Go into the new term with heads held high
Over the past few years, St Mirren have been on nothing more than a downward trajectory.
From the highs of winning the League Cup in 2013, to the lows of relegation in 2015 and the seemingly eternal struggle that has followed every other season in its wake.
St Mirren were unfortunate to have parachuted back into a Championship made up of big guns over the past few seasons, with the likes of Rangers, while Hibs and Dundee United have also fallen foul of complacency of lingering around the top flight.
But that’s not to say that they would already have achieved promotion back to the promised land, had it not been for the presence of these sides.
Results and back- to- back relegation battles show that Saints haven’t even gotten close to giving a good account of themselves since being thrust back into the cut-throat nature of the seaside leagues.
And so while the entirety of Scottish football gears up for the next 10 months of action, another season of blood, sweat and tears, another season of highs, lows and everything in between, St Mirren enter the new season with at least an ounce of optimism that has been so sorely missing in years gone by.
The biggest difference this season is there actually appears to be some shred of a plan in place heading into the first game on Saturday afternoon.
Both on and off the pitch, Saints appear to be in an ambitious mood.
With the board now a year into the job, rightly or wrongly they will be under more scrutiny this year with their feet firmly under the table.
The politics of football are always going to divide a support, but so far, so good from the leadership of Gordon Scott and SMISA. They have stuck to their word and provided as much backing as possible when it was required most in the second half of last season.
When St Mirren had their backs to the wall in the ill-fated relegation season, the old board cashed in and sold the side’s best player to ultimately condemn the side to the Championship there and then. A business decision, of course, and one that was potentially made to safeguard the side if the worst was to happen.
It would have been easy for the club to do the same this January. Relegation looked a certainty, the side had been written off and the vultures were circling for any shred of talent in sight.
It’s true that Stevie Mallan could have and looked like he would have gone to Barnsley, but it has to be remembered just how short of form he had been and any potential sale would have only served to boost the coffers of Jack Ross in the market.
Instead, every penny was put in the pot for Ross to beat the drop, and we all know that the rest is history.
Leadership starts from the top, be it Scott or the rest of the board.
The decision so far to ward off any interest in star man Lewis Morgan is another example of the board putting the interests of the club first, with them knowing that the form of the winger could prove to be pivotal of any success off of the park.
If that means missing out on a big payday later down the line, and losing him on a free when his contract expires in the summer, then it is a risk the club are currently willing to take in their quest for promotion.
That’s not to say there is an endless pot of money.
St Mirren is a business, but right now it is a business geared towards success.
And, if that success comes this season, then you can assured that it would be some achievement after the pain of the last few seasons.