Fun times for Craig McLeish and St Mirren as Celtic come to town

Craig McLeish is pleased to see St Mirren having fun in the early days of the Premiership campaign which next brings leaders Celtic to Paisley.

In his first season as permanent boss, the Buddies have taken ten points from their first four league matches to sit second behind the reigning champions, whom they host on Saturday night before a visit to Rangers next Wednesday.

The former Buddies youth coach is well aware of the importance of results but believes it is also important to enjoy the journey.

McLeish said: “Really looking forward to it. We’re in the middle of a kind of four-game stretch right now so it’s been good fun.

“We’ve just been kind of at it every day and just try to prepare for each game that’s coming.

“First two results were decent, we are probably still a little bit disappointed we didn’t come away with the result against Motherwell (3-3 draw), and a really good result away to Kilmarnock (1-0 win).

“And now we’ve got the two big ones coming up now.

“Throughout my coaching, I have always wanted it to be… maybe fun gets interpreted differently.

“Ultimately, you have to win games and put points on the board but I have to enjoy it. I have to enjoy watching our football, I have to enjoy coaching how we’re playing.

“I think it’s massive that the boys come in here every day and look forward to it and we use that word a lot, it has to be enjoyable, it has to be fun. I think it has been.

“I’ve loved every minute of it. I’m enjoying what we’re doing. I enjoy the process. The boys are enjoying it.

“I don’t want people to think we’re just really relaxed and carrying on with things, but it has to best to be fun to coach, it has to be fun to play and it has to be fun to watch and that’s the kind of messages we’ve used consistently since we’ve taken over.

“But just enjoying the whole process and looking forward to Saturday night.”

St Mirren would leapfrog Celtic into top spot with a victory in Paisley but McLeish, who took over from Stephen Robinson in March – initially on a temporary basis – is looking further down the line.

He said: “We are really early in the season and we have an opportunity to do that.

“Come the end of the season we will be more tended to look at the league table and kind of see how it’s all gone.

“So while we’re talking about that it has to be fun and enjoyable, ultimately we have to win games. No point in us enjoying ourselves and saying, ‘we’re having a great time’, but we’re holding up the table.

“It is a really good opportunity on Saturday against a really strong side.

“We know that we need to be at our absolute best and we need to hope that Celtic aren’t at their best to come away with a positive result. But we’ll throw everything at it.”