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Your Cup Final Day Story


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3.32 – Something happens !!! Between the showers and the

beating on the pitch, the sun breaks briefly through the clouds. From where I

am sitting it appears to be only shining over the St Mirren End and our fans. At that point I believed and knew that this

was our day.

The team were starting to fight back.

I swear we felt exactly the same around the half hour mark. We were scared witless for the first twenty five minutes or so and if Hearts had got a second it might have been a nightmare. One of my mates tends to be pessimistic but about the half hour mark he said to me 'Panic over. The boys have settled down.We will win'. And I was just thinking the same myself. Wee panic when they got their second.

Just a great, great day. Thank you St.Mirren.

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07:30 - Got up, showered and shaved and took the dog a long walk to clear my head. Felt calmer than I had all week but still nervous.

08:30 - Back home and made breakfast for everyone. My mate flew over from Dubai on Sat night so was great to have him there with us.

10:30 - My daughter didn't want to come to the game so she went away to her grans, and then myself, the missus, my son and my mate Dub headed out to the Ivory in time for it opening at 11am. Flags on the car were flying and got a few waves of support on the way.

11:00 - Parked up in the Ivory car park and headed in to meet the rest of the lads and their kids. Was vowing not to drink too much before the game. Sank about 8 or 9 pints though ! Had a great time and the Hearts fans were all decent to be honest. Met a fair few other buds in there and we sang a few songs to get us in the mood.

14:15 - Headed for the stadium, met the rest of my family on a mini-bus snaking down Battlefield road. My sister and her kids were there for their first ever game.

15:00 - Finish - Nearly missed the first goal because I was away getting the kids hot dogs. When Teale squared it to Izzy I was at the top of the stairs holding £12 worth of over priced football food and I thought about just lobbing it up in the air and hugging Wullie Bell who was running around in circles like a madman in front of me but I held on and celebrated in rather restrained style.

Met Frank McGarvey at the interval and had a wee chat to him, he was class !

Second half and the celebration for the second goal was amazing, still got the bruises to prove it.

Shortly afterwards a guy a couple of rows behind started shouting at me, asking why I hadn't been singing much in the first half and generally winding me up. Started shouting some shit about my Saints jacket being blue and not black. Eventually we had an exchange of words and he admitted "I don't even support this team" so I invited him to f**k off. I think he did eventually as those sitting around him were none too chuffed with his behaviour. Think he might have been a ***.

When the third goal went in I lost it completely and have to admit I shed a few tears. Couldn't believe it as it dawned on me that we might actually win it. I had a fiver on 4-1 at 50/1 and I had a tenner on Newton to score first goal all based on dreams I had during the week. Close but no cigar !

Had a bum clenching time for the last 5 mins but the final whistle brought a few more tears and a lot of hugs from anyone and everyone around me, it was magic.

18:00 We ended up in some pub on Battlefield road I think, had to sit down and calm myself down, then got up and had a good chat with some Hearts lads. Had a couple of pints then we stole someone elses taxi and headed for County Square.

19:30 County Square was pretty crap for us anyway, Couldn't see much, so abandoned that and headed to New Street. Bull and Paddy's were full, couldn't even get past the dront door. Didn't think much of Borgia, so we headed into Viennas. Think I donated twenty quid to the Vankini appeal on the way in !?

21:30 Headed out of Viennas and got a chippy, down to three of us by now. Headed to the Canal Street bar and laughed when the guy on the door said no football colours and turned us away. Headed into the Station Bar instead.

22:30 My mate was a bit jeg lagged by this point and we were absolutely blootered so headed off up the road to have a few more beers and watch the match again.

04:00 Eventually made it to bed. Tired, f**ked, but very very happy !

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What a day oot!!! Started off with some good crack with Hearts fans on the train from Airdrie (I knew they would be there) Met up with friends and family in Central, breakfast n beer in the Counting House, taxi to Beechings at Cathcart station, mair beer, the game, shouted and sang for 90 minutes plus the rest, walked to Queen's Park station, squeezed onto a train, Central to Paisley, the Argyll Bar, County Square, still singing, Carfuffal's, All Shook Up on the karaoke, The Wee Howff, La Mesa, chips fae Andy's, he'd nae fish left cos the Polis were being tight-arses on closing times, walked three miles tae ma mum's in Foxbar in the pishing rain, soaked, sober by the time I got there (how can you drink £40 worth of beer and be sober at the end of the night) had a cuppa, woke up Monday, nae hangover, but nae voice. This is two days later and I'm still hoarse. I'm 54 noo, and I didnae party that hard in '87. I must be getting stronger. (Iknow, it's an old joke)

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tried to get some sleep during the day on Sunday - didnt

downloaded expat shield and checked it was working on my computer - it was - THANKS

dozed off around 1.30am Monday morning, woke at 5 mins to kick off - 3.55am

watched the game - probably woke the kids up

went to work afterwards, somehow made it through to 5, drove home listening to the BBC podcast - in tears

got some sleep, came late to work on Tuesday

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11am - Seven of us start the drinking at my pal's flat in Shawlands. After half an hour a girl he'd pulled the night before in her Saturday night outfit from his bedroom and leaves without saying a word. We get in the mood for the final by watching the "Saints Are Back" DVD - Paul McKnight's goal at Ayr is rewound and watched again about ten times.

12.30pm - Go to Ketchup for lunch. We all make it onto their wall of fame by finishing off their massive "Colossus" burger.

2.30pm - Walk to Hampden singing "The Saints Are Coming" in made up Japanese since our pal JM1 was watching the game in Tokyo. Made an effigy of him using a Ketchup balloon and a marker pen to take to the game.

3pm - 5pm. Amazing incredible rollercoaster of emotions. After Hearts scored their 2nd I was convinced we were going to blow it until the ball went out of play and a huge roar of "COME ON YE SAINTS" went up from our fans, I'm sure it helped get the players over the line. Wild scenes at full-time - total ecstasy!

5.30pm - Taxi to Paisley with a racist Celtic fan nutter of a taxi driver.

6pm - Cafe Borgia. Place is mobbed but everyone seems a bit subdued, as if in a state of shock. Barmaids tremendous as always.

7pm - Bus parade and County Square event. Pretty disappointing as others have said elsewhere.

8pm - Queues to get into most pubs so we went straight to Viennas and got straight on the shots and cheap £10 bottles of bubbly. By about 9pm the place was rammed with Saints fans. All a bit of a blur after that but the place was a bouncing sea of black & white and there was lots of hugging, singing songs, dancing and laughing. By the time the players arrived it was mass hysteria - also about this time that my head started splitting and my stomach started churning ... should really have had some dinner!

3am - Thought I was going to pass out and die while waiting for a taxi in the freezing cold outside Gilmour St but survived and made it home.

Monday - Absolute burst baw but it was the happiest I've ever felt with such a killer hangover. Spend all day reading newspaper and online coverage of the final. Proud to be a Buddie and love this Saints team more than any other - seem

like such a decent likeable bunch and it's been fantastic to see us win a trophy playing such exciting and attractive football rather than just grinding out results Gus McPherson style. Hopefully the wait until the next trophy will be a bit shorter this time - I think it will. We're due a Scottish Cup, hopefully 2014 will be the year we win it again!

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An hour or so after the semi victory, my cousin sent me a text congratulating us on the win.

Now, Ian is a bit of a football mongrel it is fair to say, but he's been to a Saints match with me before, so I texted him back and asked him if he fancied coming to the final and he was well up for it.

I say Ian is a football 'mongrel' because he has a somewhat varied and unusual set of allegiances. This is due ot the fact that his late Dad - my uncle - played for a few teams in the 1940s, and Ian has, over the years, developed an affinity with a few of these clubs....most notably Raith Rovers, and - yes, you guessed it....Hearts (there is also a Celtic connection, though my uncle cannot be held to account for that).

Despite the Hearts link, Ian was clear that he had no mixed loyalty in advance of the game. He told me he regarded Danny Lennon as a legend on account of his Raith Rovers exploits. For this reason, and his Renfrewshire upbringing, he was always happy to support the Buddies.

Anyway, we met in Central Station and en route to the boozer in Mount Florida, I told him about a PM correspondence with a Raith supporter over on Pie&Bovril. I'd been posting on a thread in support of their Chairman, Turnbull Hutton's position in respect of the sevco fiasco, and had mentioned that my uncle played for Rovers. The guy PMd me and took my uncle's name. He got back to me a bit later and let me know that, while he'd only played 3 matches for Raith back in 1941, he'd scored in one of them, a match against their derby rivals, Dunfermline - hence 'instant hero' status. I was sure I'd shared this info with Ian, but when I referred to it on Sunday, he insisted I hadn't, and became quite emotional as he hadn't known about this bit of his Dad's history. I think this fired us both up for the match to come.

Throughout the match, Ian cheered on the Buddies along with the rest of us. He even tried to locate me after I'd missed the equalised having went for a pish (whistling.gif ). Ian loved every minute of the day, and I'm so glad I shared it with him.

It seems to me that this wee - albiet edited - account of my match-day experience confirms just how a day like Sunday could bring people closer. All the crap about gloryhunters should be blown out the water. I'm sure there are hundreds of similar stories of people bringing family members and friends along who might not normally go to games (or even have a very strong affinity with Saints) but who enjoyed the experience because of what it was - a day of high spirits, positive energy, and togetherness, with bile, bad-feeling, and bigotry all but absent. I think this atmosphere was in no small part down to our club, and us....the supporters. Yes, we can be whinging, hand-wringing buggers at times, but I think we deserve a bit of credit, too. I'm proud of each and every person who turned out to cheer the team on on Sunday. If they don't come back anytime soon, so be it, but without Ian and several thousand others like him, Sunday wouldn't have been the same.

Edited by Drew
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Good Afternoon All

its taken me til this point in my week to find the time to grab a break from work and watching endles re-runs of the goals to sit down at the pc and share my memories and experiences with you.

I attended the cup final on Sunday with my Dad and son, Also present was my Girlfriend Louise and 2 work mates Gaz ( evertonian) and Downsey(scouser).

My dad and i stood together in 1987 and sat bleaky together at the final that now never needs to be mentioned in 2010.

I have taken my son Robert to around 6 Saints games - (he is 9) and they have all been at GHR. Robert is a bit of a lucky omen as he hasn't actually seen us get beat.Til this season his fav player was Nigel Hasselbank as Nigel had kindly signed his programme before one match v Aberdeen i think when he came on as sub and scored the winner?

This season he got his programme signed by Dougie Imrie and Graham Carey. He goes to school in liverpool and is the only kid in his class who has heard of st mirren - he has Thompson in his fifa 13 dream team!

Louise has been to a number of Saints games with me - notable ones are Inverness away in 2006 New Years day and Bells Cup Final where Div gave her a ticket for free pre match in the Horseshoe Bar. Lou is kind enough to tolerate my Saints obsession anytime the buddies are on the tv.

Downsey and Gaz have heard me banging on about the Saints for years - they routinely try to kick me as i wear my Saints top at weekly 5's

Downsey and Gaz attended their first Saints game this season in the season opener 2-2 draw with Inverness they loved our wee ground and got quiet excited about plane spotting!

My cup final weekend started at 6pm Friday night. I picked Robert up from his mum and got back to our's to meet up with Downsey and Lou to have a few friday night beverages. At 9pm Gaz arrived - more beer followed - Bed by 1am and up at 7-30am to get taxi to the station at 8-45am for the 9-14 train Warrington Bank Quay to Glasgow.

Feeling very rough on the train we cracked open our first can about 11am as we crossed the border into Scotland.

On arrival into the city we jumped the local train up to Hillfoot were we were met by my dad. The 3 lads took an hour to shift some gravel and grab a bacon butty and cuppa.

Robert stayed with his grandparents and me , Lou , Downsey and Gaz headed back into the city to check into our Hotel. Once checked in it was time to begin the cup final swally in earnest. Drinks were consumed in a variety of city centre locations before retiring for the night around 1am

Up and ready to rock and roll by 10am i had proper genuine nervous excitement tingly tum!

A breakfast in the Kings Cafe in charing cross followed by a taxi ride down to Waxy Oconnors was the order of the day

At 10-58am we were knocking on the door and were the first patrons over the door!

After a few guiness we popped over to Horseshoe bar and mingled with loads of Saints and Hearts fan.

I met my dad at 1-30 and we got the first available train up to Mt Florida. Regretably i never got to go to the Clockface to meet a few of the buddies of this site but we arrived at Hampden around 2-15

3-5PM - possibly the best , most nerve racking 2 hours of my adult life!

On fulltime - my dad , Robert and me embraced in a huge hug - i was nearly starting to greet. I look up and my dad was gone!.It cost me £150 for tkts for everyone but it was worth every penny for that moment which i will forever treasure!

As we were booked on the 6-30pm train from Glasgow back to Warrington - we excited the stadium moments after we lifted the cup. We got a bus backinto the town and settled down on the train with moments to spare ( thank god there was no extra time!)

Me Downsy and Gaz demolished 20 cans of stella on the return journey - In our carrage there was a small contingent of Hearts fans who were considerate in defeat and complimentary of our team. On arrival back in Warrington we excited the train at 9-15pm and Robert was collected by his mum - Robert looked magnificant in his Saints top , scarf and pint of Guiness hat!

We poped over to the Patten arms for 2 pints last orders and arrived back in my house about 11.

I took this to be the occassion to open my Buddie Blend whisky i got for my 40th!

I am sad i didnt get to go to Paisley on the Sunday evening - my dad went and said it was brilliant - but this really was one of the most memorable weekends of my life

#proudtobeabuddie

Edited by Liverpool Bud
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  • 11 months later...

My and Abby's day is well documented throughout various threads so i willnae bore you all again.

Just want to say, i'm so happy ,after banging on for years about cup wins and open top buses, that the dream has finally came true again.

It was a privelage for me and wee yin being there yesterday and being part of the magnificent black and white army.

Thanks to the Club and all of you.

I'm still as thrilled now as i was then as i start to fill up again.

A dream most certainly did come true that day.

Legends the lot of them including the Black and White Army . The 17000 there, all those at home who couldnae make it and the dear departed who were there in magic spirit like my Dad who passed away in 2008.

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For some reason I didn't write anything about the day on here at the time so here goes. My mum and dad came along with me, my mum had never seen us win, so that was a bit of a risk. Dad drove us to Crewe and we got on the train, there was a lot of support for both teams on that train when it arrived in Glasgow, we got to the ground pretty early, it was our first visit to Hampden, as the teams kicked off I shivered as the massive saints support chanted COME ON YOU SAINTS!!!, I grabbed some guy in front when ISMA scored, and I ran down the steps at the final whistle, as I have always wanted to do since I saw the footage of 87, the year that I was born. At the bottom I saw the same guy I had grabbed earlier and grabbed him again, we walked back to central station and I was knackered at work the next day, but who cares I had seen MY team win at the national stadium.

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I think a lot of folk must have missed this last year!

what i can remember -

6am - like tigger on skittles!

6-9 - saints music, ballons blown up, flags an banners put up inside and ootside house.

9am - first beer to calm the nerves (didnt work)

10am - boys started arriving - beer, brekkie and champers with some of my North End family

whenever - Dad drove us down to bus

2.40 - stepped in hampden - tears

team came out - tears

hearts scored - tears (ye can see a pattern here cant ye?)

and on and on

final whistle - everybuddy in tears

back to paisley - champers in langs, round to see the team then beers and sing song in langs.

magic just magic

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Walking down to Hampden with my eldest daughter Emma. Stopped to buy a programme and a Sants chequered flag. Remember walking up the stairs and onto the concourse and seeing the pitch. Holding Emmas hand made me feel so proud that she was with me for this fantastic day. I saw people I recognised from matches years ago, I didnt know them but we acknowledged eachother with a nod and a smile

It took me back to when my late Dad, John, took me to see St Mirren 30 years before. I was wearing his wedding ring at the final and gave it a kiss for luck and said a few words.

The rest is history and everytime I watch the goals and final whistle celebrations my eyes start to fill up with pride.

This is why my Dad, Emma and I are St Mirren fans.

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Am - Pre match build

up with family and friends. Much talk of 87 & 2010. Nerves are getting the

better of me. Travel to the ground is done in silence, there is lots of noise

around me but I am not there.

My normal prematch butterflies don’t exist I just feel waves

of nausea .

2.59 – My heart is pounding so hard and loud I am sure it to

the beat of “O when the saints”

3.10 – Hearts Score my head in in my hands, but I still

#Believe that we can overturn this

3.25– Hearts are ripping us apart, we are getting none of

the breaks. I fear the worst

3.32 – Something happens !!! Between the showers and the

beating on the pitch, the sun breaks briefly through the clouds. From where I

am sitting it appears to be only shining over the St Mirren End and our fans. At that point I believed and knew that this

was our day.

The team were starting to fight back.

3.37 – Thompson flicks to Teale, Teale runs in to the box

and I just want him to shoot, I am willing him to shoot, I am shouting SHOOT !

SHOOT!. He passes ???? NO NO!!!!! Across

the box on the run of Gongalves. Bang ! Goal !. We are about to make history.

5.01 – Thompson steps up and lives out my and every other St

Mirren fans boyhood dream and scores in to the top corner of the goal in the

final of a national cup final at Hampden. The only bit that is missing is that

is in the first minute not the last minute. I want the game to end there and then.

I no longer believe, I know that we are going to win the

cup.

4:50 – We are the champions I am hugging grown men and women

that I have never me in my life.

PM – Back to Paisley to see the streets lined with people,

County Square is packed with boys, girls women and men of all ages all wearing

black and white.

For one moment I looked around and we were One Town, One

Team.

Sunday will live with me for the rest of my life !

This post strikes such a chord with me and in fact I posted about it last year. I went to the match with two very close friends. One of them was my mate Brian. I met him on my first day at Camphill in 1959 and we've been friends since. 1959 was a good year. We've been at countless Saints matches since then. Brian is a staunch St.Mirren fan but he gets pessimistic about them quite easily. To be fair, our team does give us a lot to be pessimistic about and we've had more than our fair share for about sixty years now. On the great day last year like all of us I suppose, we got a bit depressed when Hearts scored and we know we could easily have lost another two goals. But around the half hour mark or so, Saints started to get good possession and were playing the ball about well. I turned to Brian and told him we were going to win and he replied right away,'I know'. This is a guy that always assumed the worst. I nearly fell off my seat. But I just knew we would win. I still don't know what happened that made us feel that way. A sign from above?

I suppose the rest is history. We scored three great goals. Have we ever scored three better goals in one match? Connor Newton's particularly sticks in my mind. A brilliantly worked goal and so decisive. Got a wee bit nervy when they got their second but no panic.

Back in Paisley, I've never seen so many grown men hugging their friends when they met up in pubs or out in the streets when we were waiting on the boys with the cup. I'm sure we didn't hug like that in 59 and I doubt if we did in 87. Three great days in the sun- 1959, 1987, and 2013. (OK, I know it pissed down all day in 59 and we were drookit in Coonty Square at night, but it felt like a day in the sun)

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Woke up at 6.30 am in my apartment in Port of Spain and had a Carib (Trinidadian beer) Did a bit of work then had another Carib. 9am tried to find a link to watch the game without much success. Fellow Buddie (John Rae) turned up at 9.30 and still no link. With less than 30 minutes to kick off there was a bit of panic setting in. I eventually signed up to 365.com (What a rip off that was) and proceeded to watch the game on a screen the size of a box of Swan Vesta.

1-0 down and looking like we were going to get turned over. Vacated the hoose at halftime to find a bar that we could hopefully watch the game. Went to "All Out" at the Oval Cricket ground and they were only showing EPL games. Left there and walked to Trotters bar by which time we were 3-1 up. Caught the remainder of the game in there and celebrated long into the night.

Head like a Zeppelin and throat like a Junkies carpet this morning............................well worth it though.

Just found this thread for the first time, so hadn't seen your post before. Aye, it was a weird day, running around town asking if anybody was showing the game. Only got to watch the end of it coz the guy in Trotters streamed it onto a big screen. I reckon most of the locals assumed St Mirren was some relation of St Patrick. Did we care?

Looking back, I can't even remember where we ended up.

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Taken a year but here goes.

Getting ready and my 6 year old son gives me a picture he has drawn of a St. Mirren player. He says it is for luck. Put it in my pocket.

My wife takes me and her brother into Paisley about 10 am for breakfast.

After some food it into Malarkeys for the first pint of the day. Get the train at 11.30 to central. Taxi to the pub on the hill to meet my brother, my nephew and my brothers brother in law and his son. The place was mobbed with Jambo,s but was good natured.

Make our way to the ground about 2 to soak up the atmosphere. Find our seats and get ready for the roller coaster we all new it would be.

We all know what happened next. The wee mans drawing was good luck. Still have it in my final programme.

Come out of ground and start to look for brothers bro in laws car to take us to Paisley. Car no where to be seen. We find out the coppers had towed it. Shit. After finding a cop turns out the moved it a street away, fannies.

Get back to Paisley for a good drink and celebrate. A bit different from 1987 cos no drinking in streets. Pubs are a nightmare. Eventually get to viennas. Decide to call it a day at 10pm. Taxi back to Erskine for a Chinese and watch the game on sport scene

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Just found this thread for the first time, so hadn't seen your post before. Aye, it was a weird day, running around town asking if anybody was showing the game. Only got to watch the end of it coz the guy in Trotters streamed it onto a big screen. I reckon most of the locals assumed St Mirren was some relation of St Patrick. Did we care?

Looking back, I can't even remember where we ended up.

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Just found this thread for the first time, so hadn't seen your post before. Aye, it was a weird day, running around town asking if anybody was showing the game. Only got to watch the end of it coz the guy in Trotters streamed it onto a big screen. I reckon most of the locals assumed St Mirren was some relation of St Patrick. Did we care?

Looking back, I can't even remember where we ended up.[/quot

Smokey & Bunties John. If I remember correctly you went home and drank a bottle of whisky LOL

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