Jim Clunie: Last News

Mikael Mandron insists it’s “humbling” to have delighted St Mirren fans dreaming of equalling their best ever top flight finish this season.

St Mirren Hall of Famer Doug Somner managed in 1979, with the prolific forward bagging an incredible 35 goals in his first season in the stripes.McGarvey had been the Buddies top goalscorer for three seasons, scintillating form that persuaded Liverpool’s legendary boss Bob Paisley to bring the striker to Anfield.Undoubtedly huge boots to fill, but Somner wasted little time in helping his new club quickly forget about what they’d lost - becoming just the second Saints player to finish as top scorer in the Scottish top flight.The former Partick Thistle man revealed his goalscoring exploits at Firhill prepared him mentally for the pressure which was to come his way after St Mirren manager Jim Clunie splashed £100,000 on his signature.Speaking

St Mirren’s most successful domestic period ever, a run that started in the 1978/79 season when Jim Clunie’s side stormed into the top six in the Premier Division for the first time in decades. A man who was at the heart of the midfield for almost all of that sensational sequence was Billy Stark, a pivotal cog in the Buddies machine that went on to qualify for European football for the first time in 1980.