Marcus Fraser admits he “jumped at the chance” to take the St Mirren captaincy role, ahead of the 2026/27 Scottish Premiership campaign.
The 32-year-old takes over the position from the departing Mark O’Hara, who left the Buddies to join Kilmarnock. The former Celtic youngster hopes he can reward the faith shown by manager Craig McLeish.
“I had a chat during the week with the manager and the coaching staff, and they asked me if I’d like to take the role on – and of course, I jumped at the chance.”
“I thanked them, and I appreciate it. Since they’ve been in from the end of the season to now, they’ve really backed me and shown faith in me, so I’m just happy, and hopefully I can reward them with performances on the pitch and gelling all the new guys together as well.
“Since the start of pre-season, the manager’s asked me a few questions here and there about different things to ask my opinion about stuff.
“That’s been good from the players’ point of view, and it’s good to get that connection with the manager and coaching staff early.”
Fraser has 264 appearances for St Mirren since his 2020 move from Ross County, opening the scoring in last season’s League Cup Final win over Celtic. But perhaps even more crucial was his volley against Partick Thistle to help maintain the Buddies’ Premiership status.
St Mirren also confirmed Alex Gogic as vice-captain for the new season. Manager McLeish knows that he will be able to rely on both players, as well as other experienced players in the groupp
“When you’re in the building, you see how Marcus runs the changing room and sets standards, day in, day out, on and off the training pitch,” said McLeish.
“Gogic is similar. Even beyond that, we’ve got an experienced group of players with Declan John, with Jonah Ayunga, Keanu Baccus and Liam Donnelly.
“We’ve got a really good core of experienced players that I can lean on at times. But having Marcus lead the group on and off the pitch, I’m delighted with that.”
St Mirren kick off their League Cup defence against Dumbarton on Saturday afternoon.