PauloPerth

The building of McDiarmid Park (1989)

East End Park 1991 Scottish Cup semi-final St Johnstone v handball on the line was a certain penalty lovecheats Dundee United

McDiarmid Park has been great for us and really was a piece of forward thinking by the club. It's just a pity that the design became a template for just about every other new stadium in the country.. I guess the 4 separate stands is the cheapest and easiest way to do it. In our first season we averaged 6000 in the first division (second tier) and everyone was talking about how McD wasn't going to be big enough, our crowds that first premier season were huge (average 8-9000 ?) but thank god Geoff and the board knew what they were doing and it was only just over 10,000!! The biggest mystery to me with the new stadiums is why the stands have to be so far back from the pitch.. St mirrens being a very obvious example.. Even mcDiarmid is too far back to be honest. I used to love the old match highlights on scotsport when one of the opposition was about to take a corner and some wee boy in the crowd behind him would pat him on the head!! The other big thing is how steep the stands are.. Again st mirren is one that springs to mind, but there are others. The main stand at McDiarmid is one of the best stands for legroom and view due to how steep it is. In fairness to the st mirren board though, at least they've got the capacity bang on, and even games v the old firm they won't be outnumbered on their own patch, and the ground will never feel too empty. Favourite grounds in the past were East End Park and Brockville, both for atmosphere. East end always was a tidy ground, perfect layout and we used to think of it as a mini-hampden. Brockville was a dump but it was a brilliant away day, really hemmed in and atmospheric. The side enclosure at Tannadice was a great view, really steep. Never thought much of Easter road or tynecastle, not the best for atmosphere.. away ends open and far too big for our support! They're both great grounds now, still hemmed in the middle of housing schemes but great views. Easter road maybe too big but both are excellent semi final venues. Celtic park also was poor, miles away from the pitch and the cup final last year let us experience the ground with a great view. When they're averaging 35000 why do they have to stick the away support in a restricted view area?? Sometimes you wonder if clubs actually want people to come to their games!! Pictures below of cup semi final at celtic park St Johnstone v rangers, same day as hillsborough tragedy. 9000 saints fans squeezed into a corner of the ground, what an atmosphere that day... Again apologies for the quality:

Brilliant thread, some amazing pictures. Really miss Muirton Park but in all honesty it was past it's best. The only bit you'd want to keep would be the enclosure along the side opposite the main stand. Only half the wooden main stand could be used due to fire risk and the terracing was generally not steep enough to be a great view. It was still a great feeling when you went through the turnstiles at the Town End then up the steps and the whole ground opened out in front of you. The enclosure was split down the middle with a double segregation fence.. A few years previously it had been those waist high barriers joined together that you get at music festivals etc. we drew aberdeen in the Scottish Cup third round in 87or 88 and the capacity was limited to 5000. Aberdeen offered to pay for a new fence so the capacity was lifted back upto 10000. We needed it too cos they brought a massive mob of dafties thru that day. The dust that went up when saints fans celebrated a goal is a very vivid memory, took a few minutes after the game had restarted to settle back down. A few pictures from last ever match v Ayr United, very poor quality sorry...

Was reading a bbc sport article about dundee's owners, seems like they talk a bit of sense and have a good plan regarding the future of the club. Must be quite an exciting time for you lot, going well with an unbeaten start to the season, a rare win at regular Europa league competitors last week, and one of Scotland's most promising young managers agreeing to stay. The article didn't mention it, but are there any plans for developing dens park?

This is the greatest thing in the history of great things.... http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2OeJve3q5UU Running towards the saints fans at the end of the clip may have been a mildly enjoyable moment.

Think I'd go for this team as well. The two big decisions are in central midfield either chris millar or paddy cregg, and croft or spoony out wide. Think the other positions are sorted.

Yup, whilst I don't agree with the point about selling tickets by prioritising how good it looks on tv, I agree with this. I thought the exact same thing a day or two back that they wouldn't let there be 9-10,000 empty seats at an OF final when folk were looking for tickets, just would not happen. However, let's wait and see... Utd supporters groups have proved to be really influential the past month or so, and if it does come to pass that they run out, then I think utd fans should mobilise a massive campaign (Internet, press, last,league game of season) to release more tickets in north stand upper, and I think you'll find many saintees will back it as well. Hell, we'll even lend them soap on the day!!

I'll agree with that if any utd fans end up without a ticket... There are still main stand tickets, and I would be happy for utd to get the south west corner beside us if it can be done... There will also be thousands of empty seats in north stand upper and you will find no saints fans objecting to these being filled by utd supporters, just leave first 3-4 rows empty. If it ends up folk miss out on a ticket when there's 9000 empty seats then that will be a shambles. But until that actually happens, why worry about it??

Bang on Wendy who, utter pish. This is a recent obsession with making games look busy for the tv cameras even if it means shafting fans at the ground with poorer seats/ views. Surely that's arse for tit. If they really want grounds to look busy for the tv cameras then why not make a big effort to actually fill it!! E.g. Pricing, promotion etc

Saints even less? Our record crowd was 29972 at muirton park v dundee. We are the sleeping giant of scottish football

Think saints should have the advantage in this, seeing as we've never lost a scottish cup final. Ever. Looking at Stevie May, the lad that lives in mark Reynolds' pocket, on Sunday you do wonder the kind of figures people would be banding about if he played for utd. Not a dig, as utd obviously have a few talented young players, but they do seem really good at promoting them and adding a few pounds onto their value. Unless it's purely the media who hype them. And for all the talent Armstrong, Gauld, GMS, Robertson have, I don't think any have had the same impact on the league oor hairy wee striker has had. Alright Robertson has done well, but let's be honest fullback is the easiest position on the park I'm going to get slated for this but genuinely I think May has to be a contender for player of the year as well as young player of the year