Paisley Charity Cup Season Openers

(first published in the match programme for St. Mirren v Ross County 13^th August 2022)

There was a break in tradition on 1^st August 1959 when the Paisley Charity Cup, normally contested at the end of the season, was installed as a season opener. This was quite an innovative move in the days when pre-season friendlies were a rarity and when clubs were launched straight into competitive action in either the League or League Cup. St. Mirren, newly-crowned Scottish Cup holders took on Manchester City, who had narrowly avoided relegation from the English First Division in the previous season.

The programme for the match was the standard 1950s St. Mirren issue, but was increased from eight to twelve pages. The "Club Notes" were joined by a more comprehensive "From the Manager's Desk" piece by Willie Reid. In recognition of the part played by the fans in the success of the previous season, he thought that more direct contact between the Club management and the fans would keep them better informed on what he was trying to achieve. He hoped that they would reciprocate by giving the team their wholehearted support and encouragement. There was also a welcome to the side from Manchester along with their manager Leslie McDowall, who had been a highly-respected centre half at Love Street some twenty years earlier.

A page of pen pictures introduced the visiting players, whilst the first subject of the new Personality Page series was Jackie Neilson, celebrating his ten years at Love Street. Another innovation of the new programme was a Lucky Programme number, displayed on the front page. The prize for the winner would be the match ball, which could be collected from the Pavilion after the game.

The team line-ups in the centre pages correctly listed the Saints team, ten of which had lifted the Scottish Cup three months earlier, The only absentee was Tommy Gemmell, who was replaced by Davie Laird. The visitors' starting XI was unclear at the time of printing and so was listed as a selection pool of players.

Although this issue does appear on dealer's lists from time to time, it can be a tricky one to find.

The crowd of 16,000 included a sizeable travelling support who had chartered a special train and two planes to attend the match. Saints triumphed 3-0 against their English opponents with a first-half goal from Tommy Bryceland and two more after the break from Jim Rodger.

The success of the venture prompted the Club to retain the fixture as a season opener. Manchester City returned in 1960 and gained revenge with a 4-3 win, Denis Law bagging two of the goals for the visitors. In successive years Leicester City, Norwich City (twice) and Chelsea journeyed to Love Street to contest the Cup, but the enthusiasm for the fixture did not extend to the programme team, who failed to produce any issues for these matches.

It was all change in 1965 for the visit of Northampton Town, who had just been promoted to the English First Division. Not only was a programme issued but, for the first time in twelve years and 200 issues, there was a major overhaul to the familiar format.

The issue consisted of eight smaller-sized pages, although four more pages were added for the remainder of the season. Glossy paper was used for the first time and more statistical information was included. On the down side, the price doubled to 6d and there was the return of the annoying habit of omitting the match date from any part of the issue.

The front cover featured action from a match between St. Mirren and Motherwell and, on the inside, there were pen pictures of the players from both sides. Doug Millward's Manager's notes welcomed the visitors and gave details of the improvements to the programme and match-day facilities.

Supporter's Notes and the recently set up Gleniffer Pool were publicised. Each side fielded only one change from the advertised line-ups on the centre pages, whilst the back page displayed the fixture list for the season. A crowd of 6,000 saw the visitors take the Cup with two second-half goals.

Ipswich Town were the next contestants at the start of season 1966/67 for a Friday evening fixture, but no programme was issued to mark the 3-3 draw between the sides. However, the match did leave a mark as an image of a Frank Treacy header featured on every programme cover for the next two seasons.

The Paisley Charity Cup was last contested on 7^th August 1967 when Saints drew 1-1 with Preston North End, captained by former Paisley favourite Archie Gemmill. A standard programme was issued for this match.