ALEX TOTTEN LOOKS BACK ON THE OPENING OF MCDIARMID

Today McDiarmid Park celebrates 25 years since it's official opening match versus Manchester United on 17th October 1989. Alex Totten, St Johnstone manager at that time, takes a look back on that historic night.

On Alex Ferguson bringing his team north…

I played with Fergie and when I phoned him up about coming up for the official opening game he just replied “no problem” and was very happy to have his team take part in the official opening.

The tea lady at St. Johnstone then was big Aggie but when Fergie was at the club it was Mrs Gibson. So a great sign of the man was after the game on the way down the road, Fergie made the team bus stop outside Mrs Gibson’s house so he could go into see her. He is somebody who is very down to earth and is someone I keep in touch with. I’ve actually got a book coming out soon and Fergie has written the foreword for it.

On the official opening night match…

It was just a fantastic night. But it was just so special to bring a team like Manchester United to Perth. I even remember Mark Hughes kicking the ground a few times when he was unhappy with something and it showed, even in a friendly, how much of a winner he was. I do remember the lights going out for 15 minutes! Which was a bit embarrassing but they came back on and it was fine! I met Sir Matt Busby and Bobby Charlton and they were great men who were very nice indeed. Fergie is someone I still keep in touch with a lot as we used to play together at Dunfermline and Falkirk.

On leaving Muirton Park…

It was sad to leave Muirton Park as it was probably the biggest pitch in Scotland at the time and meant my team could pass the ball around easily and play with wingers. But the club needed to move to a new stadium and I remember being there when it was being built brick-by-brick, girder-by-girder.

Best memories of McDiarmid Park…

I remember we played Airdrie towards the end of the season and it was sold out. What a game! It was 1-0 to them but we were absolutely murdering them and managed to score three goals in the last ten minutes to win it. Then we travelled through to Ayr to win promotion and what a special day that was. That season when we first played at McDiarmid Park, we had a fantastic team that were really exciting to watch. The fans were brilliant the whole time I was there, I even remember Stuart Cosgrove held a dinner for me and there was a good turn out so I have a lot of great memories at the club.

Being manager of St. Johnstone…

I’d been manager of 6 senior clubs but St. Johnstone was always the most enjoyable. When I took over the club we were the 3rd worst team in Scotland and managed to get into the top division in 3 years. We had three semi-finals along the way so I always have fond memories in Perth. I even remember signing Callum Davidson to St. Johnstone. I had been to see him play in a match when he was 14-years-old in Stirling and I just couldn’t take my eyes off of him during the game. I went straight to his house after the game to sign him up. So it gave me a lot of satisfaction to see the success he had, and the same for players like Philip Scott who went onto sign for Sheffield Wednesday for £100,000.