'No easy option' as St Mirren face summer overahaul

[ASFN Admin]

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[BBC]

It's either proof of the limits and dangers of artificial intelligence, a glitch in the matrix, human error, or one of the big tech bros is a Buddie - either way when I entered the words "St Mirren" into one of the search engines the result, accompanied by animated fireworks, was an icon bearing the phrase "St Mirren, Premiership champions!"

Not quite, but to be fair the scenes at full time in Paisley looked more like title celebrations than marking escaping relegation by the skin of the proverbial teeth.

It certainly brought the curtain down on a memorable season. One in which the Buddies won the League Cup, reached the Scottish Cup semi-finals, lost an iconic and successful manager and survived the scrap for Premiership survival.

So the players go down in club annuals as cup winning legends free of the stain of relegation.

Now the question is what happens next?

Club captain Mark O'Hara, Mikael Mandron and Scott Tanser are among those who've reached the end of their contracts. Jonah Ayunga, who is unlikely to play again this calendar year, is also out of contract this summer.

Allan Campbell's short-term deal will be up too and teenage midfielder Jacob Devaney will be back with Manchester United. Goalkeeper Shamal George's loan spell is over, although he's released by his parent club Wycombe Wanderers. How many, if any of them, will be Buddies next season?

But the biggest question of all is who will be the manager?

Interim boss Craig McLeish is clear he wants it and says he's the best person to take the club forward.

Since stepping up from his role in charge of the first team player pathway, he's had a dozen matches in charge, winning four and drawing two of them. After the Scottish Cup semi-final loss to Celtic in extra time, the Paisley Saints lost their next three matches without scoring a single goal.

McLeish's audition which had started so promisingly, appeared to be going pear-shaped. A case of "don't call us, we'll call you."

It looked like St Mirren were locked in a doom spiral heading for relegation.

All was not lost however.

In the end they clung on to their place in the Premiership by the narrowest of margins as Marcus Fraser's second-leg goal against Partick Thistle survived a VAR review by what looked like a gnat's you-know-what.

Small margins right enough. Will it be all enough to convince the board that McLeish is the man for the job going forward?

Depends I guess in which direction the club wishes to proceed. Is it a case of looking for a chip off the old Stephen Robinson block? Good luck finding another Robbo.

Perhaps maybe Scottish football will be blindsided again by the arrival of a Jens Berthel Askou type in Ferguslie Park.

Or is it a case of keeping the faith with Mcleish and his management team? Does his preference for a more possession-based style mean changes to the recruitment profile of players?

There is no easy option. It'll be an interesting summer.

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