THE similarities between Gordon Scott and Ann Budge stretch beyond a shared willingness to be the financial bridge over which their respective clubs can march into fan ownership. Since becoming Hearts’ owner and chairwoman as part of the transition that will eventually deliver the Tynecastle club into the hands of its supporters, Budge has been a refreshingly outspoken figure on all matters affecting her club, both positive and negative. But it wasn’t always so. Reclusive millionaires don’t remain so by running their mouth off at every opportunity and, in the early days, those working behind the scenes found it difficult to persuade Budge to be the public face and voice of the bid to take the club out of administration. There were various factors behind that reluctance but a big part of it was Budge not wanting to speak about her plans before she had ownership of the keys to the house. And on that front she has a kindred spirit in Scott.

The man who would be the next chairman of St Mirren is, by his own admission, not the most extroverted or gregarious of characters. That has come as a source of frustration to some supporters of the Back the Buds campaign, an attempt to secure the majority shareholding held by a coterie of directors and up for sale since 2009. If successful, Scott will take the reins in the first instance before being gradually bought out by fans over the following decade. Still shy of their 1000 subscribers target, a further public meeting is planned for a week tomorrow (June 13) to discuss the bid ahead of the self-set deadline that expires a fortnight today.

Scott self-deprecatingly describes himself as “just a joiner from Paisley” but having built up his own construction company from scratch – selling it a decade ago with 120 staff on the books – before moving into the property market in Las Vegas and then back into construction in the south of Spain, he is evidently a man of some substance and vision. At the moment, though, he feels this is not the moment to be talking of his grand plans for St Mirren, not while he remains on the outside peering in. Those backers hoping for a bit more showbiz or a “Roll up! Roll up!” pitch from Scott as the bid moves into its closing weeks are going to be disappointed. In a way, though, given some of the chancers that have pitched up in Scottish football in recent years - promising the earth but delivering nothing - that reticence might not be a bad thing.

“I’m not always comfortable talking about myself but once I know about something I can talk about it all day,” he admits. “I don’t like making promises in advance. Once I’m inside the club I know what I want to do and I can talk freely about that then. But I’m more of a doer than a talker in any case.

“If this goes through then I’ll be able to be a lot more expansive once I’m on the inside. At the moment I’m just speculating and second guessing things. I accept, though, at this point there is an element of having to sell it to the public. And I know I need to accept that if it all happens I’ll need to be more high-profile. I’ll need to get out of my comfort zone and deal with it.

“The Ann Budge thing is an obvious comparison although I’m not sure how much she was involved in the original [media] hoopla when that change was happening at Hearts. I think she maybe came in later and grew into it. And I’ll be the same if it happens here.”

There is an acknowledgement from both inside and outside of the club that the current custodians have grown somewhat weary of running St Mirren and that a fresh approach is required. Scott, a representative from SMiSA (the St Mirren Independent Supporters Association) who are partially bankrolling the takeover, and Tony Fitzpatrick, the current chief executive who Scott hopes will remain in post, will form the basis of the new board of directors, while others who can offer different skills or services may also be asked to join. Scott is yet to reveal his masterplan but insists at the heart of any decision-making will be the supporters’ best interests.

“Commercially things could be improved,” he offers. “Tony has a lot of good ideas and he’s got a wealth of contacts so we’d definitely look to dip into that as well. I know people, too, who might get involved under a new regime. SMiSA also need to give me people who will benefit the club. They have to have a positive impact as a director, not just because they’re fans. It’s about people who will bring something to the club.

“If we don’t engage with the fans, keep them interested, give them value for their money by putting things on for them and making changes then they will walk away. We understand that. What we want is for more people to sign up – not cancelling their direct debits - once it’s underway as they see that we are making a real difference to how their club is being run.

“You look at the Rangers game [at the end of the season when St Mirren gave an additional stand to the Ibrox support]. The right thing would have been to go to the fans and say “we can make X amount of money but we’ll need to move a group of fans, what do you think?” and let them have their say. It would never be in my interest to go against the fans’ wishes. Things like league reconstruction or going back to the Rangers situation in 2012 – these are the things that supporters will get to vote on. And unless I felt it was an option that would put the club in peril I would go with what the fans want. That is the whole ethos of this.”

Scott was one of two directors not involved when the rest of the St Mirren board clubbed together to put their collective shareholding up for sale seven years ago. He tried a few times subsequently to buy them out without success but doesn’t want to go down that road again, believing a deal with the supporters to be a more productive way of taking the club forward. He is evidently a man of ample personal wealth but warned fans he does not plan on repeatedly dipping into his own funds to sign players or the like.

“If I have to put my hand in my pocket if a shortfall emerges then I could do that but it would have to be for cashflow, nothing else. The whole thing has to be sustainable. I said at the last meeting that the only way I would invest further money would be if it was something that would bring extra money into the club. I wouldn’t invest in the squad out my own pocket. But if we can generate ideas that would deliver greater revenue streams then that money could go back into improving the squad.”

Part of the appeal of all of this is Scott’s genuine love for football. At 51 years old he still plays when he can – he pulls out his phone to proudly show a photograph of him playing against Pep Guardiola at the Nou Camp about 10 years ago, a perk of being a director of Football Aid - and has been a St Mirren fan since the days before Alex Ferguson turned up and revolutionised the place in the mid-1970s. “If I become chairman I’ll get a lot of flak that probably isn’t justified and I know that as I used to do it myself. When they made Alex Miller the manager I took a strop as it was an ex-Morton manager who played rubbish football,” he recalls with a smile.

Should they get the sufficient sign-ups needed – and SMiSA can either secure the loan they require to fulfill their end of the deal, or come to some other agreement regarding future payments – then Scott et al could take charge as early as July 4. “Independence day. I like that,” he adds.