Golf and tennis in recipe for success

Recalibrating his work-life balance has helped Callum Davidson become a better manager for St Johnstone.

When the Perth club’s season was careering into ever more dangerous territory a year ago, Davidson couldn’t find enough hours in the day.

But reflecting on a chaotic – and nearly catastrophic – Premiership campaign that followed one of unprecedented success, the head coach came to the conclusion that a different mantra was needed.

And now, with a feeling of stability having returned to McDiarmid Park, Davidson is reaping the benefits of knowing when to put his phone down and pick up a tennis racket or a golf club.

“Looking back, it was a really tough time for me,” he said.

“I probably didn’t realise how much it was affecting me away from the football.

“I’ve learned a lot from it, to be honest.

“When I took the job I was a big believer in making sure you made time to switch off from the game so that you would end up making better decisions. That December and January I didn’t have any real time off to clear my head.

“I feel that I’m in a better place now to make better decisions. What we did as a coaching staff and group of players to stay in the league from where we were was a huge achievement in the end.

“I don’t want to be back in that sort of position, of course, but I’ve learned so much from it.”

And that has meant figuring out how to keep himself in the best mindset to be the club’s figurehead.

“It’s about how I manage stress,” Davidson added.

“There were situations where I wasn’t in control of things and I felt as though I should be.

“I’ve learned there are times when you can’t be in control and there’s nothing you can do about it.

“People were talking about me going from a really good manager to the worst manager ever.

“When I did get the chance to sit back and look at it I thought what’s my clear picture, what do I want to do? Now I would do that sort of thing more.

“I’ll switch my phone off on a Sunday now. I won’t be answering every call like I used to.

“Taking time off on a Sunday will help me make better decisions at other times. That’s how I see it.”

So what does a Sunday in the middle of the season now look like for Davidson?

“It looks like a golf course, a tennis court and roast beef,” he said.

“I’ll go and enjoy myself and maybe compete at something else.

“Before I’d be thinking I haven’t got the time because I’ve got to do this or I’ve got to fix that.

“I didn’t want us to go down and be wondering if I missed something or asking myself, why didn’t I do that?

“It could be a case of letting someone else do it or that it isn’t relevant to where we’re at.”

The approaching transfer window is shaping up to be a very different experience to the one which had to be successful if Saints were to preserve their Premiership status in May.

“I was in a hurry to do

everything in January,” said Davidson.

“I had players I wanted but some were holding off to see what else was out there.

“There were a lot of moving parts. It was all a bit cat and mouse.

“It was tough. But I had to get players in the door because we were so short. When I look back at January I’m actually very proud of what we were able to do.

“Everybody contributed in some way to us staying up. John Mahon is a perfect example – he came in for the second leg of the playoff and did brilliantly having hardly played before that.”

DRIVING FORCE: Callum Davidson has learned to relax as St Johnstone boss.