QUIZZED on the often eye-watering abuse directed his way from his own supporters in the closing stages of this most emphatic spanking, Tommy Craig, the St Mirren manager, insisted he had "nothing to say".
It will hardly have surprised his ever-growing band of critics. The 64-year-old does not appear to have any answers to the questions that matter right now.
Craig does have a horrible injury list but, Steven Thompson aside, the players currently out of action have all been involved throughout this awful league record of two wins from 14 games. They are unlikely to instigate some kind of on-field revolution when they are fit again.
The punters know that, too. It is in the technical area that they see the most immediate problem with their club and, if the latter stages of this affair at New Douglas Park are anything to go by, they want blood.
Craig was given dog's abuse from the travelling support in the wake of an abysmal display by his team. "You don't know what you're doing" was one of the more complimentary chants. It says something that, in addition to imploring their current manager to leave, they chose to sing the praises of his predecessor and former colleague Danny Lennon, who Craig replaced as manager during the summer.
Lennon was deemed unworthy of a new contract by the board in May. They were perfectly entitled to take that decision, but there seemed little logic in then handing the reins to his assistant.
It was the cheap option. It also looks like it was very much the wrong one. Craig's team is getting worse by the week, his signings are failing and there is already talk of a boycott until he is sacked.
Supporters usually get what they want when it becomes as confrontational as this. Dougie Imrie has a working relationship with Craig from his time at St Mirren and was one of the few people to offer the manager some comfort on a painful afternoon on Saturday.
Craig stood at the touchline after the final whistle to wait to shake the hands of the officials. All his own players walked straight past him. Most of the Hamilton Academical players did too. He extended his hand to Imrie and the Hamilton midfielder reciprocated with a great big hug.
Craig is not the most popular man in football, but it was uncomfortable listening to him being so relentlessly pilloried by the away support. Chances are it is going to get worse in the weeks to come unless everyone stops going to the games.
Imrie hopes the St Mirren manager is given time to see if he can string together some results when he has a full complement of players and the midfielder spoke warmly of the man when asked about the reason he felt compelled to embrace him with such vigour after the final whistle.
"You never want to see anyone getting abuse," said Imrie. "I haven't worked with him as my manager, but he was fantastic as a coach when I was at St Mirren and he is just having to go with what he has got at the moment. I feel sorry for him. I hope he gets the time to turn it round because he is a great man."
The view from within the St Mirren camp was that the first half was fairly even before Hamilton took control after the break. It was a misguided one. The home side were on top from the moment Ali Crawford, who was outstanding on his 150th appearance, forced a first save from Mark Ridgers just seven seconds in.
St Mirren have so many problems that it is difficult to know where to begin, but their difficulties in attack are well documented. With James Marwood and Callum Ball having failed miserably in the previous match against Partick Thistle, Ross Caldwell was fielded up front on his own on Saturday. It was no surprise when he made way for Ball, who went on to miss a late sitter.
Things were no better at the back, where an 18-year-old called Jack Baird appeared from nowhere. Marc McAusland, the captain, became swamped as changes in tactics and personnel backfired spectacularly.
Asked if he felt sorry for the manager in the wake of the abuse received, McAusland, initially, seemed a little unsure.
"Yes, I suppose so," said the St Mirren defender. "It's the players on the pitch who get the results and we've not been winning. It is the players who are responsible. The fans are disappointed and angry and they have every right to be."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article