St Mirren are closing in on their replacement for chief executive Tony Fitzpatrick.
And they hope to announce their new chief operating officer over the next few days with talks with their preferred candidate drawing to a close.
Club legend Fitzpatrick departed the pivotal post he’d held for more than six years last week, as he retires into an ambassador role with the Buddies.
That has left some big shoes to fill, but Saints chairman John Needham believes the preferred candidate they’ve lined up has what it takes to drive the Paisley club forward.
Speaking exclusively to Renfrewshire Live Sport, Needham said: “Tony served the club fantastically well.
“He’s going to be missed, but he’ll be back in his ambassador role in a month’s time and that will play to his great strengths.
“Tony is synonymous with St Mirren and I’m sure he’s going to dive into the new role with his usual enthusiasm for everything.
“There’s no-one better placed to sell the great aspects of this club going forward.
“We want this club to run in the best possible way and we’ve changed the title from chief executive to chief operating officer.
“There’s so much involved with running a club and this role will be focused on making us run as professionally as possible behind the scenes.
"We had a very strong field of around 90 candidates. After interviewing the top applicants we’re now actively speaking to our preferred candidate.
“We are hoping that those talks can be concluded over the next few days.”
Fitzpatrick was previously heavily involved with recruitment at St Mirren, working closely alongside previous managers Jack Ross and Jim Goodwin to identify and then bring players to Paisley.
While his replacement will still cover that side of the job, their main focus will be on continuing to develop the club’s infrastructure and seeking to attract more sponsorship opportunities.
Needham said: “We see a real opportunity for this club going forwards. We’re increasing the commercial side of things and hope to see that continue.
“We’re delighted with the Digby Brown sponsorship and we’re hoping to see more sponsorship opportunities develop as well.
“Tony was very involved with recruitment before, but Stephen (Robinson) and Diarmuid (O’Carroll) have a lot of contacts and we as a board are confident they’ll be able to handle the recruitment side of things.”
On the pitch the Buddies have toiled since the departure of former boss Jim Goodwin.
While Needham admits the timing of his move to Aberdeen was far from ideal, he’s still confident the Saints can finish the season strongly.
He added: “You would never choose to change your manager mid-season.
“We had been on a good run at the start of the year up until Jim’s departure, but the league was still very tight at that point.
“We weren’t kidding ourselves on then that we were either safe from relegation or certainties for the top six, because even a win or two has seen teams leap up the table or end up moving down the way.
“I think that’s sharpened the disappointment over the last few games, because just one win would have seen us leap up the table.
“I’m still confident we can finish the season well.”
