Tony Fitzpatrick, the chief executive of newly-promoted St Mirren, believes that manager Jack Ross is as valuable to the club as Sir Alex Ferguson once was and that the current man in charge has achieved something close to a miracle by fending off relegation before securing a place in the Premiership.

The Paisley team’s draw with Livingston at the weekend guaranteed them automatic promotion, with the result coming after a phone call from the Manchester United legend to Ross the night before the all-important game to offer his support. And while Ross still has quite a way to go to match Ferguson’s achievements, Fitzpatrick can see some clear similarities between the pair.

“I don’t mention Sir Alex lightly but I see the same traits in Jack as a young Alex Ferguson,” the chief executive said.

“He has done a better job than Sir Alex in some ways because Sir Alex made sure he kept his young players, whereas we have sold three of ours. We have brought in a lot of money from their sales but they were all first-team players and Jack has still built a team without them.

“For him to do that is an incredible thing. You talk about Leicester winning the Premiership being a miracle but I think where we have come from in the last 18 months is a miracle. There is no other story in Scottish or British football, where you are bottom of the league going to go down, being so many points behind and having to win every game to stay up, to then being champions.”

There has been much talk of Ross moving onto a bigger club and while Fitzpatrick is resigned to losing his manager sooner or later, he is optimistic that the relationships will not be ending imminently.

“We aren’t scared of losing Jack although he will go, there is no doubt about that,” he said.

“I have good conversations with him but what is important for Jack is he has done the first step and that is winning the Championship. I think burning deep inside him is taking him one further step and that’s into the top six of the Premiership.

“This young man has the capabilities to do that but he needs support and we know that. When he wants to bring players in then as a board we have to try and support him."

The rise of St Mirren has been nothing short of meteoric but Fitzpatrick is not content. The chief executive is optimistic that his team will not be in the top flight to merely make up the numbers.

“I believe that we can achieve top six next season, I have always believed that,” he said.

“I know Rangers have had a hard time recently but they are back in the league now so I know it will be harder. But apart from Celtic just now, I believe because of Brendan Rodgers, I think when you have a great leader like Jack Ross then everything is possible.

“Gordon Scott, our chairman, said let’s go for the top six, and why not? There is nothing to fear – but we need to give the manager the right support over the summer.”

Tony Fitzpatrick was speaking at the launch of Fair Start Scotland in the West, a new employment service delivered by the Wise Group and partners. For more information visit www.thewisegroup.co.uk/fairstart