St Mirren Park, also known as The SMISA Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Paisley, Scotland. It is the home of St Mirren F.C.. The stadium is the sixth home of the club and replaced

Love Street "Love Street" is a song performed by the American rock band the Doors. Sequenced as the second album track on ''Waiting for the Sun'' (1968), its lyrics were written by lead singer Jim Morrison and as with other songs, it was dedicated to his gir ...

History

Talks over a new stadium began on 15 January 2003, when the club met representatives from

Aldi Aldi (German pronunciation: ), stylised as ALDI, is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and ...

and

Lidl Lidl ( ) is a trademark, used by two Germany, German international discount supermarket, discount retailer chain store, chains that operates over 12,600 stores. The ''LD Stiftung'' operates the stores in Germany and the ''Lidl Stiftung & Co. K ...

. The club were looking to sell their ground at

for retail development. Selling Love Street would secure the necessary funding to build the new stadium. Planning applications for a retail development at Love Street were passed on 24 May 2005 and the club subsequently sold the ground to

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

on 25 April 2007 for £15 million. The new stadium site broke ground on 7 January 2008 and was officially opened on 31 January 2009 at a cost of £8 million. Before the first game at the new stadium there was a parade from Love Street to Greenhill Road to celebrate the opening of the stadium. Club chairman Stewart Gilmour and

First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...

Alex Salmond Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond ( ; 31 December 1954 – 12 October 2024) was a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure in the Scottish nationalist movement, he was Leader of the Sc ...

were also present at the first match at the new ground. Alex Salmond unveiled a plaque before the game to commemorate the opening. The game between St Mirren and

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

finished in a 1–1 draw, with the first goal at the new stadium being scored by Kilmarnock striker Kevin Kyle.

Dennis Wyness Dennis Wyness (born 22 March 1977) is a Scottish retired footballer. He played either as an attacking midfielder or as a striker. He has previously played for Aberdeen, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Hearts, St Mirren, Queen of the South, D ...

scored St Mirren's first goal at the new ground, in the same match. The opening match set the record attendance of 7,542, and was only surpassed in the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

play-off match against Dundee United, when 7,732 fans attended on 26 May 2019. St Mirren Park has also become the regular home of the Scotland national under-21 football team. In November 2015, St Mirren agreed a two-year sponsorship deal with

Renfrewshire Council Renfrewshire Council is the local authority for Renfrewshire, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It consists of 43 councillors who elect from among their number a provost to serve as the council's convener and ceremonial head and a leader o ...

to rename the stadium as the Paisley 2021 Stadium. This was to promote Paisley's bid to become a

UK City of Culture UK City of Culture is a designation given to a local area (specifically a city before 2025) in the United Kingdom for a period of one calendar year, during which the successful bidder hosts cultural festivities through culture-led regeneratio ...

in 2021. In June 2018, the stadium was renamed as The Simple Digital Arena as part of a four-year deal with

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

-based IT firm Simple Digital Solutions. In November 2020, the stadium was renamed The SMISA Stadium in reference to the St. Mirren Independent Supporters Association. The gesture is designed to mark what will be the last season before the club becomes majority fan owned in 2021.

Construction

St Mirren Park is built on a 12.5-acre site on Greenhill Road in the Ferguslie Park area of the town. The previously unused site is less than a mile from the club's former ground.

Barr Construction Barr Construction was a major Scottish contracting organisation operating throughout the United Kingdom. History The company started in the late 19th century as a joinery firm known as W & J Barr & Sons and gradually expanded into civil engin ...

were responsible for the design and construction of the stadium. Their design consisted of four grandstands with a total capacity of 8,023. The East Stand is the Main Stand. The North Stand is used by away fans. Larger away supports can also be seated in a section of the West Stand. The West Stand has the largest capacity of all the stands. Whilst the South Stand is the Family Stand. *East Stand (Greenhill Road) – capacity 2,220. (Main Stand) *West Stand (Craigielea Drive) – capacity 2,516. (2 sections for Away Stand Overspill or small away support) *North Stand (Ferguslie Park Avenue) – capacity 1,633. (Away Stand) *South Stand (Drums Avenue) – capacity 1,654. (Family Stand) Since the stadium's construction, the capacity has been reduced to .

Facilities

On the outside of the stadium, promotional plaques have been constructed on the wall including fans names and loved ones. In the undercroft areas under each of the home support sections, large plaques dedicated to the members of the club's 'Hall of fame' have been erected by members of the supporters association and the website team, detailing player profiles and stats. Also, a 7-a-side pitch behind the North Stand is covered by the Airdome and can be hired by the public.

Transport

Paisley St James Railway Station Paisley St James railway station is on the Inverclyde Line, serving one of the residential districts of the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire Paisley ( ; ; ) is a large town situated in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Located north of ...

, which is served by trains on the

Inverclyde Line The Inverclyde Line is a railway line running from Glasgow Central station through Paisley (Gilmour Street) and a series of stations to the south of the River Clyde and the Firth of Clyde, terminating at Gourock and Wemyss Bay, where it conn ...

from Glasgow Central, is adjacent to St Mirren Park. Since the stadium opened, some supporters campaigned for the local transport authorities to rename the station to ''Paisley St Mirren''. Following station improvements, the signage of the station was updated to read as "Paisley St James, alight here for St Mirren Park", as a compromise between supporter groups and the local transport regulators SPT. Paisley Gilmour Street is a 15-minute walk from St Mirren Park, but has a much more frequent service from Glasgow Central. The ground is very near to the M8 Motorway and is accessed via junction 29. Fans travelling from

North Ayrshire North Ayrshire (, ) is one of 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east and s ...

can also access the ground via the A737 road. There is a car park at the stadium for permit holders, and street parking is also available.

References

External links