-3, only for the valliant St Mirren side to crash out 2-1 losers at home and exit the competition.

The 198788 Cup Winners Cup saw St Mirren qualify through their Scottish Cup Victory. The club faced Tromso of Norway and won the first leg 1-0 at Love Street. The second leg ended 0-0 which was enough to see them through and play KV Mechelen of Belgium. The first leg ended 0-0, but the second leg saw St Mirren lose 2-0 and crash out the tournament. KV Mechelen would be a surprise package that year and run out tournament winners on their European Debut.

St Mirren have never qualified for the group stages, until I took over

St Mirren have currently been flying high in their Group, and remain undefeated. St Mirren have already gone further than they had ever gone in Europe, and were looking to continue this. A home tie against Sporting was next.

Jack Baird sent St Mirren into an early lead with an 11th minute header from a corner. Maragh double the sides lead 16 minutes later with a 25 yard strike. Cammy Smith made it 3-0 before the interval with a low driven strike from inside the box into the Portuguese side's goal.

The Paisley side remained ruthless after the break with Shankland's 66th minute screamer. A 30 yard volley into the top left corner after a well crossed ball from Hammill.

Fenerbahce made an early dent in St Mirren's progression hopes with a 24th minute Valbuena goal, only for Hammill an a Morgan double to see St Mirren run out 1-3 winners. St Mirren had done the seemingly impossible and qualified for the next stage! The Fairy Tale Story in Europe continued.
League Fixtures

St Mirren were predicted to finish inside the top 6 this season, despite their third place finish the previous year. The side were still performing above expectations and the Scottish Footballing World were waiting on the bubble bursting.

Shankland's goal into Aberdeen goalkeeper sealed a Cup Exit revenge for St Mirren and 3 valuable league points in the 1-0 win over Aberdeen.

Hammill, Smith and Shankland all scored in the 3-1 victory over Hamilton and keep the team in third place.

A 1-1 draw against Rangers, with youngster Maragh getting on the score-sheet. The youngster has currently proven to be a surprise addition to the first team squad. St Mirren stay third, and the bubble keeps floating.
 
November Awards

Manager of the Month - Brendan Rodgers, 2nd Stuart McCall, 3rd Scott Dickson
Championship Young Player of the Month - Haddad
Championship Player of the Month - Haddad

Haddad has shown how effective he has been to Falkirk. The on loan St Mirren player has performed exceptionally well in his time with the Championship side.
 
December Fixtures

Thanks to the winter break, December would be a busy month for St Mirren with a congested 8 fixtures - 7 in the league and 1 in Europe.

Europa League

With qualification already secured, St Mirren were playing for top spot in their group. Standard would be the final group game.

Smith, Hammill and Morgan would score in a dominant 3-0 win

League Fixtures

  • Hibs (Away) - 0-1 loss
  • Motherwell (Away) - 0-2 win (Shankland and McGinn, Greg Talyor sent off)
  • Morton (Away) - 3-4 win (Maragh, Shankland, Erhahon, Smith)
  • St Johnstone (Home) - 4-0 win (Basila, Maragh, Shankland, Johnstone)
  • Hearts (Home) - 2-3 loss (Danny Mullen x 2)
  • Dundee United (Away) - 1-5 win (Ballo-Toure, Magennis, Mullen x2, Smith)
  • Kilmarnock (Home) - 4-2 win (Shankland x 3, Maragh)
5 wins in a congested December fixture list saw the side move up to second in the league, 1 point ahead of Rangers. Celtic seem to be romping the league, and it looks like they will do 9 in a row.
 
December Awards

Young Player of the Month - Maragh
Player of the Month - Maragh
Goal of the Month - Jim Johnstone
Manager of the Month - Scott Dickson (3rd)
Championship Young Player of the Month - Haddad
Championship Player of the Month - Haddad
 
January Update - Transfer Market

January was a very busy month in the transfer market. The emergence of Herman Maragh brought around a number of offers from English Championship and Premiership clubs. Brighton initially came in with a £2 million offer. Due to his importance to my side in the Europa League, I asked them for £10 million and 40% sell on fee. They accepted. This prompted a flurry of other offers from Southampton, Chelsea and Manchester United. Manchester United won the transfer, and I broke my incoming transfer record.

Celtic also offered £2.9 million for unused youth player Steven Finn. I rejected this offer as I thought I could increase this if I actually played him. That and I didn't want to strengthen my opposition. After a month in which he scored 3 goals, I offered him to the transfer market for £5 million, this prompted a flurry of offers in which I played teams off against each other. I settled on another £10 million offer from Manchester United with a 35% sell on fee. £20 million in for January.

Josh Heaton also left for Motherwell for £20k after spending the season in the reserves. Whilst Liam Morris and Des Pres from the youth side left on loan deals for the remainder of the season.

At the beginning of the season, I manager to negotiate a £250k buy out on Lewis Morgan with Celtic, I decided to activate this as the winger had been performing fantastically with the club. Lewis Morgan was welcomed back into the St Mirren side he won the Championship title with.

I also brought in youth left back James Christie for £50k from Ross County to strengthen my side in the future. Scott Guest was also brought in from Aberdeen to replace Maragh in midfield for £60k - in my eyes a bargain.

Youth striker Ufuk Altay was brought in from Ajax for a fee of £500k. The stats of this striker look outstanding, and i'm surprised I was able to lure him to the side.

There were also a few lat flurries for my youth winger Sam Ross for £200k, however I believe I can get more than this if I decide to play the player. With an aging Adam Hammill, its likely this player will see more first team action.

All in all, I'm very pleased with this transfer window, a lot of money brought in, and some good talent brought in for a big push in the second half of the league.

Out
Maragh (£10 Million)
Finn (£10 Million)
Heaton (£20k)
Morris (Loan to Chesterfield)
Des Pres (Loan to Nashville)

In
Morgan (£250k)
Altay (£500k)
Guest (£60k)
Christie (£50k)
 
January Update - Fixtures

Thanks to the January break, I arranged 4 friendly games against junior football sides. The side scored a combined total of 20 goals and conceded 1.

January did not prove to be a good month for league results with 2 draws and a loss.

My side drew 3-3 with Aberdeen, with Shankland and Finn x2 scoring. A 2-0 loss to Rangers saw me surrender 2nd place to Rangers, whilst a 0-0 draw against Hibs saw the gap between 3rd and 2nd open.

In the Scottish Cup. St Mirren dispatched loal rivals Dumbarton 6-0 with Magennis scoring a hat-rick and, Taylor and Finn scoring with Dumbarton scoring an own goal.
 
February Update - Fixtures

Another busy month of fixtures within the month of February. 8 Games in all, 2 in the Europa League, 1 in the cup and 5 in the League.

Scottish Cup Fixture

St Mirren exited the Scottish Cup against Aberdeen. This is disappointing that I find myself exiting the cup again and not progressing further. I will need to review my team selection for future cup competitions ahead. Currently, I am yet to win a trophy. The game ended 2-1 with Hammill getting the only St Mirren goal.

League Fixtures
  • Hamilton (Home) - 3-0 win (Hammill, MOrgan, Basila)
  • Motherwell (Home) - 1-2 loss (Guest)
  • Morton (Home) - 2-1 win (Smith, Morgan, Shankland Sent off)
  • Celtic (Home) - 1-0 win (Hammill)
  • St Johnstone (Away) 1-3 win (Shankland, Morgan, Hammill)
4 wins in 5 fixtures keeps the chase on second place, I matched Rangers for the number of wins in the league and stayed 2 points behind them.

Europa League

My side had already gone way further than I thought they would go. I thought my side would go out against Feyenoord, and I never though i'd progress from the group stage. My first Knock out opposition was Rijeka of Croatia. A surprising 3-0 win in the first leg, saw progression pretty much secured. Lewis Morgan received a red card in a game that saw Magennis, Hammill and Shankland all score.

The second leg saw my side win 5-1 at home, with Ballo-Toure, McGinn and Shankland x3 all scoring. I progressed to the next round in an 8-1 aggregate win. The fairytale continues.
 
March Update - Fixtures

March was to be another important month for the Saints as we battled to finish 2nd in the league and continued with our European adventure. 5 games this month, 2 in Europe and 3 in the league.

Europa League

Into the last 16 now, and my next opponent was Stuttgart of Germany. This would surly be the point in which I would be eliminated from the tournament.

The first leg started well, going 2-0 up with goals from Hammill and Morgan, only for Taylor to be sent off. Stuttgart rallied and scored 2 late goals to level the game 2 each. I had the advantage with the away goals.

The second leg proved a cup shock Shankland put the Saints ahead, only for Stuttgart to level up quickly after. Morgan put the Saints ahead again, and the Captain sealed the deal and sent St Mirren into the quarter finals with 93rd minute goal. 3-1 on the day, 5-3 on aggregate.

League Results

Cammy Smith and Morgan combined, for the young winger to slot past Zlamal. Morgan turned provider to put Smith through to make it 2-0. Hearts scored late, but it was to prove fruitless. St Mirren earn the 3 points in a good away performance.

Porteous headed early to put St Mirren 1-0 up against Dundee United. A Shankland double and a solid defence from Basila and Porteous would see the 3 points stat in Paisley. St Mirren stay third.

An early red card for Aberdeen would set the tone for the game as the Dons struggled to grab a foothold in the game. Yellow cards a plenty would ensure that both teams would be fined for the game. Cammy Smith would score the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win for St Mirren.
 
March Update - Youth Intake

Since my reputation was slightly higher this year, largely thanks to my European run, I was able to pries more players away from other teams. 18 youth players signed in total, all showing a 4 star or higher potential. These players will see out the season in my under 18's before being sent out on loan for first team experience next season.
  • Aidan Cunningham
  • Giles Leberton
  • Michael Burnett
  • Jim Park
  • Kenny ***
  • Andre Fernandes
  • Pierre Samake
  • Dougie Milne
  • Barry Wilson
  • Lee Ross
  • Gary Frame
  • James McKay
  • Mark Stewart
  • Cammy Sutherland
  • Dominic Leddie
  • John Gunn
  • Garry Boyle
  • Willie Malcolm
 
April Update - Fixtures

April was a poor month for the side. Rangers stretched their lead over me in 2nd place, Celtic would win the league and secure 9 in a row, and I would be knocked out of Europe.

Real San Sebastian would beat me 2-0 in the first leg, and draw with me in the second 2-2. Porteous and Shankland would score

Celtic, Rangers and Kilmarnock would all beat me in the league, 0-1, 0-2 and 1-3 respectively. Morgan would score the only league goal of the month.
 
May Update - Fixtures and Curtain Close on Season 2

May would be an important month in the race for second place. For me, it would show progress to secure 2nd place, as it would be a place better off than last season. The clubs highest points total in the Premiership is 76 points, I was currently sitting on 67, with 4 games remaining.

Rangers were 4 points ahead of me headed into the final month and both teams still had to play Celtic. I had to hope they lost twice.

I was gifted an early break in the first game of the month against Hibs. After going 1-0 down, my plucky Saints side came back to win 1-4. Goals from McGinn and a Shankland Hat-rick sealed the 3 points. News filled the ground at full-time that Rangers had also lost 1-0, and the gap was down to 1 point, with 3 games remaining.

Morgan and Smith make comfortable work of Aberdeen away from home in a 0-2 win for St Mirren. A win for Rangers kept the gap at 1 point. St Mirren have the superior goal difference so a draw for St Mirren and a loss for Rangers would see the Paisley side sneak 2nd spot.

Celtic would deal a blow to St Mirren's 2nd place hopes with a 4-1 victory. 4 early first half goals secured the three point for the Hoops. Lucky for St Mirren, Rangers would also lose. Shankland netter St Mirren's only goal. 1 point in it, 1 game left.

It would go down to the last game of the season. St Mirren were at home to St Johnstone, whilst Celtic would play Rangers at Celtic Park. Early roars around St Mirren park were heard when Edouard would score for Celtic in the first minute. The lead for Celtic was doubled 12 minutes later with a Rogic goal. St Mirren would move into second place on goal difference. It was 3-0 Celtic before the 40th minute with Borjan scoring an own goal. 2nd place for St Mirren would be sealed with a draw as Celtic went 4-0 ahead with Rogic grabbing his second shortly before half time.

Morelos would pull one back and make it 4-1 straight after the interval. We could be set for a dramatic finish here! But any hopes of a Rangers comeback were to be quashed when Celtic scored a 5th through Sinclair. McKenna made it 6-1, and Ryan Jack would be sent off for Rangers. All St Mirren had to do was draw.

The first half would be largely uneventful and the second half looked to be much the same. Howkins would change that however and sent the St Mirren fans into rapture with his 76th minute own goal. Guest would make it 2-0, and Hammill would add a late third. St Mirren would take second place and secure their highest every Premier league Finish.

St Mirren's Rivals Morton would be relegated after completing the season in 12th place, whilst Hamilton Academical would have to battle it out in the play-offs to stay in the top flight.
St Mirren's loan players also performed incredibly well over the course of the season. Breadner would score 3 goals and assist three more in his 23 appearances at Forfar. Ebui would score 17 and assist 1 in his 43 games. Haddad would score 13 and assist 9 in 40 games. Diarra would play 23 times as Falkirk ran out league winners.
I would also be named Writers' Manager of the Year for my club overachieving this season and performing well in both the league and Europe.


Below is also listed the Historical best XI


In Europe St Mirren would break a number of records. The biggest win of the tournament would come against Naftci in an 8-0 win. St Mirren would also go on a 15 game unbeaten run, and would also score the most team goals with 54. Lewis Morgan would be top goalscorer with 12.



Fans Player of the Season would be Adam Hammill.
Jim Johnstone would earn Goal of the Season
Lewis Morgan would be the signing of the season
Whilst Magennis would be the Young Player of the Season
 
Season 3 Preparations

I decided to give my team a longer rest for the season and have decided that pre-season will be three weeks long. Once again I will pile in a load of pre-season games against lesser opposition.

The board have also agreed to my requests of increasing both my scouts and physios. They also approved a £1 million expansion to the clubs Youth System. The board also informed me that they would be filling in the corners of the stadium and increasing capacity by 1325 at the cost of £1.6 million.

Squad Improvements
The defence still cost me a few vital goals, and if I am to win the league this year I may need to spend more on the defence this year. Shankland scored plenty, however there were period where he struggled to find the net. However I have plenty of youth players that look like they could make the step up. Largely, the squad will be reduced in size with older players being sold
 
Finances

There were some big changed to the clubs finances over the last season.

In my first season in charge, the club took in £1,250,730 in profits. This season the club took in £25,855,730. Almost £12 million was brought in through prize money, whilst tv money and gate money were doubled. Sponsorship quadrupled which grants were also up. Season ticket stayed largely the same.

Club expenditure also doubled, largely down to ground maintenance and tax.

They're may be areas where I can reduce cost without impacting on the first team significantly.
 
Backroom Additions

I've slightly neglected my reserve and under 18's sides of late with their management staff. So I decided to update the backroom teams of both

Under 18's Staff

Manager - Simeon Jackson
Assistant Manager - Stephen Payne
Coach - Burton O'Brien
Fitness Coach - Andy Hogden
Goalkeeping Coach - Lee Kesley
Physio - Natasha Doyle
Sports Scientist - Jamie Hesketh
Data Analyst - Steven Stewart

Reserves Staff

Manager - Andreas Ivanschitz
Assistant manager
Coach - Kevin Ellison
Fitness Coach - Paul Morgan
Goalkeeping Coach - Paddy Kenny
Physio - Steph Wells
Sports Scientist - Katy Rudd
Scout - To Be Assigned

First Team Staff

Assistant Manager - To Be Assigned
Head of Development - To Be Assigned
Coach - To Be Assigned
Scout - To Be Assigned
Scout - To Be Assigned
Director of Football - To Be Assigned
Data Analyst - To Be Assigned


*First Team News

Craig Samson has also retired. I tried to sign him as a goalkeeping coach for my reserves, but the preferred the role of scout and his stats didn't look goo for the role.
 
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