LIKE everyone else in Scottish football, St Mirren chairman Stewart Gilmour is looking forward to this afternoon's big kick-off.
But while the prospect of providing the opposition when champions Celtic begin their title defence at Celtic Park tomorrow is exciting enough, for Gilmour, a Paisley-born Buddie, the real excitement will not arrive until 31 January 2009, when his sid
e will christen the new St Mirren Park, in Ferguslie Park.
"Of course it will be a wrench to move on after over 100 years at Love Street," he admits.
"But the new ground means more than a fresh start to this club. In the decade during which I've been chairman we have struggled on a daily basis with financial pressures; selling Love Street to Tesco, getting the new ground built and moving there will ease these pressures.
"Of course, the move doesn't ease the football pressures – but these are mainly on Gus MacPherson and his team. With the financial pressure on the board eased, the knock-on effect of that on Gus eases, so it's a win-win situation.
"And I feel, as much if not more significance to the club, will be the fact we have just sealed a deal with Renfrewshire Council, who have given us a lease on the former Paisley Grammar School cricket pitch at Allanton on the outskirts of Paisley. This will be our new training pitch.
"We will be installing a new floodlit astro-turf pitch and it will be the centre of our community and youth coaching work.
"At the moment the full-timers use Strathclyde University's facilities at Stepps as a training base; this is a good facility, but it is not in Paisley and, for this club, to be back in Paisley on a daily basis is so important."
Gilmour is looking for the club to move forward on the field as well.
"Two seasons ago we finished 11th in the SPL, last season we were tenth, so we're moving in the right direction," he said. "I think
there's pressure on the manager and players, but, with the financial pressures eased, we can hopefully attract better quality players to help us climb the league." Those are big pressures on MacPherson and the players, but, that's maybe better pressure than fighting against possible relegation.
The full article contains 392 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
