Flashback Saints were feeling blue
As St Mirren get set to announce their pre-season opponents, it’s unlikely the English Premier League Champions Chelsea will be among them.
But some Buddies may remember when the Blues visited Love Street in 1963, taking with them a top young side capable of giving their current crop of stars a run of for their money.
The young Chelsea side — with an average age of just 21 — scored three times in just three minutes to leave Saints cursing their decision to hand out an invitation in the first place.
Bossed by former Scotland manager Tommy Docherty, the rampant Londoners scored first through Ron Harris, who would go on to make more than 650 appearances for Chelsea and earn the fearsome nickname ‘Chopper’ for his no-nonsense approach to the game. Lesson learned
St Mirren FC is a club with a proud tradition – and a history to match.
They have been at the centre of the Scottish game since their formation in 1877.
This week we look back at how Saints were left red-faced after an encounter with Chelsea.
Goals by Moore and Mulholland had the visitors on Easy Street ... and then England international Bobby Tambling decided to get involved.
At 4-0 down, however, there was one ray of light for the home fans ... and that came from St Mirren’s blond bombshell, Thor ‘Tottie’ Beck.
The Icelandic star, who would go on to play 80 times for the Buddies, got on the end of a smashing move involving several players to chest the ball down and slam it high into the net past Chelsea keeper Peter Bonetti.
Saints started the second period with renewed vigour and Beck was instantly involved in the action.
He wriggled his way into the box and it was only the hand of Scotland full-back Eddie McCreadie that prevented a second goal for the Buddies.
Big Jim Clunie stepped up to take the penalty and almost bent the crossbar with a trademark thunderbolt, only to see the ball rebound beyond him to safety.
That was almost it, as far as Saints were concerned.
Meanwhile, the visitors continued to turn in a display that simply dazzled their opponents.
Chelsea half-backs Terry Venables and Harris ran the show as their prompting and probing carved open the Saints’ defence time and again.
Tambling’s second goal — which was Chelsea’s fifth and almost burst the net — was all the Blues had to show for their second-half superiority.
And it was the home side who had the final say in a game watched by around 11,000 fans.
Wee Don Kerrigan picked up the ball in midfield and, as all around screamed at him to pass, he let fly from all of 25 yards.
Bonetti didn’t see it until he was picking the ball out of the net.
The final score of 5-2 was a fair reflection of a game in which Saints tried their hardest, but were outclassed by a dominant Chelsea side.