End of a Love Street affair for St Mirren fans

Dec 2 2009 by Andy Newport, Paisley Daily Express

IT’S not so long ago that the roar of thousands of fans could be heard echoing around St Mirren’s famous Love Street stadium.

But, yesterday, the sound of the supporters had been replaced by the noise of mechanical monsters which have been sent in to tear the old place down.

A demolition crew has moved into Love Street – signalling the end of an era for Paisley.

Over the next five months, experts from Whiteinch Demolition will take the stadium apart, piece by piece.

George Barclay, chief executive of Whiteinch Demolition, admits it is a sad day.

He said: “Love Street was a fantastic home for the club but it has had its day. It is a emotive subject for any fan to see their stadium demolished and we’re sure many will be sad to see it go.”

Love Street was St Mirren’s home for 115 years but the Paisley club sold the site to supermarket giants Tesco in a multi-million pound deal before moving to a new stadium in Greenhill Road a year ago.

Plans are now in place for a new housing development to be built on St Mirren’s former field of dreams.

A team from Whiteinch Demolition are busy ripping out fixtures and fittings, with a massive digger also brought in to help flatten the old Love Street end of the stadium. A ring of steel has been erected around the ground in order to keep fans away from dangerous machinery.

George added: “We’ve just started a general site clearance in preparation for the demolition of the main structure of the stadium. That means we’re taking down things like fencing, signage and stairs.

“This will make it easier for us to gain access to the stands, which will be taken down in the early part of the new year, and we think it should take us until about early May to complete the demolition work.

“We’ll be using high-reach rigs and cranes to do the demolishing – there will be no TNT. We’re a bit too close to the flats around the stadium, so we won’t be able to use any explosives.”

Whiteinch have a successful track record in the demolition game. Their CV includes tearing down the Stoddard’s factory in Elderslie and they are also currently demolishing a 16-storey block of flats in Greenock.

“We are a big company and have done big jobs before,” said George. “We haven’t done a football stadium before as they are pretty rare but we are well prepared for a job of this size.”

While the demolition will have been expected, it won’t have cushioned the blow of losing the stadium for devastated Buddies.

Jack Donaldson, who lives in Shortroods, said: “I went along to Love Street many times over the years to watch St Mirren play and it’s strange to see the place being taken apart bit by bit.

“It has been a year now since St Mirren moved to their new stadium and I knew Love Street’s days were numbered but seeing the bulldozers moving in just brings it all home. I’m sure there will be a few Saints fans shedding tears when they see what state the stadium is in now.”

St Mirren played their first home game at Love Street on September 8, 1894 – a 3-0 defeat to Celtic. The Hoops also provided the opposition on the day the stadium posted its record attendance – 47,438 – back in 1949.