A Promising Start for Saints (1975)

(first published in the match programme for St. Mirren v Motherwell, 9^th August 2025)

The curtain rose on the 1975/76 Scottish football season with the traditional season-opening League Cup matches. Saints were drawn in Section 6 of the tournament alongside fellow First Division sides East Fife and Montrose, and Raith Rovers, who had remained in the new Second Division following League reconstruction, with the first match of the six-match section at home to the Methil men on 9^th August 1975.

The programme for the match was an A5-sized issue printed black on white glossy paper. An uncharacteristic orange spot colour had been introduced midway through the previous season's programme and this was retained for the new season's issue. One noticeable fact was that, although the price was fixed at 10p, the number of pages had been reduced from sixteen down to twelve.

The front cover featured the opponent's name, but not the date of the match - an omission that has always irritated collectors down the years. The bottom half of the cover featured an action photo from Saints' recent pre-season friendly against Rangers at Love Street, with home goalkeeper Dave McConnell tipping a Graham Fyfe effort over the bar.

Above the list of Directors and Club Honours, page two featured a piece on the visiting team, recalling the matches from the previous season. Saints' victory in the most recent meeting back in February had been East Fife's first League defeat of the season and had dented the Fifers' title hopes, while at the same time kickstarting St. Mirren's successful push for the top-six finish that would ensure a place in the new First Division. Since then, the Methil men had rung the changes in personnel and were expected to be amongst the challengers for a Premier League place at the end of the new season.

The "Manager's View" on page three gave Alex Ferguson the opportunity to share his belief that his young players were prepared for the season ahead and the confidence that they could hold their own against the day's tough opponents.

To support St. Mirren's aim for a Premier League place, off-field fundraising schemes were required and page four sought new agents for the first of these, called "Three N' Easy", which was a variation of the Club Pools schemes which were commonplace during the 1970s. On the opposite page, "Ten Half-Time Teasers" posed questions to the reader, the answers to which could be found on the inside back cover.

The centre pages were dominated by the results of a competition to design the Club's new emblem. The winner was pictured receiving his prize of £5 plus two stand season tickets for the coming season from the Manager in the Sportsman's Club before the recent Rangers friendly match. Prizes of tickets were also available to five runners-up and the names and full addresses of all winners were published, details which would be unlikely to be advertised quite so openly nowadays.

The team line-ups, which would subsequently appear on the centre pages of future issues, were left blank on this occasion, whilst the Half Time Scoreboard listed the other League Cup matches to be played that day.

Len Wright of the "Paisley Daily Express" reviewed Saints' pre-season matches and quoted the saying that "A bad final rehearsal means a good show". In his opinion, most departments of the side were showing promise but, whilst chances were being created, a striker was needed to stick the ball in the net.

A list of the fixtures for the forthcoming campaign appeared on the inside back page. In this inaugural reconstruction season, the fourteen new First Division clubs were scheduled to play only 26 matches, the remaining time to be occupied by a new Spring Cup competition. Although the sections for this tournament were drawn a few days later, the actual fixtures did not appear on this page of the programme until after the competition had started in March.

The quiz answers, photo action from the previous seasons' home match against Stenhousemuir and roughly three pages of adverts completed the issue.

On a warm, sunny day, a crowd of 2,127 saw Saints create a number of early chances but their poor finishing kept the scoreline blank by the interval. In the second period, the hardened veterans in the visiting side faded in the heat and Saints' youngsters began to assert themselves.

The home side opened the scoring on the hour mark. After Donny McDowell was brought down in the box, Walter Borthwick sent Fifers' goalkeeper Ernie McGarr the wrong way with his spot kick. Second half substitute Frank McGarvey extended St. Mirren's lead eleven minutes later when he netted from close range.

East Fife substitute John Robertson pulled a goal back with a fine shot on 77 minutes, but his side never really looked like overturning the 2-1 result.