Board confirms supporters will stay put in West Bank
Club makes detailed preparations for life in the Premiership
St Mirren have confirmed that supporters will not be moved from the West Bank for the entirety of the Premiership campaign.
There were fears that the popular W6 and W7 areas of the ground would be handed to visiting supporters of Rangers and Celtic next season.
However, the St Mirren board have outlined their plans for visiting fans of sides with a higher support – which will see fans from the West Stand remain.
The club have also revealed that they had looked into building a temporary stand between the South and West Stands to hold the singing section, but due to sightline issues and the cost involved, this was ruled out. Instead, visiting fans of the Old Firm will be housed in the South Stand.
A club spokesman confirmed: “With promotion now official we are actively beginning to plan for life back in the Premiership next season.
“Everything that we have achieved to date has been built on the premise of a return to the top flight. That brings a lot of excitement, but it also presents some operational challenges that we have not had in the Championship.
“One of those challenges is how best we segregate our stadium on Premiership matchdays.
“We have looked at all the available options for segregation next season with the dual aim of maximising our match day revenue to give us the best possible budget to compete in the Premiership – but also bearing in mind the massive influence our incredible home support has had in achieving our success this season.
Former St Mirren full-back Keith Watson has not been offered a new contract following an injury-ridden spell with St Johnstone.
Watson has only made six startsfor the Perth side since joining them from the Buddies following a stellar season with the Saints. Watson bagged the club’s player of the year award during a sole campaign with the side, then bossed by Alex Rae.
The former Hibs and Dundee United man also spent a period on loan at Hartlepool United last season in a bid to prove his fitness but Saints manager Tommy Wright admitted that the injuries had gotten the better of Watson’s stint at McDairmid Park.
He said:“We’ve decided not to renew the contract of Keith Watson, who has been so unlucky with injury in his two years here and that’s the main reason he hasn’t made the impact we all hoped, although I think anyone who saw him in his half-dozen starts would understand why we were keen to secure his services.”
“The obvious and probably best financial model open to us was to revert to the previous arrangement of allocating away fans in the North Stand and allocating W6 and W7 in the West to the larger away supports,.
“However, we felt that we had to explore other options to allow us to maintain the exclusive use of the West stand for our own supporters, an arrangement which has been a great success this season.
“Our plan is to give all away fans the full use of the North Stand.
“For games involving Celtic and Rangers, those visiting teams will also be allocated full use of the South Stand.
“Season tickets for the South Stand will be reduced in price to reflect this arrangement.”
The club admits that supporters affected by the move will be disappointed by the decision, however they insist that the decision has been made with the club’s best interests at heart.
The club benefits from the income generated from clashes with the Old Firm, but says South Stand season ticket holders who wish to relocate to either the Main or West Stands for fixtures involving Celtic and Rangers can get tickets at a heavily discounted rate.
A spokesman added: “We appreciate that there will be season ticket holders who have sat in the South Stand since day one so I would like to apologise in advance for any potential upheaval this will cause, but rest assured this is a decision we have not taken lightly and one we are taking with the best intentions of our club at heart.
“The additional six- figure sum the club will bring in from this is vital in helping us build a squad capable of competing in the Premiership.”