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EXCLUSIVE: Stuart Beedie looks back at the last Muirton Park title ahead of St Johnstone 1982-83 winners’ reunion

St Johnstone's 1982-83 title winners.
St Johnstone's 1982-83 title winners.

There surely can’t be a more evocative St Johnstone team photograph than the Alex Rennie arrow.

At the point of it is the charismatic manager, with his famous matching light grey suit and slip-on shoes.

Showing off the First Division trophy, Rennie has two moustachioed old pros behind either shoulder – George Fleming with an imposing assurance even a mundane pre-season photocall can’t diminish and Joe Pelosi with a throwback winger’s glint in the eye.

Back left you’ve got Drew Rutherford – classic Umbro blue shirt with white pin stripes resting outside his shorts as all Saints fans over 45 remember him.

In the middle there are two goalkeepers thinking ‘this isn’t how it’s usually done’.

And half-way down on the right stands a young midfielder who would go on to enjoy the most successful career of the 21 men stood on the lush, uncut Perth grass.

The less said about the Premier Division campaign they were all about to embark upon, the better.

But even a season of near unrelenting football toil can’t tarnish the memories of the one that preceded it.

Rennie’s St Johnstone team of 1982-83 were, and forever will be, the last Muirton Park title-winners.

And that young midfielder between Jim Morton and Joe Reid has travelled from Australia to be in their company again.

“Big Mike McDonald (the team’s goalkeeper) and Judy Brannigan, Andy’s wife, have done lot of the organising,” said Stuart Beedie.

Former St Johnstone goalkeeper Mike McDonald has helped organise the reunion.
Former St Johnstone goalkeeper Mike McDonald has helped organise the reunion.

“I was due to come over for a reunion in 2020 but Covid happened.

“We’d been hoping it would coincide with a game at McDiarmid but unfortunately Saints are away this weekend.

“The club have gone out of their way to accommodate us, which has been nice, and we’ll be meeting at McDiarmid and taking it from there.”

McCoist money well spent

Beedie’s Saints story started the year before he became a championship winner.

There was a bit of foresight on the part of the Saints board.

It was a matter of when and how much as far as an Ally McCoist transfer windfall was concerned.

“Knowing that there were so many clubs looking at Ally, Saints were safe to spend some of the money,” said Beedie, who was bought from Montrose for £20,000.

“I only played with Ally in pre-season and a couple of games in the League Cup – Hibs at Easter Road.

“He set me up for my first goal actually.

“I had a good record of scoring on my debut for nearly every club I played for. I think East Fife was the only time when I didn’t, near the end of my career.”

You don’t hold team reunions 40 years later – or fly half-way across the world for it – if the bond between a group of players isn’t of the once in a career type.

“We gelled like all good teams do,” said Beedie of the ’83 champions. “When you get something special it just falls into place.

“Boys were travelling to Perth from all parts of the country.

“I came down from Aberdeen, there were a few from Dundee and the Glasgow area as well.

“They let us on the main pitch to train a fair bit.

“When we were on the old blaes car park next to Muirton it wasn’t great for the knees but it was the sort of thing that was great for team spirit.

“For us, it was the old adage about a good balance of youth and experience.

“George Fleming was coming towards the end of his career and was a very big influence on me. I probably learned more about football from George and Alex Rennie than I did at any other club I went on to play for.

“A few players probably had one of the best spells in their career. I think John Brogan was the top goalscorer in the country (with 37 goals to his name) and Jimmy Morton hit double figures from midfield, which is rare in any league.

“Alex was a shrewd coach, who would make good changes here and there when he needed to.

“Even when we struggled in the Premier the following season he was great.

“Things could have fallen apart but we were always pretty well organised and there was never any hint of in-fighting or anything like that.

“We were a part-time team in a full-time league.

“I’ve got some great memories from my career but that title is right up there at the top. It was the first major trophy I’d won.

“It turned out I got into a habit of winning that First Division – I went on to do it with Dundee and Dunfermline after Saints.”

Title decider against Hearts

Picking out individual games from four decades ago is no easy task but Beedie recalls the one that defined the season – beating title rivals Hearts 2-1 at Muirton as the finishing line loomed large.

That Hearts – with the likes of John Robertson, Dave Bowman and Gary Mackay breaking into their team and Alex MacDonald and Sandy Jardine at the other end of their careers – had a late equaliser chalked off when the referee blew for full-time just before a MacDonald shot crossed the line added to a ‘name is on the trophy’ vibe.

In the penultimate match, Brannigan secured promotion with an equaliser at Alloa and then, fittingly, Brogan scored the winner in a final day victory at Muirton over Dunfermline to take the title.

St Johnstone fans celebrate the title win in front of manager Alex Rennie.
St Johnstone fans celebrate the title win in front of manager Alex Rennie.

“There aren’t many games that far back I can remember but the win against Hearts stands out,” said Beedie, who lives just south of Sydney and is still involved in football as the coach of Port Kembla in the Illawarra Premier League.

“They were a full-time team with some good players.

“I’m still friends with George Cowie, who was at Hearts for a few seasons. We ended up at Dunfermline together.

“He lives on the Sunshine Coast in Australia and we’ve caught up a number of times.

“I always bring up that game.

“It was an amazing achievement for us to go on and finish ahead of Hearts to win the league.

“Promotion was the aim but the title made it even more special.

“I’m sure Andy will be saying at the weekend that his goal at Alloa was at least 25 yards out.

“I’m not calling it a scissor kick but it was definitely an overhead kick of some description!”

LONG READ: McDiarmid Park’s greatest game — The 30th anniversary of St Johnstone 3 Airdrie 1

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