The Saints are Coming.

The Background.

May 15th 1997 was a momentous day in the history of European Football. Several European leagues, in the sure knowledge that the big leagues of England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain were beginning to move ahead of the leagues of the smaller countries, decided to do something about it.
The Continental League was thus established.

The nations which agreed to the changes were Scotland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Greece, Romania, Turkey, the Ukraine, Austria, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.

The format would be the same for all of the above nations.

Each national Premier or top league would consist of ten clubs. These clubs would between July-November, play each other twice. The top two teams from each division would qualify for the Continental league,, at this point for the remainder of the season leaving the domestic league. Both would gain entry into the Champions league, or if their national co-efficient is not good enough, the UEFA Cup.

The remaining eight clubs would then play each other twice between February and the end of May. The bottom club would be relegated and the top club would become the domestic champions. Should the co-efficient of the nation be good enough, the national champions would gain entry into the UEFA Cup.

The domestic Cup competitions would remain unaffected. The winners would still qualify for Europe.

The format of the continental league would be as follows, it would be split into two divisions, north and south. The North European Division would include teams from Scotland, Belgium, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Poland. The Southern European Division would consist of teams from Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, Austria, Czech Republic and Bulgaria.

The top two teams in each division would qualify for the semi-finals of the Continental League, to be played over two legs. The winners of the Semi-Finals playing in the Continental League final.

Television money would be pooled for all of the nations and equally divided out. Each qualifying club would receive a share of 75% of the television revenues, 25% divided out between the non-qualifying clubs. The first television deals were struck by March 1998, coming in at a total of £650 million. The changes would take effect from season 1998/99.
What will the timeline be concentrating on?
In the main, the fortunes of one Scottish team, St. Johnstone, although the Continental League will be dealt with..

Welcome to the footballing equivilant of the single currency.

Here we go...

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McDiarmid Park, Perth. The home of St. Johnstone FC.

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St.Johnstone FC Fixtures. 1998/99(pre-split section)

SPL Fixtures.

23/08/98 Kilmarnock (h)
01/08/98 Dundee (a)
15/08/98 Celtic (a)
22/08/98 Rangers (h)
30/08/98 Dundee United (h)
12/09/98 Motherwell (a)
19/09/98 Hearts (h)
26/09/98 Aberdeen (a)
04/10/98 Dunfermline (h)
17/10/98 Dundee (h)
24/10/98 Kilmarnock (a)
31/10/98 Celtic (h)
07/11/98 Dundee United (a)
15/11/98 Rangers (a)
22/11/98 Motherwell (h)
28/11/98 Hearts (a)
05/12/98 Dunfermline (a)
12/12/98 Aberdeen (h)

Coca-Cola League Cup.

Second Round.
08/08/98 Montrose (a)
 
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Roddy Grant, scorer of Saints winner.

St. Johnstone 2 Kilmarnock 1.

Saints came from behind in a scrappy encounter to overcome a resilliant Kilmarnock side, who showed a resilliance and a level of fight which meant they deserved at least a point in Perth.

The game kicked off in strong fashion, with Ian Durrant catching Jim Weir flat-footed, setting up Ally McCoist early on for his first goal in a Kilmarnock shirt with only four minutes gone. McCoist should have doubled his tally five minutes later when Ally Mitchell crossed the ball into the box, only for McCoist to unusually pass up a golden chance for a debut double.

As the opening period progressed, Saints managed to come more into the game and just before the interval, Danny Griffin missed a golden chance when he put a header over the bar from close range.

The second half started in lively fashion when George O'Boyle put Paddy Connolly through on goal, only for Kevin McGowne to dive in with an important tackle which stopped the Saints equalising.

As the half went on however it became clear that the moment was coming and when it came, it came in spectacular fashion, with Nick Dasovic picking up a free ball at the edge of the Kilmarnock half on the hour mark and driving the ball into the back of the Kilmarnock net.

The Perth men continued to push and their efforts were justly rewarded with five minutes to go, when substitute Roddy Grant headed home from a corner leaving Gordon Marshall helpless.

Both sides will need to improve if they are to get anywhere this season.

St. Johnstone line up : Main, McQuillan, Preston(Bollan 54'), Dods, Griffin, Dasovic, O'Neill, Scott, Connolly(Grant 76'), O'Boyle, Kane. Subs unused. Robertson, Whiteford, McAnespie.

Attendence 5,984

Other SPL results.
Aberdeen 1 Rangers 3
Celtic 1 Motherwell 1
Dundee United 3 Dundee 2
Dunfermline 0 Hearts 0

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Even Taggart would struggle to solve how Saints lost this one....

Dundee 1 St. Johnstone 0

Dundee fans left Dens Park happy, but wondering how they managed to win a game in which they only had one shot on target, and that a disputed penalty.

Paul Sturrock set St. Johnstone up from the outset well and they dominated the early proceedings, with Phillip Scott particularly impressive in the midfield, showing that he is a potential star in the making. The first real chance of the match came after five minutes, when Danny Griffin hit the crossbar from a corner kick, much to the relief of the Dundee defence.

Things got worse for the Dens Parkers when after an hour, Steven Tweed was sent off for violent conduct, bringing George O'Boyle down just outside the box when the Ulsterman was clean through on goal. The resulting free kick was taken by Dasovic who promptly put it over the crossbar.

Paddy Connolly then headed against the post on the stroke of half time, following a mazy run by Scott, who was clearly man of the match and a cross straight onto his head.

Rab Douglas was outstanding the whole afternoon, and in particular in the second half, when to Dundee fans the game more resembled a re-enactment of Rourkes Drift with themselves as the defenders than a match they had a chance of winning.

But win they did, as on 81 minutes, Douglas punted the ball up the field after a poor shot by John O'Neil which was held well, the ball landed at the feet of James Grady who managed to get inside towards the box, only to be brought down by Darren Dods. The referee, Kenny Clark gave the spot kick, but whether it was inside the area was up for debate.

Grady scored the resulting penalty which sent the home fans home happy. The sizable away support, however must be wondering how they lost this one. Paul Sturrock after the match declared himself proud of his team.

They need to be able to convert the chances that come their way though.

St. Johnstone line up : Main, McQuillan, Bollan, Dods, Griffin, Dasovic(McMahon 72'), O'Neill, Scott, Connolly, O'Boyle, Kane(McAnespie 65'). Subs unused. Robertson, Whiteford, Grant.

Attendence 7,543

Other SPL Results.
Hearts 1 Celtic 0
Kilmarnock 1 Aberdeen 1
Motherwell 2 Dunfermline 2
Rangers 4 Dundee United 0

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Where the Coca-Cola League Cup dream ended for another year...

Montrose 1 St. Johnstone 0.

Plucky part-time Montrose caused a bit of a shock when they knocked their SPL opponents St.Johnstone out of the Coca-Cola League Cup in the second round.

Montrose showed a sizable measure of grit and determination, which was always going to be required against a side which was expected to beat them easily. For his part, Paul Sturrock showed signs of underestimating the Angus club by playing what was clearly an understrength team for the match. To do so this early in the season showed a large measure of dis-respect to his rivals.

The match itself was a scrappy affair, with only the young Keigan Parker of St. Johnstone, on his debut, lightening up a deadly dull affair with several shots on target from difficult positions. He clearly showed he is one to be watched.

The Perth side thought they took the lead on the 44th minute, when Roddy Grant knocked the ball on to the young Parker, who fired the ball into the back of the net, only to be adjudged offside.

As the game went on, extra-time looked more and more likely until five minutes from time, the Montrose loan signing Kevin Magee hammered home from close range.

Saints willl have to dream of glory for another year. Ibrox and Advocaats millionaires await little Montrose..

St. Johnstone line up : Ferguson, Whiteford(Connolly 78'), McCulloch(Bollan 65'), McClusky, Kernaghan, O'Halloran(Scott 65'), McAnespie, Parker, Grant, O'Boyle, McMahon. Subs unused: Robertson, Dods.

Attendence. 943

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Nathan Lowndes.

10/08/98

Saints sign Watford Striker.

Paul Sturrock today moved to help bolster his faltering frontline with a move to sign Watford striker Nathan Lowndes. Lowndes, 22 moved to Watford from Leeds after struggling to make an impact at Elland Road. He was a bit-part player at Watford, but Sturrock insists that the player could be the difference between Saints winning and losing certain matches.

"I have faith that Nate will come up with the goods when required. I feel that we need another type of striker to offer us more flexibility up front. Rod and George are great physical strikers, but Nathan offers us pace, and that is something I feel we have been lacking." When asked whether or not the striker would be thrown straight into the squad for the match live on Sky against Celtic, the manager, however was less forthcoming.

It is hoped that the striker can help Saints to improve their campaign.

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On the outside

I see Spain and Italy arn't included. A lot of good quality football is played there. Brazil is not part of Europe to be sure. They have some talented sides.
 
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Alan Main, who saved Saints for much of the match.

Celtic 0 St. Johnstone 1.

Celtics poor start to the league campaign continued today against St. Johnstone, where despite their dominance, they failed to capitalise and take the three points.

Celtic, buoyed by their midweek Champions League qualifying first leg win over Croatia Zargreb started brightly, and continued to play well as the afternoon went on. Indeed Alan Main had to contend with 21 shots on target throughout the afternoon.

A sublime move after just eight minutes involving the entire Celtic team should really have resulted in a goal. 21 passes between Celtic players resulted in a foated cross from Lubo Moravcik which caught Henrik Larssons head, only for the Swede to be denied by Alan Main, who showed excellent reflexes which was the style of the afternoon.

Things got worse for St.Johnstone when after 30 minutes Jim Weir was sent off for a foul on Mark Burchill.

From then on in, it became more a matter of when, not if a goal would be scored and the team from Perth would have been delighted to get in at half time with the scores level.

The second half was much the same, with Celtic squandering chance after chance, with Harold Brattback unbelievably missing an open goal from five yards out, hitting the post.

Just when Celtic fans were beginning to believe that their team had, yet again, failed to record their opening win of the season, St. Johnstone broke late on upon 81 minutes, with new signing and substitute Nathan Lowndes hitting home the winning goal.

As the teams left the pitch, the boos rung around Celtic Park. The Champions poor start to the season continues and unless they can pick up their performance in the weeks coming up, they risk not qualifying for the Continental League.

St. Johnstone line up : Main, McQuillan, Bollan, Dods, Griffin, Dasovic(McClusky 65'), Weir, Scott, Connolly(O'Boyle 76'), O'Neil, Kane(Lowndes 76'). Subs unused. Ferguson, Grant.

Sent Off: Jim Weir (31)

Attendence 49,750

Other SPL Results.
Aberdeen 2 Motherwell 0
Dundee United 1 Dunfermline 0
Hearts 3 Dundee 1
Kilmarnock 0 Rangers 0

BBC Scotland - Phone in.
Caller. - "Whats the difference between Celtic and a triangle at the moment?
Jim Traynor - "I dunno."
Caller - "A triangle has more points!"

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YES! COME ON ST JOHNST...er Motherwell. :confused:

But really, only 2 points? :( :p
I can exclusively reveal a Motherwell side including Andy Goram and John Spencer will not be relagated! I mean to say, at the moment I have you above Celtic....;):D
 
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Dick Advocaat spent more on Rangers this season than St. Johnstone spent in the history of their club.

St. Johnstone 0 Rangers 4.

Dismal, abject, poor. These would be some ways of describing St. Johnstones performance against a clearly in-form Rangers side, who looked in good shape ahead of their return UEFA Cup match against POAK Salonika during the midweek.

Colin Hendry got the goalscoring under way in the opening minute, powering home a strong header from a Neil McCann corner kick. From then on in, it was the Gabriel Amato show, with the South American scoring one of the quickest hat-tricks in the history of Scottish football.

After seven minutes, Ian Ferguson fired a ball through, which the Argentine striker latched onto, firing it easily past the helpless Alan Main. From the kick off, Phillip Scott lost the ball for Saints, allowing Amato to double his tally from 30 yards out, chipping the ball into the net in spectacular fashion. Things were only to get worse, when a minute later when Rangers won a corner, powered in again by McCann, who was clearly outstanding straight to the head of Amato who secured his hat-trick.

At this point, fears were growing that a cricket score may develop, but the nerves were steadied by St. Johnstone, but clearly Rangers had taken their foot off the gas.

The second half was no better, with St. Johnstone not getting a shot on target. During one move, Gattuso, van Bronkhorst and Numan managed to piece an amazing fifteen passes through the middle of the pitch without St. Johnstone players getting near the ball.

As the game entered the closing stages things could have been worse as Rangers were awarded a penalty, but Alan Main saved it. Despite this, the home support left in their droves to drown their sorrows.

This was poor.

St. Johnstone line up : Main, McQuillan, Preston, Dods, Griffin, Dasovic, Bollan, Scott, Lowndes(McClusky 76'), O'Neil, Kane(Parker 76'). Subs unused. Ferguson, Grant, McMahon.

Attendence: 10,102

Other SPL Results.
Celtic 7 Hearts 1
Dundee United 0 Motherwell 2
Dunfermline 1 Aberdeen 0
Kilmarnock 3 Dundee 0

BBC. - Chick Young(Jonathan Watson).

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Ein Volk! Ein Reich! Ein Advocaat!

What a result! What a performance! The loyal sons of William undoing the dastardly wee club from Perth. With this result in, I can confidently predict that wee Gattuso'y will be knighted, wee Amato'y will be given a knighthood and that the tattie munchers will be shaking in their boots for next weeks re-make of the Boyne!

Wait, wit?

They gubbed the Hearts? The wee Rangers? The cousins of William? Cheating tims.....

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"He's short! He's fat! He's going to get the sack! Advocaaaat! Advocaaaat!"

Well, maybe not on this performance. How are Celtic so bad? Is John Barnes secretly in charge?
:D

Celtic won 7-1 this week!

Joe Venglos is in charge of Celtic as per otl, and as per otl, they haven't invested in a title winning side, and the reign of Dr Joe Venglos never lasted past a season for a reason.

In addition to this, there have been problems within the squad, with Fergus McCann penny-pinching, so there was a threatened strike over Euro-bonuses, which is not relevant as in ttl, as otl, they are out of the Champions League already and away to go out of the UEFA Cup to Liverpool.

I'll go into detail on how each of the clubs are doing after I get to nine games(including a league table), but Celtic are at the moment at risk of being left with the Scottish teams and the goldmine of the Continental league which takes place in the new year. It also raises the possibility of due to the TV money, a true Scottish third force emerging. It may happen this year, it may not....;)
 
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Paul Sturrock.

Tommy McLean Quits Dundee United hotseat. Sturrock favourite to take over.

Following Dundee Uniteds 0-2 home defeat against Motherwell, Tommy McLean in a press conference announced that with immediate effect he was resigning as the manager of Dundee United. McLean acknowledged that the club had made a poor start to the season, and stated he felt that change was needed.

The bookmakers favourite is Paul Sturrock, the St. Johnstone manager, a move confirmed by Jim McLean, who announced that the Arabs have already made a move to secure the appointment of the St. Johnstone manager.

Geoff Brown, the chairman of St. Johnstone said he had no intention of losing his manager, but when pressed he admitted that if Sturrock wanted to leave, it would not be in the interests of the club to keep him.

Sturrock, who spent his playing career at Tannadice, winning the Scottish League title and reaching the UEFA Cup final with Dundee United is known to be keen on a move back to a club where he is still idolised.

It looks likely that over the next couple of days, there will be flux. This will make the upcoming St.Johnstone V Dundee United Tayside Derby an interesting match to witness.

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George O'Boyle, Scorer of the first goal, and one of the first sent off..

St.Johnstone 2 Dundee United 2

In one of the dirtiest, ill-tempered matches that has been seen in Scottish football in many a year, twenty bookings were handed out and five players were sent off, a figure which in hindsight should have been more.

Both sides looked up for the game in the opening period, the Perth men in an attempt to prove their superiority over Dundee United and the Terrors of Dundee in a bid to impress the man who is their prospective new manager.

After four minutes, George O'Boyle latched on to a through ball from Phillip Scott to put St. Johnstone into an early lead, causing wild celebrations amongst the home support, but a somewhat muted response from the home dug-out.

O'Boyle celebrated by running to the corner of the East Stand, a move which brought him within distance of the Dundee United fans and earned him a booking.

Things got worse a minute later when Darren Patterson went in on O'Boyle with a dangerous challenge, knocking the Ulsterman to the ground. The ball had moved on so it was clearly a sending-off offence, but O'Boyle made matters worse by losing his temper at the challenge which could have broken his leg and violently shoving Patterson backwards. Thus followed a melee in which virtually every player on the park was involved and resulted in after a few minutes both Patterson and O'Boyle being sent in for an early bath.

As the match went onthings continued in much the same vein, with Hugh Dallas being forced to intervene on a number of occasions. As the half was drawing to a close however a sickening moment occured when Roger Boli went in with a hard challenge on Keiran McAnespie, from which a snap was heard from the stands. McAnespie had indeed had his leg broken. Boli was shown a straight red for this, bugt for some reason decided to attack the referee for the decision, causing another flare up on the park. News came in that in the tunnel there were words spoken between the players of the two clubs.

The second half kicked off in a markedly calmer fashion, but on the hour mark, a moment of brilliance was shown by Joe Miller who lobbed Danny Griffin and Alan Kernaghan to slot the ball effortlessly past the stranded Alan Ferguson.

Ferguson was involved in controversy a minute later, being sent off after taking down Olofsson in the box. Saints were in trouble as they had, by this point used all their avaliable substitutions, so for the penalty, Alan Kernaghan went in the goal. He needn't have worried though as Olofsson skied the kick over the bar.

Two minutes later, the away end erupted as Olofsson, who was coming more and more into the match ran through the Saints defence to put the ball past the helpless Kernaghan.

United looked set to be holding onto the points until with eight minutes remaining, who else but Roddy Grant popped up to score a dramatic late equaliser for the Saints.

The drama was not complete though as in injury time, Olofsson went through on Kernaghan only to be felled right on the edge of the box by Danny Griffin. Television cameras showed that it was outside the box, but the penalty was given and Griffin was sent on his way.

Kernaghan faced Olofsson in the resulting penalty, and somehow managed to palm the ball away to the delight of the home support.

There is talk of the clubs both being fined by the SFA after this match, but it was an afternoon to remember.

St.Johnstone 2 Dundee United 2.

St. Johnstone line up : Ferguson, McQuillan, Preston, Kernaghan, Griffin, Dasovic(McClusky 54'), Lowndes(Parker 45'), Scott, Grant, O'Boyle, McAnespie(Mcahon 41').

Sent Off: O'Boyle(30), Ferguson(61), Griffin(90+4)

Attendence: 6,504

Other SPL Results.
Celtic 4 Rangers 0
Dundee 0 Motherwell 3
Hearts 2 Aberdeen 1
Kilmarnock 0 Dunfermline 0


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ9e3Dy7obA

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Andy Goram, beaten four times...

Motherwell 0 St.Johnstone 4

Saints fired back from their controversial draw with Dundee United with a comprehensive victory over Motherwell. Things were emotional however as prior to the match, Paul Sturrock announced that this would be his final game as St.Johnstone manager as he had accepted an offer to become the new manager of Dundee United.

The first hour of this match was boring, until the youngster Keigan Parker beat Andy Goram from close range. Parker then ran past three Motherwell defenders to lob Goram to double his tally a minute later to make things comfortable for the visiters. It took ten minutes until Parker secured the match-ball, scoring a hat-trick, latching onto a cross from Nick Dasovic.

Parker continued the rout in injury time following a lapse from Pat Nevin, who attempted to pass the ball back, only for the youngster to latch onto it.

It may not have been a classic game, but the away team secured an important win.

St. Johnstone line up : Main, McQuillan, Bollan, Dods, Kernaghan, Dasovic, O'Neil, Scott(McClusky 78'), Parker, Lowndes(Grant 67'), McMahon(Preston 86'). Subs not used. Robertson, Weir

Attendence 4,563

Other SPL Results.
Aberdeen 1 Dundee 1
Hearts 2 Dundee United 1
Kilmarnock 0 Celtic 0
Rangers 7 Dunfermline 1

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