September 17 – The Buddies Hit Europe
WHEN you think of Scottish football in Europe, most people’s thoughts go straight to the Old Firm plugging away in the Champions League. Every few years though, you’ll get a fairytale story of a minnow making it onto Europe’s big stage. Back in 1980 it was the turn of St. Mirren, who were packing their bags for their longest ever away-day.
A tie against Sweden’s IF Elsborg was St. Mirren’s prize for a third place finish in the 1979/80 season, behind Celtic and Aberdeen, who were managed by a certain Mr Alex Ferguson. Talking of Fergie, have a guess who the only club ever to give him the sack is? That’s right, it was Paisley’s finest, St. Mirren in 1978. Ferguson clashed with the board over a number of issues ranging from (if the rumours are to be believed) bonus payments to the players, wanting to change the club’s kit and also “unpardonable swearing at a lady on club premises” as a former director alleged.
It was the nucleus of the side that Ferguson built that took St. Mirren to the UEFA Cup. Their first round tie against Elfsborg ended in a 2-1 win that saw them drawn against Saint-Etienne, the French side lead by Michel Platini, not the Croyden pop group, in the second round. Alas, the dream was to end here as they went down 2-0 on aggregate and The Buddies have never reached these heights since.
They have, however won a hatful of Renfrewshire Cups (49 to be precise) and can boast of such alumni as Archie Gemmill, Frank McAvennie, Roy Aitkin and even former Spanish national team captain Victor Munoz.
For footage of St. Mirren’s heady days in Europe see below and I’ll give you odds of 2/1 if you can guess which dodgy keeper we’re looking at tomorrow.
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September 17 - The Buddies Hit Europe and Derby’s Day | On This Football Day on September 17th, 2009
[...] 1980 – The Buddies Hit Europe WHEN you think of Scottish football in Europe, most people’s thoughts go straight to the Old Firm plugging away in the Champions League. Every few years though, you’ll get a fairytale story of a minnow making it onto Europe’s big stage. Back in 1980 it was the turn of St. Mirren, who were packing their bags for their longest ever away-day. Click here to find out where they went. [...]