In part two of our three-day series on the St Andrew’s Club, Tommy Gilmour tells HUGH MacDONALD how the recession nearly forced him to shut up shop...

It is a devastating one-two. Tommy Gilmour, the owner preparing for the 300th show at the St Andrew’s Sporting Club, has just delivered two resounding soundbites.

“I was ready to walk away from the club,” says the promoter who carries boxing traditions in his very blood. And he follows this up with: “I am not even sure whether I like boxing.”

Yet this is the figure who has kept top-class boxing alive in Scotland. This is the man who spent his childhood at the knees of his father, also Tommy, who was a trainer, manager and matchmaker of legend. His grandfather, too, won an Olympic bronze medal in boxing.

Gilmour explains himself. “Before the recession, I contemplated shutting up shop,” he says of the club that started in 1973 with the historic Ken Buchanan-Jim Watt fight.

But a jaded Gilmour was talked out of the move by his great friend and associate, Barry Hearn. “He told me that I had a great product, a brand people would kill for. I went on holiday and came back refreshed.”

There is no chance of Gilmour quitting now. The 300 mark is in his sights and his long-term view includes a bright future for a club that witnessed the exploits of such as Johnny Owen, Scott Harrison, Pat Clinton, Stevie Boyle and Paul Weir. And, of course, that remarkable night when Buchanan beat Watt in the battle of Scottish greats.

But Gilmour, the matchmaker who has brought boxing to generations of fight fans, has mixed views about his sport.

“I do not even know whether I like boxing. I find it exhilarating when I watch it, particularly with my own fighters.”

He continued: “Do I agree with the whole concept?

I am not sure. Would I ban it? No. I believe people have the right to pursue the sport. It has kept more people out of trouble than put people in trouble.

“Is it right two grown men should knock seven bells out each other? I’m not sure.”

Gilmour though is certain about the place St Andrew’s Sporting Club has in the affection of fights fans.

“It has provided continuity of boxing in the area,” says Gilmour who still puts on “wee shows” in Clydebank and Fife. He started promoting shows in works canteens and ended up taking on the world with Hearn. But the St Andrew’s club has a special place in his heart.

“I would call the St Andrew’s club the saviour of Scottish boxing and that has nothing to do with self-promotion. I mean the club has kept boxing alive.”

But he gives a hint of how the club could drive him to exhaustion. Gilmour approaches his shows the way a boxer approaches a fight. While the boxer goes into training weeks before a bout, Gilmour has his own preparations to make.

He is famous for removing the doors to the banqueting hall of the Albany Hotel so more people could watch the Steve Boyle world championship fight of 1989. He also used his background as a engineer to attach metal plates to tables so that nearly 900 people packed the hotel for Boyle’s glory night.

“We doubled the ticket price to £50 and we could not print enough,” says Gilmour.

“The WBC ring was two feet bigger at 16ft and that was going to cost me 32 seats. That was £1600. I needed tables of a certain length to fit everybody in and I attached bits of metal plating so that 864 fans could watch Boyle win.”

Gilmour makes it a family business, too. His wife, Veronica, has always been at his side and his son and daughter, Christopher and Stephanie, have played their parts in organising shows.

But the enthusiasm of the Gilmours has breathed life into the sporting club. It is at the very heart of sporting Scotland.

“I have run it for 26 years and it has changed,” says Gilmour, now 58. “When I took over, it was getting a wee bit tired. It needed refreshing.”

So, on occasions, has Gilmour but he has retained his passion for the club and for boxing.

“I do not profess to know everything about putting on a show and I am always learning,” he says.

He knows the most important people at the club is the paying customer. “We have never cancelled a show,” says Gilmour. “And while I am at the helm, we never will.”

Gilmour has weathered the storm and come out fighting. And the show will go on. And on.

The St Andrew’s Sporting Club celebrates its 300th show on Monday. The bill includes Kenny Anderson, the Scots light heavyweight, facing Patrick Mendy and Stuart Green facing Mitch Prince for the vacant Scottish light welterweight title. For ticket details call 0141 810 5700.

Your ringside seat

The famous St Andrew’s Sporting Club is gearing up for its 300th boxing event at a city centre hotel.

The Glasgow club will host the official eliminator of the British Super Middleweight championship on Monday night. between Celtic Champion Kenny Anderson and English Champion Paul David. Also appearing is the undefeated Kris Carslaw of Paisley.

Monday’s event will be held in the Megalithic Suite of the Radisson Blu in Argyle Street.

Tickets, priced £60 for members and £100 for other guests, can be obtained from the club on the following number: 0141 225 2056.

TIMES FILE

The St Andrew’s Sporting Club has witnessed 86 title fights. Here is the breakdown:

World titles (1), European titles (1), Commonwealth (5), British titles (18), British eliminators (16), Scottish (30), Northern (1), WBC international (1), WBA Inter-Continental (1), WBO Penta Continental (1), Celtic (1), British Masters (6), IBO Inter-Continental (4).