Teale keen on St Mirren clarity

Gary Teale has urged the St Mirren board to finally make a decision on whether he can keep his job as Buddies boss.

The former Scotland winger took over from Tommy Craig back in December and was placed in charge until the end of the season.

But the 36-year-old has been unable to steer the Premiership's bottom club away from danger and still does not know if he will be kept on next term.

Victory for Motherwell when they take on Kilmarnock at Fir Park on Friday night will end the Paisley club's nine-year stay in the top-flight.

But Teale believes he can rebuild his squad and mount a revival if he is given the go ahead to continue as manager.

Asked if he he felt the club should make his position clear, Teale said: "I would definitely think so.

"For me personally I would like a bit of clarity so I can start doing a bit of planning and forward-thinking.

"I've just had some general chats with the board but nothing which says what we are going to be doing next season.

"There will be a lot of different players coming out of contract at different clubs and to help the club going forward we are going to have to build a squad here.

"One or two might have to leave here as well, so you would like to get that done as early as possible to give you the best chance of getting a good pre-season under your belt before looking to do something next year.''

Had Teale managed better than 14 defeats from his 20 matches as Saints boss, his position may have been addressed by now.

But the former Wigan and Derby attacker insists having experiences like losing midfielder John McGinn to a freak spear wound after a training ground prank went wrong will only make him a better boss.

The Saints manager - whose side could be relegated by the time they face Ross County in Dingwall on Saturday - said: "I know it sounds like I'm making excuses but I've had to deal with things that you would never expect to happen in my short time as a manager.

"We've head the freak training ground accident with John. Players can get injured but to lose him in the way we did was incredible.

"We've also had to deal with the loss of Kenny McLean to Aberdeen and some poor refereeing decisions that have gone against us, so it's not been an easy six months in charge - but I've loved every minute of it.

"It hasn't put me off management - I hope to go on and have a long career on this side of it.

"You are always going to have to deal with circumstances that pop up and the number of things I've had to deal with so far is certainly a good grounding for me.

"I hope I become a better manager for it. That's the idea, whether the experiences are good or bad, you learn from it.''