ST MIRREN were only officially relegated from the SPFL Premiership on Friday night but their demotion had been anticipated for several months.
It has given the club's board of directors plenty of time to consider the best way to deal with the drop into the Championship and on Monday they revealed their opening gambit.
First of all, they will look for a new manager. Gary Teale, in interim charge until the end of the season, will be encouraged to apply for the post but the tone of the statement released on the club website suggested strongly that the directors have their sights set on a change of direction. Teale, still under contract for another year, could yet revert to the coaching role he had initially assumed under Tommy Craig last summer, while his assistant David Longwell could then be freed to return to the job of running the club's successful youth academy. The club are also thought to be considering deploying a director of football to work with a head coach having seen the success Hearts have enjoyed this season with Craig Levein and Robbie Neilson.
Whoever becomes the next manager will inherit a threadbare squad. Nine first-team players are out of contract and most will move on. Gerry Docherty, the club's physiotherapist, and goalkeeping coach Paul Mathers have both accepted the offer of redundancy terms rather than take a reduction in salary. Both roles will likely be filled but on reduced terms. Those players whose deals extend beyond the summer face a mandatory 50% cut in their salaries as stipulated in their contracts. Aside from Jim Goodwin, who may also exit given his lack of recent involvement in the matchday squad, it is a youthful bunch who will prepare for Championship football. Sean Kelly, 21, and Jason Naismith, 20, will almost fall into the veteran category.
St Mirren have taken a parsimonious approach to balancing the books in recent seasons and that ethos is only likely to extend further given their removal from top-flight football. The £300,000 relegation parachute payment will ease the initial burden, but any supporter expecting a cash splurge in an attempt to secure immediate promotion will likely be left disappointed. A season of consolidation looks likely, a push for the promotion play-offs perhaps an outside prospect. Few will be tipping St Mirren to finish top of a division featuring at least two of Hibernian, Rangers, and Queen of the South, possibly another Premiership drop-out, as well as battle-hardened lower league regulars Falkirk, Dumbarton, Raith Rovers and derby rivals Morton.
The other factor, hanging over everything else, is that St Mirren could yet be sold this summer. On the market since September 2009, it has become a long-running saga to rival The Mousetrap in its longevity. Various parties have come to the table in the intervening five and a half years without ever getting a deal over the line, prompting some cynics to wonder whether the consortium really want to sell up or not.
Relegation, however, will make the asset less attractive but will also trigger a fall in the asking price which could tempt potential investors. There have been talks over a fans-led take-over but they remain very much in their infancy, while a South American bid has stalled. The English consortium who tried, unsuccessfully, to buy the club midway through the season, though, could be tempted back again. They would need clarity from the sellers on price, the deal they are after, and how it would be structured. Having spent time and money before on trying to bring a deal to fruition, they have no desire to do so again if a deal isn't likely to happen. It seems a summer of change at St Mirren Park, both on and off the field, awaits.
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