IT is very rare for Steven Thompson to ever be stuck for words.

The St Mirren forward has always been a garrulous figure, his chatty demeanour earning him a regular guest spot on Sportscene as well as other media roles. Only on the subject of why he has now been twice overlooked this season when St Mirren were putting together a management team does he almost clam up. If he was unfortunate to have seen both Gary Teale and Jim Goodwin selected ahead of him when Tommy Craig was choosing his assistants in the summer, then it starts to look even odder when, following Craig's dismissal, David Longwell, the club's head of youth, was preferred ahead of him as Teale's deputy on a caretaker basis. s

"That's the club's decision," said Thompson carefully. "They have emphasised my importance on the pitch and they're possibly right. I don't want my chapter at St Mirren on the field to be ending like this. At one stage in my life I would like to be involved in football management, I do think I would have something to offer. But I feel first I have another chapter to write on the pitch."

Teale's temporary tenure could hardly be starting under more difficult circumstances. St Mirren, without a clean sheet all season, travel to Celtic Park tomorrow looking for their first win at that venue since April 1990. Thompson hoped Craig's departure would make the players realise the magnitude of their dire situation.

"We have to galvanise, we need to have a togetherness," he added."Quite a lot of young guys in our team, I think, have been going along thinking 'it's alright, we'll turn the corner, we'll be okay'.

"Maybe it hasn't hit them, but maybe this will make them realise. We are bottom of the league at Christmas time. There is not a lot of time. We've only got half a season to turn this round. I wonder if the realisation of the severity of the situation has sunk in with a lot of them."

St Mirren take on fellow relegation strugglers Motherwell next weekend and Thompson admitted that winning that was a more realistic target than trying to defeat the Scottish champions tomorrow.

"I must have been to Celtic Park as a player more than 20 times and maybe won twice. It's difficult. I'm looking more at next Saturday's game against Motherwell which is a huge game for this club. So when they come here next Saturday it's imperative that we get a result. That's not me saying we will lose at Celtic Park but it's highly likely that we will. But we will go and try our very best."

ends