Fellow Buds
For two or so years now SMiSA, The St.Mirren Supporters Trust, has been on the face of it relatively quiet and has not been in a position to pursue its aims and purpose as vigorously as we would all have liked. Although situations out with our control such as the inability to purchase unissued shares in St.Mirren thus restricting our investment in the club and the focus of all connected with the club on the unsuccessful bid for community ownership, SMiSA has still continued with ongoing Youth Development sponsorship, organised various events for the fans and general financial support for the club, such as providing the bulk of the funding for the dome.
Having since reorganised the committee and with the willingness of some individual members to get involved has provided us with a new impetus to get our targets back on track.
The changing face of football finances and the seemingly out of control ownership issues of football clubs generally provided the realisation that sitting on a large sum of money that was going nowhere coupled with the needs or the desire of the consortium to sell their majority shareholding to a single owner would diminish our long held belief of any independent supporter representation on the board of St.Mirren, where ultimately the potential future of our club could end up in the hands of any individual who may have no concern or moral obligation to St.Mirren, it’s fans or the community it represents, but perhaps they may only be interested in the club as a personal trophy or even just the value of the assets of the club !
You may consider this unlikely based on the current circumstances at St.Mirren but some fans of other Scottish clubs also thought the same when their clubs handed over the majority shareholding to seemingly credible individuals such as Brooks Mileson, Craig Whyte, Angelo Massone, or Vladimir Romanov.
It is becoming more prevalent for the stability and long term future of clubs for the decision makers and the custodians of the club to be made up of people who have a lifelong affiliation with it.
That’ll be you !
To ensure St.Mirren remains in the hands of its supporters for the next 137 years as it has done for the past 137, it needs the fans of today to be willing to contribute to the development of the club and be a part of a consolidated voice of the vast majority and for the club to grow and thrive from that base of enthusiasm and involvement.
The St.Mirren Supporters Trust intend for this group representation to be realised in a number of ways……
- To increase the trust membership to include every fan who has an association with St.Mirren.
- To increase the trust shareholding in St.Mirren through ongoing private share purchase.
- To gain backing and involvement from all local political and business partners within Renfrewshire.
- To use the experience and government backed involvement of Supporters Direct.
If you are part of any of the above groups we would love to hear from you but most of all we need you to join the Trust and become a member of SMiSA
For as little as £2 per month you will be playing your part in helping to ensure all fans have a strong collective representation in St.Mirren, allow ongoing sponsorship and positive results of the Youth Development facility at Ralston and ensure the continuation of supporter related events.
Our website has recently been upgraded, where you can now sign up on line or if you prefer you can contact us by any of the following means below
Website………. www.smisa.net
Email…………… [email protected]
Post…………….. The St.Mirren Supporters Trust, 10 Deanston Avenue, Barrhead, G78 2BP
Call or text….. 0759 616 5194
Twitter………… @1877societyltd
Facebook……. www.facebook.com/1877societyltd
SMiSA, The St.Mirren Supporters Trust is a registered I.P.S. which includes legal and binding rules such as one person one vote.
Thank you
John White
Secretary on behalf of SMiSA
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