Former player John Muir 1947-2018

Saints are sad to learn of the passing of former player John Muir.

A striker, John’s goal scoring prowess with Alloa Athletic where he netted 28 goals in 57 appearances prompted the then Saints Manager Willie Ormond to secure his services in 1969 and he made his Saints debut in December of that year in a defeat at Rugby Park in Kilmarnock.

His first goal came against Hearts in August 1970 but those opening three seasons at Muirton Park were dogged by injury problems and it would be season 1972/73 before Saints fans saw the best of him and that season plus the two which followed saw goal scoring returns of 14, 14 and 16 respectively.

His final game was against Aberdeen in April 1976 at the conclusion of Saints’ inaugural season in the newly formed Premier League – which ended in relegation – and he was released soon afterwards. However, with 55 goals in 151 starts and 28 appearances from the bench, he sits in 16th equal place in the club’s all-time goal scorers list – level with such luminaries as John Connolly and Jim Pearson.

A return to Alloa Athletic followed where he netted another 20 goals between 1976 and 1980.

Aged 70, John passed away in England last week after a battle with cancer and the thoughts of everyone at McDiarmid Park go his family and friends at this sad time.

PHOTO ABOVE: John Muir is pictured on the extreme left of this line of 1975 Saints players flanked by Jim O’Rourke, Sandy Smith, Andy Kinnell and Gordon Smith. In the expanded version of the photo on the front page of the website for this story, Duncan Lambie and Gordon Crammond are also pictured