St Mirren put up for sale

Sep 7 2009 By Greig Cameron

Directors want to move on after making football club "debt free"

SCOTTISH Premier League football club St Mirren has been put up for sale.

Directors announced they plan to sell a controlling interest in the Paisley side.

A consortium - made up of Saints' chairman, Stewart Gilmour, vice-chairman George Campbell, club secretary, Allan Marshall, director Bryan McAusland and Evelyn Purves, the widow of former director Jim Purves - will sell a controling interest of 98,000 shares giving any buyer a 52  per cent stake.

The club sold its former Love Street Ground to Tesco then moved to a new stadium in a deal which helped clear debts.

Gilmour said the cnsortium felt the time was right to sell as they have achieved the objective of making the club debt free.

He said: "The decision to sell our shares was not taken lightly.

"We have been successful in making sure St Mirren is one of the very few teams in the country with the financial stability to progress in the future.

"We believe it is now an appropriate time for us to move on, for someone else to take St Mirren forward and for the club to benefit from an injection of new energy, new ideas and new expertise."

Gilmour, who has been chairman for 12 years, confirmed they would make sure any buyer had the best interests of the club at heart.

It is hoped the stake, which has not had a value put on it, will be sold before the next transfer window opens in January.