Temple Of Saints - Latest News From the Oracle
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November
November 7th - 
Saints head north today looking for their third win in a row. Dave Mackay(right) is hoping to add some luck to our cause as well - he's only lost once against Aberdeen in 11 games. The right-back told today's Courier, "Hopefully I can keep this going now I’m a St Johnstone player. And I certainly see this as a game we can win. I’ve got a terrible memory but two matches against Aberdeen stand out for me. My last game for Dundee was a 2-1 win at Pittodrie when Derek Soutar made his first start for Dundee and Stevie Milne got one of our goals. The other one is that defeat up there with Livi which I remember for the fact we started really well but crumbled after losing the first goal and went down 3-0."
"I’m looking forward to going back to Pittodrie. It’s been three years or so since I last played Aberdeen and their squad has changed out of all recognition. Jamie Langfield would be one of only a few guys left at the club. We’ve now got two good wins under our belts. And the great thing from a confidence point of view is that we deserved to win both. It wasn’t as if we got lucky. Aberdeen by all accounts were unfortunate in losing to Hibs but we know that if we play as we can then we can win the game. The standard we have to match is the one we set in going to Easter Road earlier in the season and winning. That day proved we are capable of competing with the better teams away from home as well as at McDiarmid Park."
Collin Samuel and Steven
"Toe-job" Anderson both came through training yesterday so should be involved.
November 6th - 
We should have known better - I mean a player who doesn't play for the OF or in England getting into the Scotland squad? So no call-up for Murray Davidson. Elsewhere though Jody
Morris is in the Courier today and after admitting he'd "consider" a call-up to Scotland thanks to his grandfather's Tartan roots, he's been taking some stick.
Martin Hardie told the paper, "I’ve been at clubs where this sort of thing doesn’t happen—and it can be a long season. But fortunately at St Johnstone, Derek McInnes and Tony Docherty like having a bit of fun. And we’ve certainly enjoyed a laugh over this stuff about Jody playing for Scotland. He’d actually told me more than a year ago about his grandad having come from the Glasgow area. But there was no way there wasn’t going to be banter over Jody pulling on a Scotland shirt. Mocked up posters have gone up at our place depicting him wearing a kilt and tartan bunnet, with a bubble coming out from his mouth saying, “Gonnae gie me a pound of square sausage”. To be fair—he took it in good part!"
The lack of mention of Murray Davidson(right) in the Scotland setup though (either U-21 or full squad) has puzzled the Mad Mental One. "It’s a real surprise Murray not being named in either squad. You’d have thought he’d have got in the under 21s at least. But maybe being with a smaller SPL club hasn’t done his chances any good. I mean, there are guys being picked who aren’t playing for their club sides when Murray has missed just one game for us." . Derek McInnes was a bit more philosophical and he said, "If Murray keeps playing as he has been and progressing his career then at some point in time his talents will be recognise" - whether that will ever happen while he's at McDiarmid remains to be seen.
As for this weekend, the manager is expecting a tough match. "Pittodrie is going to be a test for us. They’ve been a bit up and down so far but over the course of the season they will climb the table and finish quite high up. But tough ask though this is, we go there on the back of two victories which we can take confidence from and if we turn in the kind of performance that we are capable of then hopefully we can bring something back from there."
Collin Samuel was back in light training yesterday but Stuart McCaffrey and Steven Milne are definitely out.
Finally the CIS draw is set for Tynecastle at 2pm on Monday.
November 5th - Latest rumour is that Wigan may be set to make a move for Collin Samuel. The striker, who should recover from his knee knock for the weekend trip to Pittodrie, is apparently being considered as a replacement for bad boy Marlon King. Elsewhere the Scotland U-21 squad was announced and was missing on-form Murray Davidson - there's now a rumour that he may be set for a call-up to the full squad today for the game against Wales.
November 4th - 
Saints beat Killie 2-1 in a closed-doors game yesterday with goals from Peter MacDonald and Paul Sheerin(right),
The lattter has also been speaking to the Courier about his decision to apply for the Arbroath job (which he lost out to Jim
Weir). He said, "I applied for the Arbroath job because the time is coming for me to get into that side of things.
I’m at a stage where I’m not playing as often as I’ve been used to and there comes a point where you have to accept that playing being your main focus is coming to an end.
And going through the process of applying for the post at Arbroath has only served to cement that with me.
I just feel I’m better looking for a job now than maybe next summer when—touch wood it doesn’t come to that—I might be out of work.
That was the first interview of my football career so I am glad to have had the opportunity.
And I was encouraged by the feedback I got from the Arbroath chairman who was kind enough to phone and tell me I’d interviewed well and they’d been impressed.
It was just lack of experience that counted against me.
I’m disappointed to have missed out but at the same time delighted for Jim Weir who I thought did well at Montrose and was harshly dealt with.
And I take consolation from the fact it could be worse for me. I could have been out of work and applying for the post.
At least I still have a job and with that the challenge of trying to feature more regularly for Saints, which I’ll knuckle down to.
But hopefully something else might come along in the near future —and I get the opportunity to obtain a grounding in football management.
"
"I look at Craig Levein and Miksu Paatelainen and I see two guys who learned their trade as part-time managers and went on to bigger things and that’s what I want to do. I could probably play another couple of years at a high level but I have to look to the future and the coaching/management side of the game. I’m doing my B Licence at the minute and my mind is made up. Before, I saw myself working with youths, but now I want to be my own man—to dip my toe in management. If I’d got the job at Arbroath I would have carried on playing but got the right kind of experienced person alongside me."
November 3rd - Despite the win at the weekend there are more than a few injury worries in the Saints camp. Steven Milne is still recovering from his injury and won't be available for the trip to Pittodrie this weekend while Euan McLean's ankle also rules him out. Collin Samuel has a knee knock which curtailed his involvement against the Bairns so will be limited in his training this week as will Jonatan Johansson who received 12 stitches in his head after a clash - that means he's likely to be wearing protective gear at the weekend. Finally Steven
Anderson missed out on Saturday after a "domestic accident" (he stubbed his toe) and his replacement Stuart McCaffrey was on the bench despite a pelvic injury.
Meanwhile congratulations to Jim
Weir who was appointed manager of Arbroath at the weekend.
November 2nd - 
Skipper Kevin Rutkiewicz(right) has admitted he was just glad to get Saturday's game out of the way so he can concentrate on his football again. After his second start of the season, the defender told the Sun, "That was my first SPL game in many years. My last one was with Aberdeen under Steve Paterson when we lost 4-0 at Kilmarnock. It has been a long time for me, but the boys were fantastic and they helped me through it. I was toiling a wee bit with my fitness for the last ten-15 minutes. It was a matter of hanging in there because it was important I got 90 minutes in my system as I have a full week to recover. Results-wise, we have had two wins in a row so hopefully we can keep it going. I enjoy my singing, but I will be looking for more positive football headlines now. It would be nice to be asked questions about my football rather than my music. I have a point to prove to myself in the SPL."
As for the win itself he knows how important it was. "Last season we found ourselves top of the league and it is vital to stretch away from teams. We are at the bottom end so any gap we will take no matter what time of the season it is. It is vital we get the points on the board as there may come a time when we are not picking up any. We have now played what we consider to be top six sides at home and we have given them all a game. You do get a bit nervous when a side comes back to make it 1-1 with a few passes going astray. But we scored at vital times with some quick goals that won us the game. It was a massive match. They came here with a chance to leap-frog us."
November 1st - Derek McInnes was happy with the win yesterday and after the game told the BBC, "We deserved it on chances created. Falkirk passed and moved well and made us nervous and edgy at times but we realise we won't get our own way for 90 minutes. We missed three or four clear chances to finish the game in the first half and I thought it might have been one of those afternoons. But the players showed a lot of qualities to win. It wasn't always good but it was always determined."
Meanwhile Murray Davidson told the Screws of the World, "My goal was a bonus - it was all about the result. I knew the keeper was out of his goal and gave it everything I had to get on the end of it. It was a relief after missing a first-half chance and going a few games without scoring. That's us five clear of Falkirk. We can hold our own in the league."
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