So first-team matters are MacPherson's immediate priority in the early stages of a position that remains relatively uncommon in Scottish football.

"It's a supportive role, whatever the manager wants really," said MacPherson ahead of Saturday's visit of Hearts. "He knows what he wants – he is single-minded, he knows how he wants to get the job done.

"A major part of it is recruitment, getting out and about, building the network and trying to attract players to the club when January comes along.

"Short-term it's recruitment. I think that's all we can really look at just now.

"Longer-term you are looking at the development of the club, the structure of the club, and working with the manager, the coaches in the academy as well, the directors, and everyone, to improve what's already there."

Saints face a challenge to improve the quality of the team in January while shedding players from a bloated first-team squad.

"It's still too big," MacPherson said. "It's difficult to manage when you have more players, because they all want to play. If they can't get a game on a Saturday then they become frustrated. It doesn't matter if it's at St Mirren or any other club, they just want to play.

"So you have got to bring your numbers down to make it easier to manage, and that's not to the detriment of any player. It's just the logic of it and that needs to be done in January."

The former Queen's Park boss added: "We want to strengthen to give the players a hand. There's areas we feel a little bit light.

"Players are playing out of position and doing a sterling job but we want to get players in their strongest positions so they can perform to the best of their capabilities."

When asked how many changes there could be during the transfer window, he added: "It's difficult to tell at the moment because we have nine or 10 games until January comes along.

"The most important people at the moment are the current playing staff. We have to focus on them, they have applied themselves really well in the last two or three weeks and the manager is still trying to get his way of doing things across.

"The last week or so the intensity of training has been noticeable."

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