St Mirren
“I went a few times in early 1983 whilst serving at Faslane. Went with Hamish Stewart who had cousins who used the Wig & Pen pub.
Near kick-off it was a quick rush to nearby chippy, then into Love Street. Singers gathered on the terrace opposite main stand, and the passion and banter was amazing. A mesh net of sorts kept the opposition fans apart but plenty of insults were hurled back and forth. Over 40 years ago but still keep a check on St Mirren results.”
The 10th Scottish Awayday was taking in my Dad’s Scottish team, St Mirren.
St Mirren Football Club are from Paisley, Renfrewshire, in the west of Scotland.
The team is named after the Irish Monk and Missionary, St Mirin. Born in Ireland in 565, his work found him in Paisley where he would go onto found the first church in the town.
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The streets of Tutbury were quiet, the weather overcast but calm, as Andy and me joined Sam in Castle Café. Some breakfast and a cup of tea later and we were strolling across the bridge over the River Dove, towards Tutbury & Hatton station.
The itinerary was quite straight-forward;
Tutbury & Hatton 10.01 – Crewe 10.58
Crewe 11.07 – Carlisle 12.59
Carlisle 13.15 – Glasgow Central 14.39
And it went like a dream, never mind arriving in Glasgow on the nose – we were 2 minutes early!
The only part that didn’t go to plan was boarding the Crewe-Carlisle train and an elderly couple being sat in our reserved seats. You know what it’s like, you don’t want to cause a fuss especially when the man of the couple looked very tired and settled, fair play let’s not cause a scene.
But during the journey old Malcolm soon became less frail and knackered, more chatty, and indeed quite sprightly when he flung his backpack over his shoulders and skipped off the train, yes I’ll remember that act Malcolm for my later years, love it!
Anyway back to business. So we got into Glasgow Central at 14.37, out the Union Street exit, down Union Street, Jamaica Street, to the hotel near St Enoch Square.
A quick drop of the bags and splash of Brut, and it was back out to the Horseshoe Bar on Drury Lane.
The Horseshoe is a Glasgow institution dating back to 1884 and is a cracking pub, unfortunately the prices don’t date back to 1884 and 3 Tennent’s set us back £12.45. Which for all my attempts at a quip is quite reasonable actually for a city-centre boozer.
We managed to grab one of the remaining pews, the air full of convivial late afternoon chatter.
A couple of pints later and it was back to Central Station for the 16.55 to Paisley Gilmour Street. The Scotrail unit was very warm and busy with homebound commuters as we departed Platform 14 for our 12-minute shuttle west.
Not long after the grey housing estates of Hillingdon, we were at Paisley.
A few minutes later and we walked into the Court Bar. The place was half-full already, a mix of supporters and evening drinkers.
More Tennent’s acquired we found a table and admired the St Mirren and various other football memorabilia adorning the walls, including a match-worn Scotland away shirt, and a framed KV Mechelen hat and scarf – Mirren’s last European game was against them in November 1987, with Mechelen going onto win that year’s European Cup Winners Cup.
The locals were friendly and even offered us Krispy Kreme doughnuts! As they told us about their season, qualifying for Europe for the first time since Jason and Kylie got married in Neighbours, and star man Alex Gogic signing a new contract extension recently.
Barman Alan was a good laugh, very hospitable and full of sound advice such as “ya better no be shoutin’ for fuckin’ Hearts!”
With kick-off approaching it was time to get onto the ground.
“… naw ya fat bastard”
“Whit? You’re a skinny bastard, call me a fat bastard….” – As we headed towards the gas works, 2 lads passed us having the type of exchange only close pals can.
St Mirren play at the SMISA Stadium, moving here from the much-loved Love Street ground in 2009.
This season in terms of league placing has been their most successful since the 1980’s with a 5th place finish guaranteed and European football secured.
With tonight’s opposition Hearts guaranteed 3rd place and European football, it made for a party atmosphere.
As we found our seats in the main stand, excited chatter filled the air like a classroom on the last day of term.
Joy Division’s ‘Love will tear us apart’ blasted through the speakers, then as Ian Curtis’ vocals drifted away the unmistakable saxophone intro of ‘Baker Street’ started up as one of Paisley’s own, Gerry Rafferty, serenaded the teams onto the pitch to raucous ovation from all 4 stands.
“…ANOTHER YEAR AND THEN YOU’D BE HAPPY
JUST ONE MORE YEAR AND THEN YOU’D BE HAPPY
BUT YOU’RE CRYIN’, YOU’RE CRYIN’ NOW…”
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“THIS IS OUR EUROPEAN TOWN
THIS IS OUR EUROPEAN TEAM
TOGETHER WE ARE SAINT MIRREN
COME ON YOU SAINTSSS!!”
*Fuck me, wow, even I’m getting goosebumps*
St Mirren dominate the early exchanges and test a rusty Craig Gordon after a loose pass out from him under pressure.
James Scott puts the Buddies ahead, quickly stroking home a stray header across the 6-yard box.
Hearts soon get a foothold, their quality showing with quick slick passages of play. Scott Fraser is playing deep and seeing plenty of the ball, keeping play moving for the men in maroon.
These quick slick passages lead to a Hearts equaliser from Kyosuke Tagawa, finishing a low first-time cross well.
Half hour has passed and we comment how little stoppages there are, the quality and tempo is high. You can’t help feeling this is helped by both sets of fans superb support and constant drumbeat and song.
Another plane comes into land at Glasgow City airport (in Paisley), Mirren manager Stephen Robinson restlessly prowls his technical area like a caged tiger, and my Donner pie has my mouth on fire.
St Mirren start the 2nd half better. The tempo remains high, neither team have anything to lose and want a win.
The Buddies take a step towards the 3 points in the 65th minute. A beautiful cross from Boyd-Munce is perfectly planted home by the heid of James Bolton.
The St Mirren ultras are going for it now, singing, bouncing, chanting. What great support.
It is the 73rd minute and a Hearts corner is headed away from goal. Lawrence Shankland is first to the ball and hooks it backwards on the volley. Everything pauses for a second as we strain to see where the soaring sphere will drop.
The net ripples, the Hearts fans roar in celebration. Shankland has scored his 30th goal of the season, 2-all is now the score.
The tricky Toyosi Olusanya goes close for the home side in the 83rd minute, but his deflected shot rolls past the post before the hard-working Mikael Mandron forces a save from Gordon on 90mins.
The full-time whistle is blown on this fantastic tightly fought fixture, all 4 stands giving rapturous applause.
After a short wait, the St Mirren players and families come back out for their lap of honour. As the players spend time singing and celebrating the season with the ultras in the far corner, some supporters venture onto the pitch to be closer to their heroes; before supporters from all sides start to stream on to join in the celebrations.
It’s a fantastic sight. No sign of trouble, just pure joy and celebration from the players and supporters. For the younger supporters it’s the nights like these that only strengthen your connection and love for your football club, they are priceless nights you never forget.
After enjoying watching the celebrations, it was time to leave the SMISA Stadium and walk back to Paisley Gilmour Street station.
“Did ye enjoy it?”, Alan’s voice boomed as we neared the Court Bar, stood outside with some punters. “Good one lads.”
The 22.31 back to Central was cancelled so we sat and waited for the 22.45.
On the 12-minute journey back I got my thoughts together. Everything ticked the boxes tonight: great pre-match pub, good football, a nice stadium, family-friendly – but still retaining a great partisan atmosphere. The club seem well entrenched in the local community and there was an obvious connection between the players and supporters.
From the Court Bar to the SMISA Stadium we had a fantastic night out. Just like our Dad enjoyed from the Wig & Pen to Love Street.
Jamie Golds 