St Mirren are happy to announce the signing of Cole Kpekawa today after being on trial with the club.

The towering defender signs a two year deal with Saints and will go straight into Alan Stubbs' squad for tonight's game against Kilmarnock.  

The 22 year-old joins having come through the academy of Queens Park Rangers. He has also had stints with Portsmouth, Leyton Orient, Barnsley and Colchester.

St Mirren's 2018/19 campaign gets underway this evening as The Buddies travel to Rugby Park to face Kilmarnock in the opening match of the Betfred Cup.

Alan Stubbs takes charge of Saints for the first time tonight after being appointed as manager on a three-year deal in June. 

The Englishman took over from title-winning manager Jack Ross and has looked to put his own stamp on the team, bringing in five new players over the course of the last few weeks.

There could be debuts for a host of the new boys with Paul McGinn, James Kellermann, Jeff King, Josh Heaton, Cody Cooke, Hayden Coulson and Danny Rogers all having joined the club during the summer. 

The Buddies come into tonight's match on the back of a pre-season training camp in La Manga. A friendly against Bolton was scheduled for last Saturday but was cancelled at short notice after an issue at the English club. 

Like Saints, Kilmarnock visited La Manga during pre-season and also haven't played any pre-season friendlies ahead of tonight's match.

The hosts have lost influential Youssouf Mulumbu after the expiry of his contract but have added Mikael Ndjoli on loan from Bournemouth, while Stuart Findlay has signed a permanent contract after spending last season on loan from Newcastle. The Rugby Park outfit also announced the signing of Ross Millen on a six-month deal this afternoon.

Despite tonight being the first competitive match of the season for both clubs, it is likely to feel somewhat like a friendly as both look to build up their match sharpness ahead of the Premiership season beginning in August.

But with a chance to see new boys in action along with how Alan Stubbs wants his St Mirren team to play and the challenge of coming up against a Kilmarnock side who exceeded expectations last season, it's sure to be an exciting night for Buddies fans.

Speaking to stmirren.com earlier in the week, Stubbs said: "I'm really looking forward to it. Obviously Saturday's game against Bolton was disappointing, with it being so late.

"From our fans point of view as well, it was disappointing for them because they would have made arrangements for that day. It was obviously outwith our control, and something we couldn't do anything about. But from purely our side I was disappointed for our fans not to be able to see the early signs of the squad I'm trying to put together."

St Mirren Football Club can confirm that Myles Hippolyte has left the club to join Championship side Dunfermline Athletic. 

The English forward joined The Buddies from Falkirk in January and scored once in his eight appearances for the club.

Everyone at St Mirren would like to wish Myles all the best in his future career.

* Although there will be a pay-at-the-gate option on the night at Rugby Park it is advisable to buy your tickets in advance in order to avoid any queues on matchday.

** Children 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

The St Mirren Ticket Office opening hours ahead of the match are as follows:

Fri, Jul 13th - 10:00am - 2:00pm

St Mirren Ticket Office Tel: (0141) 840-6130.

St Mirren Ticket Office E-Mail: tickets@stmirren.com.

Additional Information for Travelling Fans

Tomorrow, Friday 13th July, St Mirren kick-off the competitive season at Rugby Park in a BetFred Cup group match against Kilmarnock.

The referee tomorrow is Steven McLean and he will be assisted by Jordan Stokoe and Paul O'Neill. The fourth official will be Alan Muir.

St Mirren Chief Executive, Tony Fitzpatrick and Head of the Youth Academy, Allan McManus were recently invited over to Navan in Ireland by inspiresport's Jed McCabe to host a masterclass for boys and girls of the North Eastern Counties Schoolboy/girl League (NECSL) elite squads on Sunday.

Representing the Buddies, Tony and Allan held a coaching session, presentation and Q&A to 40 NECSL coaches on the philosophy of the St Mirren Youth Academy and how Irish clubs can bring their teams to experience a tour to train and play at The Buddies Academy at Ralston.

Already 40 girls from the elite squad have pre-booked to visit St Mirren in March 2019.

Jed McCabe from inspiresport said: "I am lucky to work with some of the world’s top clubs and can honestly say Tony and Allan put on a show up there with the very best.

"Their love for the club shone through and that is something you can’t put a price on.

"My job is to bring groups from outside Scotland to St Mirren as I feel they will enjoy the attention to detail and the friendly family atmosphere at the club."

St Mirren’s partners inspiresport have worldwide connections and due to the success of Sunday’s event they plan to roll out more across the UK and Ireland that will put St Mirren front of mind to potential groups as well as having contacts who will keep them informed of potential players.

Paddy O’Reilly from NECSL said: "Jed from inspiresport, who I have known for a long time, informed me that he had the chance to bring Tony and Allan from St Mirren FC and I set about inviting our elite boys and girls as well as 40 coaches from different clubs in the NECSL.

"I have high standards and on the back of Jed’s recommendation was expecting a good show.

"Even my expectations were exceeded and I was absolutely delighted to witness first-hand the professionalism of Tony and Allan coupled by their passion for St. Mirren which rubbed off on the players and coaches alike. Many NECSL teams will be coming to St. Mirren Academy in the coming months and years."

Tony Fitzpatrick said: "Going to Ireland in conjunction with our partners inspiresport is a huge opportunity for the club as it gives us a platform to engage with a larger audience and encourage them to visit St. Mirren as well as expanding our scouting network."

St Mirren have today signed goalkeeper Danny Rogers on a season-long loan from Aberdeen.

The Dons stopper has spent the last two seasons on loan at Championship side Falkirk, where he was a regular starter for The Bairns.

Rogers becomes Saints seventh signing this summer.

St Mirren Goalkeeping Coach, Jamie Langfield said: "I'm absolutely delighted to get Danny to the club. He is someone I’ve known since he was a young boy at Aberdeen, when I was playing there, and I’ve watched him grow and mature into a very good goalkeeper.

"I'm really looking forward to working with him as his coach now, and hope to see him develop even further as the weeks go by.

"Danny is a great age for a goalkeeper and will come here and not want to sit on the bench - which will bring tremendous competition to Craig. I’m really looking forward to seeing them battle it out for the right to play”

We can confirm today that goalkeeper Ross Stewart has agreed a two year deal with Livingston.

Ross signed from Albion Rovers in the summer of 2017 and went on to make 4 appearances for The Buddies.

We would like to thank Ross for all his hard work over the past season.

St Mirren kick-off their season this Friday night in the Betfred Cup away to Kilmarnock

New manager Alan Stubbs has been busy at work since he joined in June, already signing Josh Heaton, Jeff King, Cody Cooke and Hayden Coulson, who join Paul McGinn and Jim Kellermann as the new recruits for St Mirren's return to the Scottish Premiership.

The gaffer is keen to continue strengthening the team though, as the start of the new league campaign is less than a month away now.

Talking about the current squad, he said: "I'm quietly pleased. I think we are in a position where we could have a few more across the line over the coming days, which is good.

"I want everything to speed up a little bit now, because I'm conscious of getting the group together to work with so we have got a good three and a bit weeks before we entertain our first league game. So the efforts are starting to get the wheels in motion.

"There is a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes, and the people involved are doing their utmost to make sure we can get them across the line.

"I'm hopeful that we will have another two all done and dusted who could be part of the squad on Friday. It's busy, but I said from the offset that we were going to be busy.

"I felt as though the squad needed strengthening and needed better competition for places and we're starting to make progress on that front."

Friday night at Rugby Park is the first time fans will get a chance to see the new-look Saints team, as the scheduled friendly game against Bolton on Saturday was cancelled at the last minute due to an issue from the Lancashire club's side.

Stubbs continued: "I'm really looking forward to it. Obviously Saturday's game against Bolton was disappointing, with it being so late. I can completely understand Phil's phone call from the players, but on the flip side of that it wasn't great from our point of view - the fact it was so late.

From our fans point of view as well, it was disappointing for them because they would have made arrangements for that day. It was obviously outwith our control, and something we couldn't do anything about. But from purely our side I was disappointed for our fans not to be able to see the early signs of the squad I'm trying to put together." 

Alan Stubbs will meet the press on Wednesday at the Simple Digital Arena to preview the Betfred Cup tie against Killie. 

St Mirren travel to Rugby Park on Friday night to face Kilmarnock in the opening match of the Betfred Cup. 

The hosts have confirmed with the club that there will be an option to pay at the gate for Friday's game.

However, it is advisable to buy your tickets in advance if you can to avoid any queues on matchday.

Kilmarnock vs St Mirren
Betfred Cup
Venue: Rugby Park, Kilmarnock
Date: Friday 13th July 2018
Kick-off: 7:45pm

Gate Prices

Adult - £15
Concessions - £10
Child* - £5

*For children 16 and under. Children 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult.
**Anyone who requires that requires wheelchair or ambulant/carer tickets should contact the Ticket Office

The St Mirren Ticket Office opening hours for the week are as follows:

Thur, Jul 12th - 10:00am - 2:00pm
Fri, Jul 13th - 10:00am - 2:00pm

St Mirren Ticket Office Tel: (0141) 840-6130.

St Mirren Ticket Office E-Mail: tickets@stmirren.com.

Leading energy challenger brand increases investment on St Mirren’s top-flight return

St Mirren Football Club will - for the first time in our history - have a second back-of-shirt sponsor for our return to the Premiership with the club delighted to announce leading energy company Utilita Energy featuring on all first team home and away playing kits.

Jem Maidment, Director of Marketing and Communications, said: “It is an exciting season ahead for St Mirren and we are thrilled to increase our investment in the Buddies.

“This will be our third season partnering the club – underlining our long-term commitment to fans and the community within Paisley. Engaging with the community is something we pride ourselves on here at Utilita and just like ourselves, that community has seen the club rise substantially over the last few years, culminating in the Scottish Championship title last season.”

Utilita’s commitment to Scottish football has grown since it sponsored the Scottish League Cup in 2015/16. It was also a partner of TRNSMT, in Glasgow Green, earlier this month, as well as main sponsor of the Daily Record Our Heroes awards in May.

Utilita has grown significantly: more than trebling its number of customers across the UK since 2015 from 200,000 to more than 660,000 households.

It is a Which? Top company for customer satisfaction and a Uswitch award winner in 2018. Utilita was also the first company to install a smart meter in the UK – ten years ago this summer.

Commercial Manager, Campbell Kennedy added: “I have been in dialogue with Utilita for a few months and am delighted that they have agreed to strengthen our partnership by agreeing to be our new Back of Shirt secondary sponsor for the coming season.

“Utilita’s story is a fantastic one. The company continues to grow and is an established UK Top 10 energy supplier. We are excited to continue working with Utilita to raise its brand awareness and attract new customers within the Renfrewshire area.”