The thoughts and prayers of everyone connected with St Mirren Football Club are with our former manager, Sir Alex Ferguson and his family following Saturday's news.

Sir Alex underwent emergency surgery yesterday for a brain haemorrhage.

Manchester United confirmed that the procedure went very well but he will require a period of intensive care to optimise his recovery.

The annual St Mirren Player of the Year awards dinner took place at a packed Normandy Hotel in Renfrew last night.

More than 500 Buddies turned out to celebrate what has been an incredible season for the club.

It was a special night for Steven Thompson who took his rightful place in the St Mirren Hall of Fame. The striker scored 54 goals in 180 appearances for the Saints including the second goal in our 3-2 triumph over Hearts in the League Cup final in 2013. Steven was inducted by his good friend, and fellow St Mirren Hall of Fame inductee, Barry Lavety. 

Cammy Smith was named as the club's official Player of the Year, while he also picked up the Black & White Magazine Player of the Year, the St Mirren Fans Council's Young Player of the Year and Goal of the Season awards. 

Stephen McGinn was voted for as the stmirren.com Player of the Year, while Kyle Magennis was named as the club's official Young Player of the Year. 

Gallery pictures by Allan Picken © - Allan Picken Photography

With promotion now official we are actively beginning to plan for life back in the Premiership next season.

Everything that we have achieved to date has been built on the premise of a return to the top flight. That brings a lot of excitement, but it also presents some operational challenges that we have not had in the Championship.

One of those challenges is how best we segregate our stadium on Premiership matchdays.

Segregation Arrangements for Season 18/19

We have looked at all the available options for segregation next season with the dual aim of maximising our match day revenue to give us the best possible budget to compete in the Premiership but also bearing in mind the massive influence our incredible home support has had in achieving our success this season.

The obvious and probably best financial model open to us was to revert to the previous arrangement of allocating away fans in the North Stand and allocating W6 and W7 in the West to the larger away supports, however we felt that we had to explore other options to allow us to maintain the exclusive use of the West stand for our own supporters, an arrangement which has been a great success this season.

We investigated the option of building a temporary stand in the corner between the South and West stands to house our singing section but due to sightline restrictions and prohibitive costs this was unfortunately ruled out.

We examined attendance data for our previous home matches with Celtic and Rangers and found that attendances in the South Stand were significantly lower than on other match days, potentially for a whole variety of different reasons.

And so we explored the option of selling a reduced price season ticket for the family stand which would cover all home games with the exception of those featuring Celtic and Rangers. We believe this represents the best plan for us going forward but appreciate it is not without its challenges.

Our plan is to give all away fans the full use of the North Stand.

For games involving Celtic and Rangers those visiting teams will also be allocated full use of the South Stand.

Season tickets for the South Stand will be reduced in price to reflect this arrangement.

The West and Main Stands will once again be St Mirren fans only for ALL matches.

Priority booking will be given to South Stand season ticket holders who wish to relocate to either the Main or West Stands for fixtures involving Celtic and Rangers and these tickets will be at a heavily discounted rate.

We appreciate that there will be season ticket holders who have sat in the South Stand since day one so I would like to apologise in advance for any potential upheaval this will cause, but rest assured this is a decision we have not taken lightly and one we are taking with the best intentions of our club at heart. The additional six figure sum the club will bring in from this is vital in helping us build a squad capable of competing in the Premiership.

We feel that this strikes a balance between maximising our income and ensuring that we provide a safe and enjoyable atmosphere for our own fans.

W7 Singing Section & Safe Standing

Fans will of course be able to buy season tickets for anywhere within the West Stand but please bear in mind that W7 will be very much the home of the singing section again next season.

We have also started down the road of introducing some form of safe standing area in W7.

We have had discussions with Celtic, safe seating suppliers, and held preliminary talks with both the SPFL and our local council.

This will not be something that happens next season but it is something we are looking at very seriously and will continue to investigate.

We'll have more news on season tickets including price and date of sale here on stmirren.com at the beginning of next week.

Craig Samson has signed a new contract with the club today, which will see him ply his trade with St Mirren until the summer of 2020.

The stopper has had a remarkable season with The Buddies, helping them on their way to lifting the Championship title.

It was also a record breaking season for Samson personally, as he broke the record for consecutive clean sheets at home. From December till April he accumulated eight clean sheets in a row at the Paisley 2021 Stadium, defeating Craig Hinchcliffe's previous record of seven.

Samson said: "I am absolutely delighted with it. It's something the manager and I have been discussing for a few weeks now, since we knew what position we were in and that we were going to be in the Premier League next year.

It's been quite relaxed between the manager, myself and Tony to get things done today and signed. I'm absolutely delighted to be here for the next two years.

"When I came here, the aim was to get this club back in the Premier League and to get it done this year has been an absolute whirlwind of a year, it's been brilliant.

"Now to know I'm going to be here for the next two years, it's exactly where I want to be and I'm absolutely delighted about it. I had another year, but then the manager and I discussed it. I'm just looking forward to the start of it all again."

Buddievision subscribers can watch Craig's full interview here.

It was a proud night for St Mirren on Sunday as Jack Ross was named the PFA Scotland Manager of the Year, while Lewis Morgan scooped the Championship Player of the Year Award. 

The Buddies also had Liam Smith, Stephen McGinn, Cammy Smith, Lewis Morgan and Gavin Reilly named in the Championship Team of the Year as the culmination of a year's hard work saw the Champions finish the season in style. 

Speaking about the award, Jack said: "I was surprised to receive the award when you look at the calibre of the other nominees. But in saying that I'm delighted to receive it and proud.

"It's a reflection of the work that players and staff have done this season. You're figurehead for that but the work they've done only puts me in that position to receive that award.

"The fact it is voted for by the 41 other managers in Scotland is very satisfying. I'll maybe take some time over the summer to look back on it and enjoy what we've achieved." 

St Mirren hosted its first shirt sponsors meet where those who sponsored a player's jersey for the 2017/18 season were presented with their jersey.

The jerseys were presented by the players who met the sponsors and signed autographs, while sponsors were able to have their pictures taken with players and the recently won Ladbrokes Championship title.

For more information on shirt sponsorship please contact Commercial Manager, Campbell Kennedy at commercial@stmirren.com. 

Gallery pictures by Allan Picken © - Allan Picken Photography

Please note that football centres at Gryffe High School are off this coming Friday (4th May) due to the school being closed for the holiday weekend.

Gryffe centres will resume on the week beginning Monday 7th May.

Please also note that Saturday’s community football centres at the St Mirren Airdome are ON as per normal.

For further information about community football centres and St Mirren in the Community, please email Ross Paterson at ross.paterson@stmirren.com. 

St Mirren Football Club can confirm that Cammy MacPherson has signed a first team contract until January 2019. 

The midfielder has been a regular with the development squad after progressing through the St Mirren Youth Academy. 

He made his first team debut in a 2-0 win over Dundee in the Scottish Cup in January 2017 before making his first start in the same competition against Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale in November. 

St Mirren's game on Saturday away to Falkirk marked the last game of the season, but also marked the end of some players' tenure with the club.

One player who will move on this summer that will remain in the hearts of St Mirren supporters, is striker John Sutton.

Speaking to Buddievision, Sutton spoke about how emotional he was feeling in his last game, as he got to run on to the park for one final time in St Mirren colours.

He said: "It's been four fantastic years in different ways. From promotion to staying up, and being part of that has just been incredible. But more than that, just coming in to work every day; the people at the club who cook the lunches, people who put things on for the kids etc.

"The fans have been fantastic, they've been with us everywhere, through thick and thin, through good times and bad.

"It's going to be a shame, but at the same time I'm looking forward to a new challenge somewhere. I just hope St Mirren keep going from strength to strength." 

Sutton returned to The Buddies in 2016 and played a vital role in helping the team avoid relegation to the third tier of Scottish football. He scored 13 goals during the 2016/17 campaign, but insists that he always believed the team were good enough to survive the drop. 

He continued: "Last season was strange, because Hibs were in the league and Dundee Utd were really strong. We felt we had a good chance with the calibre of players we had.

"But we just never got it together, and obviously we put ourselves in such a bad situation that people looked at it like an unbelievable escape. So we've just taken that momentum forward. 

"The young boys have come in and done brilliant. You don't even think they're young anymore - Morgy, Magennis, Bairdy - they're established players.

"Everyone has just done fantastic and it's a brilliant club to be at when things are going well. In fairness, it's not so bad when things are going badly, people still get behind you. It's been a fantastic place to play." 

The towering centre forward's first spell at the club started in 2005 when he was brought to the club by Gus MacPherson from Dundee, where he assisted the club to a Challenge Cup and League double. Now picking up his second league winners medal with The Saints he has firmly cemented himself as a club legend.   

He added: "I don't know about that, I don't think about that. I always think individual awards in football are funny, because it's a team game.

"In my first spell here, I think there was joke that Simon Lappin was getting me a move somewhere; the amount of balls he put on my head. You're reliant on service and you're reliant on the boys at the back.

 "The four years I've played with the team has been fantastic with what we've achieved. More than that, it's great to do it for the supporters out there.

"All the best for the future and hopefully you'll see St Mirren towards the top end of the Premier League and maybe picking up some silverware again."

St Mirren Football Club can confirm that Stelios Demetriou, John Sutton, Gary Irvine, Massimo Donati, Josh Todd, Darryl Duffy, Darren Whyte and Nathan Flanagan will leave the club following the expiry of their contract, while Lewis Morgan, Mark Hill and Liam Smith will all return to their parent clubs as their loan deals come to an end. 

Jack Ross said: "I'd personally like to show my appreciation for the players' effort - not just during this season - but my tenure as a whole. I wish them all the best for the future. In terms of adding to the squad, the recruitment process is well underway and we hope to have some news on that front later this week." 

We can also confirm that Conor O'Keefe, Evan Horne, Andrew McDonald, Robbie Leitch, Dylan McKendry and Chris Henry will also depart from the St Mirren U20s.