THE FALL-OUT from St Mirren's demotion after nine years in Scotland's top flight will now begin with as many as nine first team players expected to leave this summer.
Some will seek a local alternative, others may quit completely but in the case of James Dayton, who was on loan from Oldham Athletic, a new adventure awaits in Asia.
Dayton is amenable to reunion with Kenny Shiels, his manager for two of his three seasons at Kilmarnock, at Thai Premier League cub Tero Sasana.
The Londoner said: "I owe Kenny a lot - and Mixu Paatelainen - for what they have done for me. When I first came up here they gave me my opportunity, so I do owe them a lot.
"I like what he's about. He likes football to be played the right way. And I think it suits me. On Saturday, all the battling, that ain't me. I want the ball played on the floor, played up and for me running off people.
"It would be ideal. Kenny is a family man and he knows that if it suits me and my family, and it's well worth it then it is a possibility."
It is one sub-plot of the main story which is the mammoth task that awaits Ian Murray as he prepares to rebuild St Mirren and attempts to lead them straight back up to the SPFL Premiership.
He watched from the directors' box at New Douglas Park, having been appointed the day before, and surely learned the magnitude of his task as Hamilton won with some ease even if the scoreline suggests a tighter affair.
It was Ali Crawford, the most creative player on the field, who secured the win seven minutes from time with a terrific finish from the edge of the box, having been denied twice in the first half by Marian Kello.
There will be re-assessment at Hamilton this summer, too, in starkly different circumstances as Martin Canning seeks to enhance a solid group of players who thrilled the nation in the first half of the season and creditably finished seventh.
One of those expected to depart is veteran striker Jason Scotland, who looked a tired man when he spoke after Saturday's match.
However, the 36-year-old may decide there is one more campaign in his legs when he re-charges his batteries on Miami's renowned South Beach.
Scotland said wearily: "This has been a long season and it has been stressful, too. We wanted to finish in the top six and we didn't get there and that has been frustrating.
"But this is the wrong time to decide that you're going to stop playing - when you're tired and you're sore and under stress - so I'll think more about that later, once I've had some rest.
"Finishing seventh means that this has still been a decent season for us and I think I've contributed a lot to that.
"Last season I helped them to win promotion through the play-offs and, when I re-signed, my only intention was to make sure that we stayed up and we've done that so I'm proud.
"Maybe, if I feel that I can contribute something, I will [stay] but I'll just leave it up in the air for now - it's in the balance."
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.Â
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.Â
That is invaluable.Â
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