St Mirren Assembling Dangerous Squad for Premiership Challenge
St Johnstone manager Simo Valakari believes St Mirren are quietly assembling one of the most dangerous stories of the early season – and not enough people have noticed.
Craig McLeish’s side opened their Premiership campaign with a sharp, controlled 2-0 win over last season’s surprise package Falkirk, backing up a ruthless League Cup group stage in which they took three wins from four and rattled in 12 goals on their way to the next round. For a team that only just clung to their top-flight status through the play-offs a few months ago, it is a striking change of tone.
Valakari has been watching closely.
“I’ve been very impressed,” he said, the respect obvious.
Last season, St Mirren staggered over the line. This one, they look like a team that used that trauma as fuel. “They had a very difficult last season. They survived through the play-offs. They have been able to work on their game. I can see what they try to do.”
The rebuild has been subtle rather than spectacular. St Mirren have added what Valakari calls “good footballers”, but he sees something more important than fresh faces or new ideas. The core of what the club has long been about remains intact.
“They brought in good footballers but they still have this, how would you call it, the old DNA of St Mirren, that they are very, very tough. They really want to bully you,” he said.
Premiership nous, aggression, and an appetite for the fight – all still there, just wrapped in a more confident, attacking framework.
That blend, Valakari argues, is exactly why they are so dangerous. The narrative has drifted elsewhere. St Mirren, he feels, are operating in the shadows.
“They have Premiership experience there, but the biggest thing is, no one expected anything from them and that’s why they’re going a little bit under the radar.”
Not to him. While others have looked at the usual contenders, Valakari has been tracking McLeish’s work from the summer onwards, noting the patterns and the intent.
“I have been watching them all the time. I’ve seen what they’re doing in the pre-season games, there’s a clear identity what they want to do and good example was the first [league] game.”
That trip to Falkirk underlined it. The surface, the stadium, the sense of a home side riding last season’s momentum – it is not a place many visiting managers relish. St Mirren made it look routine.
“They went to Falkirk, not an easy place to go, the surface, the stadium, no away matches in this league are easy,” Valakari said. “They went there and they played a very solid game. They were able to, in the right moments, hold the ball, in the right moments they were very vertical with dangerous running behind.”
Control when they needed it. Penetration when the gaps appeared. A team that knows exactly what it wants to be.
For Valakari, who has just hauled St Johnstone straight back into the Premiership at the first attempt after relegation, this is the kind of opponent that tests both your organisation and your nerve. St Mirren, buoyed by that opening win and their cup form, now come home with the sense that something is building.
“That’s what I expected from them and they see this opportunity now as, ‘we won the first match, now we play home’ so they are building up the momentum there,” he said.
A newly promoted side trying to plant its flag back in the top flight. A hardened, overlooked St Mirren team quietly gathering pace and confidence.
Valakari knows exactly what his players are walking into: “That’s why I said it’s a tough challenge for us, but it’s an exciting challenge for us.”
Under the radar or not, St Mirren will not stay unnoticed for long if they keep playing like this.
