When SMISA, The St.Mirren Supporters Trust was set up, one of its main objectives was to establish a shareholding in St. Mirren F.C Ltd to create a valid voice for the fans in the running of the club. For the purpose of purchasing shares members subscribed £10 per month.
Trusts have been particularly effective at other clubs which have embraced the involvement of fans in the board room. Dundee United for example have a full director and an associate director who have been appointed through the Arab Trust.
Regrettably, this is not the case at Saints and while in its early years SMISA was able to purchase 3877 shares from the club funded by its members subscriptions, in recent years, the club have refused numerous requests from SMISA to buy more shares. As a result SMISA had to stop accepting funds from its members for share purchase and subscriptions were reduced to £2 per month. By that time, SMISA had accumulated £50K in cash and the SMISA Board decided to use its cash to purchase shares from private shareholders. This was done with extreme reluctance as obviously the money would go to individuals rather than the club.
The first wave of share purchases has been successfully completed and SMISA now owns in excess of 5000 shares. Wave 2 is now under way and the SMISA Board is very optimistic that a further substantial increase in our shareholding will be achieved soon.
If you are a shareholder interested in selling your shares, please contact us. The constitution of the trust does not allow SMISA to sell shares so you can be assured that your shares will be held in perpetuity by a trust of Saints fans with a democratically elected board.
Meantime with the current long running uncertainty over the future ownership of our club, it has never been more important to have a strong representative trust. Our ranks are growing but please don't leave it to others. Join us now and add your opinions and your voice as a Saints Fan.