Tommy Craig appointed St Mirren first-team coach

Craig has been assistant and caretaker with Hibernian

Former Celtic, Aberdeen and Hibernian assistant Tommy Craig has been appointed first-team coach at St Mirren.

The 60-year-old had succeeded John Collins as head coach at Charleroi, having joined him at the Belgian club as assistant, but was sacked last year.

St Mirren were looking to find a replacement for Iain Jenkins, who resigned for personal reasons.

Manager Danny Lennon thought players and fans would welcome the appointment.

"We had a great number of enquiries and applications for the post," Lennon told his club website.

"But I decided to go with Tommy as I believe he was, in my mind, most likely to compliment my footballing philosophy and he has held a similar position at Newcastle United and Celtic.

"I have met Tommy a number of times and we have always appeared to sing off the same hymn sheet as to how the game should be played.

"This is another positive step in steering St Mirren towards playing the brand of football I fully believe in."

Craig, a midfielder who played for Aberdeen, Sheffield Wednesday, Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Swansea City, Carlisle United and Hibernian, with whom he began his coaching career.

Apart from his assistant posts, Craig has coached Scotland Under-21s, been first-team coach at Newcastle and had a spells as Hibs caretaker boss.

Despite signing a one-and-a-half-year contract with Charleroi in November 2009, he was sacked the following April.

Meanwhile, Lennon has backed new club captain Jim Goodwin to "drive home his message".

Lennon is looking to push the Buddies up the table by playing attractive football after five consecutive seasons in the bottom three of the Scottish Premier League.

And, after looking for a captain to succeed the departed John Potter, chose the 29-year-old Irish midfielder who has previously captained Celtic reserves, Stockport and Scunthorp.

"I was engaging every player throughout the close season and Jim ticks a lot of boxes," said of Goodwin, who arrived from Hamilton in January.

"He is a very good leader in the way he goes about his business and he has absolutely terrific communication skills.

"And I believe I've picked the right choice and the type of player that's going to drive my message home on a daily basis.

"There were another four or five that could easily have got it, so I'm very fortunate that I'm surrounded by a group of players who can lead by example no matter what they do."