St Mirren

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• St. Mirren have lost each of their last five meetings with Celtic in all competitions, conceding 2+ goals each time.

• Celtic have only suffered one defeat in their last 19 visits to St. Mirren in all competitions (W15 D3), a 0-2 league loss in September 2022 under Ange Postecoglou.

• Since the beginning of last season, only Heart of Midlothian (10) have kept more home clean sheets in the Scottish Premiership than St. Mirren (8 – level with Celtic and Hibernian).

• Celtic have won each of their last eight Scottish Premiership games but they haven’t won their opening three top-flight games of a campaign in their two most recent seasons under Brendan Rodgers (W2 L1 in 2018-19, W2 D1 in 2023-24).

• Callum McGregor has now scored in each of the 11 Scottish Premiership campaigns since 2014-15, the only player to do so, whilst he is just one goal (1 in 2) from equalling his league return from the whole of last season (2 in 35).

• All 12 Premiership sides provided a total of 15,101 minutes to Scottish players aged under 21 in the 2023-24 season.

• Those minutes average out to just 1,258 per club, which is the equivalent of only 14 full 90-minute matches.

• Six teams failed to reach a total above 700 minutes.

• Celtic and Rangers were the worst offenders in the division, with Celtic managing just 89 minutes all in, while Rangers' total was even lower at only 26.

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St Mirren have signed midfielder Killian Phillips from Crystal Palace.

The 22-year-old will be on loan for the duration of this season before a transfer fee is paid next summer.

Phillips has agreed a contract until 2026, with the Paisley club holding an option to extend the deal for a further year.

Capped six times by the Republic of Ireland at U21 level, he spent last term on loan at Wycombe and Aberdeen.

He made 13 appearances for the Dons, including three Premiership starts.

"Killian is somebody we have looked at for a while," manager Stephen Robinson told club media.

"He needs a home and somewhere to settle. He’s still a young boy finding his way.

"He'll improve with the coaching, but he has the physical attributes. He’s a big boy, he can run, and he’ll hopefully help provide goals in the team as well.

"With a couple of bumps and knocks in the midfield it’s important we strengthen our numbers in there."

A lack of first-team action given to youngsters in the Premiership backs up the Scottish FA's assertion that Scotland is not bringing through enough emerging talent.

Just three of the 12 top-flight teams are able to say they provided over 2,000 minutes to Scots aged under 21 across last season's pre-split fixtures.

Dundee sit top of the 2023-24 table with 3,538, but a large chunk of that was clocked up by the one player - Lyall Cameron.

The same applies to the three next best clubs on the chart, Aberdeen (Connor Barron), Kilmarnock (David Watson) and Motherwell (Lennon Miller).

At the bottom of the table are both Old Firm clubs, with the pair posting concerning figures - Celtic just 89 minutes and Rangers only 26.

The report uses Hungary's top flight - a 12-team league - as a direct comparison. It shows Honved provided 6,544 minutes to Hungarian under-21 players, PAFC reached more than 5,000 and two more clubs achieved over 3,000.

Click here to read more on how Scottish football is failing young players.

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Clubs in Scotland are failing to bring through enough young players, a report, external by the Scottish FA has said.

The governing body says Scottish football is "significantly underachieving its potential" in youth development compared to countries of a similar size.

Using a range of data to compare leagues across Europe, it shows players under the age of 21 in Scotland are playing fewer minutes in the top-flight than countries such as Denmark, Norway, and Croatia.

Meanwhile, game time for young Scottish players in major European club competitions ranks below countries with smaller populations and fewer resources, such as Montenegro and North Macedonia.

It also stresses clubs are missing an opportunity to reduce wage costs and increase transfer revenue by developing their own players.

The report was commissioned by the SFA's professional game board at the end of 2023, and a working party comprised of SPFL and SFA representatives will now consider its findings.

Read the full story

Former striker Lee Miller, who turned out for Dundee United, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock among others, recounts his experiences of being on the move on transfer deadline day during his playing career.

Listen and subscribe to the Scottish football podcast on BBC Sounds

St Mirren have agreed a deal to sign midfielder Killian Phillips, 22, from Crystal Palace. (Herald - subscription), external

Read Wednesday's Scottish gossip

Mark Jardine
Fan writer

Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened and you didn't lose to Connah's Quay Nomads or Sligo Rovers.

Thursday night was all that supporting St Mirren can be in a two-hour nutshell.

Overwhelming pride at exceeding expectations; conceding a painful and preventable early goal; scrapping for every morsel of possession; watching a local boy strut on to the field and set up a glorious equaliser; looking like they might just do it; being brought back down to earth with a couple of late gut punches; making plenty of noise anyway and storing the experience as motivation for next time.

SK Brann, over both legs of the tie, showed more than enough to claim the bragging rights and send their fans to their local Kazakh-specialist travel agent.

It is no exaggeration to say that in 20-odd years of watching the Saints, I can't remember many sides so comfortable on the ball and fluid in their movement. While they could certainly have been more ruthless, they look capable of challenging sides with far greater resources than us.

European defeat in Europe's rainiest city, mostly spent chasing shadows in some sort of large-scale devious rondo, is bound to have had an impact both mentally and physically on an already stretched side.

Stephen Robinson's challenge was to guide the group home and up to Tannadice for Sunday's domestic cup return, though redemption wasn't to be found there either.

In a battle that would have any casual viewers reaching for the remote and searching for a repeat of the Olympic breakdancing or dressage, it was Jim Goodwin's United who clawed out a winner.

For the first time in this young season, the Saints staff and players will now have a full week between fixtures. And, with last season's champions the visitors to Paisley on Sunday afternoon, that's probably just as well.

In the pain of a first European tour in 37 years ending, and the frustration in having half of this season's silverware chances snuffed out at the first hurdle, hopefully there is no loss of perspective.

Aye, it stings now, but these circumstances were only at play because of the joy and achievement of last season. Now, the focus can return to earning it all once again.

Mark Jardine can be found at Misery Hunters, external

We asked you for your thoughts after St Mirren's League Cup exit following defeat to Dundee United on Sunday.

Here's what you had to say:

Eddie: Delighted to see Fraser Taylor and Ethan Sutherland get time on the pitch. We looked jaded after Europe, no excuses though we just don’t have a big enough squad.

We have a lot of very good players to come back from injury. I will judge us after the first block of games. I am hopeful we will be much stronger by then.

Paul: There’s been highs and lows in the last seven days and despite a very tired looking performance from Saints, we still didn’t look too far behind Dundee Utd on the day. A bigger squad or fresher legs and we’d be in the next round.

Lewis: Genuinely just think we were tired. We’ll be back (after a loss to Celtic and a routine loss to Kilmarnock). Nice to see more of Fraser Taylor. Hopefully some of the younger boys can take their chances and become regular starters…

Mikey: St Mirren were visibly tired from their European efforts, but still not much in the game with United doing just enough to progress. More effort should be made to protect the Scottish teams in Europe otherwise we will never compete as equals and improve the coefficient.

Douglas: Saints were a shambles today. Couldn't pass the ball, every ball launched into the air and apart from Olysanya and youngster Fraser Taylor, we were static. Goalkeeper Balacombe at fault for goal, seems to be a bit nervous with cross balls. A poor poor performance.

Ross Graham’s close-range header proved decisive as Dundee United beat St Mirren to secure a Premier Sports Cup quarter-final place.

The towering defender got the vital touch from a couple of yards out after Will Ferry’s excellent corner delivery wasn’t dealt with by the St Mirren backline.

What did you make of that, Buddies fans? Did you deserve to progress?

Let us know your thoughts here, external.

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St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson tells BBC Scotland: "[We lost to] a set play. We had four great chances from set-plays. They took theirs, we didn't.

"I don't think either side created a whole lot. There wasn't a lot of chances in the game, we didn't create anything from open play.

"We just lacked a bit of a spark. There's only six players who were there giving everything and it's the same six players that I'm constantly trying to drag minutes out of. It's hard to be critical of them.

"There's no chopping and changing now. I'll put my best team out now and try and get some consistency. There's no excuses today. We didn't take our chances."

"Perhaps I got it wrong today. There wasn't a lot of options in terms of the selection process. The young boys who came in did well."

Martin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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St Mirren have enjoyed their European foray and now face the challenge of regaining domestic focus quickly to set them off positively in their quest to match, or better, last season’s heights.

They face Celtic next on league business. The challenges they face show no sign of relenting.

Like Kilmarnock, they have been unable to build up any consistency as the starting XI is chopped and changed, with European endeavours clearing testing a squad unused to the rigours of playing twice a week.

The main problem today was a problem that has plagued the Buddies for years - they need a striker who can score at least 10 goals a season. They haven't had that since the days of Steven Thompson, a long time ago now.

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Dundee United: Walton, Adegboyega, Gallagher, Graham, Holt, Ferry, Babunski, Sibbald, Stephenson, Trapanovski, Van der Sande.

Substitutes: Richards, Moult, Odada, Middleton, Fotheringham, Docherty, Thomson, Cleall-Harding, Ubochioma.

St Mirren: Balcombe, Fraser, Gogic, Iacovitti, Rooney, Smyth, Idowu, Tanser, F Taylor, Mandron, Olusanya.

Substitutes: Urminsky, Bwomono, R Taylor, Kenny, Sutherland, Brown, Mooney, Scott, Ayunga.

Rangers look set to appoint St Mirren vice-chairman Jim Gillespie as their new chief executive. (Scottish Sun On Sunday), external

Read Sunday's Scottish Gossip in full here.

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Cup competitions "are huge" for St Mirren, says manager Stephen Robinson.

The Buddies travel to face Dundee United in Sunday's Scottish League Cup second-round tie.

St Mirren's last trophy win was the 2013 League Cup final win over Hearts.

"They are huge," Robinson said of the cups on St Mirren's website. "It is a chance to get to the quarter-finals, one game from Hampden so they are massive.

"They are the chance for a club of our size to win something and we have to try to put out the strongest team possible in the best physical condition against a hard Dundee United side.

"They are a big football club, they have a good manager and they have made some interesting signings in the forward areas as well. So they have a bit of quality up there and obviously players that we know like Declan Gallagher, a seasoned SPFL player and leader.

"So we have to be at the top of our game as you have to be in any game against top-flight opposition. It is going to be a hard, hard game and we have to go there positive that we can make it into the next round."