St. Mirren F.C.
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| Full name | St. Mirren Football Club |
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| Nickname(s) | The Buddies, The Saints | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1877 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | St. Mirren Park Love Street Paisley Renfrewshire PA3 2EA (Capacity 10,800) |
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| Chairman |  Stewart Gilmour |
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| Manager | Gus McPherson |
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| League | Scottish Premier League | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007-08 | 10th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Saint Mirren Football Club (commonly known by the shortening St. Mirren or by nicknames; The Buddies and The Saints) is a Scottish professional football club based in Paisley, Renfrewshire. St. Mirren play in the Scottish Premier League, having been promoted from the First Division in 2005-06. They are managed by former player Gus McPherson. St. Mirren have won the Scottish Cup three times in 1926, 1959 and 1987 and have played four times in European competition (UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1987-1988 and the UEFA Cup 1980-1981, 1983-1984 and 1985-1986).
The football club was founded in 1877 when members of the local cricket club decided to swap discipline. Since 1894, St Mirren have played their home games at St Mirren Park. St Mirren Park is the official name for the ground and it is more commonly known throughout football as Love Street. St. Mirren have had several local rivals, of which the best known is the long-standing and fierce rivalry with Greenock Morton, who play the Saints every year in the Renfrewshire Cup.
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[edit] History
Saint Mirren were formed as a gentlemen's club which included amongst other sports, cricket and rugby in the late 19th century. The increasing popularity of football ensured that by 1877 the members had decided to switch codes and play association football. They are named after Saint Mirin the founder of a church at the site of Paisley Abbey and Patron Saint of Paisley.
St Mirren played their first match on 6 October 1877, defeating Johnstone Britannia 1-0 at Shortroods. Two years later, the club moved to another ground; Thistle Park, Greenhills. St. Mirren's first Scottish Cup match came on 4 September 1880, a 3-0 victory over Johnstone Athletic. The following year, the Buddies reached their first cup final but were beaten 3-1 by Thornliebank in the Renfrewshire Cup. In 1883 however the scores were reversed with the saints winning the Renfrewshire Cup, 3-1 against ?(please fill). It is in 1883 that move to their third home, that of West March (early maps indicate area as West March and not Westmarch), defeating Queens Park in the first game. In 1885, St Mirren played their first match against Morton, resulting in a defeat.
The 1890 season was an historic season for St. Mirren, as they became founder members of the Scottish League along with fellow Paisley club Abercorn F.C. Of the 10 founder clubs, currently only 5 survive today in the current league system. It was during the match against Morton at Cappielow in this year, that St. Mirren played one of the first night games under light from oil lamps.
St. Mirren moved to Love Street in 1894 and reached their first Scottish Cup final in the 1907-1908 season but were defeated 5-1 by Celtic. The Buddies went on to lift the trophy in 1926, 1959 and 1987. In the 1979/1980 season, St. Mirren achieved finished third behind Aberdeen F.C. and Celtic in the Premier League; their equal-highest ever finish in the top-flight. That season Saints also became the first and last Scottish club to win the Anglo-Scottish Cup, defeating Bristol City F.C. in a two-legged final. The following season, St. Mirren competed in European competition for the first time and won their initial game 2-1 vs. IF Elfsborg in Sweden, followed by a 0-0 draw in the second leg. The next round saw them play French team Saint-Étienne. Although St. Mirren's home leg ended up a 0-0 draw, Saint-Étienne pulled off a 2-0 victory in the second leg to put St. Mirren out of the cup.
The club have been relegated from the Premier League twice (1991/1992 & 2000/2001), and escaped relegation in 1991 after league re-construction. In 2001, St. Mirren finished bottom of the Premier League despite losing only one of their final seven matches. The Saints however managed promotion after clinching the First Division title in 2005-2006, a season which also saw St. Mirren win the Scottish Challenge Cup, defeating Hamilton Academical 2-1 in the final at Airdrie with goals from Simon Lappin & John Sutton.
The club originally wore scarlet and blue strips, however after one season changed to the current black and white striped shirts, which have been worn all bar one season in the 1900s where cream tops were used. The reasoning behind the use of black and white tops is unclear.
In 1922, St. Mirren were invited to play in the Barcelona Cup invitational tournament to celebrate the inauguration of the Les Corts, the then home of FC Barcelona. They won the tournament by beating Notts County in the final.
[edit] Stadium
St Mirren played at three different venues before moving to their ground of St Mirren Park, or Love Street, in 1894. The record attendance is 47438 versus Celtic F.C in 1949. St Mirren Park, has seen extensive redevelopment in recent years to comply with both the recommendations of the Taylor report and SPL regulations and the ground is now a 10866 seat venue. The ground has 4 stands, of which the newest, the East or Reid Kerr Family Stand was built in 2000. The main stand is the oldest stand, with a basic wooden construction. The north bank is popular with the hardcore St. Mirren fans, whilst the largest stand, the steeply raked West Stand, has a sport facility underneath. It is rarely used to its full capacity.
On 16 August 2005 the Scottish Executive and Renfrewshire Council granted permission for the club to sell their old ground for supermarket development and allow the club to build a new stadium in Greenhill Road, Ferguslie Park, Paisley. The sale of their old ground will finance the new stadium as well as clear the current debts of the club. In April 2007 it was announced that a deal had been struck with supermarket giants Tesco. Under this deal, worth £15 million, St Mirren will move to a new 8,000 seat stadium for the 2008/09 season making way for a new Tesco supermarket on the Love Street site. Initial plans have indicated that the new stadium will be called simply "St Mirren Park", although has not been confirmed at the time of writing.
[edit] Colours and sponsors
The traditional home colours of St. Mirren are black and white strips, however for the first season the colours were Scarlet and Blue. It is unknown as to how exactly the colours black and white were chosen, however popular theories include, that north of Paisley the Black Cart and White Cart Rivers meet, and that monks of Paisley Abbey wore Black and White robes. The strips have varied very little, however the thickness of the strips has often varied, with pinstripes being popular, and indeed some years have seen horizontal stripes.
Away tops are traditionally red or all black, however in some cases strips have varied from orange to light blue, as seen on Last Season's 2007-2008 strip. Last year, the Danish firm, Hummel International, have replaced Xara as kit-manufacturers.
St Mirren has had a number of main sponsors, mainly in the transportation industry, with several local bus companies and car dealerships like Arriva and Phoenix Honda sponsoring in the club. St. Mirren have been sponsored since 2005 by Braehead Shopping Centre a local shopping centre in the North of Renfrewshire.
[edit] Current squad (2008-2009)
- Further information: St Mirren F.C. season 2008-09
As of 6 June 2008, according to combined sources on the official website.
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- For recent transfers, see List of Scottish football transfers 2008-09.
[edit] Club officials
Boardroom
- Chairman: Stewart Gilmour
- Vice-Chairman: George Campbell
- Directors: Bryan McAusland, Gordon Scott, Ken McGeoch
- Director/Secretary: Allan Marshall
Coaching and Medical Staff
- Manager: Gus McPherson
- Assistant Manager: Andy Millen
- First Team Coach: Stuart Balmer
- Head Of Youth Development: David Longwell
- Goalkeeping Coach: Paul Mathers
- Club Doctor: Dr Gerry Canning
- Club Physiotherapist: Alan Scott
- Sports Scientist: Frank Nutall
[edit] Club records
- Highest home attendance: 47,438: .v. Celtic on 20 August 1949 [1]
- Highest average home attendance: 17,333, 1949-50 (15 games) [1]
- Biggest victory: 15-0: .v. Glasgow University on 30 January 1960
- Most capped player: Ian Munro and Billy Thomson: 7 Scotland.
- Most capped international player: Mixu Paatelainen 70 appearances for the Finnish national team.[2]
- Youngest Player: Scott Gemmill 16 years & 60 days - vs. Raith Rovers (Starks Park) 8th August 2003.
- Most League appearances: Tony Fitzpatrick, 351 (1973-1979, 1981-1989)
- Most European appearances: Campbell Money, 8 (1985-1988)
- Most League goals: David McCrae, 221 (1923-1924)
- Most League goals in a season: Dunky Walker, 45 (1921-22)
- Record transfer fee paid: £400,000 to Bayer Uerdingen for Thomas Stickroth (March 1990)
- Record transfer fee received: £850,000 from Glasgow Rangers for Ian Ferguson (February 1988)
- Most League wins in a season: 27, Division Two (1967-1968)
- Most League defeats in a season: 31, Division One (1920-21)
- Most League draws in a season: 15, Premier League (1987-88)
- Most consecutive league victories: 16, Division Two (18/11/1967 - 30/3/1968)
- Longest unbeaten league run: 34, 18/11/1967 (Division Two) - 16/11/1968 (Division One)
- Most Goals Scored in a season: 114, Division Two (1935-36 in Scottish football|1935-36)
- Most Goals Conceded in a season: 92, Division One (1920-21)
Current player/assistant manager Andy Millen, holds the SPL record for oldest player in the league.
[edit] Honours
- Scottish First Division: 1967/681 1976/77, 1999/2000, 2005/06
- Scottish Cup: 1926, 1959, 1987
- Scottish Challenge Cup: 2005
- Renfrewshire Cup: 1882/1883, 1883/1884, 1887/1888, 1890/1891, 1893/1894, 1896/1897, 1897/1898, 1903/1904, 1909/1910, 1910/1911, 1923/1924, 1924/1925, 1925/1926, 1927/1928, 1928/1929, 1929/1930, 1931/1932, 1932/1933, 1933/1934, 1935/1936, 1937/1938, 1940/1941, 1943/1944, 1945/1946, 1946/1947, 1947/1948, 1949/1950, 1958/1959, 1959/1960, 1960/1961, 1962/1963, 1966/1967, 1973/1974, 1976/1977, 1978/1979, 1979/1980, 1982/1983, 1983/1984, 1984/1985, 1985/1986, 1987/1988, 1989/1990, 1997/1998, 1998/1999, 1999/2000, 2000/2001, 2001/2002, 2006/2007, 2007/2008, 2008/2009, 2009/2010, 2010/2011, 2011/2012....
- Victory Cup: 1919
- Anglo-Scottish Cup Winners: 1979/80
- Summer Cup: 1943
- Epson Invitational Tournament: 1986/87
1As the 'old' Scottish Second Division
[edit] Managers
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[edit] Notable former players
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[edit] Notable fans
- Chick Young
- Douglas Alexander
- Colin MacAllister
- David McKinney
- Dougie Vipond
- Douglas Henshall
- Captain Sensible
- Christopher Brookmyre
- Tyrone Smith
- David Jensen
- Ian Pattison
- Bill Leckie
- Hector Nicol
- Robin Birney
- Steven Thompson
- The Small Gentlemen
- Gerard McAleer
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official St. Mirren F.C. website
- 'Historical Database' of St. Mirren F.C.
- Unofficial St. Mirren Website
- Mirren Mad
- St Mirren BBC My Club page
