Speaking in today's Evening Times, Gilmour said: "If we had been relegated there would have had to be some extreme cost cutting measures. Even though it looks as if we will stay up, there will still have to be cost-cutting measures.
"Every club in Scottish football, Celtic and Rangers included, is in the same position as St Mirren. The collapse of the Setanta deal has hit us all hard. The current economic climate has been difficult, too. We have operated within our means this season. Just. If we hadn’t reached the Co-op Cup Final, that wouldn’t have been the case.
"I imagine several clubs in Scotland, apart from those who have been on cup runs like us, will not have operated within their means this season. We will have to make necessary cuts. It is possible the size of the first team squad will be reduced, but we are still talking things through and nothing has been decided yet."
There are two issues that need addressed here. First of all, how have we just broken even when we had an unbudgeted cup run, two unbudgeted TV games and the unbudgeted sale of a player? Yes, Setanta went bust, but the Sky/ESPN deal is worth around the same this season, with the reduction not kicking in until next season. Someone has got their sums badly wrong.
Secondly, just how small a squad are we going to have? At present, we have a first team squad of around 20 and two of those players are on loan. A number of times this season we have had just six subs due to injuries and a lack of players. Making the squad even smaller would be crazy - unless the management team will be more willing to give youngsters a chance. At the very least, the squad should be the same size as it has been this season.