Fans make sure Saints are not stuck beside the seaside
David Nicol
to invest in club-related projects.
To date, SMISA have part- funded the club’s wheelchair platform, run a unique community season ticket scheme bringing hundreds of local residents to games, and committed £50,000 towards a new astrograss surface at the club’s training ground and youth academy.
They also boosted the first-team wage bill when the side was on the brink of relegation to League One 18 months ago, helping kickstart the incredible on-field resurgence that sent the club on the way to the Premiership.
This summer’s title-party has proven that Paisley and it’s football club are once again together as one – something the group are now keen to build on as they strive to continue making the inroads that has seen the trust press on with their ambitious targets.
Member numbers peaked at 1,374 in summer 2016 then dropped below 1,300 after the first year.
But with a current membership of 1,264 SMISA are at the same level as at the start of 2018 – and numbers have risen since the spring.
With the former directors now paid off in full, the next stage is for the trust to save up the £615,000 needed to buy Scott’s majority shareholding, which they have until 2026 to do.
Nicol explained: “Membership is at such a level that we are ahead of schedule.
“The aim has always been to raise the funds to buy out Gordon come the original target of 2026.
“In fact we could probably be in a position to do that in the next five or six years, such is the strength of our numbers.
“The numbers have been so positive – but that’s not to say that pressing ahead with a buy-out would be something that we would be keen to do at that stage.
“Having that cushion of a couple of years would benefit SMISA and the club in the long run as it would allow us to build up a reserve of cash that could be vital when we were eventual to come into the club.
“There is a reserve already there of around £50,000, but we could potentially build that to upwards of £ 200,000 so that the money was there should the club need it.
“The club has to be self-sustainable. It is self-sustained as it is and the club owes no money, to anybody, and that is the way it should be.”