As I start to get to grips with my new role as Chairman I am very aware of the speculation and debate, on social media and elsewhere, regarding the capacity permitted at the stadium currently.

I’m sure you agree that the safety of our supporters, staff and players are of paramount importance.

Our safety team has spent a considerable amount of time trying to maximise the capacity whilst remaining compliant with current COVID-19 rules. They have spoken to other clubs to examine their processes, ground layout and systems as well as working closely with Renfrewshire Council regarding the delivery of matches at the SMiSA Stadium.

However, as a result of our seating layout we have to leave two seats free between supporters. We also can only use every second row (7 out of 14).

Additionally, with upgrade work at the St Mirren Training Ground taking place, the Main Stand is a Red Zone area as this is in use every day by the players as their training base. There is currently no way of segregating part of the Main Stand to allow supporters to sit there for matches.

I understand why comparisons are drawn with other clubs. However, these comparisons are not like for like. Tony and the team are working to improve longstanding infrastructure issues within the stadium. These are being dealt with as fast as possible and I am hopeful that they will be resolved imminently.

Unfortunately this means our plan must remain the same until 9 August. I anticipate fresh guidance coming out soon that will apply after 9 August. I don’t know what that will look like but I hope to see a lifting of restrictions for fans which will enable us to welcome back our supporters en masse. Meantime our capacity will remain at 1039 for the first home league match of the season. I’m really sorry that this is the case and can only ask that you bear with us meantime.

To ensure we use every one of those 1039 seats I ask that anyone that has entered or is planning to enter the ballot for the Hearts game on 7 August only does so if they plan to attend.

Disappointingly I have learnt of instances of staff being abused by fans in recent days. St Mirren FC has a zero tolerance stance on abuse of any form. The staff team have been working tirelessly to resolve issues with tickets and to manage ballots in extremely difficult circumstances. The past year has been hard for all football fans, but it has also been hard for the staff and I would ask for your understanding and support as we complete the systems changes that will make us more professional and efficient in future.

I would also personally like to thank the staff who have been working hard behind the scenes to manage significant change within the club. This includes the team responsible for upgrading the stadium and those who have implemented the new ticketing system in a very short period of time. That process was planned to be conducted over a number of months but had to be condensed into 2 weeks when we learnt of the impending failure of the previous supplier. Despite this your support has been magnificent again and we have around 2800 season tickets sold to date. Thank You! The early Bird offer remains available until 9 August.

Finally I want to assure you that everyone at the Club shares your desire to have you all back at the stadium as soon as possible.

As we near the end of June, we are very much looking forward to welcoming home our Commercial Partners, Pitch Pro Retail, who will be taking ownership of the club shop on the 1st of July with a view to opening their doors mid July. #InYouWeTrust

St Mirren have entrusted Future Ticketing to be their new ticketing provider. Saints fans will now benefit from a forward-thinking, innovative online ticketing system, which promises to focus on the supporter and their purchasing journey.

As part of the club’s overall commitment to develop, they have partnered with the leading ticket provider, in the hope that the system will deliver a positive experience for Buddies across all devices including smartphone.

Future Ticketing have vast experience with implementing its ticket system for sports organisations and large-scale venues and events. Their first-class expertise has led the Future Ticketing software to be used for Champions League, Europa League and Scottish Premiership matches. In the UK, they currently work with two Scottish Premiership clubs, the top clubs in the Scottish Championship and English Conference leagues. Now, St Mirren FC is part of their impressive roster.

The Club’s overall goal is to ensure fans, who wish to support them in the best way can do so as conveniently as possible by purchasing a season ticket. They hope you will join them in welcoming Future Ticketing to the club and looking forward to launching tickets for the season ahead, and beyond.

Season 2021/22

Like all St Mirren fans, I am looking forward to the new season beginning.  There is no better build up than to watch the European Championship and see a player like John McGinn, who developed his skills at our Academy and Club, play on the national stage. The Euros show yet again a visible pathway to our current group of players, showing them what is achievable in their careers.

The fixtures released today have given us the opportunity to be brave and hit the ground running in our quest to build on last year’s excellent season and achieve our ambitions.  I do not shy away from the fact I believe we are a top 6 club, and this is once again our motivation for the coming season. The Saints will hopefully take our excellent cup form from last year and go to the next level by bringing home silverware. 

I want to extend a warm welcome to our new signings, Charles Dunne, Curtis Main, Greg Kiltie and Scott Tanser.  You are now Saints and ‘in that number’ and we trust you to do the fans proud on the pitch.  The ambition and backing shown to the manager are testament to the club getting it right both on and off the field.

Premier Sports Cup

Our season kicks off with an away day to Dumbarton for the first of our fixtures in the Premier Sports Cup, followed by our first home game against Dunfermline.  Also, an away day to Stenhousemuir before a televised home game against Partick Thistle.  As is now usual, these games will form a significant part of our preseason preparation and we are looking forward to the challenges ahead in this cup competition.

Commercial Partnership

We were delighted to welcome back to the Club, Provan Sports, a name that is well known to the St Mirren family, who will provide the club shop from the 1^st July.  This excellent opportunity will bring immediate financial growth which will be reinvested across all areas of the club.  Our new kit will be available to purchase from the 1^st July and keep your eyes on our social media channels for exciting news on our kit reveal. 

Season tickets

Thank you to everyone who has contacted us to renew or buy a season ticket for season 2021/22, we continue working hard behind the scenes to bring these to you as soon as possible.

For this season we are moving to a new ticketing partner due to historic issues and fans feedback with the old ticketing system which will enhance the purchasing experience.   Due to circumstances out with our control with our previous provider we have not been able to have season tickets on sale up until now.  Further good news is we will be opening an online registration process at the end of this week to allow all current season ticket holders to register onto the new system.  This will allow for renewals of season tickets to take place from Friday 25^th June at the early bird price.  We have once again frozen prices for this upcoming season and as you know all additional income raised via the season tickets will be allocated directly to the first team playing budget.  Let’s break our season ticket record and ensure this helps deliver continued success.

Look out for more details on the season ticket registration tomorrow.  I can’t wait to see St Mirren fans back in the stadium, backing the Saints. This upcoming season the only way to guarantee that you will be there is to buy a season ticket.

Everyone at St Mirren is ecstatic for John McGinn! We wish him and the entire Scotland team the very best of luck ahead of the Euro 2020 campaign.

The club is extremely proud of John McGinn. The youngest of three brothers, McGinn came through the youth ranks at St Mirren before making his debut for the first team in 2012. In his first season he helped the club achieve sensational League Cup success, with starts in the semi-final and final against Celtic and Hearts respectively. 

Alongside McGinn, we’d also like to make an honourable mention to Kenny Mclean who played a pivotal role during the qualifiers, helping the National team secure their place in a major tournament for the first time in over 20 years.

Come on Scotland! Let’s do this.

From the St Mirren Academy 

To playing for Scotland

St Mirren Football Club can officially announce that we have agreed strategic partnerships with both Birkenhead United and Nelson Suburbs in New Zealand.

The collaboration between the clubs will see the exchange of players and coaches as well as sharing of resources and expertise to enhance all parties.

Academy tours & tournaments will also take place when safe to do so in conjunction with the club’s official travel partners, inspiresport.

As St Mirren look to grow the brand globally, Birkenhead United and Nelson Suburbs become the latest clubs to partner with Saints, following similar agreements with Northern Irish side Rosario YFC and Australians Para Hills Knights SC.

St Mirren Chief Executive Tony Fitzpatrick said: "We are delighted to officially become strategic partners with Birkenhead United and Nelson Suburbs.

"We believe that these partnerships will bring significant benefits on the field in terms of talent recruitment, as well as commercially and operationally as we share our knowledge and resources.

"The partnerships are a key part of our vision in growing the St Mirren brand and expanding our footprint worldwide. We are very much looking forward to working with Birkenhead United and Nelson Suburbs."

David Williams from Birkenhead United said: "The opportunity to partner with a professional club enables a number of new outcomes for Birkenhead United.

"We are further enabled on a journey to improve the level and quality of coaching we can provide to our community, to both the participation and elite groups.

"For any player with an aspiration to an elite or professional career in football the opportunity offered by this partnership becomes an explicit part of an attraction and recruitment policy for us."

"We believe that this formal partnership, at a club level, can only be a positive for both NZ Football as a whole, raising the profile of football both within and outside the borders, and for the potential opportunity for representative players into the future."

Gary Booth from Nelson Suburbs said: "Developing a pathway for growth and resource sharing between our club and a club of St Mirren’s stature is exciting for Nelson Suburbs.

"We believe it will be hugely beneficial for our players, managers and coaches to be able to share knowledge and learn from a leading Scottish Premiership club and it can only strengthen and add value to our club.

"Nelson Suburbs sees this partnership as a way to support young, kiwi players as they transition overseas, giving them a European platform and environment to acclimate and train and play at a professional level. It also serves as a platform to showcase the standard and quality of New Zealand players to the rest of Europe."

St Mirren Football Club is pleased to have been granted a Gold licence as part of the Scottish FA Club Licensing process. The Club achieved the Gold status with respects the ground, first team and legal/admin/finance for the awarding of the overall Gold rating.

Saints are one of only three clubs in the entire Scottish game to be awarded the prestigious gold licence and the challenge now is for the club to build on this standing and reach the Platinum level.

The club is also pleased to confirm that it has been granted a UEFA Licence Award. This follows a decision made by the Appellate Tribunal. The support of the Scottish FA licensing board, partner agencies and the hard work of our staff group have brought this to fruition.

Chief Executive, Tony Fitzpatrick said: "The progress within the club continues and this is reflected in these decisions. The Club has achieved the goal set by the Board of Directors in attaining both the Gold Licence and the UEFA Licence and will continue to build upon this across all areas of the Club."

St Mirren Football Club are delighted to announce that Director Jim Gillespie will become the Club’s new Vice Chairman.

Jim, Chief Executive of Kibble Group, joined the St Mirren Board of Directors in March 2020 on completion of Kibble purchasing 27.5% shares in the Club. This unique partnership between Kibble and St Mirren, two of Paisley’s largest institutions, will see the club become fan-owned this year.

Jim Gillespie brings with him a wealth of experience at Director level in leadership and business transformation, with comprehensive skills in innovation, and entrepreneurship. Jim is committed to developing and shaping services for the organisations he is involved with. His belief of strong governance underpins these principles and this will be a key focus of Jim’s role as Vice Chairman.

Upon accepting the appointment Jim said: "It is a privilege to take on this position. I know what an important institution St Mirren FC is in the local area and what it means to our loyal fans and local community. The Board are working hard to achieve fan ownership and having the infrastructure in place to continue the progress that has been seen both on and off the field in the last year. This is an exciting time for St Mirren."

St Mirren Chairman Gordon Scott said: "Jim has proved a valuable addition to the Board since joining as a Director in 2020. On behalf of myself and the rest of the Board, we look forward to continuing to work with him in his new role as Vice Chairman as the Club continues along its path to fan ownership and future success."

St Mirren FC’s Annual Accounts for the period ended 30 June 2020 show the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the club, however, due to the prudence and commitment of the board and thanks to the support of our fans over the past number of years, the club remains in a robust position.

A copy of the club’s Annual Accounts can be found at Companies House.

The Board of Directors were extremely concerned by the ill-informed and inaccurate headlines that appeared in the Press on 1 December 2020. The following information seeks to clarify the position and is intended to reassure shareholders with regard to the club’s financial strength.

To provide some context, in October we asked our auditors (Azets) to review a number of our business operations. This was part of our strategy to review all operations and enhance governance across the Club. One area which we asked them to consider was the status of a number of staff that we had hitherto classified as self-employed. Azets prepared a report for the Board which was received in November and concluded that, on balance, some of our staff ought to be treated as employees who would be subject to PAYE. The report makes it clear that the question of whether or not someone is self-employed or employed is a complex one in any business. In our case there are a number of factors which point either way.

Following on from this report, and in an attempt to gain clarity, we decided to self-refer the matter to HMRC for their view. HMRC were contacted by telephone on Friday 20 November and have since confirmed verbally that we should make the necessary changes to the status of the relevant employees going forward. Action is underway to make these changes. We have acted on a proactive basis and co-operated fully with HMRC.

Understandably we wanted to have their definitive view on this before we held the AGM.

The Azets report also highlighted a number of risks within the Club’s operations. It was decided to engage an independent firm of Accountants to check that none of these risks had resulted in loss. We appointed Gerber Landa & Gee (GLG), a firm highly experienced in professional football club finances, and are delighted to confirm that no evidence of any loss was found. GLG have further confirmed that the changes in process implemented should ensure that the risks previously highlighted have been addressed.

The Board of Directors trusts that the foregoing corrects any misunderstanding caused by ill-informed and inaccurate press reports.