VIKTOR GENEV has been warned he must hit the ground running if his St Mirren rescue mission is to be a success.

The Bulgarian centre-half has been on trial with the Buddies over the last two weeks with boss Gary Teale signing him up on a deal until the end of the season.

Having started out his career in his homeland for Levski Sofia before moving to rivals Slavia Sofia, the under-21 cap was most recently seen in action for Afghanistan top flight side Spartak Semey.

He is expected to be pitched into battle against Hamilton Accies tomorrow as St Mirren attempt to win their first league home game of the season and haul themselves clear of fellow bottom side Motherwell.

And Teale has told his new signing that with games quickly running out for relegation-threatened Saints that he must adapt to life in Paisley - and quickly.

He said: "There is no time to acclimatise. That's the big issue you concern yourself with and still is a big issue in terms of his physicality.

"You can tell he has been training. Match sharpness is going to be the problem but he's not been lacking in training and he has a bit of pride about him too, he wants to look after himself and has been doing that.

"Every transfer is a gamble but you just hope he comes in and does well.

"It doesn't matter if you're signing players for £5million or £20m, there's always an element of risk.

"In the position we're in the financial side of things is not huge, but we need players to come in and hit the ground running. That has happened in the past and hopefully he can come in and do that."

Teale is content to get back to football business after controversy engulfed defender Jeroen Tesselaar.

The Dutchman hit the headlines earlier this week for reportedly claiming in a magazine in his homeland that Paisley was a s**hole while making negative comments about Scottish football and the club's support.

However, his manager is keen to draw a line under the matter.

Teale said: "I don't think you can laugh it off.

"It was painted in a very bad light, but I spoke to him the night before the article came out and we spoke to him again and put out our statement and we leave it at that.

"Anyone who knows Jeroen who saw the comments and quotes attributed to him would know he's probably the last person in the squad to do this.

"He has such an affiliation with the club from before and the fact he came back shows you how much he likes the club. He could have done without it but we move on."

Meanwhile, St Mirren have announced the appointment of local businessman Ian Henderson on to the club's board.