Cleland says veterans can steer Saints to glory
THAT Alec Cleland has personally lifted six times as many major trophies as St Johnstone have in their entire 137-year existence kinds of underlines just how momentous the Betfred Cup final will be for the Perth club.
The McDiarmid Park outfit, who take on their Premiership rivals Livingston at Hampden tomorrow afternoon, have only ever reached this stage of either the League Cup or Scottish on four occasions since they were formed in 1884.
Yet Cleland, the former Dundee United and Rangers defender who has spent over a decade at St Johnstone and in a variety of guises and describes himself as the “grandfather” of the squad, knows that a lack of past experience will not be an issue this weekend.
“The boys will deal with it,” he said. “We may not as a club have been to that many cup finals over the years, but quite a few of the players have. I am sure they draw on that. They will know what to expect. Craig Conway, Liam Craig, Murray Davidson and David Wotherspoon all have vast experience. We have got experienced coaches as well – Callum [Davidson, manager], Steven [assistant MacLean], Paul Mather [goalkeeping coach] and myself have all been to finals.”
Cleland loved being involved at Celtic Park when St Johnstone beat his old club Dundee United in the Scottish Cup final in 2014 and he is convinced that he will enjoy the Betfred Cup decider tomorrow despite the Covid-19 pandemic meaning that no fans will be in attendance.
“We don’t get to a lot of finals as a club,” he said. “It is usually Rangers or Celtic or Hearts or Aberdeen. It is good for smaller clubs to get through. I think the public, the neutral fan, likes it.
“But when we went to the semi-final at Hampden last month I met Macca [MacLean] in the car park beforehand. The place was deserted. It will be the same again in the final. It will be night and day from the last final we were involved in.
“But we have just got to get on with it. We have all adapted really well as a team and can take comfort from that. You obviously want fans to be there, but there have been some good games this season. It will be strange but I am sure we will enjoy ourselves regardless.”
LEEDS’ all-time top goalscorer Peter Lorimer is in a hospice due to a long-term illness.
Rumours about the former Scotland winger circulated on social media on Thursday night and Leeds have issued a statement to update their fans on the 74-year-old’s condition.
The Premier League club said: “Sadly we can confirm that Peter Lorimer is currently in a hospice battling a longterm illness.
“Peter, his wife Sue and their family would like some privacy at this time, but also want to thank the Leeds United fans across the world for their wonderful messages of support.
“The club will update fans on Peter’s progress in due course.”
Lorimer, a member of Don Revie’s great side of the 1960s and 70s, made 676 appearances for Leeds during two different spells from 1962-79 and 1983-85.
JAMIE Murray says tennis players are currently “walking on eggshells” with regards to making plans to compete on the ATP Tour.
Murray is back in London after a four-week stint in Australia, the first two of which were in quarantine where he was only allowed out of his hotel for five hours a day ahead of the Australian Open.
The doubles specialist, who got to the semi-finals with partner Bruno Soares, intends to travel to tournaments in Mexico and Miami next month, but admits he is uncertain what is in store for him when he gets there.
“My plan is to go to Mexico and then Miami to play and then after that it is the claycourt season,” he said. “At the moment all these tournaments are planning to go ahead, that may change. But we are walking on eggshells because we never quite know what is going to happen, you have to be ready to adapt and stuff.
“I assume we are going to be
living in bubble-life for the next three or four months, but that’s just the way it has got to be. The Tour has done a great job to run tournaments and give players the opportunity to do their job.
“If I play Mexico and I play a week there and have to get a test in order to go to the next tournament and if that is positive I have to quarantine by myself in a hotel for 14 days. So that is the stress of it and that is every week, so it has been tough.”
Murray has announced he
will host the third instalment of the Battle of the Brits tournament in December.
It will next be staged in Aberdeen, in front of fans, where Murray will team up with his brother Andy to stage a Scotland v England competition on December 21 and 22.
“We are really excited by the event, it is going to be a lot of fun and hopefully very noisy,” he added. “Hopefully with the news that has come out in the last few weeks that things are looking up.”