SMiSA, The St.Mirren Supporters Trust have for over twelve years championed the Youth Development programme at St Mirren. We work closely with the Academy so we can understand where and when we can best assist with our support.

 

At our recent presentation of members funds to purchase essential equipment for the Academy we were shown a demonstration of a software package the coaches were keen to adopt. Sports Session Planner is a program used by some of the top sports clubs across the planet and we are delighted to inform that The St Mirren Supporters Trust have invested members' subscriptions reserved for youth development spending by way of purchasing this for the Academy. In very simple terms this will allow coaches more time to coach and spend less time at a desk, but the benefits of this are far greater and we will be following and tracking the use of this, and reporting back on the benefits of this investment.

 

There can be no argument that our continuous support of developing of young Saints players is justified. Our first team has a healthy percentage of graduates from the Academy and to coincide with our latest donation for Sports Session Planner, we believe it proper to highlight that our future stars in stripes will grace St.Mirren Park on Sunday 13^th April to battle with Rangers in the Scottish FA Youth Cup Semi-Final.

 

Season tickets are valid for the game, and gate prices are minimal for others so it would be fantastic for a big turn out of the Saints fans for this one. Come along and support the young buddies and hopefully in seasons to come when this crop of talent have progressed into the first team and are climbing the steps at Hampden to collect winners medals you can recall the 13^th April 2014.

 

Come on you Saints!

The news that Provan Sports are severing ties with the club for a second time was received by the Supporters Trust with much sadness and great disappointment. Prior to Provan Sports returning our club had at best a minimal offering of club merchandise. Alan and his team quickly rectified this and continued where they had left off with an excellent service given to the St Mirren supporters.

We would like to thank Alan, John and all the Provan Sports staff for their service to the fans and their support of the Trust over the seasons. Based on the experience during their last absence they are going to be badly missed by the St Mirren supporters.

We understand that due to the replica kit deal and the merchandising being separate contracts Provan Sports have concluded that without the kit deal the merchandise side alone is not viable and therefore, sadly they have no choice but to sever the current arrangement with the club. No news has been forthcoming from St Mirren in relation to how this service is to be supplied moving forward and we fear that losing Provan Sports will take us back to the position where there will be no professional supply of this service, which for fans of a top Scottish professional football club is unacceptable.

Football clubs should never under estimate the importance of merchandise in particular the value this has to young supporters. Not everything can be measured in pounds and pence and while we appreciate that football is a business we would hope that given the deal with JD Sports is apparently such a fantastic one the upside of that contract would balance any potential deficit on the merchandising side.

Many Saints supporters have in recent seasons had issues with the supply of the replica kit from JD Sports which is very disappointing given the size of their retail operation. They do however possess Paisley town centre premises that could be utilized to supply Saints merchandise alongside the replica kit if they had the will to do so. It would make sense in so many ways if the replica kit and club merchandise could be purchased at the same location. It would be even better if this could also be replicated at the stadium outlet. If this is the plan we would welcome it even given our past experience with availability of the kit as it would be a vast improvement of having no St Mirren scarves available at the start of the season or only ice scrapers in the shop in July.

We call on the Directors at the club to ensure that the importance of this service is recognised and a suitable solution is sought to avoid the issues of seasons past either by JD Sports taking ownership of this or by way of appointing another professional retailer to supply this service.

SMiSA – The St Mirren Supporters Trust.

SMiSA, the St Mirren Supporters Trust would like to help publicise that prior to tomorrow night's game at home to St Johnstone, Marie Curie Cancer Care will be doing a collection outside the stadium.

 

Trust committee member Wullie Bell will be assisting in the collection, and all donations to the charity will be gratefully accepted.

The SMiSA AGM takes place this Saturday 1st March at 12.30pm at Fantoosh (Kilty Kilty), 16 New Street, Paisley.

This is of course prior to the Kilmarnock home game. It would be great to see as many members getting along as possible and don't forget you are more than welcome to bring a guest with you. 

If you can't make it please don't forget to return your voting forms that were posted out last week along with the Trust's Report and annual accounts.

 

From all at the trust, we look forward to seeing you there this Saturday!

We have once again been contacted by St.Mirren fans exasperated at the ongoing lack of available stock in JD Sports stores this Christmas. The commercial deal between the Club and JD Sports is whatever it is and as supporters of the the Club we welcome any commercial partnership that brings revenue into St.Mirren however the ongoing issues in the supply of replica kit, in particular the lack of various sizes of children's strips is simply unacceptable.

This is becoming an annual problem and the service being supplied to St.Mirren fans is very disappointing more so than ever before. In the year of winning our first major trophy in a generation young Saints fans are missing out on a Saints Strip this Christmas. We have raised this with JD Sports and the Club in the past however after three seasons we are encountering the same issues with this supplier. We would encourage all Saints fans to call upon the Club to ensure this is either addressed or a supplier be sought that can match the expectations and demands, which are hardly unreasonable of the St.Mirren supporters.

Sadly as a result of the ongoing weather situation, and police advice to avoid unnecessary travel, the decision has been taken to by both SMiSA, the St Mirren Supporters Trust and the club cancel tonight's Question & Answer evening at St Mirren Park.

 

We will be looking to confirm a new date for the event in early 2014 and apologise to anyone affected by the inconvenience of the decision to postpone the event, but trust that given the circumstances that it will be understood.