St Mirren are reeling again after being caught up in a fourth coronavirus outbreak.
Record Sport understands the crisis-hit Paisley outfit has confirmed to the authorities that three players and a member of Jim Goodwin ’s backroom staff have all tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours.
It’s believed club bosses - who were forced to pull the plug on last week’s clash with Motherwell at the eleventh hour - are once again holding urgent talks with NHS track and trace teams ahead of Saturday’s top flight clash with Hamilton.
The SPFL has already launched an investigation into why Goodwin was left with just eight available outfield players for last weekend’s match, with the potential for disciplinary action if any breaches of protocol are established.
It’s understood the club has increased testing numbers this week to include youth players in order to avoid another call off this weekend.
St Mirren had to cancel a pre-season match against St Johnstone in July when it was revealed that seven members of coaching staff had tested positive for the virus. It later emerged that six of those swabs were false positives.
In September, after keeper Jak Alnwick contracted the virus and Dean Lyness and Peter Urminsky were forced to isolate, they had to rush through an emergency deal to loan Bobby Zlamal from Hearts in order to avoid facing Hibs with an outfield player in goal.
And last week they were hit for the third time when a number of first team players were ordered to self isolate after a further batch of positive tests.
It’s understood St Mirren’s squad have been tested again ahead of this weekend’s visit from Accies, with the four new positives being recorded.
