SPL Club St Mirren up for sale

St Mirren chairman Stewart Gimour has put SPL club up for sale after deciding to step down.

Gilmour and vice-chairman George Campbell have formed a consortium with other board members to sell their 98,000 shares in a single block. A 52% stake is available, with the club hoping to find a buyer by January.

Gilmour told BBC Scotland that it was the right time to sell, adding: "There's a fresh input required of finance and, more importantly, energy."

The St Mirren chairman revealed that the consortium had been mulling over the move for the past 12 months and that it had achieved its objectives of making the club debt-free. The news comes less than nine months after the club moved to their new stadium from Love Street - which was sold to Tesco - thus clearing debt and allowing the Buddies to trade profitably. That move also funded a new training ground and youth academy in Ralston, near Paisley.

Gilmour, the club's longest serving chairman, said the directors in the consortium were content to have cleared St Mirren's debt.

"In doing this, we have sacrificed much of our business and personal lives for St Mirren, putting in a considerable number of years of hard work and financial investment and overcoming many a crisis along the way," he added.

"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..............