The Scottish Football League’s Brian Jamieson will put 65 years of supporting St. Mirren aside to carry out his many duties at Sunday’s Scottish Communities League Cup Final. These duties include leading the winning captain to the foot of the Hampden stairs for the presentation ceremony and whilst he has never seen the Saints lift the trophy, he was there in October, 1959, although as a serving member of the RAF and not a SFL employee, when Hearts collected the famous three handled trophy.
It was a last minute decision to go to the game when Hearts took on Third Lanark although the decision was made several hours before kick-off as Jamieson was stationed in the north-east of Scotland at the time.
Jamieson said: “I actually went to the Hearts and Third Lanark League Cup Final back in 1959 by motorbike all the way from Peterhead. I suppose you could say I was a Hearts fan for the day as my friend that drove me down was a Tynecastle man.
“The two of us were stationed up north with the RAF and on the Saturday morning of the game, he just said let's go to Glasgow for the League Cup Final. So we did with me holding on to him all the way down and without a helmet I may add!”
He added: “I had never been on a motorbike before let alone one for four and a half hours and remember, there were no motorways then so it was some journey. I was only 18 at the time and such was the joy of being youthful.
“We got there and it was all worthwhile as Hearts won 2-1 with Alex Young scoring the winner. Third’s took the lead really early through Joe McInnes and Young scored the winner not long after Johnny Hamilton levelled.”
It was straight back up the road afterwards with Jamieson saying: “It was a case of back on the bike and holding on until we got back to Peterhead. It was a bit of a trip but it was worth it for my pal who had seen his side lift the trophy.”
Jamieson’s sixty five years as a Buddie has meant that he has seen the Paisley side in five National Cup Finals, four as a fan and one as a neutral.
It has been a long love affair with Jamieson saying: “I would go to Love Street from a family house right next to the Caledonian Street End and I reckon my first game as a fan was against Falkirk in 1948. I would get lifted over the turnstiles to watch St. Mirren.”
Jamieson first Cup Final trip to Mount Florida was to watch St. Mirren in their first ever Scottish League Cup Final back in October, 1955.
Similar to their second visit in 2010 when they played Rangers, the Saints were facing the League Champions of the time, with Aberdeen providing the opposition and the Paisley fans travelled more in hope that anticipation.
Jamieson explained: “We played Aberdeen in the League the week before and they had beaten us easily 3-0 at Love Street. We were not in that game and we were definitely the underdogs at Hampden. Aberdeen had won the League and they had a terrific forward line with Graham Leggatt, Paddy Buckley, Jackie Hather and Harry Yorston. I went to Hampden fearing the worst and hoping for the best and it was a disappointing day but not for the reasons I thought it would be.”
Aberdeen won 2-1 in front of more than 44,000 fans but it was an unjust win with Jamieson saying: “St. Mirren were terrific and Aberdeen won it with two fluke goals. Aberdeen opened the scoring shortly after half-time when a fierce cross from Jackie Hather hit our defender Jimmy Mallan and rebounded into the net for an own goal.
“We got back into things with a goal from Bobby Holmes before Aberdeen won it with another fortunate goal. Graham Leggat floated in a cross and whilst he would claim it was a shot, it was a cross.”
“St. Mirren played for most of the game with only ten men as Davie Laird got injured and there were no substitutes in those days. Despite this, they were without doubt, the better team. “
Four years later, Jamieson was back at Hampden to see his St. Mirren side gain revenge as Aberdeen were sent home empty handed in the Scottish Cup Final on the back of a 3-1 defeat.
He said: “Tommy Bryceland, Ally Miller and Gerry Baker had us three up in front of a crowd given as just over 108,000 before Hugh Baird pulled a goal back. It was great to see them finally win a Cup at Hampden.”
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t. Mirren had the chance to lift the Scottish Cup again in 1962 when they faced Rangers however, the Ibrox men won 2-0 with Ralph Brand and Davie Wilson netting. Jamieson said: “It was a great Rangers team at that time that had the benefit of consistency of selection. I could still name their team as they played the same eleven every week which is very different to teams nowadays.
“Reserve players hardly ever got a game and they just didn’t seem to get the injuries players seem to get now. I was not overly confident about that game as Rangers were strong and although we played well, we lost to the better team on the day.”
A quarter of a century later, St. Mirren made the 1987 Scottish Cup Final and Jamieson had a fantastic view of a young Ian Ferguson scoring the game’s only goal in extra-time.
He explained: “That was a game that we should not have won as Dundee United, who were in the UEFA Cup Final that season, were the better side. I was behind the goal that Ian Ferguson scored into and it was a great day and ended a 28 year wait for a Cup win.”
St. Mirren had a second chance at lifting the League Cup in a Final, at that time backed by the Co-operative Insurance, three years ago when they faced Rangers. They went into the game as second favourites however, their chances improved in the second half as firstly Kevin Thomson and then Danny Wilson were sent off to leave the Ibrox men with just nine players. Despite their handicap, Rangers won the trophy with a header from Kenny Miller six minutes from time.
Jamieson missed the goal, not through covering his eyes, but for other more practical reasons as he explained: “I knew the end of the game was coming and I opted for a comfort break as I was sure the game was heading for extra-time. Rangers had just gone down to nine men when Danny Wilson was sent off with 19 minutes to go and the game was taking a while to readjust.
“I could not see a goal coming during the 90 minutes so I nipped to one of the toilets just beside the tunnel at Hampden as I knew that I had work to do come the end of extra-time and possibly even a penalty shoot-out.”
It was a case of silence not being golden as Jamieson explained: “You cannot hear a thing in the toilets down there and I came back out unaware that Kenny Miller had scored. I noticed the Rangers fans were celebrating and really excitable but it wasn’t until I looked up at the scoreboard that I realised what had happened.
“Moving from underdog to favourites had unsettled St. Mirren and Rangers broke up the park and got a winner. I had to do my job and led David Weir up for the trophy keeping my thoughts of what might have been to myself.”
Jamieson joked: “I had said to one of the photographers that if St. Mirren won, I wanted a picture of myself leading John Potter up to lift the trophy but it never happened. Such is life.
Thankfully, he never offered me one with David Weir - I don’t know what I would have said if he did!
“This weekend will be Cup Final number six as a St. Mirren fan and that is not counting Challenge Cup Finals. I missed one of them, the 3-0 defeat from Falkirk, so that was not too bad a one to miss. Hopefully, this will be sixth time lucky and our first time lucky in the League Cup or indeed The Scottish Communities League Cup Final.”
Jamieson added: “I have not seen St Mirren as much as I would have liked this season as it has been a very busy season in the SFL but I saw them in the Semi-Final against Celtic and they won that one well. I am looking forward to the Cup Final.”
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