St Mirren kick-off their season this Friday night in the Betfred Cup away to Kilmarnock

New manager Alan Stubbs has been busy at work since he joined in June, already signing Josh Heaton, Jeff King, Cody Cooke and Hayden Coulson, who join Paul McGinn and Jim Kellermann as the new recruits for St Mirren's return to the Scottish Premiership.

The gaffer is keen to continue strengthening the team though, as the start of the new league campaign is less than a month away now.

Talking about the current squad, he said: "I'm quietly pleased. I think we are in a position where we could have a few more across the line over the coming days, which is good.

"I want everything to speed up a little bit now, because I'm conscious of getting the group together to work with so we have got a good three and a bit weeks before we entertain our first league game. So the efforts are starting to get the wheels in motion.

"There is a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes, and the people involved are doing their utmost to make sure we can get them across the line.

"I'm hopeful that we will have another two all done and dusted who could be part of the squad on Friday. It's busy, but I said from the offset that we were going to be busy.

"I felt as though the squad needed strengthening and needed better competition for places and we're starting to make progress on that front."

Friday night at Rugby Park is the first time fans will get a chance to see the new-look Saints team, as the scheduled friendly game against Bolton on Saturday was cancelled at the last minute due to an issue from the Lancashire club's side.

Stubbs continued: "I'm really looking forward to it. Obviously Saturday's game against Bolton was disappointing, with it being so late. I can completely understand Phil's phone call from the players, but on the flip side of that it wasn't great from our point of view - the fact it was so late.

From our fans point of view as well, it was disappointing for them because they would have made arrangements for that day. It was obviously outwith our control, and something we couldn't do anything about. But from purely our side I was disappointed for our fans not to be able to see the early signs of the squad I'm trying to put together." 

Alan Stubbs will meet the press on Wednesday at the Simple Digital Arena to preview the Betfred Cup tie against Killie. 

St Mirren travel to Rugby Park on Friday night to face Kilmarnock in the opening match of the Betfred Cup. 

The hosts have confirmed with the club that there will be an option to pay at the gate for Friday's game.

However, it is advisable to buy your tickets in advance if you can to avoid any queues on matchday.

Kilmarnock vs St Mirren
Betfred Cup
Venue: Rugby Park, Kilmarnock
Date: Friday 13th July 2018
Kick-off: 7:45pm

Gate Prices

Adult - £15
Concessions - £10
Child* - £5

*For children 16 and under. Children 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult.
**Anyone who requires that requires wheelchair or ambulant/carer tickets should contact the Ticket Office

The St Mirren Ticket Office opening hours for the week are as follows:

Thur, Jul 12th - 10:00am - 2:00pm
Fri, Jul 13th - 10:00am - 2:00pm

St Mirren Ticket Office Tel: (0141) 840-6130.

St Mirren Ticket Office E-Mail: tickets@stmirren.com.

Leading energy challenger brand increases investment on St Mirren’s top-flight return

St Mirren Football Club will - for the first time in our history - have a second back-of-shirt sponsor for our return to the Premiership with the club delighted to announce leading energy company Utilita Energy featuring on all first team home and away playing kits.

Jem Maidment, Director of Marketing and Communications, said: “It is an exciting season ahead for St Mirren and we are thrilled to increase our investment in the Buddies.

“This will be our third season partnering the club – underlining our long-term commitment to fans and the community within Paisley. Engaging with the community is something we pride ourselves on here at Utilita and just like ourselves, that community has seen the club rise substantially over the last few years, culminating in the Scottish Championship title last season.”

Utilita’s commitment to Scottish football has grown since it sponsored the Scottish League Cup in 2015/16. It was also a partner of TRNSMT, in Glasgow Green, earlier this month, as well as main sponsor of the Daily Record Our Heroes awards in May.

Utilita has grown significantly: more than trebling its number of customers across the UK since 2015 from 200,000 to more than 660,000 households.

It is a Which? Top company for customer satisfaction and a Uswitch award winner in 2018. Utilita was also the first company to install a smart meter in the UK – ten years ago this summer.

Commercial Manager, Campbell Kennedy added: “I have been in dialogue with Utilita for a few months and am delighted that they have agreed to strengthen our partnership by agreeing to be our new Back of Shirt secondary sponsor for the coming season.

“Utilita’s story is a fantastic one. The company continues to grow and is an established UK Top 10 energy supplier. We are excited to continue working with Utilita to raise its brand awareness and attract new customers within the Renfrewshire area.”

St Mirren Football Club is delighted to announce the signing of Hayden Coulson from Middlesbrough.

The 20 year-old left back, who can also play as a winger, joins Alan Stubbs’ side on a season-long loan from the English Championship side.

Coulson was a member of Middlesbrough’s double-winning Under-18 side in 2014/15 and has earned international recognition with England’s U16s, U17s and U19s.

Speaking to stmirren.com, Coulson said: "I've appreciated everyone's welcomes. The academy manager at Middlesbrough said that St Mirren wanted to take me on loan. It's my first loan so I was desperate to grab the opportunity. I'm very excited to get started and hopefully I can prove something." 

Saints manager Alan Stubbs said: "First of all, we are thankful to Middlesbrough for giving us someone they think very highly of.

"He's been with England all the way up the ranks and even though this is his first loan he is someone who has a lot of potential.

"Fundamentally he is a left-back but he gives us the option of playing him as a wing-back as well. We're delighted we've managed to capture the signing as there were a few teams in for him.

"He seems a good, level-headed young lad and I'm sure with the attributes he has he is going to be a really good addition to the squad."

Bookings are now being taken for the action-packed Summer Football Camps, that will run throughout the Summer school holidays (from Monday 9th July until Friday 10th August) at the club’s exclusive airdome at The Simple Digital Arena and Lochbarr Services, Lochwinnoch.

Players aged 3-12 years old will be put through their paces by experienced and qualified community and academy coaches. Daily themes will cover all skills and attributes of the modern-day footballer (dribbling, passing and control, heading, finishing and flicks and tricks), all within a safe and fun, learning environment.

Participants are required to bring with them suitable indoor clothing and footwear (no metal studs or blades), shin guards and goalkeeper gloves (if appropriate) in addition to a light healthy snack and plenty of water/non-fizzy drinks.

Places are limited, and bookings can be made by downloading and completing the application form and returning to Ross Paterson at The Simple Digital Arena.

Please note that payment must be made in full at the time of booking to confirm places.

For further information about the Summer Football Programme and St Mirren in the Community, please contact Ross Paterson at ross.paterson@stmirren.com

To download the application form please click HERE

Due to the weather conditions several weeks ago, the St Mirren Airdome is still unavailable.

There are currently issues with the lighting and with St Mirren in the Community summer camps running it has limited our time to repair these issues. 

The summer camps WILL NOT be affected by this, and they will continue to go ahead as planned.

St Mirren Football Club apologises for any inconvenience this may have caused.

St Mirren Football Club regrets to announce that tomorrow's match against Bolton Wanderers has been cancelled. 

We would like to stress that this is completely out with our control and we are desperately disappointed that this has occurred. 

We would like to apologise for the inconvenience this will cause.

Full refunds will be available from the St Mirren Ticket Office from Monday.

Jack Baird is looking forward to the challenges of life in the Scottish Premiership.

The centre-half made his Saints debut in 2014 in a Premiership match against Hamilton Academical.

But the vast majority of the 22 year-old's playing experience has come in the Championship. 

With promotion back to the Premiership secured, Baird says he can't wait to test himself against the best the country has to offer and feels better equipped for the challenge than when he came into the team as a teenager.

Speaking to stmirren.com, Baird said: "I got a taste of it in the time I did play in the Premiership but it wasn't really enough.

I want to try and play as much as I can this season.

"I know it will be hard as the gaffer will bring in new players in my position, but I'm going to try my best to get in the team.

"I've had three full seasons in the Championship so I've grown up a wee bit. It's built up my character and I feel I am more ready for it when I made my debut. 

"There's a lot of different places we will go. Different teams, hard places to go, stadiums I haven't played in before. There are lots of different things to look forward to this season.

"Coming up against bigger players, bigger teams, in massive stadiums with massive crowds will be big for me.

"I just want to get in the team and try to stay in the team. It's that simple for me. That's as far as I have looked at it."

Alan Stubbs joined the club last month and Baird admits he's excited at the prospect of learning from the new gaffer.

It's been good because a lot of managers I have played under haven't played at centre half.

"I've learned loads in the two weeks he has been in and hopefully by the end of the season I will have learned a lot more.

"The gaffer has played at the top level, if I can be half as good as him I will be delighted."

SMISA has announced that they have arranged a question-and-answer night with new manager Alan Stubbs on Tuesday 31 July.

Alan will be on hand to take your questions ahead of the new season starting.

The event takes place in the hospitality lounge at the Simple Digital Arena. As it is a licensed event it is only open for those 18 and over.

Entry is free but there will be a capacity so register here to guarantee your place. Doors open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start.

You can guarantee your place by registering via the Eventbrite link here.

St Mirren have been out in La Manga the past week for their pre-season training camp, as they get ready for the season ahead.

We caught up with new midfielder, Jim Kellermann, after the squad reported for training in the south east of Spain with new manager, Alan Stubbs.

Kellermann said: "It's been good. It's been hard work obviously, but the lads have been great and training has been good.

"It's been very hot, but it's been very good - we needed it as a squad and we've really worked hard together. It's been a positive time over here."

"It's how you set yourself to start the year. We know it's all going to be tough over here, but these things are hugely important going into the season, and it's been a very, very good week.

The Englishman joined from National League side Aldershot Town in May, but the 23 year-old knows that putting in the work now will only benefit the team long term.

He continued: "We've been worked very hard and we needed that - we're going into a tough division. But the training has been very good, the ball has been out plenty and you can see the way the manager wants us to play and it's not too different from previously, from what I've heard from the other lads. So it's all been good.

"At the end of the week I was knackered, but I'm feeling stronger every day, as is everyone else."

This was also a chance for Kellermann and fellow new signings McGinn, Heaton, Cooke and King to bond and gel with their new team mates as The Buddies take the step up from Championship to Premiership football this season. 

He added: "Obviously the room situations that we're in allows you to talk to players you wouldn't usually. All the lads have been great though and have made me feel very welcome, as they have with the other new boys.

"You can see why they did so well last year, because they're a tight knit group."