IF THE CAP FITZ..
Saints supremo has laid down the gauntlet in mission to make top six
WHEN Jon Obika poked the ball into the Hearts net on a blustery night in Paisley back on March 11, there was no warning of the storm that was set to follow.
As the days and weeks began to disappear, the significance of that goal in a 1-0 victory for St Mirren only became clear in the fullness of time.
Firstly, it would go down in the history books as the last goal scored in the 2019-20 campaign before the Covid crisis forced Scottish football into shutdown.
Of far greater importance, however, was the fact that Obika’s strike ensured that St Mirren would live to fight another day in the Premiership.
Had they lost that match, then it would have been Saints — rather than Hearts — who finished bottom of the table and were subsequently relegated to the Championship.
Fine details like that were inevitably going to get lost in a summer of infamy and rancour as every man, woman and child in Scottish football took it upon themselves to fall out with each other.
But it was a victory which meant
St Mirren most definitely dodged a bullet in the grand scheme of things. Now comes a season of fresh hope and renewed confidence — albeit after a hell of a scare.
There was a fear last week that, having scored the final goal before the curtain fell on last season, St Mirren might be the club to drop the ball ahead of football returning on Saturday.
Mercifully, however, an outbreak of Covid-19 among the club’s staff was not as widespread as first feared and their Premiership opener against Livingston on Saturday will go ahead as planned.
The objective for manager Jim Goodwin and his players has already been laid out in no uncertain terms by the club’s chief executive Tony Fitzpatrick.
Surviving by the skin of their teeth simply won’t be good enough. In Fitzpatrick’s eyes, it’s about pushing on into the upper echelons of the Premiership.
‘It is not acceptable for St Mirren just staying up,’ said Fitzpatrick, whose club have finished ninth and 11th since returning to the top flight in 2018.
‘We will be in the top six, make no mistake about it. And why not this year? We are building a good squad. It’s not pie in the sky. St Mirren is used to success.
‘You have Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Hibs and Motherwell. There is a place left there for the rest of us to fight out.’
Say this much for Fitzpatrick, you certainly can’t accuse the man of lacking ambition. He’s no stranger to making bold predictions on the eve of a new season.
In 2016, he claimed that Leicester City’s Premier League triumph was proof that St Mirren could be champions of Scotland by 2019.
Upon the Saints’ return to the top flight, he then expressed a belief that they are a top-four club. Critics will argue he’s put pressure on the manager and players before a ball has been kicked. But, if anything, Fitzpatrick has toned it down slightly this year.
As chief executive and a bonafide club legend, Fitzpatrick’s opinions hold weight. As for how they are viewed beyond Paisley, however, is another matter.
It’s now up to Goodwin and his squad to provide a few rays of sunshine and vindicate the views of a man often accused of having his head stuck in the clouds.
For context, St Mirren haven’t finished inside the top six in the top flight since 1985, when Fitzpatrick himself was playing for the club.
But why shouldn’t they aspire to change that? Clubs like Motherwell,
Livingston, Kilmarnock and St Johnstone have all managed it in recent seasons.
Finding the net on a more regular basis than last season will inevitably be key to doing so.
With just 24 goals from 30 games, St Mirren finished last season as the lowest scorers in the league.
But Obika showed a definite upturn in form prior to the shutdown, with a run of five goals in seven games in all competitions.
He will spearhead the attack in what is a streamlined squad after Goodwin opted to clear out a lot of fringe players, along with releasing club captain Stephen McGinn.
That was not an overly popular move among the club’s fans, but it now falls on Kyle Magennis to take the armband as the Saints’ new skipper. The 21-year-old has already played over 100 games for the club and could be the latest midfield maestro to emerge from the club’s academy, following on from the likes of John McGinn, Kenny McLean and Stevie Mallan.
Jak Alnwick was signed from Rangers and will have big gloves to fill as the club’s new No 1, taking over from the hugely impressive Vaclav Hladky.
Hladky had been pivotal to Saints’ survival in each of the past two seasons, but Alnwick is a capable operator in his own right.
The back four has also been reshaped, with Goodwin snapping up ex-St Johnstone man Joe Shaughnessy at centre-back and experienced former Motherwell full-back Richard Tait.
The signing of Shaughnessy, in particular, could be a very shrewd piece of business and he’s likely to form an all-Irish central defensive partnership with Conor McCarthy.
Prior to a brief stint at Southend United last season, Shaughnessy was arguably the best centre-half in the Premiership outwith the Old Firm and he will no doubt be looking to recapture that form.
And they boosted their backline further yesterday by signing former Ross County captain Marcus Fraser on a one-year deal.
Midfielders Nathan Sheron and Isak Thorvaldsson have also been added on loan from Fleetwood and Norwich, respectively, in Goodwin’s new-look squad.
Livingston will perhaps represent the ideal marker post on Saturday. A club of lesser stature and finance than St Mirren, they punched well above their weight to finish in the top six last season.
The mood music in Paisley has already been set by Fitzpatrick. To quote an old Cranberries album — Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?