St Mirren's Old DNA Fuels Under-the-Radar Surge

Simo Valakari has seen enough. While most eyes drift elsewhere at the start of the Premiership season, the St Johnstone manager is quietly tracking a St Mirren side he believes are building something serious away from the noise.

Craig McLeish’s team opened their league campaign with a statement: a 2-0 win over last season’s surprise package Falkirk. Not a glamorous fixture, not a marquee opponent, but exactly the kind of test that reveals who’s ready from day one.

They passed it with authority.

That result didn’t come out of nowhere. St Mirren ripped through their League Cup group, winning three of four matches, rattling in 12 goals and marching into the next round as holders who look in no mood to hand their trophy back. The numbers are strong, but it’s the manner of it that has caught Valakari’s attention.

“I’ve been very impressed,” he admitted, the respect obvious.

Valakari knows what it means to regroup. His own St Johnstone side have just come straight back up to the Premiership after the shock of relegation, a reset season in the Championship followed by a swift return. That experience shapes how he views McLeish’s work in Paisley.

“How I see the situation, they had a very difficult last season,” he said. “They survived through the play-offs. They have been able to work on their game. I can see what they try to do.”

Survival via the play-offs can leave scars, but it can also clear the air. St Mirren have used that narrow escape as a platform. The squad has been refreshed, but not ripped apart. The manager has added what Valakari calls “good footballers”, yet the core identity remains instantly recognisable.

“They brought in good footballers 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.”

That edge, that willingness to scrap for every ball, is being wrapped now in a more defined style. Premiership experience runs through the group, and McLeish has leaned on it. The blend of hardened campaigners and new arrivals is working, even if the wider league hasn’t fully tuned in yet.

“They have Premiership experience there, but the biggest thing is, no one expected anything from them and that's why they're going a little bit under the radar,” Valakari said.

He hasn’t made that mistake. Pre-season friendlies, cup ties, that opening league win in Falkirk – he has been watching, studying patterns, noting details.

“I have 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.”

Falkirk away is rarely a gentle introduction. The pitch, the stadium, the atmosphere – it all conspires against visiting sides who switch off for even a moment. St Mirren didn’t.

“They went to Falkirk, not an easy place to go, the surface, the stadium, no away matches in this league are easy,” Valakari pointed out. “They went there and they played a very solid game.”

Solid, but not conservative. St Mirren showed control when they needed it, then cut loose when the gaps appeared.

“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 – patience on the ball, then sudden, direct aggression – is exactly what worries opponents. Sit off and they play. Step up and they spin in behind.

For McLeish and his players, the equation is simple now. They’ve banked an away win on the opening day. The League Cup campaign is rolling. Confidence is growing.

“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.

St Johnstone will walk into that momentum next, fully aware of what awaits them: a team with a sharpened identity, a chip on its shoulder, and a manager quietly relishing the sense that nobody saw this coming.

For Valakari, that makes it exactly the kind of contest he wants.

“That's why I said it's a tough challenge for us,” he added, “but it's an exciting challenge for us.”

Under the radar? Maybe for some. For St Johnstone, and for anyone paying close attention, St Mirren are already flashing on the screen.