But Mallan will put his love affair with Saints to one side for 90 minutes today
Craig Ritchie
As the full- time whistle split the chill Tayside air, Stevie Mallan leant on Lewis Morgan.
They had shared so many memories in their relatively short careers, their paths intertwined in memories forged in black and white.
The pair gazed over to a magnificent St Mirren support that had supported them through thick and thin that season – and would go on to do just that the remainder of the campaign.
A 2- 0 win away to top- flight Dundee in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup was one for the bookmakers however, with Saints in the midst of a staggering rebuild which ultimately transformed them from the relegation fodder that they had been.
Little did the 1,000-strong support know that day at Dens would arguably be the start of something beautiful. The most dramatic of turnarounds.
But for Mallan – he felt like it was the beginning of the end.
Locked in talks with English Championship side Barnsley, the hotly-tipped midfielder thought the walk to the tunnel was his last in St Mirren colours.
He stopped. He stared. He clapped the fans and basically gave his final goodbyes.
The talk that day was that Mallan was gone.
The manager thought it, as did the club, and definitely the supporters.
“I thought that was me too”, he told Express Sport this week.
“As far as I knew everything was near enough sorted and that was going to be my last game for St Mirren.
“But, if anything, it was less the end and more the beginning.”
Football can be a cruel mistress. And just as he looked set to pack his bags the deal was off. Finished. Mallan was going nowhere just as dreams appeared to be coming a reality.
Little did he know at that time that the deal would still come. Barnsley came calling again in the summer – but what preceded the switch to Oakwell was six rollercoaster months that the midfielder, still only 22, believes he will never experience again.
From 10 points behind and must- win tie after must- win tie, St Mirren clawed back from their perilous position to seal safety in the most dramatic of fashions, ironically against his new side Hibs, who he returns to Paisley with this afternoon.
On a personal level, Mallan admits that everything could have worked out so differently.
He knows he could have let his head go down, after all it had been a frustrating season for him up until that point, but in hindsight the local lad admits it was perhaps the best thing that happened to him.
Taken under Jack Ross’ wing, Mallan exploded back into the form that had seen lauded as a future Scotland midfielder as seven goals in the second half of the season aided Saints’ cause no end.
He said: “The deal fell apart after Dundee. I’m not going to lie, I was gutted.
“I felt it was a huge opportunity for me at the time and to see it fall away was hard to take.
“All the talk was basically that the deal was done.
“But Jack Ross was brilliant with me. He told me to knuckle down, work hard and that the move would come.
“I will never be able to thank him enough for everything he did for me that season.
“Looking back, it is probably the best thing that ever happened to me staying at St Mirren.
“Personally, those final six months were the best six months I had at the club. They are probably the most mental that I will be a part of.
“It was a roller coaster ride but that game at Dundee was the start of the turnaround in my eyes.
“We really kicked on after that and it gave us the belief that we really could beat anyone, even though I felt I was leaving at the time.
“Staying allowed me to leave on a high – whereas if I had left in the January, I don’t know, it wouldn’t have felt right.”
News of Mallan’s deal falling through did little to halt the Greenhill Road revolving door.
As the story goes, it was a case of 10 in and 10 out for Ross’ men by the time January came around.
And Mallan believes that one signing topped the lot when it came to getting Saints back on track.
“Stephen McGinn helped me an awful lot and I still keep in touch with him”, Mallan explained.
“He was invaluable to that side and he brought a bit of experience that maybe we were lacking before.
“Personally, he took a big weight off my shoulders when we signed him in the January. I felt like I had a lot of responsibility playing in the middle of the park and I was probably taking a lot of things upon myself when maybe I didn’t need to.
“He just shared the burden more than anything. He was someone you could lean on, he had been at the club before and played at a good level down in England so he knew what it was all about.”
Today’s clash at the Simple Digital Arena will be the first that Mallan has played in his hometown since finally making the move to Barnsley at the end of the 2016/17 season.
As it transpired his stint in England was short- lived as he returned north with Hibs in the summer, where he has kicked on yet again and reignited his form with a sensational run of goal-scoring form.
He admits he loves to see St Mirren do well – after all they were the side that gave him his big break.
But, almost ruefully, he concedes all friendships and memories will have to be put to the side come 3pm.
He added: “I loved playing at St Mirren.
“It was the club where I grew up – at the end of the day I had been there since I was four-years-old.
“The club means an awful lot to me and when I left, I knew it would be a bit weird if I ever came back.
“I went to a couple of games last season, I even managed to drag my girlfriend along to a few as well.
“I am still friendly with a lot of the guys I played with at St Mirren and obviously I was delighted to see them do well last season and go on the run they did.
“But it will be weird this weekend, there is no hiding from it. Going in the other door, heading into the away dressing room, it will be a strange experience for me.
“I always want St Mirren to do well and I always will, but just not when I’m playing against them.”
The club means an awful lot to me and when I left, I knew it would be a bit weird if I ever came back Stevie Mallan