First Team
Benny Rooney Tribute
30th July 2023
We are deeply saddened to learn today of the passing of a true St Johnstone great, Benny Rooney, who captained the club for much of the fondly remembered Willie Ormond period of the late 1960s to early 1970s. He was aged 80.
Benny began his career with Celtic in the late 1950s and had spells on loan to Dumbarton, Cambuslang Rangers and Petershill. That was followed by a few years with Dundee United and it was from the Tannadice club that Saints manager Bobby Brown secured his services in March 1966 for a reported fee of £2,500.
And so began a nine-season stint at Muirton Park which exceeded all expectations.
Benny was actually signed as a forward but Willie Ormond moved him into defence and his leadership and determination were one of the catalysts for that halcyon era for Saints.
In season 1967/68 we reached the semi-finals of both the League Cup and Scottish Cup with Benny featuring in both matches.
We went one better in 1969 when we met Celtic in the League Cup Final at Hampden Park but sadly the Glasgow side’s narrow 1-0 win prevented Benny from having the opportunity to raise the trophy for St Johnstone.
Season 1970/71 saw Benny frequently used in the middle of the park to take over the ball-winning role which had been the remit of Buck McCarry and that fine team achieved a third place in the First Division behind champions Celtic and Aberdeen.
That league position brought with it the reward of European football for the first time in the club’s history but in cruel twist of fate for Benny, injury restricted his appearances on the European stage. He featured in the away leg of the tie v SV Hamburg but by the time the Germans came to Perth he was sidelined. He missed both legs of the tie against Vasas Budapest but recovered to play both games against Zeljeznicar Sarajevo and scored our only goal in the 5-1 defeat we suffered in the away leg.
A stalwart for another full season (1972/73), when his involvement stalled at the start of 1973/74 he was transferred to Partick Thistle.
A managerial career followed at Greenock Morton, Albion Rovers and Partick Thistle and he is particularly fondly remembered at Cappielow for putting together a fine squad in the mid-1970s.
Benny’s total of 289 starts (+ 4 sub) sees him sit in 13th place in St Johnstone’s all-time appearance records and he netted 21 goals in that time.
Bringing Benny’s story forward to the modern era, many will be aware that his great nephew Shaun played for Saints, not only emulating his great uncle by playing in a League Cup Final for us in 2021 but scoring the only goal of the game and of course he went on to score for us in the Scottish Cup final triumph over Hibs a few months later.
Everyone at McDiarmid Park sends their condolences to all of Benny’s family at this very sad time.