Beckett spent summer sprucing up Love Street
New St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin is trying to rebuild his squad for the new campaign.
Forty years ago, the players were helping with the building – as the club renovated their Love Street stadium.
And a bit of hard graft before training did them no harm.
The Saints went on to have one of the best seasons in the club’s history.
They finished third in the Premier Division and won the Anglo-scottish Cup.
Defender Alex Beckett was a joiner, so he picked up the tools for a spell in pre- season while he recovered from an injury.
Mixing woodwork with ball work was nothing new to him.
He recalled: “I had been a part-timer at St Mirren during my early days, working in the morning and then training in the afternoon.
“When we got promoted under Alex Ferguson in 1977, they asked who wanted to go full-time.
“I put my name down and Fergie asked: ‘ Why are you on the list? You’re a joiner’.
“I told him I was, but that I wanted to be a better footballer.
“The St Mirren team I played in really gelled under Fergie. He gave us a lot of freedom to play and we went 28 games unbeaten.”
Ferguson’ s departure for Aberdeen saw Jim Clunie take over as boss. The Buddies also sold rising stars Frank Mcgarvey and Tony Fitzpatrick, but replaced them in fine style by recruiting D o ug Somner and Frank Mcdougall.
Alex looks back on that season with a great deal of pride – and a touch of regret.
He said: “It was a brilliant time, but I can’t help thinking we could have won the league title.
“We were right in the mix with four games to go, and then lost 2-0 to Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
“If we’d got a victory, we might have gone on to win the league.
“The people running St Mirren at the moment are getting stick for being ambitious, but you have to set your sights high.”
The following season saw Alex at the centre of a managerial mystery.
He scored the goal of his career, a 25- yard volley that sealed a 2- 1 victory over Celtic at Parkhead.
The reward for Jim Clunie was the sack, apparently for swearing.
Alex,a member of the Saints’ Hall of Fame, said: “If Jim was sacked because he swore, then he certainly wasn’t the only one doing it.
“He would mix in with us like he was one of the boys.
“I was still celebrating a great win when I heard the manager had been sacked. It was hard to believe.”
Alex, now 65, re members his first St Mirren boss, Willie Cunningham, having an unusual answer for his critics.
He said: “I had just arrived from Falkirk and he was taking pelters because we’d made a bad start to the season.
“Willie, who had a great head of hair, came out of the dugout, looked at the fans and started running a comb through his hair.
“They went crazy!”