SBS

Davie McCrae

Not a strip. It was a training top

Not yet but I'm sure that day is getting closer. The nearest we have come is nine non-Scots in the starting X1 The first time was on the 7th March 2020 v Celtic Hladky, Hodson, Waters, MacPherson, McCarthy, Famewo, Morias, McGrath, Obika, Foley and Andreu THere have been another few times that we have had nine but not hit the ten or the full starting X1 yet.

July 22nd 2017 v Partick in the League Cup. Starting X1 was- Stewart, Whyte, Irvine, McGinn, Baird, MacKenzie, McShane, Kirkpatrick, Reilly, Smith and Morgan. John Sutton came on in the 64th minute. At that point we were 5-0 down! The last time I can find a full 90 minutes with only Scots is on the 23rd April 2016 v Dumbarton in the Championship. Langfield, Naismith, Irvine, Webster, Watson, Gallagher, Clarkson, Shankland, Mallan and Quinn. Morgan, Stewart and Thompson came on as subs. Jim Goodwin was on the bench but never played.

Thanks. Missed that despite reading that article when it came out!

Has he extended his contract? Was only up to this summer. Also is Cammy Breadner still at the club?

Having read a few posts about former Saints and inclusion in international squads for major tourney, I thought I'd post this. This was originally on Facebook before the last world Cup in 2018. Tells the history of Saints players at the major competitions. One thing that no-one has ever seen is a serving Saints player take part in a major international tournament. In our history we have had 28 players gain full Scotland caps, the last of which was Roy Aitken back in 1991. None of them have been included in squads for the World Cup or Euros. We have come close to having Saints represented in major tournaments. In 1957 Bobby Holmes was named in a pre-WC tour squad and was widely tipped to make the final squad for Sweden in 1958. However, a freak training ground injury ended his hopes (and ultimately his career). Ironically on the day of his injury he was not meant to be at training as he had been to Glasgow to be measured for his official Scotland suit in preparation for the tour! Jump forward to 1978 and we saw Tony Fitzpatrick and Frank McGarvey included in the initial squad for Argentina. Fitzy made the final 40 who were in the running, but he never made the final 22. In 1986 Campbell Money was included in the initial squad for Mexico. He was due to make his international debut against the Netherlands in April 1986, but an injury sustained against Dundee United a few days before the match cost him to miss out and ended his hopes of travelling to Mexico. Whilst never having a serving player involved in a World Cup, there has been at least one past or future Saint in all eight Scotland squads which have been involved in WC tournaments. Sweden 1954 and Switzerland 1958 Willie Fernie (Celtic) – (12caps 1goal) He played both matches in 1954 and one of the three matches in 1958. Willie played for Saints between November 1961 and September 1963. He played 29 matches, including the 1962 Scottish Cup final, and scored five times. West Germany 1974 Jim Stewart (Kilmarnock) – (2caps) Gordon McQueen (Leeds United) – (30caps 5goals) Peter Cormack (Liverpool) – (9caps) None of the three players made any appearances in the tournament. Stewart played for Saints between October 1984 and May 1986, making 9 appearances. McQueen played 77 matches between February 1970 and October 1972, scoring 6 times. Cormack was Saints assistant manager for a couple of months in 1986. He took charge of the team for two matches after Alex Miller left for Hibs in November 1986, before he joined Miller at Easter Road. Argentina 1978 Archie Gemmell (Nottingham Forest) – (43caps 8goals) Gordon McQueen (Manchester United) (See 1974) Ally MacLeod (Manager) Gemmell played in all 3 games, scoring twice against The Netherlands, including arguably the greatest ever Scotland goal! McQueen never played any matches MacLeod was manager between April 1977 and the final match of the 1978 tournament. He took charge of 17 matches winning 7 and drawing five. Archie Gemmell started his career at Love Street in March 1964. He made 81 appearances, scoring ten times before heading south in May 1967. Ally MacLeod played for Saints during 1955-56 scoring three times in 25 games Spain 1982 Steve Archibald (Tottenham Hotspur) – (27caps 4goals) Steve played all three games scoring once. He played 17 times for Saints and scored twice between November 1990 and May 1991. Mexico 1986 Roy Aitken (Celtic) – (57caps including one with Saints in 1991, 1goal) Frank McAvennie (West ham United) – (5caps 1goal) Steve Archibald (Barcelona) (see 1982) Alex Ferguson (Manager) Aitken played all three games McAvennie made two sub appearances Archibald played one game Alex Ferguson was manager for 10 matches between October 1985 and the end of the tournament. He won three and drew four of the games. Roy Aitken made 37 Saints appearances during 1991-92, scoring once. McAvennie had two spells at Love Street making a total of 182 appearances, scoring 63 goals between January 1980 and June 1985 and then October and December 1994 Fergie was Saint’s manager between October 1974 and May 1978, leading them to the First Division title in 1977. Italy 1990 Roy Aitken (Newcastle United) Roy captained the side in all three matches France 1998 Paul Lambert (Celtic) – (26caps) Paul played all three games. He started his career at Saints in 1985, making 261 appearances scoring 15 times before leaving in September 1993 Over the years Saints have had 45 ‘foreign’ players and four of them have appeared in a WC final tournament and one was manager during the original tournament in 1930. Robert Millar made 24 appearances for Saints between 1909 and 1911. He then emigrated to the United States and became a naturalised American, playing twice for the national team. In 1930 he was team manager of the national team as they finished third in the inaugural World Cup tournament. 1986 - Victor Munoz (Spain) (60caps 3 goals). Victor played 20 games for Saints during 1990-91, scoring twice. 2002 – Eric Djemba-Djemba (Cameroon) (34caps) Djemba-Djemba signed a short-term deal with Saints in February 2014 but things never worked out and he made just three appearances before leaving in the summer. 2006 – Chris Birchall (Trinidad and Tobago) (43caps 4goals) Birchall spent a short period on loan at Love Street from Coventry City in late 2007. He made nine appearances before returning south after sustaining a hamstring injury. 2018 - Aaron Mooy was included in the Aussie squad for the tournament. The only Saints connection to the European Championships is Victor who appeared for Spain in the 1984 and 1988 tournaments. This year we will see John McGinn in the Scotland squad. Unfortunately Kenny McLean misses out due to injury having played a major part in qualifying. Hopefully one day we will see a serving Saints at a tournament.

And while on the subject of graves, in Hawkhead Cemetery you will find this one for Andy Reid. Andy played 260 games for Saints before becoming trainer to John Cochrane during the 20s. As a management team they guided Saints to victory in Barcelona in 1922 and the Scottish Cup in 1926 before heading south to reform the partnership with Cochrane at Sunderland in 1929. At Roker Park they became the first management team to win the Scottish Cup and the FA Cup when Sunderland triumphed in 1937 having already won the First Division in 1936. Andy returned to Love Street in the 1940s and helped guide the team to the Summer Cup in 1943 before retiring at the age of 68 in 1950.

Also in Woodside. Just as you enter the cemetery and follow the road up to the left. On your left hand side their is a similar 'broken column' memorial to another Saints player, Tommy Workman. Tommy was just 24 years old when he died following complications of appendicitis in 1934. On the side of the memorial is an inscription to his three year old daughter who sadly died of scarlet fever just three weeks after her Dad,

They won a raffle to sponsor the kits in the late 90s then sold the sponsorship to either Cetco or Arriva, can't remember which year it was.

Thats actually a fair point seeing as we have played two lower league teams in the past fortnight and the incubation period has been recorded as being up to 11/12 days.