McGowne has improved greatly since last season, when I gave him the nickname Captain Chaos. The Saints defence has been in good form, with him at the heart of it, and hopefully that will continue for another season at least.
Crilly's departure comes as no surprise, his Saints future being in doubt ever since he handed in a transfer request after just a few months of the season. When he plays he hasn't looked too bad, but it seems from reserve games he has known for a while he'll be leaving. Saints chairman Stewart Gilmour hailed the signing two years ago, how wrong he was. Crilly has been released now and won't play for Saints again.
O'Neill's departure is a wee bit more surprising, considering he is our joint top scorer with Stewart Kean. However, he hasn't scored since last year and was stupidly sent off in a reserve game a few weeks ago. He'll see out his contract but it's unlikely he'll play for the first team again.
N doubt we'll be seeing some new midfielders arriving at Love Street over the next few weeks.