IT is something of an irony that, by improving his chances of leaving St Mirren this month, Kenny McLean has heightened the prospect of his manager staying.
McLean has been a figure touted for a move down south for the past few years now, with Fleetwood Town the first to try this month to prise the midfielder away from Paisley. Their bid of £150,000 was thrown out as derisory but others will likely try again before the end of January, especially those who tuned in to BT Sport on Wednesday night and witnessed his spectacular goal against Dundee United that drew comparisons with the greats of the game; Gascoigne, Bergkamp, Yardley. He can only hope any scouts had switched over by late in the game when he missed an easier chance to deliver St Mirren's first home win of the season.
McLean had been expected to leave last summer only to, surprisingly, end up staying and sign a new two-year deal. He again tried to play down talk that he could move on in what remains of this window, although even Gary Teale, the club's caretaker manager, admitted he felt it would only be a matter of time before McLean was on the move to England. The player, though, insists it is not in his immediate thoughts.
"I'm not surprised I'm still here," he said. "Off-field matters happen every January and at the end of the season and you need a strong mentality to go out on the pitch and block that out. That's what I've been doing. That's sometimes hard but I've had it before and I think I'm handling it quite well. We're in a bit of a fight right now and I cant think about anything else."
St Mirren remain in limbo right now with the club still on the market and no permanent manager in place. With four points from their last two games, however, McLean believes Teale has earned the right to have a proper crack at it.
"I would say so. The way we've played the last few games - even before the Ross County game - we were playing well but the wins just weren't coming. Now results are starting to change. I don't see Gary not getting the job. The decision is out of his hands and he just has to keep doing the fantastic job that he's doing.
"The players have a lot of respect for Gary. He's a great guy and really putting his philosophy across to the boys and everyone is buying into it. That's showing on the pitch with the way that we're playing. We're all together. Whoever gets the job - Gary or whoever -we'll always give 100 percent."
St Mirren remain without a home win to their name this season, something they will look to rectify tomorrow when Dundee are the visitors. McLean insists the record is not something affecting their play. "I wouldn't say it's starting to bother us as you saw by the way we played the other night. I don't think there were any nerves shown there. We lost a poor goal but apart from that I would say we edged the game in terms of possession - we played really well.
"We just need to try to pick up some momentum. That's two good results for us now and long may that continue. It would be good to get that record off our backs but it's not playing on our minds. The boys are sticking together and giving 100 percent in every game and I think the fans appreciate that."
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