It has been a busy few weeks on a number of fronts since i last wrote to you all, both on and off the pitch.
On the park we find ourselves in the well deserved heady heights of 2nd place. 7 games into the season and still undefeated in the league is a terrific achievement and both the players and Directors of the club deserve much credit for this.
The support and their numbers at the SMISA stadium has been terrific and over 7500 at home to Hearts is testament to the way the team is performing.
We were very unlucky through in Edinburgh against Hibs. A great start to the game, leading at half time, came to an abrupt halt early in the second half. Even in defeat we hope the players can take positives from the performance.
The performances both home and away this year have been very encouraging and the manner in which we are winning games is both pleasing on the eye as well as demonstrating how much effort the players are giving for the jersey, Alex Gogic at Motherwell being a great example.
The early form is on the back of increased season tickets sales, again very encouraging for the club finances and for the support of the team. It is great to see the 3 stands full for our home games and long may it continue.
Whilst the home support is increasing at SMISA we need your help to continue to grow our membership. The more people we can attract to SMiSA the more we are able to support Stephen Robinson and the club.
If you have a friend or family member who is not a SMiSA member then have a conversation with them to join.
We are currently conducting a review of the membership tiers, to ensure benefits are proportionate to their contribution. More information will be disclosed on this in the near future.
At the end of August we had our quarterly members meeting with club update from John Needham and an update from Womens team manager Kate Cooper.
The great news from Johns update was the much improved financial position our club is in. There has been a lot of great work behind the scenes over the last year and SMISA continue to be part of that ensuring the appropriate governance is in place to support the club.
Kate highlighted the commercial opportunity that exists by embracing women's football and it was brilliant to see SMiSA become the largest sponsor of the women’s team thus giving our commitment to the development of our relationship.
At the meeting I expressed my disappointment at the discovery of court actions taken out by the Kibble representatives on the SMFC board against SMiSA.
I said that I was waiting on dates to meet up with Jim Gillespie & Mark McMillan to develop the relationship between the 2 main owners of the club.
The good news was Jim and I finally caught up and spent a couple of hours starting to build a relationship that can work in the best interests of St Mirren. We have agreed to having regular meetings and where appropriate work collaboratively on projects for the club.
As we acknowledged on the night of the event, we are in what John Needham has accurately described as an arranged marriage. We have found that the Shareholders Agreement would make it extremely difficult for SMiSA should we wish to get out of it at this time, so we need to work alongside the Kibble Directors and create a more productive future for the club.
In September we had our first Legends Q&A night and what a night it was. 2 legends of the club, Danny Lennon and Tony Fitzpatrick were superb company. For over 2 hours they entertained us with stories and anecdotes of their playing and management days.
Both stayed behind and spent time chatting to fans as well as signing autographs for many. We appreciated the time they gave to do this. Other clubs may do similar but will charge a huge amount for the privilege, again a huge benefit of being a SMiSA member.
Member voting is now open for the next SMiSA appointed SMFC Director, and i'm delighted that Jim Irvine is SMiSA's preferred candidate.
Jim has a wealth of commercial and financial experience and I wish him well in his role, should his appointment be endorsed by our members.
Jim joins John, Alex and Paul and together i'm sure they will continue to support all at the club to continue the great start we have made to the season.
This weekend brings our latest test with our first game against one of the Old Firm this season.
Get behind the team from the off and enjoy the game
Alex
