Saints kids can go on to be stars
ST MIRREN’S 1987 Scottish Cup win helped launch the careers of talented kids Ian Ferguson and Paul Lambert.
Now Buddies hero Campbell Money believes Saturday’s IRN-BRU Final, also against Dundee United, can do the same for Stevie Mallan and Lewis Morgan.
Money will miss the Final as he’s part of Ricky Sbragia’s backroom team in the Scotland Under-19 set-up. But he said: “I get asked about it periodically because there aren’t many St Mirren teams who have lifted a national trophy.
“It was a great day for all of us and it was definitely a launchpad for the likes of Ferguson and Lambert who were young players at the time. “The same can happen now. Saints have lost Kyle McAllister to Derby already this season and there’s now interest in Mallan and Morgan. The exposure is great for them.
“It doesn’t matter that it’s an IRN-BRU Cup Final. Those boys will be as nervous on Saturday as we were back in ’87.
“My main memory is Ferguson’s goal and the pure elation that followed it. Then the realisation that we still had 10 minutes to play! It was a long 10 minutes but I never had a shot to save. United’s legs had gone because they’d played Gothenburg in the UEFA Cup Final in midweek.
“Going from Hampden to Paisley for the open-top bus was fantastic. It was raining but there were thousands of people there.
“That’s what the Old Firm players don’t get to savour. Look at Ian and what he went on to achieve at Rangers. But he never got the open-top bus experience. That was the best single day of my career.”
Money has been impressed by the job Jack Ross has done and said: “In current form St Mirren go into it as favourites, unlike back in ‘87 because United were a top European side then.
“Jack has done brilliantly and it shows what can happen when a club displays a bit of patience. He made clever signings in January and that has galvanised them.”