THERE can be few positions as precarious as caretaker manager.

Expected to fulfil all the duties of a permanent appointment but with none of the job security, anyone thrown into such a role can only plough on day to day until someone further up the chain taps them on the shoulder to say their time is up, or that they are being kept on.

Gary Teale, though, is trying to put the fragility of his position to one side. Asked to step into Tommy Craig's shoes following the St Mirren manager's departure last week, the former Scotland winger is trying to adopt a long-term view, even if he knows time could be called on his tenure at a minute's notice.

For now Teale is preparing his players for a vitally important league match against fellow strugglers Motherwell tomorrow, and unless told otherwise, will then look towards the next two festive fixtures against Dundee and Kilmarnock. That latter match takes place on January 1, the day the transfer window creaks open once more, and Teale has already started to put plans in place to reshuffle the squad, even if he may no longer be the manager by that point.

"I've been making enquiries about [dealings in the transfer window]," he said. "At the moment I'm doing the job as if I am the manager so you have to have these things in place. You can't just turn up on January 1 and start scratching around and wondering, "where do we go from here, which players do we want to keep, who do you want to move on and who would you like to bring in". The state we're in financially we've not got a big budget to play with so it's going to come down to utilising the contacts I've got down south at a few clubs, maybe bring one or two in.

"I've made the phonecalls. At this moment in time I don't know how much we can follow it up but there's certainly something in place if I can. I look upon it as me being the manager, whether that's for a month, two months or six months."

Picking up points would be the best way for Teale to ensure he is still in charge come the New Year. St Mirren have yet to win a league game at home all season, and have slumped to the foot of the SPFL Premiership table. Teale, though, believes taking maximum points from the next three matches shouldn't be beyond his charges.

"It's a difficult job to take on but it's one I felt we could get improvement from," he added. "There are probably a few people who would like to be in my place and results will dictate how we move forward. If we can maybe get a few positive results between Saturday and January 1 - say six, seven or even nine points out of nine - it stakes a good claim for yourself to be going forward long term. I'll just take it game by game at the moment given the position we're in.

"We can't look forward too far ahead anyway. Results need to pick up and that will determine whether I am here next week or a month down the line. Results will dictate where the club goes and it is up to me to make sure they are positive, and that the side is improving on a daily and weekly basis."

Already this early in the season, tomorrow's match is loaded with significance. Motherwell are one of the two sides closest to St Mirren in the table - Ross County are the other - and Teale knows it would be foolish to look beyond that trio at this point, given the eight-point jump to Partick Thistle in ninth place.

"I'm sitting here being realistic and looking at a league of three. Our season has to be about Ross County and Motherwell. If we manage to get above them then we can start looking forward. But for the foreseeable future, we need to concentrate on trying to be top of that league of three."

Injuries have curtailed Teale's involvement in a playing sense this season and he does not plan to pull on the boots again while he is in charge of the team.

"Not at this moment in time. There is far too much on the other side in terms of organisation and preparation. It's also a case of 'do as I say not do as I do'. If I'm out there making mistakes, then it can be difficult. The boys could say "Wait a minute, you're out there making mistakes and you're trying to have a go at us over what to do." I'm just going to take a step back and try and dictate from the side."

ends