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McDiarmid Park
(St Johnstone)
Address: Crieff Road,
Tulloch,
Perth,
Perth and Kinross,
Scotland,
PH1 2SJ
Capacity: 10,696 (All-Seater)
Simple and very consistent in colour on the outside. Bright and vibrant in colour on the inside.
Used mostly for football matches, it has been home to St Johnstone Football Club since opening in 1989.
The Saints had been playing at Muirton Park elsewhere in Pert since 1924, but by the 1980s it had fallen into a state of disrepair.
In December 1986, the club were approached by Asda who wanted to purchase the Muirton Park site so that they could build a supermarket on it. St Johnstone would be relocated to a brand-new stadium at no cost as a result.
The McDiarmid Park name comes from Bruce McDiarmid, a local farmer who donated 16 acres of land onto which the stadium now stands. He would become a 20% shareholder and honorary president of the club by donating land that should have cost the club around £400,000 at the time.
McDiarmid passed away in 1999 at the age of 88, and the ground continues to be named after him.
Work began on the donated farmland site in December 1988 and was finished in time for the beginning of the 1989-90 season. Though it was built before the Hillsborough disaster and subsequent publishing of the Taylor Report, the ground already met requirements that would become mandatory for elite stadiums in the future.
St Johnstone’s first game at McDiarmid Park was a 2-1 win over Clydebank on 19th August 1989, but the official opening came two months later. St Johnstone played host to a Manchester United side managed by former player Sir Alex Ferguson on 17th October 1989. The English side won the game 1-0, though there was a break in play when an electrical fault plunged the stadium into darkness for more than 20 minutes.
Between 1996 and 1998, McDiarmid Park was also home to rugby union team the Caledonia Reds. They have since merged with the Glasgow Rugby team, now operating as the Glasgow Warriors.
St Johnstone Women’s Football Club have played at McDiarmid Park since changing their name from Jeanfield Swifts in 2018.
Location and Getting There
McDiarmid Park is based in Tulloch, around two miles northwest of Perth City Centre. The River Tay runs along 1.2 miles away to the northeast, the Perth Royal Infirmary is around 1.2 miles away to the southeast, and the River Almond is around 0.7 miles away to the north and northwest.
Coming to McDiarmid Park by car is certainly possible.
The stadium has a good-sized car park around its vicinity. It costs £5 per vehicle to park at, though exiting after full-time can be time consuming as the exit roads leading out from it are limited in number.
Finding free street parking in the residential estates to the east and south should be possible, however. Ensure that you are legally allowed to park where you find though and do not block the drives of any residents.
Getting to McDiarmid Park by rail is trickier.
The nearest train station is Perth, served by ScotRail, LNER and Caledonian Sleeper. It is over towards the City Centre and walking from can take you upwards of 40 minutes.
Alternatively, though, there are several bus services which stop at the McDiarmid Park stop on Crieff Road (A85), including the Number 1, Number 2, and Number 15A that all come from Perth City Centre. The bus stop is out beyond the southern side of the football ground.
Taxi services are also available from Perth Station, but are likely to be expensive given the distance you have to travel.
Outside the Stadium
Most fans will approach McDiarmid Park from off Crieff Road (A85). This will therefore first bring them up to the South Stand, which is named the Ormond Stand after Willie Ormond.
Born in Falkirk on 23rd February 1927, Ormond is best known as a player for being part of Hibernian’s ‘Famous Five’ frontline during the late 1940s and early 1950s. After retiring as a player in 1962, Ormond became St Johnstone manager in 1967. He would lead the club to the Scottish League Cup Final in 1969, where they lost out to Celtic at Hampden Park. A third-place finish in the Scottish Top Flight in 1971 sent the Saints into European Competition for the first time.
Ormond’s legacy as St Johnstone manager comes with the football he played, a mentality of ‘if you score two, we’ll score three.’ Ormond would leave the club in 1973 to become Scotland manager.
He passed away on 4th May 1984 at the age of 57.
The Ormond Stand has a simple exterior design, using a brickwork base with blue corrugated iron higher up. The St Johnstone Souvenir Shop can be found through a door at the end by the stadium’s southeast corner. It is only open on matchdays before kick-off and after the final whistle.
Turnstiles are in place along the whole base, one set being based at either end and a third set being based towards the middle.
Most the stadium’s car parking spaces are out beyond the Ormond Stand.
A curved brick wall connects the Ormond Stand to the West Stand, which is the Main Stand at McDiarmid Park.
It is larger than the Ormond Stand but follows a similar exterior design, using a brickwork base with blue corrugated iron and rows of glass windows higher up.
The space immediately in front of the stand is on lower ground than the space around it, and that means are bridges overhead which allow supporters to get to the entrances and turnstiles on this side of the stadium. An access road runs part way along this area of lower ground.
The Main Entrance is housed inside a glass façade in the centre of the Main Stand. The entrance to the Centenary Suite and Main Ticket Office is based on the bridge to the left of here.
Turnstiles into the Main Stand are at the end of the other three bridges.
There are a couple of rows of car parking spaces outside the Main Stand, and a large floodlit 3G pitch that is often used by St Johnstone for training.
A curved brick wall connects the Main Stand to the North Stand. The corner rather unusually also holds trees inside next to the northwest floodlight.
The North Stand continues the exterior design of the rest of McDiarmid Park, using a brickwork base with blue corrugated iron higher up.
Turnstiles are in place along the stand’s brickwork base.
The brick wall between McDiarmid Park’s North and East Stands is not curved in shape as it has a gate that leads to an access road under the scoreboard.
Continuing round from here brings you to the East Stand, which has the same brickwork base and blue corrugated iron exterior as the rest of McDiarmid Park.
You can find turnstiles for this side of the stadium along the base, and there is a fence a little out in front of the stand that keeps supporters within the stadium’s vicinity.
A curved brick wall in the southeast corner brings you back round to the Ormond Stand.
Inside the Stadium
The Ormond Stand consists of a single tier of seating.
The seating blocks inside are split between three different colours: yellow for the blocks near the southeast corner, blue for the central blocks, and red for the blocks near the southwest corner.
Your view from anywhere inside the Ormond Stand is perfectly clear as there are no supporting pillars coming down from the roof.
Windshields are in place at either end, but they best provide protection to the rows further back. The rows further forward have small walls in place to offer protection instead.
The Main Stand consists of a single tier of seating with walkways going along the middle of the seating blocks. These seating blocks come in a mix of colours.
From the southern end of the stand to the northern end they are coloured yellow, red, blue, yellow and red. These central blue blocks also have rows of padded black seating up at the back which are for executive and season-ticket holder use. The leg room between seats has been noted to be greater in the Main Stand than on the other three sides of McDiarmid Park.
The area holding the matchday camera is right behind the back row, whilst the covered dugouts and tunnel are right down at the front, with the stadium’s changing rooms located inside.
Your view from anywhere inside the Main Stand is perfectly clear as there are no supporting pillars coming down from the roof.
Windshields are in place at either end, but they best provide protection to the rows further back. The rows further forward have small walls in place to offer protection.
The North Stand is a single tier of seating and near enough a carbon copy of the Ormond Stand opposite.
The seating blocks inside are split between three different colours: yellow for the blocks near the northwest corner, blue for the central blocks, and red for the blocks near the northeast corner.
Your view from anywhere inside the North Stand is perfectly clear as there are no supporting pillars coming down from the roof.
Windshields are in place at either end, but they best provide protection to the rows further back. The rows further forward have small walls in place to offer protection instead.
There is an access road leading from the pitch and out of the stadium’s northeast corner. Positioned above this is an electronic scoreboard that can best be seen by those in the Main Stand and Ormond Stand.
The East Stand consists of a single tier of seating with walkways going along part-way up the seating blocks. These seating blocks come in a mix of colours.
From the northern end of the stand to the southern end they are coloured yellow, red, blue, yellow and red. The letters ST JOHNSTONE F.C. are also spelt out using white seating across the blocks.
Your view from anywhere inside the East Stand is perfectly clear as there are no supporting pillars coming down from the roof.
Windshields are in place at either end, but they best provide protection to the rows further back. The rows further forward have small walls in place to offer protection instead.
Away Fans
Away fans are typically housed behind the goal in the North Stand.
This is a single tier of seating that offers perfectly clear views from anywhere inside and is also well segregated from the home sections of McDiarmid Park. The North Stand can accommodate around 2,000 fans.
On occasions when the largest of away crowds are expected, blocks in the adjacent Main Stand to the west can be made available as well.
Matchday Pubs
Pubs available to supporters on a matchday include*:
-The Bar behind the Main Stand at McDiarmid Park (Away Supporters Welcome)
-The Glover Arms (A85, PH1 2SJ) (Home and Away Supporters)
-The King James (73 Kinnoull Street, PH1 5EZ) (Typically Home and Away Supporters) (Located in more central Perth)
-The Robert Burns Lounge (3 County Place, PH2 8HE) (Typically Home and Away Supporters) (Located in more central Perth)
-The Sandeman (14-16 Kinnoull Street, PH1 5EN) (Typically Home and Away Supporters) (Located in more central Perth)
-The Tavern (103 South Street, PH2 8PA) (Typically Home and Away Supporters) (Located in more central Perth)
-The Welcome Inn (221 Rannoch Road, PH1 2DP) (Typically Home and Away Supporters)
*The location of McDiarmid Park means that there are few pubs within close range of it. The recommendation is to find a drink in more central Perth before heading to the stadium.
Overview
McDiarmid Park has a very practical design to it. Its outside is consistent with a simple layout and colour scheme, which is in stark contrast to the much brighter interior of every stand.
Views from ever seat inside the stadium are perfectly clear with windshields providing a decent level of protection at either end.
St Johnstone’s home certainly is not amongst Scotland’s leading and most innovative football stadiums anymore, but it still serves its purpose well.
Worth coming to check out.
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