Shining a Spotlight on the Women of St Mirren FC
Celebrated annually on 8th March, International Women’s Day highlights the achievements of women and advocates for gender equality across the globe.
And today, St Mirren Football Club would like to say thank you and shine a spotlight on the women who work throughout the club.
In a male dominated industry, Lynsey McLean has worked at St Mirren since 2021 and is one of the only female General Managers working in the SPFL. She is grateful to work with a team that includes strong and inspirational women.
Today we celebrate all the women who work at St Mirren FC, each of them inspire me and support me on a daily basis. Our strategy is based around Paisley, People and Performance and within that it is important to us to champion the women who work for the club, many of whom work hard behind the scenes and form integral positions in the team behind the team”.
CHALLENGING BUT REWARDING
Football can be a challenging environment to work in, especially with such a high percentage of men on and off the pitch, but the women in St Mirren believe it is worth the reward.
Lynsey McLean shared: "It can be easy for women to go unnoticed in professional men’s football, but here at St Mirren it is evident that our collective voices are heard, and our views are valued.
Over almost four seasons of working here, I can see how beneficial it has been to have female input into to the club. Men and women think differently, and a collaborative effort with mixed perspectives has had a positive impact on the club, especially in supporting our three key pillars of Paisley, People and Performance."
Vicki Gilzean is Club Administrator and works between the St Mirren Training Ground at Ralston and The SMiSA Stadium: "They say that working in football you eat, sleep, and breathe football and it is true. One of the biggest challenges to being a woman in football is dealing with personalities and characters."
"Treating people as people and treating people with respect is an important thing in football."
THE ST MIRREN FAMILY
Across the varying roles there was a collective response to what each woman emphasised as a positive about working for St Mirren. Whether it was the first team cook, the team of academy physiotherapists, the ticket office team or the finance team, each of the women said that working for St Mirren felt like being part of an extended family, and that the camaraderie was strong amongst the various departments that make up the club.
This is testament to the hard work that has been going on behind the scenes to deliver on an inclusive club.
Kirsty Millard works at the Stadium in reception and the Ticket Office. She speaks highly of her colleagues at St Mirren.
"Coming into work and seeing everyone is like having a second family. They have looked after me and the support network given to me by the other women is second to none."
The perspective that women offer in a working environment has opened up ideas and started conversations, which have impacted the club for the better."
Academy Physio Hannah Miller puts feeling as part of a family at the top of her favourite things about working at St Mirren: "Coming into work every day I feel appreciated and a part of a family.
"This is helped by the fact there are now more women working in football. It is nice to see women who work here part time want to come into this environment and experience it."
DELIVERING ON THE CLUB STRATEGY
St Mirren is committed to promoting equality and diversity at the club.
Lynsey McLean shared: "We are seeing an increase in females attending matches, particularly mothers with families. Our ‘Everyone is Welcome, We’re All Buddies’ campaign has been successful in building an inclusive environment for everyone to feel safe attending matches."
Vicki Gilzean, added: "Female representation has increased in the past few years at the club with more staff and volunteers in various roles.
It’s great to see girls wanting to become ball attendants on matchday, we already have some girls involved and they’re great!"
A COLLECTIVE SUPPORT
Eilidh McKerry, St Mirren’s Financial Accountant is thankful to the woman she works with for their support: "As women we are often juggling multiple things outside of work, and there is an understanding that we have these external pressures, whilst delivering at a high level in diverse challenging roles.
Working together on the field is as important as working together off it for the club to operate effectively, and I believe the support of the female staff helps to enable this."
Eilidh and Lynsey shared a collective highlight of their time working at the club, St Mirren achieving European football for the first time in 37 years. Both found the complexities of navigating UEFA requirements, on top of their day-to-day roles extremely challenging, but it was worth it to watch the team play European football.
Eilidh said: "The team behind the team really pulled together to work with UEFA, completing extra compliance documents, filling in financial reports, managing ticket allocation, not to mention chartering flights, but we got our reward for our hard work by being able to watch St Mirren play in Europe."
WOMEN IN THE ST MIRREN COMMUNITY
Lynsey further stressed the importance of the women who work in the community programme and partner organisations of the Football Club: "There are a team of women who work for StreetStuff, our award-winning Community Programme, their roles are some of the most challenging within the club and they provide integral support to the young people in the local community.
Further, the work of Charitable Foundation CEO Gayle Brannigan and her team is important, especially the programmes that they run for the people of Paisley and Renfrewshire. We have support from women who work at Kibble within The Skills Academy and corporate services.
"I’d also like to mention the importance of our women’s team, managed by Kate Cooper, and the girls who play for the St Mirren Academy, who are the future of women’s football."
She continued: "I’d like to highlight and thank the female volunteers, in every role, from our SLO Karin, who works with our supporters, to Linda, Jeanette, Shona and Margaret, who help out at the ticket office during busy times and also work tirelessly to maintain the stadium after matches."
As we mark International Women’s Day 2025, the club want to recognise and extend thanks to all of the women who are an integral part of the St Mirren family; the staff, the volunteers, the partners and the fans.
