Paul Lambert was only 18 when he was handed a European football apprenticeship to remember at Love Street.
Having helped the Buddies famously beat hot favourites Dundee United to lift the Scottish Cup in 1987, when he was too young to even swig the celebratory post-match champagne, the confident midfielder’s rapid progression continued the next season on the continent.
Lifting the Scottish Cup catapulted Alex Smith’s Saints into the European Cup Winners’ Cup, a competition awash with massive teams laced with international superstars.
Lambert got his first taste of European action in the first round, helping St Mirren seal an historic 1-0 first leg win against Norwegian side Tromso.
Lambert started that night in front of a packed Love Street crowd – with Kenny McDowall netting the winner to spark massive celebrations in the stands and around Paisley.
A hard-fought away draw secured a round two clash with Belgian cracks Mechelen.
After hanging on by the skin of their teeth for a 0-0 draw away in the first leg, the Buddies tried to seal another significant win at Love Street on a floodlit Wednesday night on November 4.
But the Buddies were to be undone by two Eli Ohana strikes, with Mechelen’s star-studded team going on to shock Ajax in the final and lift the trophy later that season.
That game was St Mirren’s last in European competition to date, with Lambert grateful to have been involved in such high pressure matches so early in his career.
And the Borussia Dortmund and Celtic legend is convinced those early experiences on the continent with the Saints paved the way for him to go on and lift the ultimate prize in the Champions League.
Speaking exclusively to the Paisley Daily Express, Lambert said: “Playing both games against Tromso was fantastic. Winning that first leg at Love Street was special.
“You could feel the difference in the atmosphere with it being a team from another country coming to Paisley.
“Mechelen were absolutely excellent. We scraped a 0-0 draw over there but they could easily have put five or six by us that night. The pitch was like a carpet and we couldn’t get a kick.
“Their entire team was terrific and the gulf between us and them was absolutely huge. We did everything we could but their class was just too much in the end for us in the second leg.
“Ohana went on to be one of Israel’s greatest players. Bert Cluytens could have played with his suit on and still danced around us.
“Their keeper [Michel] Preud’Homme was one of the best to ever play the game. A lot of people were surprised they went on to win the tournament, but we weren’t because we’d seen just how good they were – especially that night in Paisley.
“I was just so grateful to be given that opportunity to play in those games.
“St Mirren really made me the footballer that I went on to be.
“Ricky McFarlane signed me and then Alex Miller and Alex Smith kept giving me the chance to play and develop.
“I have no doubt that St Mirren gave me that grounding I needed to go on and achieve what I did later in my career.”
As well as having talented managers in the dugout, Lambert believes his experienced Saints team-mates played a key role in keeping him on the straight and narrow early in his playing career.
No one was allowed to think they were better than anyone else in the dressing room.
And that crucial lesson was one the influential midfielder would take with him throughout an incredible career that saw him lift the Champions League trophy with Dortmund and bag multiple titles with Celtic.
Lambert said: “I was only learning my trade at that point in time.
“European teams were different animals and it was certainly eye-opening.
“They were so strong and fit and they were all excellent on the ball. It definitely made you want to raise your own game and get better.
“St Mirren did have an excellent team at that time, don’t get me wrong. We won the Scottish Cup and we were always in that top-six bracket in the 80s.
“We were in the UEFA Cup a few times and were always pushing for Europe. It shows how good that team was that it’s been so long since St Mirren were in European competition again.
“It was a brilliant club at a brilliant time in my career and I wouldn’t have been the same player I went on to be without the dressing room I grew up with.
“The amount of characters we had was amazing and they looked after you. That could make you brilliant.
“Campbell Money, Tony Fitzpatrick, Steve Clarke, Frank McGarvey, Peter Weir. These weren’t just brilliant players, they were experienced professionals as well and they gave you such a good grounding.
“If you weren’t right on it, they’d let you know. There was no molly coddling.
“They instilled great discipline and that’s something I took with me throughout my career.”
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