MARK SPALDING has joined up again with Ian Murray to become assistant manager at St Mirren.

The former Dumbarton Under-20s boss was also Murray’s No.2 at the Sons last season during a successful campaign in the Championship.

With a coaching career spanning 12 years, Spalding will bring a wealth of experience to the role in Paisley as the Buddies look to build a new-look squad for a Premiership promotion push.

Starting out as a community coach with Stenhousemuir, he went on to become head academy coach at Falkirk from 2007 to 2009 where he steered several players to the first-team ranks with the Bairns.

Spalding soon graduated on to the post of regional squad head coach for two years at the SFA, while also enjoying a stint as assistant manager at Stirling University.

Now at St Mirren, he is keen to get going again working under Murray, a manager with a forward-thinking approach to the game.

And Spalding is confident that the foundations are already in place to get Saints back into the top flight.

He said: “I am delighted to be appointed assistant manager of a fantastic club like St Mirren. It was the easiest decision of my life to decide to join up with the manager here.

“Ian is a forward-thinking, innovative and hard-working manager, and to be teaming up with him again at a club in which we can introduce and further enhance the footballing provision at St Mirren, will be very exciting for not only us and the players, but the club in general, and the supporters.

“With the infrastructure at the club and the exciting young players already in the squad, I really do believe that we can go on and achieve our objectives of creating a side to get the club back into the Premiership, where they belong, and to be a team that the supporters will be proud of.”