Hendrie set for emotional goodbye

The 20-year-old was immediately loaned back to Accies after West Ham bought him in January and he will bring the curtain down on his New Douglas Park spell when St Mirren visit in Saturday's Scottish Premiership finale.

"It will be an emotional day for me," Hendrie said. "I have been here since I was 12 and leaving the boys is going to be hard for me. It will be a sad day, I can tell you that."

But Hendrie is excited about what lies in store following a recent trip to east London.

"I was down there last week having a look and getting to know the place," he said.

"I met the coaching staff and they were telling me what my standards need to be for pre-season.

"When I came back up, it sunk in that I'm leaving soon. I'm excitted for it and can't wait to go down and get started.

"As soon as I came back up, I couldn't wait to go back down."

Hendrie is following in the footsteps of the likes of Crystal Palace midfielder James McArthur and Everton's James McCarthy, who both made a major impact in England after swapping Hamilton for Wigan.

"I spoke to them as soon as I signed," Hendrie said. "They were buzzing for me and told me everything would be fine, the boys will make me feel welcome, just work hard and try your best.

"It's brilliant to have people down there who have gone down there and done it and can give you advice.

"You need to go down there feeling confident about yourself and impress."

Nigel Hasselbaink has already left the club after going on international duty with Suriname.

Michael Devlin, Danny Redmond and Ziggy Gordon remain out with knee problems along with long-term absentee Andy Ryan (groin).

Meanwhile, new St Mirren boss Ian Murray has revealed Gary Teale was the first man to call and congratulate him on his appointment.

But the former Dumbarton manager says he will have to sit down with the man who has been acting as the Buddies' interim boss and discuss whether he still has a future with the Paisley club.

Teale has led the club since Tommy Craig's sacking back in December but failed to prevent Saints sliding out of the Scottish Premiership.

However, the former Scotland winger hoped three wins in his last four games would be enough to save his job prospects.

Despite being one of five candidates interviewed by chairman Stewart Gilmour and his board, Teale was overlooked as they decided to hand ex-Hibs and Rangers defender Murray a two-year deal.

But with 12 months still remaining on the player/coach contract Teale signed last summer, St Mirren now face an awkward decision on whether to keep the 36-year-old on the payroll.

Murray, who will let Teale and his assistant David Longwell take the team as the club waves goodbye to the top flight with a trip to Hamilton on Saturday, said: "It's something we need to speak about.

"Gary called me today to congratulate me - in fact he was the first person to call me.

"It was great of him. That's the type of guy he is. That's the way it should be dealt with, with maturity. It's football - he's not a stupid guy, he understands what happens so for him to call me was nice.

"I need to give the respect to Gary and David who have done a sterling job over the last few months trying to help St Mirren.

"Gary has been a good servant to the club and it would be disrespectful not to have a good chat with him and we will probably do that on Sunday or Monday.

"If Gary feels comfortable and we feel he can benefit the team then great. If he doesn't feel comfortable then we will have to respect that too."

Alan Gow is out after he suffered concussion in the 2-1 win over Motherwell last week and has been sidelined by the club doctor.

Keeper Mark Ridgers is out again with a knee injury while midfielder John McGinn, who injured his thigh in a freak training ground incident last month, is still missing.