St Mirren Football Club can today confirm that it will be appealing the decision of the SPFL tribunal on Thursday December 3rd 2020.
The club is unable to make any further comment on this matter until the proceedings are complete, at which point we will update our supporters.
In our goal to make Paisley proud of its local team, we want St Mirren Football Club to have a strong, recognised presence within the community. We want to mark the gravitas St Mirren plays in the town’s history and celebrate the overwhelming support loyal fans show the club. The 2020/21 season is like no other, yet the fan support is unwavering.
One great way to showcase St Mirren far and wide across Paisley has been to launch large traditional billboard placements across key Paisley locations. Loyal St Mirren fans will feel a sense of pride as the familiar black and white stripes capture their attention; locals who are football fanatics will be reminded of their homegrown team and be encouraged to show their support.
Be inspired to follow the Paisley football club and their youth development that has produced the talent of Lewis Morgan, Cammy MacPherson and Ethan Erhahon.
It takes time to decide on what to visually promote. What do we want to communicate to our fans?
Recent times have been challenging for everyone, therefore during the summer when we heard the positive update that football matches could resume, we immediately sprang into action to spread the news.
The announcement of football returning after covid-19, albeit behind closed doors, was a momentous occasion. The business operations at the club could resume with staff at the helm, players would be able to focus on the season ahead and fans could finally watch their team on the pitch, albeit virtually.
The ideal way to celebrate with our fans was to takeover Paisley with standout billboards.
Due to social distancing measures, our photographs for billboards were limited. The transfer window period and a delay in the shipment of our 2020/21 football kit all contributed to drastically reducing our options for imagery.
Our graphic designer set to work. It was a challenge she was determined to overcome. Existing action shots would be examined to identify images that would fit into our messaging perfectly. The images would be cropped, cut out and photoshopped to life-size. The thrill of being a St Mirren Football Club supporter would be conveyed on screen.
Graphic designer hard at work
Manager Jim Goodwin was positioned at great height. He had the task to lead us into the unknown and motivate the town to Be In That Number and march alongside the saints.
Stoic Jim made an appearance
“Football Is Back!” appeared in bold letters alongside first team player Jon Obika.
Obika billboard in progress
There was a sense of sheer delight once the return of football was announced. Obika’s celebratory pose matched with the bold headline conveyed the buzz of the football community.
The photo had to be methodically cut out and optimised perfectly
As football returned without fans filling the stands, the club was humbled by the unwavering fan support shown despite the adversity. As season ticket sales surpassed the same level as previous years, the wider marketing team knew the fans had to be a focal point in the communications.
The club thought about shouting from the rooftops about how fantastic their fans were. It was a resounding decision that fans would star in our billboard placements.
Fans photos in all shapes and sizes were sent to the club and photoshopped into position
Where will our billboard pop-up? The decision on which advert placement will give us the greatest visibility for our fans, especially as people are leaving the house less, is vital to the marketing strategy.
Fortunately, fans have expressed their delight in spotting our adverts.
Fans doing their best Obika impression
Our fan billboards had a huge impact on the players. The players were blown away by the creative and commented it was refreshing to see as they had a newfound appreciation for the supportive faces in the crowd.
Sam Foley expressed his delight in seeing the fan photos sky high and spotting the club across Paisley:
“It really gave us all an appreciation of what this club means to the people of Paisley. We can’t wait for them to be allowed to return to football."
The player response inspired marketing and graphic design to arrange an upload to the pitch side screens to motivate the players. Again, our graphic designer set to work and spent time carefully editing the important fan moments many of you shared with us.
Fan photos providing support on the pitch
The creation of pay-per-view billboards were produced to drum up excitement for match days. The creative featured both St Mirren and the opposing team. It was produced internally for St Mirren to have full ownership of the illustration and strongly convey the club’s brand and traditional colour scheme. We put the task of promoting St Mirren while subtly featuring the opposition in our own hands.
The graphics were adapted for social media. Overall, the images were recognisable and complimentary of one another. The attention-grabbing advert would demand a second look as your eye would be drawn to the familiar sight. Driving by Linwood Road you would notice an upcoming St Mirren match was available to watch live. Later, whilst online, recognition will kick-in as you notice a similar advert again and are reminded to support your local team.
Socialising online only
Now more than ever it is important to stand by your local football club and St Mirren want to do what we can to be at the forefront of the minds of local football fans as the club continues business operations under uncertain circumstances.
Together the club, marketing personnel and Kibble Communications are doing their best to share news and support the team in any way we can. Our aim is to share news about our players; keep the community updated about staff who are doing their part to ensure the running of the club goes as smoothly as possible through the transition into our new normal while seizing any opportunity to raise the fans' spirits. We have exciting future plans and hope to share them with you as we move forward.
Look out for St Mirren billboards across Abercorn Street, Renfrew Street and Linwood Road.
A great deal happens at the club, behind the saints marching onto the pitch ahead of kick-off on match day. Operations to keep St Mirren running as effectively as possible do not ever stop.
The entire staff team at the club contribute significantly to ensuring the first team are fully prepared for game day and that team spirit is high amongst fans, players, staff and the wider community. We wanted to share with you some of the goings-on within the club over the past 6 months.
The club has begun working with award-winning master chef Donald Munro to create brand new catering options for St Mirren players. Nutritious meals fully support the players’ development as professional athletes. Chef Donald and his team – including a number of kids from Kibble who possess a flair for cooking – have worked alongside our Head of Sports Science Junior Mendes to produce menus needed to fuel Scottish Premiership footballers.
Maintenance improvements have continued around our stadium ready for the return of our supporters. Our dugouts have been noticeably branded with new ‘Be In That Number’ and ‘Come on You Saints’ signage, whilst the Tony Fitzpatrick Family Stand and the North Stand have been given ‘Be In That Number’ and ‘Saints In That Number’ branding. There has been extensive paintwork carried out across the stadium including the vomitories, which have been painted and branded with St Mirren badges along with the installation of new safety railings.
Extensive refurbishment work has been carried out at the St Mirren Training Ground and Academy to enhance quality and standards. The gym within the first-team building has been completely renovated, with new flooring being fitted throughout. The youth academy has seen significant changes with new changing rooms and shower facilities fitted as well as the creation of an office/learning area to aid the development of academy coaches and players.
The high quality maintenance standards wouldn’t be possible without the support of our Head Green Keeper Tommy Docherty, Green Keeper Alan Michie, The Skills Academy at Kibble along with the trainers, kids and the long-standing contractors who have continued to work with us during these difficult times.
We teamed up with The Football Company to give supporters an opportunity to have their own recyclable, waterproof cut-out displayed proudly in the stands. The cut-outs have been placed behind the goal in the Tony Fitzpatrick Family Stand.
We launched SMTV, a brand-new platform for hosting all Club media. This has presented both challenges and opportunities for Head of Media, James Hunter to create some of his own concepts. The platform will continue to be developed over the coming months to support fan engagement with input from a variety of sources including our own Paisley Panda and the SLO’s and fans groups. Sign-up now to SMTV for match coverage, exclusive interviews and behind the scenes footage.
St Mirren have worked closely with Kibble Communications for design and marketing support. The creation of consistent brand guidelines and creative, advertising opportunities, stadium-wide signage and more are a result of the consultations. Our partnership with Kibble has strengthened brand recognition for St Mirren.
Look out for the club sharing insights about club operations through out #BehindTheSaints features.
St Mirren Football Club can confirm that the SPFL’s disciplinary hearing against the club has now concluded.
The club has defended its position robustly and will be advised of the outcome which is expected at the end of this month.
Whilst we await the outcome the club will make no further comment on this matter.
St Mirren’s home is being renamed The SMISA Stadium in a show of recognition for the club’s fans as they start the final countdown to becoming its majority owners in the summer.
The club is gifting the naming rights for St Mirren Park to the St Mirren Independent Supporters Association (SMISA) for the rest of season 2020/21.
After that, the fans group will take its shareholding in the club to 51% by buying the club chairman Gordon Scott’s remaining shares.
The purchase had been due to complete by the end of 2021, but it has now been agreed this will happen sooner than planned – on a date to be decided in the summer.
And the club board has agreed the stadium-naming gesture to thank SMISA’s 1,150-plus members – whose monthly membership fees have been saved towards the share purchase since 2016 – for making that possible.
SMISA chair George Adam MSP said: "Our aim has always been the same – to see St Mirren stay forever at the heart of the Paisley community and in the hands of those who will care for it most.
"What better way to mark the ownership of the club moving into the hands of the fans than to put their name above the door?
"When we started off on the journey towards fan ownership five years ago we never expected to be in this position so soon – but the incredible commitment of our members made this possible. We are thrilled the club board have chosen to recognise SMISA members in this way."
The #BuyTheBuds deal had initially been expected to take ten years to complete but will be delivered in just five thanks to SMISA and St Mirren’s partnership with leading social enterprise and social care charity Kibble.
That partnership was overwhelmingly approved by SMISA’s members during a vote in February and is believed to be unique in Europe by making a charity the part-owners of a top-flight football club.
Kibble provide support services and commercial expertise to the club, while working with the club to creating job and training opportunities for the young people in their care.
Their purchase of some of Gordon’s shares reduced the sum SMISA needed to raise and means SMISA now expect by the summer to have banked the share purchase money plus a substantial cash reserve, which will help offer financial security to the club in future.
St Mirren chairman Gordon Scott added: "I always wanted to know I was handing over the ownership of the club to the fans when the time was right, and with the set-up we now have in place we believe that time will be in the summer.
"I and the rest of the board are delighted to be able to recognise the commitment of SMISA’s members over the past five years for making all of this possible.
"Sadly our fans can’t be in the stadium at the moment but we hope having SMISA’s name on the ground for the rest of the season shows how much we value them as the lifeblood and future of the club."
Kibble chief executive and St Mirren director Jim Gillespie, added: "With Kibble having been in Paisley for the best part of 200 years, our involvement with St Mirren helps bring together two of the town’s oldest institutions.
"But with SMISA taking on the majority shareholding, St Mirren’s future will be a fan-owned one. Kibble are delighted to be supporting that, and helping keep this club at heart of the community.
"SMISA’s members are the ones who made this happen and the stadium renaming is a great gesture to recognise them for their fantastic achievement."
For more information, see www.smisa.net
St Mirren Football Club can confirm it has been issued with a fast track notice of complaint for midfielder Greg Tansey by the Scottish Football Association for the incident involving Hearts player Clevid Dikamona in last weekend’s game at Tynecastle.
Greg has been offered a two match suspension for an alleged breach of Disciplinary Rule 200 - A1 Serious Foul Play.
The club intends to appeal this decision and a hearing will take place tomorrow afternoon where an outcome will be reached.
It seems like a lifetime ago since my last update and so many positive and exciting things have happened in that period.
I personally had one of the proudest moments of my life raising the Championship flag on behalf of the St Mirren FC family last Saturday.
I’m sure you enjoyed the match that followed the flag raising as much as I did and it was tremendous to see a big and noisy home support backing the team on our return to the Premiership.
It’s a league we feel we belong in and one we are determined to thrive in.
Here’s an update on a few things!
Managerial Change
I am sure everybody will join me in wishing Jack Ross and James Fowler every success at Sunderland. We tried everything in our power to get them to stay but it wasn’t to be.
Success on the pitch brings its own set of challenges, such as attention from other clubs be it for players or management/coaching stuff. Whilst it’s always hard to see talented people move on it is however very much part and parcel of the game.
Jack and James were a massive part of what we achieved over the last 2 years and we wish them well in the future.
Alan Stubbs comes to us with an excellent pedigree and I have no doubt he is the man to build on that success and take the club forward. I have always said that I want to enjoy my football and while the season so far has already had its highs and lows it has been far from dull!
We have been working very hard on recruitment and there will be more new faces arriving to bolster the squad before the transfer window closes at the end of August.
It goes without saying that the Premiership is a fiercely competitive league and every single game is very difficult to win. We will need to be patient at times and stick together just like we did during the darkest times in the Championship. Your support will be vital.
Let’s get right behind Alan and the boys!
Synthetic pitch at Ralston.
We had hoped to have the new synthetic pitch laid at the Academy by now but we felt it was important to do due diligence on all the potential surfaces prior to making a decision.
This included sending our Head of Academy, Allan McManus, on a tour of Holland to view the most up to date pitches available. The order has now been placed and we anticipate the work being completed by the end of October. We will then have one of the best synthetic surfaces in the country which can only benefit the continued development of new talent.
A big thank you to SMiSA members and the Scottish football partnership for helping us to make this project happen at an elite level.
Academy
With some clubs deciding to close their academies I think we need to look at the massive influence our own set-up has had in our progress over the last 2 seasons and going forward.
Kyle Magennis & Jack Baird have been first team regulars and the money received from the sale of Kyle McAllister, Jason Naismith, Stevie Mallan, Lewis Morgan and John McGinn has gone a long way towards putting this club back where it belongs both on and off the park.
There are numerous others coming through the system now which will stand the club in good stead in years to come. The Academy is, and will continue to be, a top priority for the football club and one we will continue to invest in.
Infrastructure
The stadium will be 10 years old in January and behind the scenes it is beginning to show its age. Here’s a few things we are working on;
We are looking to investigate bringing the PA system up to a better standard to improve the overall matchday experience.
We are replacing the lighting around the stadium and Academy to LED fittings which will reduce running costs over time.
The heating and ventilation systems are in need of an overhaul. Again, this will pay for itself over time due to reduced running costs.
The CCTV and fire alarm systems are badly in need of updating.
The grass playing surface at both the academy and stadium are looking as good as ever but once again some of the tools used to maintain them are much in need of upgrading and replacement.
We will continue to invest in the infrastructure of the club on an ongoing basis to ensure we have the best possible facilities.
Ticketing system.
We are painfully aware of the long running issues we have had with the ticketing platform, particularly with the buying process online.
Interstadia are working on a new version of the platform which will remove the legacy technology that has caused most of the problems and we are assured this will be delivered soon.
As part of the refresh of the platform we installed new card readers at the turnstiles, which unfortunately caused a few issues before the Dundee game.
The original plan was to get the system installed and tested at the Betfred cup games but unfortunately the new readers didn’t arrive in time for that to be put into practice.
We are confident the teething issues have been resolved and trust that there will be no similar entry issues for the next home match against Livingston. Entry via the new readers is exactly the same as before.
The Simple Digital Arena
I would like to personally thank the Simple Group for their sponsorship of the stadium over the next four Years. Everything we do is aimed at bringing more success to the club and having a partner who can help us in the ever-developing digital world as well as contributing financially to help us strengthen the team on the park can only make us stronger.
Skyview
Skyview have extended their sponsorship for another season and having a global brand as our main shirt sponsor shows the club in a very positive light.
Keep tweeting and posting your team jersey pictures online in weird and wonderful places as Skyview see that as valuable worldwide marketing.
Apart from anything else I think the logo looks great on our jerseys!
Joma
Last season we had a few teething problems with Joma but this year their fulfilment of orders and quality of product has been exceptional. We also managed to get the strips on sale before the summer holidays!
We look forward to continuing and evolving our partnership with them.
Season tickets
This year has seen a record number of season tickets sold since we moved to the new stadium.
Make no mistake that we don’t take your commitment lightly and will do everything in our power to give you an exciting team on the pitch.
Our aim is to fill our stadium with St Mirren fans and if we can maintain our progress and continue that growth then there is no reason why we can’t eventually limit all away fans to the North stand only.
Thank you all as ever for your continued support.
COYS!!
St Mirren Football Club would like to sincerely apologise to any supporters affected by issues at turnstiles before yesterday's match against Dundee.
The match kicking off five minutes early, something we were not aware would happen, appeared to further add to the issues suffered.
We understand that there was a large degree of disappointment and frustration with those who were affected and can assure we don't take this lightly.
The club will conduct a full investigation into why this happened and will address any issues to ensure a situation like this does not occur again.
All at St Mirren FC are saddened to hear that former Morton Chairman Douglas Rae passed away this weekend.
Our thoughts and condolences are with his family, friends and all at Morton FC at this sad time.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to so many people involved at St Mirren FC for the experiences of the past 20 months.
To my players and staff who have worked tirelessly to support the work we do and who have been relentless in their pursuit of success and their desire to drive the club forwards. To the chairman Gordon Scott and directors Alan Wardrop, Chris Stewart and David Nicol for their willingness and indeed patience to help meet my demands for excellence at the club, and to Chief Executive Tony Fitzpatrick and my guru Gavin Whyte for their incredible backing and unwavering faith in me.
To the fantastic support I cannot thank you enough for sticking with me, backing us in our hour of need and then joining us on the terrific journey of the past season and a half. I am immensely proud that I have helped to give you your club back and I have always said that your unwavering passion for your club was there long before me and will continue long after my time.
It has not been an easy decision to leave a club and a job which I loved but I have been offered an exciting career opportunity of which the challenge of I look forward to meeting.
The days at Easter Road last May, and the Saturday's 21st and 28th April at our stadium and in the town will be memories I will always treasure and I wish all Buddies every future success.
SMTID
Jack Ross
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