CLUB SHOP | Unique new merchandise now available

The club shop has added to its impressive range of stock by introducing a batch of ‘St Johnstone Legends’ coasters.

Designed by Saints fan Steve Bright and brought to fruition by Betty Ship from the shop, the coasters are the perfect little gift or keepsake for the home or office.

Among those featured currently are the likes of legendary tea lady Aggie Moffat, cup winners Tommy Wright and Callum Davidson, as well as former stalwarts Zander Clark, Roddy Grant, Sergei Baltacha and Henry Hall.

In tandem with their release, we took a trip down memory lane with renowned forward Hall.

“It’s good to be remembered,” he smiled about the new merchandise.

“I look back with great, fond memories. It’s a long time ago now but enjoyable times.”

Hall’s performances often lit-up Muirton Park in the late 1960s and early 1970s, both on the domestic front and on the European stage.

He was part of the famous Willie Ormond team which humbled German giants Hamburg and he also played when Saints famously went 1-0 up against Real Madrid in a 1971 friendly.

Hall reminisced: “Our team was very much based on width, whether it be from Aitken or Aird on the wings - and our full-backs were good at getting forward as well.

“We had a balance in the team with good strikers, although I’m not talking myself up here! I’m talking about John Connolly and Gordon Whitelaw, who was the initial centre forward. That was followed by Jim Pearson.

“I was a left winger originally but ended up playing as a striker. We were ably backed up with two solid central midfielders. The formation was maybe like a 4-2-3-1 that is played now but, in our time, it was a 4-2-4.”

Hall continues to be a welcome visitor to McDiarmid Park and annually has a get-together with players from that Ormond squad.

“We’ll be popping along sometime at the beginning of next season,” he said.

The club shop, located at the Ormond Stand at McDiarmid Park, is open Tuesday-Friday from 10am until 5pm.

It is also open on Saturday matchdays from 10am until kick-off and then for 30 minutes after the match. If there is no match on a Saturday, the shop opens from 10am-1pm.

You can purchase club merchandise online HERE

Steve, a lifelong Saints fan and a professional cartoonist, was proud to play his part in bringing the coaster merchandise to life. 

“I'd had the notion to begin a series of 'St Johnstone Legends' caricatures for quite some time and picked a handful of my own particular favourites a while back with the intention of offering them to the club for use in the matchday programmes,” he said.

“We ran with those last season, but as often happens, life got in the way, and the idea was shelved. 

“Then, after popping into the Saints Shop at McDiarmid Park a couple of months to buy a replica top for my grandson's birthday, followed by a long blether with Betty Ship about all things Saints, the idea of using the existing drawings on coasters arose more in jest initially.

“But it developed from there, and the with some tweaking to the original drawings to fit a coaster format, coupled with Betty's hard work and endeavour, a few weeks later I popped back into the shop and there they were, on display and ready for sale.”

Steve added: “I've been a professional cartoonist for over 40 years now, and I still get the same kick seeing anything I've drawn appearing in print that I experienced the first time it happened decades ago.

“But when the drawings involve the club I've supported since childhood, it's all the more special. I'm lucky (and old) enough to have started going to Saints matches early in the Ormond era, so Henry Hall was a massive childhood hero, and a natural to kick off the collection.

“I'm now looking forward to adding to that collection with legends from all eras... and more coasters.”