If you are travelling to Paisley to watch your side take on the Buddies, St Mirren Park is an easy ground to find and a simple one to get around. It opened on 31 January 2009, replacing the old Love Street ground a short walk away. You will also hear it called the SMiSA Stadium, after the supporters’ association that owns the club, and by its sponsor name, the Marbill Coaches Stadium. The address to aim for is Greenhill Road, Paisley, PA3 1RU.
The ground holds a little under 8,000, all seated, in four separate covered stands with the corners left open. It is compact rather than grand. A wide strip of grass sits between the touchline and the front row, so you are not quite on top of the pitch, but the rake is decent and the sightlines are clean. The pitch runs north to south, 105 metres by 68, so the goals sit at the two ends, in front of the North and South stands.
Visiting supporters are housed in the North Stand, behind the north goal, on Ferguslie Park Avenue. It takes a little over 1,600. Turnstiles for the away end are generally 17 to 20; check your ticket, because the club confirms the gates for each fixture. Disabled away supporters are usually directed to the northeast gate. If your club brings a bigger following, St Mirren sometimes opens a block of the West Stand as overspill. That stand runs down the Craigielea Drive side and is the largest in the ground, so an overspill seat is a side view rather than one behind the goal.
Across the pitch is the East Stand, the Main Stand, on Greenhill Road, with the dressing rooms, dugouts and hospitality. The other goal is in front of the South Stand, the Tony Fitzpatrick Family Stand, on Drums Avenue. That is the home family end, and on a normal matchday you will not be mixed in with it. Seats are numbered, so sit where the ticket says. Prices move with the fixture, but away adults have recently been in the high twenties to the mid thirties, with concessions lower. Buy through your own club.
The ground is no smoking and no vaping, and stewards will turn away anyone who is clearly drunk. The concourse behind the North Stand does tea, pies and a programme, and not much else. The supporters’ club at the stadium is for members and their guests. Most of the pubs are in the town centre: the Wee Howff on the High Street for real ale, the Bull Inn on New Street, and the Old Swan Inn on Smithhills Street.
Paisley St James station sits almost opposite the north end, which is your end. It is two minutes by train from Paisley Gilmour Street, itself a short hop from Glasgow Central. On foot from Gilmour Street it is about twenty minutes, and there is a taxi rank in County Square. By car, leave the M8 at Junction 29, the St James Interchange, and follow the Paisley signs rather than the A737. Street parking around Clark Street suits the away end, but mind the restrictions and residents’ drives. Coaches should avoid the low bridge on Greenhill Road, about three metres clearance, and approach via the A726. Coach parking is usually signed for Clark Street. Get back out to St James in good time if the allocation is full. A covered seat behind the goal, a station across the road, and the motorway on the doorstep: that is the away day here.