Running over all six weeks of the school holidays, the Camps are designed for boys and girls of all abilities and ages and we aim to provide the highest quality football coaching with the emphasis on fun and safety.

We have also added our popular Advanced Player Development Camps, a training camp at the first team training base at Ralston and a Girls Only Week.

As well as the outfield player camps we will also be running Goalkeeper Only Camps in the afternoons.

St Mirren manager Danny Lennon – who is a big fan of the camps – said, “St Mirren Soccer Schools are a great way for young kids to enjoy playing football, improve their skills and interact with other players.

“Many of the drills and skills that are coached on the camps are very similar to what is delivered in the Club’s development programme.

“The Soccer School’s emphasis is fun. If young players enjoy what they are learning, it will establish a great base to a lifetime of long term football participation…..Enjoy your football!”

Danny said, “We have been advised through the players’ agent that the contracts offered to Jeroen Tesselaar and Nigel Hasselbaink have been turned down.

“The contracts offered were significantly improved terms from their contracts for season 2011-2012, however, the players and their agent believe they are worth even more. They have both been terrific players to work with this past year and we are disappointed to say goodbye to them now.

“However, our Club is looking to build on our successes from this past season, whilst living within its financial means. We are looking to assemble a squad that is capable of taking the Club forward again and we must ensure that squad is assembled before pre-season training commences in order to get the maximum benefit.

“We wish both players every success for the future and will watch their careers with great interest.”

We have also seen the quality of our play recognised with Paul McGowan winning SPL Player of the Month for December and Kenny McLean winning SPL Young Player of the month in October, whilst being short listed for SPL Young Player of the Year. Craig Samson was called into the Scotland squad, Kenny McLean played the Scotland Under-21′s against Italy and both Jason Naismith and Thomas Reilly played for the Scotland Under-18′s against Serbia.

These are markers along the road on what has been an exciting journey of progress for this wonderful Club. This journey has just begun. We have plans in place to take us to continue the progression and hope to enjoy further success in the seasons to come. Year on year progress, whilst living within our financial means and developing fresh young talent, is what our Club must aim for and what we are working hard to deliver. Watch this space.

I would like to thank you, the fans, for your backing this season. We have been thrilled to receive numerous letters and e-mails regarding how pleased you are with the style in which the team is playing and how entertained you have been. I am the first to admit that there is still a lot of work to be done and there is a lot of room for improvement, but by everyone working together, giving their best, we can continue to improve and enjoy further levels of success. You have been the 12th man for us on a match day and we need great support more than ever for us to continue our progression.

I know many of you are facing tough challenges in your household finances and what I am about to put to you is a big ask. The fans are the lifeblood of this Club. You have invested so much time, money and emotion into supporting this Club over the years. I think of you every week when I am training and picking a team to put on the pitch, to wear the Saints jersey and represent your Club well. I would urge you to help your Club improve by buying a season ticket in the weeks ahead.

I believe we are potentially at the dawn of a new era for St Mirren and Scottish football. I would ask you to be united with us in our efforts to make this Club shine in this time of uncertainty. We want you to be a big part of this. All we ask is that you commit to buying a season ticket and enjoy seeing what your team does in the season ahead.

Thank you once again for your valued support.

Regards,

Danny Lennon

JD are very pleased to announce this event as part of the new 2012-2013 home kit launch, which launched last Friday. The signing will take place on Saturday 19th May from 11:00am to 1:00pm where the players and manager will be available to sign autographs and pose for pictures.

Darren McGregor, who features in the promotional artwork for the new kit, is a central defender who has followed manager Danny Lennon from former club Cowdenbeath. He has played 51 games for the Buddies scoring 4 goals in the process and as recently as February was rewarded with a new 2 year contract to see him at the Club till the summer of 2014.

For the season just ended, Paul McGowan has been voted St Mirren’s Player of the Year and the Club’s official Website Player ofthe Year where he polled 76% of all votes cast by the fans.  Paul has now racked up 84 appearances for the Club and scored 14 goals over these games.

Both players will be joined by first team manager Danny Lennon in a fantastic opportunity for all fans to meet their heroes. Speaking to Danny about the event he said: “The relationship we have with JD Sports is fantastic and we are really pleased with the quality of the new home kit produced by Diadora. The fans have been fantastic this season and it’s great to be able to put on events like this and hope to see them out in force on Saturday”.

JD’s area manager,  Chris McGuinnity, said “We are delighted to have two players of Darren and Paul’s calibre and of course Danny Lennon to attend this fantastic opportunity for fans to meet the manager and their favourite players.

“The relationship with St Mirren has been a fantastic success and we are very proud of the Club’s progress on and off the pitch and we hope fans will take this opportunity to meet the guys.”

Today is the 25th anniversary of the 1987 Scottish Cup final between St Mirren and Dundee United.  The Buddies bowled over Inverness Caledonian, Morton, Raith Rovers and Heart of Midlothian to face United who were also in the final of the UEFA Cup.

It had been a pretty much ‘nothing special’ kind of season before St Mirren kicked their first ball in anger in the 3rd Round tie against Inverness Caley on January 31st.  Saints were sitting mid-table without causing too many problems to the teams above them and were well away not to be caught up by the teams below them.

The two biggest news stories of the first half of the season were Billy Abercromby’s three red cards in a league match against Motherwell that earned him a 12 match suspension that led to him being shown the door by manager Alex Miller and Miller’s departure just before Christmas to take over the managerial reins at Hibernian.

Miller was quickly replaced by Alex Smith who brought Abercromby back into the fold – a decision that by the end of the season proved to have destiny written all over it.

A 3-0 win at Love Street against Caley – thanks to goals from Kenny McDowall, Frank McGarvey and Ian Ferguson – steered Saints towards the 4th round draw that would pair them with local rivals Morton.

A trip down the Clyde to Greenock was required on February 21st to face Morton.  Paul Chalmers fired Saints into the lead early-on but the home side equalised through Rowan Alexander just before half-time.  Morton then took the lead midway through the second half when John McNeil scored from the penalty-spot but within sixty seconds Saints were back level again as Ian Ferguson also converted from the penalty-spot.  With his second goal of the day, Chalmers clinched the tie with 5 minutes of the match remaining.

Saints were on the road again for the quarter-final as they headed to the Kingdom of Fife to face Second Division leaders Raith Rovers.  The kick-off for the tie at Starks Park on March 14th was delayed 15 minutes to allow the huge travelling support time to get into the stadium, and the wait was worth it as big Peter ‘Basil’ Godfrey headed Saints into the lead after only 17 minutes.  But it got to finger nail biting time as Saints were having problems killing the tie off but Chalmers eventually settled all nerves down with an 89th minute goal to seal a trip to Hampden for the semi-final.

On April 11th, Heart of Midlothian stood between St Mirren and the Buddies first Scottish Cup final appearance in 28 years. 15,000 fans of a St Mirren persuasion turned up to back their side for the Hampden semi-final which turned out to be a cracker.  Ian Ferguson gave Saints the lead but with 15 minutes remaining Gary MacKay pulled the Edinburgh side level again.  It was no doubt in the minds of St Mirren fans that in the early 1980′s they watched their side lose four national semi-finals and a feeling of deja vu was coming over them but Frank McGarvey put paid to these thoughts as he knocked in the winner from close range.

So, 25 years ago today Campbell Money, Tommy Wilson, Neil Cooper, David Winnie, Derek Hamilton, Paul Lambert, Brian Hamilton, Frank McGarvey, Kenny McDowall, Ian Ferguson and – yes – Billy Abercromby lined up for St Mirren’s first Scottish Cup final since 1962.  And as games go it wasn’t the best but on the 110th minute when Ian Ferguson blasted the ball into the back of the net at the Mount Florida end of the stadium the fans of 110 year old St Mirren erupted and celebrated the goal that would win the cup.

Five months after looking like he was out of the door at St Mirren Park, Billy Abercromby became the first St Mirren captain to hold the Scottish Cup aloft since David Lapsley in 1959.

In goal for Saints that day was Campbell Money who still holds the 1987 Scottish Cup win as one of his most cherished career memories.

He said, “It was a fantastic day for everyone connected with the Club. We were definitely the underdogs that day with the fact that Dundee United had a very good side at that time, they were in the UEFA Cup final that year and they were an excellent side.

“Whilst nowadays it’s quite rare for clubs out with the Old Firm to win the cup we had come close on a number of occasions at the start of the 80′s but that day I think a number of the boys knew it would be the one and only chance we would get and we had to make the most of our chance and we did.”

The tournament – which will take place between May 22nd and May 27th – will also include sides from ADO Den Haag, Club Brugge, Manchester City, Borussia Monchengladbach, Cruzeiro, National team of Mexico and the National team of Kazakhstan.

The young Scots will face Manchester City, ADO Den Haag and Cruzeiro in their group matches which will be played in the Netherlands.

It has also been confirmed that Kieran Doran will be part of a Scotland Pro-Youth squad that will take part in an International Youth Football Tournament.

The tournament – The Besov Cup – will take place in Saint-Petersburg, Russia between June 3rd and June 11th.

The Scots will face FC Lokomotiv (June 6th), FC Krasnodar (June 7th) and FC Zenit (June 9th) in their group matches.

All at the Club would like to congratulate Jason and Kieran on their latest call-ups.

Aberdeen: Langfield, Reynolds, Considine, Anderson, Arnason (Osbourne 75), Jack, Rae, Masson (Fraser 81), Vernon, Mackie, Magennis (McArdle 71).
Subs Not Used: Mawene, Clark, Megginson, Brown (GK).

St Mirren: Samson, van Zanten, McGregor, McAusland, Tesselaar, Goodwin, McLean, Imrie (Teale 62), Carey (Hasselbaink 62), Thompson, McGowan.
Subs Not Used: Barron, Naismith, Kelly, Reilly, McHugh (GK).

Referee: William Collum.

Assistant Referee: Gary Sweeney.
Assistant Referee: Graeme Leslie.
4th Official: Gary Hilland.

Attendance: 10,716

Video highlights courtesy of BBC Scotland.

The Holiday Inn in Glasgow will host the event which will be a football programme collectors delight as they can scour through what is on offer as they look for that all important missing edition from their collection.

The fair will run from 10:00am to 2:00pm in the Holiday Inn at 165 West Nile Street in Glasgow.

Entry to the event is free.

Monday – £50 prize – B3954

Tuesday – £50 prize – A5213

Wednesday – £50 prize – A2134

Thursday – £50 prize – B5769

Friday – £500 Jackpot – B6309 – No winner – £750 Jackpot rollover next week

For details on how to enter the ‘Saints Five Star Super Lotto’ please click here.

As end of season games go, this was very much an end of season game.

Coming into the game we knew all the permutations for Kilmarnock, St Mirren and Aberdeen to sort out 7th, 8th and 9th places but by the time referee Willie Collum blew the final whistle at Pittodrie all sides were sitting in the spot that they held before 3:00pm.  While Danny Lennon will almost certainly be pleased with his side’s 8th place finish it will be debatable if he will be happy with what he watched this afternoon. 

For long spells Aberdeen were well on top but Craig Brown’s side were pretty much shot shy and when they did hit the target they found Saints keeper Craig Samson on top form.  That being said, despite being out of the game for long periods Saints had chances at the end of both halfs to pinch the points.

Danny Lennon made one change to his line-up from the side that started in the loss against Inverness Caley Thistle last Saturday, Graham Carey starting ahead of the dropped Nigel Hasselbaink who took a place on the substitutes’ bench.  The departures of Graeme Smith, Hugh Murray and Steven Thomson saw youngsters Adam McHugh and Sean Kelly on the bench as well as the returning from injury David Barron who was on the squad list for the first time since March 23rd.

Aberdeen should have taken the lead on the 4th minute when departing Don Darren Mackie got on the end of a through ball from Andrew Considine to go one-on-one with Craig Samson but the wee striker’s shot was pushed around the post by the Saints keeper.

The home side had gained the upper hand and came close to opening the scoring on the 16 minute mark.  Jamie Masson played in a corner-kick which Russell Anderson got to first to head-flick towards the back post but David van Zanten was on hand to clear the ball from the line.

Four minutes later St Mirren made their first strike at goal when a Steven Thomspon pass found Graham Carey who fired his speculative shot from 30 yards out wide of the target.

After being under the cosh for the first 20 minutes or so St Mirren were now finding a foothold in the game and on the 23rd minute came close to taking the lead.  Some nice link up play in midfield saw the ball find its way to Dougie Imrie who played an inch perfect pass for Thompson who beat the offside trap but the Saints’ striker could only look on in frustration as his well struck shot was pushed away to safety by Dons’ keeper Jamie Langfield.

Mackie had another gilt-edged opportunity to give the home side the lead on the half hour mark.  A long throw-in into the penalty-area from Josh Magennis caught out a static Saints defence and the ball broke to the Dons’ striker but Mackie fired his effort from 12 yards out wide of the post.  Sixty seconds later a curling shot from Masson was cleared by Samson who had to scramble across goal to get to the ball.

Half-Time: Aberdeen 0-0 St Mirren

Aberdeen came out with a real sense of urgency for the start of the second half and came close to breaking the deadlock on the 50th minute but Gavin Rae’s volley from the edge of the penalty-area went narrowly over the top of Samson’s crossbar.

As action goes that was very much it until the game hit the final ten minutes.  Both sides threw on substitutes as they tried to find the right formula and for Aberdeen it was youngster Ryan Fraser who on the 83rd minute had barely been on sixty seconds when his cross drifted towards goal but Craig Samson showed excellent reactions to push the ball away to saftey.

Two minutes later St Mirren sub Gary Teale sprung Steven Thompson free and while the striker didn’t make the connection he would have liked with the ball it almost caught Jamie Langfield out but the Aberdeen keeper recovered well to force a save for a corner-kick.

From that point both the game and season 2011-2012 petered out.

Full-Time: Aberdeen 0-0 St Mirren

Aberdeen: Langfield, Reynolds, Considine, Anderson, Arnason (Osbourne 75), Jack, Rae, Masson (Fraser 81), Vernon, Mackie, Magennis (McArdle 71).
Subs Not Used: Mawene, Clark, Megginson, Brown (GK).

St Mirren: Samson, van Zanten, McGregor, McAusland, Tesselaar, Goodwin, McLean, Imrie (Teale 62), Carey (Hasselbaink 62), Thompson, McGowan.
Subs Not Used: Barron, Naismith, Kelly, Reilly, McHugh (GK).

Referee: William Collum.

Assistant Referee: Gary Sweeney.
Assistant Referee: Graeme Leslie.
4th Official: Gary Hilland.

Attendance: 10,716

Star Saint: Not a day of great St Mirren performances if the truth be told.  Captain Jim Goodwin was a rock in defence but the award goes to Craig Samson for some great saves that helped him record his 16th shut-out of the season.

Match pictures by Allan Picken – © Allan Picken Photography.