The publishing of the following update for April from SMiSA Chairman Alex Dillon was delayed due to the fact that Alex was one of five candidates up for election to the SMiSA Board. This decision was made to ensure that the Chairman's update was not giving an unfair advantage to one candidate over another. With the AGM now concluded, we have published the Chairman's update for April below. Although some of the contents are now outdated, there is still some useful information about our progress and plans for the rest of May.

Well, we did it!!

On behalf of the SMiSA Board, members of SMiSA & all St. Mirren fans, I’d like to congratulate Stephen Robinson and his team for breaking a near 40 year hoodoo and getting us into the top 6. Make no mistake about it, this is where St. Mirren belong.

With the post-split fixtures now known we have winnable games away to Hibs and Aberdeen, Celtic & Rangers will take care of themselves with Hearts visiting in what could then be a 4^th place play-off and potential European space up for grabs. It couldn’t happen, could it?....

As European draws are now regionalised it’s possible Saints fans could dream of an away trip to some exotic location, but just as likely play in Wales, ROI or Northern Ireland!

The month started in style sweeping Livingston aside to give us the platform to finish Top 6. For the Kilmarnock game we seen a crowd of nearly 8000 turn up with great expectations. The atmosphere pre-match was electric. Danny Lennon, legend and ex St. Mirren manager appeared trackside. He also got a rousing reception in the 1877 Club which was packed full of Saints fans.

For those attending the match you must have been blown away by the flag display put on by the Northbank & W7 supporters. The guys and girls gave up hours of their own time to arrange the display; from both the Family Stand and Main Stand the view was sensational. Well done and thanks to all who took part, it is much appreciated and created a brilliant match day experience. As for the game, the less said about it the better….

One main aim of the SMiSA Board has been to engage more with you, our members. We completed the first fans survey in a number of years, and will share the feedback of that in May. We have had free giveaways for members this month, a family day at the Ralston Training Ground, three signed shirt winners by survey participants, and the unique 10^th anniversary League Cup winning bundle signed by Danny Lennon and Steven Thompson.

Look out in May for the for the 100^th anniversary of the historic Barcelona Cup win. A limited edition of Saints Gin donated by Saints fan Donald Boyd of Teardrop Gin and the Journey to Barcelona book from Jack Paterson and Alan Wardrop. Can Saints lay claim to be first Scottish team to win a European trophy?

Also in May is the St. Mirren POTY Dinner at the Normandy Hotel. SMiSA Members have the opportunity to enter the draw to win a place at the event, and maybe get on stage to present the SMiSA POTY award! Another great benefit of being a SMiSA member.

May also sees the SMiSA AGM take place on 17^th May at the Stadium. Full details on registering attendance will be on the SMiSA homepage. I’d urge as many SMiSA Members to attend if you can. It gives opportunity to engage with not only SMiSA Board but the St. Mirren Directors too.

As we head into May, this also brings the football season to an end. It’s also the time, for whatever reason, players see their time at St. Mirren come to an end. As fans it’s sometimes difficult to understand that players are not as passionate about the club as we are, and reality is that gone are the days of a Shuggie Murray or Tony Fitzpatrick giving years of service to the club.

For those who move on we thank them for their service playing in the Black and White stripes, helping us reach Top 6 and maybe European football? It is great to see the club extend contracts of a few players already, and, maybe with the prospect of European football, the potential for a couple of new signings.

Now where’s that passport….

COYS,

Alex

The SMiSA Board would like to thank everyone who attended the 2023 1877 Society Ltd (SMISA) AGM on the evening of Wednesday 17th May at the SMiSA Stadium. A review of the past year was presented, along with an insight into what is planned for SMiSA over the next year. An update was also provided by Academy Director Allan McManus on progress at the Academy and the difference SMiSA funding has made. Club Chairman John Needham also gave an update regarding the progress made at the club over the past year and shared some plans the club have which they are looking to implement moving forward. Finally, the evening was closed with a member's Q&A which allowed attendees to ask questions to both SMiSA Board and SMiSA Club Board Representatives.

Results of AGM Voting

SMiSA Finance

The below diagram shows the voting results for the Finance Approvals, which took place online prior to the AGM:

Board Election

The below diagram shows the voting results for the SMiSA Board Election, which took place online prior to the AGM:

With 3 places available on the SMiSA Board, we would therefore like to congratulate Stuart Chawk, Alex Dillon and Jack McSkeane on being successful in being elected onto the SMiSA Board. We would also like to thank John Allison and Alan Wardrop for standing in this years election, who narrowly missed out this time round. 

Constitution Amendments

Two amendments to the SMiSA Constitution were proposed to members by the SMiSA Board.These were voted on in person at the AGM due to them being extraordinary resolutions, which require 75% of attendees to approve at the meeting. The proposed amendments were issued to all members via email prior to the AGM, and can also be viewed by clicking here. These were both approved by a vast majority of members who attended the AGM (>75% in attendance).

SMiSA Aims 2023/24

The aims and objectives of SMiSA for 2023/24 were presented during the AGM, with a summary of these provided below. These will also be made available to view in more detail on the website shortly.

AGM Minutes

Minutes of the 2023 SMiSA AGM can be viewed by clicking here.

AGM Video

Following our recent members survey where it was found that a large number of members would benefit if the AGM was streamed live or recorded, we are delighted to announce that for the first time ever this years SMiSA AGM was recorded on camera, and will be made available to members via. email over the coming days. We hope this will make SMiSA events more accessible to members who are unable to attend in person, and will be looking to continue to offer a live stream or recording for events in future.

This is a reminder to all SMiSA Members that this years SMiSA AGM is taking place on Wednesday 17th May at the SMiSA Stadium Hospitality Suite, with a starting time of 7pm. 

Details on how to register to attend the AGM, along with voting information for accounts approval, Board election and constitution amendments were issued to all members via. email on 1st May, with a reminder email also issued on 8th May. If you did not receive these emails, please get in touch by emailing [email protected] and we will be more than happy to assist.

Proxy Voting

As has happened at all our previous AGM's, any member who cannot attend the evening will be able to put forward an individual as a proxy.

This can be to raise a question in your absence or to vote in your place. 

This may be especially important due to constitution amendments as per our rules requiring a vote to be passed by 75% of members attending a general meeting in person. SMiSA would like all our members to feel they have the opportunity to approve business or ask questions, this hopefully makes the AGM more inclusive to all. 

If you wish to put forward an individual to be used as a proxy for yourself, then please email [email protected] from the email linked to your SMiSA membership with the name of the person being used as a proxy so that they can be added to the AGM register.

We can also confirm that the AGM will be recorded and published in the days following the meeting. This decision has been made as part of our pledge to listen to members opinions in order to improve the SMiSA experience. In our recent members survey, an overwhelming majority of members expressed that it would benefit them if the AGM was broadcast live or recorded. 

We hope to see as many of you as possible on the night.

Best Regards,

The SMiSA Board

We are delighted to announce our latest member benefit - the SMiSA Monthly Prize Draw.

A new prize will be won each month by a member. The draw will be open to all members, no matter your membership tier. Your membership automatically enters you into the draw each month.

For April's draw, the prize was a limited edition League Cup Commemorative bundle, containing a print signed by Steven Thompson and Danny Lennon, mugs and coasters. Many thanks to Cairters Corner who produced this months prizes. A variety of items can be found on the online shop by visiting www.saintsshop.co.uk.

Print included in April's Draw

April's draw took place at 1pm today (20th April 2023). We are delighted to announce Iain McCabe as this month's winner, Congratulations! We will be in touch via. email regarding your prize.

We are currently reviewing the current member benefits offered following the completion of the recent Member Survey. We hope to bring you some more exciting new member benefits soon!

In the meantime, we hope everyone enjoys Saturday's game against Kilmarnock. Hopefully the team can secure our Top 6 finish!

COYS!

If you have managed to get on the golf course or been walking the dog at the park you can’t fail to have noticed daffodils coming up and that can only mean one thing, the Top 6 split is coming!
As I write we have a great chance of making the Top 6 for the first time. It’s in our own hands and under the leadership of Stephen Robinson I’m confident we will do it.

If you attended Meet the Manager night last week then it would be hard not to have been impressed by the way the Manager spoke of his players and the support he receives around the club. His energy, passion and enthusiasm is contagious, something confirmed by Mark O'Hara who was also in attendance on the night.
The event was a great success organised by Dougie McMahon, ably assisted by Stuart Chawk and Jack McSkeane - more on them later.
Meet the Manager is one of a range of benefits your SMiSA membership brings & we are going to review these. On the night SMiSA members Allan Douglas and Alex Stafford won a signed St Mirren shirt and ball respectively, we hope you enjoyed your free prizes.
We intend to run more of these "member" events and welcome any suggestions you may have.

March also brought a long overdue meeting between the SMFC SMiSA Directors and the SMiSA Board. All agreed it was a very productive night and it is essential that both boards co-operate at every opportunity for the benefit of the club.
It will always be the case that whilst the fans "own" the club we understand the Directors of SMFC "run" the club. Where we will work best is in partnership with each other and always in the best interests of our club.

The first Finance committee meeting took place at end of last week, the first in many months involving SMiSA Directors.
Whilst I can’t share specific numbers the SMiSA board have taken great confidence from the work undertaken by Keith Lasley and the Board to reduce costs thus ensuring as much money is re-invested in the daily operations of the club and playing staff.
I`d like to thank Alan Quinn for the huge amount of work he has been doing behind the scenes on the club accounting system. Many will know Alan served on the SMiSA board and I`d like to acknowledge the many hours Alan has volunteered to get the accounting systems modernised.

Volunteering leads me nicely to the work Colin Bright does with Paisley Panda. It can’t be underestimated what Colin adds to the match day experience and this acknowledgement from the club is great to see. SMiSA director Kenny Lang has helped lead the Marching On volunteer group & they along with the Northbank group have transformed the concourse in the West stand. I look forward to reading about this over the coming months.
Our club wouldn`t function without those who tirelessly give their time in service of the club, Jim Crawford, Stewart McIntosh, the SLO team of John, John and Karen as well as Roddy MacMillan who looks after our match day mascots and finally Kate Cooper who puts in huge amounts of time managing the St Mirren Womens team. It's people like them that make our club a community club, we must never lose sight of that, thanks to all.

Finally in March we launched our members survey. For us as a board this is hugely important. The purpose of the survey is to get feedback on improving ways to communicate with you, our members for your benefit. We want feedback on what groups we should help with our monthly "pots" and how they should be allocated. Finally, we want to find out your ideas and opinions to help us move SMISA forward.
As a board, we want to increase our membership numbers in the next year, and we need your support to make that a reality. We will share some ideas at the AGM in May as to how we will make this happen together.
I would urge you to take 5 minutes to complete this, if nothing else you could be 1 of 3 SMiSA members to win a signed St Mirren shirt, again a benefit of being a SMISA member.

As you can see March has been a busy month.

Looking forward to April/May and the SMiSA elections/AGM.
As co-optees myself, Jack McSkeane and Stuart Chawk stand for election to the board along with any others who may be interested.
Stuart and Jack have made a huge impact during their short tenure on the board.
It reaffirms the decision made to co-opt them onto the board. Both guys have revamped the website, ran all the updates you have been seeing recently and overhauled communication platforms behind the scenes.
People like Jack and Stuart are the lifeblood of the football club and SMISA going forward and I'm delighted both intend to run for election.
As Chairman, diversity on the SMFC or SMISA boards is to be encouraged, however that may come to fruition.
I`d encourage anyone thinking on putting themselves forward to take that step!

Well, all that remains is for me to wish you and your families a Happy Easter and enjoy your break if you manage to get one.

Hopefully by the time I provide the update for April we can all be celebrating a Top 6 finish for Saints.

Enjoy the game

Alex

COYS

All members are invited to complete the latest Members Survey, which will help gauge members' opinions on a variety of matters which will help decide how we move SMiSA forward.

We would like your opinion on issues such as the SMiSA funding split, membership tiers and member benefits.

To access the survey, please click the following link: https://forms.office.com/r/j2QgcFwQra (You must be a SMiSA Member to complete)

The survey will be open for 1 week until midday on Tuesday 4th April 2023.

3 members who complete the survey will win a signed shirt!  Thank You to all who participate and good luck!

Regards,

SMiSA Board