Well we did it and we’re on our way to Europe for the first time in 37 years! A superb achievement from all at the club and now all Saints fans are looking forward to 19th June and the draw. A nearby sunny climate would be ideal but a wet weekend in Wales would be a decent draw just to see St Mirren play in Europe again.
Season tickets are currently on sale and I’d like to remind SMISA members of your terrific support via SMiSA’s Community Season ticket scheme. From our pot of members contributions we purchase season tickets for the Tony Fitzpatrick stand. These tickets go to deserving organisations/charities in the Community and you can apply for our scheme by completing our application form at https://www.smisa.net/community-season-tickets. This is yet another way we can encourage new members to join SMiSA and also purchase their own season tickets so please share our scheme to any local organisations you may be involved in and thanks for what you do to support this initiative.
A couple weeks ago we further supported the St Mirren FC Academy with a donation of just under £25,000 through our SMiSA Academy pot. This money will be crucial to allowing Allan McManus and his team to attract/retain academy players for next year. Please dont underestimate how important this support from SMiSA is. We know the Academy team are very grateful for SMiSA’s support and this year the support of SMiSA to the club will be even more important if we want to remain in the Top 6 by end of NEXT season. You can read Allan McManus’s recent Academy Update by clicking here.
We have been contacted by a couple of members regarding the “Buy a Brick” initiative run by the club. To be viable the club needs at least 8 supporters nominations to have bricks made up. If you are thinking on this as a present or to mark the occasion of playing in Europe then contact [email protected] If we can get sufficient numbers we will pass all details to Commercial Manager Campbell Kennedy.
Following the 2024 SMiSA AGM and after the re-election of Dougie McMahon and Jim Cumming to the SMiSA Board as well as John White stepping down, discussions have been held regarding Board roles followed by approval from the elected SMiSA Board which has resulted in only one change. I (Alex Dillon) will remain as the SMiSA Chairman, Dougie McMahon will remain as the SMiSA Vice-Chairman and Jim Cumming will also remain as Treasurer. SMiSA Board member Willie Bell proposed fellow board member Jack McSkeane as secretary. This was unanimously approved therefore Willie will no longer take up the role as Secretary and Jack will take his place. Willie Bell will remain as a SMiSA Board member.
Finally it’s great to see us break the 1300 members barrier once again. We have a long long way to go to where we believe we should be with membership, given 4000 potential season ticket holders we believe 2000 SMiSA members is not unreasonable. We are looking for some volunteers to plan and support recruitment initiatives, if you are up for giving some of your time every fortnight for 90mins then please email [email protected] and we will be in touch. SMiSA are looking to move onto the next phase following “Buy the Buds”, and the SMiSA Board are well underway with the planning of our next campaign. Keep an eye out for some exciting developments over the next month or so – we will be asking members to choose/approve a refreshed SMiSA Logo, along with some other changes which we are developing alongside our Club Board representatives.
Now, let’s look forward to supporting Scotland in the Euros and even more importantly, the draw on June 19th !
Alex