10,000 pleas to St Mirren fans

St Mirren: Club moving towards fan ownership

St Mirren could become the first British club to be owned and controlled by their fanbase if supporters continue to dip into their pockets.

The 10000Hours group are recruiting subscribers via their website, asking fans to pledge £10, and reached their initial target of 750 on Friday.

The St Mirren board want to push through a sale before the start of the new season so time is running out for the group to raise the funds required.

They have an agreement in principle to buy the 52% controlling stake for £1.5million over three years, but whilst bid leader Richard Anderson is encouraged by the support so far, he has appealed to fans to continue their backing.

First

He said: "We could become the first, I believe, professional, top-flight football team in the UK to be completely controlled by the fanbase.

"The support is accelerating, which is bizarre because we thought you'd get a big hit right at the beginning of the process, which was three or four weeks ago. It's still gaining momentum.

"If we don't buy it someone else will, that's what the chairman (Stewart Gilmour) said, so we've got to get our skates on.

"Tell a friend, tell your St Mirren friends and family and expats who have been sitting on the fence about fan ownership."

The fans' bid is the preferred option of the Buddies' board, but they are reluctant to let the sale drag on into the new season.

Support

"We've had their support for the past two years in trying to get this to happen and we're just bringing it to a conclusion now," Atkinson continued.

"It's in our own hands to make it happen. If we want it, we can get it.

"The consortium who are selling the club say they expect the club to be in new ownership by the start of next season. That will either be us or somebody else; there are another two parties that are interested.

"If it turns out there isn't the support there to match the valuation, then if we can't afford it we can't buy it," he added.