The one time Rangers youth player arrived at the club as player/assistant manager from Kilmarnock in the summer of 2003. He was to combine playing with helping out current manager John Coughlin, but was made caretaker boss in November when Coughlin was bulletted after another horrendous result. Wins against Queen of the South and Ayr United, along with a draw at Falkirk, earned him the job on a full-time basis. Andy Millen - who he played alongside during his Kilmarnock days - was brought in from Clyde as his player/assistant.
The failings under Coughlin were quickly rectified as Gus built from the back. A win over Airdrie United was a first Scottish Cup victory in a decade (that's a Scottish Cup match, not the trophy) and it looked like things would tick along fine. However, a long winless run put us in danger of relegation (sound familiar?) and we were 1-0 down to fellow strugglers Ayr in April before some subs helped us to a 4-1 win.
2004/05 was his first season in charge and it started off well with an opening day win over Falkirk. That was followed by an embarrassing 5-2 defeat to Forfar in the League Cup, but things were steadied quickly. Mixu Paatelainen turned out to be a decent season and we topped the league in September. We were still in with a shout until Christmas until we lost three games on the spin. The Bairns cruised to the title, but we took second from Clyde in the closing weeks of the season. There was also a Scottish Cup quarter-final, which we lost to Hibs.
There was only one place to go from there. In the summer of 2005 John Potter, Ian Maxwell, Mark Corcoran, Charlie Adam, Billy Mehmet and John Sutton all arrived and all would play a key part in a superb season. Sutton formed a good partnership with Stewart Kean as we charged to the top of the league. Morton were beaten in the semi-finals of the League Challenge Cup with a Love Street penalty shoot out, before Sutton's late winner against Hamilton gave us the trophy for the first time. Adam's long range shots were giving us some goals and some fun, and in January Corcoran had his day of days when he destroyed Motherwell in a 3-0 Scottish Cup win over the SPL side. After narrowly avoiding embarrassment against Spartans, we lost to Gretna in the quarter-finals - such was the draw we had a real chance to win the cup. We recovered quickly, with Adam scoring a last minute winner against Queen of the South in the next game, and on April 15 Mehmet scored his first goal for the club as Dundee were defeat to seal promotion and the title. Gus and Andy were heroes and there were certainly no questions over tactics, signings or subs.
Adam returned to Rangers in the summer while in came Garry Brady, Alex Burke, Stuart Balmer (as a coach) and Richard Brittain. hardly the greatest strengthening job ever, but it worked as we superbly won the first two games of the season to top the SPL! We were looking good after the first 11 games, but we only won one game in the second 11, although we did draw at Ibrox. A reluctance to change and drop certain players who were struggling - such as Kevin McGowne - saw us slide down the table and Dunfermline closed to within a few points as we entered the split. Suddenly we found form and beat Falkirk, but then lost a crucial clash to the Pars. That was followed with a win at Dundee United and a memorable 3-2 victory at Fir Park as we came from 2-0 down to beat Motherwell and seal our SPL status, with Gus and Andy's reputation continuing to grow.
Sutton left in the summer and was replaced by Craig Dargo, who promptly got injured. There were other departures, such as McGowne and Kirk Broadfoot, while in came Mark Howard, Will Haining, Gary Mason and Franco Miranda. No goals in the first two games was quickly followed by a few wins, before another lengthy winless streak. Mehmet scored winners against Gretna and Hibs as we finished the first 11 on a high, but then we had to wait until Christmas time for another win. 2007 saw us win just two home games but we won just as many in January 2008. That wee spurt, combined with Gretna going to the wall, meant we were well safe going to the split. Another Scottish Cup run ended at the quarter-final stage as we lost to lower league St. Johnstone in Love Street's last ever Scottish Cup clash, with the home players failing to turn up. The League Cup run also ended in embarrassment as we were put out by third division East Fife. Although we'd finished 10th, the cracks were beginning to appear. A reluctance to give youngsters a chance - especially with the post-split games being meaningless - the same problems in the team and too many one-paced performances did not help our cause.
2008/09 saw Dennis Wyness, Steven Robb, Scott Cuthbert Tom Brighton and Jack Ross arrive, while the previous January had seen the arrival of Jim Hamilton and Andy Dorman. The latter proved to be a master stroke and it wasn't long until other clubs were after his services. More forgettable was the dreadful Tonet, a trialist who was signed and then disappeared after two games. The new season didn't seem to be going too badly but another League Cup exit to a lower league side - Dunfermline - raised the pressure. In typical Saints style, it was followed by a win over Rangers! That eased the pressure but a long, winless run raised it again. Four wins out of four, helped by a resurgent Dorman, in December eased that as we left Love Street for the last time. However, it took us until April to register another league win. Papering over the cracks was a superb Scottish Cup run that saw us beat Celtic and go to Hampden for a semi-final that we lost to Rangers. Things weren't helped by a failed attempt to sign Ian Harte and a successful one to bring in Mo Camara, who was useless and quickly became a scapegoat. There was also an unwillingness to change, which saw John Potter continue to stay in the team despite a string of woeful performances. Constant injuries to Robb and Brighton left fans questioning why they'd been signed.
The cup run meant the pressure and anger from the fans wasn't too prevalent, but the post split form changed all that. Defeats to Inverness Caley Thistle, Motherwell and Kilmarnock put us bottom with two games left and facing relegation when we went to Falkirk. Many Saints fans had given up hope, believing the players had chucked it and the manager had lost the plot. However, from nowhere came a performance of dreams as the Bairns were destroyed 2-0 with Mehmet and Dorman scoring the goals and safety all but secured. The number of fans wanting a change in management was growing, but it didn't come - although it now seems the board seriously considered giving Gus the axe.
The summer of 2009 saw Paul Gallacher, Michael Higdon, Lee Mair, Chris Innes and Allan Johnston brought in. The latter was a farcical signing - there was no money, he was over the hill and we didn't need a midfielder. The fact he was rarely used kind of proves that was the case. Youngsters David Barron and Stephen McGinn stepped into a more central role, with the latter's goals earning him a January move to Watford. The first few months of the season were fine in the league, Dargo's goal against Hearts finally earning us a first league win at St. Mirren Park. The cup form was excellent, for once, with East Stirling, Ayr, Kilmarnock and Motherwell all losing as we made our way to the semi-finals of the League Cup.
Then it started going wrong - badly. The final two months of the year saw barely a point registered, increasingly strange team selections, players out of position, poor use of subs and often only six players named on the bench. For some reason, putting youngsters there to make up the numbers didn't seem an option. The New Year started with wins over Kilmarnock and Aberdeen to ease the pressure, but they were hardly scintillating performances. Late goals were increasingly becoming a problem and at the end of January McGinn, Camara and Wyness were all gone. The only arrivals were loan players Rory Loy - who barely kicked a ball - and Graham Carey, who turned out to be a fine signing.
Despite the league form, the Saints fans had high hopes as they headed to Fir Park for that semi-final against Hearts in the League Cup. A tremendous team performance was capped by a wonderful goal from Mehmet as we marched into our first League Cup final in over 50 years. However, even that wasn't without problems as a bonus wrangle ensued between the players and the board - with Gus and Andy on the board's side. There were no league wins between the semi-final and the final against Rangers as we slipped deeper into trouble.
There was still hope from the Saints support and a good performance put us in good stead to win the trophy, especially as Rangers had two players sent off. However, the Saints bench didn't have a clue what to do and suffered another cup embarrassment as Rangers won 1-0. This was followed by a heated discussion between chairman Stewart Gilmour and Millen on the Hampden turf, although both played it down. To just sum up how Saints like this was, we promptly humped Celtic 4-0 just days later to give Tony Mowbray his jotters! That turned out to be the final pre-split win and a defeat to Falkirk put us joint bottom.
Fortunately, there was no repeat of the previous season's post-split disaster. A draw with St. Johnstone - although it should have been a win before a late goal was conceded - and a win over Kilmarnock put us within touching distance of safety as we went back to Falkirk. Innes was sent off just before the break, but the players dug deep after the break and some correct tactical substitutions saw us draw level late on and clinch a draw that as good as secured SPL safety. A draw with Hamilton a few days later did that before, in what turned out to be Gus MacPherson's final game in charge, we lost to Aberdeen and finished 10th. A few days later, Gus was sacked after the club wanted a change of direction.
Many people in the media don't quite understand why so many fans wanted a change as they believe Gus has done a wonderful job - after all, we made a cup final and stayed in the SPL. However, there have been too many points thrown away, too many dull, negative performances, too many embarrassments, too many winless runs in the last few years and too many silly tactical errors. Nine league wins in the last 18 months is woeful and change was needed. Clearly, the board felt so too.
We are in a far better position than when Gus took the job, but in the last few years things have ground to a halt. Seeing the likes of Hamilton and St. Johnstone get promoted and do so well has not gone down well with St. Mirren fans and their progress cannot have gone unnoticed in the boardroom at St. Mirren Park.
Thanks for the memories Gus and Andy, you did a good job - but a change was surely long overdue.