St Mirren chairman John Needham hopes a record-breaking crowd will turn out to cheer Stephen Robinson's side into the top six.
The Buddies host Kilmarnock on Saturday in their final pre-split clash, with only a point required to seal their place in the top half. And with only a couple of hundred tickets left available for the Paisley fanbase to snap up, Saints bosses are expecting a home end sell-out. It's a vital clash too for Derek McInnes' men as they fight for Premiership survival, with the Ayrshire outfit perched just a point off bottom spot.
And if Killie take up their 1600 brief away allocation, it could put St Mirren on course to smash their stadium record attendance of 7732, set back in 2019 as Oran Kearney's Saints edged out Dundee United on penalties in a relegation play-off decider. Needham has encouraged the Saints support to turn out and witness their side make history as they close in recording the club’s highest top-flight finish since 1985. He tweeted: “Let’s fill every seat and break all records as we roar the team on!”
St Mirren moved into their new 8000-seater home in 2009 after selling their old Love Street base in a £15million deal. With Robinson's team flying on the park, the club took the bold decision this season to slash away ticket allocations for clashes involving the Old Firm - reducing the number of stands given to visiting Celtic and Rangers fans from two to one.
That's proved a winner with the Paisley faithful, who have responded by turning out in their numbers. The attendance figures at the SMISA Stadium have shot up 50 per cent this season, with the 2021/22 average of 4259 outperformed by this year's tally of 6184.
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