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

St Mirren Football Club can confirm that it has reached an agreement with Sunderland AFC in relation to manager Jack Ross.

Gordon Scott, the board of directors and everyone at St Mirren would like to thank Jack for the role he has played at the club since taking over as manager in October 2016. 

Jack helped the club retain its place in the Ladbrokes Championship in his first year in charge when relegation to the third tier had seemed inevitable, before leading the club to the Championship title and promotion back to the Premiership. 

The club would also like to express its gratitude to Jack for ensuring that St Mirren FC were protected at all times and commend his commitment to the job throughout periods of speculation.

We wish Jack every success in his new challenge at Sunderland. 

We can also confirm that James Fowler will leave the club to join Jack at Sunderland. We would like to also thank James for his hard work and dedication in his time as assistant manager and wish him the best in the new challenge.

The St Mirren board has already began the formal process of recruiting a new manager and will keep supporters updated through official club channels.

St Mirren Football Club can confirm we received a formal approach from Sunderland AFC for permission to speak to our manager Jack Ross.

After agreeing to our terms we have reluctantly given them permission to speak to Jack about their vacant managers position.

All at St Mirren Football Club are saddened to hear that former Official Website Webmaster, Kenny Pointon passed away on Saturday morning after a two year battle with cancer.

Kenny, along with his wife Karin, set up the club's first official website in 2000 with Kenny continuing his role as Webmaster up till the summer of 2016.

Former official website editor, Norrie Jamieson said of Kenny: "Kenny was inventive with his design of the website and helped push the club towards being one of the first football clubs to work with a database driven website.

"His work at St Mirren had him in demand by other clubs also as he was often approached for help and advice in the early days of internet mania when clubs were looking to get an online presence secured. Something Kenny was more than happy to help out with.

"Kenny will be a loss to all who knew him".

Away from St Mirren, Kenny worked as a structural engineer and was well regarded within his field. He and Karin eventually tied the knot in 2011 and lived in Elderslie up till Kenny's illness.

All at St Mirren Football Club pass on our condolences to Karin and Kenny's family at this sad time for their loss.

Once the funeral arrangements are confirmed we will relay the details.

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.

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.

St Mirren Football Club is delighted to announce that captain Stephen McGinn has agreed a new two-year deal with the club.

The skipper has been instrumental in our promotion campaign and will now lead the Buddies in the Premiership next season after signing his new deal this afternoon.

Speaking to stmirren.com, Stephen said: "I'm delighted to commit my future to the club.

It's a club that holds a special place in my heart and to sign on for another two years after achieving promotion this season means a lot to me.

"We'll enjoy the next few weeks as we lift the Ladbrokes Championship title and then we can start to look forward to next season." 

St Mirren manager Jack Ross said: "I have spoken often enough about how much of an influence he has been in what we have achieved here in the last sixteen months.

He took a big gamble returning to the club and I'm so pleased he has played such a big part in us achieving what we have.

"I'm sure everybody associated with the club will be delighted that he will be here for the next couple of years at least." 

The club would also like to thank Paul McGrath and Consilium for their support with this deal.