CELTIC MUST BEWARE A TALE OF THE UNEXPECTED
ALIFETIME loving the eccentricities and surviving the peculiarities of St Mirren Football Club leave Tony Fitzpatrick with no option but to believe in the improbable this afternoon. No matter how ridiculous it sounds, how fanciful the feeling is, the chief executive of the bottom club in the Championship can arrive at the outcome of defeat for a Celtic team on the brink of a near perfect domestic season.
‘Who knows, (Moussa) Dembele might have had a bad curry or doesn’t feel like it,’ he grinned. ‘Celtic have got to get beat at some time, by the law of averages. It’s a big pressure game for Celtic because this treble is really burning them.’
His wish that Celtic’s £30million striker was up all last night dealing with the effects of a dodgy bhuna is entirely laughable but Fitzpatrick informs that he has proud history with gut feelings during a 45-year association with St Mirren.
If the optimism turns out to be misplaced, then fair enough. What about in 2009, though, when Gus MacPherson’s Saints knocked Celtic out of the Scottish Cup seven days after suffering a 7-0 thumping? That didn’t so much throw the form book out the window as catapult it into outer space.
Fitzpatrick explained: ‘This is life at St Mirren. Every supporter will tell you, it is a journey here. When you are least expecting it, it happens for us. We’ve done it since 1877. I’m not shouting “we are going to beat Celtic on Sunday”. I’m just saying you never know.’
Fitzpatrick was the last St Mirren manager to win at Celtic Park. That shock arrived in April 1990 with a team, inspired by a young Paul Lambert, that had been bedevilled by injury all season while struggling to hobble clear of the top-flight drop zone.
So perhaps that memory helps to explain the buoyancy, rather than apprehension, during the build-up to facing a far stronger Celtic side.
‘Nobody gave us a chance that day but it was 3-0 going on 6-0,’ he recalled. ‘I have fantastic memories of that. I told the players that day just to be brave. Footballers have all got massive egos and want to show their class but they have to be brave and take the ball. Enjoy the occasion and don’t be intimidated.
‘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.
‘What a gift we could give our supporters on the back of a horrendous season if we could get a result against Celtic.’
The horrors of this season are beginning to clear, however, as St Mirren sniff a great escape from the relegation slot to League One that has looked for most of the season to be theirs.
The Paisley club beat leaders Hibernian on Wednesday, four days after dragging themselves three points closer to Ayr United with victory at Somerset Park. Saints acted swiftly, six games into the Championship season, to sack Alex Rae. The response under Ross has been a slow burner but their form is beginning to catch fire thanks, in part, to reaching the Irn-Bru Cup Final and knocking Dundee out of the Scottish Cup.
‘It’s been a hard year,’ said Fitzpatrick. ‘We had targeted fourth place. I thought Alex Rae was a really good manager but we took a brave decision in changing and were very fortunate to land Jack Ross and James Fowler. They’ve bought into the club ethos of how football should be played.
‘We’ve got new players in, we’ve reached a cup final and now we have the Celtic game and I think this will help us. It’s created a great atmosphere around the place.’
The turning point arrived after Ross rowed with supporters behind his dugout following a 3-0 loss to Queen of the South in early January.
‘Jack said we had to change things and it’s like a brand new team,’ said Fitzpatrick. ‘We have now got pace and energy and will cause teams problems. A massive signing for us has been our new skipper Stephen McGinn. His attitude about the place is infectious.’
So, too, must be Fitzpatrick’s presence. He has grafted on the pitch during his days on the groundstaff as an apprentice, through his playing career, on to two managerial stints, community coaching work and now as chief executive.
As an ambassador around the town, the club’s Scottish Cup triumph in 1987 over Dundee United and his surprise substitute appearance is always the subject of questioning and the source of stories.
‘Even the young kids, when you go round the schools, have got grandfathers and grannies who’ve told them about it,’ said the 61-year-old. ‘It’s 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.
‘It was a bit similar to now as we were near relegation but the Cup gave us the impetus to do well. No disrespect to the 1987 team, but it wasn’t a great St Mirren team. Sides before had McAvennie, McDougall, Weir, McGarvey. But it was ours that won that Cup.
‘I had major injuries throughout the run and had given up on playing. I was club captain and Alex Smith kept me in training. Then I got the wires out of my jaw and he saw me in training and said: “Why don’t you get involved?” I hadn’t expected to be anywhere near it. I was blessed. It was a Godsend to me. Just to get off the bench was incredible.’
Tony Fitzpatrick was speaking at a William Hill media event. William Hill is the proud sponsor of the Scottish Cup.