Tony Fitzpatrick is used to dealing with detractors. For years, the St Mirren legend has stayed positive while his beloved Buddies faced challenges on and off the park – particularly in the last decade.
The former captain and manager was openly ridiculed by large sections of the Scottish football fraternity when he stated the Saints should and would be a top-six side, especially when they were struggling at the lower end of the Championship.
But the Buddies hero had the last laugh on Saturday afternoon when the Paisley club secured their first top-half finish since the split was introduced back in 2000.
And, after finally breaking their duck, Fitzpatrick firmly believes St Mirren’s history makers can now make Premiership top-six finishes a regular occurrence after overcoming the mental block that stopped them in the past.
Speaking exclusively to the Paisley Daily Express, Fitzpatrick said: “Six years ago, when Saints were bottom of the Championship, I said we’d be a top-six team again in 10 years’ time.
“We went to Hibs on the final day of the season, got the draw we needed to stay in the league and the progress from then to now has been exceptional.
“The transformation has been huge and it’s been quicker than I anticipated. Stephen Robinson, the staff and the players all deserve tremendous credit.
“The top six is where St Mirren should be every season. With no disrespect to these teams, the likes of Ross County, Livingston and Motherwell have all achieved it and no one will tell me they’re bigger clubs than St Mirren.
“We’ve broken that duck now and that’s a huge thing. It shows we’re progressing and we’ve got a great chance of European football now.
“St Mirren bring so much to Paisley and Renfrewshire and I’m just delighted to see the club doing so well on the park.
“It’s a fantastic achievement and hopefully it’s just the start. We don’t want this just for one year, this should be us every year.
“That’s how we can grow as a club and the most important thing is the fear has left the players now; because we’ve got that monkey off our backs, mentally they’ll be stronger.
“There’ll also be much less pressure on them to repeat it next season because it won’t have been so long since the last time.”
The Buddies have been close to making their top-six dream a reality before not least back in 2021 when Jim Goodwin’s side were just a minute away from picking up the win they needed against Hamilton Accies to secure that previously elusive top-half finish.
With Livingston likely unable to take up a European spot that season, the Saints could have qualified for a continental adventure but were denied a top-six spot on goal difference alone.
And Fitzpatrick paid tribute to Goodwin for his part in the club’s resurgence in the last five years – as well as his role in helping St Mirren finally seal that top-six finish this time around.
Fitzpatrick said: “It was fitting that Jim Goodwin and Jamie McGrath were both involved in helping us achieve that top-six spot.
“Jim did a fantastic job for us over a long spell and that earned him his chance at Aberdeen.
“In 2021, he was one minute away from a chance of European football. Livi didn’t have an academy, so if we’d finished in the top six in that season and finished high enough, we would have been in Europe again.
“That shows how close Jim was to achieving that goal and he’s still a big St Mirren man.
“This club gets under your skin and I’m delighted for him that he helped in his own way with Dundee United.”
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