Brown exits St Mirren as John added as replacement

Declan John played 33 times for League Two side Salford City last season

Jaden Brown has left St Mirren by mutual consent "to be closer to his family", the club have announced while signing former Rangers left-back Declan John as his replacement.

Brown is awaiting sentence at Paisley Sheriff Court after admitting three driving offences and had been left out of recent St Mirren games.

The 25-year-old former Huddersfield Town and Sheffield Wednesday defender Brown had returned to the Buddies in June, having been on loan from Lincoln City last season.

St Mirren said on X: "St Mirren Football Club can confirm that Jaden Brown has left the club by mutual consent.

"Jaden will now return to England to be closer to his family. The club will make no further comment."

Englishman Brown becomes the third player to leave St Mirren in a matter of weeks following a court appearance.

Kevin van Veen's loan spell was ended last week after the Dutch striker appeared in court charged with domestic abuse.

Last month, defender Shaun Rooney left St Mirren by mutual consent after being charged with assault following an incident in a Glasgow takeaway.

St Mirren have moved quickly to replace Brown by handing 29-year-old John, who has been capped seven times by Wales, a contract until January.

John had a previous spell in the Scottish Premiership with Rangers, having originally arrived on loan from Cardiff City before signing permanently in 2018.

He made 30 appearances over the course of a year before moving on to Swansea City then Bolton Wanderers.

John was released in June following a loan spell with Salford City and told St Mirren's website it had been "a crazy few days" after only training with the squad for the first time on Friday.

Manager Stephen Robinson said the Welshman's deal could be extended "depending on how it goes".

"The circumstances we find ourselves in means we're very short of defence cover," he admitted. "Declan comes in with a vast amount of experience.

"He's played at some very high levels and obviously been up in Scotland before as well, so we're very lucky that we've been able to get him in."