With McDiarmid Park fast approaching a sell-out for the visit of Galatasaray on Thursday night, Eric Nicolson looks back on five matches not involving Rangers or Celtic that have either been a full-house for St Johnstone or very close to it.
1 St Johnstone 2-1 Partick Thistle
28/10/1989 – attendance 10,169
Nearly 20,000 fans in McDiarmid Park within the space of less than a fortnight – and not an Old Firm supporter among them?
No wonder the 1989/90 season, the first in Saints’ purpose-built new stadium, is cocooned by the warmest of glows.
You would expect a crowd of 9,788 for the visit of Manchester United for the official opening on October 17.
But 10,169 for a top-of-of-the table, all-ticket old First Division clash against Partick Thistle 11 days later?
That was seriously impressive stuff.
Allan Moore and Steve Maskrey scored the Saints goals in a pretty one-sided contest between two sides with unbeaten records from their opening 12 league fixtures.
Thistle, for whom panto baddie Chic Charnley (no shinpads, socks at his ankles) scored a late consolation penalty, fell off a cliff a few weeks after this defeat and ended up finishing eighth, 20 points behind Saints in a two-points-for-a win era.
For Alex Totten’s men, the BBC cameras would be back at McDiarmid a few months later to capture an even more memorable occasion.
Speaking of which……..
2 St Johnstone 3-1 Airdrie
31/03/1990 – attendance 10,170
Partick at McDiarmid in the autumn was good but Airdrie in the spring sun was next level.
Saints fans filled three stands for the game that effectively secured them promotion.
The kick in the guts of going behind after dominating, the Mark Treanor penalty, the Roddy Grant header and the Kenny Ward clincher will never be forgotten by all who had a ticket.
It was the defining afternoon of a glorious chapter in St Johnstone’s history.
3 St Johnstone 1-0 Dundee United
13/04/1996 – attendance 9,993
Games against Celtic and Rangers regularly filled McDiarmid but in the early 90s Saints were also able to get close to capacity for matches like Dunfermline at home on January 2, 1991 when the crowd was 9,533.
As the Totten era started fraying at the edges and John McClelland made things far worse, fans started to drift away.
The peak years would never return in terms of attendances – for Saints or Scottish football in general – but once Paul Sturrock sorted the football bit out, Perth supporters were back in love with their team again.
And a clash with Dundee United, as arguably the most competitive First Division title race of them all neared its conclusion, was a stand-out fixture of that time in terms of big-game feel and crowd.
The less said about the tartan kit, the better, mind you.
The official figure was just seven short of 10,000 – a few less when some United fans were escorted out of the East Stand by Tayside Police after fights broke out.
A Steven Pressley own goal from a Leigh Jenkinson corner just before half-time proved to be the winner.
With just three games left, United were on 63 points, Dunfermline 62, Saints 61 and Morton 60 – all having played the same number of fixtures.
Losing at Greenock the following weekend ended Saints’ promotion hopes that season – they were the form side of the four over the last couple of months but had timed their run just too late.
This was a team on the rise, though, and they cruised to the title the following year.
4 St Johnstone 1-0 Dundee
23/05/1999 – attendance 10,575
This is probably the one that comes closest to Airdrie in the greatest McDiarmid games stakes.
Qualification for Europe for the first time in 28 years was on the line and a win on the last afternoon of the season was required to get the job done (and finish third in the table).
The fact it was against Saints’ biggest rivals, Dundee, who had a good team of their own back then (they placed fifth) added to the ecstasy/agony jeopardy.
It made legends of Alan Main for a save from James Grady and Paul Kane for his headed winner.
With locked-out supporters watching a section of the match from the grass verge behind the McDiarmid car park, the attendance remains Saints’ highest to this day.
5 St Johnstone 1-1 Rosenborg
23/07/2013 – attendance 7,850
This result and crowd serve as the benchmark for European nights at McDiarmid.
Monaco were a bigger name and had higher profile players than Rosenborg but the 3-3 draw back in 1999 was only a consolation after Saints had been well beaten in the first leg.
On this occasion, the 1-1 under newly-appointed manager Tommy Wright was enough to knock a club with Champions League pedigree out of the Europa League.
Stevie May scored the goal – his first of 27 in 2013/14 – and Saints would end the season lifting the Scottish Cup.
A new European McDiarmid attendance record will be set on Thursday and the big question left is – can Callum Davidson’s side make it the best ever continental competition result and maybe even the best ever game the stadium has seen?
