PREDICTED LEAGUE POSITION: Ninth
LAST SEASON: Championship winners
NOTABLE INS: Cody Cooke (Truro City), Josh Heaton (Darlington), Jim Kellerman (Aldershot Town), Jeff King (Bolton Wanderers), Cole Kpekawa (Colchester United), Paul McGinn (Partick Thistle), Hayden Coulson (Middlesbrough, loan), Danny Rogers (Aberdeen, loan), Matty Willock (Manchester United, loan)
NOTABLE OUTS: Harry Davis (Grimsby Town), Stelios Demetriou (Ross County), Darryl Duffy (Airdrieonians, loan made permanent), Nathan Flanagan (Raith Rovers), Myles Hippolyte (Dunfermline Athletic), Andrew McDonald (Stranraer), Gavin Reilly (Bristol Rovers), Ross M. Stewart (Livingston), Josh Todd (Queen of the South, loan made permanent), Darren Whyte (Forfar Athletic, loan made permanent), Mark Hill (Celtic, end of loan), Lewis Morgan (Celtic, end of loan), Liam Smith (Heart of Midlothian, end of loan), Massimo Donati (retired), Jamie Langfield (retired), John Sutton (retired), Gary Irvine, Conor O'Keefe
LAST SEASON'S BEST XI (Departed players crossed out): Samson,
At the end of the 2016/17 season, St. Mirren needed a win on the final day of the season to avoid dropping into League One. A year on, they won the Championship by twelve points. That's some turnaround.
And they were deserved champions. They had an outstanding manager in Jack Ross, the division's best player in Lewis Morgan, and plenty of experience and nous throughout the squad. They won games in every way you can think of, sometimes playing silky football, sometimes going direct, and sometimes, to be frank, by getting physical and grinding out results.
Confidence was so high that the club's Chief Executive, Tony Fitzpatrick, even talked of targeting the top six, whilst comparing Ross to one Sir Alex Ferguson (who of course managed St. Mirren back in the day).
Now morale is not what it once was, to say the least.
Morgan's move to Celtic was signed and sealed back in January, with the Bhoys simply loaning him back for the rest of the season. So life without him was expected and planned for. Not so the exit of Ross, who became Sunderland manager at the end of May. Undoubtedly one of the finest young Scottish coaches around, his shoes will be extremely hard to fill.
Enter Alan Stubbs, best remembered for winning the Scottish Cup with Hibs. That achievement tends to mask the fact he failed twice to get them promoted from the Championship before bombing at Rotherham United. Still, it seemed like a decent enough appointment and it may well prove to be so.
However the League Cup group games were cause for concern, at least until a 6-0 drubbing of Dumbarton in the last one. Before then was a credible draw with Kilmarnock, followed by far less credible draws with The Spartans (after being 2-0 down at home to the Lowland Leaguers) and Queen's Park.
The blanks fired at Rugby Park and Hampden Park reinforced suspicions that the forward line badly needs beefed up. In Morgan and Gavin Reilly, who stalled so long over a new contract that it was withdrawn, forty goals worth has been lost. Whilst Reilly probably isn't a striker capable of scoring regularly in the Premiership, Danny Mullen and Ross Stewart (the striker, not the goalkeeper of the same name who, to the relief of commentators everywhere, has signed for Livingston) certainly aren't. Stubbs' only signing in this area so far is Cody Cooke from English non-league.
As for midfield, Morgan leaves a huge hole, though his exit will mean that Cammy Smith will get the plaudits he deserves after a year of being criminally overshadowed by the starlet. There are high hopes that Kyle Magennis, not yet 20 but with more than fifty first team appearances to his name, is the next Academy graduate destined for better things. Stephen McGinn and Ryan Flynn offer plenty of experience, while Matty Willock did well enough on loan at St. Johnstone last season that Tommy Wright wanted him back there. Winger Jeff King is also an intriguing signing.
Last season it often felt like the quality of the midfield covered any deficiencies in the backline, and given that outstanding right-back Liam Smith returned to parent club Hearts and Harry Davis, arguably the club's best defender under contract, moved back to England in the summer, it's no surprise that there has been a lot of movement in that area. So in come three new faces - left-backs Hayden Coulson and Cole Kpekawa and centre-back Josh Heaton - and one newish one, given that Paul McGinn returns after five years away.
Three of this quartet will probably start along with Jack Baird in defence, though the lack of an obvious replacement for Morgan on the left may force Stubbs to use a back three with wing-backs. Expect further signings in this area. There may yet be a new first choice keeper too, with Danny Rogers brought in loan from Aberdeen to compete with and possibly supplant veteran Craig Samson.
With so much change both on and off the pitch, a charge for the top half seems extremely optimistic. But for any newly promoted side, survival should always be the first, and main, priority. St. Mirren should have enough quality to pull that off. And that should give them a crucial foothold to push on in years to come.
THE SQUAD (players born after 1 January 1997 in italics)
Goalkeepers: Danny Rogers, Craig Samson
Defenders: Jack Baird, Hayden Coulson, Adam Eckersley, Josh Heaton, Cole Kpekawa, Gary MacKenzie, Paul McGinn
Midfielders: Ethan Erhahon, Ryan Flynn, Jim Kellerman, Jeff King, Jordan Kirkpatrick, Cameron MacPherson, Kyle Magennis, Stephen McGinn, Ian McShane, Cammy Smith, Matty Willock
Forwards: Cody Cooke, Danny Mullen, Ross Stewart
THE BEST XI?
Lawrie Spence has ranted and spouted his ill-informed opinions on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.
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