St Mirren to toast champions . . . and departing heroes

ST MIRREN will afford Rangers a champions’ guard of honour tomorrow – and then pay another tribute to two of their departing heroes come full-time. The Paisley club will applaud the newly-crowed Championship winners on to the pitch ahead of their final game of the league campaign, with manager Alex Rae believing it is the “sporting” thing to do. Rangers supporters will fill three quarters of the Paisley 2021 stadium after St Mirren elected to cash in and hand over extra tickets to fans keen to see the last match of their team’s journey through the lower leagues. But Rae hopes the small pocket of Buddies fans in attendance will get to see their team round off a largely disappointing campaign on a high.

He said: “I think the guard of honour is the right thing to do. Livingston did it through the week, and Alloa before them. If memory serves me, St Mirren got it after winning promotion in 2006 and after they won the cup in 2013, so people have done it in the past for this club. It’s a sporting thing to do. If people have done it for us in the past then it’s only right for us to do it for others.

“We’ve got one game to go and we’ve got nothing to lose. I think the atmosphere will be great on the day and it’s about trying to get a result. I don’t Livingston beating Rangers the other day helped us as Rangers will be looking for a result before the cup final. But I don’t think our players need any motivation as they’re playing the

champions. They just have to try to get a positive result.”

St Mirren supporters will pay thanks to Steven Thompson and Jim Goodwin after the game, with the two remaining League Cup winners from 2013 moving on in the summer. Rae praised their attitude and application.

He added: “The pair of them have been tremendous since I came to the club. They’re very understanding when I spoke to them, although Thommo had already made his decision before I spoke to him. Goody has been a model professional. Even in training he’s what you would expect.”

Thompson will move into a media career, having lived the dream of signing for his boyhood heroes at the end of his career and scoring the goals that helped them win the cup.

Rae added: “He’ll go down in St Mirren folklore. He wanted to come back and spend the twilight of his career at this club but to then do what he has done – scoring in the cup final – has been amazing. He’s had a really good career when you look at it: Dundee United, Rangers, a couple of decent clubs down south, plus Scotland caps. It’s a difficult time emotionally when you’re thinking “this is it” but it’s then about making the next transition whether it’s into the media, or coaching or leaving the game altogether.”

Rae took over in December with the team in real danger of suffering a second successive relegation.

He said: “The initial remit was to ensure survival and we’ve done that. It’s clear for everyone to see there’s been progression from the point of view that we managed to get a 45 per cent win rate and most importantly for everyone at the club the home form has changed a little bit. I think before we came they hadn’t won at home for 10 months so if you want to achieve anything you have to do well at home. After getting the first win it’s been more enjoyably playing at home after getting that monkey off our backs.”