Teale Hoping To Take Saints Forward

Pic: Jeff Holmes

Gary Teale insists his fledgling managerial career will not be snuffed out if St Mirren lose their fight for Scottish Premiership survival. The caretaker Buddies boss was put in temporary charge of the Paisley outfit when Tommy Craig was axed in December. He was then told he could keep the reins until the end of the season and the former Scotland winger is now desperate to land the job full time. But Teale is well aware his long-term employment prospects are being done few favours by recent results. Friday night's 2-0 defeat to Celtic was their fifth loss in six matches and leaves them seven points adrift at the foot of the table. Saints now take on their nearest rivals Motherwell at Fir Park on Tuesday night in a match Teale knows his side have to win. But even if they crash again and St Mirren go on to lose the top-flight place they have held for the last nine years, the 36-year-old insists he should be given the chance to start the rebuilding job. Asked if he feared relegation would kill off his future as a boss, Teale said: "I don't see it that way. "Could an older, more experienced manager coming in to the situation I inherited have turned it around? They might have done. "But when you lost your best player in January - like we did with Kenny McLean - and you are unable to replace them, that is a big blow. "I look at Martin Canning at Accies and Jackie McNamara at Dundee United. They are kind of in the same situation as me. "They have lost players and it has affected them. "So I wouldn't look on it as though my record here will have a negative impact on my hopes of having a long managerial career. "I think I can go and build on the experiences I have had this year and take the club forward, whether it be in the SPL or the Championship." Teale asked his men last week to think of the consequences relegation would have on the club's backroom staff, with redundancies an unpleasant threat. But the boss insists club workers have rallied to the cause. He said: "I don't sense any nervousness from the staff at all - but subconsciously they must be thinking about it. "However, they have been great with the way they have been about the club, trying to encourage the lads and get behind us. "We need that and we need the fans to be working with us in the same direction to get positive results. "I keep using the word 'positive' because we can't afford to feel sorry for ourselves - even if we lose tomorrow night." If Teale was looking for crumbs of comfort after losing to Ronny Deila's Hoops last week, he did not find them at Rugby Park where he watched Motherwell fight back from a goal down to beat Kilmarnock. But it at least crystalised his thoughts ahead of their clash with the Steelmen. "If we can get the three points it keep us in touch with Motherwell and gives us a fighting chance," he said."If we draw we still have an opportunity as well. "But it probably is a must win. We need to go there and get a result. "It is going to be like that for the last seven games of the season. We have to go in to every match thinking we need to win. We do that every week but the need for points is a lot more pressing now."