How Frank McAvennie went from out of work to St Mirren at 19
Frank McAvennie tells Peter Martin how a red card in a cup final, Jimmy Bone's extra coaching and a night against Johan Cruyff shaped his early career.
By Peter Martin,
Frank McAvennie never set out to be a footballer. In a Straight Talk interview with Peter Martin, first published in December 2023, the former striker told how he went from being unemployed to joining St Mirren at 19.
McAvennie learned his touch on the red ash in the Milton, and his schooldays came with the admission "I wasn't very good with authorities". Before St Mirren came calling, he was told by Partick Thistle's Bertie Auld that he was not good enough.
Signed after a red card
The move to Paisley came about in unusual circumstances. McAvennie was sent off in the Renfrewshire Cup final against Morton, yet St Mirren manager Jim Clunie still wanted him. Clunie's verdict after that red card was: "I knew you had the ability, I didn't know you had the heart."
The twist followed quickly. As McAvennie put it, "he gets sacked the following morning."
He went on to go full-time, with Tony Fitzpatrick giving him lifts to training.
Learning the striker's trade
McAvennie credited Jimmy Bone with teaching him how to play up front. Bone kept him back after training, and McAvennie said "he was teaching me how to jump into people, how to get fouls, just things that people don't talk you through."
Feyenoord and Cruyff
The most memorable story concerned St Mirren's UEFA Cup meeting with Feyenoord in 1983, when Johan Cruyff was in the Dutch side. Frank McDougall was sent off, took the wrong stair off the pitch and found the gate shut. The line from that night was "I'm playing against Cruyff and I've got tears."
McDougall was remembered fondly in the conversation as "such an unconscious comedian".
Changes at Love Street
The interview also took in Lex Richardson and Billy Stark, along with McAvennie's switch from ginger to blonde, a change summed up in three words: "Changed my life".
It closed with the arrival of Alex Miller as manager and his message to the squad: "I'm bringing in good pros."