Teale Keen On St Mirren Job

TEALE KEEN ON ST MIRREN JOB Gary Teale declared himself "definitely" keen to become St Mirren's manager after being appointed interim-boss of the Paisley club. The 36-year-old moved up from player-coach after the Buddies confirmed the departure of Tommy Craig, who has left after only 19 games, leaving Saints second-bottom of the Scottish Premiership and out of both domestic trophies. Teale will be assisted by head of youth development David Longwell and their first game in charge will be against leaders Celtic at Parkhead on Sunday where even a point would constitute a shock result. However, the former Wigan, Derby and Sheffield Wednesday winger, who won 13 caps for Scotland, is looking at the longer term. After his meeting with St Mirren board members, Teale said: "Basically they asked me to take over and take it on a game-by-game basis. "But you know what it's like in football. They have probably had about 500 applications in the last 20 minutes. "I am over the moon, although obviously I am absolutely devastated because Tommy gave me the opportunity in the first place to bridge the gap between playing and coaching. "As a player, you wanted to make a better contribution. "At the end of the day football is about the results and we weren't getting the results so you feel as if you have let Tommy down slightly. But again we need to look forward. "You don't get many opportunities so I will go in there and do the best I can. It is up to me to get the confidence back up and the boys believing in themselves and it is going to be difficult with the first game being at Parkhead. "It will be baptism of fire there." Teale's first job, however, will be to deal with the possible awkwardness regarding the position of Jim Goodwin who was also promoted to player/coach when Craig became manager. Asked what would happen with the Irishman following the shake-up at the club, he replied: "Jim will carry on as a player at this moment in time, so he can concentrate on being a player. "That is how they obviously wanted to go about it." Then, when asked if Goodwin was happy with the situation, Teale said: "I can't speak for other people. You have to ask Jim about that. "I haven't spoken to Jim yet but I will speak to him. At the end of the day we just want to get results and that is the main thing." Chairman Stewart Gilmour claimed Craig was "one of the best coaches I've ever seen at St Mirren". "We're in a results business and we're not producing results, it's as simple as that," he said. "We felt we needed to have a change." Craig, who previously managed Scotland Under-21s and Belgian club Charleroi, had taken charge in the summer after the departure of Danny Lennon. The former Aberdeen, Sheffield Wednesday, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Swansea, Carlisle and Hibernian midfielder had been Lennon's assistant. "I'm sure Tommy thinks maybe another couple of weeks and he might have been able to turn it around," said Gilmour. "I understand that thought, but we came to the decision as a group after lots of discussion. "We had great confidence in Tommy. He is one of the best coaches I've ever seen working at St Mirren. "He was given the opportunity to try to do it and, regrettably, and I mean that because he's been a pleasure to work with, it's not worked out."