St Mirren achieved what many from the outside looking in felt near impossible last season. They finished in the top six in the Scottish Premiership, level on points with Hibs in fifth, and in doing so, achieved the club’s highest top-flight finish since 1985. But, after it proved to be a great campaign on and off the pitch, St Mirren are now looking to make further progress.
On the pitch, St Mirren will undoubtedly go into more games as the favourite to win, according to latest football betting odds odds for the Scottish Premiership. They finished in sixth but were level on points with fifth, and if they get the recruitment right this summer and follow in the same vein of form, they could be in the mix to break more records next season, which would be quite something.
The team doing well on the pitch also saw St Mirren break another record; this time, the total attendance figures for the nineteen Premiership home games dwarfed what had been seen before back in the 2018/19 campaign. In total, St Mirren saw 121,610 make it through the gate at the SMiSA, with the previous record for the club being 101,680. The fans are already showing their support with over 3,000 season tickets sold, a figure that continues to grow.
It shows that the going has been good on the pitch, which has meant there has been an appreciation of it off of the pitch, enabling progress to happen. The club, keen not to rest on their laurels, moved quickly to secure the future of two influential men in manager Stephen Robinson and his assistant Diarmuid O'Carroll. The duo, who have been integral to on-pitch progress, have penned deals keeping them with the Buddies until 2026, much to the relief of everyone.
Another key figure at the SMiSA joined the club last term, spearheading plenty of the action away from the pitch. Keith Lasley, St Mirren’s Chief Operating Officer, has been in the role since June 2022, and his work is already bearing fruit. Like everyone else, Lasley is keen for this to be the beginning of more progress, and after a successful first twelve months at the club, the former Motherwell midfielder is eager to see what can be achieved in the next twelve months and beyond.
Speaking to the club’s official TV channel recently, Lasley described St Mirren as a “fantastic football club” and that he “knew it was before he came in.” A lot of this will be down to the forty-three-year-old’s connection to the area after growing up locally in Paisley. Knowing what it means to people in the local area has been key for Lasley, and it’s one of the reasons he’s determined that St Mirren kick on throughout the summer and into next season.
He reiterated his desire for that to be the case by saying, “And now, being in the building for a year, that has firmed up that this is a special place, a special club that means so much to so many people, and it is a real privilege for me to be in this position and try to help it grow and move forward.”