Streets for Saints as club legends are given honour
SCOTTISH Cup winning St Mirren legends are to have streets named after them on the site of the club’s former Love Street home.
Cup winning captain, Billy Abercrombie and long serving captain and manager Tony Fitzpatrick will be honoured on the site where they wore the famous black and white of the Paisley club.
Cult hero Mark Yardley, a Saints striker in the 1990s is also to have street named after him.
The Love Street housing development will include Abercromby Avenue, Fitzpatrick Way and Yardley Avenue, honouring the trio.
Another street is to be named McGarry Terrace after forward Steven McGarry and his late father Tam, a well-known club supporter.
The names were picked by fans from a shortlist in a competition run by Renfrewshire Council.
St Mirren moved to a new stadium in Paisley in 2009 with the Love Street ground originally earmarked for a supermarket development.
As that failed to come to fruition, Sanctuary Scotland stepped in to build 132 new affordable homes to be complete by September next year in partnership with the local council and the Scottish Government.
The former players were delighted to be remembered at Love Street.
Abercromby said: “I had two dreams, one to be a professional footballer, another to win a major trophy.
“Being the captain was the icing on the cake and now I can walk down my own street – that’s something special.”
Fitzpatrick, who is the current chief executive of the club, has been involved with St Mirren for almost 50 years.
He said: “The fans have always been brilliant to me, so I want to thank everyone who voted for me.
“I’m pleased to see something positive happen with the Love Street site – just one of many good things happening around Paisley just now.”
Yardley, who won promotion to Scotland’s top league with St Mirren in 2000, said: “I always remember how passionate and loyal our supporters were, through the very good, but also some very bad times.
“The noise they made was appreciated by all the players and I loved playing at Love Street and it was even better scoring there many times over the years.
“For me to be one of the lucky five winners of the Saints Streets competition it is an absolute honour and I feel so privileged to be voted by the supporters.”
The entire development will have a St Mirren theme.
Saints Street will be another address in the area, along with North Bank and Cairter’s Corner, named after well-known sections of the old stadium.
The street names were picked with 6000 votes on a shortlist that also included McWhirter Street, Money Street and Tor fa son Terrace.
A number of other former players and managers such as Sir Alex Ferguson, Alex Smith, Hugh Murray and Steven Thompson could not be considered to prevent clashes with existing streets in the area.
Renfrewshire Council’s housing convener Marie McGurk congratulated the honoured players.
“The competition really sparked the public imagination and we were overwhelmed by the interest it generated,” she said.
“We felt it was really important that we celebrate the rich history of the site as it is transformed into new homes to be enjoyed by families for generations to come.”