The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
John Sludden, last man to score at Muirton Park
John Sludden, who made history by scoring the last goal at Muirton Park, has died aged 56. Although he turned out for St Johnstone 34 times and scored six goals, his historic strike in 1989 was against the Perth side.
He was playing for Ayr United and hit his side’s winner over St Johnstone on April 29 before their move to Mcdiarmid Park.
Falkirk-born John will also be remembered for the two goals he scored as a Scotland schoolboy in the 5-4 win against England at
Wembley in 1980. That performance earned him a youth place at Celtic and he turned out once for their senior side, against Rangers.
He then spent two seasons at St Johnstone – the Premier League season of 1983-84 and the First Division one that followed.
He started in 23 matches for Saints, came off the bench in 11, and scored six goals.
John then spent a season at Airdrie before making 140 appearances and scoring 84 goals for Ayr United between 1985 and 1989.
He then had spells with Kilmarnock, East Fife, Clydebank, Clyde and Stenhousemuir before becoming player-manager of Bo’ness United then manager of Camelon Juniors.
Between May 2016 and August 2018, John served as manager of East Stirlingshire.
Former Celtic player and ex-dundee FC player and manager Jim Duffy paid tribute to his former teammate. “John was a really talented player and he was a genuinely lovely, funny man and everyone liked him,” he said. “When he went into management I was surprised as he was so nice but he had great banter and the players enjoyed working with him.”
In a tribute on Twitter, St Johnstone said everyone at Mcdiarmid Park was saddened to hear of John Sludden’s death.
Writing on Twitter, exdundee midfielder turned Open Goal podcast star Si Ferry called him “one of the best guys you could ever wish to meet”.
John is survived by his wife Linda and sons Paul and Marc.