St Mirren like many of the other great clubs were founded in the late 1800's (if memory serves me right) Like all good clubs then, had limited success the most notable was winning the 1987 cup final.
Although not a club with the same sort of following as Rangers and Celtic, St Mirren did enjoy good periods of success. their highest ever attendance was 47,438. the match was played against Celtic just after the second world war.
St mirren holds a proud tradition of attracting young and old talent alike, including familiar names like Steve Clark, Ian ferguson (who went on to become a true blue with rangers), Tony fitzpatrick (who eventually went on to manage the saints in the late eighties and again in the mid to late ninteys, Archie gemmill (anyone with a football brain will know the name), Roy aitken ( one of the top british coaches), Frank McAvenney (went onto bigger and better things), Gordon McQueen, Paul lambert (eurpean cup winner before moving to celtic and currently in management) Campbell Money ( a great goalkeeper in his day, then went on to lead stranraer into the first division as a manager). and finally Jackie Copland ( a long and distinguished serving member for st mirren even after he retired)and a true gentleman to boot.
Oh and did i mention that one of our managers in his early days before moving on to manage bigger and better clubs was a guy who's name will strike fear into any managers heart, Sir alex Ferguson.
Sir Alex managed St Mirren during the mid seventies for four years, then went onto manage aberdeen before moving to
Manchester United.
Notable rivals are Greenock Morton (who currently languish in the lower divisions teetering on the brink of oblivion) Unlike St Mirren's great history, most Morton supporters take great pleasure in knocking St Mirren's proud history and achievements. Things were so poor at Morton that they even had to draft in a morton supporter to be a linesman at a profession football match making history in the process, the first ever amateur referee to run the line in scottish football (Chick, if your out there Morton still need you).
the whole saga made it into the pages of scotlands top selling newspaper, (the daily record).
Currently St Mirren seem to be sitting at the wrong end of the SPL table but maybe with time and who knows (a roman abramovich) Maybe St mirren might start heading in the right direction again and hopefully see some glory european nights again in the near future...
