1884/85 was one of those seasons where something big “got away”, but unlike similar situations in the following centuries where it may have self-inflicted, Saints were the victim of some quite unbelievable treatment from the SFA during their Scottish Cup run which ended at the ended at the hands of eventual winners Renton in the 4^th round.

The rapid growth of football in Scotland was quite extraordinary and nowhere mirrored this better than Renfrewshire. By 1885 the county was comfortably the second biggest region in Scotland represented on the SFA board with 5 seats, just one behind Glasgow.  In 1879, Renfrewshire had none, which shows just how swiftly the clubs of the county had managed to establish themselves within the game. Added to this fact was the crowds Saints in particular could attract in a town where the population was growing significantly due in main to the world leading textile industry, then there must have been unease with certain clubs that they were soon about to be overtaken.

It was highly likely Saints, Abercorn or Arthurlie, or indeed all three, could break into the small pocket of elite clubs in the country and stay there due to popularity of football in Paisley and the surrounding area. During this season it was clear Queen’s Park had identified Saints as a real threat, insisting their players didn’t take regional caps so they could play a St Mirren side that they knew had been weakened due to several of our own players playing for the county. The Spiders would win 5-0 sending out a strong message they intended to stay on top.

The Scottish Cup however was where any club could climb the ladder to the top should they have success in it. During the 1884/85 competition, Saints fancied their chances, but hadn’t counted on the SFA making them replay three matches for the absurd reasons listed below in the season round up. By the end of the 3rd round stage, Saints had won 6 matches in the tournament, enough to win it outright for most of the Scottish Cup’s history but had only reached round 4!

The final forced replay at the order of the SFA which Saints won 6-3 against Renfrew, left the players less the 48 hours to prepare for a very tough 4^th round tie against the fearsome Renton, but Saints were knocked out in extremely controversial circumstances (far worse than the tedious reasons used by the SFA previously to void Saints matches) which the ruling body refused to look at it on request. Renton would go onto win the competition, cementing their reputation even 150 years later as a legendary club of the game.

Those of a suspicious nature would think that something didn’t seem right with the SFA decisions against Saints, and added to the fact they had no international call ups as yet, even with a winger who had scored 38 goals the previous season in Andy Brown; and by all accounts, the best half back in the country in the shape of captain John Paterson, it did seem very strange that the very high media status of the club and town was not replicated by the Glasgow powered SFA.

Saints however, would not be deterred, and would continue their quest for success despite their questionable treatment.

June 1884

John Neilson Institute held their sports day at Westmarch on the 28^th, although all the events are for the pupils, St Mirren agree that the players will take part in 440 yards race (1/4 of mile) for the crowd, won by Andy Brown.

July 1884

Once more the annual Sport Events hosted by Saints was a huge success, attracting top athletes of the day and the 10,000-spectator mark was broken over the two weekends on the 19^th and 26^th of July which drew gate money of more than £200. Both Saints teams made it beyond the first weekend this time in the 4 a-side football tournament, perhaps swelling the crowd of the second Saturday to around 6500 where they witnessed Queen’s Park win the competition as St Mirren’s second team finished third.

August 1884

Following the long-term illness of former player and member Andrew Wallace, the club had agreed to play their first known benefit match (testimonial) to raise funds for him and his family as Mr Wallace hadn’t worked for over 12 months due to rheumatism in his leg caused by his football career. At this point in history there was no ‘state’ or ‘benefits’ as such, therefore the club wanted to ensure the speedy forward known as the “little demon dodger” had funds to eat and pay his rent. Port Glasgow Athletic would be the opponents at Westmarch in a match won 3-2 by Saints raising £40 for Mr Wallace, worth around £5k today.

Later in the month the highly anticipated draw for the 1^st round of the Scottish Cup was held in Glasgow, where Saints were handed a favourably home match against Neilston.

September 1884

This was a month of high drama for Saints as they were forced to replay their Scottish Cup 1^st round tie against Neilston following a thrilling tie in Paisley where the Buddies came back from 3-0 down to win 4-3. The SFA however deemed that Saints hadn’t registered a player properly and ordered the match to be replayed as well as very curiously give home advantage to Neilston, which appeared to be against their own rules. Saints would eventually win the tie 4-1 to face Johnstone in round 2.

Sandwiched between these cup matches, Saints travelled to Glasgow to play Rangers at their Kinning Park ground. In further proof of the gulf between Paisley and the rest, the match drew only 1,000 spectators despite a couple of hundred travelling from Renfrewshire and was the lowest crowd the Buddies had played in front of for 18 months. Additionally, and completely out of context with all football reporting at the time, several newspapers commented on the performance of the referee who seemed to favour Rangers on many occasions during the 2-1 defeat for Saints.

October 1884

On the first of the month, the Renfrewshire FA selected Johnstone, Watt, and Brown from Saints red hot frontline to play in the challenge match against Nottingham on the 11^th, in a game that would finish 2-2 at the Castle Club Ground in the Nottinghamshire city.

The same afternoon, a weakened Saints side faced Queen’s Park who were taking the threat of the Paisley side very seriously following their defeat at Westmarch the previous season. In fact, the Spiders committee had instructed all their players picked for the Glasgow select to reject the call up so they could travel the 10 miles to Greenhill Road and face the Buddies, a tactic that worked as a threadbare Saints were beaten 5-0.

The week prior to this, Saints safely progressed through the Scottish Cup 2^nd round with a comfortable 3-0 win over Johnstone where Renfrew waited in the next stage. Excitement was now building that a big cup run could happen, however drama was not far away once more.

In extraordinary circumstances during the 3^rd round played on the 25^th, Andy Brown scored the only goal of the match to put Saints through against Renfrew at Westmarch. When the referee blew for half time, Saints umpire and former player J Davis indicated that not all time had been played. After consultation with the Renfrew umpire, Mr Anderson, the Saints man was overruled, and half time called.

Brown would score his winning goal during the second half, but when full time was called Mr Anderson of Renfrew changed his mind and stated all the first half hadn’t been played, therefore he would be protesting the result with the SFA, despite Renfrew making the mistake. Incredibly the SFA agreed with Mr Anderson and ordered the match replayed on 8^th November!

November 1884

Things would get worse, however, with the SFA. With Saints 2-0 to the good at half time in the rematch, the Renfrew players refused to come back onto the playing surface as it was raining. The referee had no option but to kick off the second half and award the tie to Saints as per the rules, by which time Saints had added a third and Renfrew had declared they were protesting the result. A tea was arranged for the clubs after the match in the Globe Hotel, however the Paisley and Renfrewshire Gazette reported that this “ended as abruptly as the match” given the ludicrous circumstances the Paisley side had faced against their opponents.

Incredibly on the 11^th November, the SFA judged in the Renfrew’s favour, ruling the match should be replayed once more to scolding criticism in the press. The association had set a date of the 13^th November for the second rematch and insisted the winners take on the mighty Renton just 2 days later in the Quarter Final with no rescheduling of this tie.

On the afternoon of Thursday 13^th November, Saints brushed aside Renfrew for the third time in as many weeks by a score of 6-3 to set up that quarter final with Renton just 48 hours later. This time Renfrew had no excuses up their sleeve and the Paisley side travelled to the Dunbartonshire town as underdogs and with little rest but were the better side and led 1-0 going into the last 15 minutes of the match thanks to a goal from Harper.

Late in the match, Saints appeared to score a second when the Renton keeper clawed the ball back from fully a yard over the line. The referee however refused to acknowledge the effort, despite the keeper admitting it was a goal and the home crowd also vocal in their opinion. After much protest, the goal was not given, and a distracted Saints lost 2 late goals to crash out. Unsurprisingly, Saints protested the result, and equally unsurprisingly the SFA dismissed the appeal. Renton would go onto win the cup.

December 1884

1884 finished poorly for Saints as they lost in the Renfrewshire Cup 3^rd round at home to Morton by a score of 4-3 five days before Christmas, with more controversy affecting the team as the winning goal was believed to be offside, however the referee refused to listen to the lengthy protests and Saints two-year grip of the county trophy was over.

On Hogmanay, the Saints players were sent off by a large crowd at Gilmour Street as they embarked on a train journey to England as they had arranged to take on the cream of Lancashire football with three matches in as many days. The journey down was eventful, T Johnstone was a late call off meaning the reserve William Pollock made the trip, leaving the team with no replacements.

Geordie Watt, the much maligned but talented forward who had a habit of missing trains, made the departure this time but left his luggage on the station platform! As the players sang and told stories into the night during the journey in their special carriage, they were startled by one of the adjoining carriages catching fire, delaying the arrival in Lancashire until mid-morning on the 1^st January, the escapades had only started though.

January 1885

A few hours later, Saints kicked off 1885 with a match at Pike’s Lane in Bolton against old foes Bolton Wanderers. The Paisley men had had no sleep for 40 hours, so the 2-2 result was a pleasing outcome, however the Lancashire press claimed that Wanderers goalkeeper Tom Hay was so drunk from the night before he couldn’t see properly, and outfield player Kennedy had been at wedding that morning and was incapable of running!

The following day Saints remained in Bolton to take on Halliwell but suffered an injury blow when captain Johnnie Paterson was injured in the warm-up. With no reserves, the touring Scots played with 10 men, and despite leading 2-0 ran out of steam in the second half and eventually lost 3-2. Day three of the tour was a forgettable one. Forced to play Accrington, the best team in Lancashire, with just 10 men and having a third match in as many days, the were thrashed 7-0 but the players had enjoyed the experience immensely, none other so than young Willie Pollok who stayed behind at signed for Bolton Wanderers!

The other highlight of January was a 3-1 win for Saints over a full-strength Rangers at Westmarch on the 24^th of the month. This victory came despite the Paisley side giving debuts to third team youngsters Craig in goal and Heiton and Cheyne in defence.

On the 29^th of the month, the club made a presentation to forward Bobby Gilmour on the occasion of him being married, gifting him a black marble timepiece and a brooch and earrings for his wife. The former Beith player commented it had been a pleasure to play for Saints, so much so that he was now reconsidering his pending retirement at the end of the season!

February 1885

Saints took on Clarkston in the Renfrewshire village in a charity match to raise funds for local charities om the 7th, however only 9 players made the trip from Paisley of whom just 4 were first team players, but they were still too strong for the junior outfit and won 5-3.

On the 11^th of the month, the SFA blacklisted former Saints player Willie Pollock after signing for Bolton and turning professional. Pollock could now never play again in Scotland or for the national team unless he was removed.

The only match of real note in February was Saints 2-1 win over Abercorn in the first Paisley Derby on the 14th. The match only attracted 5,000 on this occasion, and it was hoped that the poor weather was the main reason for this, however, there did seem to be a noticeable decline in attendances throughout the season compared to the last few campaigns but not enough to suggest that the club wasn’t still in the top clubs in Scotland or indeed the UK at the time, a point raised by the Chairman at the annual Saints Soiree the following Friday in the Town Hall.

Also raised by the Chairman was the treatment of the club by the SFA during their Scottish Cup run, which understandably there was still strong feelings about from the members, as the loud applause that followed this point proved.

March 1885

The Renfrewshire Cup final was played at Westmarch for the first time on the 21st of the month, between Morton and Port Glasgow, attracting a bumper 8,000 crowd including hundreds who had walked from the ‘lower ward’ (would become Inverclyde over a century later) due to trains being full or not having the money to afford transport. Port Glasgow would win 2-1.

March finished with another Paisley Derby victory, this time following a fine 4-1 win at Blackstoun Park on the 28^th.

April 1885

The club held their second spring “bicycle race” but learned from the previous seasons low crowd by scheduling a football match in the middle of the day, where Saints beat Paisley Athletic 4-0 on the 18^th.

The following week, the final of the Paisley Charity Cup was played against Abercorn at Blackstoun Park, where Saints lost their third consecutive final, this time by a score of 3-2. However, during the match, repeated time-wasting tactics by the Abercorn umpire where he refused to return the ball and engaged in arguments with Saints players resulting in a pitch invasion and confrontation between Abercorn supporters and the Buddies players resulted in Saints lodging an appeal against the result held on the 30^th.

The Renfrewshire FA agreed that the interference and behaviour of the Abercorn staff and supporters had affected the result and deemed the match be replayed, however the “Zulus” refused to do so and maintained the result should stand, forcing the RFA to offer Saints the trophy.

May 1885

Saints AGM took place on the 15^th of the month, where the sad passing of former player and umpire James Davis was first on the agenda. Mr Davis was the second major figure and notable player who had passed away in the first decade of the club, an unfortunate and tragic normality of the time.

Also discussed was the Paisley Charity Cup. The members voted overwhelmingly to refuse the trophy on the basis they wanted to win it fairly, therefore a match with Abercorn was directly requested.

APPEARANCES	CMT	TES	PCP	RCP	SCP	TOTAL
FAIRLIE, Robert	21	1	2	3	7	34
GILMOUR, Robert	21	1	2	3	7	34
HUTCHISON, J	28	1	2	3	–	34
PATERSON, John	22	1	–	3	7	33
BROWN, Andy	22	1	2	–	7	32
FITCH, ?	22	1	2	–	7	32
HARPER, T	19	1	2	3	7	32
WATT, Geordie	18	1	2	2	7	30
JOHNSTONE, Tom	15	1	2	3	7	28
MARSHALL, D	19	1	2	2	3	27
DRINNAN, George	13	1	–	3	7	24
CRAIG, ?	10	–	2	–	–	12
CAULFIELD, ?	1	–	–	3	2	6
POLLOCK, William	6	–	–	–	–	6
McCULLOCH, ?	3	–	–	–	–	3
McKAY, ?	3	–	–	–	–	3
McMANUS, John	2	–	–	–	–	2
CHEYNE, D	1	–	–	–	–	1
CHRISTIE, ?	1	–	–	–	–	1
FRASER, ?	–	–	–	1	–	1
HEITON, ?	1	–	–	–	–	1
IMRIE, J	1	–	–	–	–	1
PATERSON, ?	1	–	–	–	–	1
SCOTT, ?	1	–	–	–	–	1
WILSON, H	–	–	–	–	1	1

GOALSCORERS	CMT	TES	PCP	RCP	SCP	TOTAL
BROWN, Andy	7	1	1	–	7	16
PATERSON, John	7	1	–	2	–	10
WATT, Geordie	4	1	1	–	4	10
JOHNSTONE, Tom	4	–	–	–	4	8
GILMOUR, Robert	7	–	–	–	1	8
FAIRLIE, Robert	5	–	–	1	1	7
HARPER, T	5	–	–	–	2	7
POLLOCK, William	2	–	–	–	–	2
McCULLOCH, ?	1	–	–	–	–	1
McKAY, ?	1	–	–	–	–	1
CHRISTIE, ?	1	–	–	–	–	1
OG	–	–	–	1	–	1

1883/84 was a season where Saints began to recognise their own potential and really grow as a club. The move to Westmarch and change to Black and White during the pre-season seemed to give everyone some extra impetus, indeed Saints only lost 2 of the 21 matches played at the new ground that season where the average crowd was over 4,000. Again, it should be reiterated this was for an amateur sport.

The English based Athletic newspaper appeared to be a great supporter of football in Paisley, and made regular comments on the crowds both Saints and Abercorn could pull from a much smaller population base than the Glasgow clubs, the only city in Scotland capable of matching what the Victorians nicknamed ‘Seestu’ at this point. The newspaper went as far as suggesting the SFA were using Paisley to make money, as it was the only place they could continually host trial matches and get crowds of 6,000 plus.

Saints seemed to heed these comments, as later in the season after a titanic struggle over 4 matches to beat Thornliebank in the Renfrewshire Cup final, they realised that although 90% of the 26,000 who turned out to watch all the finals were Saints fans, the Renfrewshire FA made 5 times want Saints did from the games, leaving them question if participation in this cup was worthwhile.

In the end though, Saints were victorious and lifted the Renfrewshire Cup again. The route to doing so had taken a gruelling 10 matches after a total of 5 replays, and a lot of sacrifice for Saints as many opponents figured the only way to stop them was by using brute force. Sadly, the career of talented half back Robert Whyte came to an end as a result of this following a broken leg in the 1^st replay of the final after some appalling tactics from Thornliebank.

Off the field, the devastating news that Match Secretary, founding club member and ex player, Mr Walter Craig, passed away in January was met with shock in football circles as he was also chairman of the Renfrewshire FA and on the SFA executive committee. Mr Craig had played a key part in the development of the club as he had overseen recruitment, and in 1882/83 he took charge of the team being changed dramatically after heavy defeats at the start of the season. This decision helped keep Saints rising and avoid stagnation which eventually killed so many clubs early in the association football process, including Abercorn. This was survival of the fittest on a significant sporting level and Walter Craig is a real unknown hero of the clubs early days before a ‘manager’ was an actual employed position within football.

One of Mr Craig’s best decisions was to put young forward Andy Brown into the first team in August 1883 and he was repaid as the winger (who could also play as centre forward) scored at least 38 times during his maiden season. The reality is he probably scored more, but the details for 20 individual goals are unknown that campaign.

The Paisley Challenge Cup did elude Saints once more though, with Abercorn defeating the Buddies in the final match of the season at Westmarch. However despite this setback, the 1883/84 season can only be described as a success on the park and the rise of St Mirren continued with the universal opinion of the press being that they were now currently the top club in Paisley and Renfrewshire.

July 1883

Former player and current club member George Gleghorn was presented with a Meerschaum pipe and a purse with sovereigns on the event of his emigration to Australia during an event held at the Globe Hotel on the 16^th July 1883.

The 21^st of the month witnessed the first ever public use of St Mirren’s new ground, named Westmarch, located only a few hundred yards from Thistle Park (and extremely close to the current ground) when the preliminary rounds of Saints annual Sports Day took place.

Despite heavy rain, over 3,000 turned out to what was described by the Athletic Newspaper as the “finest grounds” in the West of Scotland. Saints were knocked out of the 4-aside football competition by Third Lanark in the Quarter Final as Dumbarton won the overall tournament the following week, when 6500 were in attendance and the new 1200 capacity grandstand full. The takings for both days was just over £200, valued at around £30k today and a record for any such event at the time in the UK.

August 1883

The draw for the Scottish Cup made on the 21^st, including six clubs from Paisley, paired Saints with Caledonia of Thornliebank, the tie would be played the following month.

The 25^th August signalled the start of the football season and the official opening of the Westmarch ground. For the first ever time, Saints would face Queen’s Park, the most famous club in the world at that point and up until now well outside Saints reach in terms of organising matches. A Paisley record attendance of between 8,000 and 9,000 turn out for the match won by Saints 2-1.

On the final day of the month, Saints were handed a tough start to their defence of the Renfrewshire Cup with a home match against the very uselful Port Glasgow Athletic to be played in two weeks time.

September 1883

Saints progressed in both cup competitions, beating Caledonia 6-0 in the Scottish Cup on the 8^th and 7,000 turned out the following week to see the tough Renfrewshire Cup tie against Port Glasgow result in a comfortable 3-0 win for the home side.

A fortnight later, Saints took on fellow Paisley side, Woodlands, who were a junior club based around the Gockston area of town in the second round of the Scottish Cup and as expected a large victory of 7-0 was recorded. The third-round draw was not so kind however to Saints as an away tie at Arthurlie was picked out the hat.

October 1883

The first Paisley Derby of the season took place at Blackstoun Park in front of 6,000 spectators on the 13^th October, and in a much better behaved contest that the previous one, resulted in a 3-1 win for Saints. The following week, Arthurlie provided much stiffer opposition, and knocked Saints out of the Scottish Cup third-round at Dunterlie Park.

November 1883

At the start of the month Saints met Third Lanark at Westmarch and drew 3-3, it was first ever meeting between the clubs who would become regular opponents for the next 80 years. The draw for the Renfrewshire Cup paired Saints away with Glenpatrick of Elderslie, and the talk within the village of William Wallace’s birth was that their local heroes would knock out the holders. Saints were in no mood for shocks however and recorded a 10-nil win.

The final match of the month allowed Saints to return to their old Thistle Park ground, now home of Paisley Athletic, where a 3-1 win was achieved. Young Andy Brown scored once more in this match, taking his total for the season to at least 15 (The scorers of the 6-0 win over Caledonia are unknown) in just 14 appearances, this was the young wingers first of 13 seasons at the club.

December 1883

The final month of the calendar year was a frustrating one for Saints. On the first day of the month, they thrashed Cambuslang at home 7-0, a result which raised many eyebrows as the Lanarkshire side had been unbeaten all season and were in the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup.

The following week though was a disaster for Saints, as they were beaten 5-1 by Port Glasgow Athletic in circumstances close to farcical. Only 8 Saints players made the train from Gilmour Street, so former player J Davis who was acting as Saints umpire (every club had appointed “umpires” who would contest decisions with the match referee) but hadn’t played for 2 years, stepped in to the starting XI as did young second XI player W Pollock.

This left Saints with just 10 players, with only the goalkeeper (Drinnan) and right winger (Imrie) playing in their usual positions during the reshuffle. To make things worse, Pollock suffered an injury at the start of the second period forcing the team to play with just 9 men for the remainder of the match. The defeat was therefore perhaps understandable, with the only positive being Brown scoring again taking his total to 20 for the season. He would eventually finish on 38 known goals. (20 goals throughout the season have no known scorer)

After a two week break due to poor weather, Saints took on the pride of Busby, Cartvale in the 3^rd round of the Renfrewshire Cup. The Vale had been vocal in their need to “settle the score” with Saints following the 5-1 humiliation the previous season in the same competition, so much so they had used “special” preparation for the match.

What this appeared to be going by the Glasgow Evening Times the following day, was extreme physical measures including “holding, throwing and pushing” Saints players throughout the match to the extent that the paper recommended Saints asking the Renfrewshire FA for the visitors to be removed from the competition due to “ungentlemanly conduct”.

The match itself finished 2-2, with Fairlie heading a very late equaliser to preserve Saints unbeaten start at Westmarch to eight matches. The replay would be scheduled for January 1884.

January 1884

Saints play Clyde at Westmarch on the 5^th, however the referee does not turn up and once more farce ensues as the away team walk off at 2-2 in the second period. On the same day, Saints second XI take on Abercorn Second XI and attract a crowd of over 2,000.

Saints travel to Busby to take on Cartvale in the Renfrewshire Cup 3^rd round replay on what is described as a “mud park” and the “worst” pitch in the county. Again Cartvale talk of revenge, but the teams can’t be separated despite a fine Saints performance following a 3-3 draw.

On the 16^th January at the monthly Renfrewshire FA meeting, Saints secretary Mr Walter Craig and presiding county FA Chairman retires due to ill-health via letter. G Watt was called up to Renfrewshire County Squad, while George Drinnan and A Brown are selected as reserves.

The 19^th of the month is a sad day for Saints as Match Secretary Walter Craig passes away at his father’s home in the town after a short illness. Later that day, the players finally beat Cartvale in front of 6,000 spectators at Westmarch to progress to next round of the Renfrewshire Cup.

February 1884

The 2nd of February was a big day in the calendar as Saints took on Kilmarnock Athletic, both current holders of their respective county cups. The Athletic had several Scottish international players, including goalkeeper Inglis, but were thumped 4-1 by a rampant Saints at Westmarch.

A few days later, the club confirmed that current committee member, Mr John Orr, would take on all vacant roles following the death of Mr Walter Craig. Mr Orr would therefore become match secretary at St Mirren, chairman of the Renfrewshire FA and the clubs representative on the SFA committee.

Much excitement was evident on the 9^th of the month when Dumbarton visited Paisley with their full team. The Sons were Scottish Cup holders and had beaten their FA Cup equivalents, Blackburn Olympic, in the unofficial “World Championship” by a score of 6-1. In 11 matches against top English clubs that season they would 8 times and were considered without exaggeration as one of the best teams in the world. With that introduction, it is probably no surprise that they left Paisley as the first team to defeat Saints at Westmarch at the 13^th attempt and the score of 6-0 wasn’t a surprise either. Saints still had a bit to go to catch up with the established clubs in the country; namely Queen’s Park, Dumbarton, Vale of Leven and Renton, but then again so did everyone else.

The following week, the semi-final of the Renfrewshire Cup took centre stage at Thistle Park where Paisley Olympic faced Saints. The Buddies had struggled to overcome the junior side last season in the Charity Cup as the campaign extended well beyond normality, but on this occasion a comfortable 6-1 was recorded putting the club into another Renfrewshire Cup final.

March 1884

As spring began Saints had only one focus, and that was to retain the Renfrewshire Cup. The final turned out to be an epic saga, with the first attempt to separate Saints and Thornliebank occurring on the 22^nd of the month in front of 7,000 spectators at Blackstoun Park, home of Abercorn.

In usual circumstances the majority of the large crowd would be supporting Saints due to venue being in the town, however several thousand Abercorn fans lent their support to Thornliebank. The “Abbies” as they had been known since inception had procured the nickname “The Zulus” from Paisley Athletic and attached it to themselves and were making it known they had no time for Saints! The match was dull however, finishing 1-1 with Robert Fairlie heading Saints in front before the villagers scored late on to secure a replay scheduled for the 12^th April.

On the 28^th, Saints held their annual soiree, scheduled for the first ever time in the magnificent George A Clark Town Hall, which was recently completed and still obviously stands today.  The usual dignitaries from across football were present including the secretary of the SFA and for this occasion, Mr J Lang from Abercorn after their absence last time around.

Off the field of play, Saints announce late in the month they will hold an amateur bicycle racing competition at Westmarch on the 19^th of the month, showcasing the versatility of their much-admired new ground.

April 1884

Saints start the month with a Paisley Charity Cup match against recently formed West End Athletic where they racked up a record 12-0 result with Andy Brown scoring 8 times; a score-line and individual goal total records that stood until 1960.

The following week, Thornliebank and Saints attempted for a second time to win the Renfrewshire Cup, but the match finished 2-2 after 30 minutes extra time and a third match is now needed to be scheduled. However, the bad news from the match was a broken leg suffered by Robert Whyte early in the game, following what was an another extremely physical approach from Thornliebank.

Putting aside the fact Saint played close to 120 minutes with just 10 men, the likelihood would now be that Whyte, a Renfrewshire County cap and spoke of as a potential full Scottish international, would now never play again as medical capabilities at this time were simply unable to heal completely this kind of injury. Indeed, so bad was the break that the Thornliebank player involved had to leave the field for a quarter of an hour to compose himself.

At the end of the 90 minutes, an already aggrieved Saints captain John Paterson asked the referee and umpires to allow the Paisley side to introduce a reserve to put the sides back to 11 v 11 as extra time was not part of the usual game, but his request was rejected adding to Saints feeling on injustice.

On the 17^th of the month, the Renfrewshire FA met and voted for the third attempt of the final with Thornliebank to be played once more at Blackstoun Park on the 26^th of April. If the teams are level after 90 minutes, they will again play an extra 30 minutes but if they are still level at this point a further 20 minutes will be taken to separate the sides. If at that point the teams remain level, the RFA would reconvene to decide the outcome.

Saints protested vigorously against this, and in the days that followed the written press country wide speculated that the Paisley side will now refuse to play the match, however the members of the club met in a special meeting on the 18^th and agreed to fulfil the fixture, despite the majority of the first team concerned with 2 major injuries received against Thornliebank so far (Hutchison and Whyte) and multiple minor injuries.

On the 19^th of the month, it was confirmed that half back Robert Whyte would never play football again due to the broken leg suffered against Thornliebank. Captain John Paterson stated, “We’d rather lose 20 cup finals than Bob Whyte”.

Perhaps predictably, on the 26^th, the third final is drawn with Thornliebank after 90 minutes and 50 minutes extra time. The match finished 2-2, with a late equaliser from the ‘model villagers’ allowed to stand despite almost universal agreement it was offside. The clubs initially decided to share the cup for 6 months each, however this was overruled by the Renfrewshire FA who scheduled a fourth match on Thursday 8^th May at Kinning Park, home of Glasgow Rangers.

May 1884

The Paisley Derby is played on the 3rd of month at Westmarch with 6,000 in attendance. Despite trailing 2-0 approaching half time, Saints win a thrilling match 4-2 after Robert Fairlie nets a fine hat-trick.

Five days later, the fourth attempt at the Renfrewshire Cup Final takes place at the insistence of the County FA, bizarrely hosted in Glasgow outside of the region! Saints win this match 7-1, with the physical approach of Thornliebank finally put to the sword by Saints dribbling game, although helped by the width of Rangers playing surface which allowed the Saints forwards to destroy the villagers hopes.

The day following the match, Saints hinted at the Renfrewshire FA using them as a means to make money, with the association taking £135 (£20k) of the takings from the gate so far, compared to the £29 (£4k) allocated to Saints whose supporters had probably made up 90% of the 26,000 who had paid to watch the matches.

To make things worse for Saints, they had to cancel 2 fixtures that would have brought in £100 plus in gate receipts to play these replayed cup matches, meaning the club was now considering if participation in the cup and indeed membership of the Renfrewshire FA was worthwhile as it was costing the club money.

The season finished on the last day of the month with a 3-0 defeat at home to Abercorn in the Paisley Charity Cup final, a result not helped by Watt being injured in the first 15 mins and Saints playing with 10 men for most of the match. £40 was donated to the The Paisley Association for the Improvement of the Poor, £15 to the Paisley Ragged and Industrial School and £13 to the Paisley Infirmary.

APPEARANCES	CMT	PCP	RCP	SCP	TOTAL
BROWN, Andy	22	2	10	3	37
DRINNAN, George	24	–	10	3	37
FAIRLIE, Robert	22	2	10	3	37
WATT, Geordie	22	2	10	3	37
PATERSON, John	20	2	10	3	35
BOWES, W	19	2	10	3	34
HUTCHISON, J	21	1	9	3	34
IMRIE, J	20	1	10	3	34
JOHNSTONE, Tom	20	2	9	3	34
GILMOUR, Robert	29	2	–	2	33
WHYTE, Robert	17	1	8	2	28
MARSHALL, D	3	1	3	1	8
POLLOCK, William	6	1	1	–	8
BRODIE, ?	2	1	–	–	3
ADAM, ?	1	–	–	1	2
WILSON, D	2	–	–	–	2
ANDERSON, P	1	–	–	–	1
DAVIS, James	1	–	–	–	1
SCOTT, ?	1	–	–	–	1
THOMSON, ?	1	–	–	–	1
WILLIAMS, ?	1	–	–	–	1

GOALSCORERS	CMT	PCP	RCP	SCP	TOTAL
BROWN, Andy	17	8	8	5	38
FAIRLIE, Robert	12	–	9	–	21
IMRIE, J	9	–	6	–	15
WATT, Geordie	8	–	6	–	14
GILMOUR, Robert	4	–	7	–	11
POLLOCK, William	2	–	2	–	4
PATERSON, John	1	–	1	–	2
HUTCHISON, J	1	–	–	–	1
JOHNSTONE, Tom	1	–	–	–	1
OG	1	–	–	–	1