Keith Lasley has insisted the youth academy is an integral part of St Mirren's progression as a club.

The Ralston production line has reared a number of first-team players including academy exports John McGinn, Kenny McLean and Lewis Morgan to current squad members Fraser Taylor, Lewis Jamieson and Luke Kenny.

However, St Mirren faced questions from supporters after Ethan Sutherland was sold to Wolves just days after his Scottish Premiership debut against Celtic and after moves to England for Murray Campbell and Dylan Reid in recent seasons. 

Lasley, chief operating officer for the club, has defended the youth set-up and vowed to improve the academy as he earmarked development as a cornerstone to club progression.

"On the whole, the academy is going to be integral in this club going forward, said Lasley. "We are making changes to get better and we know we need to get better.

"We want young players to be in the first team for a number of reasons and we're putting the building blocks in place to make that happen.

"We feel as if we're putting changes in place which will mean more younger players having that opportunity in the first team. We're currently doing that with this transition group whether that be Fraser Taylor, Lewis Jamieson, Luke Kenny.

"From a St Mirren perspective, every club has their own set of circumstances and every player has their own journey and the timing of it.

"That's a judgment call for staff at the club. We judge each development journey on its merits and what we feel is right.

"There are other factors; there is the player, the agent, the interested club and us."

Lasley's own development into a professional footballer came after working on a building site and then learning his trade in a reserve league system.

However, he is not convinced a revival of a reserve league would be the "silver bullet" to correcting stagnating youth development in Scotland.

"I came off a building site at 19 and walked into Motherwell," explained Lasley. "I'm not sure that happens any more but it certainly gave me a grounding!

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"I think the reserve league is seen as a silver bullet, we bring back the reserve league and we play with men and does this and play other teams away...

"Personally, I don't think it will have the impact that some people do.

"I feel a relaxation in the loan market with more loans and more flexible loans would have a greater impact - particularly for a club like ourselves."

While an advocate of B teams in Scotland - with Celtic and Hearts fielding sides in the Lowland League - Lasley believes it would not be viable or productive for St Mirren, instead favouring a more flexible loan model as outlined in a recent Scottish FA report with collaborative clubs suggested.

He said: "I know there are B teams and while I am an advocate and can see the merit for a lot of aspects of that, for a club of our size to run it and staff it everything that goes with that - I actually think that we can get the benefit of what B team coaching would bring but we could do it through the loan market. If it is as flexible as it should be.

"I think for us again I go back to that menu of options thing. Every club does not have to have a B team to be an elite player developer but as long as we have those other tools at our disposal to make that a reality and facilitate it as well as I can.

"The exploration of club partnerships, the loosening of the loan rules - which I think is going to be huge - and an understanding that it is not one size fits all are key things.

"This has always been a frustration of mine. Clubs in this country are so different in terms of their resources but we can all still be elite player developers in our own way if we have a menu of options and that's what I hope comes from this.

"There is going to be stuff which can be done nationwide but the individuality of clubs needs to be taken into account."