Craig McLeish has admitted St Mirren need more firepower to avoid a repeat of last season's struggles. The new boss endured the play-offs before securing the Buddies' Premiership status, and he believes the team lacked a cutting edge despite quality across the park.
Goalscoring struggles and departures
St Mirren netted just 30 goals in 38 league matches last season, averaging less than a goal per game. They have since lost Mikael Mandron, and Jonah Ayunga is out until the turn of the year. McLeish insisted: “An issue for us last season was that we didn’t score enough goals. It wasn’t because we were a poor team. We just struggled to put the ball in the net. That is the bit we need to improve, to be more threatening and to score more goals.”
Transfer activity and budget constraints
McLeish has already brought in Jacob Chapman from Huddersfield to solve his goalkeeping issue. The Paisley side are working to bring in at least two frontmen, but quality strikers often exceed their financial reach. “We are working at it all the time,” the Saints boss said. “With our budget constraints there is a lot of work going on. There are a lot of players we have spoken to. We need to take our time with it and make sure we can pick the right ones.”
McLeish compared St Mirren's resources to Hearts, who took 30 players to Spain. “We know we are not at that level. We have to be really selective on the targets we do pull the trigger on. We know we need to add to the top end of the pitch. We need to add a couple of forwards and those conversations are on-going. Hopefully, they can progress quite quickly.”
Recruitment overhaul and new signings
St Mirren have changed their recruitment approach, bringing in Gavin Miller from Motherwell to head things up. The club has already signed Chris Mochrie, Jacob Chapman, and Ryan Carr this summer. McLeish stated: “Gavin Miller was out with us (in Spain). The number of conversations we are having. It is so good to have him with us, so we can spend time together. We are talking to players, agents and clubs all the time. There are lots happening and it is about pulling the trigger on the right ones. They need to be ones who can come in and improve our starting XI.”
McLeish also noted the club's young talent: “We have a really good group of young players coming through. We know we can’t just throw them in. We need to wait until the right time and protect their pathways as well.” He will also need to make a decision on a number of recent trialists.
