Season 1945-46

With the war coming to an end, 45-46 began with a sense of general optimism in the country, but for St. Mirren, it was business as usual!

Director Bobby Rankin, who had served Saints well as a player in the 1920s, took over as manager and had to contend with thirteen of his players being abroad with the forces even though the war was now over. In light of this, team selection remained inconsistent, and this was reflected in the performances with big wins and big defeats being recorded against the same teams. Aberdeen inflicted a 6-1 defeat at Pittodrie, but Saints won the return 4-1. Against Queen of the South, it was the same story with a 5-1 defeat and a 4-1 win at Love Street.

The Queens match at Love Street is more notable as seeing the very first match programme being produced by St. Mirren.

At the end of the season, they remained in fourteenth place. The only consistency was the scoring of Alex Linwood who topped the charts for the seventh season to equal Davie McCrae’s record.

There was no Summer Cup this year, but there was a Victory Cup to be played for. However, Saints could not reproduce their victory of 1919 and lost in the second round to Raith Rovers.