Season 1979-80
1979-80 will always be remembered as one of the best in the clubs history. The close season had seen much transfer activity with McGarvey and Fitzpatrick departing for Liverpool and Bristol City respectively and Frank McDougal (Clydebank), Doug Somner (Partick Thistle) and John Dempster (Queen of the South) arriving.
The campaign started poorly with just one point from the first four games and by mid October they were down in eighth place. To make matters worse they had been dumped out of the league cup by Hamilton Academicals after having won the away leg 3-1! They lost 2-0 at Love Street against ten men and then lost out on penalties. The league performances improved and between 20th October and 12th of March they lost just once (0-2 at Pittodrie) in a sixteen game run. This was in no small way helped by the form of Doug Somner who netted fourteen times during the period.
Saints found themselves in second place in the table at this point and many people believing that they had what it took to win the title. However a poor sequence which saw two draws and two defeats in six games ended the title aspirations. They finished the season with a splendid 4-1 win over Rangers at Love Street to secure third place, equalling their previous highest finish. That match against Rangers saw Doug Somner scoring a hat-trick to claim a place in the record books as the top scorer in the league with 25 goals.
The season is also memorable for a great run in the Anglo Scottish Cup. They had disposed of Hibernian (4-3) over two legs at the beginning of the season, before defeating Bolton Wanderers (5-4) and then Sheffield United (4-0) to set up another encounter with Bristol City in the final. The appearance of Tony Fitzpatrick in a City strip added to the occasion
This time it was Saints who emerged as winners. They won 2-0 at Ashton Gate in the first leg with Billy Stark netting both goals.
In a gala night at Love Street on the 16th April goals from Doug Somner x2 and Alan Logan gave them a 3-1 win for a 5-1 aggregate.
St. Mirren remains the only Scottish club to ever have won this tournament. A record they are rightly proud of. To cap a fine season they also won the Renfrewshire Cup with a 10-1 aggregate score over rivals Morton. This set the whole club up for what may be regarded as the greatest decade in their history.
