St Mirren's Quiet Rise: A Challenge for St Johnstone
Simo Valakari has seen enough. While most eyes have been drawn elsewhere in the early weeks of the Scottish season, the St Johnstone manager is convinced one team are quietly assembling something serious.
St Mirren, he believes, are slipping “under the radar”. And he sounds almost surprised more people haven’t noticed.
A champion’s start, quietly done
Craig McLeish’s side opened their Premiership campaign with a statement win, a 2-0 victory away to last season’s surprise package Falkirk. It was the kind of result that usually sparks a round of approving nods and a flurry of headlines. This time, it barely caused a ripple.
That suits St Mirren just fine.
They arrive in the league already sharpened by a strong League Cup group stage, winning three of their four matches, hitting 12 goals and easing into the next round as defending champions. No drama. No noise. Just business.
Valakari has been watching.
“I’ve been very impressed,” he said, making it clear this is no polite pre-match flattery. St Johnstone, back in the Premiership at the first attempt after last season’s relegation, know exactly what they’re walking into.
Old DNA, new edge
For Valakari, the story of St Mirren starts with survival. Last season they clung on through the play-offs, a brutal experience that often leaves scars. McLeish has used it as a reset.
“They had a very difficult last season. They survived through the play-offs. They have been able to work on their game. I can see what they try to do.”
The core hasn’t changed. St Mirren’s reputation for being awkward, abrasive, and relentlessly competitive remains intact.
“They brought in good footballers,” Valakari noted, “but they still have this, how would you call it, the old DNA of St Mirren, that they are very, very tough. They really want to bully you.”
It’s a revealing line. This is not a team trying to reinvent themselves as something they’re not. Premiership experience runs through the squad, but the edge is still there. The duels, the aggression, the willingness to turn matches into battles. Only now it comes with more control on the ball and a clearer attacking plan.
Identity taking shape
Valakari has tracked them closely through pre-season and the early competitive fixtures. He talks about them like a coach who’s spent time pausing and rewinding clips.
“I’ve been watching them all the time. I’ve seen what they’re doing in the pre-season games, there’s a clear identity what they want to do and good example was the first league game.”
That opener at Falkirk said plenty. The venue is awkward, the surface demanding, the atmosphere tight. “Not an easy place to go,” as Valakari put it. In his view, there are no soft away days in this division, and Falkirk certainly don’t offer one.
St Mirren handled it.
“They went there and they played a very solid game,” he said. “They were able to, in the right moments, hold the ball, in the right moments they were very vertical with dangerous running behind.”
That balance is what impresses him most: knowing when to slow the game down and when to rip through it. They can keep it, they can go long, they can stretch you. And they can hurt you.
Momentum building, challenge looming
McLeish and his players now return home with three points banked and a trophy still to defend. The mood is shifting. Quietly, but unmistakably.
“They see this opportunity now as, ‘we won the first match, now we play home’ so they are building up the momentum there,” Valakari said.
For St Johnstone, that makes the fixture sharper, more dangerous, but also more appealing. Valakari doesn’t shy away from that.
“That’s why I said it’s a tough challenge for us, but it’s an exciting challenge for us.”
St Mirren may be moving in the shadows for now, tucked behind louder stories and bigger budgets. If they keep bullying teams, keep scoring, keep winning, how much longer can they really stay under the radar?
