On The Pitch
What a difference a year makes!
Top of the league and playing a brand of football that we can all enjoy. I said when we took over that I wanted to see us play attractive football and to entertain our fans and I think Jack's team is delivering on that vision. Whilst it’s still early days it’s great to see us at the right end of the table where we belong.
It’s great to see our supporters buying into what Jack & James have brought to the club as they continue to build on the momentum gained from the excellent end to last season.
We have sold 2,823 season tickets this year compared to 2,453 last year and that support has allowed us to assemble a squad that is well equipped to challenge for the Championship title.
The excellent uptake in season tickets has also allowed us to fulfil our commitment to house all away fans in the North stand for every league game in Paisley this season, leaving the West stand as a Saints only area.
Lewis Morgan
One of the highlights of this year has been the continued development of Lewis Morgan into a player who is not only starting for the Scotland under 21s, but excelling with them and putting in man of the match performances.
It’s no secret that we received a substantial offer for him from an English Championship club in the summer and with his contract running out at the end of this season the prudent decision would have been to take the money.
As a board we were however united in our decision to refuse any offers.
We felt that his potential contribution to our league challenge and to the way the team plays far outweighed the financial benefit the club would have received.
It’s a joy to watch Lewis Morgan play football and we hope to see him grace the stripes for as long as possible.
Lewis is a very sensible and grounded individual who will undoubtedly go on to play at the very highest level for both club and country.
We would like to think that we can help him along that path and have not given up hope that we can yet convince him to sign a new contract.
Kit Update
The decision to take the sale of the strips in house is proving to be a big success. We have sold nearly 1500 to date and, along with the Skyview Capital sponsorship, we have already eclipsed the revenue generated by our previous deal. Campbell Kennedy asked us to put our faith in him with this project and together with the club shop they have delivered on that faith.
As you may be aware we have had a few teething problems with the new strips. These were mainly down to the English contractor who was responsible for adhering the badges to the strip. To Joma's credit they have acted swiftly and have already contracted with a different company based in Scotland for next year's kit.
For this Saturday's top of the table clash we will be wearing a new, specially embroidered, third kit to celebrate the club's 140th Anniversary which will go on sale in the club shop in early October.
The only hint for Saturday is that we will not be the team in black and white stripes!
The Stadium
The atmosphere created on match days is as good as I have ever witnessed since moving to the new stadium.
The ground has been criticised at times for being rather soul-less but when this team starts playing and the drum starts beating the stadium starts rocking!
Paisley 2021
We are in the process of organising a musical event at the stadium before the Brechin City game on September 30th to coincide with the final submission of the Paisley 2021 bid. Full details of this will be revealed shortly!
SMiSA
I’m sure you’ll agree that the SMiSA wall which was constructed during the summer has been a great addition to the stadium. It’s tremendous to see generations of fans gather there on matchdays to have their photograph taken next to their name.
On that note SMiSA are running a short survey for supporters to complete, whether you are currently a member or not. Please take a couple of minutes to complete this. It’s important that we continue to collectively learn what we can do better and hopefully encourage others to join.
You can take the survey by clicking here.
Also don’t miss your chance to attend the meet the manager night this Thursday at the stadium (14th Sept from 18:30).
You can register to attend here.
Thank you once again for your backing both on a match day and financially. We ask a lot of supporters be it through Season Tickets, Away Day travel, SMiSA subscriptions, 1877 Club Membership and Club Replica Kit & Merchandise.
This all goes towards creating a team we can hopefully all be proud of and rest assured none of it is ever taken for granted.
See you all at East End Park!
