St Mirren Women have never been better prepared to make a big noise in the new SWF League One.
And head coach Kate Cooper hopes her side will take to the stage at the SMISA Stadium again at some point during the course of this season.
The Buddies warmed up for their curtain-raiser against Grampian Ladies this Sunday by attending Scottish pop duo The Eves recent headline gig in Glasgow, whose hit Big Love is the official song for the upcoming Championship and League One campaigns.
After a full pre-season schedule that included a historic first European tournament in Germany, Cooper believes St Mirren Women are ready to make a bigger name for themselves in Scottish women’s football.
She hopes even more Saints supporters will get along to Mossedge Village this weekend to back the club, while also revealing talks are already underway in a bid to see the women’s team play more league matches at the SMISA Stadium.
Their first appearance at the Paisley ground in 2019 drew an impressive crowd of 900 Buddies.
Cooper told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “We’ve been working with The Eves over the summer and they came along when we hosted the new season launch event.
“The gig was brilliant. A lot of our players went along and it was really nice they highlighted we were there to the crowd when they played Big Love.
“We’ve got to be clever about how we promote women’s football and they’ve been amazing so far as we try to bring the game to more people.
“I think it’s important to stop comparing the men’s and women’s games. If you look at the Euros just there, it showed there’s support for both.
“It proved that people can support both, it’s not about picking one or the other.
“We’d love to get more people along to our games this season, especially St Mirren supporters. I know it would make a huge difference as we try to grow the club.
“We’re going to start recording and promoting the attendances this season, because sometimes people assume there’s no crowds at women’s games. Another way we’re hoping to get in front of the supporters more is to have a few games at the stadium in Paisley this season.
“That would be a hugely exciting chance for our players and we’re hopeful that will happen after some initial talks we’ve had with the club.
“It would be a great moment for the women’s game, our players and our supporters.”
First up for St Mirren Women this weekend is an opening day clash against Grampian Ladies, which kicks off at 3.30pm at Mossedge Village in Linwood.
Cooper feels her players are in better shape than ever before heading into their first league fixture after getting a more professional pre-season under their belts. She said: “We’ve not played Grampian before as they played in the north league last season. Due to the restructure we’re now in the same division.
“Thankfully now we’ve got experience of playing an unknown quantity from our trip to Germany. We just need to focus on ourselves.
“We want to play exciting, high-pressing football this season and everyone is raring to go.
“It’s been a dramatic change in preparation this year. We’ve done everything we could to get the players ready in terms of pre-season games and trips and they feel a lot more prepared to get going.
“The preparation for this season compared to the last few is night and day. We’ve had a proper pre-season and faced a lot of difference challenges.”
