Paul Smith - A Tribute

When Steve Lomas was appointed as manager of St Johnstone; so Steve Brown became Chairman.

With both men new to their roles, one man has had his hands full in recent times, out-going Commercial Manager, Paul Smith. Paul is one the old school; efficient, intelligent, witty and free of political correctness which blights much of society.  He is generous to a fault and, in conjunction with Stan Harris, has worked hard to drag the club into the 20^th century!

I have been privileged to enjoy dealings with Paul over the last 6 years and I am still hurting at his departure from Saints. Here is a little story of the great void his departure will leave.

When Paul and I first became acquainted, I was running a local chip shop and figured that by using Saints, I could advertise my business. We ran several promotions intended to improve my business whilst promoting the club at the same time. During this period, I was amazed by Paul’s effort to help and also by the times he replied to emails. It was an early glimpse to the hours he was putting in.

Ultimately, I failed in the chip shop and found myself in a call centre. Paul never once treated me any differently, despite no longer paying for an advertising hoarding. He wouldn’t do that, he’s not that type.

In more recent times I got to know Paul in a different capacity. Information was exchanged via email; often unpolished ideas aimed at revenue generation, occasionally focussing on our dwindling attendances. These were usually high-level, missing detail or structure. Paul never failed to reply to each and every email. I once sent him ideas from some external research I had carried out. I prefaced the email with a line saying something like, “If this is rubbish, tell me to beat it.” Within a few hours, I had an amusing and detailed reply in which Paul explained that all ideas were always welcome. In my reply I told him not to waste time giving me detailed explanations, if they took the idea on board I’d be happy, if they didn’t I know they’d have good reason to decide against it. A few minutes later Paul explained that it would be discourteous not to reply. This email really was a measure of the man. He has been raised with a firm and correct set of values and they apply to all aspects of his life. Again, this email exchange took place outside of Paul’s “office hours”.

During the last few years, special people in my life have celebrated big birthdays. Paul went to great trouble to ensure that they felt special. What many people may not realise is that all of these things are essentially above and beyond his remit.

Paul’s role became one of the biggest at the club, not bad for a bloke who started as a casual volunteer! He had a key role to play in transfer activity, player registration, event management, advertising activities, organising the soccer skills programme, ensuring the corporate side ran smoothly, writing and maintaining the official website and other social media platforms.

He responded to almost every email the club received over the last years. He never once used external agencies for such responses and that speaks volumes for him. When the season ticket packs dropped through the door, I couldn’t help but wonder how many man-hours went into their design and production, Paul was involved in almost every word. I hope the number of Season Tickets sold, eclipses the number from three years ago because the Ormond thing was driven by Paul.

New strips are available to pre-order from Campus Sports and Paul had to deal with the interesting characters at TTL as well as liaising with Campus Sports in Perth’s High Street to ensure a high profile launch. He’d deal with pre-season fixtures, work with other clubs to negotiate ticket allocations/sales and ensure that our website had a full build up to away games including travel announcements.

When the national press wanted to pile misery on all at Saints following the stupid cancellation of the Rangers match, it was Paul who delivered the press release to baying journalists and it was his stiff upper lip which kept the lid on the subsequent hullaballoo. Our club is often criticised for not getting enough press coverage, but we’ve kept plenty of bad news stories out of the press and that, for any business, is far more important.

It’s impossible for me to do justice to Paul Smith in this format. Whether it was arranging “Cards 4 Hards” for Martin Hardie during his career threatening injury, discussing a possible CIC initiative, sharing U19 match reports, tweaking the website or debating the merits of other clubs marketing ideas  he was personable, professional and practical.

I know he’s moving to something he’s wanted to do for a long time, but I really wish he had changed his mind. Our club is losing a star player. His loss is bigger than Fran, Encks and Jody combined. He worked tirelessly for a club he loved and employers he respected.

My fervent hope is that his replacement is given time and space to learn and grow. Paul was richly enshrined in the Saints way long before becoming an employee of St Johnstone Football Club Limited. The new man won’t have such a luxury. One thing Paul did have, was the guidance of Stewart Duff.  Whatever his public perception, Mr Duff will be in great demand this summer and will surely play a key role in training and equipping Paul’s replacement. I know that the club are working with Paul to ensure that he can remain involved with Saints.

In closing, I have one last story. The last time I went to Tynecastle was for the Scottish Cup Game. I had left it late to buy my ticket and noticed they were on sale on the morning of the match. I went along and found Paul selling tickets from his office. He shouldn’t have had to give up time to do such a menial task yet he did so without complaint. Whilst doing so, he was involved in a discussion about locking the park after the team bus’ departure and was paying attention to the club’s Twitter page at the same time. All on his “day off”.

Paul, if you read this, I’ll miss you and I’m gutted you’re leaving our club. Thank you for excellent customer service, stellar communication, unparalleled commitment and for being a thoroughly decent bloke. It’s unlikely that anyone will replace you in the fullest sense of the word. My best wishes are with you in your new role. Look after yourself and enjoy yourself. You’re a club legend; you might not have had a squad number but if you did, it would be retired as a gesture of respect for loyal service above and beyond the call of duty. Thank you, boss.

Season Ticket Plea

As many of you know, I have taken the difficult decision to move away from Perth and begin a new life in the South of England. Aside from my leaving my family, there were two major wrenches in this decision; leaving behind my motor racing family at Knockhill and putting myself on the sidelines of supporting the football club I love.

I only have vague recollections of my first Saints game, which is perhaps a good thing! I went, with my grandad to watch my Aberdeen team play his St Johnstone team. Aberdeen won, I returned to Colonsay Street a St Johnstone fan for life!

Work, university and financial struggles have caused my attendance to be pretty skimpy throughout the last 27 years. As I move my things down South, it’s clear that my attendance record will not improve in near future. I will continue to back the club financially by renewing my season ticket and I will also make every effort to ensure that my ticket is used by those who will vocally support my team. I will continue to defend the club using social media outlets and I will work hard to raise the profile of both McDiarmid Park as a facility and the club as a community based function.

The season ticket packs are very late in being sent this year and with good reason. The club are struggling to agree on a budget for the coming year due to several outside factors. The revenue we can generate over this coming year is affected by several external factors such as; Rangers survival, European football and correct receipt of monies due by other clubs. The double dip recession may not have affected the gates, but has dramatically impinged upon the success of our corporate income. Further complicating the issue is the strategic discussion on how best to snare the four and five year olds who, like me, could easily become fans for life – supporting the club long after the current board shuffle off the planet.

Our manager is clearly exasperated by the state of flux and has upset many with his clumsy tone. His honesty and passion for our club are to be admired, but perhaps he needs to be more stoical in order to facilitate a stronger working relationship with our board, his employer. Our budget has been strong for several seasons, far higher than I would allow were I in charge. Some will argue the gamble paid off, especially as we received money for Del and Doc as well as extra pennies for our top six finish. With some perversity, we may even qualify for Europe, albeit undeservedly. Were I setting the budget, we’d have no Enckleman, Morris, Davidson et al. That said, Fran Sandaza is hardly on big money and it could be decades before we are privileged to watch such a great player ply his trade in our strip.

This is a big summer for our club. Strong leaders like Cal Davidson will be essential to our success next season. The Dunblane boy is not only a super player, he is central to our youth development. The U20s give more for him than they do for the others. He is easy to respect, thanks to enormous amounts of experience, professionalism and skill.

Looking at our form following the split it’s very easy to see what went wrong. Marbella was a disaster. My great friend, @HannahElizabeth, was the first to raise the issue. Steve Lomas will learn from that mistake. He is a very new manager and is not perfect.

The game against Dundee United was pivotal. Put simply, if we had won that game we’d have qualified for Europe on merit. We started well and were undone by some cruel fortune. Sandaza lost the plot, Lomas responded by readying Haber to replace him. Incredibly, the player got sent off after an unpleasant altercation with Sean Dillon. There was fault on both sides but the end result was that we were denied the services of our best striker for three critical games.

We started well against both Motherwell and Celtic; comfortably being the better team. On both occasions we let our collective heads drop, following the loss of goals which were dubious at best. With your best striker out, and with little to genuinely play for, that is perfectly understandable especially with big players (Midge, Morris, Sheridan et al) realising their futures lay elsewhere.

In the final game against a strong Rangers side we played some of the best football since the days of Sturrock/Clark. We dominated the opening spell, were undone by a beautiful goal and lost a second chasing an equaliser. It went all wrong after that. It was cruel beyond words.

The players and management were rounded on for not coming over to applaud the fans following that defeat. Put yourself in their boots, our players were gutted and simply wanted the ground to swallow them up. I can understand that.

There is more than enough evidence to suggest this club will remain in the SPL for several years to come. The club are trialling new initiatives and Paul Smith should be given huge credit for his role in making the Tay Play days a vibrant success. Yes, they run at a loss – but they may well have a long term benefit which could prove to be immeasurable.

Our groundsman, Chris Smith, is working miracles on a tight budget. If any Saints philanthropist is reading this, they might want to consider donating £2500 to him in order to allow him to purchase some additional equipment which he feels would bring great benefit to the club.

The general maintenance standards of the stadium are good, but on-going costs will only rise for as long as we remain based at PH1 2SJ. A new stadium must have good transport links. Unforeseen costs, which could cripple another club, will generally go unnoticed at Saints thanks to Geoff’s prudence. We have contingencies for rainy days.

We have great staff. All areas of McDiarmid are full of enthusiastic, professional folks from a wide range of demographics. The ticket office girls are a constant pleasure to deal with and front desk work hard to make visitors and guests feel welcome. The Muirton Suite is inviting and wee Stuart can be seen doing the rounds pre-match. Paul Smith should be honoured in due course for his service which goes above and beyond the job requirement at all times.

Our board are ready, willing and excited for the challenges to come. Geoff’s shoes are large ones to step into and mistakes will occur at all levels – that is normal in any business. I trust our leaders, I love this club. I urge you all, please dig deep, please buy a season ticket and please be true supporter of this great and proud club.

Please don’t run the club into the ground. Promote the club, promote our games, enthuse others through general conversation. We have all enjoyed great times as Saints fans. Let’s make sure that younger generations get that same thrill as we did when Kano scored against the Dee or when the final whistle blew and we won at Parkhead.

This is a golden era in our history. We are stable and solid in the SPL. New and exciting players will arrive to make our team strong. We’ll compete against the best and we’ll beat them on our day. Those days are priceless memories.

Stand strong in support of Saints. Renew or buy a season ticket. Please.

February Round Up at McDiarmid

Long Time no Blog

Regular readers will have noticed the lack of blogs over recent games. Aberdeen, Dunfermline and Killie have all went unblogged for various reasons. With the first team having a free weekend, now is good time for a round-up of all the good things happening under Steve Lomas and Tommy Wright.

Firstly, Alan Mannus is getting the chance to stake a claim for the starting jersey next season. The Northern Ireland keeper had played second fiddle to Enckleman for most of the year, eventually securing a start in the Scottish Cup replay against Hearts at McDiarmid. He saw a penalty fly past him in that game, but he saved one at Rugby Park.

There is little secret that Lomas is hunting for a new goalkeeper and Enckeman’s departure is surely now no more than a formality. Equally, there is little evidence to suggest that Mannus is doing enough to secure the jersey. Enckleman, Callum Davidson and Jody Morris are big earners at our club and all three seem set to depart in the summer leaving reasonable sums of money for Mr Lomas to work with.

Helping his cause is the form of our on-loan gems. Cads, May and Clark have all starred for the loan teams whilst Vinnie is getting stuck in at Borough Briggs too. If we can retain youngsters at half cost, whilst getting them games at a decent level, we’ll have better players and more opportunities to loan those hitting 19 years of age.

I expect that Enckleman’s salary will go straight to our new goalie and I also expect that Zander will remain on board for another year, assuming he can secure a season long loan. By the end of next season, if he hasn’t proven good enough to be our back-up; he’ll probably be away.

At right back, Dave Mackay looks more and more comfortable each week. He certainly plays better football when he’s paired with Midgie Millar, but Lee Croft’s gradual improvement, in form if not fitness, is allowing Cup Tie to flourish and Lomas must be delighted to have him on board for next season.

The three central defenders all have contracts for next season too so that only leaves Maybs and Davidson with decisions to make. Maybury will surely be offered terms, Lomas has often highlighted the great versatility of the former Hearts player. Of course the fullback may well look elsewhere for regular starts but I suspect that security of income will keep him at McDiarmid for one more year.

Callum Davidson is a more confusing one. Involved in some training of the young boys and a hugely calming influence on the pitch; Cal is far from being the player he once was for us. He is drawing a large salary and is arguably struggling to justify his rate. Liam Craig can play the full back role and Davidson certainly hasn’t got his best years in front of him. That said, we all remember the struggles of the first division when Liam was our regular full back and there’s no doubt that Liam behind Compton would leave us exposed down that side of the pitch. For my money, I’d keep Callum on the same terms; he’s a great example of professionalism, style and attitude. The young lads look up to him and that speaks volumes; a leader on and off the pitch.

In midfield, Chris Millar has been sitting on a revised offer for some time now. I still think that the Take That wannabe will sign on for another couple of years but he won’t do so without some assurances. It seems  clear that he’s not exactly a Lomas player but that doesn’t mean there’s no future for him. He’s beaten off the rivalry of several wide men over the last few years and he’s significantly better than Lee Croft at the present moment. That leads to two questions; how long before Croft gets bored and how long until he gets fit? Undoubtedly a fit and enthusiastic Lee Croft is an asset to St Johnstone, but I’m not convinced we’ll ever see that realised. Compare Croft to Compton and you’ll the see the difference between night and day in terms of hunger and desire.

If Midgie doesn’t sign; neither McIntosh nor Gray are ready to step up. Arguably Stevie May could play wide right, but only in an attacking sense. He’d be a hard act to replace; I hope we secure a deal shortly.

In central midfield, Jamie Adams remains on the sidelines whilst Kevin Moon must be considering buying houses in Leicester. There are various stories surrounding his latest absence, all that matters is that he should be fit for Paisley. Moon is a player who can transform our team and we need him available and fit. Thankfully, Moon is under lock and key for next year. Jamie may well have to prove himself in pre-season.

Muzz and Morris will continue to form the basis of our midfield for the remainder of the season. I expect that Morris will be away in May and that will be a mixed blessing for the club. He’s undoubtedly a super wee player but....

Murray Davidson is becoming a bit of a target from sections of the support. They praised him and raised him into something he wasn’t in his debut season and now that he’s falling short of their delusions, they are castigating him for failure! The lad has never been that good and he is bumbling through the season in customary form. He always gives 100% and is a true crowd pleaser in terms of his tackles; but he’s not a great player. It’s not through coincidence that clubs have stopped scouting him. We should have pushed him harder when we had the chance.

David Robertson remains a Saints player.

Liam Craig is one of several players who’ve blossomed under Steve Lomas. The left footed midfielder has turned in some excellent performances for the new gaffer including a brief spell as an attacking central midfielder at Fir Park. He was Derek McInnes’ first signing and he may well prove to be his longest lasting signing. He is contracted into next year and must be a player we’re hoping to tie down for a few years to come. Jack Compton is his direct rival and I sincerely hope to see the two of them play bit parts in games. Compton looks a magical wee star and will hurt teams with thirty minutes to go. Whether or not he’ll deserve a regular start remains to be seen, but he looks very good so far.

Up top and it’s all a bit of a revelation. Haber is the only one of the front men who looks likely to be offered revised terms. Sheridan’s wage is eye-watering and the deal simply cannot suit his parent club. I fully expect him to extricate himself from the Bulgarians and to get even half of his salary he’ll have to move down South, possibly with Jody.

Sandaza was always gonna use Saints as a stepping stone to greater things so it’ll be no surprise to see him bid farewell. He fully recognises the importance of getting amongst the goals between now and the season’s end. He’s been snatching at things in recent weeks but he’ll lose that with his next goal. He remains a class act. He will score again. He will score soon.

Haber is working harder for Lomas than ever he did for McInnes. He is almost perfect in one v ones and has a might shot when he gets room for a strike. He’s good in the air and has sufficient strength for this league. What he lacks is that final bit of grit and arguably he needs to make more intelligent runs. Under Lomas’ tutelage he could easily be our number striker next season.

Finners is effectively released and there is little doubt that Mr Higgins is being encouraged to find a new club. Lomas needs, and deserves, players who are fully committed to St Johnstone. Stevie Amy seems likely to play a part in next season’s SPL campaign, interesting that Haber has many similar traits to Stevie Reynolds....

So watch out for an expensive keeper, two strikers (one proven and one gamble) and a central midfielder who can also play right midfield. I don’t expect Cads to play SPL next season, Gayfield could remain his loan club.

In terms of the under 19s, Gray and Kane are the two most likely to break through. That said, the 11 players on show today were excellent and that was without Gareth and Kano. A brief match report can be found at http://banned101saint.blogspot.com/2012/03/saints-v-hearts-u19-spl.html

 

Other issues surrounding the club include the financial incompetence of our rivals. Rangers and Dunfermline are the latest clubs to hit financial troubles. Both clubs, like Hearts and Dundee United can trace their troubles to arrogant leaders, who couldn’t count beans. Scottish football is in a dire condition. The game is a patient relying on the life support of SKY/ESPN money. When it goes, our game will die a slow and undignified death.

We need the SFA to wise up and take control of our whole game. The SPL was a joke started by greed and driven by the bigot brothers. It needs to be scrapped as it serves no function. The cash handouts are wrong, but not by much. Sport is a meritocracy and it’s only correct that the winners get more than the losers. What’s wrong is the percentage split. It needs to be in some semblance of balance or the rich will walk away from everyone else.

Club chairmen, not ours thankfully, are generally too stupid to recognise that they need to increase income and reduce expenditure so the ruling body needs to motivate them to run fiscally sound businesses. The quality of our game cannot sink much further so we should be bold and radical in our approach. We should consider enforcing a single bank account rule for day-to-day transactions. The implantation of a points’ deduction if clubs are in a debt position; one point deducted per £10,000 of debt. We should shun TV unless it’s on our own terms. Loyalty has been scrapped away from clubs as more and more fans sit in their homes and pontificate online. The next generation will be greatly depleted unless we bring them back into our stadia.

We should stop paying attention to our European co-efficient. Most fans, including this writer, don’t understand the word and it really is futile in deed. Most Scottish clubs who qualify for Europe do not gain in any material fashion. Many real fans cannot afford the trips, the clubs incur expensive costs and bureaucratic difficulties. And for what? Defeat to an unheard of team, super!

We can’t cap players salaries but we can do almost the same thing by capping the gate price. If clubs can’t get into debt, have no TV money and rely on gate receipts and we reduce those gate receipts there are few other ways to pay their players. If the leagues in Scotland all charged £5 per game, we’d see crowds and clubs transformed.

Of course stadia would need developed and ticket money alone would not meet that cost. Ground sharing would become the norm and that would require artificial pitches. That has benefits for the club. A source of midweek revenue for one; a groundman’s wage saved for another. Clubs need to become businesses. They need to create money from stadia and they need to invest that money wisely in the hope that they can attract new customers to the club; both commercially and through football.

If Rangers, Hearts, United, Killie and Dunfermline all close their doors; I’d care not a jot. History would be lost, but lessons would be learned. TV could not replace punters, fans remain the lifeblood of football clubs and fans must be encouraged to return whether through financial catalysts or sheer and brutal loyalty.

I love St Johnstone as do many others. We should be thankful for the Browns and mindful of the Murrays and Milesons.