If St Mirren and Aberdeen are inextricably bound by one man, then one piece of silverware has done its best to maintain that symbiotic relationship.
The Scottish Cup was around long before Sir Alex Ferguson sat in the manager’s office at Love Street or Pittodrie and it is still around long after he left both for greater things at Old Trafford. Such was his influence, that Ferguson built not one, but two teams who almost monopolised the competition.
One took all the glory, while the other was left with just plaudits. Ferguson’s Aberdeen lifted the Scottish Cup four times in five seasons during the early 1980s, while St Mirren only collected frustration. Billy Stark felt every one of the near-misses until Ferguson brought the midfield player to Pittodrie in the summer of 1983 and then he too tapped into the red vein of success.
Stark has two Scottish Cup medals from his time at Aberdeen, along with a League Cup and two league championship awards, and scored in the 1986 final in the 3-0 win over Heart of Midlothian. That was the last piece of silverware of the Ferguson reign before Manchester United came calling.
Today’s quarter-final tie between the sides will evoke memories for older St Mirren fans of the 1959 Scottish Cup final, when they defeated Aberdeen 3-1 for one of only two triumphs in their history, even if Love Street has now joined Ferguson as a thing of the past.
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“When I joined St Mirren in 1975, the pictures of the 1959 cup-winning team were everywhere at the club,” Stark says. “Fans could rhyme off the team, just as the younger ones could of the side that won in 1987.
“Fergie was starting his own story there. He put me in the team when I was 18 and a couple of seasons later, we were promoted into the Premier League. Then he was sacked in 1978 and Aberdeen appointed him — and the rest is history.
“He actually tried to buy me soon after but St Mirren would not sell. I had eight years with Saints and we were a really good team, but one that missed out narrowly on every prize going. Aberdeen, of course, did not. Fergie turned them into one of the best in Europe.”
That was the lure that prompted Stark to follow Ferguson in 1983, just weeks after Aberdeen had defeat Real Madrid in the Cup Winners’ Cup final. Ferguson had already plundered Peter Weir and Frank McDougall from his old club, but Stark was the playmaker identified to replace Gordon Strachan when he moved to United a year later.
Ironically, if fate — in the shape of a linesman and a damaged ankle — had not intervened, then Stark could easily have denied Aberdeen one of their precious Hampden triumphs. The 1983 Scottish Cup final became famous not because of the play, but for the post-match rant that Ferguson subjected his team to after they struggled to beat Rangers in extra-time just three days after an equally exhausting 120 minutes against Real.
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If Stark’s St Mirren had been their adversary that day, instead of a poor Rangers side, then Aberdeen could easily have lost. However, there was no repeat of the final of ’59, as Stark explains. “We lost to Rangers in a replay in the semi-finals,” he says. “We were ahead in the first game and then Sandy Clark was awarded a goal, when it fact Lex Richardson had cleared it off the line but the linesman ignored it. I injured my ankle at the end and was out of the replay, which Rangers won 1-0.
“That sort of summed up St Mirren then. We never got the rewards. Maybe if we had got to the ’83 final, we would have beaten Aberdeen. Certainly, Fergie felt they were poor and that’s why he banned them from having a party. He signed me two weeks later and I was worried the ankle injury would show up and the move would be off.
“Aberdeen had stopped us the season before. We drew 1-1 in the first match at Celtic Park and then we lost 3-2 in a replay at Dens Park.
“For several seasons, we were a top team, and in 1980 we had the chance of winning the title but bottled it at Pittodrie with three games to go and Aberdeen won it to give Fergie his first honour there.
“However, the St Mirren team he had largely put in place was a really good one, but they never won a trophy and that’s what people remember.
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“Certainly, times have changed for both clubs. At least St Mirren were in the League Cup final last term but Aberdeen should be capable of reaching finals every couple of seasons but the finances have hindered the club, though Craig Brown [the manager] will turn them around.”