Stewart Gilmour thé former St Mirren Chairman has resigned from his position on the SMISA board citing the funding model as the key reason behind his decision.

The former Buddies chairman who relinquished control of the club in 2015 has been a member of fan owned group board since 2022 as SMISA alongside Kibble took control of the club in 2021.

Gilmour in a Facebook post said: “It is with deep regret I must announce that I have resigned from the SMISA Board, this is very much against my wishes, however the regulations attached to being a SMISA Director do not allow me to express my own opinion publicly.

Therefore, I have done so within the confines of the Board and as such those objections are in the minutes.My decision concerns the great change in the SMISA Funding model that is about to take place should the Members approve the new Build the Buds policy going forward.

“I should highlight there are many good things about the Build the Buds, however the capping of the Reserve Fund at ONLY £500,000 is something I must speak out about.

“This was a figure voted on, by no doubt well-meaning individuals, most of whom have absolutely no experience of downsizing either a company or indeed a football club with a £5 million plus turnover.

“This figure represents a mere 10 per cent of St Mirren Football Club’s annual turnover and does not even match ONE MONTH of our current outgoings.

“The Club could, and in all probability will, face difficult decisions in future should our fortunes fade, and history bears out that they will.

Dealing with this is a very difficult and costly operation to carry out. Employees do not just walk away; you cannot get out of contracts.”

Gilmour has highlighted his concerns at the clubs ability to operate in the event the clubs recent high times come to an end and they find themselves in financial difficulty.

The former Chairman has used Motherwell, another fan owned club, as an example as to why this funding model is the wrong direction for the SMISA board to go down.

“You should be aware that another club of similar size, Motherwell FC have a fund of £1 million, by coincidence exactly the figure I believe should be our minimum at this point. And one that should be subject to review in five years.

“There unfortunately is a belief among some sections of our support that we shall never hit hard times, possibly caused by relegation to the Championship. I assure you clubs of our size have their wonderful times, but unfortunately also times when it is tough. Very tough. I have been there. History tells us this happens to clubs of our size.

“The Membership numbers of SMISA rose dramatically when we had the opportunity to buy the majority shares in the club, of which we are still the majority shareholder.

“This was an investment made by around 1,200 supporters, many of us bought into this process with the view that the club was better in the hands of St Mirren people rather than overseas investors!

“However, this football club we all love is an asset we must protect. We simply must!
If we do not protect it with forward thinking and no short-termism, allowing for our experienced reality of Saints’ capacity and capabilities then we could lose it.

“The proposed figure of £500,000 is far from what would be required in an emergency. It is simply not enough to ensure that we could ride out that initial hard period, should the worst, or perhaps the inevitable happen.

“This would be a disaster for all the Members who have invested their hard-earned money into SMISA in the belief that SMISA would have a war chest able to cope.”

Gilmour finished his statement by again hammering home his belief that the proposed cash reserve figure of £500,000 is nowhere near enough to sustain the club should a return to the Championship be played out.

“To me this proposal is the equivalent of your house burning down and not having insurance: the Reserve Fund IS OUR INSURANCE, and it requires to be at a level that will ensure Saints can survive a problem cash period.

“This argument for me comes from the heart (and the head). This is about our club always being here, it is about our Grandchildren following in our footsteps.

“To succeed and survive you must have an adequate plan. I respectfully warn that this proposal in inadequate and should be reassessed.

I do hope fellow Members will see that we do need a much larger reserve to protect our investment in St Mirren Football Club.”