If we’re in it to win it...we need a win
So much has been made of promotion being the target at St Mirren Park this season.
For the first time in 11 years, or what seems like eternity, St Mirren appear to have given themselves a chance to show they have what it takes to show precisely how far the club has come under Jack Ross.
Since St Mirren were finally put out of their misery like a wounded animal with relegation in 2015, their shining light sold to Aberdeen and the next off the production line allowed to leave for free, and despite the promise of actually maybe winning a few games following eight miserly years in the top flight, nothing has exactly gone to plan.
Such has been the ferocious and unpredictable nature of the Saints’ plight, both Ian Murray and Alex Rae eventually lost their jobs trying to get the side back on the right side of the tracks.
Fast forward to 2017 and the present day, and on the face of things not a lot has changed.
St Mirren lost another star man in close season, with Stevie Mallan sold to Barnsley, while they continue to run the risk of losing Lewis Morgan on a free at the end of this summer.
Natural order has been resumed, some may claim.
And despite having ambitious plans to strenghen the side this summer, meaningless little things like budgets have seen the list of players the Paisley side may have been unable to secure longer than Ross Stewart’s legs.
With deadline day now less than a week away, the remaining days of the transfer window are no doubt set to be quieter than the Main Stand for the upcoming cup clash with Hearts Colts.
Business, if any, is more likely to be done with players heading out through the Greenhill Road departure lounge – though the club will have to find someone to take their unwanted players in a bid to balance the books.
Unlike his business in January, which was constantly flung back at him when the big papers jumped on the JR bandwagon at the end of last season, little has been made of the amount of new faces coming through the door over the summer — 12 new faces to be precise.
That, and improved contracts for those who helped manage to stave off relegation, won’t have come cheap.
That’s not to mean St Mirren are any stronger.
But they certainly look up for the fight when it comes to matching the targets set out to them by Ross and James Fowler on the first day of pre-season.
In previous years, securing a spot in the promotion play-offs has often been seen as the club’s minimum ambition in their quest to get back up with the big boys.
Though, in hindsight, what would have been given for a no-mark season without any threat of heading through the division’s opposite trapdoor over the past two years.
This time however, there is actually something to base these ambitions on – and the supporters know it.
To have any chance of keeping their main assets this summer, the likes of your MacKenzies, McGinns, and even Jack Ross himself, it was paramount the club and the playing side were capable of matching that ambition which starts in the boardroom, spreads to the dressing room, and into the stands.
Whether that continues for the rest of the season, who is to know –but aside from another gruelling derby day defeat a fortnight ago – it is so far, so good.
St Mirren, like we need any reminding, would have lost the game against Livingston last Saturday had it taken place 12 or 24 months ago.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to admit that many assumed the game was gone the second Craig Thomson got his red card out quicker than you can say “AWAYYOUGOTHOMSON” or whatever home truths Ross told the bungling whistler later in the game.
But this is a different team, and the mistakes of yesteryear look to be being slowly, but surely, eradicated.
Instead of simply surrendering to Livi, a quick reshuffle and regroup at half time showed St Mirren return to the pitch in the second half full of confidence and with a swagger that suggests that they are ready to live up to their hype.
What was the most commendable thing about the whole performance was the contrast on what the side had experienced just seven short days previously at Cappielow, where Jack Baird’s red card showed a return to Saints’ old ways where the inevitable crumble saw the side collapse.
St Mirren’s refusal to blink at the pressure in their wake smacks of a side learning from their mistakes – and very quickly.
Defeat at Almondvale would have quickly brought back memories of the woes of the last two seasons – two defeats in a row at such an early stage of the season tends to do that – but St Mirren’s vision of themselves suggests that this weekend’s battle, surely the Championship clash of the weekend, goes a long way closer to deciding where their true level really is for this season and the coming months.
Unbeaten Dundee United are without doubt the bookies’ favourite for the title, and Ray McKinnon’s side have done little to dispel those assertions with a 100 per cent winning start.
But Ralston has an air of excitement rather than one of trepidation heading into the game, and a quick chat with Ross earlier this week saw him confirm that he is looking forward to what he described will be an exciting game of football.
A win this Saturday will represent a true changing of the guard of Ross’ regime.
From perennial battlers, the Saints manager has always been keen to turn ambitions from avoiding relegation to topping the table.
A win over Dundee United will prove to every one, from Paisley and beyond, that Saints truly do mean business.
And whether they land in the playoffs or not, one thing is for sure, it won’t be boring… it never is.