Media reports yesterday suggested McStay had had no contact from the club and was happy where he was - or, if you read a different paper, he was keen to try his hand at management. However, today's Daily Express - usually good for Saints news for some reason - claims McStay has been told the job is his if he wants it.
The Celtic coach will have much thinking to do in the next few days. A week ago his job at Pakrhead would have looked relatively secure. However, with Neil Lennon set to be confirmed as manager, he's been assembling his own back-room team consisting of former team mates Johan Mjallby, Alan Thompson and Garry Parker, suggesting McStay will be out of a job or, at the very least, pushed aside.
However, that may still be a safer option than the volatile world of football management and it remains to be seen how great his desire to be his own man once again is enough to push him to Paisley - or to Kilmarnock, who are also after him.
McStay won a treble in Ireland with Sligo Rovers while player/manager in the 1990s, but had a poor time with Hungarian side Upjest last season. It's thought that whoever the new manager is won't be announced until next week, with an appointment tomorrow looking increasingly unlikely.
If McStay doesn't get it, it will almost certainly go to coach Stuart Balmer. He has no managerial experience and it will be interesting to see how an existing member of MacPherson's backroom team fits in with the "change of direction" and comments about a high calibre of candidate we have heard from the chairman. There are suggestions that the longer it goes without an announcement, the more likely it is to be Balmer, not McStay.
There are also rumours that former Saint David van Zanten will be coming back to the club in the near future. The rightback left in 2008 for Hibs but left ayear later and has since played for Morton and Hamilton. Now a free agent once again, he'd be a decent replacement for Jack Ross - who is almost certain to leave - but is hardly one to get the pulses leaving.
Those wondering if a link with van Zanten points to who the new manager will be should be aware that the defender would have worked with McStay at Celtic and Balmer at Saints!
Story source: Daily Express