Back in Time | Vasas Budapest '71

The Club has had some great European adventures over the years.

Who can forget the win over Rosenborg in Trondheim, the draw against Vaasa in Finland or the battle with Luzern in Switzerland.

Then there were the home ties. You can't beat a good European night at McDiarmid Park.

However, these recent soujourns into Europe weren't the Club's first.

Willie Ormond's magnificent side made their way into the 1971-72 UEFA Cup as a result of finishing third in the league the previous season.

The names of that great squad roll off the tongue: Donaldson, Lambie, Coburn, Rennie, Rooney, McPhee, Aird, Hall, Pearson, Connolly and Aitken, with Whitelaw and McCarry also involved.

Sadly Lambie, Coburn, Rennie, McPhee and McCarry are no longer with us.

Drawn against SV Hamburg in the first round, everyone thought Saints would be lambs to the slaughter - how wrong they were.

A 2-1 defeat in Germany saw 15,000 fans roll into Muirton Park for the second leg. Hamburg had a team of stars including a 17-year-old right back who would go on to be a great - Manny Kaltz.

However, Saints humbled them 3-0 with Celtic's legendary manager Jock Stein stating: "This is a great result for Scottish football."

So, it was on to round two and one of the strangest tales in Saints' European adventures. Another big name - Vasas Budapest - our foes this time.

Like Hamburg, Vasas had a team of stars including midfield man Janos Farkas - an all-time Hungarian great.

The first leg at Muirton Park saw Saints triumph 2-0, John Connolly netting a hotly-disputed penalty kick after 12 minutes and Jim Pearson making it two-nil in the dying minutes.

The Hungarians were aggrieved at the penalty and remained petulant thereafter, giving Norwegian referee Rolf Nyhus a torrid time.

In the end he sent off central defender Lakinger but he could have easily dismissed more.

A Jimmy Donaldson penalty save in the return leg kept the score to 1-0 Vasas over in Hungary and Saints progressed to the third round where they would face Yugoslavs Zeljeznicar Sarajevo who ultimately knocked the Club out of the competition.

However, the Vasas Budapest home time brought about a story which has, mostly, flown under the radar.

When the draw for the second round was made, the Hungarians asked Saints to book a hotel and organise transport from Glasgow Airport for the team and club officials.

Mistakenly, Vasas thought that Saints played in Johnstone, Renfrewshire. They looked at the map of Scotland and thought, bingo, right next to Glasgow Airport.

The Hungarian party duly boarded the bus organised by the Club but, by the team it reached Dunblane, they began to worry as they felt they should have arrived in Johnstone by now.

One of the visiting party asked the driver how long it would be until they reached their destination and, when the driver answered that Perth was another 45 minutes away, the visitors were horrified and thought they were being kidnapped!

After all they had thought they were going to Johnstone and now were told that Perth was the destination. Uproar abounded.

This was the time of the Cold War between western and eastern Europe, reds under the beds, British trawlers being bullied by Russian fish factory ships.

The poor bus driver had to explain that Saints didn't play in Johnstone but in Perth and that the directors were waiting to welcome the Hungarians to the Fair City.

Still not entirely convinced, the Vasas party agreed to continue their journey and were only placated when the Saints hierarchy explained there was no kidnap attempt and that Perth, and St. Johnstone Football Club, were perfectly friendly - more than can be said about the Budapest players on the pitch!

It was yet another chapter in the Club's European history. Kinapped in Scotland? Ye couldnae mak it up! It never happened but, for a while, Vasas thought it was going to.

PICTURED: Jim Pearson scores against Vasas Budapest at Muirton Park.