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| Full name | St Mirren Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nicknames | The Buddies The Saints |
| Founded | 1877; 149 years ago (1877) |
| Ground | St Mirren Park,Paisley[1] |
| Capacity | 8,000 |
| Chairman | John Needham |
| Manager | Stephen Robinson |
| League | Scottish Premiership |
| 2024–25 | Scottish Premiership, 6th of 12 |
| Website | www |
 Current season | |
St Mirren Football Club is aScottish professionalfootball club based inPaisley, Renfrewshire, that competes in theScottish Premiership after winning the2017–18 Scottish Championship. Founded in 1877, the team has two nicknames:The Buddies andThe Saints.
St Mirren have won theScottish Cup three times, in1926,1959 and1987, and theScottish League Cup in2013 and2025. They have played in European competition five times: in theUEFA Cup Winners' Cup in1987–88, theUEFA Cup in1980–81,1983–84 and1985–86 and theUEFA Conference League in2024–25, which saw the club return to Europe for the first time in 37 years. They are the only Scottish team to win theAnglo-Scottish Cup, beatingBristol City 5–1 over two legs in 1979–80.
The club's home ground since 2009 isSt Mirren Park, an all-seater stadium on Greenhill Road, Paisley. It has a capacity of 8,000. The club's former home from 1894 until 2009 was also officially named St Mirren Park, but was more commonly known asLove Street.
St Mirren Football Club was originally a gentlemen's club which was formed in the second half of the 19th century and played, among other sports,cricket andrugby. The increasing popularity of football ensured that by 1877 the members had decided to playassociation football and 1877 is the football club's official foundation date. They are named afterSaint Mirin, the founder of a church at the site ofPaisley Abbey and Patron Saint ofPaisley. There is also a street in Paisley named St Mirren Street. The team's first strip was scarlet and blue but, after one season, the club changed to the current black and white striped shirts, which have been worn every season bar one in the 1900s, when cream tops were used.
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 named Thistle Park at Greenhills. St Mirren's firstScottish Cup match was on 4 September 1880, a 3–0 victory over Johnstone Athletic. The following year, St Mirren reached their first cup final but were beaten 3–1 byThornliebank in theRenfrewshire Cup. In 1883, the scores were reversed with St Mirren winning the Renfrewshire Cup, 3–1 against Thornliebank. It was in 1883 that the club moved to its third home, that ofWest March (early maps indicate the area as West March rather than the commonly used Westmarch), defeatingQueen's Park in the first game there. In 1885, St Mirren played their first match againstMorton, resulting in a defeat.
The 1890 season was a historic season for St Mirren, as they became founder members of theScottish Football League along with fellow Paisley clubAbercorn. Of the eleven founder clubs, only five survive in the current league system. It was during the match against Morton atCappielow in 1890 that St Mirren played one of the first night games under light from oil lamps. The club moved toLove Street in 1894 and the team reached their first Scottish Cup final in the 1907–08 season but were defeated 5–1 byCeltic. St Mirren went on to lift the trophy in 1926, 1959 and 1987. A short-livedScottish Junior Football Association side under the club's umbrella,St Mirren Juniors F.C., won theScottish Junior Cup in 1917, making St Mirren the only senior club name (as of 2025) on the trophy.[2]
In 1922, St Mirren were invited to play in the Barcelona Cup invitational tournament to celebrate the inauguration ofLes Corts, the then home ofBarcelona. They won the tournament by beatingNotts County in the final.
In the 1979–80 season, St Mirren achieved their equal highest-ever finish in the top-flight finishing third behindAberdeen and Celtic. That season Saints also became the first and last Scottish club to win theAnglo-Scottish Cup, defeatingBristol City in a two-legged final.[3] 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 teamSaint-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 theScottish Premier League twice (2000–01) and (2014–15) and the Premier Division of the Scottish Football League once (1991–92) having escaped relegation from the latter 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 in2005–06, a season which also saw St Mirren win theScottish Challenge Cup, defeatingHamilton Academical 2–1 in the final atAirdrie United's ground, theShyberry Excelsior Stadium, with goals fromSimon Lappin andJohn Sutton.
In 2010, they reached the final of theScottish League Cup where they were defeated 0–1 byRangers despite having a two-man advantage.[4] However, three days later, they recorded a famous win over Celtic, a match thatThe Buddies won 4–0 with doubles fromAndy Dorman andSteven Thomson.[5] In March 2013, St Mirren won theScottish League Cup beatingHeart of Midlothian 3–2 at Hampden to win their first cup since 1987.[6]
In the 2010s the club drew praise for their youth development, bringing through several players from their academy (despite it not being listed among the 'elite' group assessed by theSFA in 2017)[7] includingStevie Mallan,Jack Baird,Kyle Magennis,Jason Naismith,Kyle McAllister,Sean Kelly and full Scotland internationalsKenny McLean,Lewis Morgan andJohn McGinn.[8][9]
On 14 December 2025, St Mirren won their second League Cup, and their first trophy in 12 years, when they beat Celtic 3–1 in the2025 Scottish League Cup final.[10]
St Mirren played at four different venues before moving to their ground at St Mirren Park, or Love Street, in 1894. The record attendance for the ground was 47,438 versusCeltic in 1949. Love Street saw extensive redevelopment in the late 90s to comply with both the recommendations of theTaylor Report and SPL regulations and the ground eventually became a 10,866 seater venue. The ground had four stands of which the most recent, the West or Reid Kerr Family Stand, was built in 2000 in order for Love Street to meet the criteria for entry to theScottish Premier League. The oldest stand was the main stand which had a basic wooden construction. The north bank was popular with the hardcore St Mirren fans while the largest stand, the steeply raked West Stand, housed a sporting facility underneath.
On 24 May 2005,Renfrewshire Council granted permission for the club to develop their old ground. This involved the sale of the ground to a supermarket chain, and the construction of a ground inFerguslie Park, Paisley (through a separate planning permission). The sale of their old ground allowed the club to finance the new stadium as well as clear their debts. In April 2007 it was announced that a deal had been struck with supermarket giantTesco and on 15 January 2009 St Mirren moved to a new 7,937-seat stadium, also called St Mirren Park.
The opening game finished as a 1–1 draw withKilmarnock, with Killie'sKevin Kyle scoring the first goal, andDennis Wyness equalising. St Mirren's first notable win at the new stadium came on 7 March 2009 in a 1–0 victory over Celtic in the Scottish Cup quarter-final.
The stadium had a total seating capacity of 8,023 which was reduced in 2017 to 7,937[1] following the installation of a new disabled access platform.[11]
The stadium was known as The Simple Digital Arena after the club agreed a four-year, six-figure deal with Simple Digital Solutions on 13 June 2018.[12]
It is currently known as The SMiSA Stadium.[13]
The traditional home colours of St Mirren are black and white stripes, however for the first season the colours were scarlet and blue. There is some dispute as to why the colours black and white were chosen. A popular theory is that the stripes represent the Black and White Cart rivers which run through Paisley. In recent years there has been evidence unearthed that the Monks in the local abbey wore black and white striped habits. The team strips have varied very little in the long history of the club, however the thickness of the stripes have often varied. Some years have seen horizontal stripes used.
Having first played in black and white vertical stripes in 1884, Saints were the first club in the world to do so, six years before Notts County.
Away tops are traditionally red or all black, but in some cases strips have varied from orange to light blue, as seen on the 2010–11 strip. From 2007 to 2011, the Danish firm,Hummel International, replaced Xara as kit manufacturers. After spells with Carbrini (2011–2012, 2015–2017), Diadora (2012–2014) and Joma (2017–2023) the club signed a deal with kit manufacturers Macron.
St Mirren has had several main sponsors, mainly in the transport industry, with several local bus companies and car dealerships likeArriva and Phoenix Honda sponsoring in the club. St Mirren were sponsored byBraehead Shopping Centre, a local shopping centre four miles away inRenfrew from 2005 to 2017. They are currently sponsored by Consilium Contracting Services.[14]In August 2010, the club confirmed Barrhead company Compass Private Hire would have their name displayed on the back of the first team players' shirts as well as on their shorts. Compass Private Hire were co-owned by former St Mirren player, captain and manager, Tony Fitzpatrick.
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In recent years, St Mirren have been represented by three mascots, the Pandas. They are Paisley Panda, Junior P and Mrs Panda. The regular mascots are Paisley Panda and Junior P.
The club has a fierce rivalry with neighboursGreenock Morton,[15] a rivalry which sees a large amount of animosity between the two sets of fans.[16]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Stephen Robinson | Manager |
| Brian Kerr | Assistant manager |
| Jamie Langfield | Goalkeeping coach |
| Allan McManus | Head of academy |
| Craig McLeish | First team transition phase head coach |
| John Park | Head of recruitment and emerging talent |
| Ross Horsburgh | Head of analysis |
| Gerry Docherty | Head of physiotherapy |
| Gary McColl | Head of sports science |
| Tommy Docherty | Groundsman |
| Joe Hayes | Kitman |
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| John Needham | Chairman[20] |
| Ian Beattie | Director |
| Dougie Falconer | Director |
| Jim Irvine | Director |
| Paul McNeill | Director |
| Gary Peebles | Director |
| Gordon Graham | Secretary |
| Keith Lasley | Chief operating officer |
| Tony Fitzpatrick | Club ambassador |
| Season | Competition | Round | Opponent | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980–81 | UEFA Cup | First round |  IF Elfsborg | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| Second round |  Saint-Étienne | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | ||
| 1983–84 | UEFA Cup | First round |  Feyenoord | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–3 |
| 1985–86 | UEFA Cup | First round |  Slavia Prague | 3–0 (a.e.t.) | 0–1 | 3–1 |
| Second round | Hammarby IF | 1–2 | 3–3 | 4–5 | ||
| 1987–88 | UEFA Cup Winners' Cup | First round |  Tromsø | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Second round |  Mechelen | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–2 | ||
| 2024–25 | UEFA Conference League | Second qualifying round |  Valur | 4–1 | 0–0 | 4–1 |
| Third qualifying round | SK Brann | 1–1 | 1–3 | 2–4 |
Robert Mitchell of St Mirren F.C. won the Scottish 880 yards title five times between1889 and 1894, missing only in 1893, and shares with Duncan McPhee (West of Scotland H., 1914 to 1923) the most wins in this event inScottish AAA history. He also set Scottish records at two distances. At the St Mirren FC Sports, atWest March, Paisley, on 19 July 1890 he ran 2:00 2/5 to establish a new Scottish All-comers record for 880 yards, beating a record set by Thomas Moffat at the Scottish championships in 1883. And at the Rangers Sports atIbrox Park,Glasgow, on 3 August 1889 he ran 1:15 3/5 to establish new Scottish All-comers and Native records for 600 yards. In 1898 he was permanently suspended from amateur athletics for collaborating with betting on races.[21][22][23][24]
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