St Mirren Football Club can confirm that Stephen McGinn has today departed the St Mirren Youth Academy to join Falkirk FC in a first-team coaching role.
The former Saints captain, who played 203 times for the Buddies across two spells, ended his playing career at the Bairns in 2024 before returning to St Mirren as U18s coach. Stephen's time as U18s coach saw him lead the young Buddies to the semi-finals of the Scottish Youth Cup.
The club wishes to place on record its sincere thanks to Stephen and wish him the best of luck in his new role.
We are delighted to confirm that our current Head of Technical Performance Craig McLeish will step up to replace Stephen as Lead Coach in a new U19s setup.
Craig, who has been involved with the St Mirren Youth Academy for a number of years and assisted Stephen last season at U18 level, is highly regarded in the Saints setup with experience coaching at youth levels with the Scottish National sides.
Craig McLeish will move on to role as Lead Coach of U19s
Academy Director, Allan McManus said: "We’re sad to lose Stephen, but we’re also delighted for him as he continues on his journey.
"Hopefully he’s learned from a lot of good people in our environment. We’ve shown over the years that we don’t just develop players, we help develop coaches. From a personal point of view, it’s been brilliant working with him and we wish him all the best.
We’ve now got an opportunity to move Craig into that role and there’s no doubt in my mind that he is one of the best young coaches in the game at the moment.
"I’m delighted that we can move Craig into that role. He will enhance that area of the programme and grow the fantastic work that Stephen has already done.
"It’s a natural progression and we will also look to re-design the programme. It’s a real key area that the manager and myself are working hard at to bridge that gap between the younger players and the first-team."
Manager Stephen Robinson said: "Firstly, we wish Stephen well.
"When you come to St Mirren, good people and good staff move on and I’ve been lucky enough that I’ve surrounded myself with good staff on many occasions who are now working at big levels.
"Craig has already been working with the U18s and has done a lot of coaching in this year’s progression to the [Youth Cup] semi-final so that will be a smooth transition.
It keeps the familiarity with the first-team with Craig having already been in and involved around the first-team. That’s the building blocks that the club has got in place so there’s not a huge transition when people move on to pastures new."
St Mirren Chief Operating Officer, Keith Lasley added: "Stephen has made a significant contribution to the club and we wish him all the very best in his new position. It once again highlights the club's commitment to developing staff in line with our club strategy.
"We're excited to promote Craig to the role of Lead Coach with the new U19s. He has been pivotal in player development across all age groups at the academy over a number of years.
"This move supports our ongoing goal of developing as many high-potential talents as possible during this crucial transitional stage of their development."
