ST MIRREN chief executive Tony Fitzpatrick insists the club are doing all they can to add to their squad ahead of the start of the league season.

Thirteen players have moved on since the end of the previous campaign with only two – Tony Andreu and Oan Djorkaeff – arriving so far to replace them.

That has left new manager Jim Goodwin with a threadbare squad to work with and left many supporters frustrated at the lack of transfer activity. Saints, who failed to qualify from their Betfred Cup group, are among the favourites to be relegated this term but Fitzpatrick revealed new faces will be arriving soon to boost their chances of surviving once more. He said: “There is no hiding from the fact that it has been a disappointing and frustrating start to the season, and we all share the frustrations of the supporters.

“They are, rightfully, asking questions with regards to recruitment and I want to reassure fans that we are doing everything we possibly can to strengthen the squad ahead of the Premiership season kicking off against Hibs next week.

“With 13 players having left the club since the last league game, it was always going to be the case that we would have to strengthen the squad this summer.

“Although it has been great experience for a handful of our young players, we know that we need to add some experienced players to the squad. The manager has spoken at length about the need to get more players into the club and everything behind the scenes is geared towards doing just that. Jim has identified a number of targets and it is now up to us to try and get these players in. We have one of the most promising young management teams in the country and we are working tirelessly to ensure both Jim and Lee Sharp have the best resources at their disposal to get the league season started on the right foot.

“We were delighted to get deals done for both Tony Andreu and Oan Djorkaeff earlier in the transfer window, but we appreciate there is still a lot of work to be done.”

Saints have just two senior strikers on the books at the moment and Goodwin admitted both Cody Cooke and Danny Mullen are struggling to find form. The Irishman said: “The strikers that are here, Cody and Danny, they just look to me like they are lacking in a bit of confidence.

“I don’t know if that is a hangover from last season. The team in general wasn’t a side that was playing attacking, free-flowing football and scoring lots of goals.

“I’ve already said to them, ‘It is a clean slate for everybody’, and I think I have been very fair. I don’t want them lacking in confidence. I need them to have a bit more self-belief, more courage, and some more imagination in the final third.”