The 2023/24 Scottish Premiership campaign has been a mixed one for St Mirren and manager Stephen Robinson.
With 34 games played in the year, we are definitely well down to the business end of the season now as we tick into May, and we do occupy fifth place in the table with 12 wins and seven draws putting us on 43 points and for fans who like a flutter, few would have seen us backing up last season in this way, and odds would have reflected that at the start of the year, especially if you take advantage of one of these offers to bet with.
It has been an inconsistent year though, with 15 defeats in total, and in terms of our most recent form guide, we have only picked up one point in the last five games, with three straight losses as we head into Saturday's second phase clash with Dundee.
With preparations for that game well underway, our 49 year old gaffer was recently sat in front of the press and he confirmed that plans for the coming 2024/25 season were already well underway, and that this had obviously included the club already making fresh offers to some players to keep them with us given we have already secured a top half of the table finish to the year.
However, he did warn fans that some players 'won't be able to sign' given ongoing financial pressures, and the chances that bigger clubs may come in with offers that we could not realistically reject.
Those pressures could be somewhat eased though owing to our back to back top six finishes, and there remains the opportunity for the players to secure a return to European football for the first time in the last 37 years.
Should we ultimately achieve that, the additional revenue boost would certainly come in handy as we look to further and more continual consistency and improvement.
With defender James Bolton, midfielder Caolan Boyd-Munce and striker Toyosi Olusanya already having joined forward Lewis Jamieson in putting pen to paper on new one year deals, the gaffer freely offered that sadly some players had already indicated that their preference would be to move on when their existing deals expire, and that they had no intention of accepting fresh terms at the SMiSA.
Despite our clear struggles at times this year, a solid finish to the year with some very impressive victories just simply means that a few players know that they will probably have a few suitors come the summer and the opening of the transfer window, but unfortunately for us, it is simply one of those things that we will have to deal with.
Although he did not name those players directly at this point, at least with them being honest and open, it means that we can continue our own preparations for the year ahead, knowing exactly who we need to replace, and where new potential weak areas of the pitch will be. Robinson also confirmed that this process was also now underway and that we had made 'two or three' offers of our own to players currently employed elsewhere.
He did however confirm that those players who had stated that they would not be signing new deals and would be moving on, had confirmed that they were still very much committed to the club for the games that remain in front of us.
Most importantly right now, we again need to draw a line under successive defeats and simply push on from there to ensure that we do get the European journey and show that tangible further improvement.
