Marcus Fraser made his St Mirren debut in an empty stadium under a covid cloud.
Now the big defender is looking forward to more SMiSA Stadium full houses after extending his stay in Paisley until 2027.
Fraser left Ross County four-and-a-half years ago and was training on his own until he put pen to paper on a deal with the Buddies. But things were very different in 2020 with social distancing a feature of everyone’s days as the virus raged across the globe.
For footballers, the season would be played behind closed doors with supporters locked out.
Fraser was thrown straight into Jim Goodwin’s starting line-up as Saints kicked off the 2020-21 season with a 1-0 win at home to Livingston. Richard Tait grabbed the winner.
A total of 194 appearances later, the 30-year-old has helped the club to back-to-back top-six Premiership finishes and ended a Euro drought of 37 years. With his young family settled, Fraser had no hesitation in committing his future to Saints.
He said: “It hasn’t always been like the club is today. What the club was trying to do; you see the players coming in and developing the training ground and the stadium.
“I think the club is going in the right direction, it wants to progress and to move things forward. To be a part of that is a positive. I’m really glad to have [my future] sorted and I’ll be a part of that for the next two years.
“I think I only signed on the Tuesday or Wednesday so there wasn’t a big build up to the game [his debut]. I was flung straight in, I’d not really had a pre-season and I’d been training myself which is tough mentally – trying to beat yourself with your running times.
“I had left Ross County and there were a few things in the pipeline but nothing concrete. I spoke to the manager at the time and this came up. Of course, I thought this was going to be good for me to get back down the road and quite local to where I’m from.
“I was buzzing to get it done. Looking back now, it was a really good decision for me to come here and play as many games as I have and keep progressing.
“It’s been a great journey with St Mirren. The club has stepped up in so many ways over the last few years. To be a part of that is really good and I’m just looking forward to the future.”
Fraser has one eye on the future and has started doing his coaching badges despite boss Stephen Robinson warning his elder statesmen to stay away from the dugout.
He laughed: “The manager has told me to give management a wide berth – so I may need to give it a miss on that note! Hopefully I’m in the best place possible to have the things available to me in the future.”
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