SMiSA Timeline

Here is a breakdown of some of our activities since our inception. Our efforts are not solely about money though, bringing fellow Saints fans together at events is most rewarding.

99-002002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

 

 

1999-2000
 

Thoughts of forming a Supporters Association germinate. Fans assist in ‘Making a Stand’.

 

2002

 

  • January –- Deterioration on the park and players are leaving due to the burden of salaries.
  • March –- Mandate given from St. Mirren fans to form SMiSA.
  • April –- Saints Aid – The original event. £5,500 was raised and donated to assist with the wage bill.
  • July - The real work begins. We slowly start to build the Association.
  • October -– 125th Birthday Party. SMiSA throw a party for Saints fans and raise £1070.

 

2003

 

  • March –- Stars in the Stripes, a supporters’ karaoke competition raises £700. Being able to sing was not essential but we demand that participants wear a Saints shirt. It’s important to be properly dressed!
  • April - Q+A Night – First of many held… John Coughlin takes questions from supporters and gets off lightly! These are not fundraiser events as such but we collect £166.
  • April –- Saints Aid 2 – Sees us adopt the fans v fans format. £3456 raised and donated to Youth Development which would exclusively benefit from this event until the last one (SA 8) in 2011.
  • July - On the Board – Ok not of the club but we proudly take an advertising board at Love Street, sponsor the ball boys and take shirt sponsorship.
  • August -– SMiSA Race Night raised £678.
  • October -– SMiSA become a Supporters Trust and officially become the 1877 Society Ltd.
  • December - 1877 Share purchase – Our first Share purchase in the Club sees us purchase 1877 shares with £9345 hitting the clubs bank account in return. We envisaged this would be a regular exercise in the seasons to come but things did not turn out that way.

 

2004

 

  • April –- SMiSA have long been supporters of our fantastic Travel Clubs. We hold a fundraiser in support of the clubs raising £570.
  • May –- Saints Aid 3. SA events were now an annual fixture, great fun and we net £4667 for YD.
  • July - Towelgate – We had some spare funds left over to donate to the club and Gus told us he needed towels for the team. We thought he was joking – he wasn’t. We believed this would highlight how desperate things were at St. Mirren.
  • July - Pre Season Trip – The club could not afford for the team to go away to a pre-season camp. SMiSA funded this by donating £2000.
  • December -– Keano – SMiSA purchased a further 2000 shares in the club bringing our total holding to 3877. This allows the purchase of Stewart Kean from Ayr United.

 

2005

 

  • May - Saints Aid 4 - £6128 was raised at number 4.
  • May - SMiSA Player of the Year – We have held these events in a number of venues in the town and they have always been well attended. Former winners of the award include Kevin McGowne, Mark Reilly, Gary Mason, Kirk Broadfoot, Shug Murray, Stephen McGinn and the current holder is our star striker Steven Thompson.
  • Summer - Love Street No More – The titanic struggle the club faced convincing the Local Authority over Love Street to secure the future of the club heavily involved SMiSA. We are listed in the report from the famous meeting held in the Council chambers.

2006

 

  • April - Saints Aid 5 – This was our most successful Saints Aid, £7021 raised.

 

2007

 

  • March –- Hugh Murray Testimonial Supporters Quiz Night – A town centre venue was packed for a special night for a special player.
  • April –- ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ … SMiSA donates football training bibs to local schools.
  • May - Saints Aid 6 - £5732 raised at the 6th SA event.
  • May - SMiSA recognition awards – From time to time we like to offer an award to the stars behind the scenes at the club or to mark a milestone in a player’s career. These are given at the Player of the Year events. This has ranged from an award to Groundsman Tommy Docherty for his service to the club to a special award to Shuggie Murray on becoming the record holder for appearances at St. Mirren.

2008
 
  • March - Show Racism the Red Card Poster Competition open to all P5, 6+7’s in all of Renfrewshire’s Primary Schools. The response was overwhelming but given the kids had made so much of an effort every single poster was displayed in the Paisley Museum. The winners and their families were treated to a day out at Love Street.
  • May - Saints Aid 7 – This was the last SA at dear old Love Street and we raised £5863.

 

2009

  • June - Memorabilia Exhibition – We asked St. Mirren supporters if they had any unusual or special items of memorabilia to donate into an exhibition at the Paisley Museum. The event was a treasure trove of special St. Mirren items and a sight to behold. This was the best attended event in the museum in recent years.
  • December - We had wanted the last game ever on the Love Street Pitch to be a floodlit Saints Aid event but sadly this never happened.

 

2010

  • March -– Was the planned launch date for Future Saints Development. So many of our contributions have been for YD but FSD never really got moving the way we envisaged and as we were gearing up to revisit this we became sidetracked by the arrival of the Community Interest Company proposal.
  • July –- SMiSA'’s accrued funds for a share purchase in the club hits £50,000. This has been raised entirely through members’ subscription.
  • August –- We encounter 10000 Hours for the first time. The proposal is an interesting one and we decide to see if this could be a vehicle for genuine supporters’ representation at the club.
  • December - Christmas On-line Auction – We raise £1010 which we topped up to donate £3676 for Youth Development.

 

2011

 

  • March –- Following many meetings attempting to assist in getting the 10000 Hours proposal down on paper SMiSA review the first of the presentations. The headlines are fine and we were told the detail would follow.
  • April –- SMiSA acquire a mandate to support 10000 Hours in principle and to establish options for the conditional contribution of £50,000 to the CIC.
  • May - Saints Aid 8 – After a break from these we were asked by fans if we could do a SA at our new home, we raise £3000 at this event. We feel this initiative may just have run its course.
  • Summer -– Witness a series of public meetings re 10000 hours with the funding about to be secured which would take the form of a loan
  • November -– The CIC has failed but has decided the way ahead is to borrow the cash required and the supporter’s contribution jumps from £36k per annum to £125k. SMiSA request detailed information on the proposal but only receive a copy of the constitution of Clyde FC.
 
2012
 
  • March –- Communication from 10000 Hours is poor. No detail for three months. Our members are restless regarding detailed information on the CIC proposal. We are left with no choice other than to seek direction from them regarding possible withdrawal of support for 10000 Hours.
  • May –- The club’s most successful season in decades concludes – but what does the future hold?
  • July - The club hold public meetings which make clear that in spite of recent on-pitch success St Mirren may face financial hardship as a result of the demise of Rangers Football Club, and the commercial consequences of their Newco organisation being put into SFL Division 3 rather than the club's preference of SFL Division 1. SMiSA launch 'Support Our Saints' to assist the club, and 10000 Hours launch 'Nero Blanco' to do the same.
  • August - SMiSA release a statement on the poor availability of St Mirren merchandise as despite at the time sitting at the top of the Premier League, the range of items available in the stadium's shop resembles that of a small junior club, with many fans left exasperated by the lack of availability or choice.  Provan Sports subsequently step back in to run high quality items alongside the JD Sports deal for club strips.
  • November - The Dome.  SMiSA assist in funding St Mirren's new indoor facility with our members approving a proposal to loan the club £50,000 from the accrued share purchase fund towards its construction.  The money is to be paid over a 3 year period starting March next year just after a rather significant date....
 
2013
 
  • March –- St Mirren win the Scottish League Cup for the first time in their history on the 17th.  Youth Academy graduates John McGinn & Marc McAusland start among the victorious team, with Kenny McLean also in the squad whose development SMiSA's youth academy contributions will have assisted over the years.
  • April - League Reconstruction. The St Mirren board take a well-publicised stance against the SPL's proposals to move to a 12-12-18 league setup, in line with the thoughts of SMiSA and the vast majority of supporters of St Mirren and other clubs in the Scottish game.  The proposals are eventually defeated and playoffs added between the first & second tiers along with prize money redistribution in what is a victory for common sense.
  • May - For the first time in several years SMiSA hold a Player of the Year event, this time at the University of the West of Scotland Union in Paisley.  The trust present their player of the year award to Steven Thompson, and make a special award to Jim Goodwin as League Cup Winning Captain.
  • November - Following the abandonment of a home game against Ross County, where St Mirren were well on top due to referee Willie Collum decreeing that the pitch was unplayable, SMiSA make a contribution to the club by buying 500 emergency ponchos to help those fans at the front of the stands that aren't able to retreat to higher ground and get out of the rain in future.
  • December - With many St Mirren fans left angry or exasperated by the lack of club strips at JD Sports, SMiSA take on the issue and highlight it to the club in an attempt to get the matter sorted, feeling it is a real wasted opportunity to capitalise further on the year's earlier success in March.
 
2014
 
  • February –- SMiSA's latest in their series of ongoing contributions to St Mirren Youth Development sees £2000 handed over, allowing the club to buy new footballs for use at the Ralston Academy & Training Base.
  • March - SMiSA secure new coaching software for the St Mirren Youth Academy, to assist in giving coaches more and better training time with the youngsters, helping in their development towards first team football.