Flashback Youngsters fine-tuned
St Mirren is a football club that has for so long prided itself on its youth development programme.
A scan through many a side will highlight just how often the club has relied heavily on developing youngsters – in recent times Stevie Mallan and Lewis Morgan have topped the billing following in the footsteps of John McGinn and his brother Stephen, as well as Kenny McLean.
For years Tony Fitzpatrick has been the man to hail it. From his days in the dugout, to an observer, and now as chief executive,
Fitzpatrick has always championed the youth. No more so than the final game of the 1997/98 season. With St Mirren having little to play for they welcomed Dundee to Love Street.
Fitzpatrick used it as the perfect opportunity to show that the future was bright... and even handed the Learning curve
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.
Today, we look back at the youth of 1997/98 who were taken under their wing by some‘old’heads.
captain’s armband to a fresh-faced 19-year-old by the name of Hugh Murray.
The youthful looking line-up was made up mostly of kids as Alan Combe, David McNamee, Chris Kerr, Brian Smith, Barry McLaughlin, Steve Watson, Steven McGarry, Hugh Murray, Tom Brown, David Milne and Alan Prentice were handed starts.
Kids Paul Rudden and Burton O’Brien also made the bench, with O’Brien then only aged 16.
Fitzpatrick was proud of his boys as he described them as a “possible cup-winning team”, following a stellar display. An end of seasonencounter if ever there was one, it was the youngsters on the pitch that shone in front of an otherwise disinterested crowd.
Match reports of the day tipped Chris Kerr for the very top as he was described as “a left back of pace and power with the confidence to overlap on the edge of the touchline. Often he made the time to look up, waiting and seeing how best to make a pass.”
But it was an old head that supplied the winner.
Tom Brown, alongside a number of the starting line-up that day, would go on to win the league two years later. But even at a measly 30-years-old he was already the veteran in the ranks.
Fitzpatrick used it as an opportunity to show that the future was bright