ST MIRREN midfielder Kenny McLean today revealed that the advice of Gary Teale and Steven Thompson both on and off the park has been a significant help for him this season.

The veteran duo have been able to dish out tips not only on how to be more proficient in the team, but also about life south of the border.

Last week McLean was one of the nominees for the PFA Young Player of the Year, a particular honour given the fact that the 20-year-old was sidelined for a chunk of the season with a broken collarbone.

And while he does not shy away from revealing his ambition is to head for the bright lights in England, he is in no rush to do it.

"The likes of Gary and Steven have been brilliant for me," he said. "They have both been there at the very top and have inter- national caps to prove it.

"They have had great careers and you can tell the amount of ability they have by the way they do their business on the park.

"But they are also guys that I have spoken to about what it is like to play football down in England. They have told me about the standard and what you need to do and it is something that, like most boys at this stage of their careers, I'd like to do.

"I would like to go to the Premiership or the Championship but at the same time I am not in a huge rush. I would like to have seen what my season would have been like if I hadn't got the injury.

"I still feel as though I have a lot of learning to do at St Mirren and although my long-term ambition is to play in a league that is widely regarded as one of the best, I want to get a good grounding with Saints."

His manager, Danny Lennon, has insisted that he has already seen enough of the youngster that he can comfortably predict a rise to the very top for the player who played for the Scotland Under-21 side against Italy in midweek, but McLean himself is simply keen to make sure he is continuing to develop.

"It is all going well, but I want to keep learning and keep improving all the time," he said.

"There have been a few big highlights for me – finding out I was one of the nominees for the PFA award – but the other was getting a draw at Ibrox. It felt like a victory the way we did it and having been at Rangers as a kid, it was a good feeling."