Season 1969-70

After the highs of the previous two seasons 1969-70 was a depressing one for Saints. The team failed to find any real consistency throughout the season and good wins like a 4-0 defeat of Clyde in which Jim Young scored three on his top team debut, were followed by a run of losses.

To try and improve his team’s fortune, Alex Wright paid £4,000 to Dunfermline for Ian Lister and his debut saw a 2-0 win over Aberdeen and in the next match he was the hero with a multitude of accurate passing which set up a 2-1 victory over Ayr United. Hugh Gilshan got in on the good performances with the only goal in the next match against Partick thistle but this was followed by four straight defeats. From this point Saints went into a nose dive and managed just three more victories in the remaining 21 matches to finish in 15th place.

Many believe that it was the signing of goalkeeper Billy McGann from East Fife that saved them from relegation as the performances of previous custodians Thorburn and Connaghan were inconsistent to say the least.

The only other thing of note from the season was the debut performances of a young Iain Munro from Drumchapel Amateurs.