One of the biggest and most widely discussed decisions the club has taken in recent times was the one taken in June 2022 which saw SMiSA members voting overwhelmingly to retain the Tony Fitzpatrick Family stand for St.Mirren supporters only at all home matches.
The retention of the South Stand meant an end to the previous hated policy of moving home season ticket holders from the family section into other areas of the ground whenever Rangers or Celtic came to Paisley.
It effectively reduced the visiting ticket allocation by half for those two clubs.
This brought Rangers and Celtic into line with other visitors, with all away clubs receving a standard allocation of 1654 in the North Stand, give or take a few seats being kept aside for security reasons.
That allocation, equating to 20% of the overall stadium capacity, was deemed to be more than sufficient with Saints fans long arguing that any short term financial gain of uprooting our own supporters to take the Glasgow pound for those games came with a incalculable hidden price tag.
The club board pointed out the potential financial implications of such a policy change but accepted the will of the supporters, and challenged the Black & White army to make up the shortfall.
The gnashing and wailiing in the media and on socials following the vote was predictable, and it's been rearing it's head again pretty much every time Rangers and Celtic come to Paisley.
In fact there was a tweet today by PLZ about a forthcoming interview with Mark O'Hara which touched on the decision, and which then prompted the usual sort of feedback from fans of the Glasgow two.
So here we are a couple of years on. What do the numbers tell us?
There have been 9 league games in Paisley against either Rangers or Celtic since that decision was taken in June 2022.
We compared those attendances against the 8 previous home matches we played against the same opponents since returning to the Premiership in season 2018-2019, ommitting the COVID campaign of 2020-2021 which saw no fans in the stadium.
The headline results were;
Total Average Attendances UP by 2%
Number of Home Fans attending UP by 53%
So in actual fact, despite halving the number of Rangers and Celtic fans in the stadium, our attendances have stayed more or less constant but with a huge increase in the number of home supporters attending those games.
And here's the data to prove it all............
With a capacity of 7937 Saints had an average stadium fill of 84% for these games before the allocation change which has now become 86% despite the number of visiting fans reducing by half.
The future of clubs like St.Mirren, particuarly given our proximity to Glasgow, is to get fans engaged at a young age. Eviciting those same young supporters from our family stand was giving out all the wrong messages and was effectively discouraging those fans from attending games.
Season ticket sales in Paisley are at an all time high and whilst it's true that improved performances on the pitch are helping to drive that there is no doubt at all that the effort made in engaging with our young supporters across the local community is bearing long term fruit.
And the numbers tell only part of the story.
The atmosphere at these particular home games has changed beyond recognition, and all for the better with the matches no longer feeling like an away game.
The players regularly comment on the difference it's made (as you can hear from Mark O'Hara in that very same PLZ interview).
St.Mirren have a relatively small stadium, so this can't be held up as a blueprint for all clubs who might have many more seats to fill on a matchday, but it should certainly give food for thought to other clubs facing similar dilemmas.
Everyone wants the biggest crowds possible at our matches, but that can't be at any cost and these numbers prove that.
The Black & White Army are delivering on our promise of June 2022.
Our town, our team.
COYS!