St Mirren close to being bought by Argentinians

St Mirren manager Gary Teale, whose future is clouded by the expected purchase of the club by an Argentinian consortium. Picture: SNS

Lawyer Ricardo Pini, who is spearheading the buyout, is expected to finalise the deal this week. The sale would give Pini’s consortium up to 75 per cent control of the club.

St Mirren were in talks with an English consortium earlier in the month, but pulled out when one member of the group, Thavar Mohammed, was found to have had a fraud conviction.

But the South American group are now in pole position to secure the deal - and have offered more money than their English rivals.

Gary Teale’s future as manager is under scrutiny no matter which group takes over: former Liverpool and Coventry City player David Thompson was the English bidders’ favoured candidate to replace Teale, while the South Americans are reported to prefer Guillermo Almada, formerly of River Plate.

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