St Mirren have confirmed the appointment of Craig McLeish as manager.
The 36-year-old stepped in as interim boss after Stephen Robinson left for Aberdeen. After an intial uptick in results, there was then a slog but he ultimately kept them in the top flight with a play-offs win over Partick Thistle.
McLeish has now signed a three-year deal to stay on as permanent boss. Stuart Taylor will remain as his assistant, while goalkeeping coach Jamie Langfield will also take on the added responsibility of set piece coach.
Upon his appointment, he told the St Mirren website: "I want to thank Keith and the board for giving me this opportunity and I'm ready to grasp it. I'm delighted that my vision aligned with the club’s, and they feel I'm the best person to take us forward.
"It feels like maybe the end of a cycle with where we were at. We've achieved a lot over this last period, and we have to now look at what we do and how we operate as a club. A lot of that will be about developing our own young players and giving them more opportunities. I think with my knowledge of the players coming through and how much I trust them, I don't think there would be a better person to go down that route as well.
"I've been at this club now for eight years and they're [the fans] such a massive part of what we do and we have to continue feeding off them. We have to put a product on the pitch that they can be proud of and that's a big part of me looking forward to this the support we get from them and developing good relationships with the fans."
Chief operating officer Keith Lasley added: "It was always the plan to get to the end of the season, have a short period of reflection on what had taken place in that period and also conclude the thorough process that was already running in the background. That's what we've taken the time to do.
Ultimately, we feel as a football club, that Craig very much aligns with the club's real ambition and needs moving forward.
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"I think this is a moment for the club that was always coming probably to the end of a cycle, a very successful one, but we feel as if there's a new exciting challenge ahead in the way we win as a football club. That is the development of young players, the development of a player trading model and the development of a style and an exciting football team for our fans to come here every weekend and watch.
"We wanted the data and the personal characteristics to reflect those key points for us moving forward and those things joined together was really part of the process for us finding the candidate that we felt was best in that role.
"We know where Craig is in his journey, he's still very early, but I think there's some really good examples, at the likes of Brentford and Brighton, that give people opportunity. We want to be that club and that's based on merit. Craig is a very driven, hungry individual."
