GARY TEALE witnesses the storming start Kenny McLean has made to the season and doesn’t know whether to smile with pride or shake his fists at the sky in frustration. Teale finds himself out of work at the start of a new campaign, a fact that can be connected largely to the St Mirren board’s decision to sell McLean to Aberdeen on the final day of the January transfer window. The attacking midfielder had been the one bright spot in an otherwise dismal few months for the Paisley club and his departure, for a knockdown price, left Teale without his star asset for the second half of the campaign. St Mirren were duly relegated and Teale, who had been in interim charge, did not have his contract renewed, the club instead appointing Ian Murray as manager.

While Teale awaits his next move, his one-time St Mirren team-mate has opened the new season in sparkling form with Aberdeen. He scored his first goal for his new club in the Europa League qualifier against HNK Rijeka, followed it up with another away strike against Kairat Almaty in the next round, then scored the only goal of the game in Aberdeen’s opening day league win at Dundee United.

Teale is pleased to see McLean finally make an impact after a slow start to life at Pittodrie but can’t help but wonder how his own situation might have altered had the player stayed at St Mirren for a few months more.

“I know I have said it before but I will stand by it having time to reflect - if we had kept Kenny until the end of the season then we might have had a better chance to stay up,” said Teale, who helped make the draw for the League Cup on Monday. “The form he is showing just now for Aberdeen is what he was doing for me. I’m not saying we would have stayed up, it might have been the same outcome. But I would certainly have been a lot more confident that we’d have gone down with a wee bit more a fight than we did.

“He was carrying the ball from midfield and either creating chances or getting us a goal out of nothing. Players like that are vital, no matter what level you are playing at.

“At that stage, I think he was enjoying his football. He scored four goals in eight games for me before he went to Aberdeen. He is a really big talent.

“At the time I said he could maybe off held off and gone down south rather than moving to Aberdeen. But that was maybe selfish in terms of trying to keep him until the end of the season. He will go and improve more at Aberdeen because Derek McInnes is a fantastic manager. For me, football is effortless to Kenny at times. He can glide over the ground, is well balanced and has a great left foot. I’m sure he could probably progress on further from Aberdeen as well.”

Teale has stayed in touch with McLean and believes there is still more to come from the player. “Scoring in Europe is huge and I texted him about it afterwards. It’s good to be scoring in domestic games but when you are going away in Europe and doing it then it can only do wonders for your confidence. Kenny is level-headed lad. Hopefully he will go on and have a fantastic season for Aberdeen, get into the Scotland squad and push on even further.”

Teale, meanwhile, has been keeping himself fit in the hope that a player-manager role comes up in the coming weeks.

“It’s the first time in 21 years I’ve not been involved [in the new season] and it’s horrible. I want to get back in the thick of it as soon as I can. I’ve been training on my own so I’d consider it if something came up with regards to a player-coach or player-manager or the like. I do see myself going down the coaching route after the experience I had last season. For all the good and bad, it didn’t put me off. If anything, it whetted my appetite even more.”