Fitzpatrick has that winning feeling Saints can beat odds
Going to Parkhead may be daunting, but chief executive is still full of optimism
TONY Fitzpatrick is one of life’s eternal optimists and it is a state of mind that will serve him well this afternoon. Fitzpatrick has worn many St Mirren hats over the years – player, captain, two-time manager, ambassador and general cheerleader – but when he takes his seat in the directors’ box at Celtic Park it will be in his current guise as the Paisley club’s chief executive.
For 90 minutes he will keep his fingers crossed for a miracle as St Mirren – the bottom team in the Championship, albeit one enjoying a good run of form – look to somehow derail Celtic’s seemingly inexorable pursuit of a domestic treble. With the league all but won and the League Cup already resting in the Parkhead trophy cabinet, all that stands between Brendan Rodgers and a first clean sweep since 2001 is the William Hill Scottish Cup. Win three games and that will be Celtic’s, too.
Fitzpatrick, though, is a man of instinct and emotional hunches. His approach to future-telling is as unscientific as reading tea leaves or gazing into crystal balls but when he says he has had a feeling all week that St Mirren could spring an upset, then he does so with sincerity. Some bookmakers will give you 50/1 on that outcome but Fitzpatrick is undeterred.
“Celtic will be daunting but St Mirren are a funny club,” he said. “I’ve got a feeling in my stomach about this one. Celtic have got to get beat at some time by the law of averages. Nobody will give us a chance but if you want to be inspired in life, that’s a great motivator.
“We went to Dundee in an earlier round of this cup and played really well. I think we have players who are comfortable at that level. They find it hard in this division as everyone is in your face every two seconds. So I think our boys were pleasantly surprised against Dundee that they got that wee split-second extra on the ball to play the way they want to. [Today] is a fantastic day for everyone at the club, financially as well. I can picture in my head the boys celebrating…”
Fitzpatrick was visualising the future but could well have been recalling the past. In his first stint as manager, he took his struggling team to Parkhead in April 1990 and oversaw a remarkable 3-0 victory. St Mirren haven’t won there since.
“Nobody gave us a chance that day but it was 3-0 going on 6-0,” he said with typical effervescence. “I have fantastic memories of that day. But I had a feeling that week we could go there and win and I’ve got that again this week. I can’t believe I’m the last St Mirren manager to win at Parkhead so it would be great for Jack Ross if he could take that mantle from me.
“I told the players that day just to Fitzpatrick had endured an injuryriddled campaign but was fit enough to take a seat on the bench for the final.
Manager Alex Smith did the decent thing and sent the then 31-year-old Fitzpatrick on late in the game as St Mirren defeated Dundee United to lift the trophy for the third time.
“I never played in any of the cup ties,” he recalled. “If you look back that year I had major injuries, and had given up playing. Then I got the wires out of my jaw and Alex saw me in training and asked if I wanted to be involved in the final. I hadn’t expected to be anywhere near it. Guys like Peter Godfrey, Paul Chalmers and Gary Peebles had played in the earlier ties. Godfrey and Chalmers had scored goals and never made the squad. So I was blessed. It was a godsend to me. Just to get off the bench was incredible because I hadn’t been playing.”
The photographs of that achievement can be found all over St Mirren’s Paisley 2021 Stadium.
“It is the one thing as a player that gets you remembered forever more, winning the Scottish Cup. You could have the worst career but they remember that about you.”