2020/21 has been a once in a lifetime season.
The SMiSA stadium may have been quieter but the support surrounding St Mirren has been deafening. With your unwavering commitment and dedication to the club, we have gone from strength to strength and completed our most successful top-flight season in over 30 years.
You are the reason we have accomplished many milestones this past year.
#BeInThatNumber
In a season like no other, we asked you to #BeInThatNumber and stand with the club while the world faced the unknown. More than 3,400 of you generously purchased season tickets as well as pay-per-view packages for home matches. The release of our home and away kits was a huge success, as both sold in large numbers.
Fans also came together to support the charitable foundation’s efforts to care for the wider community.
As a thank you, the club set out to find a way to reward fans and add excitement and hope to the anticipated return of football. We introduced a prize draw and presented lucky fans with incredible, once in a lifetime experiences.
Christie Wishart won lunch with the gaffer and a player of her choosing. James McCulloch was awarded the iconic number of 1877 and will have the West Stand named after him in his honour for one match. Emily Keane and Grace Keane will be our new stadium announcers for one game and Gary Montgomery will attend a match with our Chief Executive, Tony Fitzpatrick, while Ryan Watson was one of the first to own the new home shirt.
Due to covid restrictions, many of these prizes are still to be redeemed but will be done so when safe.
On The Field
The Saints on the pitch were determined to give the fans a season to remember even if they couldn’t be in the stands to cheer the players on. It was the backing from the supporters that helped us achieve our highest top-flight finish since 1989.
Our points tally of 45 points was also the highest achieved by St Mirren in the top-flight since 1925/26.
The team reached the semi-finals of both the League and Scottish Cups – becoming the first St Mirren side to do so since 1981/82.
We won at Celtic Park for the first time since 1990 and in the process became the only team to defeat both Celtic and Rangers this season.
We became the first side to defeat Rangers in the 2020/21 season and remained the only side domestically to have beaten the Ibrox side in 90 minutes.
Academy Players Standout
This season we experienced the debuts of academy players Lewis Jamieson, Jay Henderson and Dylan Reid, who became the youngest ever Saint and starter in the Scottish Premiership.
The club was able to reward Jay Henderson with a new two-year contract whilst also fighting off competition from the likes of Bayern Munich, Benfica, Celtic, Rangers and a host of teams down south to retain the services of Dylan Reid.
Academy graduates Cammy MacPherson, Ethan Erhahon and Kyle McAllister continued to develop and dominate on the pitch - with Ethan being named as the club’s official Young Player of the Year for the second time.
Welcoming New Talent
Throughout the season fans stood shoulder to shoulder with the team and demonstrated their unrelenting commitment to the club.
The knowledge that fans were full behind us, gave us the confidence and ability to improve the first-team budget and bolster the squad with signings such as Jak Alnwick, Marcus Fraser, Richard Tait, Joe Shaughnessy, Daniel Finlayson, Dylan Connolly, Kristian Dennis, Lee Erwin and Eamonn Brophy.
Team Stability
We backed our manager Jim Goodwin and rewarded him with a new three-year-deal.
Jim will continue to lead the team in the years to come and build on the existing progress made over the last two seasons.
Next Up
As we move forward, we are determined to continue being a club you can believe in and trust. In the background, work is constantly being done to improve the infrastructure around the club and we hope to release news about season tickets and brand-new strips in the near future. Let a new era begin.
We will never stop trying to make our fans as proud of us, as we are of them.
