Name: Mark Dempsie
Position: Central defender
How did he do: Dempsie played against Ross County in January after being released by Hibs, and had been training at Love Street for a few weeks prior to that game, as well as playing in a few bounce games/. He didn’t have a lot to do, but what he did have to do he coped with well enough. Hibs boss Bobby Williamson said he was the best defender at Hibs, but they had to let him go due to budget cuts.
Was he signed: Yes. Signed an 18 month contract a few days after the game.
Name: Martin Baker
Position: Left back
How did he do: Former Saint Baker had been training at
Was he signed: Yes. Signed a contract until the end of the season, and is presently injured/fell out with John Coughlin (delete depending on what you believe). We have two less left sided players than when he was on trial, and he had been playing regularly.
Name: Stephen McAnespie
Position: Right back
How did he do: McAnespie had been without a club since Partick Thistle released him at the end of last season. With the departure of Iain Nicolson in the summer, Saints desperately needed a right back. He was on trial for the same amount of time as Baker, playing in the same reserve games.
Was he signed: No. Despite us needing a new right back he wasn’t signed. The board had announced there wasn’t enough money for new players, then a week later Martin Baker was signed. This obviously took up the last place on the wage bill. Alternatively, the reason for his non-signing could be because he was rubbish. Last week I discovered he was off to
Name: Klaus Dietrich
Position: Central defender
How did he do: Dietrich, who once played a game at
Was he signed: No. Supposedly he was on the plane back home before the game even finished. Saints lost 4-0, and a few days later Tom Hendrie was put on leave of absence. So you could claim Hendrie’s inclusion of Dietrich lost him his job.
Names: Abdul Senanu and Ivan Kristo
Positions: Midfielder (Senanu), Striker (Kristo)
How did they do: Both were on trial at the same time, a week or so before Dietrich. Kristo was on the bench for a league game against
Were they signed: Kind of. A few days before the
Name: Gerhard Fellner
Position: Central defender
How did he do: Fellner, who once played for
Was he signed: Kind of. Was given a 1 month contract before the Ross County game, and Saints had hoped to sign him up permanently before he left after the Queen of the South game, probably to sign for another club. Remains only person to have played for Saints at the same time as having his own official website!
Name:
Position: Attacking midfielder
How did he do: Launders played up front in a pre season friendly against
Was he signed: No. Was meant to play in the next friendly against Raith Rovers but got injured and was never seen again.
Name: Andy Dow
Position: Left sided midfielder
How did he do: Whether Dow, who had previously played for
Was he signed: Yes, on a one year contract. He was very poor, and had a shocking attitude. Had about one good period of one game and that was it, hardly any effort from him. Was released in January, signed for Arbroath and scored a free kick on his debut!
Name: Liam Keogh
Position: Striker
How did he do: Keogh was on loan from Celtic when he made his appearance against Raith Rovers at the start of April last year. He wasn’t a trialist at that point, but impressed people when he came on as a sub before being injured. He was invited back to train over the summer, although supposedly didn’t report to training. Played against
Was he signed: No, as he disappeared again after the
Name: Scott Strang
Position: Goalkeeper
How did he do: Strang played against
Was he signed: No. He was only there as we had a crisis so wasn’t expected to be signed anyway, but a 4-1 defeat doesn’t help.
Name:
Position: Striker
How did he do: The former Rangers man came to
Was he signed: Yes. Signed a contract which expires this summer. Ended up with 6 first teams goals last season which left him the club’s top scorer!
Name: Stamos Kantimiris
Position: Striker
How did he do: Kantimiris was supposedly the Greek young player of the year and had caps for their under 21 squad, but this turned out to be a myth. Had pace and played in a few reserve games, and as we were in the SPL under 21 league that’s not bad, however according to some people he wasn’t as impressive as some folk make out.
Was he signed: No. According to Tom Hendrie, he was too young to be signed and we’d look at him again next year! You have to wonder if we had the next Ronaldo or Pele and he was 16 whether we’d reject him using the same excuse!
Name: Christopher Wreh
Position: Striker
How did he do: Wreh, who has played for Arsenal and
Was he signed: Yes. He had somehow done enough in those 15 minutes to earn himself a deal, before ending up in a dispute with Hendrie. Hendrie claimed Wreh kept getting injured and was always unfit, whilst Wreh claimed this was not true. When Wreh appeared against
Name: Kris Robertson
Position: Goalkeeper
How did he do: Robertson played in a few closed door games so obviously I never saw him play.
Was he signed: Yes. Much to the annoyance of
Name: Omar Riza
Position: Striker
How did he do: Riza was on trial from West Ham United, and whilst I never saw him play he supposedly did well in the trial games and showed he had a lot of pace.
Was he signed: No. A plan to take him on a year long season fell through when he got injured on trial. Saints were going to sign him permanently when West Ham had an injury crisis, and the move never took place.
Name: Paul Ritchie
Position: Striker
How did he do: Ritchie was on trial at
Was he signed: No. Hendrie said he wasn’t the sort of striker we were after but would go to another first division club in our division and score goals. So why wasn’t he signed? Has so far scored two hat tricks against Saints whilst at Inverness Caley.
Name: Scott Paterson
Position: Central defender
How did he do: Never saw him play but I understand Saints did have him on trial for a period during the summer of 2001
Was he signed: No. Went to Partick Thistle and was outstanding, helping them win the first division title.
Name: Stephen McPhee
Position: Striker
How did he do: Saints needed a striker towards the end of their SPL season and were linked with such stars as Ronaldinhio and Bebeto. McPhee was on trial from
Was he signed: Yes, on loan. Was outstanding when he played, even though he didn’t score. Showed awesome pace, and most Saints fans were gutted when he signed for Port Vale instead of Saints a few months after the loan deal was over.
Name: Jamie McGowan
Position: Central defender
How did he do: McGowan was on trial after being released by Motherwell, and played in some of Saints pre season games before the SPL year. Dunno how he did, but he did manage to stand on the ball and cost a goal against
Was he signed: Yes. Signed a two year deal, and turned out to be a good player when moved to his correct position. Still here and is club captain, but injury prone.
Name: Richard Huxford
Position: Central defender
How did he do: Huxford had been released by
Was he signed: No. Obviously didn’t do enough to impress, no idea where he is now.
If you’ve made it this far, congratulations you’ve made the end (Well, as far as I can be bothered going back). That’s as many trialists as I can remember from the pre season before the SPL onwards. It should be noted that in a bounce game v Hearts in March 2000 both Ricky Gillies and Paddy Flannery were on trial, with Gillies being signed. It’s also worth noting that both Jens Paeslack and Jose Quitongo were signed after scoring against Saints in their trial games for Hearts and Morton!
In conclusion then, it would appear that Ritchie and Paterson are the exceptions to the rule. Most trialists listed I feel we made the right choice on, except those that left for other reasons. Problem is, we all remember the failure to sign Ritchie more than anything!